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STATE MISSIONS: Take It At Face Value
Paul White
Since the beginning of man, God’s Word has been under attack. Many today have attempted to deny God’s existence or want to bring God down to our level — looking for fellowship with a friend rather than a relationship with a Lord. Some people want to serve a God that is just a little bigger and a little stronger and wiser than himself.
Too many read or hear God’s Word and consider it an opinion. Yet God does not beat around the bush when it comes to the authority of His Word.
Revelation 22:18-19 (NKJV) says, “For I testify unto everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, and from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” These are very stern warnings that should get our undivided attention because any attack against the Bible is an attack against truth. We see this for the first time in Genesis 3. Satan comes on the scene, and we know who he is, right? John 8:44 tells us he is the father of lies.
“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matt. 24:35). Since verse is a reminder of the eternality of God’s Word. The words of Jesus will last longer than anything else you see in the world around you. The words of Jesus will last longer than the world around you, and this world will pass away.
There’s a New Heaven and a New Earth coming, but God’s Word will remain. There is a tendency to dodge the tougher teachings in His Word to be less offensive or politically correct. It befalls our generation to be sure “thus saith the Lord” is preached, regardless of who it might offend.
I heard a preacher say the other day if his message didn’t offend someone, it most likely was not very good. God’s Word should rub the lost or the backslider wrong. The Bible says what it means, and it means what it says. May we carry on proclaiming the message of the effects of sin and the judgment it demands. God forbid we should think we are better than those we speak to. Paul makes this plain in Rom. 3:23, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Don’t apologize for what God has to say! The Apostle Paul taught us to be bold in our testimony of the gospel. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:16).
From Our Missionaries
Misión Creciendo en Cristo (Growing in Christ), North Little Rock: Juan Carlos Posadas writes, “With the initiative of Fernanda and Marlon, the Wednesday night youth meetings have changed format to make it more attractive. We have been in the new format for a couple of weeks, and some young people from our church have joined.
They have also started a group for young people who have already left high school. They meet on Saturday mornings and will rotate the meeting place between Fernanda’s and Marlon’s houses.
“In addition, we have started a men’s discipleship meeting on Monday nights in the temple, which complements the other existing women’s discipleship meetings on Wednesdays and a general one on Sundays at 9 a.m. before the general meeting.
“Something interesting to note is that the Saturday morning youth group is a second-generation discipleship, and Mrs. Sayra and I do not participate. We thank God for that, since seeing the reproduction of disciples is gratifying.
“I would appreciate it if you prayed that the congregation would be encouraged to share the gospel as part of their daily lives.”
Ebenezer, West Little Rock: Ruben Isturiz writes, “This week was a time of prayer for our sick — Avelina, Neymar and Pedro. Last Sunday, Yecenia Barrera came to visit our congregation asking for prayer for healing, and it was a good time to show the love of Christ and pray as a congregation for her.
I ask you to help us pray for healing that only a supernatural God can give. We have prayed for each sick person, reminding them that the healer is God, and we are only interceding for them.
“Last week, we visited our son Ruben A. at the university. He had his first photography exhibition, and we went to support him as a family. It was a blessing to be in a class with him.
“Thank God, the our mother church assigned a complete office for the Hispanic ministry. That allows us to work in a more stable place and to be able to minister better in Ebenezer. This has allowed us to paint it, buy furniture according to our needs and it is now easier to give counseling. This week, someone approached me to open his heart and talk about the emotional burdens and financial challenges he is facing. It was a blessing to welcome him into the office and talk. Thank God for the small steps we are taking to serve better and to be able to plant the church. Keep praying for us, To God be the glory!”
Faith Chapel, Flippin: Johnny Shew writes, “We had another great week at Faith Chapel! Our numbers for worship service were very good again. Like I have said before, if we ever get everyone here on the same day we won’t fit in this little building, so please pray with us that those drywallers will get to us soon. We need that new building!
“Praise God, for the third time in the past four weeks, the Lord has added to our number! Another couple, some more of our faithful visitors, joined us by letter, and we thank God for bringing laborers to the harvest! Karen and I have known them for a very long time (they were our neighbors at Cotter) and they are a welcome addition to our mission. Everyone already loves them, and they fit right in! Isn’t it amazing how the Lord builds His church!
“We want to thank you all for your prayers and support. Please continue because God is answering in a mighty way.”
Faith Journey, Benton: Bryan Clay writes, “I Thess. 5:17 tells us to “Pray without ceasing,” and that is what we studied this week at Faith Journey. We began a study of a Prayer with No Intermission by Bill Elliff with our people at the mission. We are excited to see the power of prayer and how God will use this study in the lives of His people.
We are faithfully believing that learning how to pray and establishing a solid prayer life will strengthen our personal relationship with Christ and help the advancement of His kingdom.
“We were not able to visit and have our weekly Bible study with one of our nursing facilities this week due to illness. Please be in prayer for these residents and staff to feel the Lord’s presence and for quick healing so they can enjoy getting back into the Word of God and fellowship with one another. Have a blessed week!”
Misión Gracia Soberana (Sovereign Grace), NWA:Roberto Marcelletti writes, “The beautiful area of Northwest Arkansas is growing impressively. It is estimated that the growth is 36 people per day. We see this increase in the visits we have had the last month on every Sunday, and we are being intentional in engaging with our visitors.
I ask for your prayers that the people who visit us, the majority of which are Catholics, will surrender their lives to Christ.
“This week we had to suspend our small groups in Pea Ridge, Springdale and Rogers because of COVID. Also, Patty, my wife, was diagnosed with bronchitis. Thank God, she is in treatment and is much better.
“In our Sunday service, we were able to have a good group and we had four visitors who heard the gospel and were challenged to make a decision for Christ. Now we wait on the Lord to see the fruits.”
Epic Life, Pea Ridge: Jake McCandless writes, “I shouldn’t have said last week was rough because this week was much rougher. Both of our connection groups were meeting, and we had our rescheduled leader meeting. I would miss one of the groups since I was in Israel, but we had a leader who was ready to step up to lead.
The night before that group, Amanda’s grandmother went into the hospital with congestive heart failure, and they called the family in. This impacted two families in our Woodbridge Group, and two families from our Garfield Group. She passed away Thursday night and the funeral was Sunday. It was the first death in Epic Life, and the first we experienced of our own family within the church we lead. It is hard to make it through a family death and all that goes into it without a church family. We didn’t have to experience that because families from both groups took care of us. They picked up food for the family and set up to feed the 50 family members and friends who gathered to eat. Like everything we do, even the help and comfort at a death and family meal was done multi-generationally. They didn’t just take care of the food and go, they stayed with us in our hurt. I was so proud to see Epic Life in action. Though we don’t have the typical structure, we still rise to help and it’s beautiful to see it done by a whole family. Since we are regularly in each other’s homes, everyone knew where everything was!”