Using God's Approach

WOWgroup Global Fellowships NY

At times it may be very difficult to do it God's way. Minister William Merced shared such a powerful message about using God's approach instead of ours.

We were asked to look at two pictures and discuss how these pictures made us feel. One of the pictures made us think of relaxation, joy, fun and the other made us feel sad, depressed, gloomy.

Matthew 6:22-23 (NLT)

²² “Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. ²³ But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!

Minister William Merced Jr. gave us examples about his childhood and shared how many of the things he saw he adapted, because he thought they were good. Moreover, examples such as smoking, becoming an abuser, drugs stems from what our eye sees and then internalizes it.

It is our responsibility as believers to represent the light and not to fill our eyes with things that are in darkness. One great example that was used by Minister William Merced Jr. was a conversation that he had at his place of employment. Minister William Merced Jr. stated " I found myself talking negatively about my employer and quickly I knew I had to stop and say instead of talking badly let us pray for that person". The conversation was quickly stopped, but Minister William Merced learned a valuable lesson he (the light) had the power to change the atmosphere from (darkness) back to light.

Spring Garden Party

WOWgroup Gelasia Women's Group Gelasia welcomed Spring with a Garden Theme Party. Throughout the evening the Gelasia ladies enjoyed words, sounds, laughter and food that welcomed Spring. Gelasia ladies played seed games, flower power games, relay races and as the night quieted down each Gelasia lady decorated her own flower pot. At the end of the evening prizes were won, flowers were sent with cards crafted with kindness. “Spring makes its own statement, so loud and so clear that the gardener seems to be only one of the instruments, not the composer.” Geoffrey Garsworth

The Fool

WOWgroup Global Fellowship NJ knows how important it is to seek wisdom.

Minister Richard Altreche reminded WOWgroup Global Fellowship NJ that a fool is someone who the dictionary defines as stupid, silly, lacks judgment or sense. A fool is weak minded.

A fool is not a wise person, but represents the total opposite. There is no one who wants to be categorized as a fool. Who would like to take on a label as a fool?

If we take on the label of weak minded than that would mean that we are unstable. The bible talks about an unstable man in the book of James chapter one, but if you dive in deeper into the scriptures we find that there are more descriptions of the qualities of a fool. The wise, however, is not a fool.

Let us focus on the fool so that we have a clear understanding and awareness, so that we can make wise choices and avoid making the same mistakes that overtake the fool.

Proverbs 14:18 " the simple inherit folly, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge".

The book of Proverbs in the bible has many references to what a wise man is and a fool.
Are you a fool? Looking over the scriptures it is obvious that the Lord wants His children to recognize the poor choices a fool makes and what we should do to prevent from making the same errors.

Proverbs 1:33 Wisdom leaves us with a promise..."but whoever listens to me will live in safety and will be at ease, without fear of harm."

What a great promise for those who listen. The fool...Thank God that's not you or I.

The Sharecroppers Seed

WOWgroup Global Fellowship NY ~ Began its awesome Sunday Celebration with a Mime Give Me Your Eyes performed by Minister Tanya & Son Andrew Merced. If you would like to see this mime click here.

After the mime WOWgroup was paired into partnerships and each were asked to view the following two clips. After viewing the clips each partner had to compare and contrast the films and come up with a common theme.

Links: Wheat things

Johnny Appleseed

Scripture References:

2 Corinthians 9:10 (New Living Translation)

¹⁰ For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.

Galatians 6:7-9 (The Message)

^7-8Don't be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he'll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God's Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.

^9-10So let's not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don't give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.

Minister Tanya Merced gave the definition for a sharecropper and explained that the landlord was the father above who is the creator of all.

Def. Sharecropper ~ A tenant farmer who gives a share of the crops raised to the landlord in lieu of rent.

(God is the landlord and we the believer His children are the tenant farmers who have the responsibility to take care of the land and give Him the very best).

***One of the things that we must be aware of is that God doesn't need us to give. It is us who need to be blessed.

Let me just mention briefly some of the things every believer must give in order to live a blessed life.

1. We must be able to give to the Lord our hearts. We must surrender all that we are (our soul, thoughts, emotions, etc.) If we do not surrender this we find ourselves in a pit that produces no fruit. (These pits could be anger, unforgiveness, abandonment, self-pity, lust, adultery,etc.) When we give our hearts to the Lord He has something to work with. The process at times is very painful, but when the Master is finished molding us to His likeness we are able to produce fruits(blessings).

