Encouraging Words for Strategic Leaders in Kingdom Work

/ revheff / Leave a comment

Our five week capital fund campaign for our building has come to an end.

The image above was taken by one of our folks on the property this morning as we gathered for a prayer service at 9:30 AM. What a sweet time we had in the relative cool of the morning!

Tonight we meet at the SDA for a celebratory meal and report of what God has done. Whatever the outcome, He is good, all the time.

The closing message from Haggai 2:20-23 is now on the web. You can listen to it here.

Here is how I summarized the sermon and made application to our church:

So clearly this prophecy to Zerubbabel had unique application and fulfillment to him and through him to the Messiah, Jesus Christ. It was designed for his encouragement from two angles: God’s intention most thoroughly to abase the nations of the world through a cosmic and historical shaking of events soon to come and His intention most assuredly on that day of visitation to exalt the Leader (I made it capital on purpose as pointing to Jesus, the Messiah) of His people. So whatever comes church, however much we raise in these commitments, whenever we get a building and subsequent phases if God blesses, wherever we seek to engage peoples everywhere for pursuing ultimate fulfillment in Jesus, let us leader and follower alike take courage, be strong, keep working, go on believing that God will most certainly do whatever it takes to accomplish His kingdom purposes. Jesus will build His church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it (Matt. 16:18). The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ (Rev. 11:15).

If per chance you were not able to attend the service today and would still like to give your campaign pledge/gift, you may send it to our offices at any time.

Another huge step toward making a permanent home for OGC now lies behind us. May God give us continued grace to run the race set before us and not grow weary. He most certainly will do whatever it takes to accomplish His kingdom purposes.

Lessons from Another Capital Campaign in the Past

/ revheff / Leave a comment

Tomorrow marks the conclusion of our five-week capital fund campaign toward the end of raising commitments totaling $500,000 or more toward the building of our facility.

As we anticipate the exciting events of this memorable Lord’s Day, arguably one of the most important days in the history of OGC, consider with me some lessons from another capital campaign in the lives of God’s people in the past.

First Chronicles 29:1-9 describes the stunning freewill offerings made by the Jews in response to David’s call to the people to consecrate themselves to the Lord in giving to the construction of Solomon’s temple. The people gave with such whole-hearted generosity that they and David alike rejoiced greatly (v. 9).

Quite beside himself with delight, David does what any God-centered leader should do on such a momentous occasion – he prays. You might not find a more God-centered prayer in all the Bible in vv. 10-19.

10 Therefore David blessed the Lord in the presence of all the assembly. And David said: “Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. 11 Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. 12 Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. 13 And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.

14 “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you. 15 For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding.  16 O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a house for your holy name comes from your hand and is all your own. 17 I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you. 18 O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you. 19 Grant to Solomon my son a whole heart that he may keep your commandments, your testimonies, and your statutes, performing all, and that he may build the palace for which I have made provision.”

From David’s prayer, and the people’s response in vv. 20-22, I see four things for us to keep in mind as we gather together tomorrow to see what God will do in the conclusion of our capital campaign.

  1. Acknowledge with thanks that everything belongs to God (10-13). David overflows with praise in the midst of the peoples’ giving acknowledging that all that is in the heavens and in the earth is His (11). As was the case with this version of God’s people in the past, so shall it be with us tomorrow that we must respond, whatever the outcome, this way: we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name (13). I fully intend after the presentation of our gifts and pledges contained in our envelopes (available tomorrow on the resource table in the entryway) for us to sing the Doxology – Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
  2. Remember with humility that generosity comes from God (14-16). David thinks very little of himself or the people in terms of the generosity on display remembering that all things, including the grace of giving, come from God in the first place (14). Furthermore, as strangers and pilgrims soon passing from earth’s scene, we have no room to boast before God (15). If we near, make, or even exceed our goal tomorrow, it will be only because God Himself graced us to do so.
  3. Consider with prayer that devotion depends upon God (17-19). David knows that raising funds for the temple served as God’s test for the people as to the nature of their affections and commitment to His purposes. So he prays that God would keep them and his son, Solomon, fixed in such a direction. Matthew Henry observed on this part of the prayer:

Great consequences depend upon what is innermost, and what uppermost, in the imagination of the thoughts of our heart, what we aim at and what we love to think of. If any good have got possession of our hearts, or the hearts of our friends, it is good by prayer to commit the custody of it to the grace of God: “Lord, keep it there, keep it for ever there.”

