Stand By Me: 2 Timothy 4:18

"The Lord will deliver me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly Kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen"

2 Timothy 4:18 NAS

Paul wrote these words after noting that at his first defense, "no one stood by him". v.17 Have you ever really felt alone? And you just needed someone to defend you. Not give excuses for your sin and mistakes, but to just stand by you as you try to get free. Although Paul's only addiction was the Word of God, he states that the Lord stood by him when he needed that someone. He is saying that if you will seek the Lord's will in your life, He the Lord will stand by you.

The Lord has also promised in

Hebrews 13:5 and 6,"Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, "I will never desert you , nor will I ever forsake you ," so that we confidently say, "The Lord is my helper , I will not be afraid . What will man do to me ?"

Choose this day not to deal with you problems alone. And if there is no one around to help, trust in the Lord to Stand By You.

Mover of Men and Mountains

Been off a little on the blogging. I’ve been working rotating shifts and my hours of awake-time has been funny. I’ve been trying to get some work done at the Ark Christian Ministry Center here in Dothan. Our number of volunteers have dropped off and there is just to much to do around the thrift store and such.
So to get back into the groove of blogging I wanted to do a post on one of my favorite Christian Leaders, R.G. LeTourneau.

I came informed about Mr. LeTourneau through a book I found entitled, ”Mover of Men and Mountains”.
The book was thrown away next door when an elderly couple passed away and their children put all their books and unwanted items out by the road. Well seeing a garbage bag full of books only made me giddy. There I found this first edition and autographed copy of “Mover of Men and Mountains”. When I started reading it I could not put it down.
The book chronicles the life of Mr. LeTourneau and the lessons learned. Here is a quote that will explain more than I can write.
“If there is no logical explanation of my development of the digger, there is a theological one, available to all of us, including the weakest. By accepting God as your partner, no limit can be placed on what can be achieved. But God is no remote partner, satisfied if you go to church on Sunday and drop some religious money - the small change that goes to church - on the platter. He isn’t overwhelmed if you read the Bible once in a while and obey the Golden Rule. That isn’t active Christianity, but just half-hearted way of getting along. When you go into partnership with God, you’ve got a Partner closer and more active than any human partner you can ever get. He participates fully in everything you let Him do, and when you start putting on airs, and thinking you’re doing it with your own head and steam, he can set you down quicker and harder than a thunderbolt. There’s nothing dull about being in partnership with God.”
If you are not in business and are thinking this does not apply to you than you are wrong. He is speaking of “servantship” (hey, this word is not even in my spell check, but I added it) the missing factor in allot preaching today. It’s giving over the control of our lives to Christ. Governing our lives by His rules and His words with no promise of blessings and riches. Just doing it because He desires it and He knows best.
They payback, if you can call it that since we are the ones in debt, is unspeakable. Not a burdensome servant hood since our burdens are lifted and He says His burden is light. Not a dull servant hood for He will fill your life with exploits. A servant hood so amazing that knowing you can leave at anytime, you wonder, “why would you?”.
Yes, Mr. LeTourneau found the secret to the Overcoming Christian Life, not confessing and proclaiming, but living and walking. And being made a Mover of Men and Mountains.
For more info on R.G. LeTourneau see these sites.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._G._LeTourneau Wikipedia Bio
http://www.letourneau-inc.com/about/RG_bio.htm LeTourneau Inc
http://letourneau.org/index.php LeTourneau.org
http://www.letu.edu/ LeTourneau College

Spacial Note: the autograph in my book has the verse reference Matt 6:33 onder it.
"But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and all His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

Boynton Beach Martyrs

In this April 2010’s of Christianity Today there was an article about two men shot to death in Boynton Beach, Fl. for witnessing on the streets. This surprised me because I had not heard of this before. Why I was surprised I do not know. So I looked it up and here is what I found.
Back in January 2010 two Christian men were witnessing on the streets and stopped to witness to one young man, the young man received a cell phone call and after answering it shot the two men while they were walking away.
There are rumors that the incident was gang related, but according to West Palm Beach News the killer reported to the police that he shot them because they were preaching to him.
Stephen Ocean (second Pic) and Tite Sufra (first Pic) were two young Christians with some reported spotted backgrounds before coming to Christ. A lot has been made of their past and how it may have ended in the cause of their deaths. We being “born again” as new creations like the Bible says, our past is behind us but I can tell you from experience the past has a way of catching up. Until the world we live in comes under the rule of Christ, it will always be so. We can not sow weeds and pray for a crop failure.
But I did not want to get into this or the fact that if two Muslims were shot CNN (Fox did have a small spot buried) and all the networks would be all over it. I wanted to share with you that we need to keep these people in our prayers. You may not like the street corner preacher on his bull horn and you may think he is wasting his time and giving all “good” Christians a bad name. I’ve done street ministering in the 80’s and 90’s and I’ll tell you there will be a special place in Heaven for them all. If you know of a group that is involved in this ministry, see what you and your Church can do to help. Get on their email mailing list. Take them some boxes of tracts (with your church address on them) Take them some cold water or heck just yell out your car window that you are praying for them. Do something that you feel the Lord would do instead of criticize.
I hope to go back to the streets again. I may be posting more on this and posting updates on a local ministry called “Street Lights” to bless them. Watch for “Street Lights Updates”.
But let’s remember the two young men that gave their lives.