STATE MISSIONS: Who Done It?
There is a terrible misunderstanding of the origin of evil. Of course, God gets blamed for everything people don’t like or disagree with. Many like Job, come to the conclusion that God is just not cutting it.
If He is all powerful (and He is) and if He is all loving (and He is) then why all the evil and suffering in the world. After all, God is Sovereign. It is us humans that have the audacity to say that He is either not strong enough to prevent suffering and evil or that He is not all loving and doesn’t want to.
Mankind has forgotten just how mean, evil and vile we can be on our own. First rattle out of the box, Cain killed his own brother. All the human atrocities, such as the holocaust, pedophilia and abortion were not God’s doing but ordinary fellow spiritually lost human beings. Why? Man has a heart problem: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I try the reins (test the mind), even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings” (Jer. 17:9-10). “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil” (I John 3:8). Evil is a lack of goodness. It is goodness gone bad. You can have good without evil, but you cannot have evil without good.
I John 1:5 says, “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” So then, where did darkness come from? “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12). There are two words translated from the Hebrew that mean evil. For instance, when the Lord says in the KJV “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.” (Isa. 45:7). The Hebrew word for evil is calamity. The New King James Version and many other translations make this explicit with the translation, “I make peace and create calamity.” The same word is used in Lam. 3:38, where the prophet Jeremiah declares that both “calamity and good proceed out of the mouth of the host on High.” Another word the KJV translates as evil is rasha or moral wickedness to God. God bringing calamity is part of His eternal and sovereign plan. Also, at the same time it lends reason to Rom. 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” God has His reasons for weaving calamity into our lives. But He is not and cannot be the author of rasha (evil). “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way” (II Thess. 2:7).
From Our Missionaries
Misión Creciendo en Cristo (Growing in Christ), North Little Rock: Juan Carlos Posadas writes, “On Saturday afternoon, we had the volunteer’s induction for the spring break youth camp of the Arkansas Hispanic churches.
We reviewed the schedule, handed out the devotionals, explained the functions of the volunteers and agreed that each volunteer would have to be ready with their materials and devotionals studied, by March 16. Please pray that God provides more female counselors. We need three ladies to complete the team.
“Daniel is a brother who has been attending Sunday meetings sporadically while his family faithfully attends every weekend and during weekday meetings. Approximately three weeks ago, Daniel was reconciled with the Lord and has been coming every weekend. Last week, he proposed to several men from the church that they clean the church yards and, this Sunday, several church families were happily collecting leaves and cutting grass and bushes. By nightfall, we were tired but satisfied to have completed the cleaning. I thank God for the initiative of Daniel, who did not ask what he could do to serve in the church, but rather saw the need, asked if he could do it and invited the brothers to work.”
Ebenezer, West Little Rock: Ruben Isturiz writes, “Our attendance increased this week. We are still not at the level we want to be. Keep praying for our sick. It was a blessing to have visitors looking for a place to congregate. They have just arrived from Aguascalientes, Mexico and they have been married for two months.
It filled us with joy to have them this Sunday. They found out about our church through the information we have in the social networks. Pray for Moises and Joselyn Rico, that God will bring them to Ebenezer and that they will consider us as their community of believers.
“Our sisters continue to organize and will have their first meeting next Saturday. Pray that God will lead us to also organize our youth and men of the church. One of the strong areas we have in Ebenezer is the teaching of the Word of God. Every week is an effort to prepare material and teaching in Spanish. Preparing visuals and printed material and going deeper into the biblical text takes time, but the results are wonderful in that new believers know about Jesus Christ.
“Thank you once again for your prayers, to God be the glory!”
Faith Chapel, Flippin: Johnny Shew writes, “We had another great week at Faith Chapel! Type A Flu has been going through our community, and some of our members have had it and some have it now. It is going through the schools, and coming home to the parents, please pray about that. We still had a good number, with two first-time visitors and a great time of worship.
