Starting off the New
Year right!
Dear
Partner,
January 2013
Greetings in
Jesus’ Name!
I was so
blessed to have my two grandchildren (Travis and Katelyn) with me when I spoke
at a United Methodist Church, my first meeting in 2013 in New York. Among other
things, they are both wonderful Holy Spirit singers.
Why do I say
“Holy Spirit singers”?
Because so much of what we hear in church comes
from the flesh. The singers are
self-conscious, instead of God-conscious.
They are often on the stage to perform and show off their gifts,
clothing, and hair-doo. It is easy to
discern how much these kind of people love being on center-stage getting all
the attention, and proving to the rest of us how “cool” they are.
Not so with Travis and Katelyn.
They usually sing with their eyes closed, and from the first note they
are “lost in the Spirit”. It is not
uncommon to see many in the audience weeping within the first thirty seconds
after they begin singing.
What a way to begin my first meeting
of this New Year, having my grandchildren with me in the service!
By the time
I got up to teach the Scripture I could easily see that people were crying. God’s Spirit had touched them in deep
ways. It is so easy to preach when a
receptive atmosphere has been created.
After the
service one man wept uncontrollably, saying over and over again, “I wish my grandchildren were like
Travis and Katelyn!”
I told the
people that day that if I did not have a dime to my name, or even have a home
to live in, that I’d be a very wealthy man.
Seeing the third generation of
my family following Jesus is one of the greatest gifts that I could ever have.
I asked
Travis and Katelyn to share a testimony about a trip they had taken to
Virginia, and how the Lord had taken care of them. They had been asked to sing at a funeral
twelve hours from their home. Since both
of them are college students, they don’t have any extra money.
They left
their house by faith, knowing that they did not have enough money for gas or
food. They trusted Jehovah-jireh (The
Provider) to take care of them.
Here are
just two examples of how God provided for his two precious lambs:
During the
trip they were getting pretty hungry, so they decided to stop at McDonald’s
(the cheapest fast-food place). They
were hoping to use an ATM card, not even knowing if they had enough in the
account to cover the cost of the meal.
They placed
their order at the drive-thru and drove on up to the pay window, wondering if
their card would be refused. Much to
their amazement, the person at the window told them, “Our computers are down right now.”
Handing them their food, she continued, “The meal is on us today!”
That was the
first way God took care of them.
On the long
drive home they were hungry again, so they decided to try to buy two tacos at
Taco Bell. But just before they pulled
into Taco Bell they spied a Chinese restaurant and at the last moment decided
to “go Chinese”.
They went into
the restaurant, ordered their food, and were served. Of course, they both bowed their heads to
pray and thank Jesus for the meal.
While they were eating, they noticed
that a lady and her husband a few tables away were watching them.
When the couple got up to leave, the lady took Travis by the hand
without saying a word, and placed a twenty dollar bill in his hand!
By this time
Travis and Katelyn were both crying and praising God, once again, for his
tender-loving care and provision.
These two
testimonies brought back so many memories of 47 years ago when Primrose and I
had first launched out by faith to preach the gospel in the streets of Flint,
Michigan and Jeremie, Haiti. In the
natural, we should not have survived.
But God is supernatural, and true to
his Word.
He has never
failed us or forsaken us in almost 50 years of carrying his wonderful message
to nations all over the world. He is THE PROVIDER!
And one of the ways he has provided
for our mission outreaches this month is through your generous gift to Full
Life Crusade. Thank you so much!
May He give
you a wonderful year in 2013 and show all of us how much He loves us. He will never leave us or forsake us . . . even
when we do not deserve it.
Just think .
. . one of these days our Wonderful
Redeemer will split the skies apart and we will see him face to face. What a day that will be!
Between now
and then we plan to keep carrying the torch of his fire throughout the world,
telling people the marvelous good news about Jesus.
In His Service,
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