I am weeping over this news……I am praying here at 4am Sunday morning before I go to Reserve to preach at FBC. Last night I got a call from our Dear Friend Grace. Grace called about a medicine for our doggy Reno who has cancer. Grace also told me in our lovely talk that her friend tells her often that I saved her life, not me, GOD did.
I, like many Pastors deal with people thinking of suicide, it is a very serious problem in New Mexico and the whole world, The World Health Organization estimates a global suicide rate of one death every forty seconds. By next year, they predict someone will take their life every twenty seconds. Read Dr. Jim Denison’s report below.
If you or someone you know might be at risk of suicide, please call 1-800-273-8255 to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. It provides confidential, free support twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. You can also call this number to talk to someone about how to help a person in crisis.
PRAY TEAM JESUS! We have so many very serious problems here in New Mexico that the Church needs to pay attention to. The Albuquerque Journal is reporting this morning: Last year, in New Mexico, more people killed themselves than during any other year in at least two decades. ABQ Journal Report
Murder is also a horrific problem in Albuquerque. The city of Albuquerque is on an awful pace to have a record amount of homicides this year. Suicides and homicides and abortions in New Mexico, so very, very sad. What are we doing Church?
Read more below:
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Our hearts are broken at this news…..we are praying for Pastor Jarrid’s family and friends and all those at Harvest Christian Fellowship.
Megachurch pastor who was known for his work in mental health advocacy kills himself
Jarrid Wilson, a popular pastor known for his work in mental health advocacy at a Southern California megachurch, has died by suicide, Senior Pastor Greg Laurie with Harvest Christian Fellowship Church said in a statement.
Read in CNN: https://apple.news/AlO287B6LRsK3cP6thj58Iw
On the link below you will find a very informative article by my friend John Thurman of Albuquerque:
So sad at the loss of this dynamic young man who struggled with depression and who was an advocate for mental health.
Earlier today I posted an updated article on Christians and Suicide and how the church needs to be place of hope. https://johnthurman.net/?s=Suicide
Shared from Apple News
We continue to pray for peace over Albuquerque, we pray that Satan be gone from Albuquerque, We pray that the Church will carry out The Great Commission (See Below) We pray many will come to Jesus! As a wise woman of God told me, Apostle Barbara Gould, “Its up to the Church now” Let us get going people of God!
Earlier this month we had someone shot at 1am on the street down from us. 7 shots rang out and then just a few minutes later sirens rang out. I KNOW THIS IS NOT POPULAR PREACHING, BUT I AM NOT HERE TO BE POPULAR: This is a spiritual problem in Albuquerque and across the world. Yes, more police officers do help, but it is SPIRITUAL WARFARE! So many in Albuquerque do not know JESUS! They are controlled by Satan, they have the mind of Satan and not JESUS! Read below Pastor Don Kimbro’s post on THE GREAT COMMISSION and the prayer from Apostle Barbara Gould for the children of New Mexico, as we continue to see God’s babies murdered here.
It is time for the Church to put their hands and feet to their prayers…..and go out and carry out the command of JESUS: THE GREAT COMMISSION.
The answer is not in politics…..Here in America so many want to make the issues of the day all about politics! So many are controlled by Satan! The answer is in JESUS CHRIST! Come on Church! Carry out the Great Commission, hit the road for JESUS! AMEN! Stand firm in the love of JESUS!
Posts like this make me very unpopular with many, including Pastors. But it is what God puts on my heart, mind and soul. I am not here to be popular, I am here to serve God.
My life verse: “But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.” -Acts 20:24
If politics was the answer we would not sit here today and get the report of 6 people shot to death in Albuquerque last night. Killings in ABQ
God’s Word call’s the mind of the natural man “blinded” Read 2 Cor. 4:4 The scriptures also call’s the mind of the natural man, “depraved” Romans 1:28, “corrupt” 1 Tim 6:5, “unspiritual” Col 12:18
The natural mind thinks from a humanistic, sin debased viewpoint. The viewpoint of the flesh directs it’s thoughts. The sinful mind is under the control of Satan and can never please God because it concentrates on things of the world and not things of the Spirit. The natural mind walks the path of hopelessness and self-destruction.
Let your light shine before the darkness, let your light for Jesus show others the only true path.
As you grow in your relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ your discernment will grow and you will be able to see His light so clearly and your God given discernment will enable you to see through the darkness so clear, you will be set free more and more knowing the difference between good and evil.
This excellent post is by Pastor Don Kimbro of Albuquerque, Pastor Don has been a mentor of mine for years! When I became the Associate Pastor of the Church of God in Los Lunas, New Mexico, Pastor Jim Montoya made it the priority in our preaching and our work for Jesus. We held many revivals around the area, we baptized many. I am so very thankful to the LORD for the Pastors that trained me UP! So many do not know what the GREAT COMMISSION is! It is one of the keys to the challenges we face……
“The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields” (Matthew 9:37-38).
I have been a pastor for more than forty years. In the process I have started churches, led existing churches, mentored new believers and pastors, shared the gospel on the mission field, taught Arabs in Israel, worked for a well-known parachurch ministry to prisons and have started several new ministries, including one as a chaplain to auto racers. Zoom. Zoom.
But there’s one thing I have learned that stands out above everything else and that is that the ministry of the church is first and foremost to proclaim, teach, preach and share the gospel wherever we are and wherever we go to every person who will listen.
I don’t believe there are any exemptions to this calling. It is not the sole domain of the offices of the church, the apostles, prophets, evangelists or pastors and teachers (Ephesians 4:11-12). It doesn’t make any difference whether you are male or female, young or old, rich or poor, professional or blue collar, sophisticated or otherwise, a new believer or old salt, married or single, retired or just beginning your career. If you are a true believer and follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s calling on your life is to spread the good news about what Jesus did for you through his death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-11).
