Mt. Zion Bulletin Volume 1 Issue 5

Journal of Faith

Monthly Matters

Mt. Zion Independent Baptist Missionary Union Church Bulletin

BACK TO SCHOOL

Success is in the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out Everything will be hard before it gets easy

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

1.

WHAT DOES IT MEANS TO GIVE

Women’s Sunday Highlights

The 4 Basic Principles of Giving.

There’s a lot of material in the Scriptures that teach us how we are to give and as you study the Scriptures you’ll find four basic principles for giving

1. GIVING IS TO BE A PRIORITY

Principle number one is this: We are to make giving a priority. The Bible tells us that giving is to be a first fruit (Proverbs 3:9). That we are to give our first and our best. Practically speaking what this means for us is that we’re to take a portion of our gross income and give that away. Before taxes, before any other expenditures, we are to give. It’s the very first thing that we’re to do with our finances. So giving is to be a priority.

2. GIVING IS TO BE DONE PROPORTIONALLY

Principle number two: The giving is to be done proportionally meaning so to those that Giving is to be done sacrificially So those that God has given more, we give more To those that God has given less, we give less We give according to what God has given us

2. Book Drive | Food Hamper | Clothes Hamper

3. Fun Bible Games:

BIBLE GAMES

Pastor's Desk.

Passing the Faithfulness test.

Moses was faithful to God's people during the forty years they wandered in the wilderness Time and time again, he successfully passed the "faithfulness test." But God had spent many years preparing Moses to lead the people out of bondage On the back side of the desert, God had taught him how to be faithful (Exodus 2:23 - 3:1). Likewise, Joshua had learned to be faithful throughout the years and had loyally served under Moses.

When God chose Joshua to lead Israel after Moses's death, He knew Joshua would be a faithful leader because he had been trustworthy in the past Joshua is an excellent example of a faithful person, and his life reminds us that God rewards faithfulness God works through and blesses faithful people, people who are in the wilderness (testing times) as well as in the promised land (in the times of blessing)

Being faithful means being devoted, supportive and loyal. Faithful people are worthy of trust, or belief; they are reliable, consistent, constant and steadfast. They will stay wherever God places them and be true to those God has given them to work with

If we want to exercise authority, we must first learn to come under authority and stay wherever God has placed us until He moves us Like Joshua, we must respect and be obedient to those in authority over us. We must do the right thing simply because it is right, even though we may never understand the "why" of every situation, which is a real test of our faithfulness and obedience We must be faithful to stay where God has placed us and perhaps under the leadership of an authority figure we do not particularly like

~

Psalm 78:72

With

Challenges are what makes life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.

~ Joshua J Marine

upright heart he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand.

+ 1 (868) 466-7349

As we start the last quarter of the year 2023, we would like to thank God for his abundant blessing blessings and goodness bestowed on Mt. Zion IBMU Church thus far. We would also like to use this platform to extend a heartfelt thank you, to those that go way above and beyond the expected to ensure that we remain on track both Physically and Spiritually.

We would also like to thank our members and to the members in our community who contributed to the book drive in making this a success from the year 2022 to present, blessings to you all, may the Almighty God enlarge your territories.

To the powerful women of Mt. Zion, we salute you for taking up the mantle, stepping forward and running the Sunday service in the absence of our Pastor, Reverend Warren Simon. A job well done ladies, continue to grow in Christ. May God strengthen us to complete our next chapter at Mt Zion Independent Baptist Missionary Union

Find the Church location easy,

+ 1 (868) 354-4704

EMAIL: Zionmount53@gmail com

O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. (Psalm 34:8)

Reverend Warren Simon

Church Secretary Senior Pastor at Mt, Zion IBMU Church

#4 Riversdale Road, Guaracara/Tabaquite Road, Williamsville

UPCOMING

EVENTS for September 2023

Pastors Meeting at Lendor Memorial IBMU Church.....DATE TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON

Revival services - Mon 11thTues 12th @ La Lune from 7:00pm nightly Wed 13th - Fri 15th @ St Ann#2 from 7:00pm nightly

Sat 16th

Sept 2023

Little Bethlehem Open Air Service

Mon 11th -

Frid 15th

Sept 2023

St Ann #2/ La Lune “House of Bread” IBMU Church Baptism Service @ La Lune Beach from 8:30am.

