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New Year

Looking Back Over The Year 2013

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What a year it has been for Heart of Grace Ministries this year. We have all went through so many new experiences, with some of them good and a few of them difficult. Through all of the trials and temptations we have found God with us in it all. We are truly blessed and could never honor God enough for the things we have gotten to share together!

We have lost some very dear people this year. Some of them were pillars of the churches we have attended and visited over the years. For the dozens of families that shared the honor of allowing us to honor their loved ones in song: we thank you for the opportunity to obey God and be of help to you. We pray as you enter a new year that you will find the comfort of God’s spirit through the difficult times. I hope that you will (through the grieving process) begin to find life with joy once again. We offer an extended acknowledgement to the families of Effie Miller, Albert White, and Laura Sharp. Your loved ones have had an impact to all of us and it was a privilege to have known them. The impact that all of these lives have had upon us will never forgotten.

We have also went through a lot as a family. From near-death accidents to critical surgeries we have experienced the emotional roller coasters and unexpected situations that life will be guaranteed to deliver. Through the grace of God and His blessings those around us came through their experiences and now have a greater testimony as a result. I can definitely say that these things have brought us closer together and has helped us to realize in a greater way what is most important: having a relationship Jesus Christ. Without Jesus with us we would have surely found many times to be without hope and nothing to help our troubled hearts.

Through all of the circumstances we have walked through we have still pushed to obey God in our ministry. The nursing home ministry has never been better and we love the privilege to be with our special friends every month. They love Rebekah’s children and light up at the sight of new life that comes to visit. It is wonderful to hear them sing songs and teach us a thing or two about being a good soldier. The radio broadcast is going strong and is reaching more than ever. We appreciate all who spread the word about our broadcast and encourage you to continue and do so. It is another avenue that may reach those who will not go inside of a church. The cd and internet ministry is growing faster than we can meet the demand. Thank you for passing on your discs to others and sharing posts through texts/social media. We are so thankful to be a part of spreading the word of God no matter where it may be played. Every time we hear a testimony of how it has helped you it gives us strength and motivation to keep on doing the work of sending out what God speaks in our ministry to the hedges and highways. Our book ministry has finally broken ground and is beginning to grow. Continue to pray that we will follow through with the vision God gave us in this calling!

In closing I want to personally thank every single church that has welcomed us to obey God in their sanctuary. We realize that your church is your home and we love the chance to share the pleasure of worshipping God and fellowshipping with all of you. We hope to continue and receive the invitations to return! A special thanks to all the singers and musicians we have sung and played with over this year. It was always fun to jump in and jam together! I want to also thank my home church (13th Street Church of God) for the chance to operate in the gift of delivering the word of God and the love and support that comes with it. Even as God begins to shift our ministry to a new home base in the future I pray that God will move us all forward in our callings and that we will continue to have a great fellowship through the legacies that we are paving for the upcoming generations to come.

We hope to be at your church in the upcoming year and to hear about the wonderful things that God is working for your good. We wish you a blessed New Year and a favored season in your life.

~ Jared M.

Singings, Website, and Radio OH MY!

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Where do I even begin? I guess I can just start by summing up everything that has been going on in my life (as well as the rest of us in Heart of Grace) by saying this: whew!

During the holidays and into the turn of the new year, we took some time from being in the ministry as a group and being more focused on drawing closer to God as individuals. Sometimes you have to devote that time, for it’s necessary to be able to continue together!

With a long story short, we are finally in a place where we are ready to start hitting the road for another few months and to be amazed at what God has in store! We have already done a couple singing appointments recently with many more to come!

I have been working every day continually to try and make our online ministry the best that it can possibly be. We’ve done some rearranging, retagging, recoloring, needless to say the renovations are not done yet! Our goal is that this site be a place that people can go to and find strength and encouragement! And based on some of the feedback we have got, we’re getting there!

The radio ministry has been a blessing, and will continue to be! Please join us and check us out online every saturday at 2:00 PM EST on our web site. The instructions on how to listen are there!

Resolutions, Resolutions, Resolutions

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I want to start out today by reading some difficult but inspiring verses to everyone.

James 1:2-4

[2] My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

[3] Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
[4] But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

We have to begin to transform our lives in this year with what will seem like 2 brand new steps. I’m also going to tell you that this might not be your favorite thing that you ever hear me tell you, but nonetheless we’ll speak what God would lead us to.

The first thing that we HAVE to do is to stop complaining every second that we have breath to the Lord as well as everyone else. We have to begin to realize that there will always be someone else out there that has it worse, and that our situation is not the worst in the world. I’m not being horrible and saying that you don’t have dark days, but the scriptures lead us to handle things differently. They lead us to count it all joy. I know that it seems impossible to do, but you know how we count something joy even when it hurts? As we begin to count our blessings and begin to use the other tools that God gave us to bring us to a good place, we will find stability as we journey on towards the end of a trial!

