All posts tagged: Hope

The only one of its kind

June 10, 2013 Merlin Gonzales Backyard Missions, FHL Mobile Food Pantry

As I was looking today at the FHL web responses that we recently had from around the country, and after researching, I found out that FHL is the only one of its kind that intentionally incubates self sustained food pantries in the US.

Here’s how FHL does it:

Identification of food pantry sites
Classroom and onsite classes (8 sessions)
- Based on:
  - Acts 6 – Organized food distribution
  - Mark 16 – Sharing the Gospel
  - Matthew 28 – Discipling the nation
Provides training and grocery items to the pantries for up to 6 months to help them become self-sustained
In most instances, the food pantries experience more salvations during the food distributions than when the church (a food pantry site) hold their weekend services. For example, one of FHL food pantries, Luz de Vida, (a church with less than 20 members) had 3 salvations in February, 6 in March, 1 in April and 1 in May of this year!

I have written in detail how the “Grassroots Movement in the Kingdom” in my book, The Kingdom in our Midst. I will share with you the details next week.

With the gas prices that continues to increase, more food assistance are needed in our cities. Unfortunately, the poor gets hit the hardest. The income/wages remains almost the same in the past few years, so when you divide the household pie (income) there’s less for food and for other necessities due to increasing fuel prices that jacks up the prices of mostly all commodities.

This year’s FHL Week (July 21-28) theme is “Help feed the hungry in your own backyard”. Below is a list of simple things you can get involved with:

Food Drives/Collections – Your church or your places of work and/or business can do food drives/collections during FHL Week. Another way to be a part of food collection is to help us get your neighborhoods involved. By hanging food collection bags on the door knobs, you can address hunger in our city.
Urban Garden starts or maintenance – FHL partners with organizations who are directly involved in gardening. During FHL Week, you can come alongside us to do some gardening.
Volunteer at a food pantry – You can support some of our pantries through volunteerism or through your financial support.
Volunteer at other food organizations – FHL connects volunteers, resources and needs; you can get involved in serving the FHL food partners and sponsors.

John Mott, a Nobel Peace Prize Winner once said, “The person who does the work is not as productive as the one who multiplies the workers.” Faith Hope and Love is an organization that multiplies not only the workers but also the resources. I am appealing to you to help us answer the hunger problem by partnering with FHL in incubating self-sustained food pantries. By the end of July 2013, FHL should have planted 13 food pantries altogether. Currently, FHL is directly supporting 5 food pantries.

Please consider contributing or sponsoring a food pantry that provides physical and spiritual food to the least, the lost and the last. You can respond to this Blog or email [email protected] to find out how you can be a part of this innovative approach to feed the hungry.

John 14:23-27 Part 1

May 6, 2013 Merlin Gonzales KIOM, Message, Speaking Engagements

John 14:23-27, “Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. ²⁴Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

²⁵“All this I have spoken while still with you. ²⁶But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. ²⁷Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

Let me give you a background of these verses to help us understand its context or the circumstances that precede this situation.

The Sunday before Jesus was crucified, he entered Jerusalem. This day is what we now call Palm Sunday, the start of the Holy Week. It’s the Sunday before Easter that was called “The Triumphal Entry”.

The following day, Monday, Jesus entered the Temple in Jerusalem and He drive out the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. He knocked over the tables of the moneychangers and the chairs of those selling doves.

On Tuesday that week, He had confrontations with the religious leaders who were trying to trap Him with a question about paying taxes to Caesar to get evidence for His arrest.

The following day, Wednesday probably was a day of rest.

That Thursday, Jesus asked His disciples to find them a place to observe the Passover on an Upper Room. This was the night of the Last Supper. This was the time when Jesus washed His disciples’ feet and that was the same night that the Bible records as John Chapter 14, which is our Scripture reading today.

Jesus talked about love many times before these passages. In verse 23, He said, “All who loves me will do what I say.”

Love and obedience are a single package; they come together. Love manifests obedience and obedience manifests love. Jesus is saying to us that if we love Him, we should obey Him. This verse is described well by these verses in John 8:3-11, ³The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group ⁴and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. ⁵In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” ⁶They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. ⁷When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

⁹At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. ¹⁰Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

¹¹“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” Jesus is saying to us today, that He loves us as He loved the woman who was caught in adultery. However, He told the woman to obey Him, to stop doing what she had been doing – adultery.

