A New Pair of Shoes

Ephesians 5:20 - Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

The other day I went looking for a new pair of brown dress shoes. I have several pairs of nice shoes but most of them are casual. I wanted a brown pair of dress shoes. I ran into the shoe store and spent a few minutes trying on shoes. When I found the pair I wanted I paid and left. As I was leaving the store it suddenly dawned on me that I had on a comfortable pair of shoes and at least two more pair in my closet that fit good not counting tennis shoes. Then I thought about all the people around the world who would be thankful to own even one pair of shoes. Many will never own a pair of shoes in their entire lives.

When I lived in Honduras I would see all the young men at the Bible school hanging out their clothes to dry after washing them by hand. Many times their socks would have holes in them and instead of tossing them in the trash they would keep them for their mothers to repair. Money was too tight to throw away a pair of socks that could be mended. After watching that, I promised myself that I would never be unthankful again. How easily that promise was broken once I was back in the prosperous United States.  I am not feeling bad about the fact that I am blessed and I don't feel bad for buying a pair of new shoes. I believe I should look nice when I go to the pulpit. But I did take a moment to thank God for all of his blessings and to ask his for forgiveness for any complaining I had done.

What about it? Is there too much complaining in your life? Now would be a good time to think of all God has blessed us with and spend some time being thankful. We may just find that things are not as bad as we once thought they were.

Thankfully,

Spanish Pastor Jones 

Waiting on God's Timing

Psalms 62:1 - Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation.

Have you ever made a decision that you quickly realized was a mistake? Naturally, we all have. For me, the biggest mistakes I've made have been the times when I didn't pray and ask God what He thought before I made my decision. Or worse yet, there have been times when I prayed and felt a check but went ahead and did what I wanted to do anyway. Then when things went wrong there was no one to blame but myself. Thank God for His mercy!

The word wait in this verse from the Psalms carries the meaning in Hebrew of sitting quietly. It means to sit and not be troubled or bother anyone else until we are given instructions. Much like a child who is told to sit quietly in the corner while mom or dad conducts business with the banker. Remember those days? How hard it was to just sit and wait. Patience doesn't come naturally to most of us. It is something that has to be cultivated within us. There is a reason that Jesus told us that we must become as a little child to please him.

We are taught in Sunday School to pray and ask God for what we need and He will answer. Then many times, when we pray, it seems as if nothing is happening. It is not that nothing is happening but that it is not time for us to move yet. Just like the child who has to wait on his parents, all of us have to wait on God at times. In those times we have a choice to make: Will I sit quietly and wait with confidence or will I fret because my answer hasn't come yet. Sounds easier said than done? It is. Yet if we can discipline ourselves to wait with patience we will have much more peace in our lives.

Remember that it is always worthwhile to wait on God's answer. He has information that we don't have and His timing is always perfect!

Waiting,

Spanish Pastor Jones

The Power of Words

 Proverbs 18:21 - Death and life are in the power of the tongue.

 

 The power of our words is so amazing. We can create things with out words and we can also destroy things. I remember one night I was preparing a Sunday School lesson and I leaned back in my chair and glanced at the ceiling. I live in a wooded area and there was a big wood roach over my head that had apparently gotten in from outside. I grabbed a towel and went to kill it but I missed. As I swung I said "You are a dead roach." I knew I didn't hit it but at the moment I spoke those words the roach fell to the floor dead. I was stunned and then I immediately heard the Holy Ghost say, "your words have that much power. You killed that roach with your words. You need to watch what you say."

I know that may sound crazy to some but we all know how much power is in our words. It is with words that man's imagination is ignited. Countries have been compelled into war by words and words are used to make pacts of peace. Words cause people to feel well and to feel bad, both physically and spiritually. Words of truth bring clarity and words of deception bring confusion. Words of encouragement bring hope and words of doubt often bring fear. 

 

Let us be careful of every word for we will answer to God for every idle (vain or evil) word that we speak. Why? Because by giving us the power of speech God has given us the power of creation.God created the world by His word and our words are the creative factor that is with in us. Doesn't it then stand to reason that we can affect destiny with our words. Let's not create things God didn't want created; let's use our words to build his kingdom. It's the only thing worth building!

