The Most Important Day!

This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year - Exodus 12:2.

This next month is the most important month in the Christian year. It's the month we celebrate or commemorate the Death, Burial and Resurrection of our Lord.

For the Jews, Passover was the most important time of the year, and as Christians, we celebrate the fulfillment of this ritual. We can rejoice knowing that God had a plan that would someday provide our victory over death and the grave.

Good Friday would not be good if it was not followed by Resurrection Sunday!

So for Christians, these days have special meaning and significance. Our special times of worship and praise have rich meaning like no other time in the year.

Plan now to attend and take part in these very wonderful services of celebration and praise to God for His marvelous provision for a needy world.

Easter Schedule

April 13
7:00 PM Good Friday Service

April 15
9:30 AM Easter Service
10:30 AM Fellowship Time
All Sunday School Classes are cancelled.

Fort Hope Jamboree

From March 7-11, Barb Hugo and I had the privilege of attending a Gospel Jamboree put on by several native Christian leaders from Guilding Light Church in Thunder Bay.

We were able to enjoy Gospel music and preaching native-style! The Jamboree was also broadcast via radio to 43 other native communities in northwestern Ontario.

On Friday evening Barb and I were asked to open the festivities with prayer. We both prayed and I closed with Isaiah 61. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. . .

During the daytime we had various opportunities to meet with native friends. I was able to spend some quality time with Lucy Slipperjack, who is a special friend that I have been praying for. She is an Ojibwe language teacher at the reserve school. She gave us a wonderful tour of the school on the day we arrived.

We stayed at Pastor Joe and Anne Waswa's home. Pastor Joe shepherds the Fortress of Hope Church. They have three young children who are a delight. We greatly enjoyed and appreciated their hospitality.

Pray for the dear people at Fort Hope, that they will continue to grow strong in the Lord and that many more will find Jesus and live victorious lives for Him.

The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad! Psalm 126:3

First I want to thank the Outreach Commission and all who prayed for our Okontoe Winter Outreach to Fort Hope. At certain times of ministry I could actually feel and know that people were praying. We couldn't have done what we did except for faithful pray-ers. It was exciting and spiritually refreshing to be so definitely used of God.

Friendships were strengthened and new relationships with the Ojibwe people were established. Cindy and I prayed during the Gospel Jamboree and for Dave Boeltl, Oktonoe Trip Leader, while he ministered by playing guitar, drums, and singing each night.

Before I left on the trip, our Outreach Chairman, Vernon Anderson, told me to be a blessing to many. Praise God that this occurred - it was a giving and receiving experience.

Special Thanks to The Planters and the Worship Commission for planning and leading the Concert of Prayer, which many of us (76) enjoyed on Sunday evening, March 18th.

When we work in the church, it is we who are working; when we pray for the church, it is God who is working. When both happen, the Kingdom is greatly advanced! - Bob Chapman

Preparing Good Ground

But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience. -Luke 8:15

As a young lad, I used to think that my dad disked and dragged his fields way too many times. My dad was concerned about hard, lumpy soil. He was always wanting to change the "lumps" into "loose, loamy soil". I guess he was thinking about the high cost of the "precious seed" that would be planted into the soil. He wanted the earth to be "just right" for the best possible germination of the seed.

Just recently, my attention has been directed to a passage in Luke 8:11-15 which is the Parable of the Sower. Jesus, as He spoke these words, seemed to be very concerned about people and especially about their heart conditions represented by hard, rocky, and weed-infested ground. He was concerned that His Word, the "precious, costly seed" would bring about the best return in the hearts of His hearers!

When people walk into First Free church on Sunday mornings, they bring with them four kinds of hearts: hard, rocky, preoccupied and, as Luke would say, "noble and good hearts". Preparing our hearts to receive God's "precious Word" is not unlike preparing "good ground" for Spring planting. It often needs a lot of disking and dragging, just plain hard work!

As Pastor Fallt ministers to us from the Book of Hebrews in the Sundays ahead, presenting Jesus Christ, we need to ask ourselves this question. How may we prepare our hearts for His "precious seed"? In my own case, I would need to come with a soft heart for what God may want of me. Unlike Peter who once said, "not so, Lord!" (Acts 10:14), I would need to say, "yes, Lord!" when He expresses His will to me during the morning sermon. Or the busyness of my life might be like rocks that keep God's Word from taking root. Or preoccupation with all the alluring things (you name them, the list is unending) of this world that claim my heart! These things might be like weeds that choke tender plants. Or for you, it might mean coming to church with an expectant heart and a prayerful attitude toward what God wants in your life today. Jesus calls this "a noble and good heart".