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India 2012 Day 5

We started off another day with a team devotion.  We have plans to visit three churches today, so everyone is busy preparing some kind of encouraging thing to say to the believers.

Our first stop was at a small church in a strict hindu village about a half an hour drive from Kumar’s place.  As we stepped into the church, we were all amazed by how small the room was. It could not have been bigger than maybe 15 feet wide by about 20 – 25 feet deep, but the floor was crammed with b with about forty believers who were anxiously waiting to hear the word of the Lord from us.  Jackie Gillette stood up and gave them a very encouraging few words before Bryan Raeder stood to share some verses to build their faith.  Then Kyle Skinner got up and shared the main message on the faith of Abraham form Romans 4.  After the message, we laid hands and prayed for all the believers individually, before being hurried out to the vehicle so we could get to our next meeting on time.

The next church was in another village near Rajahmundry. We were dropped from the vehicle because the streets were so narrow that the car could not fit. So we had to hike a little ways through the neighborhood to get to the building.  It was on the second story of a home and had a roof and three walls but was entirely open at the back.  This was a larger congregation and they seemed to be very attentive and ready to receive the word of God.  Sandy Blake shared for about 5 minutes and gave a great encouragement, followed by Zach Smith giving a 10 minute message from John 17.  Steve Whinery gave the main message, teaching on the subject of Jesus taking us from Satan’s power form Ephesians 2.  He shared the gospel at the end and gave an invitation for those who would want to surrender their lives to Christ, and many people responded.  We were greatly encouraged and the church was strengthened by the meeting.

After this service, we were very honored to be a part of a a special ceremony at the new church building site that was donated by the government to Kumar’s ministry.  We met the orphans and a crowd of believers at the place, and laid the foundation stone for the new building. Steve gave a short message before laying the stones, brick by brick, along with the mortar and anointing oil, dedicating the building project in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  We look forward to seeing the progress on future trips.

We went back to Kumar’s place and took some rest before heading out to the church at the quarry market.  This is the most dangerous area to minister in.  We have preached here for the last three years. Some of you may remember that in this place, the pastor gave his life when a local hindu radical came and decapitated him at the church.  We were humbled to be standing on the blood of a martyr.  Abbey Lalangan gave a great opening encouragement before Ryan Orozco stood and spoke for about 20 minutes on the subject of persecution.  Billy K gave the main message on the supremacy of Christ from Colossians 1. At the end of the message, 1 precious soul stood and received Christ as her personal Lord and Savior, and we joined all of heaven in rejoicing over her.  We prayed for all the people and ended our ministry for the day.

As we drove back to Kumar’s home, the team sang in unison song after song, giving glory to God for all he has been doing.  We are so thankful for his mighty power at work in and through us, and for your prayers as we continue the ministry day after day.  We finally got home around midnight and hit the sack for some much needed rest before another busy day of ministry on Monday.

Day 3,4

We started the days off with a team devotion time.  Everyone here is taking the ministry very seriously, and we all want to be sensitive to what the Holy Spirit is telling us.  It has built good team cohesion to seek the Lord together every day.

We had pastors’ conferences all day on both Friday and Saturday.  On both days, the team split up.  The women and two of the men spent the day with Jean Mary at different churches ministering to women believers and to orphan children, while Steve, Billy and two of the men spent the day at the pastors’ conference.  The first day, Kyle and Bryan went to the pastors’ training, and on the second, Zach and Ryan.

Both of these ministries are very important.  The women need good encouragement from other women, and the children, who are considered unlucky or cursed by the hindus, are very blessed by the time and the love given to them by the team.

The setting at the meeting place for the pastors’ seminars was incredible. We were in the open air, in the middle of a strict hindu village, with the speakers blasting out the teaching all day long. We sat upon a stage with about 200 plus pastors in rows of 10. On either side of us were streets lined with homes, with people steadily walking by about their business, some of them curious enough to hang around for a few moments to listen in. What was great about it is that we didn’t hide in a corner somewhere, but rather, we boldly met right in the heart of the enemy’s camp.  Here we were in the middle of a village somewhere in India, training men who give their lives and sacrifice to the ministry in ways that we in America never have or probably ever will. It’s very humbling, but at the same time, we know that God’s word applies to them the same as it does to us.

