God has been very good to us! Yes it is hot but we do have air conditioning in our hotel room and it works as long as we are in the room with the key in the slot. When you leave the room the lights and air are turned off and so you return to a sauna. But it cools in a while.
Last night I was blessed to be invited to preach in the pulpit of Missionary Rick Martin at the Iloilo Baptist Church. There were at least 1500 present last night. God has greatly used Brother Martin to do a tremendous work and I considered it a great honor to get to meet him and also to have the privilege of preaching in his pulpit.
Also it is great blessing to be here with missionary Keith Cullers. Brother Cullers has a ministry in Taiwan and God has greatly used him. I have also had the privilege of meeting Pastor Denny Wall from the Hico Baptist Church in Graham, North Carolina. We have enjoyed immensely having the chance to fellowship with all of these men.
I just got word that the meeting that was scheduled for 10 has been moved to 11 and then lunch and then a 2 oclock meeting for this morning session. Please pray if you read this before that God would use me for His honor and glory in the services this morning.
I haven’t heard yet what God did at the church today but I am excited and thank God for you. I understand that we had 91 in Sunday School and I will get the other numbers later.
I am very proud of each of you and thank God for the privilege of serving God with you.
I just wanted to write all of you a note and to tell you that I am praying for you that God will give you a great day today. Right now I am not able to call and if I did it is 5 in the morning while I have already finished preaching for today and will be leaving in just a few minutes to visit another church at 6:30 pm
God really blessed our trip. All has gone off without a hitch. We arrived after traveling for about 39 hours. Everyone else is in the hotel room resting and I thought that I would sneak off and send Betty a letter to let her and everyone else know that we had arrived safely.
We will try to call maybe later this afternoon after you all get up.
We all three preached this morning and enjoyed the wonderful people of the Philippines very much. Tomorrow the conference starts. I ask you to pray and I will try to update you again tomorrow.
I am also praying for each of you that God will pour out His richest blessing on each of you.
As you all know tomorrow our pastor will be in the Philippines teaching and preaching. I am very excited about this opportunity for our church to be involved in the furtherance of the Kingdom in the Philippines. Our pastor has looked forward to this trip since many of the people in our church family are originally from the Philippines. However, I know that his thoughtsw and prayers will be with us tomorrow.
Let us all pray that..
1. People will come to know Christ while our Pastor preaches the Gospel during his one week trip in the Philippines.
2. The pastors he will be teaching will take the biblical missions model of the church that we hear about in our World Evangelism Committees meeting and see implemented at our church.
3. That Bro. Austin, John, and Mark will have traveling safety during their trip.
4. We will all work hard to bring God maximum glory through our outreach today and our worship of our Lord tomorrow!
Currently, the young men and women in the Our Generation Training Center are hosting a cookout at their home. While I was there I met nearly a dozen of their neighbors. They are doing a great job at meeting their neighbors and being “salt and light” in their community.
Even thought we will miss Pastor Gardner tomorrow we are blessed to have Bro. Tony Howeth with us for both of our services tomorrow. In the morning he will be finishing our series on “The End of Days”. I look forward to hearing Biblical teaching on the anti-christ.
Tomorrow is “round-to-it” day at our church. Many people have told us in the past they would come to church when they get a “round-to-it” tomorrow we pray we will see many of them that have finally recieved a “round-to-it”. We thank God for those of you who have faithfully been inviting your friends since the launch of our church church over a year ago!
We are sitting in the Atlanta Airport right now waiting on our flight to Detroit to get us on our way to Tokyo. I just wanted to say thank you to all of you that have been so kind to tell us that you will be praying for us. I, personally, do not enjoy traveling but enjoy doing the ministry God gives me the chance to do when I get there. I am just too big for those seats, notice that I did not blame the seats but my size.
God is giving us the opportunity to preach, teach, and talk to about 200 pastors, Lord willing! I am excited to be going to a country where God is moving in such a great way. I pray that we can be of some benefit to them.
I am excited about what God is doing at our church. I know that Sunday you are all going to have a wonderful day with Tony Howeth preaching. I fully expect you to have one of the best days we have had in our church’s life. I look forward to your letters and calls about God’s blessing on the services and on you as you minister wherever it is that God gives you an open door.
Thank you, by the way, for being givers in the economy of our Lord. I know that He doesn’t need our money or even our time and service but He gives us the great privilege of being involved in all that He is doing.
Stay tuned for the next message which will come to you from either Japan or the Philippines. Know that we love you all very much and just thank God for the privilege of serving with you.
