STATE MISSIONS: If Any Man Be In Christ (pt. 3)

      Because of the sins of the flesh, the man of the flesh is destined for the dust of the earth; the man of the spirit is the man in Christ Jesus because of the new birth, destined for Heaven and eternal life. “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it” (Eccl. 12:7). This Scripture presents to us the separation of the two men, though brief as it may be, at the consummation of the life of the man in the flesh. At death, the spiritual is separated from the natural. Paul said, by inspiration of God, in I Thess. 4:16-17, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

      Through faith, the believer is lifted up out of the miry pit of sin to the solid rock of salvation; out of bondage and commendation to freedom and justification; out of the clutches of thermal death into the embrace of eternal life; out of a land as strangers wandering in the desert of Egypt on this side of Jordan into a land flowing with milk and honey as citizens of a new country where the soul of man never dies. “But this man (Jesus Christ), after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God” (Heb 10:12).

      I take this opportunity to mention the grand and glorious doctrine of the “security of the believer,” found in five words — one sacrifice for sins forever. Study the deep meaning of each word. It is impossible for the man of the flesh to be in Christ, who is now at the right hand of the father, as it was for Nicodemus to enter into his mother’s womb and be born for the second time (natural birth). “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth; so is everyone that is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).

From Our Missionaries

         Misión Creciendo en Cristo (Growing in Christ), North Little Rock: Juan Carlos Posadas writes, “Friday and Saturday, from 6-9 p.m., we participated in the BMA of Arkansas Hispanic Church Mission Conference. We shared with the attendees the commitment of our mission, Growing in Christ, with the missions in Romania supporting the work of Cristian and Vanesa and in Mexico supporting our brother, Germán Galindo. We presented a dramatization encouraging the church to awaken to its missionary call. It was the first time this group dramatized outside of our local church. Nerves played a big role, but finally, everything went well, and we rejoiced serving the Lord. Please pray for this group. They are the members of Sunday discipleship at 9 a.m. Let’s ask God that they will be established in His Word.

      “Tuesday, Aug. 20, we will start the autumn course of our Bible Institute. We have eight first-time people for Book 1 — Methods of Bible Study, and three people who will be taking Books 9 and/or 10. These last three are the most advanced and will graduate at the end of Book 10. Let us pray for this group of brethren who are committed to training for service in God’s work, that they will stand firm during this long period of training that could take them 3 to 6 years.”

      Ebenezer, West Little Rock: Ruben Isturiz writes, “This semester of the year I will be very busy each week preparing both my classes for the Arkansas Missionary Baptist Theological Institute and also for the ‘Awakening’ Workshop through the ministry I do with Novo (novo.org) One of the gifts God has given me is teaching, and I try to prepare both content and presentation with excellence.

      “Friday and Saturday, we attended the Missionary Conferences. The Hispanic churches in Arkansas try to have these conferences once a year for missionary education and to encourage us to do missions.

      “We had a good service on Sunday, where we prayed for our students who are returning to class this August. Keep praying for what we are doing at Ebenezer. God continues adding people. There is a lot of work to do. As I have commented before, during all these years, I have been working alone, but God is bringing people with the possibility that they will be an important help in the ministry. Thank you for your prayers and support. To God be the glory!”

         Faith Chapel, Flippin: Johnny Shew writes, “What a great week at Faith Chapel! We had a really good number for worship, with several faithful visitors, two for the first time. One of our children was so excited because she invited that couple and they came! She has now called herself our ‘church inviter,’ and I believe she will keep at it! We were almost full in our little rented building, but it won’t be long until we have plenty of room.

      “The Missions’ Advisory Committee and executive director are coming Monday for their annual Tour of Mission Projects, and we look forward to showing them our progress.

      “The new building is coming along. The security company did the rough-in for cameras in the addition and parking areas. We cleaned up and stowed away everything on the floors so the flooring contractors could come in and go to work. They will be here Tuesday morning. We mounted some monitors on the stage for sermon presentations and lyrics, and we are ready for doors and trim after the floors are finished. Our goal is still to be in by the end of summer.

      “We thank you all again and again for your support and prayers! God is answering them, and we are more amazed every day! Praise God that we get to do this!”

         Faith Journey, Benton: Bryan Clay writes, “Faith Journey has been celebrating birthdays all month long! For a growing mission, it is amazing how many of our folks celebrate their birthdays in August. So, bring on the cake!

      “Our lesson this week was keeping your eyes on Jesus. In today’s world, it is easy to lose sight of Christ with all the things we see happening around us every day. Just like Peter did, when stepping out onto the water to walk toward Jesus, he became distracted by things going on around him and began to sink. We, too, will begin to lose our way if we do not stay focused on the Lord daily. As I prepared this lesson, an old, familiar hymn kept coming to mind: ‘Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim. In the light of His glory and grace.’ Stay focused on Him, friends.”

         Epic Life, Pea Ridge: Jake McCandless writes, “One of the things about planting a church is you can try things — you have to try things. Through Epic Life, I have tried purposely to make sure our structure, programs and events match our priorities and message.

      “Equipping and empowering believers to replicate disciple-making is our priority. It is being done through the training of our coaches. We’ve struggled to have consistent monthly coaching training meetings, so this month, I took our successful monthly event — our collective worship night — and used it for our coaches. For the next few months, at least, our monthly worship night has become our coaches' worship night. We invited our coaches to worship and receive encouragement. We also took the night and spoke about the values we want for Epic Life. It was a great time of zeroing in on what the DNA of Epic Life should be.”