Thứ Tư, tháng 9 20, 2006

Ministry Newsletters are now online

JESUS IS LORD! ISSUE NO. 166
SEPTEMBER 19, 2006

ISAIAH 26:3 “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee.”

2 PETER 5:7 LB “Let Him have all your worries and cares, for He is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you.”

PSALM 4:8 “I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, makest me dwell in safety.”

PSALM 91:1&2 “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him will I trust.’”


Dear Friends,
Warm greetings to each of you in the name of Jesus: our Savior & Redeemer.
Emie and I pray that God will strengthen, encourage, comfort, and help you in all areas of need. He created the Universe, He created each of us---and God is bigger than any problem any of us will ever face. Nothing is impossible with God and He is the one Who: “…is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.” Eph.3:20
In life we can have sometimes that are exceptionally good, many times that things are going kind of average but are okay, and other times that are difficult. The one constant in all these circumstances is that the Lord is with us in all of them. It has been said that it is in the hard times you find out who your best friends are. Well God says in the Bible in Matthew 24:35: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words by no means will pass away.” God honors His word.
The Bible says in: Deuteronomy 31:6 “…He will never leave you nor forsake you…” Joshua 1:5 “…I will never leave you nor forsake you…” Psalm 27:10 “though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me.” And in Hebrews 13:5 “…For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’.”
Now if you do an exhaustive and in-depth word study of the Old Testament Hebrew and New Testament Greek in these verses, you will come to the amazing conclusion that: God Will Never Leave You Nor Forsake You!
All of us greatly appreciate good friends, but for every one of us---The Best Friend that each of us has---is the Lord.


This last Sunday while Emie preached at the Tacloban Church, I drove to the Church we pioneered in Villareal, Samar. The first part of the road there has been newly paved and it takes about 45 minutes to drive the first 40 kilometers, and then on the rough and broken side road to Villareal it takes about 35+ minutes to drive just 9 kilometers. Driving over here is challenging in many ways and can be a barometer in seeing if you are in the Spirit or the flesh.
The Church there was started as a result of some people who lived there who were listening to our regional radio broadcast and came to Tacloban to ask us to please pioneer a church there. This is another area where church planting was attempted in the past by others but was not able to continue. The congregation we are helping to establish there is still modest in size, in the mid twenties + in attendance. It has a good core group of committed Christians. It has been there about 2 years now, and we trust the Lord to help it to grow. The church we pioneered in Palarao was in the low twenties for some time and just increased in the past year to the mid fifties to mid sixties in attendance. In both places they are the only Christian churches in their areas and provide a much-appreciated place for Christian fellowship and training, as well as an evangelistic base to share the gospel to those who are open.
Yesterday was the triplets Ist birthday. Prior to the party Emie was having a Bible study at the house of some new church members in Tacloban named Gelbert and Jurie Arteche. After the study I picked Emie and them up and we went to Jurie’s parents house to pray for her mother who had been injured in an accident. We shared the gospel with her parents, Edrito and Corina,
who are in their early seventies in age. Both of them prayed and received Jesus as their Savior and Lord. We also prayed for Corina for healing. When we first came to their house Corina looked sad, but after prayer and receiving Jesus as Savior and Lord—both her and her husband had a joyful and peaceful countenance. We praise the Lord for their conversion.
That night we celebrated Faith, Hope, and Joy’s birthday. Each of the triplets can walk now and they enjoyed their party. Like Gracia who is now 7, the triplet’s mother had also died and we were asked if we would care for them and adopt them. While that is a significant responsibility, it is also a great privilege and blessing. We also have Nonoy who is 19 years old and is going to Bible College, and Hugh who is now 5. We are thankful that in the Philippines we have people who work with us part of the time in helping raise these children. That help allows us to be able to work full time in all areas of ministry outreaches while at the same time take good care of the God given family of 6 children. We appreciate your prayers for God helping us in all areas of family and ministry outreaches.
Each month through the various ministry outreaches: new people are coming to know Jesus as Savior and Lord; many people are being strengthened and encouraged in their Christian faith and their service to the Lord; squatter area children (the urban poor) are being given food and Christian teaching, and the poor are being helped in various ways as led by the Holy Spirit.
We thank God for the privilege of serving Him and for the souls that are being saved. We also thank the Lord for each one of you who are praying for us, encouraging us, and investing financially in God’s work through these ministry outreaches. As we have shared before, effective missions is a faithful partnership between those who are called by God to go and those who are called by God to help send. We always pray for the Lord’s rich and powerful blessings upon you, your families, and churches. Your partnership is helping us to lead many people to know Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. God bless you always for your help and partnership.

In Christ’s love,
Gordon & Emie

Luke 19:10 “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Proverbs 11:30 “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.”

P.S. Please pray for God’s fresh anointing, protection, healing, and provision for all the needs of the ministries.
Thanks.