Thank Your Instructor

How does God go about calling and saving lost sinners? By using His disciples as they proclaim the power of the Gospel through His Word. Isaiah 55:10-11 says: “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

God’s Word is the seed that the disciple of Jesus sows into others. Just as the rain and snow are not wasted but somehow accomplish His purposes, God’s Word never fails. Rain and snow come from above and do not return to the heavens without accomplishing their intended purpose. God compares His Word to the rain and snow because God’s Word always fulfills His purposes. We never know how God will use even a simple word of witness to plant and water the seed in somebody’s heart.

I recently received an email from Richard. I shared the Gospel with him around 1995, and I never heard his testimony until he sent this to me recently. His email reminded me of Galatians 6:6, which states: “Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor.” I was blessed to hear his testimonial and encouraging words. He sent this to me:

Hello Jim, this is Richard from Jacksonville. I wanted to send you a message to say thank you. In a recent church small group, we were encouraged to send a note to someone that shared the Gospel with us.

And I’m not sure if I have ever shared with you that you were the first to share the Gospel with me. It was at an FCA event at Fletcher High School. My sophomore year. At the time, I was going to play basketball and eat pizza. And remember thinking it was cool that a pastor would play basketball with us. You shared the Gospel with me when we sat down to eat pizza. It was the first time I had heard that God wanted to have a relationship with me. That night I did not raise my hand because I believed I was already going to heaven. But I remember talking to God and telling him that if I could have a relationship with Him, I wanted to have that. Only a few years later, I realized that was the first moment I accepted the Gospel and could see how God changed my heart and desires towards Him. And from that time, I sought more Christian fellowship and read my Bible to learn more about Jesus. I have shared this as my testimony and in my sermons for many years. I don’t know that you have ever heard that. So, I just wanted to thank you for being so faithful to share the gospel action and its words!”

I wonder how many Christians share the power of the Gospel through the Word with others. According to a recent Christian Post article; not too many:

A recent poll finds that two-thirds of American Christians don’t know any methods for telling others about Jesus. Most American Christians want to share their faith. Still, only a minority have encouraged others to embrace Jesus Christ in the last six months. According to new data released by Lifeway Research, more than 6 in 10 believers don’t know any methods for telling others about their faith in Christ. However, 52% of Americans who identify as Christian believe that encouraging someone to change their religious beliefs is “offensive and disrespectful,” and 66% of Christians are not familiar with any “methods for telling others about Jesus.” The survey also revealed that 70% of Christians have not shared with others how to become a Christian in the past six months.

Go & Tell Ministries exist to equip the church to share the Gospel and make disciples who make disciples. I always share at our Go & Tell Evangelism Workshop that believers take this class for two reasons: First, to learn how to tell others the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The second reason usually surprises people. They take the course because someone has told them the Gospel and they had repented and professed faith in Jesus. I then have everyone in the seminar share the first name of the person most responsible for sharing the Gospel with them.

I was truly blessed to receive Richard’s note of thanks for sharing the Gospel many years ago. God’s Word is true, and His Word will not return empty but achieve the purpose He has for it. Richard’s word of affirmation gave me a renewed passion for continuing to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others, trusting it will achieve His intended purpose and that He will use it for His glory.

Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love

Romans 10:17 says: “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.”"Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love." Ecclesiastes 9:9a

We are celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary this month. I still remember the joy of seeing my lovely bride walking down the aisle to become my wife. I call my beautiful wife, Kristi, the delight of my eyes. We have been blessed with a solid and committed marriage. We rejoice with our three beautiful children and delight in our two granddaughters. But it almost drastically changed some 20 years ago. Kristi's eyesight had progressively and noticeably weakened for several months. An ophthalmologist suggested she needed more than a new eyeglass prescription. He told us she had a brain tumor.

Of course, we did not immediately accept the grim news, but after a local brain surgeon made his diagnosis, we asked what he could do to repair the problem. How I look at life is that if there is a problem, we can fix it. But we did not like his method of repair. He told Kristi that the procedure would be to open her skull, move her brain, remove about 50 percent of her tumor, then follow up with radiation.