The second thing that we have to do is let faith work. How do we do that? Well, first of all by not running away when things get too hard. We cannot back down or give up in the middle of something. That is how God builds up something good in us. It’s one of the ways he can get glory and you can overcome the enemy! If you stay grounded in God, desiring nothing but his will, and let that patience through your faith have its work, you will have an experience to speak of from the ends of your trials that you will have learned from! And always remember, when it comes to the trials of God, you are never tested in something for you not to learn anything from it.

Let’s read on some more now:

James 1:12

[12] Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

Blessed is he who endures!  There is a reward for us who hang on! I have always said since I began the ministry that there is a special quality about endurance. You have to have it regardless of the condition of your body. Endurance is in the mind. For that is why we inherit the crown of life for our head and not our body.

Let’s read on:

James 1:22-25

[22] But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
[23] For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
[24] For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
[25] But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

I don’t know about you, but this sounds like all the promises and resolutions we always break! What I do know is that my false promises are a direct rebellion against his atonement! That’s a serious thing!!!

When I begin to say things like:

“I will walk right if you help me”

or

“I will purify me if you answer my prayer.”

We have to realize that we are human and that we are always going to come short, but if I surrender myself, all my rights and demands, and justifications and finally leave myself in his hands, and then through my humble prayers he can do a work in me!

The last part I want to read to you today is what I like to call the dedicated verses of my life. If you don’t have any, put these in your heart as well!

Philippians 3:13-16

[13] Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
[14] I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
[15] Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
[16] Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.

I can’t do anything for what is behind me in the yesterday.  But God is the God of the yesterdays and allows the things of the past to help us spiritually grow today.

I know more than anyone that I don’t know what tomorrow holds, but the Lord will go before us!  He is in what we are not aware of!

And I certainly know that with all that is in me that as far today, I’m going to press, strive, and break through for that peace and joy that I know will keep me.

God Bless You!

Where We Find Success

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John 12:24-28

[24] Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
[25] He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
[26] If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.
[27] Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.
[28] Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.

Jesus realized and knew his purpose, even in the midst of the trials and sorrow. You see, Jesus came TO the hour. He was not saved from it, but out of the hour! Sometimes we are in such a rut in our life and we often get so discouraged when we see no immediate results. And believe me, I know that without some kind of sign in front of us as proof of hope that it seems so dark out ahead. Here more than any other place is where we all go out in different directions, trying to find our “own way”. We’ll do it through our passion at our job, or at home, or at church, etc. We’ll go out and try to pull our own weight and bear the burdens of our trials on our own because we think that we can really handle it. Eventually, when we begin to crumble at the pressure, we have to turn to something. People always do. Whatever it is that we turn to is always different with each person, and can prove to be destructive without the leadership of God in your life.

I have learned a few lessons along the journey of my life. Unfortunately, I have also paid a great price to have learned them since most of my wisdom has came from mistakes made in my past. First of all, I have learned that we will never find ourselves through success, because we will fall to pride. When we obtain our monies and our popularity, it never fails that we always attribute it solely to ourselves. We never remember to give glory to God when it counts. I always hear to count my blessings, but we only normally count them when we are in grim situations. Pride has its place in our lives, and we have to learn to put pride in its place. We will never do it through the monotony of the daily or weekly routines; there are plenty of people out there that have been living the same life trying to put of God to find their answers out in this world. The sad truth of it all is that the satisfaction for their soul will never be there to find. And as we all know if you have been through the fire so to say, you know it if you have been through it!

We will only find success by stopping our complaining and murmuring. We have to begin to realize that we cannot do it on our own anymore. We will only begin to build confidence by the strength of God. We will only be able to endure the things that we cannot control nor understand by the peace of God as only can be given by the wonderful Holy Ghost. I cannot explain it to you. It’s just one of those things that you have, and when you have it, it will keep you through it all and help you stand through it all. We need to come TO the hour and stop trying to run from it. God can bring us through it a lot easier with us going forward than us complaining and having no faith. Faith moves God. Prayer and obedience moves God. So let’s move God and get moving! Let’s find our success through God this year!

A Brand New Year!

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How can I even begin to sum up how our ministry has grown leaps and bounds? Well, I can’t. It would be impossible to try and put into words for you how much has taken place.

The only phrase that I can say that would be able to put it into perspective would be that our progress is based on the progress “of the people”.

I feel like that we have reached out and done a great work over the past year, and I just want to thank everyone in Heart of Grace, as well as all of you who are our support along the way. We could not do a thing without you all. Most of all, I could not say any of this without giving glory to God and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for making a way for us to have a ministry to be a bright witness in these dark days.

I cannot promise you that the days ahead are going to be easy, but I can tell you that you can get all of the strength for your weakness through the power of God. Always remember that.