January 2013                                                                                Saved By Grace Alone

Dear Christmas Partners in the Gospel to All Nations,

 

We are so thankful for your support of prayers and generous gifts to the Christmas Tree of All Nations! God has mightily used you to make it a fruitful tree that reached out with Christ's love to many refuge children and their families.   

 

 

Not only did they receive Christmas gifts to unwrap, but they also received the best Christmas gift of all...the Gospel message about the baby Jesus who came to be a gift for all people. They heard that the best gift doesn't come in a box, but instead was hung on a tree, the Cross. Please continue to pray for these children that they may be washed in baptism and receive their gifts from the fruitful tree of life. "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life" (Rev. 22:14).  

 

 

We want to share with you some of the pictures from our  annual Christmas Tree of All Nations program that took place on Monday evening, December 17th, in the Fellowship Hall at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Dallas.

  • Smiling, eager children with shining dark eyes barely able to sit still due to their excitement
  • Animated conversations in Arabic, Nepali, and English all taking place simultaneously as families visited with each other
  • A Power Point of events and accomplishments through out the year played in the background 
  • Hundreds of brightly wrapped Christmas presents with names on them from all nations (including Bhutan, Iraq, Sudan, Nepal, Eritrea and Ethiopia)
  • A dramatic video re-enactment of the angel appearing to Mary and to Joseph announcing Christ's birth
  • Christmas hymns sung to praise Jesus, the most important gift ever given  
  • Families being called by their names and coming forward to receive their gifts
  • People from all nations mingling together and creating a glimpse of heaven-- (Rev. 7:9).

 

This year's Christmas Tree of All Nations included  102 children, and DOW is already at work to reach even more families next year.  Churches will soon be contacted to begin planning for the 2013 Christmas Tree of All Nations.

 

POBLO-TEXAS (DOW) would also like to take this opportunity to thank Our Redeemer Lutheran School (Dallas) students and families, and Our Redeemer Congregation for their generous support in adopting our "Christmas Tree of All Nations", and for providing the use of their fellowship hall to host the event so that the children of the refugee families in our programs could be inspired and learn the importance of celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  Matthew 19:14 "Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do  

                                              not hinder them,for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these..."

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

   

 

 

                      To view all the photos of  this inspiring event, please click here!

A Christmas Tree of All Nations from People of All Nations  

  

 

We thank the Lord of All Nations for your prayers and support. Please know that your generosity is humbling, overwhelming and appreciated. We look forward to partnering with you again next year as we build everlasting relationships with people of All Nations in the name of Jesus. Without the prayers and financial support of individuals and the following churches and their congregations, we would not be able to do this program. Ascension-Cleburne, Beautiful Savior-Arlington, Calvary Bible Church-Richardson, Christ Memorial-Houston, Christ the King-Waxahachie, Christ Our Savior-Coppell, Concordia Seminary-Saint Louis, Cross of Christ-DeSoto, Ebenezer-Paige, Faith-Gainesville, Faith-Plano, Faith-Wylie, Faith LWML-Grand Prairie, Good Shepherd-Azle, Holy Shepherd-Haslet, Hope Lutheran Church-Corinth,  Immanuel-Charlottesville, King of Glory-Williamsburg, Lamb of God-Flower Mound, Messiah-Keller, Our Savior-Houston, Our Savior-Rockwall,  Our Redeemer-Dallas, Our Redeemer-Longview, Our Redeemer Lutheran School-Dallas, Redeemer Lutheran Church-Fort Worth, St John-Mansfield, St John's-Okarche, St. Paul-Groves, St. Paul-Plainview, St. Paul-Wichita Falls, Word of Life-Lincoln, Zion-Georgetown.

 

 

"For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them."  Matthew 18:20  


The Art of Quilting is a journey of color and inspiration, a visual feast of imagination and expression.  A quilt is a bed covering or blanket made from layers of fabric around a layer of batting with the layers stitched together in a design or pattern. A blanket on your bed that contains a decorative series of interlocking square fabric pieces on one side, with batting in the middle for warmth.

 

To quilt is to stitch and join together different kinds of fabric to create a decorative blanket or bed cover. When you take scraps of different pieces of leftover fabric and you sew them together in a pretty pattern to make a bed covering, this is an example of when you quilt.  

 

Quilting is a fascinating work of art that has always gotten my attention since I was a child. The first time I saw a quilt, I loved everything about it. I love quilts because they remind me of the work of God the master builder of every family. He gathers people of many colors and scraps fabric of life and brings them into one place...to quilt a family - Mark 10:14 "... for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these". Gathered from all the corners of life, they come in all different colors, forms and shapes, some of them are even deformed and formless. As described in Acts 17:26-28[a], the master gathers, cuts and places them in the right place and the right time "...From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being".  

  

Quilts are made of scrap fabric. Some fabrics come from very famous brand names of material and perhaps even rich and wealthy homes. Other scraps come from inexpensive and humble beginnings. But when the quilt maker finishes his work, they become part of one big family.   He cuts and shapes them all together in one big quilt and connects them into one big family of scraps. The origin of the fabric does not matter. In the hands of the master they are one and the same. What is even more fascinating about this quilt is the fact that all these scraps of different colors and shapes are connected together at the center. They call it the center piece of the quilt. Sometimes it looks like a beautiful diamond or a square in the middle of all the scraps. Like a diamond that glows in the darkness, these broken pieces, will not exist without it.  

This is the purpose that is purposed against the whole earth,
And this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations. Isaiah 14:26 
 
   

All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,

I have seen many quilts of many colors in my life, but only one has captured my heart the first time I saw it.  I believe it is the most beautiful quilt ever made on earth by its master. "After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne,

and to the Lamb." Rev 7:9-11 

 

This is God's perfect vision of his church on earth. This quilt describes the very thing God has in mind for his church family on earth as it will be in heaven. They belong to the same colorful and living quilt because Jesus brings  life to it.  The Kingdom of God is made and connected by his Son, Jesus Christ who sits right at the Center. He is the diamond that shines in their world of darkness and the Lamb who sits on the throne.   

 

Look at the dead broken scrap pieces on the table
 above, and then look at how beautifully the master brought them together into one big colorful pieced quilt in the pictures

The quilt master cuts and heals the dead and broken scraps from all the ends of the world.   He continues to gather the lost and broken into his church. He also cuts and prunes the proud and stubborn into shape and forms the formless and humbles them all together in one big giant living quilt of all nations which is carved from the inspired word of God . The mission and ministry of Sewing Seeds Of faith is to bring people from all nations to come worship the Lord, hear his Word and receive His body and blood for the forgiveness of their sins.

 

Pastor Karim Baidaoui

 


"All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you." Psalm 22:27  

UPDATE ON POBLO-TX (DOW)

$25,000 Matching Gift Challenge for 2012!

 

 Thank You! To all of our faithful supporters who dedicated their contributions to this goal - we met our challenge! To God alone be the Glory forever -Amen!