Sat 23rd

Sept 2023

Bethany IBMU Church Fashion and Talent Show from 3:00pm$50.00 per person, group packages available

Sun 17th

Sept 2023

Little Jerusalem IBMU Church Community Day

Sat 30th

Sept 2023

Lendor Memorial IBMU Church Seed Sowing Service from 2:00pm

Mon 25th

Sept 2023

FunnelDiagram

TheIBMUExecutiveisresponsibleforleading strategicplanning,managingfinancesto achievethemissionandvisionofthe denomination

ThisbodyconsistsofPastorsandChurchelders toreviewthebusinessandmissionofeachunit churches

AtUnionallIBMUChurchescometogetherto discussplansforthebenefitoftheorganization, alsoinattendanceistheExecutiveand Conferencemembers

ThesearetheministriesoftheIndependent BaptistMissionaryUnionandtheyareas follows:Missionary,Evangelist,Women’sGroup, Men’sfellowship,YouthGroup,Sundayschool departmentandtheZones(1and2)

The Independent Baptist Missionary Union Organizational Funnel Diagram.

The above diagram depicts the chain of command for our denomination, the Independent Baptist Missionary Union of Trinidad and Tobago.

Our Present President expanded the ministries within the IBMU by creating zones to help promote growth within our churches by identifying problems so that necessary changes can be made. One of the toughest role in our denomination is to sit on the Executive Body and preserve in the face of difficult decisions A famous activist once said, “Wisdom is knowing what to do next; virtue is doing it.' You proved to be both wise and virtuous.”

For this we are truly grateful for the wonderful work that has been done during the 133 years of existence

Keys given to the Church

The Bible records 6 keys that was given to the Church, 3 of the keys Jesus had in His possession and 3 keys He has given to the Church One of the keys Jesus has is the key of David (Revelation 3:7), Jesus fulfilled this scripture (Isaiah 22:22); this key can open and shut.

In the book of Acts 16:14 we see here that worship can cause doors to open as it did with Paul and Silas. David was a worshipper and not even the giant, the lion, the bear or the Philistines stood in his way.

In Acts 14:27, worship caused people who were outside of the Church to come in. In the book of Revelation John on the Isle of Patmos during his worship, met Jesus who informed that He has the keys of Hell and of Death (Revelation 1:18) In Matthew 25:10 the parable of the 10 virgins, 5 wise and 5 foolish, the door opened to those who made themselves available and close to those who was not available;

your lamps are trim through worship

The only person who has the keys of death is Jesus, and it's only him who can determine who live and who die. In Revelation 20:14 it says that death and hell will be cast in the lake of fire, the one who have the keys will cast them there.

In the book of Daniel 6:22, God sent an angel to shut the mouth of the lions because a worshipper was on the scene The men who did not worship God were thrown into the same lion den Before they could touch the ground, the lion grabbed and devoured them

Keys given to the Church continuation

In the book of Matthew 16:18 Jesus is saying to Peter "....On this Rock (Revelation) I will build my Church (It has now become the Church of Christ) I give to you keys to the Kingdom of Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven " The devil has a problem with us receiving power to cast out demons, heal the sick etc The devil realizes that he has to change his strategy.

As long as you are a Child of God and you are not aware of your function in the Body of Christ, you are not a threat to him (Hosea 4:6) In Psalm 1:2 says, " But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law, he meditates day and night." The devil uses:

ignorance and seduction (1 Timothy 4:1)

he uses fear (2 Timothy 1:7) -For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

he loves a lukewarm Church that is not going anywhere.

in 2 Corinthians 10:5 the devil causes you to imagine all kinds of foolishness.