I want to ask each of you to be praying for us as we travel to the Philippines. Mark Coffey, John Pearson, and I will be going to Ilo Ilo to participate in a Pastor’s Conference. I should be preaching about 8 times in 4 days. I will keep you posted but I wanted to ask you now to being praying for us that we will be a blessing to about 200 pastors that are supposed to be in the conference.
We will also get to see my friend Keith Cullers who is a church planting missionary in Taiwan. He is a great man of God and has been greatly used. He serves as the Far East Field Director for Macedonia World Baptist Missions.
I look forward to hearing all the great things that God will do this week in our church. Tony Howeth will be preaching while I am gone. He is a tremendous preacher and you will enjoy it. I am praying that this Sunday we can have our best attendance for the month.
I really enjoyed preaching about Samson’s parents tonight. I understand that the message was a little tight but I think that it was needed. If you missed the service I hope you will get a cd of the service.
I will be in touch as many times as I can be to tell you what God is doing in our lives so please be checking back every day. Don’t forget to pray for us several times a day or as God brings us to your thoughts.
a. Justified
i. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: Romans 5:1
ii. The word justified or justification is a forensic term, opposed to condemnation. As regards its nature, it is the judicial act of God, by which he pardons all the sins of those who believe in Christ, and accounts, accepts, and treats them as righteous in the eye of the law, i.e., as conformed to all its demands. In addition to the pardon (q.v.) of sin, justification declares that all the claims of the law are satisfied in respect of the justified. It is the act of a judge and not of a sovereign. The law is not relaxed or set aside, but is declared to be fulfilled in the strictest sense; and so the person justified is declared to be entitled to all the advantages and rewards arising from perfect obedience to the law.
iii. It proceeds on the imputing or crediting to the believer by God himself of the perfect righteousness, active and passive, of his Representative and Surety, Jesus Christ (Rom_10:3-9). Justification is not the forgiveness of a man without righteousness, but a declaration that he possesses a righteousness which perfectly and for ever satisfies the law, namely, Christ’s righteousness (2Co_5:21; Rom_4:6-8).
iv. The sole condition on which this righteousness is imputed or credited to the believer is faith in or on the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is called a “condition,” not because it possesses any merit, but only because it is the instrument, the only instrument by which the soul appropriates or apprehends Christ and his righteousness (Rom_1:17; Rom_3:25, Rom_3:26; Rom_4:20, Rom_4:22; Phi_3:8-11; Gal_2:16).
v. The act of faith which thus secures our justification secures also at the same time our sanctification (q.v.); and thus the doctrine of justification by faith does not lead to licentiousness (Rom_6:2-7). Good works, while not the ground, are the certain consequence of justification (Rom_6:14; Rom_7:6). Easton Bible Dictionary
b. No longer condemned
i. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3:18
ii. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Romans 8:1
c. A saint
i. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:27
ii. To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 1:7
d. A new creation 2 Corinthians 5:17
e. Righteous 2 Corinthians 5:21
f. I am accepted in the beloved Ephesians 1:6
g. Seated in the heavenlies And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: Ephesians 2:6
In the spring of 1997, I was watching the House Sub-committee hearings on the issue of Partial Birth Abortion. The usual suspects had gathered for the occasion, Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and the like. I listened with indignation as those abortion advocates seated at the table listed the reasons for this procedure to remain “medically necessary.” It was not long before I realized that these ranting liberals were talking about children like my own beautiful little daughter. I felt a righteous sense of rage welling up inside of me when people who did not even know her began talking as if she had no right to live in this country just because she was handicapped.
What these pro-aborts could not have known was that on the horizon, there was a storm brewing like none they had ever seen and likely never would again.
In the fall of 1991, I was told that the precious baby I carried in my womb had a fatal disorder of the brain. There was little or no brain tissue visible in the skull, she had Hydrocephalus, commonly known as water on the brain, and some brain was visible on the outside of her skull. I was told by every “expert” in high-risk maternal/fetal medicine that her condition was completely “incompatible with life”. I was offered a late term abortion, what I would come to know later as a Partial Birth Abortion, where the infant is delivered all but the head then stabbed to death by the abortionist and the brain is removed, the skull collapsed, and the dead baby is then disposed of like so much waste.
I absolutely refused.
While her early years were difficult and laborious, it was all worth it as I had a lively, pretty, blue-eyed bundle of joy to show for it by the name of Donna Joy. I knew she was special, but nobody knew how God was going to use her to impact the country with the first piece of abortion legislation since Roe v. Wade.