The final insight comes from the response of the people in vv. 20-22.

20 Then David said to all the assembly, “Bless the Lord your God.” And all the assembly blessed the Lord, the God of their fathers, and bowed their heads and paid homage to the Lord and to the king. 21 And they offered sacrifices to the Lord, and on the next day offered burnt offerings to the Lord, 1,000 bulls, 1,000 rams, and 1,000 lambs, with their drink offerings, and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel. 22 And they ate and drank before the Lord on that day with great gladness.

Anticipate with delight that worship results before God (20-22). David exhorted the people to bless God in worship and they responded with bowed heads and numerous sacrifices. It all culminated in feasting before the Lord on that day with great gladness (22). This, of course, is exactly what we anticipate doing tomorrow evening as we gather at 6 for our meal and then learn of what God has done.

We have given ourselves to these five weeks taking our cue from the prophet Haggai, considering our ways and asking the Lord to reveal what He may require of us in sacrificial giving toward this campaign.

As we gather tomorrow for the culmination of it all, may we keep these lessons from the past in mind and may God grant us the grace to keep Him uppermost in our affections from that point forward, for His glory and our joy.

To Pledge or Not to Pledge?

/ revheff / Leave a comment

That is the question. It is the question of the year, maybe the decade, for OGC as we conclude our first-ever capital campaign on Sunday, May 23.

One factor affecting our decision may come with determining exactly what we mean by the term “pledge.”

Is it a vow that locks us into a covenant from which we can never be loosed?

Is it a guestimate of what we might be able to contribute if things work out OK over the next three years?

Is it what some used to call years ago a “faith promise” – what I will give if the Lord does something miraculous in terms of adding to our incomes in an unexpected way?

Good questions all, to which I would say none of the above.

Well, than, what is a pledge?  We can turn two places for help. They happen to harmonize quite nicely.

First, the dictionary. Webster’s sixth definition reads: “something promised, especially money to be contributed in regular payments.”

Second, the Scriptures. Consider 2 Cor. 9:1-5:

Now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints, 2 for I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year. And your zeal has stirred up most of them. 3 But I am sending  the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter, so that you may be ready, as I said you would be. 4 Otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated—to say nothing of you—for being so confident. 5 So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift  you have promised, so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction (emphasis added).

A pledge is a gift promised based upon what’s known as opposed to unknown. You look at your income stream at present, determine where you will sacrifice, calculate what you can give on a monthly basis and promise to put that in the plate faithfully, as God continues to give you grace to do so. It is not presuming on God to do something unusual that you hope He will do (faith promise). It is not a vow or covenant from which you could never be released if circumstances somehow changed beyond your control and prevented you from following through. It’s a promise to follow through with a plan for giving, just as you would do with a missionary or charitable organization you support based upon counting the cost and doing what God purposes in your heart (2 Cor. 9:7).

One commentary put this spin on Paul’s purpose in v. 6: He places the burden on the Corinthians and is fully assured that they will complete what they had promised. He reminds them of a proverbial truth: “A promise made is a debt unpaid.”

May we pray together throughout the remainder of this week that the Lord guides each of our member family units in knowing what kind of one-time gift and/or monthly pledge He requires of us AND may He give us grace to make good on what we promise so the apostle Paul doesn’t have to breathe down our necks, if he could, and remind us to follow through on our pledges.

Lessons from a Capital Campaign from the Past

/ revheff / Leave a comment

Our five week capital fund campaign for OGC’s first ever building draws quickly to a close.

Next Sunday, May 23, the day we bring our pledge commitments to the Lord, fast approaches.

This week I want to utilize the blog to draw some lessons from similar campaigns from the past in the history of God’s people. I want them to be an encouragement and help as we prepare for this most significant day in the history of our church.

The building of the tabernacle in Israel’s history gives us the first historical occurrence of this kind from which we may make application.

In Exodus 35:4-9 we read:

4 Moses said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “This is the thing that the Lord has commanded. 5 Take from among you a contribution to the Lord. Whoever is of a generous heart, let him bring the Lord’s contribution: gold, silver, and bronze; 6 blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen; goats’ hair, 7 tanned rams’ skins, and goatskins; acacia wood, 8 oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, 9 and onyx stones and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece.

