“At that time Jesus said, ‘I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what You were pleased to do.”
(Matthew 11:25-26)

    “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”

(1 John 1:8)

Charles Spurgeon tells of a great English prince who on one occasion went to visit a famous king of Spain. The prince was taken down to the galleys to see the men who were chained to the oars and doomed to be slaves for life. The king promised in honor of the prince’s visit that he would set free any one of these men that the prince might choose. So the prince went to one and said, “My poor fellow, I am sorry to see you in this plight; how came you here?” He answered, “False witnesses gave evidence against me; I am suffering wrongfully.” On from man to man he went. Some would say, “I certainly did wrong, but to no great extent. I ought not to be here.” Others made similar excuses. Finally the prince came to one man who said, “Sir, I am often thankful that I am here, for I am sorry to own that if I had received my dues I would have been executed. I am certainly guilty of all that I am charged with, and my most severe punishment is just.” The prince replied to him, “It is a pity that such a guilty man should be chained to such innocent men as these, therefore I set you free.”

“If we confess our sins to one another, He is faithful and just to forgive.”
(1 John 1:9)  

The scene was Lake Michigan, back of the campus of Northwestern University. The placid surface of the lake had been beaten into a frenzy by a raging storm. Out yonder the vessel had been unable to steer clear of the rocks and had sunk. Some two hundred were fighting against the wild waves. In lifeboats, on broken spars, in the icy water, men, women and children fought for life. Two brothers stood side by side. One, a valiant swimmer, said, “I must go.”

Others warned against the dangers, the ice of the November water, the sweeping storm. But heedlessly he went. He rescued ten. The chill of the ice froze his blood. But while friends were rubbing his limbs, a woman’s voice carried the lost scream over the waves, “Help”!

The swimmer could not check his dauntless courage. He plunged in once more. Back and back again he went to the waters to save until fifteen had been rescued. He finally fell as dead on the sands; but when strength came to sit up, he saw a mother fighting to keep her child from drowning.

He demanded that a rope be tied to him, and he swam out, possibly to his own death. When the child and mother had been seized, consciousness lost its grip. But with a death hold, they were drawn in.

For two days the swimmer, valiant as he was, and courageous as had been his daring feats, lay in a stupor, calling out, “Did I do my best?” When assured that he had done even the heroically impossible, he would call for friends, and ask, “Did I do my best?”

Jesus said to the Father: “As You sent Me into the world, I have sent them into the world.”

(John 17:18).  

“For the Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost.”
(Luke 19:10)

“And the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
(Matthew 24:14)

“From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing and forceful men lay hold of it.”
(Matthew 11:12)

“My food,’ Jesus said, ‘is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work. I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.”

(John 4:34-35)

“Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.”

(Matthew 9:37-38)

Thanks to all those that are faithfully praying and supporting our co-laborers in the fields of central Africa. Thanks to our co-laborers in Tennessee and from Taiwan, that along with our co-laborers in the USA, have been standing along side these “workers”. Pastor Martin, the director of the ministry, lives in Kampala, Uganda where they are suffering because of lack of food because of the lockdown. They have been able to meet with groups of five and have seen 31 new believers come into church fellowship as they distribute the little food they have been provided with to those in the slum area where the church building is located. They are extremely grateful. Pastor Simon, who coordinates ministry to the tribes scattered along the north Kenya and south Ethiopia border, and his team continue to faithfully travel to minister to these people in the hot and harsh environment of the desert. The message was taken for the first time to the people in the Suguta Valley in Turkana County, Kenya. Whether in the streets of the cities, the small town centers or scattered villages or the many refugee camps, hospitals or prisons or the deserts of South Sudan or the jungles of the DRCongo, we deem it a privilege and responsibility to stand with our co-laborers. Many are blessed to live in countries that are provided with government assistance that help us through the current global crisis, but these workers are not provided that blessing.

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words and speech but with actions and in truth.”

(1 John 3:16-18)

     We are so thankful that our co-laborers in central Africa continue to reach out to people with the gospel message and we are blessed to hear about these miracles, including many salvations. We only share about salvations that come about when the sound and video equipment is used, only because we are responsible to share the good news with those that are praying and financially supporting the actual crusades that use the equipment. “The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike. David made this a statute and ordinance for Israel from that day to this.” (1 Samuel 30:24-25) With the lockdowns, only Burundi was actually able to do 3 crusades in Bujumbura, but not allowed out of the city. All together 378 people were born again and 40 were baptized. We know there are countless others and we know that the Father and all the angels in heaven rejoiced over each and everyone. We are thankful that this is a time to make sure the equipment is ready for when we will be able to return to our familiar way of doing outreaches, including door-to-door, seminars, movies, praise and worship, preaching and prayer. We are so encouraged to know that even in the extreme circumstances that many of these people are facing, including lack of food, the gospel continues to forcefully advance. We all have many things: family, homes, work, hobbies that the Lord has provided for us, but they are all temporary. But the value of one soul? Priceless!            

  “But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.” (1 Corinthians 12:24-27)

     What an honor to see the church functioning as an living organism instead of an organization. Many thanks to Blake, Kylee and the kids in Granite Falls for laboring to finish the pea gravel that will keep the kids using the playground safe. Thanks to Wayne Watne for lending us his truck. Soon the garden will be planted and hopefully we will be able to begin to have Harvest Kids ministry available to young people in the community.