The pastors need good training if they are to continue to reach the Indian people, and to make disciples of the new converts.  We come once a year and have good success with the crusades, but ideally we want the Indian people to reach the Indian people and also to have a strong foundation of biblical knowledge to continue the ongoing ministry of making disciples and build the church.  It is a real blessing to have Steve on the team this year because he brings so much wisdom and experience from many years of study and pastoring Calvary Chapel.

Obviously Steve has much more to offer the pastors than anyone else on the team, so he taught seven of the eight teaching sessions, while Billy taught for one session to give him some relief.  The pastors were all very attentive and took notes.  Kumar was happy and told us that this was the best teaching they have gotten at a pastors’ meeting yet.  He said the teaching was very clear and would be very useful for them to apply in their ministries. This made us extremely happy and blessed to know that the Lord was using our efforts in mighty ways.

By the time the meetings were over on both days, the girls were already back home and enjoying fellowship when we arrived at about 9:00.  We shared with each other all the wonderful things that had happened during the day and how the Lord had worked.  We were very tired already, but this isn’t much of a surprise when you consider we were out in 100 degree weather all day long.

We have already finished our first four days of ministry in Rajahmundry, and are eagerly anticipating what the Lord will do in the next few days before we fly out to Chennai.  Everyone came excited for the Lord to work through them, but I am also excited to see the Lord working in them as well.  Thank you again for your faithfulness to commit us to prayer.

India 2012 Day 2

After a long day on Wednesday, the team took the opportunity to sleep a little late on Thursday morning.  We awoke to a delicious breakfast of boiled egg, toast, nan, and chutney. We had about an hour of devotion time as a team before getting ready to head out on our first full day of ministry.

Out first stop was to visit to a very special place. It is a piece of land about 1.6 acres that the government of India has given to Dr Kumar because of all the social work that he does.  In addition to the orphanage and the mission hospital, they are also very involved in HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention.  A few years back, they were given a similar piece of land to construct a new orphanage, which we visited en 2007, but before the deed was actually in writing, the local hindus took over the land and made a big political stink and spoiled the plans.  I am not sure how this works out legally, but it was a big disappointment.  Now the government has given them a new piece of land, and has also given the deed immediately.  We plan to come back on Sunday to lay the foundation stone and dedicate the land and building.  Dr Kumar plans on naming it after Calvary Chapel.

From here we went straightaway to the mission hospital where we were given a tour of the ministry.  Dr Kumar took a few patients, whom we prayed for their healing.  There were about 30-40 people waiting to be treated.  We were also able to pray over the resident doctor who gave diagnoses and treatment  to the patients.  Then we laid hands and prayed for all the patients in the waiting area, and delivered a short gospel message to them.

The mission hospital is entirely dependent on funds from America to continue.  Up until 2008, they had an average monthly budget of around $25,000. After the economic slowdown, the budget has been reduced to around $750 per month. This is just enough to keep a small staff and afford a few medicines for the sick people.  On my first trip in 2007, this place was very busy, and we actually sat in on an operation.  There were lots of people in the recovery room after life-saving operations, and all three floors were full of activity.  Now they cannot afford to use the operating room or to provide near the amount of care that they used to.  But still, they are faithful with the resources that they have, and do what they can to treat the people who come.

Now that the mission hospital is only using the bottom floor, they are using the second and third floors to house orphans.  The Living Hope orphanage is just down the street, so they keep the boys at the main building and keep the girls at the mission hospital, where they are given more security. They brought all the children to the hospital so that we could spend time with them.

As we entered the building, there were children on the second story tossing flower petals over the balcony and showering down upon us.  It is humbling to be honored in this way, but it is also good to know that they are so happy to see us.  As we entered the room, the children greeted us individually by shouting in unison, “Good afternoon, Daddy!’ or “Good afternoon, Mommy!”  Yeah, it was a tear jerker as you can imagine. We spoke some kind words of encouragement to the children before Jean Mary took over and had them sing songs for us.  We also passed out candy that we had stuffed into our luggage and watched as their faces lit up with excitement.  They exercised great self control and did not open any of their candy while we were there.  Apparently, they like to show each other what exactly it is that they received before they eat it.  Everyone enjoyed the time we had with them, and it was difficult to leave, but we knew we would have lots more time with them, so we went back to Kumar’s place to get some lunch.