In Exodus 35:20-29 we learn of the response of God’s people to Moses’ exhortation:

20 Then all the congregation of the people of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. 21 And they came, everyone whose heart stirred him, and everyone whose spirit moved him, and brought the Lord’s contribution to be used for the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the holy garments. 22 So they came, both men and women. All who were of a willing heart brought brooches and earrings and signet rings and armlets, all sorts of gold objects, every man dedicating an offering of gold to the Lord. 23 And every one who possessed blue or purple or scarlet yarns or fine linen or goats’ hair or tanned rams’ skins or goatskins brought them. 24 Everyone who could make a contribution of silver or bronze brought it as the Lord’s contribution. And every one who possessed acacia wood of any use in the work brought it. 25 And every skillful woman spun with her hands, and they all brought what they had spun in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. 26 All the women whose hearts stirred them to use their skill spun the goats’ hair. 27 And the leaders brought onyx stones and stones to be set, for the ephod and for the breastpiece, 28 and spices and oil for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense. 29 All the men and women, the people of Israel, whose heart moved them to bring anything for the work that the Lord had commanded by Moses to be done brought it as a freewill offering to the Lord.

Matthew Henry, the Puritan commentator made these five excellent insights about the above verses:

  1. It is intimated that they brought their offerings immediately; they departed to their tents immediately to fetch their offering, and did not desire time to consider of it, lest their zeal should be cooled by delays. What duty God convinces us of, and calls us to, we should set about speedily. No season will be more convenient than the present season.
  2. It is said that their spirits made them willing (v. 21), and their hearts, v. 29. What they did they did cheerfully, and from a good principle. They were willing, and it was not any external inducement that made them so, but their spirits. It was from a principle of love to God and his service, a desire of his presence with them in his ordinances, gratitude for the great things he had done for them, faith in his promise of what he would further do (or, at least, from the present consideration of these things), that they were willing to offer. What we give and do for God is then acceptable when it comes from a good principle in the heart and spirit.
  3. When it is said that as many as were willing-hearted brought their offerings (v. 22), it should seem as if there were some who were not, who loved their gold better than their God, and would not part with it, no, not for the service of the tabernacle. Such there are, who will be called Israelites, and yet will not be moved by the equity of the thing, God’s expectations from them, and the good examples of those about them, to part with any thing for the interests of God’s kingdom: they are for the true religion, provided it be cheap and will cost them nothing.
  4. The offerings were of divers kinds, according as they had; those that had gold and precious stones brought them, not thinking any thing too good and too rich to part with for the honour of God. Those that had not precious stones to bring brought goats’ hair, and rams’ skins. If we cannot do as much as others for God, we must not therefore sit still and do nothing: if the meaner offerings which are according to our ability gain us not such a reputation among men, yet they shall not fail of acceptance with God, who requires according to what a man hath, and not according to what he hath not, 2 Co. 8:12; 2 Ki. 5:23. Two mites from a pauper were more pleasing than so many talents from a Dives. God has an eye to the heart of the giver more than to the value of the gift.
  5. Many of the things they offered were their ornaments, bracelets and rings, and tablets or lockets (v. 22); and even the women parted with these. Can a maid forget her ornaments? Thus far they forgot them that they preferred the beautifying of the sanctuary before their own adorning. Let this teach us, in general, to part with that for God, when he calls for it, which is very dear to us, which we value, and value ourselves by; and particularly to lay aside our ornaments, and deny ourselves in them, when either they occasion offence to others or feed our own pride.

Where does the Lord speak to you from this capital campaign from the past in preparation for your response to OGC’s capital campaign in the present?

Planning for the Lord's Day

/ revheff / Leave a comment

Someone recently sent me this excerpt from Tim Challies’ blog about how to plan for our Sundays.

In his book Expository Listening (read Challies’ review here), Ken Ramey offers a list of ways you can “Plan Ahead, and Schedule Your Week Around the Ministry of the Word.”

“For the majority of people, even church members, church is not the priority of their week. Too often school, work, sports, and other activities take precedence over going to church. They make the mistake of letting their time be ordered by the world, which views the weekends as a time to relax, to play sports, to stay up late and sleep in. For Christians, however, Sunday should be the most important day of the week. You should try to schedule your work, activities, get-togethers, and vacations around church. You should live by the principle that Sunday morning starts Saturday night.”

