Inside This Issue:
Life on the Road
In Acts chapter 21, we see a partial description of the travels by the apostle
Paul. Starting in verse 1, and going on through verse 9, it mentions several
cities that he stopped at, visiting the brethren so that he could instruct
and encourage them.
“(3)put in at Tyre...(4)And having looked up the
disciples there, we remained with them for seven days...(7)we
landed at Ptolemais, where we paid our respects to the brethren and remained
with them for one day. (8) On the morrow we left there and came
to Caesarea; and we went into the house of Philip the evangelist...”
It almost looks like Paul is wandering about, just going from place to place,
seeing what will happen. But, in fact, it says in chapter 20 that he had
a specific goal in mind, to reach Jerusalem in time to celebrate Pentecost.
“For Paul had determined to sail on past Ephesus, lest he might have to
spend time in Asia; for he was hastening on so that he might reach Jerusalem,
if at all possible, by the day of Pentecost.”
Acts 20:16
The Holy Spirit had given Paul a direction, and he was doing everything in
his power to accomplish what he was told to do. On the way, he was using
the opportunity to minister to whatever brethren he might have a chance to
see.
God hadn’t given him specific direction to minister to the people in those
places. Rather, Paul was operating in his original commission as an apostle.
Jesus had told him to go to the gentiles, and he was continuing to do just
that.
Recently, we were in a Bible study where these verses were read. I had a
whole new understanding of what Paul was doing. Not only could I hear about
his travels in those passages, but I could hear about our own. Granted, we
haven't visited the same cities that Paul went to, but the mode of going
from one place to another, to encourage and build up the Body of Christ,
that was the same.
Now, don’t think I’m saying that I am a modern day Paul or anything. However,
I can understand his travels, because I’ve been there too.
When God plants a vision in your heart to accomplish something for Him, you
won’t let anyone or anything get in your way. If your home is getting in
the way, you get rid of it. If your job is getting in your way, you get rid
of it. Whatever it is, unless God has told you to keep it...out it goes.
Giving up our home was a challenge for us. Actually, it was more of a challenge
for Deborah than it was for me. Women are more attached to their homes than
men are, so she had more to give up.
But, praise God! Jesus Himself told us to give up our lives.
“For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose
his life for my sake shall find it.”
Matthew16:25
Paul knew that giving up his prestige, honor, and position for Jesus’ sake
was the right thing to do. He was driven by a desire to accomplish God’s
will. No matter what was waiting for him, even prison, or death, he was willing.
God is looking for a people today that are willing. It is only when we are
truly willing to lay down our lives for His sake, that we will receive the
greatest rewards. I wish I could convey those rewards to you, but words
can’t do it. You’ll have to find out for yourself.
Prayer Requests
Any ministry is only as good as the prayer support that is behind it. God
only moves on the earth through the prayers of His people. Please pray with
us for the following needs in our ministry.
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Continued open doors for ministry. As opposed to most traveling ministries,
we don’t pester pastors for an opportunity to minister, we expect the Holy
Spirit to open the door. Pray that God continues to guide us, and opens the
doors He wants us to walk through.
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Our motor home. We’ve been traveling so much that the motor home has several
serious problems. We are believing God for a new one, and to be able to fix
this one up for someone else to use.
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Please pray for God to provide people who have caught the vision of what
we are doing, and are willing to commit to pray for and financially support
our ministry.
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Continued traveling mercies. As we live and travel in the motor home, it
is a faith venture. Without God’s mercy and protection, we couldn’t do anything.
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Our finances. Satan has been working to block our finances, ever since we
finished writing the marriage book. We are sure that God has provided the
victory, and are reminding Satan of it every day.
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Of course, continued sales. We have sold over 1000 of our titles last year.
Praise God! With our new books out, we’re believing God to continue growing
our sales, even with us doing less selling.
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Distributors to carry our books. This will allow us to spend less time at
conferences selling, and more time in churches ministering.