After lunch, we returned to the building grounds, where we met up with the orphan children for some games. We played cricket with the boys, while the girls played a variety of games and had a lot of fun together.  We had about an hour or two of fun with them before a thunderstorm moved in and rained us out.  I was immediately concerned about our evening crusade, which was only a couple hours later.  This was a wicked storm, a torrential downpour, complete with high winds and hail.  As we sat in the vehicle to wait out the storm, we prayed for the evening meeting.  But God blessed us and the storm somehow passed by the meeting area without a single cloud.

By the time we arrived at the crusade, it was packed out again with people.  Tonight, Ryan Orozco opened in prayer, followed by a short encouragement by Billy K, then about a 10 minute lesson by Kyle Skinner, and finally a full gospel message from John 3 by Steve Whinery.  As he gave the invitation after the message, the crowd stood to their feet again and called upon the name of the Lord.  Then he gave them some practical instruction on how to grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ, before asking them to come forward for prayer.

People began to filter their way to the front, and gradually the crowd at the altar swelled and became larger and larger, as people came for a touch form the Lord upon their lives.  I was reminded of the new testament when the crowds would come to Jesus and press in, hoping just to touch his clothes.  It is the same today. People are desperate for a real encounter with Jesus Christ, because they have real needs that have no other possible hope of being met than through him.  They were not coming for a touch from us, but for a miracle from the Lord.  The praying continued until midnight.

Heading back to Kumar’s place, we prayed and reflected on the events of the last two nights. Everyone was tired but at the same time, excited to see what the next few days would hold.

Please feel free to leave comments. I will read them to the team.

India 2012 Day 1

Our first day of ministry in Rajahmundry begins with little opportunity for rest after 36 hours of travel, but the team is fired up and ready to get started.  We hit the ground running with a crusade on the evening our arrival.

A lesser team of people would have preferred more time to recover after a day and a half of long layovers and longer flights, but this is no ordinary bunch.  We left Pasco, WA at 11:30 on Monday morning, landed at Seattle and waited a few hours before boarding our 14 ½ hour flight to Dubai.  A short layover in the UAE, and we continued our journey with a quick 4 hour jump into Chennai, India.  The anticipation began to build as the team became acquainted with the heat, the smell, and the sounds of India.

Immediately after recovering our baggage, we crossed over from the international to the domestic terminal, where we obtained our tickets for the trip up north to Rajahmundry.  The baggage restrictions are a little tighter on these smaller planes, so we ended up paying an extra $100 to get all of our bags checked in.  A small price to pay when you take into consideration that we had three large suitcases packed with medical supplies for the mission hospital.  They were donated to us by the East Meets West Foundation, and as of yet we had to spend no money to get them this far. There were some Indian people in line behind us who watched in horror as I happily paid the fees, having no idea as to the value of the luggage I was paying to transport.

After 4 ½ hours of waiting around the terminal, we hopped onto the plane and traveled to Hyderabad, where we had one last layover before a quick flight into Rajahmundry, where Dr Kumar and Jean Mary greeted us with a warm welcome.  All summed up, our travel time was exactly 36 hours from the moment we left the ground in Tri Cities.

I am proud to report to you that this wonderful team of evangelists spent their time digging into God’s word and preparing for the ministry that lay before them.  Observing their dedication to apply themselves to study actually made me feel somewhat guilty for the entertainment I personally indulged in and inspired me to spend more time in preparation and prayer myself.  It is a great joy to have people around you who’s lives challenge you and encourage you as iron sharpens iron.

With a large team comes a large amount of luggage, so it took a little while to settle our things in at Kumar’s place, but we fit nicely into the space provided for us. 6 men are sleeping in one room, while the 5 women are in a separate room, each with its own attached bathroom and shower.  Dr. Kumar and Jean Mary are extremely hospitable and will settle with nothing but offering their guests their very best.  We are humbled by their tireless efforts to make us comfortable.