Friends, God loves us that He does not want us to hurt ourselves. Although God had forgiven our sins (that is, if you received Jesus Christ in your heart) like the adulterer, there is consequence when we continue to sin.

Let’s continue on verse 23. Jesus also said to His disciples that His manifestation to the disciples’ lives would be in response to their love and obedience – that’s why Jesus said that God the Father and Himself will make their home with those who love and obey Him. Not only Jesus would take residence in us but also God the Father. In addition to loving us, but He takes pleasure in loving obedient believer.

In our lives, we catch ourselves praying for God’s power to manifest in our lives and wondering why (after months of praying) His power is not manifesting to us. We can pray for God’s help but if we don’t help ourselves, meaning, we disobey Him, we therefore do not receive what we pray for. We are actually hindering ourselves for the manifestation of God in our lives and robbing ourselves of the blessings.

On the next verse, He said “Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching.”

Here, Jesus is saying the same thing in different way. Not obeying Him, is not loving Him. Saying I love you to your spouse is not enough; it’s loving him or her with action. Taking action in loving your spouse is a demonstration of real love. Disobedience is a serious matter. There are consequences for our disobedience.

I would like to pause here before we move on to the next verse. Like many of us, I used to live in sin and continue to do the same thing even though I know I am disobeying God. The harder I tried to keep away from sinning, it seemed like I cannot get away from them and do the right thing.

I tried going to church every Sunday and still finding myself failing.

I tried going to Bible studies and still disobeying God intentionally

I started volunteering thinking that doing good things will get me to heaven.

It was until I decided to accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior that I had the strength and grace to break away from the bondage of sin. Friends, the Bible said that God sent His one and only Son to the earth to be one of us. He was tempted in everyway possible, but never sinned. He came to this earth to release us from our bondage to sin by dying on the cross. The Bible said that those who confess their sins and accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior will be saved from their sin and will inherit eternal life. When the sinner repent of his sin, trust Christ and confess Him as His Lord and Savior, he is born again. His sins are forgiven and He can be assured that he will go to heaven when he dies. Jesus paid the price for us by dying on the cross for the forgiveness of our sin. He rose again and is now in heaven. If you are ready to accept Jesus in your heart, please repeat this prayer. “Jesus, forgive me. I sinned and I am sorry. I repent from my sin. Jesus, please come into my heart and be the king of my life. I accept you as my Lord and Savior, in Jesus Name, Amen.” If you pray that prayer and you are serious about it, you can be sure that you now have eternal life.

If you have questions about finding out more about Jesus, His death and His resurrection, please contact Merlin by responding to this Blog.

The Next Step

April 6, 2013 Merlin Gonzales Backyard Missions, FHL Indiana, KIOM

Previously, I wrote the article about Missional Community and the most recent one was about taking the time to be intentional to have a transformational community.

I mentioned that I will be writing about the next step towards building missional community. In order for us to have lasting changes, we need to build a strong foundation. Our foundation is the Biblical Principles.

I am currently conducting a teaching series on “a study on Living in God’s Dominion Here on Earth.” Here’s Session #1 Introduction to the Kingdom

Be blessed!

Merlin

Busy weekend

July 3, 2012 Merlin Gonzales FHL Indiana, FHL Week

Many things transpired this past weekend. I started Saturday with an 8am Staff meeting with Religion in the News (RIN) at Channel 8. We planned the “Give Back” day for the staff during FHL Week. We decided to start a garden for one of the families who will be receiving other household services.

This month’s edition of RIN features FHL Week. I invited 3 Guests to be on the show: Lourenzo Giple – a Project Manager; Jonathan Granados – a Youth Leader for FHL Youth Conference; and Angie White – a recipient of household services and other projects.

Later that afternoon, my wife, Annie and I, and our 2 children, Kayla and Andrew, went to a Concert at Conner Prairie. We had lots of fun. It was a great time with my family.

My typical Sunday morning involves either preaching or visiting churches. However, instead of getting ready to go to church, I spent my morning appreciating God’s creation in my garden. While tilling my garden, Annie read the Bible for my mother on our back porch. As she was reading Ezekiel 37, the Lord spoke to me to preach on it that afternoon at Nuevo Amanecer, a Hispanic church. After tilling my garden, I went to my study room to read Ezekiel 37. It was the introduction that I was seeking for the sermon I had prepared earlier.

