A Word from General Douglas MacArthur

General Douglas MacArthur warned in a speech to the Salvation Army, Dec. 12, 1951, stating:

“History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline. There has been either a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral lapse, or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster.”

Oh how we need a spiritual awakening in America. Take the gospel to this lost, dying nation while you may.

To Encourage You!

Just sharing a simple worship song from the 70's that ministered to my spirit this week. I grew up in the Roman Catholic church, so while in the mid-70's I may have gone to the "guitar mass", I never heard this song until this past Friday. 

Brothers & Sisters in Jesus Christ: may this song minister to you, too, and may God's Holy Spirit refresh you & strengthen you in a real way today. Keep on living for your King; Heaven is just ahead!

Galatians 6:9 

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. 

The Diet of the Church is the Word of God

You know a key activity of Iowa Seed Sowers is giving away Bibles. Its God's word that people need to hear. A preacher recently said that the diet of the church needs to be the word of God, but so much of what is being shared in the church today is man's wisdom and pop-psychology.

I was taught that 3 things are going on when we share the gospel with the lost, and of the 3 things going on, we have 1 job to do. Our job is to deliver the truth from the scriptures, speaking the truth in love. The Holy Spirit's job is to use the word of God to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16: 7-11). He's very good at His job, by the way!. The the lost person's job then is to respond by belief or by unbelief, one of the two. So, giving away Bibles is a great way to do our job!

Romans 10:17 

"So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." 

Sometimes people ask me about how to read the Bible. That's not always an easy answer, because people come from different backgrounds, have different levels of spiritual maturity or experience with the Bible. I highly recommend a chronological approach to Bible reading, because it gives the "big picture" of God's work through history, and makes the Bible make more sense. That's why we offer the "Creation to Christ" Bible study (in the cross-column header above). And I firmly believe that verse-by-verse teaching through the word of God is critical to build healthy Christians and healthy churches. But I also believe we should be diligent to personally read God's word daily, letting the Holy Spirit teach us day-by-day so we can grow in Christ and discern truth from error.

I don't know about you, but I need to plan, or the busy-ness of the day or my own laziness will sap all my time. We plan for what time we have to be at work, when we need to be home for supper, etc. A disciple of Jesus Christ needs to discipline himself to do the needful things, and reading the Bible daily is one of those things.

So I put a copy of the Bible Reading Plan I use up in the cross-column header (above), if you'd like to use it for your daily reading. It will take you through the Old Testament once in a year, and through the New Testament and Psalms twice. In the picture above (left), you can see a copy of this plan that I used from 2012-2016. I couldn't figure out how to mark it up any more and keep reusing it, so I started a new copy in 2017. 

To use it, click on the header above and download the file. Print it out using the "1-Sided to 2-Sided" format on a printer or a copying machine, and then you can fold it up and paperclip it to the inside of your Bible, like I do. Its pretty handy, and works very well for me. There are a ton of other Bible Reading plans you can find on the internet. I just thought I'd share this one, and I hope it's an encouragement to you. Maranatha!

Mission Good Friday: April 14, 2017

We were able to get downtown in Marshalltown today around 12 Noon, for our annual "Mission Good Friday", where we read out in public the Bible account of the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to pass out gospel tracts and have some conversations with our neighbors.

Rain was predicted, and it started to drizzle just after we got set up. But the Lord gave us a break in the rain, and I read Matthew chapters 26-28 in English, and just as I was getting finished, David and Anna Leigh Heckart showed up, and David read the scriptures in Spanish. Our young friend Aquila also joined us, and he walked down the block by the China Buffet, and gave out a lot of gospel tracts.

I used a small chalkboard on magnets to write out what we were doing out on the corner of Main Street & Center Street

Here we are on the street corner, in front of Zamora's Fresh Market in Marshalltown (Paul, David & Anna Leigh, and Mary)

David reading Matthew 26-28 in Spanish

A man named John stopped and listened while he was waiting for a court appearance across the street, and he shared that he was moved to tears as he heard again of the heroic love of the Lord Jesus, demonstrated by his willingness to do the Father's will, and go to the cross to bear our sins, so that we could have our sins washed away, and be given the gift of righteousness by God, and receive the gift of eternal life simply by trusting in the Lord Jesus. And to that I say Amen - I agree whole heartedly.

We pray that God would use us to encourage other believers, and to speak into the lives of those who have not trusted yet in Jesus Christ. It is our hope that they'll think about God's word, think about who Jesus is, and think of their own eternity. God wants all men to be saved, and has provided a mighty Savior who has finished the work of our salvation 2000 years ago. So make sure you go and tell as many people as possible about our Savior Jesus Christ, and the good news of the gospel. Let's take advantage of every opportunity to obey our Lord to go & to tell them:

Matthew 28:18-20 

"And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

A Challenge from Pastor Umar Malinde

Pastor Umar Mulinde was raised Muslim and trained to be a Da'i, which is an Islamic missionary that propagates Islam. Instead, he became a Christian pastor. In this Tel Aviv hospital interview, he recounts how he was burned with acid at the hands of Muslim persecutors. His scars and pain will endure, but his faith is greater than these. Nothing the world can throw at him or us will quench our love for Jesus.

Please watch Pastor Umar Mulinde tell his story in this short video:

Jesus says this to His disciples: 

If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 

If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 

Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. 

But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me. If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin. 

John 15:18-22

Stay strong in the Lord, brothers and sisters, and boldly share the glad tidings of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the one-and-only Savior of sinners, and the one true God of the Bible, of whom to know is eternal life (John 17:3)