When we arrived at the meeting place for the crusades, the road was so full of trucks and rickshaws that we had to wait for them to clear the way for our vehicle to make it to the stage.  The transportation for the people to come to hear the message was provided completely by our fundraising efforts back home, so it was a great moment to see the reaction on the faces of the team as they began to see with their own eyes the value of all those dollars raised.  The amazement and looks of awe were added to as we rounded the corner and entered the crusade grounds.  The darkness and quietness of the roadside gave way to the bright lights of the crusade and the loud music thundering through the village, as thousands of people were gathered, worshiping and raising their hands to heaven in praise.  We climbed up onto the stage and joined them in worship, having no idea what the words were, other than the occasional “Hallelujah!”

After giving an introduction of the team, complete with garlands and traditional Indian welcome, our crusade began with Ryan Orozco opening in prayer, followed by Bryan Raeder taking a few moments to give an encouraging word.  Then Zach Smith shared for about 10 minutes before Billy K preached the message of the gospel.  When the call to salvation was made, all of heaven rejoiced as nearly the entire crowd stood to their feet without hesitation, and called upon the name of the Lord for forgiveness of their sins.  It takes your breath away when you see so many people so eager to embrace Jesus Christ.  As Kumar once told me, if you can just get a hindu to listen to the gospel, they will almost always get saved.  Tonight was no exception, as thousands of people cried out in prayer for their names to be written in the book of life.

I have been enjoying watching the faces of the team throughout the trip as they see and experience firsthand what God is doing In India.  This was another moment where I watched as it began to settle in to them the magnitude of what they are involved in and what God is using them for.  That combined with the joy of seeing so many people enter life was difficult for me to contain.

As we traveled back to Kumar’s place, we talked about the meeting and spent considerable time in prayer for the crusades, for the believers and for the pastors.  Now there are 10 more people who understand my over-use of the expression, “Fired up!”  Its hard not to be when you are a part of something so powerful that the Lord is doing.  We are not just going through the motions in Christian ministry, we are engaged in an epic battle, the ramifications of which will echo for eternity, and the objectives of our warfare are not temporary things like silver or gold, but the eternal souls of real men women and children, each of which is infinitely more valuable than anything else by comparison.

It is an honor and a privilege to be used by God and to be covered in prayer by all of our wonderful supporters back home. Thank you for your involvement in whatever capacity has been, whether by prayer of financial support.  We share our joy with you.

I would add pictures for you but the internet here is far too slow for uploading.  pictures will come next week!

Our primary objective as members of the body of Christ is to bring the message of salvation to the rest of the world. We all have different gifts for use in building up and encouraging those already in the church, but we should not allow our zeal for service drown out the cry of the world around us as they sink into hell.

150,000 people die every day. Think for a moment about how many people that is. If we believe what Jesus said, that straight is the gait and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it, then most of those 150,000 people who will die today will be in hell. Do you care? Does your heart have enough compassion to do something about it? You have an incredible treasure in an earthen vessel. The gospel, inside of you, whether in the form of your own testimony or by preaching the words of everlasting life. Will you obey the voice of your Lord and preach the gospel to every creature? He spilled his blood and suffered for the payment of their sins. Will you reach out and pull them from the fire?

He could have used some other way to send the message across the earth, but he has ordained that through the foolishness of preaching he would save them that believe. He could have written it across the sky in big letters, or made it possible for us to see into heaven from earth, so that we wouldn’t have foolish teachings like evolution or re-incarnation or other false religions. He could have written it inside our eyelids so that every time we close our eyes, we read the gospel. He could have used all sorts of other means to reach men and women with the truth, but he has chosen to use us. Are you being a true and faithful servant?

We’ve all seen the commercials on television where they go to some 3rd world country and exploit the suffering there in order to raise money for their organization. We’ve all had a sense of deep compassion as we’ve seen children suffering with hunger and nakedness and the pain on the mother’s faces. These commercials raise millions of dollars. Brothers and sisters in Christ, let me ask you, how much worse a fate is it for one to end up in hell for an eternity? Forever and ever and ever in torment! The sad truth of the matter is that you don’t have to travel to the ends of the earth to find a poor soul in this predicament. They are all around you, every day. Millions upon millions of them are spread out all over the globe and they are all headed moment by moment to the Day of Judgement when they will stand alone and naked before the throne of Almighty God and give an account of every detail of their lives. And if their names are not written in the Book of Life, they will be cast into the lake of fire and suffer the terrible consequences of their sins.