These final instructions were on the heart of our Savior as he met with his disciples during the forty days he was on the earth between his resurrection and ascension into heaven. His mandate to them was what we call the Great Commission or evangelism, which is winning the lost by preaching the gospel. The specific directions consisted of five different statements Jesus made in this regard and which he commanded his disciples to inaugurate after his departure. And they did. Aren’t we glad!
Here are those five statements Jesus gave to his followers, first in Jerusalem, then in Galilee and finally at the Mount of Olives. I call them the Message, the Model, the Magnitude, the Method and the Means.*
The Message
And he said, “Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day. It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’ You are witnesses of all these things. — Luke 24:46-48
Notice the emphasis on repentance and forgiveness of sins and proclaiming that message to all nations.
The Model
So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent me, I also send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” — John 20:21-23
Notice the emphasis on sending out the disciples and receiving the Holy Spirit and to teach God’s forgiveness and judgment.
The Magnitude
And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
— Mark 16:15-18
Notice the emphasis on going into all the world and preaching to everyone and the signs that would follow those who believed.
The Method
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. — Matthew 28:18-20
Notice the emphasis on going to all nations, baptizing and making disciples by teaching them his commandments.
The Means
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. — Acts 1:8-9
Notice the emphasis on receiving the power of the Holy Spirit to witness and then going to the end of the earth to do it.
Every true believer and every church that exists is commissioned to follow in the footsteps of these first disciples. We have been given our instructions. How are we doing? Maranatha!
*Dr. Marvin J. Newell, Commissioned, pp. 23-25.
To help us walk closer with God and to know Him better.
One of my Posts of the Past:
When I first met Pastor Jim Montoya when he came into KKIM Radio in Albuquerque years ago to meet me, he really preached the importance of The Great Commission to me! Then when I became his Associate Pastor at the Open Door Church of God in Los Lunas, New Mexico, it became my main focus and years later it still is here at FGGAM! God Bless you Pastor Jim for helping train me up!
The Great Commission is really the heart and soul of FGGAM. Sharing the light of Jesus to one person at a time. Sharing the love of Jesus to the world on our website, radio, podcasting, newspaper and being a circuit preacher! Hitting the road for Jesus!
Is evangelism a thing of the past for the American church? It makes one wonder when 51% of churchgoers are unfamiliar with the term “The Great Commission,” according to a new study from Barna. But according to Outreach Magazine’s “100 Fastest Growing Churches” report, evangelism is alive and well!
To be crystal clear: The Great Commission is in Matthew 28:18-20 where Jesus gave His last directions to His followers before ascending to heaven: More Here
April 01, 2019
What Makes a Church Powerful?
1 Corinthians 1:26-31; 1 Corinthians 2:1-5
What factors determine whether a church is powerful or weak? Oftentimes people make such evaluations based on appearances and human reasoning rather than on God’s Word.
For instance, large congregations with dynamic worship services and programs for every age and interest group look impressive. Or a church could be viewed as powerful because of its prominent location, a big budget, or the pastor with a magnetic personality. In contrast, small churches—especially those with few members, a rural setting, and little money—are often considered lesser.
The point is that we can’t judge a church’s strength or weakness based on outward factors like size, location, prosperity, or prominence. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians points out that a strong church is one that is founded on the message of the cross and grounded in God’s wisdom rather than the world’s.
God’s power is given to the church for His purposes, not for human agendas. And it isn’t a persuasive sermon but the gospel of Christ that can save souls. Some pastors may be able to manipulate people, but only God’s Spirit brings the genuine conviction of sin that leads to repentance and salvation.
For divine power to flow into and through a local body, that church must hold firmly to Scripture. What’s more, it cannot use techniques derived from worldly thinking but must rely on God’s direction.
A faith community cannot be powerful unless the people within it are individually submitted to Christ and empowered by Him. This means our commitment to Jesus affects our churches for better or for worse.
Bible in One Year: 1 Samuel 25-26
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I asked Apostle Barbara Gould, pictured below, of Emmanuel Ministries International of Albuquerque/Rio Rancho to lead us in prayer for the children of New Mexico. This week 5-year-old Renezmae Calzada was killed.
Dear FATHER, GOD, Your children are being abused and murdered. LORD JESUS, You said, suffer the little children to come unto me for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven. We know children are valuable to You. FATHER, in JESUS’S Name, let Your justice come to bear on these evil perpetrators against our children. GOD, Your Word declares that righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne. Let laws be enacted to protect our children. Let there be swift and exact justice for our little ones. FATHER, give Your people a vision to help children who live in unsettled and precarious conditions. Make us more aware; help us to offensively, intentionally, see how we, as Your people, LORD JESUS, can help to avoid these wicked acts against the innocent. Show us how we can help, also. And FATHER, I plead the BLOOD OF JESUS over these children, especially those who have been placed in vulnerable situations by their parents. Cover these innocent babies & children, dear LORD. Send angelic help to fight for them. Keep them in Your loving, mighty Hand. FATHER, in Your Amazing Love, we are trusting You for miraculous protection for our little innocent ones. We are trusting You to intervene in our Government and Legal system to create laws that will bring swift justice to bear on this wickedness. Precious FATHER, thank You that before we call You for answering and while we are still speaking. we know You hear. We are confident that You, GOD are moving and changing the atmosphere of death over our nation. As Your people we declare and decree LIFE over our children, over our State, our Nation and the world. In JESUS Name, we pray. Amen!!! (Mark 10:14-15; Luke 18:15-16; Matthew 18:1-6; Isaiah 65:24)
Barbara Gould
Emmanuel Ministries International
Barbara also serves on the FGGAM Board of Directors.
Thank you for leading us in prayer Sister Barbara!!!
