God’s Command to Preachers

July 7, 2009

2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. 2 Timothy 4.2-4

Recently I have received news of preachers that have gone by the wayside due to various reasons.  I am sadden by that but what is even more troublesome are those preachers who forget verse 2 above and just strive to effect the social climate of this world without the Word.. We are to preach the Word. The Word is what changes lives. As well as preaching the Word, there will be times we will need to do the other items listed, reproving, rebuking and exhorting using the Word of God to do so.

Verse 3 helps explain one of the reasons we are to do this activity. There will be a time (we are seeing the start of this already) when once God Called Preachers will turn away from Sound Doctrine to pursue other things that only please the flesh and does nothing for the eternal soul. IN the process, they are taking (or better said sending) people to hell due to their teachings.

This is why I want to encourage fellow preachers, pastors, church planters and even the members of the local church, “to preach the Word, be instant in season”. Simply put: Stay the course that God has called us to follow.

Is love for this world hurting the way Christians think?

June 25, 2009

16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. I John 2.16-17

How interesting it is to go on some of these Social Web Sites and just look at what some Christians talk about enjoying for their activities. True some thinks can be debated, like should Christians have a TV or not, but what I am seeing goes far deeper than this simple discussion of the use of a TV. I have seen Christians singing the praises of subjects like “Harry Potter” or Twilight” when the Bible is clear about our connections to witchcraft and the occult. (Due. 18.10: I Chr. 10.114:  2 Chr. 33.6:  Exodus 2.18: Lev. 19.31: 20.6)

I recently had a discussion with a Christian and mentioned that as Christians we should think Biblically. I was accused of judging. The thing is that  according to God’s Word, we should be judging, whether something is acceptable for us to do or not to do, using God’s Word as there base or Guideline.

I am afraid and saddened to think that Satan has used the World’s media to cloud our way of thinking. we need to always to be ready to base our decisions on the the simple question, if God’s Word is true, what should be my action or decision in this situation? Or should I be involved in this activity? Would this bring shame or glory to God (if I do  it)?

Deaf Church Planting

June 21, 2009

8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Acts 1.8

15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.  Mark 16.15

18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.  Matthew 28.18-20

     The above verses are perhaps the 3 most important verses when it comes to church planting. As Linnea and i have presented our ministry of establishing Deaf Churches, we have been asked how that works. Most people can understand a deaf ministry (which has it’s place.) And most folks can understand establishing churches in hearing situations. Yet with roughly 30 million deaf and hard-of-hearing people just here in America and perhaps 20 good deaf churches, the job of reaching the deaf has just really only scratched the surface. I even had a hearing pastor tell me that he didn’t see the need for what we are doing. What we need for deaf America and even the whole deaf world is to train deaf men to raise up and answer the call of God to become church planters here in America and to the rest of the World. We at the same time to train the rest of the deaf what it means to live for God.

Sunday Report

June 15, 2009 (Monday)

Blue skies are out and about 60 degrees. Linnea and I will be going out for tea at the Baltimore tea shop. We did have a good weekend. Saturday, I went to the Hearing Loss Meeting and had a good time of fellowship with folks who have experienced some of the same problems I have faced while my hearing is getting worse.

Sunday, we had a smaller group of church, but that is okay. The group we had needed some time to talk and have a more Q and A time. Being a small church has it’s advantages, The one being when we need to have schedule change we can change it. Yesterday, we ended teaching on Creation. It is still amazing how many Christians still don’t completely understand the creation. You ask them, “Did the T-Rex live alongside man?” Most people will say no, even though the Bible clearly says they did.

Two Year Mark In Frederick

June 14, 2009

        Today marks the 2 year anniversary for us being in Frederick, MD. At times it seemed to be moving so slowly. But at other times it seems to be speeding past us.  It has been a good 2 years. We have seen 4 adults saved, 4-5 children saved. Thankfully we have been used to be an influence in another man’s life that was backslidden.  We have seen our deaf church grow. Our high day was 10, our average has been 4. We have seen deaf come, visit and go on their ways. We currently have a couple of deaf that are very faithful. One comes to Sunday School and Church, then other comes to church only . Yet both are growing  and really soaking up the Word.

     We are still faithfully trying various outreaches to bring the deaf into our fellowship. I am doing monthly Men’s Breakfast and have had some success with that. I do weekly Studies at Panera Bread. Linnea is starting a Sunday afternoon Ladies Bible study. I also have been involved with the local Hearing Loss Association of Frederick. It still amazes me to see how the Lord will use us if we are willing.

Praying for a Missionary

June 11, 2009

This week Linnea and I will be celebrating the end of our 2nd year here at Frederick, MD. We have had our ups and downs, discouragements, blessings. As far as blessings, we had a great blessing yesterday. First of all we received our first call from a missionary asking to come and visit our church.. Secondly and more of a blessing was a family that works in the BIMI Offices, Jerry & Ruth Dewire (SP?) called and said they were on their way through Frederick and would like to take us out to dinner. This is the gentleman that helps most of BIMI Missionaries develop their presentations to show churches. We went out to Cracker Barrel and had a great time of fellowship. Then they went on to Rockville, where they will be meeting up with their son, Dan and his family. They are getting ready to go back to Uganda as missionaries.

An Interesting Week

June 4, 2009

How gracious is the Lord in sustaining His saints. This week has been a rough one.  It really started Sunday Morning, when I received a phone call stating that my older brother in Florida had been taken to the hospital for a possible heart attack. He has been having heart problems for a while now, it working only at 25-30% of it’s normal levels. Well, on Monday the doctors found that he need a stint (sp) to be put in due to a heavy blockage in one artery. Before this, the doctors had been talking of putting in a pace maker like device to help his heart work better. Due to the success of the surgery, it looks like he may not need it. He has to wait 6 weeks, before the doctors will decide one way or the other.

The good part of this week started Saturday, we had a couple of men show up for our men’s breakfast. This was the first time for these men to come. I had been inviting them to our breakfast for the past 1 1/2 years. I have also been able to connect with some new deaf here in Frederick, praying for some follow-up with them. We even found a neighborhood with deaf children, while I was out canvassing this week. The rest of this week, the visits will be limited to some strong storms that are predicated to come through this week.