He offers several practical suggestions on how to prioritize the Lord’s Day:

  • Make it a habit to be home on Saturday night.
  • Be careful not to do, watch, or read anything that will cause lingering distractions in your mind the next day.
  • Get things ready on Saturday night to alleviate the typical Sunday morning rush (lay out clothes, set the table, write the offering check, stock the diaper bag, etc).
  • Get a good night’s sleep so you can be sharp and energetic to worship and serve God. It’s hard to listen when you’re nodding off.
  • Eat a simple but adequate breakfast that will hold you until lunch. It’s difficult to hear over the grumbling of your stomach.
  • Work together with the other members of your family to get ready, and to establish and maintain a godly atmosphere on the way to church. Listen to music, sing, and pray together.
  • Arrive at church ten minutes early instead of ten minutes late so you have enough time to find a parking spot, drop the kids off in the nursery or their Sunday school classes, get a cup of coffee, visit with your friends, and find a seat.

“When you fail to plan ahead,” he warns, “Sunday morning ends up becoming a chaotic crisis, and by the time you get to church, you are frustrated and frazzled and your heart is in no condition to receive the Word. But when you plan well and are able to arrive in a relaxed, leisurely way, you will be in a much more receptive frame of mind.”

I trust God might use these suggestions to prepare us all the more for our fellowship tomorrow and every Sunday to come.

Battling Weariness and Discouragement

/ revheff / 4 Comments

As we saw last Sunday, Haggai 2:1-9 contains precious promises for warding off debilitating discouragement. Here are some more thoughts from Scripture for waging war on this paralyzing foe.

Proverbs warns, If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small (24:10). Everyone faces adversity. Prolonged struggles can wear us down. Tragic events can crush us. If we sink under the pressure, it tells us something about our strength quotient. No one wants to admit a shortage of strength, but the potential for that exists almost on any given day.

How do we cultivate a reservoir of strength that stands firm even in seemingly overwhelming adversity? Here are four strategies for waging war on personal weariness and discouragement.

  1. Understand that perseverance is a matter of obedience. Paul tells the Thessalonians in his second letter, But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good (3:13). The Galatians get the same exhortation: And let us not grow weary while doing good (6:9). Caving in when we encounter obstacles does not glorify God. He calls for pressing on in the fight.
  2. Consider the example of Jesus in persevering under trial. The writer to the Hebrews tells us to do just that in 12:3 – Consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. Our Lord’s face-like-a-flint march to Calvary under enormous affliction should temper the way we measure the extremity of our own adversities. Ponder the passion. Take courage from His courage.
  3. Come under the continual hearing of the word of God, especially its promises. Isaiah says, The Lord God has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary (50:4). Apt words in the right circumstances lift the heart and strengthen the soul. When Paul tells us not to grow weary because we will soon reap if we don’t faint (Gal. 6:9) and to be always abounding in the Lord’s work because it is not in vain (1 Cor. 15:58), those promises help douse the fires of discouragement and fan the flames of perseverance.
  4. Give yourself to persistent waiting on the Lord. Another great promise of the Scripture for the weary comes from Isaiah 40:31 – But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. The Hebrew word for wait comes from root that means twine or string. It’s the idea of strength formed from the intertwining of multiple strands. To wait on God is to intertwine our pygmy-like limited strength with God’s massive unlimited strength so that we gain His power and faint not. Waiting on God involves meditating on His character. The Psalmist says, I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living (27:13). Waiting on God involves praying for His help and will. Jesus linked prayer and fighting weariness in Luke 18:1 – Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart.


We simply don’t have the resources in and of ourselves to bear up under relentless adversity. We need a battle plan from God to see that we don’t grow faint and fail from limited strength.

John Newton knew something of this. He says this in his essay, The Snares and Difficulties Attending the Ministry of the Gospel:

It is a good and noble cause, and we serve a good and gracious Master who, though He will make us feel our weakness and vileness, will not suffer us to sink under it. His grace is sufficient for us, and if He favors us with a humble and dependent spirit, a single eye and a simple heart, He will make every difficulty give way, and mountains will sink into plains before His power.

Discouragement will not give way in our lives without the fight of faith. Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might (Eph. 6:10).