Where is your trust?

 Psalm 33:17 - A horse is a vain thing for safety; neither shall he deliver anything by his great strength. 

There is the tendency in all of us to put our trust in the known or in what we are good at. Yet life has a way of surprising us with things we could not have foreseen. It is in those time that we see just how inadequate our safety nets are and we must trust in God. I am so glad that when we need him the most, our God never fails.

A friend of mine once told me the following story. I'll call him Jack since I didn't get permission to use his story.  When he was in college he and his girlfriend (now wife) were at a nice restaurant celebrating his birthday. As they left the restaurant a man pulled a gun on them in a dimly lighted portion of the parking light. The man demanded Jack's wallet and his girlfriends purse. Jack asked the man if he could keep his driver's license and the man only became agitated and demanded the wallet again. His girlfriend was urging him to just give the man what he wanted in hopes that he would let them go. What happens next is truly only something only God can do.

Jack said that at first he was just going to do what the man asked. But he said, "All of a sudden I felt a boldness that can only come from God." Jack looked at the man with the gun and said, "I rebuke you in Jesus' name." The man laughed and replied, "I rebuke you too." Jack then said, "But I rebuke you in Jesus' name." By this time the man looked stunned. Jack then said, "I rebuke you in Jesus' name the third time."

When he did, the man with the gun started to tremble and cry and dropped the gun. He began to confess and tell them that he had never done anything like this before. He told them that the only reason he was doing it was desperation. He said his wife and baby were at home without any food and he had been without work for a long time. Jack began to witness to the man and prayed with him before they parted.

Now my intention in telling this story is to be neither political nor to talk about gun control. I simply want to say this: as a grandmother in our church used to say, "My God will do to depend on." When all of our safety nets are stripped away, there is safety in the name of Jesus and He will never let us down.

Trusting Him Daily,

Spanish Pastor Jones

Trust

"Trust people and they will be true to you; treat them greatly and they will show themselves great."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

David Wilkerson was an evangelical preacher who is best known for his work among the street gangs of New York in the 1960s and 70s. His story of work among New York City's toughest children and teenagers is told in the book The Cross and The Switchblade and in the movie of the same name. A story that he shares in the book exemplifies what trust can mean to someone.

Nicky Cruz was a young man that Wilkerson met in the streets. The first time they met Cruz pulled a knife and told Wilkerson he would kill him if he came near. Nevertheless, Wilkerson persisted and convinced many of the youth to come to a rally at a rented facility. This was a massive undertaking which required busing the children from different gangs across town to keep them from fighting as they went through a rival gang's territory. Nothing like it had ever been attempted before and all the critics said it would fail.

During the rally when it came time to take the offering Cruz was the one chosen. They passed an offering plate and he and several of his fellow gang members were asked to go through a side door and bring it up onto the stage. All the youth began to laugh and Wilkerson knew why.There was also an exit from that side door out onto the street and everyone knew that Nicky would simply take the money and leave: but he didn't. In his own words, Cruz later testified: "When I went out of that side door with the money it suddenly dawned on me that the preacher trusted me. In all my life no one had ever trusted me before." This trust opened the door to Nicky's heart and his conversion. In time Nicky Cruz became a well known minister himself and continued Bro. Wilkerson's work among the gangs.

Is there someone in your life that is hard to deal with? Someone that seems to make the same mistakes again and again. Perhaps they just need someone to believe in them, to believe they can be different. You just might be that someone if you won't give up. After all, a little trust goes a long way.

Trusting Him Daily,

Spanish Pastor Jones 

What shall it profit?

Mark 8:36

For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

As I look around on all that is happening in our world it is obvious to me that democracy has failed? What do I mean? Well let's look at the facts. We live under the rule of  a government where the two main political parties can not agree on anything. We have politicians from both sides who have been accused and sometimes convicted of scandals that have rocked the world. Our country is in a mess and no one can agree on how to fix it. It is obvious to met that democracy (or a republic) has failed.

