THE ALTAR CALL

        God has given me many opportunities to share my burden for Brazil with many churches. It did not take me long to finger out every church is not like my church. One difference is that some churches do not have altar call. I wondered why not I always figured that the alter was something every church had to do; so I decided to study


The preaching of God is the center of today’s service in a Baptist church. Whenever the Bible is opened and a message given it should call for a response from the audience to change their lives. The alter call is not important however, but on the other hand a response time must be given. Weather it is the invitation or not.

Dr. D. L. Moody never gave invitation until the Great Chicago Fire. One night Dr. Moody preached and at the end he gave no invitation. That night many of the people that sat under him died in the great fire. From this point forward he always gave and invitation. On the other hand however, Dr. Surgeon never gave a invitation at all in his entire life. Countless people were influenced by him and his preaching changed many live. Both these men are great men of God, one gave an invitation and the other did not. Why did they both have success in their preaching? The answer is they both made their listeners make a decision. The decision to follow God or not.

While the invitation is not mandatory it is a good idea. It is the best way to call for a response from the people. Many people make decisions to follow God in the invitation. The pastor of Surgeon’s old church never gives invitations, but he does call for a decision. At the end of the service he simply says, “If you need help, or need to talk to the pastor about the sermon after the service go to his office.” After the service people wait in line for two to three hours to have a response.

In conclusion, the invitation is the best way to call for a response but not the only. As long as a change in life is called for the invitation is not needed. The Bible changes lives and so should your preaching. Therefore, a call for response must be made, and the best way to do that is through a public altar call.

Everything is going well!

Well this week has been full of surprises and excitement! God has really been doing a work in providing for my needs. God recently gave me the blessing to be at my home church this past Sunday morning. It was good to be there. I miss going to Lighthouse. I was able to teach a Sunday school class to the 4th and 5th graders. I taught on three this Christ wants us to do. It was such a great blessing to be at Lighthouse. The Lord is working I now have 73 meetings this year. The Lord is keeping be busy. Please pray the I will start receiving support from some of these churches. I am going to be in Ft Payne Al tonight and Atlanta on Sunday. The only openings I have open is April 4 (Easter) until May. All the Wednesdays are scheduled.

The Lord is working! SNOW!!!!

The past couple of weeks have been great! I have booked nine more meetings since the last post. The most exciting news I can share is the snow! It never snows in Columbus so I enjoyed it. The only bad part about it was being snowed in. I could not go anywhere all day. The church I had scheduled did not have service because of the weather. I was also able to begin the process in enrolling in Bethany Seminary in Dothan AL. Please pray that everything will go well. I want to get a masters and doctorate before my 30th birthday.

FAITH

What one thing would the world would be hopeless without? A person without this is also hopeless. What gives hope? The answer is Faith. Faith is many different things to many different people. Is there a true faith? How does a person demonstrate faith? How can people be faithful? There are many questions about faith. People need to know this because faith is the key part of the Christian life.


What is faith? Faith has been defined as, “Giving credence, confidence, trust, or holding something or someone as true.” Giving credence is giving due credit to one that deserves it. The perfect example of this is creation. A person has to have faith that God created the world. This one thing will change the way people live. A person that gives credence to God understands that there is a higher being that rules over him. He must obey God. Yet, a person that does not believe in creation also believes there is no God to rule over him. So he does right according to what he thinks. Giving credence to the right person will affect a person’s faith. Confidence and trust is very important as well. People demonstrate this in everyday life. A person has faith in a chair when one sits down, in a car when they drive it, and in God with their salvation. Trust and even confidence can be boiled down to one thing and that believes that God, someone, or something will do what they say they will do. Holding someone or something as true is the most important part of faith. Jesus is true. People can not have faith if He were not. Many people have faith in Allah, the three hundred gods of Hinduism, and Buddha. The one thing that separates Jesus from the rest is that he is true. All the rest people never have one hundred percent faith in. Jesus is the only one that can provide faith people can hold as true.

Since Jesus provides true faith, people can learn about it in God’s book, the Bible. The Word of God gives several commands about faith. The commands are found in I Timothy. First you must hold to the Apostolic faith. Apostolic faith is simply faith that was taught by the prophets and apostles that wrote the Bible. A person must believe the Bible as truth. When the Bible states that Jesus rose from the dead, people must believe it and hold it as faith. When the Bible teaches that a person needs to be kind to his neighbor, they should have faith that it needs to be done. A person must have faith in what God says.

A person can also never teach faith that is not taught by the Apostles. Doing this is call teaching false doctrine. God takes this very seriously. It has been said that petty doctrine leads to purposeless preaching. Purposeless preaching leads to faith that lacks faithfulness.