I arrived at the FHL office to meet my 12:30 appointment, Tarie White, a single mother of 3 children. She was to receive a donated vehicle from FHL. She was very thankful to receive the 1997 Saturn.

After transferring the title, Tarie drove the car home smiling and praising God. My wife and I hurried to our van to proceed to Nuevo Amanacer (New Horizon Church). I had preached at this church a few months earlier and was invited back to help the leaders encourage the congregation to action. At the end of my message, I sensed the Holy Spirit’s Presence and that the people’s hearts were ready. Everyone in the congregation came to the front for impartation, prayers and blessings.

We were invited by the Pastor and his family to eat dinner at a Latino Grocery/Restaurant. We got to know more about each other while sharing pleasantries. We had great time and thoroughly enjoyed the delicious authentic Mexican food.

We left the restaurant to go to another Hispanic church, Iglesia Wesleyana Monte de Sion. We watched the FHL worship band’s rehearsal for the upcoming Prayer Celebration at the Circle. They sounded great, but more important was that together, they ushered in the Presence of God.

Once we got home, I recorded the Day 22 Prayer and drafted this Blog. As I look back at this weekend, I realized how blessed I am to be a participant in the expansion of the Kingdom of God in Central Indiana. God had used me and my wife to share God’s love to my family and to others, such as the single mother, who I had just met for the very first time. What a blessing for me to see God use my hands as an extension of His Hands, my resources to bless others and use my talent for His Glory!

Three Town Hall meetings in 2 days

March 9, 2012 Merlin Gonzales FHL Indiana, FHL Week

Last Wednesday, I joined the planning meeting in Pendelton, IN for the FHL Week in Pendelton/Anderson area. There was 2 pastors, 2 church leaders and a Chaplain for the Pendleton Police department. They are planning to something neat for the public servants (Can’t reveal what they are yet until they finalize the details of the project. They will share the same idea with the Anderson churches to see if they would like to do the same. The next step for them is to talk with several other town leaders for a few more projects they have in mind. They are looking to partner with churches, government and businesses. To find out more about the Pendleton/Anderson area, you can contact Wellspring Church at 317-491-2319 and ask for Facundo Cortez.

Later that night, I was at the West Indy Town Hall. It was attended by about 15 people mostly from the Cloverleaf area. Many thanks to our host, Pastor Larry Evans of Cloverleaf Baptist church. We had pizza and drinks and we shared the purpose of the meeting – Neighborhood Makeover). We had a brief brainstorming to identify the needs in the neighborhood. It was amazing to hear what the residents shared with everyone. Needless to say, everyone wants to get involved We were surprised by a Reporter from Indianapolis Star who stayed for the entire 1.5 hours to gather data for an article. The next planning meeting will be on Tuesday, March 20th at 7p. They will be identifying possible projects for FHL Week. For more info about the West Indy area, please contact Pastor Larry Evans at 317-750-1659.

Last night, I was at Martinsville Town Hall meeting held at JK’s Cheesecake Cafe. I did not know what to expect since this was a brand new area for FHL. As soon as I arrived there, we were greeted by our Host Jason & Shannon Suttles and 2 FHL volunteers. We set up the projector and sound system while people started to come. There were lots of finger food and drinks. Just before we got started, the room was full with more 20 people. I share the history of FHL and the purpose of the meeting – to answer the question “What would Martinsville look like we you could say, “God’s blessings is present and active here.” All the attendees answered the question; here are some answers (see the picture on top of this Blog): address the impoverish areas, neighborhood clean up, educating the youth to be more active and healthy, unity of churches, food pantry, prayer teams, etc. Later, I found out that there were Pastors, business people and community leaders present at the meeting. Everyone wants to get involved. The next planning meeting (purpose is to narrow down the possible projects) is tentatively scheduled on Friday, April 13th at JK’s Cheesecake Cafe located at 110. E. Morgan St 46151. For more information, please contact Shannon Suttles at 812-272-5451

For other FHL areas, please contact me at 317-578-3370. Looking forward to working with you in changing the world…in our community. Our next Town Hall meeting will be at Southport City Hall at 7pm on Monday, March 12th.