2. We must give our time to the Lord. We do this by spending quality time with Him, through prayer, meditation on His word, praise & worship, journals, etc.) You cannot trust a person you do not know well. (God is all about relationship). The more time you take in getting to know Him the more you will reflect Him and produce fruits(blessings).

3. We must give the Lord the tithe and offerings. The tithe which translated means "tenth or one tenth" it also symbolizes testing in the bible. Many of the tests starting with Pharaoh (10 plagues), Jacob with his wages (10) and other tests in the bible.

The tithe is not just one tenth of every dollar you make. It is your test. Matthew 6:21 "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

I want to end with Nicole Mullen's song ~ Sharecropper's Seed.

http://www.rhapsody.com/nicole-c-mullen-2/sharecroppers-seed-volume-1

I am going to continue this teaching online at A Touch of Peace ~ I hope that I see all of you there so that we can dig deeper.

Gelasia~WOWgroup Karaoke Fundraiser Event

Karaoke ~ WOWgroup Global Fundraiser Event (Missions ~ Maylasia 2011)

Oh what fun it is to gather with some friends and sing the night away and raise funds for a wonderful cause.

WOWgroup Gelasia NY would like to thank all the ladies who donated to this fundraiser event.

As a special thank you we wanted to post some of the highlights of the evening.

Proverbs 19:17 He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done.

Using Your Giftings Under God's Authority

WOWgroup Global Fellowship NJ/NY ~ had an awesome time praising and celebrating
the Lord's Day. Minister Melisa & Ruthy Altreche led worship and created such a sweet atmosphere.

Minister Richard Altreche gave such an awesome illustration of how eagles and falcons soar through the air. Surely we need to search the Lord's will, our hearts and trust that we are beneath the shadow of His wings. It's so much lighter, because He is the lifter of our heads and He alone knows how to clear the storms.

WOWgroup Global Fellowship NJ/NY participated in Holy Communion. Truly we are understanding more and more why the Lord needs the body to unite together as one.

Just when we thought it couldn't get better than this Minister William Merced Jr. brought a powerful edifying word. Today each WOWgroup Global Fellowship member was reminded that God has given us gifts to use for His plan and purposes. When each one of us use these giftings under His authority we see awesome and radical results that last an eternity. " Let's not be selfish with our gifts, but let us be servants with our gifts."

Every good gift and every perfect (free, large, full) gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of all [that gives] light, in [the shining of] Whom there can be no variation [rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [as in an eclipse]. James 1:17

A Purplicious Celebration

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
DR. SANDRIE S. SMITH!

Dr. Sandrie's birthday started with a game called "Why is Sandrie Purplicious?" As the music played the purple glow sticks were passed and when the music stopped the person with the glow stick had to give a Purplicious response. Every guest came up with beautiful and eloquent poetic words. Others came up with comical speeches as well.

We had a bubble gum sculpting contest ~ never knew that you could create such beautiful things out of bubble gum. Impromptu games were played and I have to say that our guests sure know how to be great sports.

WOWgroup Global Fellowships NJ/NY would like to thank all those who made this celebration memorable.

Unconditional Love

WOWgroup Global Fellowships NJ/NY joined together for a wonderful Valentine's celebration. Today's Sunday celebration was started with a motivational clip called 39 Pounds of Love. If you would like to view this clip
click here. After watching the clip we were asked to reflect and share two things that stuck out the most to us.

Too many times we are like Ami Ankilewitz deformed not in a physical way, but spiritually. The word deformity according to the Free Dictionary Website means the following: an affliction in which some part of the body is misshapen or malformed. We have become or allowed ourselves to become disconnected from the love of God.

Bible Scriptures: 1 John 4:7; Mark 12:30-31

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is (springs) from God; and he who loves (his fellowmen) is begotten (born) of God and is coming (progressively) to know and understand God (to perceive and recognize and get a better and clearer knowledge of Him)". 1 John:4:7

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." Mark 12:30-31

Today's focus was on God's Greatest Commandment Mark 12:30-31.