Precious Promises for Warding Off Debilitating Discouragement

/ revheff / Leave a comment

Capital Fund Campaign Sunday #3 has just about passed. You can listen to the third sermon from Haggai 2:1-9 here.

Here is the summary of the message, including theme, main points, and applications:

Encouragement for kingdom building work comes from taking God at His word in His powerful promises – the promise of God’s presence in the present as before (2:1-5) and the promise of God’s provision in the future beyond before (6-9). So as we persevere with this campaign and anticipate commitment Sunday on week five, May 23, I urge us to keep on considering our ways, evaluating our priorities. Let’s not waste this season. And let us claim these precious and powerful promises about His abiding, covenant keeping presence and His provision of all our needs, even beyond what we can ask or think. These are the antidotes for any debilitating discouragement that may come our way.

Two more Sundays left in this historic season in our church’s life!

Writing a Tribute to Your Parents

/ revheff / 5 Comments

Dennis Rainey, in his book The Tribute: Whatever Every Parent Longs to Hear (Thomas Nelson, 1994, 288 pages), advocates every son or daughter writing a tribute of honor to their parents at some point in their life. He also advises presenting that written tribute publicly, usually on some milestone date in their lives.

On July 23 of 2004 my parents marked their 50th wedding anniversary. I struggled with what to give them since they possess so much due to God’s blessing in their lives.

It was then that I read Rainey’s book and found it inspirational, helpful, and practical. He talks about the biblical importance of honor and goes into quite some detail how to write a tribute. He wrestles with tough subjects like how to honor parents who have been abusive and less than honorable in their parenting. He also provides numerous examples of tributes people have sent in over the years. It’s worth the read.

It may be a bit late to write something like this for your Mom with less than twenty-four hours left before Mother’s Day, but I would commend the idea to your thinking for Father’s Day in June or some other event in the future.

I finish this little exhortation with a copy of my version to my folks. They matted and framed a copy and placed it on the family picture wall of their home in Viera. God worked wonderfully that night of their anniversary. My hope is that this might serve to prompt you to do something similar on the right occasion as God leads.

The Best Gift I Can Give
A Tribute to My Parents on their 50th Wedding Anniversary

Dear Dad & Mom,

I wondered long and hard, even prayed, about what present to get you for this momentous occasion. God’s voice was clear. Give them honor. Write a tribute.

Memories from these years as your son came back like a flood. I thank you for them all. I honor you for the earliest memory – joining me on the floor to play with my cowboys and Indians fort. I honor you for the latest memory – turning your 50th into an occasion to gift your children with stunning generosity.

I honor you for all the memories in between – not just for the memories, but for what they represent – love, family, care, commitment. Some of those memories seem more insignificant than others. Certain ones belong to you, Mom. Whipping up the world’s greatest chicken pot pie. Decorating a perfect tree every Christmas Eve. Teaching me how to cook, wash, and even iron for college. Instilling in me the importance of writing thank you notes.

Others come from you, Dad. Tutoring me through Mr. Donnely’s tortuous 7th grade math class. Taking me to see the Phillies play at Connie Mack stadium. Letting me drive the corvette to the prom even though it cost you a night’s sleep. Being able to fix absolutely anything. Making me help build that endless stone wall in Berwyn.

Still more have to do with you both, and the family. Singing “I wish I was a Colorado Marmot” under the Rocky Mountain summer night sky. Tolerating my rock band blasting sixties songs in the garage. Attending all my plays and graduations. Letting me get a hamster. Buying me a 12-string guitar.

I honor you for those lesser memories and these weightier ones. Mom – breaking the generational chain of addiction by trusting Christ as your Savior and relentlessly facing Goliath-like issues with God’s help.

Dad – not just marrying Mom though I came with the package, but even adopting me as your very own son. I gladly bear the family name, Heffelfinger.

Both of you – raising me in the church where I received my call to the ministry. Nurturing my love for music, theater, and speech – recognizing my unique bent and never trying to make me into someone I wasn’t. Refusing to allow my foolish dishonor in leaving college against your wishes to drive an ultimate, endless wedge into our relationship. Standing with me and Nancy in the hardest choices of our lives – leaving CCVF in ’79 and heading for Idaho in ’98.