You and I hold the good news of forgiveness in Christ in our hands! We’ve already been told to take it to them. How can we sit idly by, enjoying fellowship and singing songs in the lifeboats while sinners are drowning all around us? Its been well said that the body of Christ is not a pleasure-cruiser sailing towards heaven, but a battleship stationed at the very gates of hell.

Oswald J Smith said, “Oh my friends, we are loaded down with countless church activities, while the real work of the church, that of evangelizing and winning the lost, is almost entirely neglected.”

“Save some, O Christians! By all means, save some. From yonder flames and outer darkness, and the weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth, seek to save some! Let this, as in the case of the apostle, be your great, ruling object in life, that by all means you might save some.” Charles Spurgeon

Here’s another quote from the prince of preachers, “Brethren, do something, do something, do something! While societies and unions make constitiutions, let us win souls. I pray you, be men of action all of you. Get to work and quit yourselves like men. Old Suvarov’s idea of war is mine: ‘Forward and strike! No theory! Attack! Form a column! Charge bayonets! Plunge into the center of the enemy! ‘ Our one aim is to win souls; and this we are not to talk about, but to do in the power of God!”

Brothers and sisters, we are fighting an epic battle, and the objectives of our warfare are the souls of men. Please, for the sake of those around you, don’t get so consumed with your own life that you forget the real reason you’re still here.

It is my aim that you will be struck with the importance and the urgency of getting the gospel out to your friends and neighbors before its too late. Of course it would seem obvious that this should be the great and foremost issue in the mind of every believer. Its been well said that he who knows what he has been saved from will know what he has been saved for. How can we ignore the plight of the world around us? How could we smugly say to the world, ” Go to hell; I’m saved and I don’t care.” In order to say that, one would have to have a heart of stone. Don’t be like the seed that fell among thorns and let the cares of this life or the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and make it unfruitful in your life. Don’t be like the rich man, fairing sumptuously every day on the riches of Bible study and fellowship while Lazarus lies starving at your gate.

Charles Spurgeon said, “She is a traitor to the Master who sent her if she is so beguiled by the beauties of taste and art as to forget that to ‘preach Christ … and Him crucified’ is the only object for which she exists among the sons of men. The business of the Church is the salvation of souls.”

Joseph Arlean, the great Puritan preacher said, “But from whence shall I fetch my argument? And with what shall I win them? I would write to them in tears! I would weep out every argument! I would empty my veins for ink… if only they would be prevailed upon to repent and turn.”

Can you feel the passion in that man’s heart for the lost? Does not your own heart burn within you as you read the emotion in his words? Can you also sense the urgency with which he preached the gospel? May we be as this man was, and have hearts so set ablaze by the Spirit of God, that we, too, would be able to say that we would “empty our veins for ink”. How many of us have emptied a pen of ink to write to a loved one about the everlasting life we’ve found in Jesus Christ?

If we would just be more eternally minded it would really put things in perspective about our time here on this earth. Life is so short, and there is nothing we will be taking out of here, …except people. Imagine you have a bank account that gets credited $86,400 every day. The only catch is that it does not carry over a balance from day to day – every evening it erases any part of the balance you failed to use during the day. What would you do? You would withdraw every penny, naturally. Each of us has such a bank. It’s name is “time.” Each morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds and each night it erases whatever part you didn’t invest in good purposes. It carries no balance, and allows no overdrafts. If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours. There is no going back, and no drawing against tomorrow. Invest it so you will get the utmost in God’s will. The clock is running. Make the most of today.

We’ve all heard the expression. We all know what people mean when they say it.  Seems like every time you challenge Christians to become pro-active in sharing their faith, someone quips, “I believe in lifestyle evangelism.” We all know what the picture is that they are trying to paint for us. All we really need to do in order to be the salt and light Jesus called us to be is to live out our lives here on earth and hope that someday somebody will see our wonderful deeds and somehow know that its because of Jesus, and this is supposed to compel them to become a Christian.