Even then, she could suffer brain damage and may not regain her sight. The tumor was benign, but it was growing. Of course, we did not want to accept that suggestion, so we consulted two other experts who told us the same thing. We did not like what we heard.

Unhappy with the information, I felt that I, a pastor at the time, had to take some action. The one option we had received from three different, highly respected specialists was not what we wanted to accept.

At our church, we held healing services on the second Sunday of the month. I arranged a healing service for Kristi and began a week of fasting and praying to prepare for the anointing. I had high expectations for the service; however, it was poorly attended, and I felt no sense of God's presence.

Nevertheless, I anointed Kristi. I had expected God to do a great work. I saw nothing to indicate that he had done it. I was disheartened. I was angry. I had spent a week fasting, feeling God beside me, feeling certain this would culminate in healing from the hand of God, but I could not see or feel his presence during the healing service. I felt let down and abandoned. The excitement I felt during the week while I fasted turned to anger after the healing service.

Later in the day, I expressed my anger with God to Kristi. I told her I had acted and thought God was with me, and I had fasted, prayed, and anointed her. What more could I have done? I had done my part to heal my wife, but God's presence was missing at the healing service. I expressed my intense anger to Kristi.

After unloading my disappointment on her, I asked Kristi how the service had gone for her. She looked me in the eye and, in her sweet tone, said "All I know is that no one would have done for me what you have done." I took solace in that, even though God did not meet her needs in the way I wanted, He did help me to meet those of my wife. Still, after all my prayer hours, I could only wonder: Where was God's answer?

And then it came. Kristi's sister, Amy, a registered nurse, found a doctor through online research who invented a non-invasive procedure that could remove the tumor and cut through the eyebrow. The surgeon would not need to move the brain, and the surgery did not require radiation follow-up.

We contacted Dr. Hrayr Shahinian, director of the Skull Base Institute in Los Angeles. We made an appointment for December 28. On Christmas Day, we said goodbye to our three children, then ages 15, 8, and 6—unsure what would happen—and flew to L.A for brain surgery.

We felt a sense of peace when we met the doctor. He was personable and confident. He told us three things:

I've never lost a patient, have great calmness of heart.
I think your eyesight will be restored to what it was before you started having eye problems. Bring your glasses to surgery so we can test afterward.
I will do my best to keep the pituitary stem. There is only a 30 percent chance of loss; if the function is lost, medicine will correct the problem.

Kristi's surgery lasted from 5:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Afterward, Kristi put on her glasses, and they worked. Dr. Shahanian told us he had removed 99.9 percent of the tumor, and it was gone.

While Kristi recovered in our hotel room, I took walks to give her the quiet she needed. One day I was walking down Via Rodeo in Beverly Hills, marveling at the luxury and wealth around me. The Lord brought to my mind the song" "The Via Dolorosa"-The Way of Suffering").

I began to sing the song to myself when God nudged me if I would choose to have riches or if I would take the way of suffering. The Holy Spirit took over my being, and I replied that I would follow and serve Him wholeheartedly, even if it meant traveling the way of suffering.

If I had not felt God's presence at Kristi's anointing, I sure experienced it with my heart, soul, and spirit on my walk on the Via Rodeo. It then became clear. God did not answer my prayers on my terms, in my time frame, or in a way I could immediately understand. But He answered them clearly and gloriously.

I sang praises aloud without fear as I walked past the shops on Via Rodeo. God had healed Kristi, the delight of my eyes, and opened my eyes to the way of suffering. He had answered my prayer in the holiest and most appropriate ways: His way (Isaiah 55:8-9).

As we rejoice on our fortieth wedding anniversary, we look back and see the grace of Christ guiding our every step. I love sharing the love we have shared for 40 years, my wife's healing, and how the Lord has blessed our family with His grace, love, and salvation. I now understand Psalm 50:15, which states, "...and call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me."

I delight in my Lord Jesus Christ and am so grateful for Him bringing us together in marriage over forty years ago. "The day of his wedding, the day his heart rejoiced." Song of Solomon 3:11b