Powerful Prayer Points

Prayer is vitally important in all of our lives.  I suppose I could not emphasise sufficiently the importance, impact and power of prayer.  I often try.  It is a subject that I continually study and endeavor to practice.  Never enough, but I am still trying.  I read the following and wanted to pass it on to you. This preacher said:

Being a practitioner of prayer for about sixteen years and learning to experience the resource that prayer affords has created an acute awareness of the need for prayer, personally and corporately.  Prayer is the essential foundation for a healthy and effective Christian disciple-making Church.

Across our country, many pastors are disillusioned.  They are coaxed by their peers into the mode of offering many programs to build the church.  In not too many years, those pastors have burned out, some to the point of despair and loss of faith.  Many faced with this cycle try to find another new technique or exciting new seminar, which usually only compounds the problem.  The stories of disillusionment in the ministry are without number.  Many ministers in America are well trained but remain spiritually ineffective.

Participating for ten years in a “cyber fellowship” with several hundred other pastors has been an eye-opening experience.  This e-mail format discusses current issues and challenges churches, pastors, and their families face.  Discussion topics range from “How to do a baby dedication” to “Where to find professional counseling” for the pastor whose wife has just left after twenty years of living in a glass house.  Ministers are crying out for help.  Many times their cries are diagnosed incorrectly, and the proposed solutions are less than effective[ .  Eugene Peterson articulates the current state from his perspective:

 

American pastors are abandoning their posts, left and right, and at an alarming rate.  They are not leaving their churches and getting other jobs.  Congregations still pay their salaries.  Their names remain on the church stationery and they continue to appear in pulpits on Sundays.  But they are abandoning their posts, their calling.  They have gone whoring after other gods.  What they do with their time under the guise of pastoral ministry hasn’t the remotest connection with what the church’s pastors have done for most of twenty centuries.  They talk of images and statistics.  They drop names.  They discuss influence and status.  Matters of God and the soul and Scripture are not grist for their mills.  The pastors of America have metamorphosed into a company of shopkeepers, and the shops they keep are churches.

 

Pastors need to get back to their calling.  They need to get their eyes back on God through prayer and Bible reading to discover the spiritual direction that will reshape their ministry. 

 In a Massachusetts Baptist Bible Pastors’ Fellowship meeting several years ago  one of the younger ministers who had labored for years in a very ethnic area of Boston shared how God led him to see the need of prayer in his life and ministry.  He explained how for years he had distributed thousands of pieces of Gospel literature with very little visible result in building the church.  After years of frustration and soul-searching, he decided he would resort to prayer.  He gathered some of the other men of the church to meet with him for prayer.  It was not long after that spiritual activity began to take place in the church, God began to answer their prayers  James says, “You do not have because you do not ask” (James 4:2b ).  This young pastor was living proof.  When we pray, God does respond.

 

John

Car Repair, AAA, Rain, Tornado Warnings, Etc.

Some days are like that.  It rains on the just and the unjust.  The same with car troubles, weather and disasters.  But when a person is in Christ and trusts Him things can go haywire all around and inside we can experience the PEACE that only He can give.  I am so glad I am a Christian.  I am so glad to be serving the Lord.  I love what I get to do everyday.  I am so blessed to be in the ministry.  So blessed to work with other great people of God and serve Christ that when troubles and trials come - and they do and they will - I want to be like the Apostle Paul -”none of these things move me”.  I want my life to be solid IN CHRIST!  So “IN CHRIST” and so cognizant of Him and His blessings and the opportunities that I have to serve Him that nothing else matters.  It can be car problems, bad weather and all - it is still a great day when we get to serve the Lord.  I love what I do!

By the way, I am in Warrenton, VA.  I am traveling with Ransom, my Dad and Mom.  We will be in a fellowship meeting tomorrow with other Virginia pastors.  After the meeting we begin traveling west toward Missouri.

You Want The Good News Or Bad News First?

As you may know from the previous blog I am traveling.  I am writing tonight from the mission apartment of our sending church Broadway Baptist in Hopewell, VA.  Just before I got to Virginia my wife called to tell me that the contract on the building where our Jupiter church, Iglesia Bautista Faro de Luz has been meeting is soon to close and sign the sale contract and our church will be homeless.  (Not real soon - but it is coming.)  Anyway that was the “BAD” news.  This was not a surprise.  We knew it was coming eventually because the building was for sale, but we were hoping to get part of the property where our clinic has been operating, and possibly be able to use it and expand on that location, but that was not to be.  Anyway,  we are depending on the Lord  to guide us and provide for us.  We can ALWAYS trust in Him!  So for a few minutes I was a little bummed.  But the Lord knows how to change things around.

No sooner had I finished speaking with Frances and my phone buzzed and I had a text from Jorge Gomez, one of our pastoral team.  It said, “very happy.”  Well, I knew he could not have known what I had just heard so I called him and asked him why he was happy.  He told me that one guy got saved tonight and that there are now 3 or 4 new ones waiting to be baptized.  He was really excited.  He told me what I had taught him and the other men was working.  They were teaching others and some of them want to start teaching soon too.  So, Glory to God.  That is good news!  And we can see blessings like that even if we have no building to meet in because the church isn’t the building - those things will all pass away some day - the church is people - saved, baptised, teaching and doing it all over and over again. 