Of course, this sounds like a great plan to our flesh, that part of us that is too lazy to be bothered by going out of our way to reach out to the lost. That same part of us that feels awkward bringing up the subjects of death, sin, hell, repentance, salvation, etc to our friends and co-workers. It’s a huge relief to those of us who feel a very real sense of anxiety and fear at the thought of being rejected by our family and friends, or even worse, people we don’t even know!

What is it that strikes this fear in our hearts? Do you think its easy or that it comes naturally to anyone? Where do these attacks come from? Obviously, we have our own dirty, uncompassionate hearts to deal with. But aside from that, there is a very real enemy who will give us every flimsy excuse to avoid getting the gospel to lost souls.  How many of us can identify with the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 2 when he says, “I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.” Does that adequately describe how you feel about the notion of openly sharing your faith? Weakness, fear, and not just trembling, but much trembling? That’s how I feel about it.  But listen to what he says in the entire passage. Pay attention to how he overcame his fear.

“And I, bretheren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.  And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”

Paul didn’t rely on his own ability to be persuasive or use compelling arguments based on his own wisdom.  He determined not to know anything among them except Jesus Christ and him crucified.  Paul stuck to the message.  The gospel is power in itself.  Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Faith does not come by seeing someone lead a good, moral life. It comes by hearing the word of God. “How then shall they call on him in who they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?” Romans 10:14

The entire book of Acts is recorded history of a church that was zealously active in bringing the gospel to the ends of the earth.  The Apostles had a sense of urgency as they traveled form city to city, proclaiming the testimony of Jesus Christ. They believed that the Lord would return at any moment, and this knowledge motivated them to reach out to those around them.

Do you believe that Jesus could come at any moment? Are you convinced that we are living in the last days? How many people do you know that are in need of the salvation that you have in Christ? What would you think of a doctor who found a cure to cancer, but wouldn’t share it with the world because he was on to further studies in medicine? The parallel I am making is obvious. What would you think of a fire station that never bothered to fight fires because they were too busy polishing up the fire trucks?

What would you think of the crew of a ship, who bragged about how much they loved their captain. They even wrote songs about him. One day, as they were out to sea, the captain shouted, “A boat is sinking in the water. Let down the lifeboats!” But rather than doing what the captain said, the crew said among themselves,” Did you hear the captain’s voice? Praise the captain! Glory to the captain!” If they love the captain, they will do what he says.

Suppose you took a late night stroll, and you happened upon a two story house with a family inside sleeping upstairs. And you noticed a fire was building downstairs, with smoke beginning to pour out of the windows. How do you react? Do you fluff up your hair, straighten your jacket, walk up and down the street and try to convince them to come out by your lifestyle? This is absurd, I know. But how much more absurd is it to watch our family, friends, neighbors, etc, continue to walk blindly towards the Day of Judgment, where their fate will be infinitely worse that that of dying in a house fire, and not say anything? How would you feel if you were on your way to hell and someone you knew had the way of salvation but wouldn’t tell you because they were too afraid that you wouldn’t be interested, or they couldn’t be bothered with taking a few moments to let you know how to be saved?

If we truly love our Lord Jesus Christ, and if we truly love our neighbor as ourselves, we should spare no effort to reach out to the lost. When people tell us we should practice “lifestyle evangelism”, we should wholeheartedly agree with them. We should tell them that evangelism is a way of life for us. We are so consumed with the love of God, and so filled with a compassion for the lost, we can’t help but have a burning fire for urgent zealous evangelism. It is an essential part of our lifestyle as a follower of Jesus Christ.

“Walk in wisdom towards them that are without, redeeming the time” Col 4:5 KJV                “Make the most of your chances to tell others the good news.” Col 4:5 LB

See you on the streets!

If you are anything like me, you are filled with both intense grief and intense anger at the atrocity of abortion. Every day all around this great country of ours, children are murdered in the name of freedom of choice.  The problem has grown to numbers of such magnitude, we wonder if it will ever come to an end.  What can one person do, we wonder?