     We are blessed to witness Carolyn working hard to prepare her home to be the sanctuary for the Kid’s Club ministry when the young people can be getting together in larger groups. She has been involving kids one at a time in making cookies that she is distributing to the neighbors in the trailer park and also cookies to be given with the “Birds on a branch” boxes that are being given to encourage believers in their faith and introduce unbelievers to have faith that they can find peace in the midst of these times of uncertainty through Jesus Christ. Thanks to Noe for making boxes; Dale and Linda for helping collect branches and stain, paint and pour concrete in the boxes and gluing the birds in the branches; Virginia and Carolyn for making cookies; Fred for donating hazelnuts which are put around the branch; and for those that are presenting them to their neighbors with the message that the God and each one of us loves and cares about them.

“Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. Because this disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard, but Peter had to wait outside at the door. The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, came back, spoke to the girl on duty there and brought Peter in. ‘You are not one of his disciples, are you?’ the girl at the door asked Peter. He replied, ‘I am not.’ It was cold, and the servants and officials stood around the fire they had made to keep warm.

Peter also was standing with them, warming himself.” (John 18:15-18)

 

The Lord said to Joshua: “No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Joshua 1:5)

Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, why can’t I follow You now? I will lay down my life for You.”

(John 13:37)

 

“We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6)

“About the sixth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Mark 27:45-46)

Alone. Betrayed.

The Apostle Paul in writing to the brethren in Philippi confessed:

“I hope in the Lord Jesus to send  Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel.” (Philippians 2:19-22)

During these days of uncertainty, there is much discussion about how the government is going to take care of the problems that come with the world’s reaction to the global crisis caused by the corona virus.

The light of the world is not found in any government or in the unity of all the world governments working together.

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

(Psalms 34:18)

 

“They overcame the accuser by the Blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” (Revelation 12:11)

“Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the Word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it – he will be blessed in what he does.” (James 22-25)

“Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:17-20)  

 

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. And without faith it impossible to please God.” (Hebrews 11:1, 6)

What or who we worship can be measured by how much influence it has in our lives.

Many good people in authority have totally dedicated themselves to saving the lives of as many people as possible during this present global crisis and we should all be grateful. As noble as that is – it pales in comparison to the value of saving their souls which is the mission of those that are disciples of Jesus Christ.

“Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.” (Romans 13:1)

All of the sudden this scripture is many believers favorite and most cherished scripture.

But the truth of that scripture is that God has established two authorities and two governments.

“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

(Matthew 28:18-20)

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12)

“Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4)

 

“Of the increase of His (Jesus) government and peace there will be  no end.” (Isaiah 9:6)

 

“Then Jesus said to them, ‘Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” (Matthew 22:21)

 

“Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, ‘Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God.” (Acts 4:18-19)

 

Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego and Daniel all refused to obey the commands of the king.

The Maji disobeyed King Herod and did not return to him.

John the Baptist told the king that he had broken the law and the king cut his head off.

Jesus disobeyed the synagogue rulers that said it was unlawful to heal the sick on the Sabbath.

Jesus broke the law touching the lepers and allowing prostitutes and women with issues of blood to touch him when it was against the law for them to do so in public.

Every human being will be judged by their own choice.  We won’t have the luxury of a democratic process that would suggest that if everyone else agreed it was OK, or “that is what the person in the pulpit told us”.

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do  not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.” (Romans 8:26-27)

Either God will hear us say, “Not my will, but Yours be done.”

Or we will hear God say, “Not My will, but yours be done.”  

 

“Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say.” (Luke 6:46)

“The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished; He punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation. Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert. For forty years – one years for each of the forty days you explored the land – you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have Me against you. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against Me. They will meet their end in this desert; here they will die.”

(Numbers 14:18, 33-35)

 

We are blessed to live in a nation that has developed a system of public education with teachers that are, for the most part, dedicated to teaching our young people and that understand that every child is valuable, independent of whether they have parents, rich or poor, regardless of cultural or other differences. We are now putting our children and their parents and guardians at risk by not allowing this system to continue. The current system would teach parents to not send their child to school if they are sick or they would be sent home if it were discovered that they were in any way, in harm’s way or could jeopardize the health and safety of others. Many children do not have parents that are equipped to teach from home. Many of them only maintain their home by being able to work. Many don’t have the knowledge, aptitude, administrative skills or technical ability to successfully “home” school. Long term, this inequity, even with everyone doing their best, will become a factor in making it even more difficult for our young people to not become more inward focused and judgmental for those that are “different”.

Every year, when the school year starts, even at the lower grades, more children drop out because of the choices of their parents, guardians or of their own, and we start the school year without them getting the teaching and training they need to interact with other people and have the living skills to care for themselves, much less others. So our children will be raised without the equity that they have available by interacting with other young people of their age and those in classes younger and older than they are and with the teachers and school that teaches them about fairness and discrimination of any kind. Our family structure has grown accustomed to the public school system taking some of that responsibility that we now support and which allows many families to have the time to provide the income and meet the other responsibilities of caring for their families. If one of their children is not able to attend school, they must adjust their priorities to care for the child, but not necessarily become their teacher, along with their other responsibilities.

I urge each of you to prayerfully consider the consequences of our choices and how they will affect our young people and the future generation. And for all you fathers and future fathers that will stand for your right to own a gun and be able to golf, fish and hunt. The education of your children is not the sole responsibility of your wife or their mother. Neither will you get to call your president, governor or even school board when we face the God who entrusted us with responsibility for the children that He allows us to bring into this world.

“Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”

(Ephesians 6:4)

The last verse of the Old Testament – Prior to the New Testament and the life of Jesus being given to us.

“See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.”

(Malachi 4:5-6)