Due to God giving the keys, the devil can be counterfeit We ought to know which keys is to use according to the situation, (to bind and to loose) To bind is to fasten by chain or to put an end to, to loose is to release from pressure or to pardoned In Luke 11:52 the Scribe and Pharisees hid the keys of knowledge and gave the people traditions, in Luke 13:10-16 they were working on the Sabbath day but when the people came for healing it was a problem for them.

The key of knowledge is given to the Church to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven We are free to Bind and to Loose (John 8:36); there are things that we need to bind individually and not as a group,

In Proverbs 3:3 - "Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart"

Proverbs 7:1-3 - "My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye. Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart."

Binding can be beneficial to you, in Matthew 18:15-18 Jesus was talking about moral excellence, He was taking about this in servanthood Binding and loosing is not only for demons, it is also for yourself and the Church In Ephesians 3:20 we ought to walk in confidence, victory and Authority that when you show up the devil should be running because the light of God has come

Continuation on what does it means to give.

3. GIVING IS TO BE DONE SACRIFICIALLY

Principle number three is that giving is to be done sacrificially. I know that this is gonna sound a little weird, but giving isn’t always going to feel good. There’s going to be sometimes a struggle and some pain associated with giving I mean, you look in 2 Samuel 24:24 when David is offered everything that he needs to make a sacrifice and how did he respond? He said, “No, I will not offer God something that has not cost me anything.” And so we see this is an example of sacrificial giving.

4 GIVING IS TO BE DONE CHEERFULLY

Then finally we find that giving is to be done cheerfully We know that God loves a cheerful giver.

And just so you know, God doesn’t just tell us how to do this. He actually leads us in this. Think about it for a second

Giving is to be a priority. How does God lead us in this? Well, Jesus He gave us His first and His best, His one and His only.

Giving is to be done proportionally How God does lead us in this? Well God is the Creator of everything He owns it all so He gave us the gift that simply could not be matched He gave us Jesus.

Giving is to be done sacrificially How does He lead us in this? Well, maybe that’s a little bit more self-explanatory

It’s Jesus

And then finally, giving is to be done cheerfully. Where do we find that? We actually find it in Isaiah 53:10 where we see God finding pleasure in the crushing of His only Son Now how does He find pleasure in the crushing of His Son? Well, He’s looking through the lens of eternity and He’s seeing the ultimate outcome.

God has indeed truly blessed us to give to the children of the community, who may not be fortunate to purchased books for the new term. This book drive is spearheaded by Sis Marlene Joachim, as she and members of the planning committee of Mt Zion IBMU Church worked towards this drive from 2022 to present. Due to such actions, the Church impacted more than 3 communities.

FIGURE: Sister Judith Diaz helping to distribute hampers to elementary school children

Line Diagram showing the Areas that was covered for the Book drive

The following diagram above shows the areas that Mt Zion Independent Baptist Missionary Union Church covered from the year 2022 to present, as stated above the areas are as followed Riversdale, Sisters Road Hardbargain, Penal / Debe, Golconda and Gasperillo

Members of the community expressed their gratitude as the hampers came just in time for the reopening of the new school term.

Our gratitude to the members of Mt Zion whom took the time out of their busy schedule to purchase the books for Kindergarteners , Primary and secondary school children

Highlights of Mt Zion IBMU Church Book drive Hampers.

FIGURE: Books to be distributed to the Primary and Secondary school children

Highlights of Mt Zion IBMU Church Book drive Hampers.

Highlights of Mt Zion IBMU Church Food Hampers.

Note: Some pictures of the food hampers not shown

Chart showing the areas covered for the distribution of the Food Hampers

As stated above, the areas covered were Riversdale, Williamsville and Sisters Road Hardbargain The individual that was in charge of this is Sister Erica Williams.

