Merlin Gonzales

merlin

Merlin founded Faith Hope and Love Intl., which collaborates with churches crossing denominational lines. He has developed the concept of “Mission Trips in Your Own Backyard” to unify the Body of Christ by bringing the love of God into the community. Merlin’s messages and teachings are about raising up a generation passionate for God to build a legacy of transformation. He is an Advisory Council Member for the State of Indiana Office of the Faith-based and a co-host for Religion in the News. Merlin speaks at churches, businesses, government, educational institutions and faith based organizations to encourage people to live out their faith. He is a church consultant helping pastors reach out in their communities to raise and train leaders. Merlin and his wife Annie live in Noblesville, Ind.

Southside FHL Areas Update

The White Board Discussion

On behalf of FHL, I would like to welcome Mike Jarvis, Beech Grove Area Coordinator and Roger Huntzinger of Southside Times as the Official Media Sponsor for the 2012 FHL Week in the Southside which include Beech Grove, Southport and Greenwood.

UPDATES:

Beech Grove – the Town Hall Meeting last night was participated by about 30 individuals from all walks of life (including the Fire Chief, former Chief of Police, community leaders and members. Mayor Buckley opened the meeting by welcoming everyone. I facilitated the meeting by introducing the concept of “Mission Trip in your Own Backyard.” Everyone was encouraged to participate by answering the question, “What would Beech Grove look like if you could say, ‘God’s blessing is present and active.'”

The next step is to meet again at the City Hall on Wednesday, April 18th 7p for more discussions of the needs, to start the identification of possible projects during FHL Week (July 22-28) and a brief training of the leadership team.

Southport – the next meeting will be on Tuesday, April 17th 7p at Southport City Hall. FHL is now in the process of finalizing the Southport Area Coordinator. The cleaning of the Buck Creek might be one the projects.

Greenwood – There were preliminary exploratory meetings regarding the Neighborhood Makeover with the government and churches in the past. Future meetings with the Greenwood leaders will be scheduled in the near future.

God has been giving us favor to speak and collaborate with the different community leaders in Central Indiana. Thank you for your prayers and support.

You are invited to any of the meetings nearby. God bless,

Merlin Gonzales

Merlin GonzalesSouthside FHL Areas Update
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Kingdom of God -Local missionaries

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Merlin GonzalesKingdom of God -Local missionaries
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Kingdom of God in Beech Grove

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Merlin GonzalesKingdom of God in Beech Grove
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Carmel Mayor on the Kingdom of God

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Merlin GonzalesCarmel Mayor on the Kingdom of God
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God wants our faithfulness, not our success

My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me,
the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

Jeremiah 2:13

I believe this is a reminder to us that we need to put our faith in the Spring of Living Water. It is easy to try to “help God” to make things happen just because we are ministering to others. We have heard that there’s the part of man and the part of God in a given situation. I am not saying that we just sit and watch what God is doing. We have to put our trust and faith in God and His purpose before we look somewhere else.

When we are in a battle, we don’t see everything, but we can always bank on looking to Jesus first. That’s why the prophet Jeremiah said, let’s not leave the fountain of living water and go to the broken cisterns for fresh water. The cisterns could be our position or title, our “big” contact, our bank account or even our own abilities. These things are cracked jars that cannot hold no water at all!

Look to Jesus first then act accordingly.

Jeremiah prophesied and preached to the same people for about 40 years. Very few people listened to him but he continued to do what God had told him to do and say what God had told him to say. In our modern time, we can easily say that during Jeremiah’s ministry, he was failure. However, success in world’s view may not be the same success as defined by the Scripture. God wants our faithfulness, not our success.

Jeremiah may not have fully realized that the transformation of the people was already happening during his time. He had countless oppositions and he was banished from the people who had authority over the land…so they thought.

God is the fountain of fresh flowing water. Once we come to the point that we abandon everything for Him, He will empower us to do His will through us. Like the the prophet Jeremiah, God works in us and through us and He will make sure that He will continue to finish what He started in you.

Be encouraged, my friends!

Merlin GonzalesGod wants our faithfulness, not our success
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