Another Chapter In The Life of A Pilgrim

Brothers and Sisters,
It has been far too long since I have written to you, and for that I do apologize. I have had the opportunity to go back and fellowship with some of the brethren that have been so faithful in holding the rope for me as I have gone into the well. I cannot mark words that would articulate my gratitude and state of being encouraged from the sweet reunion I had with those saints who have been steadfast in this work on my behalf. I do however wish to convey my gratefulness for their laboring in the work of intercession for me. It is such a vast tool in the war with the evil one, and a grand protection for me. Upon my return I have found myself overwhelmed with opportunity of service, and labors in the work of the kingdom. I have greatly struggled with discerning which open passage ways to proceed through, and which passage ways are a test of my discernment and faith in the All Mighty. I often find myself so easily entangled in a desire to master the whole city here on my own for it is frequent that my mind is positioned that I know the best way a thing should be done, and I should be the one to accomplish it. In learning this fault in my life I have since began to recognize as that selfishness arises and have been at war with it. Oh, how I wish to kill the evil one within me! I do so delight in the promise of our Father that is found in Philippians 1:6 that “He who began in us will bring it to completion”. On that day, this old man, will be slaughtered by the proclamation of His glory! What a wonderful day that will be!! I have, since my return, frequently visited the heathen in the streets and have felt greatly assisted by the Spirit, though none seen to yet be acquainted with grief over their sin, I do recognize that the preaching is not in vain for He will use His word to accomplish all the He has willed to do. When I arrived I found Paco had begun to lead the study in our house through the book of Acts, teaching of the faith and works of our church fathers. Both of the times I have met with that group I saw that the time was blessed by the presence of the Spirit, and feel as though two of the people left with great concern for their souls. It is my prayer that this concern would torment their heart and lead to their conversion. This past Sunday was in my consideration the unsurpassed of all the times past of my attending Remanente, Pastor Gerry gave an exhortation from Galatians 5:1 of our freedom in Christ, and took much time to explicate the importance of knowing the significance of being “In Christ” and much of the cause of lack our peace filling our churches today stems from an ignorance of this matter. This gathering was also attended with great praise of the Father through song, and communion with the saints. I consider it an immense blessing to be able to share in the Spirit with the brothers at Remanente. At the moment I see sparks of great things accruing for the Kingdom, and has been my prayer that the Father would grant me the fire that consumes those who do not release it, that He may use me to fuel those sparks and wildfires would spread though this land bringing great glory to the name of the Holy One. Below I will include a list of the works in with sfjm will be involved in, and how you can pray for these works. Once again I am too feeble to express the thankfulness in my heart toward all of you who sacrifice time, money, and effort to be a part of what the Lord is doing here.

Works of the Father through sfjm:
*June 21st – 26th- Group coming from New York to work in Tepito and La Merced. We will be handing out gospels, and evangelizing on the streets.
*July 6th – 11th- Steven Puckett will be coming down, and we will be heading out to San Luis Potosi to hand out gospels, and preach in the towns to people who have not heard the gospel.
*July 13th – 18th- I will be journeying to a town not too far from here to teach a group of young men how to preach.
*July 26th – August 3rd – We will be taking a trip to Chiapas to share the gospel with people who in the past have been very opposed to anything of Christendom.
*In the next month or so I will start teaching a class of evangelism at our church on Sunday mornings.
*My pastor and I met this week and feel the Lord leading us to preach through the book of Ephesians on Sunday mornings, and we will be partnering in this effort.
*Our church has started home group Bible studies, and my pastor asked if they start another group if I would teach that group.
*Also in our meeting we discussed more on the subject of starting a men’s Bible study to teach three things: 1. Good theology, 2. How to be a godly man, husband, and father, 3. How to labor hard for the gospel.
Thank you again for all of your prayers and support, continue to be in prayer for these trips and ministry opportunities. If the Lord places on your heart to be a part of one of these please contact me.

