I am encouraged by the response to our first newsletter. Again, it confirms in my heart
what God has called us to:
Sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with every person,
Encouraging spiritual growth in every believer,
By the power of the Holy Spirit,
And to the glory of God.
Spiritual growth should be the desire of every believer. Sadly, this gets crowded out,
mainly because of busyness and sometimes even busyness for God. I was speaking to
someone recently about the need to ‘come apart, before you come apart.’
In Luke 5:16, we see that Jesus would often slip away to the wilderness and pray. I
encourage you to be creative and find places throughout each day where you can be
alone, even for as little as five minutes, and life will become a romance between you and
God! In Luke 4:42-44, again we see Jesus departing to a lonely place to commune with
our Father in heaven. Jesus was not rejecting the people but preparing himself for
ministry to the people who were seeking him. Jesus had an itinerant ministry which is
revealed in verses Luke 4:43 and 44 where he said, “I must preach the kingdom of God
to other cities also; for therefore (this reason) am I sent.” And he preached in the
synagogues of Galilee.
No matter what your life’s vocation is, there is always a way to get alone with God. We
must make it our priority. We will be blessed if we do and will be a blessing to others as
we walk along with God each day. Someone has said,
“Strong and attractive graces are not ‘works’ they are ‘fruits’
The natural and spontaneous growth of
Much communion with God.”
I pray this will encourage you, today!
At this writing I am presently conducting a revival at West Frayser Baptist Church in
Memphis, TN. We are into the third night and God is drawing back the curtain on the
…life that is hidden with Christ in God. Please pray for all of the hearers of these
messages that God will continue to grow them up to the full stature in Christ that our
Lord desires for them.
Pray for me this month as I fill the pulpit (temporarily) for Berclair Baptist Church in
Memphis, and for the membership as they prayerfully seek a new Pastor.
We need you! We truly are thankful for you! I know there are so many opportunities for
giving. At least, we do know each other. You will not be giving to something abstract,
but to a ministry in which you are taking part, and which allows me to help people in all
walks of life, by taking them where they are and simply, and lovingly, showing them
Jesus Christ.
I personally thank you for your willingness to help and am grateful to God for how He
will use us to reach others with the message of “Christ died for you, and you died with
Christ.”
Abiding above,
Chris S. Hodges
President
Abiding Above Ministries
Colossians 3:1-3