One of the first-time visitors called city hall to get our number when they saw our construction from the bypass. I love the way the Lord works. We also added one to our membership by letter, and we thank the Lord for bringing her here!
“Praise God, they started hanging sheetrock Friday, and they are back this morning, (Monday) just getting with it! Praise God again. They do say that they have to go finish another commitment tomorrow and it may take the rest of the week, but as soon as they finish, they will be back here until they finish us. Praise God over and over!
“I had another phone call on Saturday. A very kind couple from Louisiana called me (I don’t want to say their name without asking them) and told me that they read the Trumpet and have been following my reports. They asked for my address so they could send us a love offering for our building. It is so humbling to see how these sweet people are so faithful to God and His mission work. We are so grateful to them, and so thankful to God for them! They asked us to pray for them, because they said that ‘they were getting up there.’ So we added them to our prayer list, and I ask you to add them to yours as well. God knows who they are!
“We thank you all for your support and your prayers for us, Faith Chapel and this community we are trying to reach for Jesus. Please continue to pray because God is answering in a mighty way.”
Faith Journey, Benton: Bryan Clay writes, “This week, we got to spend some good quality time out in the community visiting with people. I have been praying that God would give us more opportunities to meet people and speak about Jesus and Faith Journey Mission with them. When you pray expectantly, God will answer your prayers. In just one day, I was able to make a connection with at least 17 different people to talk with them about their walk with Jesus and about our mission family. It was an amazing day!
“We are enjoying having our core group come together each week to learn about Christ and love on one another at the mission. We are seeing a bond between our people as we pray for each other’s needs, and as we learn about individual struggles and share the praises that God is doing daily in our lives. God has a plan for Faith Journey, and we are in awe of watching His plan unfold on a weekly basis. We had two new visitors return this week, so please pray that we see more people added to this group as we move forward.”
Misión Gracia Soberana (Sovereign Grace), NWA: Roberto Marcelletti writes, “We were able to meet in our Pea Ridge and Rogers small groups this week. But we were unable to have a meeting in our Springdale small group on Thursday as brethren attending this small group were still ill with flu and COVID.
“The strategy the Lord has given us in our Grace Groups is to start by talking about the sermon on Sunday, asking a series of questions about what they learned and what they are applying to their lives in a practical way from what they learned. It has been wonderful to see their answers and what the Lord is doing in them.
“Some of the brothers who were sick came back Sunday, and we had a good turnout. We were able to enjoy a beautiful time of worship of the Lord together and listen to His Word. Then we went into the fellowship room and shared coffee and donuts.”
Epic Life, Pea Ridge: Jake McCandless writes, “We were riding high after the successful coaches’ meeting last week and looked forward to that carrying over to our monthly Collective Gathering where we all meet together for worship. The Woodbridge and Garfield groups met during the week. Woodbridge was excited to see a new couple come back for the second time.
Then we wrapped up the week with our Collective worship night. The momentum didn’t carry over as it was one of the lowest attended ones we have had. We did have two new visitors attend. This new family was excited about what was going on with Epic Life and asked about joining a Connection Group. Another family returned for a second worship night, and they are also exploring coaching. We made plans to launch a Discovery Bible Study with them in a couple weeks. It’s like we’re doing the church planting two-step. We take two steps forward and one back, but at least there is a step of progress.”
El Faro #2 Hispanic Mission, Cabot/Jacksonville: Michael Hight writes, “This week we are in Phoenix running tests. I can’t tell you how grateful Jenifer and I are for the love and support you have shown over the last month. It is truly humbling.
“Please be praying for Dr. Michelle and Dr. Saperstein as they conduct their exams. I love you all!”
222
Paul White
Arkansas State Missions Director Paul White pens a weekly column to inform the BMA of Arkansas concerning Arkansas Missions’ activity and includes individual reports from each church planter.
Other posts by
Paul White
Contact author