We can look at other forms of government that have failed. The Roman empire eventually failed as did the Greek and Persian empires before it. The socialist idea of a communal government  has always failed as was proven when the U.S.S.R. fell apart. There was a time when most of the countries of Europe were ruled by Kings and Queens and these too failed. Why? The reason is simple. Without God, man's idea of equality and fairness will always fail.

We can go all the way back to the Biblical world for more examples. Israel decided they wanted a king but when they got Saul he was a wicked man and they were soon disappointed. Even the beloved King David fell into sin and betrayed his own friends and fellow countrymen as a whole. Almost every King after David was increasingly more wicked than the ones before him. The idea of a kingdom failed.

But why did they want a king in the first place? Simple. For many years they had been ruled by judges who were supposedly set in place by God. They were tired of judges who claimed to speak for God but served only themselves. They had no voice to oppose what the judge deemed was right or wrong. They somehow thought a king would be better than this. After all, how could anything be worse? But we know that it was indeed worse.

After all these failed forms of government it seemed that the next step would be a government where the people could speak for themselves. But, as we have seen, this too has failed. Failed in its attempts regenerate mankind and make him a better person. Failed in its desire to rid society of crime, racism, and a myriad of other evils. Failed.

With all this failure, is there any hope? The Bible tells us that a man will arise that will claim to have all the answers. He will be the one who knows how to settle the fighting in the middle east. He will know how to bridge the gap between rich and poor, religious and non-religious, people of different religions and so forth. He will seem to have all the answers. Yet we know that the man I speak of is what the Bible calls the anti-Christ. Ultimately, he will turn against the people of God and even fight against God himself. Yet his government too shall fail.

The only true hope for anyone in this world is Jesus Christ. The only safe haven is the church. The church that will taken out of this world when Jesus Christ comes to claim his own. We can build kingdoms and castles here in this life but they will eventually crumble and fall. The only way to be sure of anything is to make sure our hearts and lives are right with God. For what will it profit us if we gain the whole world but lose our own souls?

Trusting in Jesus,

Sullivan Jones

The Battle for America

Corrie ten Boom and her sister Betsie watched in stunned silence as her mild mannered father reacted so angrily to the Prime Minister's announcement that there would be no war. He jumped up and snapped the radio off and just as quickly the fire went out of his eyes. But it was his words that stunned them the most: "It is wrong to give people hope when there is no hope. There will be a war. Holland will fight and Holland will fall. I feel sorry for all Dutchmen who do not know the power of God." Just a few hours later Holland was plunged into WWII and in only five days fell to German hands.

On the fifth day they were walking down the street when a window opened and a lady announced that Holland had surrendered. With tears in his eyes a young man looked at Father ten Boom and announced, "I would not have surrendered. I would have fought." "That is good, my son", He replied, "For Holland's battle has just begun."This afternoon these words came to me as I waited for my wife to complete her errands in the store. It was if I could hear God whispering into my spirit, "America's battle has just begun." 

I would read The Hiding Place and wonder if ever I would have adventures such as these. I realize now that as a child I didn't truly comprehend the horror of what those involved endured. Yet there was one thing I did understand: God saw them through. I am not a doom and gloom prophet but I know what the scripture says. Not only the battle for America but the battle for our world has just begun. Even if our economy takes an upturn tomorrow and government works out its problems we are still in trouble. The spirit of anti-Christ has risen in our world in a way that we have not seen in a long time. Scriptural prophecy is being fulfilled before our eyes every day and by and large people are unaware of it. God's people do not realize how close the coming of the Lord is.

Yet these things do not make me fearful for in the midst of all these troubles God's church is destined to have  great revival. And even more than that we must remember the words of Jesus: "When these things begin to come to pass, lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh." I would like to echo the words of Casper ten Boom. I feel sorry for every American today who does not know God. But I have nothing but joy in my heart for those who do. This world is about to see the wrath of the anti-Christ and the judgment of God such as it has never seen. And yet our world is about to see God exalt his church. Then one day soon his church will be caught out of this troubled world to forever be with the Lord.