• God wants our heart, which is our affection. God wants us to show Him affection in creative ways.
• God wants our souls, which is our spirit, our conscience, it is what makes us alive. The soul is our personality and it is our identity. The soul is responsible for making choices and decisions. When we make decisions it determines our lifestyle and behaviors.
• God wants our mind, which is our brain. The brain is the part that thinks things through. Our mind stores our thoughts, information, emotions and helps us make logical conclusions. We cannot have our souls believe in God, but our minds doubt God. This is a deformity.
• God wants our strength, which is our will, our desire and commitment. God has created each one of us to be our own individual unique self. We were not created to be robots. Each person has been designed and handcrafted by God for a purpose and a destiny. That purpose is so that we can come together and become one and do His will here on earth. The problem is that many of us struggle with this idea of releasing our will and desires to God. We want to have all the control and only when we can't do it ourselves do we seek or allow God to intervene. Again this selfish act causes the body to be disfigured and causes a disconnection.
  

Stress Is the Enemy

WOWgroup Global Fellowship NJ

WOWgroup Global Fellowship NJ had the privilege of hearing one of it's own Mrs. Cristina Altreche. A woman who a year ago would never would have dared to take this giant leap of faith and share such a powerful message.

“But in the beginning of the year I proclaimed change in my life so here I am, doing the will of the Lord." What a wonderful way of beginning a message kudos to you Cristina.

Mrs. Cristina Altreche began by given WOWgroup Global Fellowship NJ the definition for Stress. According to the dictionary stress is the emotional and physical strain caused by our response to pressure from the outside world. WOWgroup Global Fellowship NJ was reminded that many Bible translations do not use the word "stress," however, Scripture does teach on anxiety, worry and trouble. In addition, it gives us clear answers on how we should deal with each of them.

Mrs. Cristina Altreche then gave examples on how stress can lead to illnesses in the body. Stress is the reason for two thirds of the total visits to the doctors. It is also the leading cause of the coronary artery diseases, cancer, accidents and respiratory diseases.

WOWgroup Global Fellowship NJ was reminded that some people handle stress better than others and how they handle stress can be a matter of life or death.

Example: When those problems or trials come their way they don’t let it stay with them or let it bring them down. Perfect example…. how heavy is this cup of water? The weight doesn’t matter. It depends on how long you try and hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that’s not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my arm. If I hold it for a day you’ll have to call an ambulance. In each case it was the same weight the same burden the longer I held it the heavier it became.

Stress Management through Christ

1. The way to approach this at night is to go to God in prayer, UNLOADING OUR CARES before Him with a trust that He will help us deal with them, and then close our eyes and get the rest we need.
(Psalm 55:22) “CAST YOUR BURDEN ON THE LORD, and He will sustain you; He will never permit the righteous to be moved.”

The Church Must Become as One

WOWgroup Global Fellowships NY had the privilege today in having Andrew W. Merced share his gift of song with us. Moreover, Andrew W. Merced reminded us of the importance of unity within the Body of Christ.

Andrew a teen with Asperger Syndrome does not let that stop him. I am so amazed at how God uses Andrew to capture our attention. Andrew began his lesson with a song from the Disney movie " Tangled". If you would like to see some of Andrew's singing click here.

After the song Andrew showed another clip from the movie "Tangled". If you would like to see some of the clip click here. Then WOWgroup Global Fellowship was asked to describe what was the message in the movie. Andrew then stated that the church must focus on becoming as one. Today many churches are divided and are not following the Word of God. We must learn to work as a team. It doesn't matter what church we belong to, or how we praise God, what matters is that we have salvation in Christ Jesus.

Then Andrew led us to the following scripture verses: Acts 2:42-47 (NIV)

The Fellowship of the Believers

⁴² They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. ⁴³ Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. ⁴⁴ All the believers were together and had everything in common. ⁴⁵ They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. ⁴⁶ Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, ⁴⁷ praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Luke 10:27 (NIV)

²⁷ He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’, and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”

After the reading of the scriptures Andrew shared a personal testimony about a friend he met at Park Slope Christian Center who no longer attends, but that made a great impact on his life. Andrew told us that he was sitting by himself at a table while all the other teens were busy talking to their friends and that Anthony came to his table. Andrew told us that Anthony didn't look at his color or race nor that he was different than the other kids. Anthony started speaking with him and reached out to him. Andrew finished his experience by stating that Anthony made him feel happy and accepted.

Truly God was speaking to us. Andrew finished his message by reminding WOWgroup Global Fellowship that we must do our very best to be like the disciples from the early church.

Phil 2:2
² then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.