Faithfulness is faith put in action. A person’s faith must be evident in his life. This means when a person has faith in God he must hold to the faith. One must do right no matter what the cost. People should not look at the cost if it is a matter of faith. For instance if a person is a Christian he must believe the Bible. In the Bible, it states that lying is wrong. Therefore he must never consider a little white lie to get out of trouble. A person can be considered faithful is he always does right and does not quit. Quitting and faithfulness can never coexist. Faithfulness demands that one keeps on doing it even if times get rough. Churches across the nation have trouble with this. People say they will do something whether it be the nursery, bus ministry, or cleaning the toilets. People will do it and enjoy it. That is until the glamour is gone or times get rough. People say well it must not be God’s will. It is never God’s will to quit either. This will always get rough, but a person that is faithful will keep on till the job is finished. A perfect example is Noah in the Bible. When he was build the ark time got rough. Every person on earth at the time thought he was nuts. People harassed him and it even took him one hundred and twenty years to build it. Sure he got discouraged but his faithfulness kept him going. Now all the world owes him if it weren’t for this one man the whole world would have dies and we would not be here now.

It is always good to learn faith and faithfulness from people that are faithful. Abraham has been called the father of faith. In his life once can see the demand, reward, and assurances of faith. The demand of faith can be seen when Abraham was told by God to leave Ur and start a new nation, God’s people. This is a great honour, but it came at a cost. Faithfulness always has a cost. Abraham was to leave Ur his home for many years and leave his family and friends behind. Being faithful demanded a lot from Abraham. Abraham decided to do it, but he did not do it all at first. God commands complete obedience anything less is not being faithful. Alas Abraham eventually did do that entire God wanted of him, but the incomplete faithfulness cost him. Abraham had to die to self in order to be faithful. Paul puts it, of daily deaths, daily mortifications of the old man and of the flesh and the world.

Abraham had rewards for his faith. Having faith and being faithful always has rewards. First of all Abraham had peace because he had saving faith. Saving faith brings peace because one knows that God has and will save them from eternal damnation. Secondly, Abraham had faith that God keeps his promises and he did. God promised him that he would be the father of the God’s people. Abraham is the father of the Jewish nation. There are so many Jews one can not number them. God promised Abraham that his descendants would out number the sands and they do. God has rewarded Abraham for his obedience and faithfulness. The same can happen to any person that is faithful to God.

Faith is the key part of the Christian life. A person needs faith to have a fulfilled life. More important than faith is faithfulness, this for a Christian should go hand in hand. People should always be an example of faith and faithfulness, then like Abraham they might be known for their faith.

Study of Gen 24

While studying Genesis 24 the Lord spoke to me so I though I would post it on my blog. The story of Rebecca, Isaac’s wife, is a great blessing to me. It all starts with Abraham when He realizes that Isaac needs a bride. He does not want Isaac to fall in love with the ungodly women from Canaan. So he talked to his eldest servant in his house, and he told him to go to the land of his fathers to get a godly lady for Isaac. The servant made the long trip to the land and found a well. The servant asked the Lord to bring the damsel to him. He asked the Lord to do some things when the damsel came. He asked the Lord that the right lady would respond in this fashion, when he would ask the lady for some water she would give him some and offer to water his camels. So the servant sat down and waited on the Lord to bring him the right lady. After waiting a lady named Rebekah came. The servant asked her if he could have some of her water; she said yes. After he had had his fill she offered to water his camels, and she did. He asked her whose house she was from. She said I am of the house of Nahor. The servant went home with her and asked the father for Rebekah hand in marriage for Isaac. He agreed and allowed it. The servant took Rebekah to met Isaac her husband. Isaac worked and waited for the servant to bring his bride to him. One day while working in his father’s house she finally came. Isaac married her and she was the perfect will for him and was used to help start the nation of Israel.
          The picture of this story is one that will touch your hearts. Just picture it. Abraham represents God the father. Isaac represents Jesus, God the Son, and the unnamed servant represents the Holy Spirit. Abraham or God the father asked the Holy Spirit (Unnamed Servant) to go and prepare a wife for Isaac (Jesus). So the Holy Spirit went to land a far off in search for Rebekah, the bride. The Holy Spirit today is preparing the bride of Christ, us. The Holy Ghosts has come done to earth and is preparing us as Christians. One day he will take us to met Jesus. One day we will go to meet the one that saved us all. What a glorious day that will be.

2900 miles in January

The Lord has blessed me in January! I have traveled Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. I have had a great time while on deputation! Everyone has been an encouragment toward me. The Lord has taught me already it is all Him and none of me. Though the preaching of Bro. Camelleri of Rockchester NY brought it to my attention that God uses people with limitations. Moses, David, Paul, Jacob, and Ruth are just to name a few. In order to be used greatly of God you have to have limitations. You notice the Lord never argued with Moses. The Lord knew Moses' limitations before He called Moses. I believe that is why God used Him in such a great way. The Lord is greater than my limitations! Please pray with me that will fill up my calender for the next couple of months.

Great Trip To Florida

Great Two Weeks of Deputation Work in Florida

God allowed me to be in several churches in the Tampa Bay area. This was my first trip out on deputation. I enjoyed meeting new people and presenting my ministry in five different churches. I did however find out that I need to ALWAYS have toll money in the car. I was traveling on the Florida Turnpike with about five dollars in change. I hit two tolls for $1.25 and one toll for $2.50 which meant I was $.50 short so I had to pull to the side of the road and clean my car. I did find the money Praise the Lord! I is great to know that the Lord provides even the small needs I have. There is no problem too small or too big. These are some of the churches I was in while in Florida. The pastors were a blessing. Please pray as I travel today to North Alabama for a Missions Conference.