By the way, the young man in the center of the photo above wearing dark blue is Edmundo Diaz.  He also is one of our pastoral team.  He is presently training to go to North Africa as a Pilgrim of the Gospel along with several other young, single Peruvians.  It is exciting to see how well he is doing as he leads others to Christ, helps them grow and becomes prepared for future ministry.  He is a wonderful young man of God.  He was saved, baptised, and is training to serve the Lord.  Now that is Good News!

Pastor’s Conference For World Evangelism

My week began with an early morning flight from Palm Beach International to Knoxville, TN where I met up with Ransom.  He was all packed up, moved out of his dorm and ready to leave.  We grabbed lunch in the Crown cafeteria, he said good bye to a few friends and we headed to Alpharetta, GA for the conference. 

We arrived at Vision Baptist Church just in time for the wonderful meal they had prepared.  After the meal we were treated to great singing and preaching.  Pastor Gardner and the folks at Vision are great hosts.  They are treating us all royally.  Food, hotel and great fellowship. 

All day Tuesday we enjoyed and benefited from classes taught by various preachers to challenge and instruct us about world missions.  There are a lot of conferences around for Pastors to attend but I don’t know of any others where the emphasis is world missions. 

We have half a day more of the conference left on Wednesday and Ransom and I will hit the road again to head for Virginia.  Later this week we will be in a fellowship meeting in Gainesville, VA.  Then Friday we head for Missouri for another meeting.

2 Timothy 2:2

“And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” 

It is always a joy when you see those you have been training begin to let you know that what they are receiving is indeed becoming part of them.  This week we start a new round of discipleship in our Florida church, Iglesia Bautista Faro de Luz.  As we kick it off on Wednesday we have a whole new group of disciplers and a growing group who will be discipled.  Praise the Lord! 

Those who have heard, learned and grown will now be teaching a new group of faithful men, with the goal that they will teach others also.  It is very exciting to see men who trusted Christ, who were baptised by you and trained by you beginning the process of reaching the next generational cycle.  That is the genius of Christianity.  If we are not reaching and teaching others the cycle stops. 

Pray for our new group of disciplers as they begin to teach their groups on Wednesday.  They are anxious, nervous, yet excited about launching out to do their part as disciples passing on the faith of Christ to others who will teach others, who will teach others, who will teach others, until Jesus comes. 

Good News For Muslims

 

There is a phrase “wajah or face of God that is frequently used in the Koran.  The two most important texts are Sura 2:115 and 28:88.  They teach that men do things, they try by their works to see the face of God.  Sura 13:22 says that men seek the face of God.  One of the greatest goals, the greatest sought for treasure of a Muslim is the expectation to have a vision of God in this life or to see Him in the life to come.  (Sura 6:52; 30:3

 

The sad truth however, is that multitudes will LIVE and DIE without knowing that the Bible has THE GOOD NEWS for all who seek and desire to see the (wajah) face of God.  The Bible teaches us in Colossians 1:15 that Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God.  If anyone wants to know what God is like, the Bible says “He is like Jesus Christ.”  “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”  (1 Corinthians 4:6)  In order for any human being to see God who is invisible we must by faith look upon Him who became flesh and dwelt among us.  “And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of God, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)  

 

The Good News is that one who by faith has trusted Jesus Christ to be his Savior - this person can see the (wajah) face of God by faith in this present world and can then look forward to seeing Him in the next life and abiding in Him forever.  “For now we see through a glass; darkly, but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as I am known.”  (1 Corinthians 13:12)  Pray that many would truly seek the (wajah) face of God by trusting in Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Don’t Mess With The Deposit

Paul writes Timothy in his second epistle, chapter 1 and verse 14, “That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.”  The “good thing” was the everlasting Gospel, the sound words of doctrine all the teaching, training and advice that had been entrusted unto Timothy. 

First, God had made a rich investment in this young man Timothy as he had in Paul and in all those that he has saved, called and sent forth.  Secondly, Paul had made a considerable investment in Timothy.  He had taken him on to train and serve together in their grand missionary enterprise.  Paul also reminds Timothy that this investment began with the faith investment of his grandmother and his mother.  This was carried on as others seeing the Lord in his life laid hands upon him and sent him forth as one to carry on the work of the Lord.  Much had been invested or deposited for safe keeping and wise using in his life.  So Paul, in a manner was saying, “Timothy, don’t mess with the deposit.”  Timothy needed to stay close to the Lord and keep his heart open to the influence, guidance and help of the Holy Spirit so “that good thing” that had been deposited in his life was not misspent or corrupted. 

So many today have forgotten or have not cared properly for “that good thing” that was deposited in their lives.  The Lord, their family, their pastors, teachers and friends look on with sadness as the investment that they made is wasted, squandered to compromise, apathy and atrophy. 