 If I knew I were not right with God today, I would not delay. I would get my heart right with Him. For it is in Him and Him alone that our hope lies. Only in Him can we truly have security for the future! His retirement plan is out of this world!

Not on my watch!

I Thessalonians 2:7 - For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.

Did you know that the church has the power to change things in our world? That's right we have the power to hold back things and allow things to be as long as it is according to the will of God. I know that there are many things prophesied  in the scripture that will come to pass. But the scripture is very vague about when some of the things will happen. I believe the reason that it is so is because some things are not set in stone. Although God has established a day of reckoning and judgment for the world things do not have to be as bad as they could have been if the church had not prayed.

Unconvinced? Let's look at some examples from the Old Testament. In I Kings chapter 21 we are told that God was about to judge Israel. When the prophet went to warn Ahab, he jumbled himself. The exact words of scripture are that "he walked softly before God." God sent the prophet to Ahab again to tell him that these things would not happen in his days but in the days of his son. Hezekiah was another king of Israel with a death penalty on him. He prayed and cried out to God and God gave him 15 more years to live.

As I contemplated these things this morning I had  this thought: NOT ON MY WATCH. What do I mean? It's like this. God has put me in 2013 with a purpose. Just as Peter was responsible to his generation and Paul to his so we are responsible to ours. It is the job of the church to pray for our nation. We are the only good in this world and we are the reason that judgment is being held back. With that said, we should be interceding for our nation now like never before. We know that things look bad but they don't have to be as bad as they could be.

When God's judgment came on Egypt the land of Goshen was spared. Not only was Goshen spared but the people of Israel prospered. Several years ago I heard a man of God say this: "I refuse to participate in the downward economy." God sent manna from heaven and fed his people and he could do it again if need be. He will take care of us. But more than him taking care of me, I want him to take care of my loved ones, friends, neighbours, and my nation.

The greatest need of our nation now is for the church to pray. Pray for God to have mercy on us. Pray for God to spare us of any intended evil. Remember Moses when he stood between God and the people? God spared Israel because of Moses. No doubt this country that we love has set itself against God in a multitude of ways. But there is still a church in the earth that can stand between God and the ones that we love. I believe God wants us to intercede. Who knows but that God will have mercy, not only on me and mine, but one my government as well.

The Apostle Paul told us to pray for "all that are in authority". Why? so that we could live a quiet and peaceable life. All of us want peace. Our world is in desperate need of peace. We as Christian are filled with the Spirit of Peace. Jesus is our Prince of Peace. So I believe we need to cry out to our Lord and ask him to intervene with peace.

Would you join me today? Let's cry out to God for our nation. Ask Him to give our government officials peace between themselves and wisdom to decide what is right. Ask him to give the church favor in the sight of the government that it make no laws that would restrict our ability to worship freely. Ask Him to have mercy on us. If the government is going to fall in and our economy is going to crash it doesn't have to happen today. It doesn't have to happen on my watch. If we pray, who knows what God may do!

I don't wish evil on any future generation. But I am not responsible for the future any more than I am the past. I am responsible for today. And right now I see trouble in my land. So I cry out to my brothers and sisters, would you help me pray? It's not too late. It's never too late for God to work. Ask Him to work for us today and see what He will do, not only for us but for our country as well.

Prayerfully,

Sullivan Jones

A Good Report

Proverbs 15:20 - A good report makes the bones fat.

The Bible is so scientifically sound that it is amazing. Deuteronomy 17:11 tells us that "the life of the flesh is in the blood." Today we understand just how true this is. The blood is needed to carry nutrients toward and impurities away from every cell in our bodies. There was no way to know this for many years and yet the Bible recorded this thousands of years ago.

I recently learned something else in my biology class that made me think of the above scripture in Proverbs. There are two types of bone marrow in our bodies, red and yellow. Red is where the blood cells are produced and yellow marrow is where the fat cells are. Without going into a long scientific explanation which I am not qualified to give, let me say this. We have known for a long time, though we still don't completely understand how, that our physical health is tied to our mental health. We know that a person who laughs and can release stress easily is much less likely to suffer from a myriad of diseases. It makes me wonder exactly what the connection is between "a good report" and strong, healthy bones.

