Archive - February 16, 2010

Results not the goal!

February 16, 2010 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

Acts 16:5 And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily.

I find it interesting that the Holy Spirit shows us that the number increased daily but that apparently wasn’t the goal or the method, it was the result. The churches were established in the faith. As they were established in the faith the numbers apparently increased.

How many times have I gotten this backwards. I think the goal is to get the numbers up but the numbers were the result of the ministry not the goal.

My responsibility is to work at maturing the brethren and the number increases as God sees fit!

Please pray for the McCrum family

February 16, 2010 in missions with 0 Comments

Get all the information here:

Last night the Surgeon said she could have tea! That’s hot tea, and for our American friends we do that here in South Africa no matter how hot the weather is. Julie still cannot eat solids, but the tea thing is a big boost for one’s spirit (if you like the stuff). To date there has been no infection whatsoever. Praise the Lord, as this is the major concern. Tentatively, Julie may be moved to a normal ward on Wednesday, and then released on Saturday. It would be great to have her home the end of the week-a home with only two boys and a dad quickly becomes a lonely (and disorganized) place.

Please pray for Mark and Natasha Tolson

February 16, 2010 in missions with 0 Comments

Mark and Natasha are missionaries out of our church on their way to China. I do not know of a finer couple of Christian servants any where in the world. They are hurting deeply today! Please pray for them:

Please Pray for Our Baby and Family

This is one of the hardest posts for me to write. Today, we went to the Doctor to find out about our baby that we are expecting in 19 weeks. Because this pregnancy hasn’t gone as smoothly as our first one, we were a little worried going into the appointment, especially since we had been given no new information at our last appointment. Well, we finally received some answers today.

We were able to hear the baby’s heart beat and see it’s profile (got a picture). We were excited! Then the ultrasound technician had to get the doctor and the doctor came in to look at the rest of the baby’s body. After she was done, she took us into a different room and explained the condition of our little baby.

Our baby has what is known as “Body Stalk Anomaly.” Basically, all the organs from the mid-chest down have developed outside the body and have attached themselves to the wall of the placenta. This condition makes the baby incapable of living outside the womb. The baby has a 5% percent chance of living. If the baby does make it full term it will only live for a minute or two.

With that being said, please be in prayer for the baby, my wife, and our family. The baby is currently living, and Natasha will continue to carry the baby as long as it lives. We know the Lord is in control, and we will continue as normal to see what the Lord does. If the baby passes away before it is full term then Natasha will be induced and give labor to the baby. This could happen at anytime, so we will be going to the doctor at least every other week to check up on it.

We will love this baby as long as it lives. We will tell it of it’s Creator and the love He has for us. We will tell it how it could soon be meeting Him.

We are thankful that the Lord has given us this child. The LORD gives, and the LORD takes away; blessed be the name of the LORD. As the baby lives we will praise the Lord for everyday He has allowed us to have it, and once it passes on, we will continue to praise the Lord!

Thank your for your prayers and concern!

The truth about the world 2

February 16, 2010 in Reading Notes with 0 Comments

Approximately 101 people die a minute and over 90 of them go to hell. Probably 60 never heard a clear presentation of the gospel.

World population arrived at 1 billion in the year 1804. That means that it took about 5,800 years from the Creation and then the flood to get to the first billion. Then 126 years later in 1930 the world arrived at the two billion mark. Then only 30 years later in 1960 the world arrived at a population of three billion. The next billion only needed 15 years to get here because by 1975 we reached four billion. 12 years later in 1987 we arrived at five billion. Then the next 12 years took us to 6 billion by the year 1999.

Every second 5 people are born somewhere in this world and 2 die leaving a net gain of 3 people per second. That means that the world grows at a rate of 10,800 an hour.

So that you can understand the magnitude of 1,000,000,000 people it would require 40,000 trips around the world to equal one billion miles.

There are 80,000 to 100,000 missionaries of all types and denominations around the world today while there are 500,000 Avon representatives in the USA alone. There are 1,300,000 Avon representatives around the world or nearly 10 times more Avon representatives than missionaries in the world.

If you were to line up the population of China with one foot between each person the line would be 272,000 miles long.

If you placed the population of India and China side by side the line would circle the globe 18 times and the line grows by 20 miles every day. Out of those millions in China and India 99% have never heard of the Lord Jesus Christ. The world knows more about Coca Cola than Jesus Christ and we have the “Real Thing”.

If you would just take one person and so disciple them that they could be another you with an all out heart felt desire to reach the world and then both of you would repeat the same in the next year and every year after the world could or would be reached in much less than 33 years time. Because if the chain didn’t break in 33 years there would be 17,179,869,184 disciples. This does not take into account the number of people that would be saved just by “accident” as each person so full of God and the Holy Ghost would just live their daily lives. Just one finding one and investing everything in the other. “Life on life discipleship” to be discussed later in this material. The problem has been that we teach for knowledge and not for action. We like the academics and the “puffing up” that comes with knowing but the doing is a hassle.

The problem isn’t the numbers nor the barriers it is the desire, dedication, and strategy.

“The reason some folks don’t believe in missions is that the brand of religion they have isn’t worth propagating.”

“The gospel is only good news if it gets there in time” — Carl F. H. Henry