God of the Impossible
(teaching)
I don’t know about you, but I notice God moving most often when the situation
is impossible. If there is a problem that we are big enough to handle, He
sits back and waits. But, when the situation reaches a point that there’s
no way we can do anything about it, God is ready and able to move.
When we were believing God for our motor home, it was an impossible situation.
There was no way that we, in our own strength could buy one. In fact, we
proved that, by trying to buy one ourselves.
There are two ways you can buy a motor home. If you have enough cash, you
can go down to the dealership and buy it free and clear. But, if you don’t
have the cash, you have to take out a loan. Banks make loans on motor homes
as a mortgage on a second home, like a mountain cabin. Of course, if you
don’t have a mortgage on a first home, there’s no way you can take out a
mortgage for a second home.
Praise the Lord, that put us in an impossible situation! We didn’t have the
cash, and we couldn’t take out the loan. The only way we could get a motor
home was to trust in the Lord.
God wants to put us in those impossible situations because that’s where He
gets the glory. You see, there are always men who are trying to explain away
anything that God does. Most of modern science is working hard to disprove
His existence. We even find many theologians working to find natural explanations
for the miracles contained within the Bible.
Abraham's Impossibles
God needed a man who would believe Him for the impossible. He found His man
in Abraham. Now, Abraham wasn’t God’s first choice, but he was the one who
would believe God for the impossible.
God’s first choice was Abraham’s father, Terah. God sent Terah to Canaan
in Genesis chapter 11, verse 31.
“And Terah took Abram his son...and they went forth together to go from
Ur of the Chaldees into the land of Canaan; but when they came to Haran,
they settled there.”
You know where Haran is? It’s at the edge of the desert. Terah had flocks
and herds to take care of, he couldn’t go out into that desert. After all,
God didn’t tell him to kill his livestock. Obviously, he didn’t hear God
right. So, it’s okay to stop at Haran.
Well, Terah wasn’t the man that would believe God for the impossible, so
God waited for the next generation, and gave the same instructions to Abram.
“Go for yourself away from your country...to the land that I will show
you.”
Genesis 12:1
Abram believed God, and became Abraham, the covenant partner with God. God
had found himself a man who would believe for the impossible, now God had
a way to bring His son into the earth.
But that was only Abraham’s first impossible situation. If God was going
to bring His son through the line of Abraham, then Abraham needed a son,
and he didn’t have one.
Here’s what I mean by God waiting until the situation is impossible before
moving. God promised to make Abraham the “father of many nations,” yet Abraham
didn’t even have one son, let alone enough to make many nations. But God
waited. It was 25 years from the time that God made that promise, until God
brought forth the son of that promise. God waited until the situation
looked impossible.
In fact, the situation looked so impossible, that Abraham couldn’t see how
God was going to do it. He said:
“...Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? And shall
Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a son?”
Genesis 17:17
Yet we see a little later that God was able to do the impossible. Sarah did
in fact conceive, and brought forth Isaac, the son of promise.
You would think this would be enough, but God wasn’t through. He wanted to
make sure that Abraham knew Him as the God of the impossible. So, He told
Abraham to offer up his son, as a burnt offering. To Abraham’s credit, he
quickly obeyed God’s command. Let’s look at how what Abraham talks about
the situation though:
“...I and the young man will go yonder and worship and come again to
you.”
Genesis 22:5
Did you see that? Abraham understood that his God was the God of the impossible.
Even though he was on his way to offer Isaac as a burnt offering, he was
expecting God to do something miraculous.
What did he expect God to do? The Bible doesn’t tell us. Most likely, he
expected God to raise Isaac from the dead. But whatever he expected, we do
know he said that he and Isaac would both be coming back.
Abraham knew his God was more than able to take care of any impossible situation.
This was the child of the promise, and no matter what, God would make His
promise come to pass.
What impossible situation are you facing today? Remember, God is still solving
impossibles for you and I, just like he did for Abraham. |