Picture of Clothes Hampers

The Clothes hampers were received from and distributed to the Piparo area, Sister Karen Ganga took charge of this ministry and it’s success.

Peter heals a lame beggar.

The book of Acts tell us that this man was born cripple, questions we ought to ask are:

why didn't they drop him inside the Church?

Why did they drop him by the gate?

Why did they drop him by the church?

It was because the Holy people, in those days it was more about tradition and looking good that is why they used to give to beggars

Why didn't they drop him inside the church? Was it because they were just making noise and were not effective? Everyone has an appointment with God. The man was looking for money but Peter wanted him to focus on them not on his situation. Are we focusing on God? It's only when the crippled man focused then things began to happen. To seek means to look, the Bible says in Matthew 6:33 "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you " It's only when we look to Jesus then things will start to happen A question for thought, where is our focus?

They told the crippled man to rise and walk in the name of Jesus, the Bible says that in the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord ( Philippians 2:10-11) Some of us have gotten to comfortable, we need to get up from where we are to make things happen The man received strength from the Power of the Holy Spirit, He is not dead but alive, but sometimes we stifle Him. We ought to decrease so that He can increase in our lives.

When we receive our blessings where do we go? This man went straight into the House of the Lord after he received healing; sometimes we get healing and the sickness returns, the reason being is because we didn't get deliverance An example of this is in Luke 17:11-19 the 10 lepers, one came back to worship and was made whole.

We don't know how blessed we are, the Bible says that He will supply all our needs (Philippians 4:19), if we want God to work out a problem for you then seek him for we walk by faith and not by sight The man was not there for deliverance but deliverance came to him, so who is you and I?.

From Hindrance to Deliverance

Sunday 27th August 2023 | Women's Sunday (Psalm 66:18, Mark 11:25-26, James 1:6-7)

As Believers in Christ, we ought to let nothing hinder us form God. In Romans 8: 38-39 it says " For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, [39] Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord " We ought to check ourselves daily, the Psalmist says in Psalm 66:18 that if we cherish iniquity in our hearts the Lord will not listen to our prayers, we ought to daily ask God to cleanse us and renew the right Spirit within us

Another thing that hinder us from God is when we have unforgiving hearts; the Bible describes it as "poison to our souls" (Hebrews 12: 15)

In Mark 11: 25-26- "And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” The benefits of forgiving one another are as follow: It not only caused us to be forgiven (Mark 11:25-26) it also helps you to manage and Retain Relationships, makes you a better leader, gives people a second chance to improve and be better, improves your health and longevity, and it is also the key to eternity in Heaven.

In James 1:6-7 - "But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord," another hindrance is our lack of faith, when we stand before God to make our requests known we ought to believe that He will work it out for our good. The Word of God says that "Without Faith it is impossible to please Him" (Hebrews 11:6).

Let us believe so that we will not waver

In Luke 15:11-32 the Parable of the Prodigal son, the son left with his inheritance and soon began eat with the pigs when he had nothing left; the Bible says that he came to his sense and decided to go back home in where he told his father that he has sinned against Heaven and against him (his father) and he asked for forgiveness. It is only after he asked for forgiveness that his father asked his servants to bring out the ring to put on his finger and the best robe We ought to ask God to search us and see if there be any wicked ways in us that needs changing

Mother Violet Gittens pictured at the IBMU’s Ordination

PHOTO BY FIVE STAR PHOTOGRAPHY

Women's Inspiration

Sunday 27th August, 2023 | Women's Sunday

The meaning of what it means to be a WOMAN

W - Wonderfully made (Psalm 139:13-14) Fearfully and wonderfully made

O - Optimistic - Hopeful and confident about the future

M- Manager - (Proverbs 31)

A- Appointed and Anointed (Luke 4:18) - "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to preach the gospel

N- Noble Minded - high moral or intellectual, value, elevate in nature and style

BORN TO LEAD BORN TO LEAD BORN TO LEAD