May we all hear again the good words of Paul to Timothy “hold fast” - don’t mess with the deposit.  Cherish it.  Guard it by the help of the Lord.  May you and I be used for His honor and glory.  Amen!

Pray For One Of My Heroes

(Copied from BCWE)

We ask that you be in prayer for Aaron with Project North Africa. Aaron, his wife, and his two small children have been living in the country of Morocco for over a year and God has blessed them greatly with the forming of the first independent Baptist church in their city.

 

Aaron is a missionary with Macedonia World Baptist Missions sent out of Grace Baptist Church in Middletown, OH. He was very instrumental in forming the Baptist Camp for World Evangelism which is held the first week of June every year to help motivate college students in the area of world missions.

 

Aaron had to be flown in to the states yesterday because of serious health issues. After many tests they have biopsied a growth in his right lung. The doctors say there is a 50% chance it is cancer. However, we know that there is 100% chance that God is in control. The results of this test should come in this Sunday.

 

Would you please pray..

    1. That God would be glorified.

    2. That the family would be comforted by the grace of God.

    3. That Aaron will be restored to good health.

 

Would you please have your church pray for this great man of God and his family. We are asking people to mobilize others to pray during the next 48 hours as we await the results.

 

If you would encourage others to pray through your website, blog, or church newsletter we ask you follow a couple of simple guidelines we use for the safety of our missionaries in closed countries.

 

We work hard to keep Aaron’s full name off of the internet. We do use his full name in email to our lists, in our bulletin, and to any form of media that we countrol the access to.

 

If you have any questions please contact us at our office. 770.456.5881 Thank you in advance for your prayers for this wonderful family. To learn more about the ministry they serve in you can go to www.projectna.com

New Church Plant In Haiti

In January Frances and I were in Haiti.  We had the opportunity to teach, preach and train about 50 Haitian pastors and some of their wives.  I had been invited by this group to specifically cover the topic of church planting which has been my field of service for over 30 years.  It was a blessing to spend each day with these eager men and share with them lessons I have learned in this ministry over the years.  As with any ministry you sow in faith and await to see if their is fruit for your labor.  So you can imagine my joy when I received a letter from one of the men who attended the class informing me that he was following the church planting plan I had given them and has started a new church.  I will share this letter with you.  It was written to me in English, however this is not the young pastor’s first language but I wanted to let you read for yourself how he has written. 

Dear Pastor,

Greetings to you in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

I am delighted to write this letter just to hear from you and to tell you that I’ve just started a church at “Turbe” in my father’s country side. 

Turbe is an area where there is no church to the needs of those people living there.  So as I was evangelizing that area, I was quickly reminded of your “church building program” for Haiti in some church free areas.  Then I decided to build a church so that those people could get access to the Gospel. 

Now some new converted and I are working to gain some more souls for the Lord.  Please, Dear Pastor, dont forget that new young church in your program and your prayer, especially, because no one can do nothing serious in Christ by his own. 

I wish I would hear from soon.  I love you in Christ Jesus.

God bless you,

Pastor Isaac Simeon

Frances and I discovered in Haiti some of the greatest poverty that can be witnessed in the world, but especially here in the western hemisphere.  People there have tremendous needs physically and spiritually.  We have been invited to return to work with these pastors again as soon as we can and we are praying the Lord would provide the means and opportunity for us to do so.  We thank God that we heard from this young pastor.  Please pray for him and the others who want to do more in the work of Christ. 

Training Servants In Guatemala For The World

Our desire as always is to do those things which will bring maximum glory to our Lord.  To this end we are working in Guatemala and other areas as the Lord opens the doors.  Pastor Larry Swartz and I spent many hours working Pastor Salomon.  Our main and immediate purpose is to help him set up a training center in Guatemala.  We want you to especially pray for Diego and Antonio.  These, along with others will be involved in the work to be trained for the work of the ministry.  We were able to provide some very fine text books and materials that will help in the training.  More than that we know that Pastor Salomon will pour his life into these men just as we did as we were training him.  We are looking to see the Lord do great things with all of these fine young men. 

One of our goals is to help them see that we live in a big world.  Many who live in third world countries have trouble grasping the reality of the world outside their immediate surroundings.  For them it is not so much a selfishness problem like we have here in the US, but an ignorance problem.  They do not have the same exposure to the outside as we have.  Our hearts are always thrilled as we see the lights coming on in their eyes as they  begin to develop a burden for others around the world who are still waiting to hear the Gospel for the first time.  Some who would never have considered the need to carry the Gospel beyond a near by village are for the first time considering how God may have plans for them to carry the Gospel to the other side of the world.  Real Bible missions is coming alive to them for the first time. 

How sad it is that many who have the resources, information and education here in the states are satisfied to sit with folded hands while most of the world heads to hell.  On the other hand, those who have little or no resources, little information and education are doing all they can to see how they can carry the saving message of Christ into a dark world.  What are you doing to get this saving message of Christ to those who sit in darkness?