Now as a theologian instead of a scientist let me explain what I believe. When someone receives good news it is truly like an injection of medicine, not only to the spirit but to the body as well. Words of encouragement are like fat to our bones. Somehow God designed our bodies so that good thoughts and encouraging words can literally give us physical strength. I don't' understand it but I believe and have seen that it works.

So what can we do with that information? We know that people all around us are nervous about the future? There is much uncertainty in our world. Instead of passing on the bad news let's tell others how good God is. Let's remind each other that God has never let us down and His word says that he never will. I'm not talking about denying reality but speaking life. No matter what the economy or our government does our God has promised to take care of us.

There may be someone around you today that needs to hear those very words. Let's encourage each other today with words of life. After all, a good report makes the bones fat.

 

Time and Chance

Solomon, recognized by many as the wisest man that ever lived, made this statement: Time and chance happen to us all (Ecclesiastes 9:11). It seems a rather bleak diagnosis. He seems to be telling us that our lives are guided, not by the choices we make, but by pure luck or the lack of it. Many would agree with his stance and say life is controlled by forces unseen and there is little we can do about it but hope for the best. Is this true? Do we really have so little control over our own destinies?

I would like to remind us that Solomon wrote these words as a frustrated man who had walked away from His God to serve the idols that his wives enticed him to serve. In fact, I believe the book of Ecclesiastes is in the Bible to show us how far a man can go from truth.  He went so far as to build temples to pagan Gods right in the middle of Jerusalem and allowed people to worship there. This same king had experienced such closeness with God that the Bible tells us that God appeared to him and allowed him to choose anything he could wish for. We know what he chose, wisdom. Yet it was this wisdom that was Solomon's downfall. He was lifted up in pride and, forgetting about the God who gave him the wisdom,  relied on his own intellect to lead Israel. When later in life he pondered how he could have fallen so far from God in so short a time he blamed it on "time and chance."

Yet it was not "chance" that caused Solomon to walk away from the God of his fathers. It was choice. It was his choice to marry princesses from other nations for the sake of peace. It was his choice to allow them to bring their pagan practices of child sacrifice and other unspeakable evils into Israel. Later on, instead of writing about chance, Solomon should have written about choice.

I see a similarity with our own country in the story of Solomon. Like many of us I am concerned about my country and the direction it is heading in. We can blame it on all sorts of things but it comes down to this: choice. No one can deny that our country is in financial, political, and moral crisis. Yet it is not by happenstance that we find ourselves here. We are here because of a long history of bad choices. Democrat, republican, and independent alike, we are all guilty. We as a nation have chosen to look the other way when our politicians have committed sins against God and others. We have chosen to believe that we can borrow money endlessly, both on a personal and at a government level, without our economy collapsing. We have chosen to believe that we can disobey God's most basic commandments without suffering the consequences. We have preached "don't judge" to the point where almost everyone is afraid to say anything is wrong for fear of being labeled a bigot. We are truly in a mess of our own making that has nothing to do with "chance" and everything to do with "choice."

Am I condemning us all? No, of course not. Truly our God is a God of mercy and grace. If it were not for His grace none of us would be here. Yet we can not preach grace to the detriment of judgment. For surely judgment will always eventually come. Naturally there are things in life that I can't control; but I can control how I respond to things around me. I can choose to seek God more in times of crisis. I can choose to keep a right spirit when confronted with evil on every side. I can choose to base my life on God's word when everyone else has changed the rules. Then when I'm wondering how things will work out, I can know that God will  take care of me.

To the Christian I issue a challenge today. Stand for what is right and Holy. Don't be afraid to speak against what God's word calls evil. Be bold enough to warn someone when you see them going astray. Take a stand for what is right even when it's not popular to do so. Yet do it all with love. And when we do, we can be assured that our lives are not guided by mere chance but by the hand of a God who sees all, knows all, can do all, and loves us very much. In the words of Betsie ten Boom, "There are no 'ifs' in God's kingdom." He is in control of all!

Respectfully Yours,

Sullivan Jones