Saturday, October 22, 2005

Left Behind in Douglas Arizona


We have been receiving exciting reports from our sponsor church, Christian Life Center of Douglas Arizona, about their movie outreach to their community. We received a call from their co-pastor, Rev. Mary Louise Vigil concerning the success of the showings. In just two nights, young people have responded to fill the voids in their hearts with the only fulfilling answer-Jesus Christ.

Tonight, Christian Life Center had a packed sanctuary. They opened their showing with a time for fresh testimonials of God's power. Several people from various Christian churches and denominations stood up to share impromptu life stories of how God had answered prayers. One of the most recent testimonials, was that of Pastor Morales who spoke of how God had protected his life from the ravages of cancer. He had just received word of the Doctor's good news just days before the movie's opening in the Douglas area.

We are grateful to have been a part in getting the word out about the movie on the streets of Douglas during our recent vacation there. The Lord used a recent miracle in my life that was published in the local paper on opening day (this past Friday) to further promote our sponsor church and their effort to help lost people in Douglas find their way to a very real and personal God. The timing could not have been more perfect as the story was delayed two weeks. Delayed at least in our minds, because in the mind of God, He had a plan. God's never late and He's never early; He's always right on time!

Speaking of time, the time of the Return of the King is soon approaching. Even given our advanced science and medicine and in spite of our best prediction systems, we can not stop the rising crescendo of the culmination of time. The clock is ticking and as it ticks the signs grow clearer and the sense of urgency grows more intense. The rumors of war in every country (the war on terror knows no borders), the worst natural disasters that countries and whole ocean basins have ever seen (the Tsunami, Katrina, and the Pakistani Earthquakes), the advanced planning to re-build the Temple of God in Jerusalem, the Gospel message preached in all the world and the distant thunder of worldwide epidemics.

Sure, we have had all these events throughout history, but not at history-breaking levels all at the same time (within 4 years). We are out of hurricane names this season. We just experienced the worst attack on our soil and worst natural disaster in our nation's entire history. We have no idea how we are going to meet the humanitarian disaster in Pakistan. We have no real plan to stave off the pandemic that could be the avian flu. We have no way to explain why the underground church in China is exploding in size given the government's tireless campaign of persecution and atheistic propaganda. We have no idea why Muslims all over the Middle East are starting to have visions and dreams of Jesus telling them that He is what they are looking for. We can't track down suitcase nukes from the former Soviet Union. We wonder how Israel became a nation given that it and its vernacular had disappeared almost two thousand years ago. We have grown accustomed to alien abduction stories. We have started to look to eastern mysticism, psychic phenomena and new age practices for answers. And on top of that, we wouldn't mind being micro-chipped in order to prevent child abduction and identity theft. I think it's time. It's time to Follow Christ...

...before we get Left Behind.

Saturday, October 08, 2005

International Marriage Conference

www.marriageconferences.com


My wife and I just attended the 2005 International Marriage Conference at Phoenix Arizona and we will never be the same! We were empowered by so many life-changing principles as a couple that the conference went far beyond a marriage retreat, it was a School of Marriage. We were greatly blessed by the lineup of outstanding, God-anointed speakers and workshops. There is simply not enough good words to describe an event that resulted in thousands of miracles in the hearts, minds, and yes even bodies of the couples who attended.

If you want to receive a fresh understanding, uplifting, anointing and life-changing experience for your marriage and the marriages of those you know, Martha and I highly encourage you to check out these conferences. But don't stop there, check out the resources too, which are available online. The National Association of Marriage Enhancement, the sponsor, is at the forefront of a marriage revival and revolution not just here in America but around the world. Their name really says it all, our marriage was enhanced! Whether you're single, married for years, engaged, divorced, or separated your marriage can be enhanced too...

National Association of Marriage Enhancement

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Teens Experience Healings

Here's a story from the AG News Service that really lit a fire in me today. This is just one story of many that happen EVERYDAY that demonstrate that Jesus is still very much in the healing business. I know firsthand, he healed me of my asthma...

** GEORGIA TEENS EXPERIENCE HEALINGS

Church sermons and Sunday School lessons are often peppered with reminders that Jesus heals. But a youth group in Georgia isn't just hearing about it. Many of the teens are experiencing Christ's healing power firsthand.

The First Assembly of God youth group in Griffin, Georgia, has witnessed more than 40 confirmed healings during the past 18 months, according to Phil Knauer, youth pastor at the church south of Atlanta.

"It's just amazing what God is doing among these teenagers," says Knauer. "I can't explain all of it."

Kenny Davis, 16, was healed of a football injury during a youth service at the church on August 3. He had a cast placed on his broken ankle and torn ligaments earlier in the day. During prayer that night, the teen sensed that God had healed him.

He dropped his crutches and began walking, then sprinting, around the room on his cast. A second set of X-rays taken the following day showed that the bone was not broken.

"It was nothing surprising to me," says Davis' mother, Tracey. "I've seen God do a lot of things. He's touched our family in many ways."

Knauer says other healings in the youth group have included two students healed of diabetes, several healed of gastrointestinal disorders and a student whose dislocated shoulder moved back into the socket.

On one occasion, Knauer says, a student was healed as he walked to the altar to pray for a nose he had broken playing soccer a few hours earlier.

"His nose looked swollen, grotesque and disfigured," Knauer says. "It shrank back down to normal and straightened out in front of everybody. His mother fainted when she saw him."

Knauer says his youth group has grown from 150 students to 370 since the healings started. A number of students who came to church to witness the supernatural ended up accepting Christ as Savior and receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit, he says.

"I've spent a lot of time trying to draw teens into the church,"Knauer says. "But nothing takes the place of having God's presence demonstrated in your services."

**

Would you like to meet the person responsible for these amazing healings? Follow Christ.