Following the broadcast of those hearings on C-span, I took Donna Joy to see our Congressman, Roscoe Bartlett, who then told U.S. Senator Rick Santorum about our story. Rick Santorum was the primary sponsor in the Senate to ban Partial Birth Abortions. He called, and Donna Joy and I set out on a journey that would be ten years of our lives, fulfilling a call by God to bring the voice of truth to the nation’s capitol. We did dozens of press conferences, talk radio and TV shows, and personal appearances. We visited with countless “fence sitting” national legislators and were visible in Washington whenever the subject was being debated. Legislators now had to deal with one reality: That this little child with so many brain abnormalities could not only survive, but thrive.
Pretending she did not exist had to be a difficult task for those on the left, especially for Senator Boxer of California who was so annoyed by her mere presence, that she had Donna Joy ejected from the Senate Gallery before the proceedings even began. Then, in the fall of 2003, the big day finally came. I will never forget what is was like to sit and watch from just a few feet away, as the President signed our bill into law, and more recently, the feeling of relief and pride at having it pass the Supreme Court 5-4, of being in awe at God’s work in this, and His mercy on our unworthy nation. It truly was validation that all of our hard work was worth it, that Donna’s struggle for life, as hard as it was at times, meant that hundreds of thousands of babies will no longer have to suffer through a “procedure” that could have been used to effect her untimely death.
I suppose I could have listened to all of the voices calling out for her murder, just because she may not be perfect. I could have listened to the voices of Planned Parenthood, and the “genetics counselors” who said it was OK to “just forget her” and get on with my life. “She’ll just be a burden,” they cried.
I CHOSE to hear the ONLY voice that mattered, the voice of truth. I put my hand on my swollen belly and felt her moving around, and I knew that her life did not belong to me, she belonged to her creator, God. He was giving me a gift, for however long, to enjoy, not to destroy.
I thought you might enjoy seeing this article that was in our county paper today. Two truths are shown here. One that we should do all that we can to respect the law of our country, Romans 13:1-8, even though the laws do seem a little out of place or sometimes heavy handed. Second, that we should be willing to suffer if necessary for getting the gospel out. I don’t think it is necessary to go to jail to get our point across but I do think that we all should be more vocal about our faith in Jesus Christ.
Eason: William Baumann needed permit at event, given warning
By Jennifer Sami, Staff Writer for the Forsyth County News, Wednesday, April 25, 2007, Page 3A
While families were gathering Sunday to taste the variety of food Forsyth County has to offer, Fredrick William Baumann was about to begin a hunger strike in response to his arrest during the annual event.
Baumann said he and a friend, who he declined to name, were standing along the public right of way in front of the event, held at the Cumming Fairgrounds, passing out gospel tracts.
“I saw the two of them handing out literature and I asked them if they had a permit,: said Cumming Police Chief Mike Eason. “We’ve got a pretty well-established ordinance and, since the 1980’s, we require everybody to have a permit.
“The {Ku Klux} Klan and Hosea {Williams} brought all of that about,” he said, in reference to the famed 1987 demonstrations in Forsyth County.
Eason informed the two men they would have to leave, since they hadn’t acquired a permit. The unnamed friend left, but Baumann refused to leave, said Eason.
“I gave him fair warning. I told him he had to have a permit. He said he didn’t and he told me he wasn’t going to leave.”
While in jail, Baumann’s wife Lee and his pastor, David McGee, tried to post bail, but Baumann refused. Bail was set at $200, which, according to Eason, would have cleared the event without further incident.
“I went to try to bail him our and he would not let me. He {was} trying to make a point. We don’t have prayer in school and we don’t have Bible in school–he was trying to say the next thing they’re going to say is we can’t pass out Bible literature in the street,” McGee said.
“I believe in sharing Gospel with other people, but I believe in the rules and ordinances of our local officials and government. City and county ordinances must be followed if we’re going to adhere to that practice,” he said.
McGee’s church, Christian Hope Baptist Church, was in no way affiliated with handing out pamphlets on Sunday, the pastor said. Last year, the church paid for a booth at the Taste of Forsyth event but decided against it this year. Baumann went out on his own to the event, McGee said. Cumming City Judge Charles Smith held a hearing with Baumann Tuesday morning, found him guilty and released him on time served, which was less than two days in the Cumming City Jail.
While in jail, Baumann “fasted and prayed and got really close to God and church,” he said.
Baumann, 67, said he was not aware that he needed a permit Christian literature until confronted by Eason. While he admits to being given the chance to leave without arrest, Baumann said the permit requirement was a violation of his constitutional rights.
“I did what I had to do, they did what they had to do,” he said. “Eason’s a great guy. We are all Christians. The judge this morning was really great too.”
The experience “made me a lot closer to the Lord. It made me realize how precious our freedom really is. In a few years, we won’t have freedom, the way it is going now,” said Baumann. “The happiest time I’ve ever had was in jail. It was a really good experience and I think every Christian ought to do it once in their life.”