I don’t know about you, but I have not exactly been pro-active in my convictions as far as this issue is concerned. Many of us make donations to local crisis pregnancy centers, which are definitely needed and worthy of our support. But aside from that, we just don’t have an arena where we can voice our opinions.  Seems like the only area where we can have any impact is by casting our vote for political candidates who we hope will use their position and influence to stand for life.

I know that lots of us wonder how we can make a difference, or make our voice heard. If only there were some resource we could give to people, or some compelling argument we could make that would change people’s minds. Thanks to Living Waters, we have such a resource. They have produced a wonderful documentary on the subject of abortion.  This movie will change the way you approach the pro-life/pro-choice argument and give you effective tools that rational people have difficulty refuting.

I am planning on giving out as many copies of this dvd as I can afford.  It has a thorough gospel presentation as well as a very convincing pro-life message.  You will see several people go from pro-choice at one moment, to openly confessing that it is never right to kill a baby in the womb in the next.  Its brilliant.

Please take 33 minutes and watch the movie.  It is well worth your time.  To purchase copies for as little as $1 each, visit www.livingwaters.com.

Again, click here to watch the movie.

To those of you who are subscribers, I apologize for the repeat publishing of the last blog.  Sowing the Seed blog and website are currently under construction and there was an error that sent it out to you a second time.  Things should be new and improved, up and running shortly. Thanks!
Until next time,

See you on the streets!

Hey guys n gals,

Well, May 21st came and went, and, as expected, nothing happened. Here we are, and I seriously doubt that anyone who knows his/her Bible is nearly as disappointed as the followers of Harold Camping. Its should come as no surprise that there are those who make such predictions. We’ve seen this act before, and each time some wacko takes the stage with his bold predictions about the end of the world, we roll our eyes and wish he would just shut up and stop embarrassing the rest of us.
After all, the enemy loves to discredit the church by exploiting these false prophets. Leave it to him to take full advantage of every opportunity to make us all look like a bunch of fruitcakes. How else does a man like Harold Camping gain such instant recognition? Someone is pulling strings.

That is not the purpose of today’s message to you, however. Instead I would like to look at it from another angle, if you will permit.
When suppertime on May 21st came and went, and you first realized that you were still here, what did you first think of? Aside from the fact that every believer would far rather be with the Lord, what was the first thing you thought of about life here on earth? Some people maybe were relieved that they could still get married someday. Some thought about the fact that they still hadnt experienced the joy of raising children. Some were relieved that they could still finish that big business deal, or that new thing they were about to purchase. What was it for you?
Did you think about your family? Were you glad that you or they were still around? Or were all your thoughts turned inward?

The best thing, and often the most forgotten and least spoken of, is that we still have time to reach out to our lost friends, neighbors, and loved ones. Those who we care about who have yet to repent and trust the Savior. God is still being longsuffering and patient with them, giving them more time to repent. Were you relieved that there was still time for your family to come to Christ? Were you grateful that you were still given time to reach out and share the gospel with those you love?
Perhaps you were feeling a little perplexed inside in the last few days leading up to the supposed day of the rapture because you knew you had not been faithful to share with people as you should. Often when people have near-death experiences they say that all they could think about was the regret of the things they should have done in life, but never did. Their experience changes their priorities in life.

If the rapture had happened today, how many people in your life, whether at work, at school, in your family, in your neighborhood, etc., are there that you would wish you had tried harder to reach with the gospel of Jesus Christ? How many of them could point an accusing finger at you on Judgment Day and ask, “Why didn’t you tell me?!” Think about it.
It is my hope that we can take a lesson from May 21st that will actually be useful. As the world sits back and laughs at God’s promise, let us realize that one day that promise will become reality, and the very thing they once laughed and scoffed at will really happen. One day the laughter of the world will turn to mourning. One day the church will be gone and many people will be left to face the full wrath of God in the tribulation. One day, the world will stand before Him and the books will be opened, and anyone whose name is not found written in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire.
We have been give one great commission here on earth. Let us be true and faithful witnesses. Let us be good and faithful servants. Don’t waste your time building your own empire, but spend your life building the kingdom of God. One day, it will be your last day. Leave this life with no regrets. Think about it.
Until next time,
See you on the streets!