Food for thought:
“Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.” 1 Cor. 10:31
An idea that has seen a resurrection in this age of the church is the “glory of God”. It is my opinion that this resurrection has been sparked by men such as Sproul, Mac Arthur, Packer, and the obvious Piper. This is not an exhaustive list, just a few which enter my mind here on the spot. This returning to a great emphasis on the glory of God is one that was greatly needed, and is leading to the formation of a reformation in our nation. It is more often heard from the reformed groups, but is not exclusive to such groups. My heart flutters as the focus of God’s glory floods the mind of the saints across our nation, and across the world. It is true that our chief goal should be the Glory of the father, but this is true because it is God’s chief end. God values Himself and His glory solely. In saying this I do not say that God does not cherish or delight in His relation with man, simply that in His relation with man He seeks His own glory. God saves men for His glory, He does not save man houses and streets in the hope of receiving glory, He saves, and it is totally His work because His reason for saving is His glory (I think it is a very dangerous thing to think of this idea as 50/50, that God saves 50% for His glory and 50% for mans enjoyment. God saves solely for His glory and through this salvation man enjoys.) I feel the need to explain this with some more depth, but not exhaustively. The salvation of man is a miracle of God, and His chief end in the saving of man is His glory. Man is radically and totally depraved, and totally incapable of doing anything of any value apart from the sovereign work of the trinity in his life. Therefore when the Father saves one there is a radical change in his/her life, without this transformation there is no genuine salvation. Because man is incapable of this good work, when the world sees this change it does not point to some great thing man has done, but the sovereign work of God. That is why salvation brings God glory. That is why a good tree bears good fruit; to show the world the greatness of God. John Owen said “The price of our redemption is more precious in the eyes of God and his Son than it should, as it were, be cast away on perishing souls, without any care taken of what becomes of them afterward." God is faithful in salvation, and He is perfect at it. When He saves one it is effectual! Why?? Because He does not save solely so humans can enjoy pearly gates and golden streets, and sing glory glory hallelujah with their grandma, but that the world would see His great work and ascribe Him the glory due His name. Therefore, if His glory is His chief end so should it be ours. Now, I have a confession, often I have preached this truth, and it has not been acquainted with the understanding of what glory is. Often I have sought to do things in such a way to give Him the most glory, but have acted in ignorance to what exactly that means. I admit that I am often found in stupor, and do not claim to be part of the intellect, but I do not fell on this subject I am alone in saying I do not have a clear view of what His glory actually is. Then comes the great revelation!! I was driving to Fort Worth not long ago and had exhausted all of my washer sermons, so I decided to entertain my heart with some Piper. He was finishing his series on Romans, and set out to define glory. He opened the passage of Isaiah 6 that says “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, and the whole earth is filled with His…?” The passage does not say holiness, but glory. God is Holy therefore the earth is filled with His Glory!! Then Piper proceeded to use this text to help define glory, he said “Glory is the manifested beauty of His holiness.” When I heard this I was awestruck at the significance of this. One thing that has been so heavy on my mind of late is that it is necessary to have good orthodoxy, but it is also just as necessary to have good orthopraxy, so as I began to search for how this truth will be lived out my heart was consumed with conviction. We in Christendom often say “I am doing this for the glory of God”, but are we actually trying show the world the beauty of God’s holiness?? It saddens me that most of the professing church today is more concerned with what they can do for the church, or how many bible studies they did this year than they are the glory due His name. This glory will not be found in words or bible studies, but in a life that is being conformed to the image of the son for in this great work the Father’s beauty is revealed. The revealing of the glory of God is through the sanctification of the saints. Are we truly a people that seek to be holy? Romans 12:2 says “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” What are you doing in your life to not conform to this world? We are called to be different, holy, set apart for the gospel. Jesus cannot be our accessory He has to be our necessity! 1 Thessalonians 4:3 says “For this is the will of God, your sanctification.” We have to stop separating the spiritual world and the secular! For the children of God there is one world! It’s all spiritual, and it’s all about Him!! God is God’s greatest goal because He is the most valuable in the world, and for Him to make anything of less value His goal is Idolatry, and that is impossible for God. He should be the reason we eat, drink, sleep work, any and everything we do, not so that He will give us some great mansion or crown, but that the world would relish in His beauty.
*For a far greater and somewhat exhaustive explanation of God’s chief end read “The End for Which God Created the World” by Jonathan Edwards. It is the best book I have read a part from the Bible.