Though he plans on working to allow an exception in the city’s ordinance, Baumann said next year, he plans on obtaining a permit prior to passing out literature.
“As I said, it something every Christian should do once in their life,” he said.
We would like to thank all of you, our church family, who have been praying for me (Micah) while I’ve been away. Kati and I were married Friday, April 13, 2007 at 6pm. We had a really lovely wedding. My parents were able to come down and participate in the wedding. My dad, a pastor of a Baptist church in Mobile, AL, performed the wedding, and Chris Gardner, our pastor’s son, translated. We were married in Faith Baptist Church, where God led our pastor from when he came to Alpharetta. The way weddings happen here is that first there is a courthouse wedding, and then the church wedding. We were fortunate enough to be able to have the judge come to the church at 5pm for the Civil Wedding, and then we had the Church Wedding at 6pm. The picture where we are holding our marriage license, was taken right after the Civil Wedding. I have more pictures of just the Civil Wedding that I can’t wait for y’all to be able to see.
I will be sending more pictures of our wedding soon along with a list of miracles that God has performed for our wedding to take place.
You are free to disseminate the following news. We request that you reference ICC (International Christian Concern) and include our web address www.persecution.org. Contact Jeff King, President, 1-800-ICC (422)-5441, icc@persecution.org.
(April 25, 2007) The Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org has just learned that the three Christians who were martyred in Turkey last week were horribly tortured for three hours prior to being killed, as details continue to leak out. As difficult and sorrowful it is to learn more, we believe that we must expose the truly hellish nature of this attack for what it is.
On Easter Sunday, five of the killers had been to a service that Pastor Necati had arranged in the city. The men were known to the believers as “seekers.” These young men, one of whom is the son of a mayor in the Province of Malatya, are part of a tarikat, or a group of “faithful believers” in Islam. Tarikat membership is highly respected; it’s like a fraternity membership. In fact, it is said that no one can get into public office without membership in a tarikat.
On the day of the killing, the young Muslim men had arranged to meet the Christians at 10:00 am to ostensibly learn more about the Bible. They had gathered guns, breadknives, ropes and towels (they knew there would be a lot of blood), ready for their act of service to Allah.
They arrived, and reportedly, after Necati read a chapter from the Bible the assault began. The young men tied Ugur, Necati, and Tilman’s hands and feet to chairs as they videoed their work on their cellphones. What followed in the next three hours is beyond belief.
Details of the torture—WARNING: graphic content.
*They were disemboweled, and their intestines sliced up in front of their eyes. They were emasculated and watched as those body parts were destroyed. Fingers were chopped off, their noses and mouths and anuses were sliced open. Possibly the worst part was watching as their brothers were likewise tortured. Tilman was stabbed 156 times, Necati 99 times and Ugur’s stabs were too numerous to count. Finally, their throats were sliced from ear to ear, heads practically decapitated.*
Meanwhile, another believer arrived at the office around 12:30. The door was locked from the inside, and his key would not work. He phoned and though it had connection on his end he did not hear the phone ringing inside. He called cell phones of his brothers and finally Ugur answered his phone. “We are not at the office. Go to the hotel meeting. We are there. We will come there,” he said cryptically. As Ugur spoke he heard in the telephone’s background weeping and a strange snarling sound.
He phoned the police, and the nearest officer arrived in about five minutes. He pounded on the door, “Police, open up!” Initially the officer thought it was a domestic disturbance. At that point they heard another snarl and a gurgling moan. The police understood that sound as human suffering, prepared the clip in his gun and tried over and over again to burst through the door. One of the frightened assailants unlocked the door for the policeman, who entered to find a grisly scene.
Tilman and Necati had been slaughtered, practically decapitated with their necks slit from ear to ear. Ugur’s throat was likewise slit and he was barely alive.
After Tillman’s wife learned of the brutal death of her husband she publicly forgave the killers saying “they know not what they do.”
Jeff King, ICC President, stated, “The contrast between the acts of the killers and the forgiveness of Tillman’s wife is glaring and in the end seems to be at the center of this story for us. For in the end, these events serve as a stark reminder of the difference between Islam and Christianity. For the ‘faithful’ Muslims, following their god meant brutally killing three men (”we did this to protect Islam”). For the faithful Christians, following God meant forgiving the men who had tortured and murdered their loved ones.”
ICC is a Washington-DC based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide. ICC delivers humanitarian aid, trains and supports persecuted pastors, raises awareness in the US regarding the problem of persecution, and is an advocate for the persecuted on Capitol Hill and the State Department. For additional information or for an interview, contact ICC at 800-422-5441.
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