And certainly on this day, July 23, 2004, I honor you for the testimony of covenant- keeping marriage – for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, until death do you part. In all of this you haven’t been perfect, any more than I or any of us have been perfect. But you have been real, faithful, loving, devoted, and enduring. For these things and so much more, I honor you. I give you tribute. You are exactly what God wanted me to have. Praise be to His name!

Your loving and forever grateful son,

Curt

Leviticus 19:32

Praying Like a Widow to a God Who Is No Unrighteous Judge

/ revheff / 2 Comments

National Day of Prayer week continues to have me thinking about this means of grace and the desire to grow in it, especially in the virtue of perseverance in prayer.

Jesus told a parable in Luke 18:1-8 to drive home the need for persistence in prayer.

And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

The point is obvious, especially when one takes into account the eschatological context of chapter 17. No matter what the delay, nor how great the opposition, we ought always to pray for and not lose heart over the prospect of the Lord’s coming and His timely justice. The divine promise is unequivocal. He will give justice speedily to His elect. The expected product then to cultivate as a result is faith, tenacious faith that fires up day and night prayers for all kinds of things, not the least of which is His coming to judge the world in righteousness.

The application, like the point, is also obvious. Pray. Always pray. Don’t stop praying. A prayerless Christian is an oxymoron. Don’t give up. Don’t grow weary. Don’t give in to evil in all its forms as it harasses you. God will come through. He will avenge you of your adversary. Consider how much more you and I have going for us than this poor widow. Matthew Henry enumerated these advantages in his commentary:

  1. This widow was a stranger, nothing related to the judge; but God’s praying people are his own elect, whom he knows, and loves, and delights in, and has always concerned himself for.
  2. She was but one, but the praying people of God are many, all of whom come to him on the same errand, and agree to ask what they need.
  3. She came to a judge that bade her keep her distance; we come to a Father that bids us come boldly to him, and teaches us to cry, Abba, Father.
  4. She came to an unjust judge; we come to a righteous Father (John xvii. 25), one that regards his own glory and the comforts of his poor creatures, especially those in distress, as widows and fatherless.
  5. She came to this judge purely upon her own account; but God is himself engaged in the cause which we are soliciting; and we can say, Arise, O Lord, plead thine own cause; and what wilt thou do to thy great name?
  6. She had no friend to speak for her, to add force to her petition, and to use interest for her more than her own; but we have an Advocate with the Father, his own Son, who ever lives to make intercession for us, and has a powerful prevailing interest in heaven.
  7. She had no promise off speeding, no, nor any encouragement given her to ask; but we have the golden sceptre held out to us, are told to ask, with a promise that it shall be given to us.
  8. She could have access to the judge only at some certain times; but we may cry to God day and night, at all hours, and therefore may the rather hope to prevail by importunity.
  9. Her importunity was provoking to the judge, and she might fear lest it should set him more against her; but our importunity is pleasing to God; the prayer of the upright is his delight, and therefore, we may hope, shall avail much, if it be an effectual fervent prayer.

Where have you given up in prayer? Where have you caved in to discouragement and despair? Where have you left off believing God for His justice and goodness?

Take your cue from the persistent widow and take up the weapon of persevering prayer knowing that your petitions come before a God who is no unrighteous judge who will give justice to His elect and speedily at that.

And, please, please, don’t forget to barrage the gates of heaven in persistent prayers for His favor on our capital campaign these five weeks for reaching our goal for the building fund!

Faith Baptist Church Annual Mission's Conference

/ revheff / Leave a comment

Our dear brothers and sisters at Faith Baptist Church are having their annual mission’s conference May 14-16, Friday night through Sunday morning. Last year I had the privilege of being the keynote speaker. I appreciate the heart Pastor Jack and the people at Faith have for global missions and commend the conference to you.

This year’s theme is Not Ashamed of the Gospel. The main speaker is David Standridge from the Aurora Italian Theological Academy. They will also have The Voice of the Martyrs participating. Darcie Gill is the area representative for The Voice of the Martyrs and has just returned from the middle east. She presents a compelling picture of the plight of the persecuted church around the globe.

The conference is free but there will be a love offering for the speaker and a donation basket to cover the cost of lunch on Saturday. If you would like to attend, especially on Saturday, let our office know so we can give Faith a heads up of how many to plan for.

We should have a flyer for the conference inserted in our bulletin at OGC this Sunday. Contact Faith at the web link above for more information.