Some may ask, "Bill, you do not attend the Church of Hope, why
do you continue to share Pastor Freddy Cortez's messages?"
Great question. Glad you asked. Jesus Christ, in the Great Commission commands all believers to, "Go, Make disciples, Baptize them, TEACH them. . . Be My witnesses in all the world" (Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 1:8, Mark 16:15). TEACH them does not mean just sharing the messages and writings of only your favorite pastor - it means getting the Gospel out to all people.
Just as not all people will like vanilla ice cream, preferring instead strawberry, chocolate, or some other flavor - not every pastor, teacher, expositor will appeal to all people. So, not wanting to give my Friends "rocky road ice cream" messages, I offer messages from those teachers which I feel will reach the most people who are in need of hearing the Gospel, using the video messages or writings I believe will appeal to the most people.
One thing I learned many, many years ago is that just because a pastor/teacher/theologian has written a commentary that is outstanding - that does not mean that all the commentaries he has written are equally as good. When selecting Bible commentaries to study, I do not limit myself to those written by only one man - but search the contents of each commentary to find the best, most Biblically accurate writing by a known good Bible teacher/expositor.
That is also what I do when sharing video messages from various teachers. And having known Pastor Freddy Cortez for over thirty years, having had him as my pastor for several years, I know he is a man of God whose main goal in life is to teach the Word of God in the most effective way. And because I know his heart and his Christian education background, I think his messages are worth sharing.
About 10 minute into his message Pastor Freddy addresses a lady in the congregation, Brenda. Very recently two of her young friends have died unexpectedly. That brought a major deja vu reflection for me.
In the mid-1960s when I was about 25 years old, working with Ramo-Wooldridge (later TRW), one Friday evening I was at a party with my co-workers and got to know one young man much better. He was also about 25 and a programmer with whom I worked, but until that evening, did not really know that well. That evening we became close friends. Monday at work I was told that he had died of a heart attack in his sleep. His parents had flown from the Midwest for his soon scheduled wedding and on Saturday morning found him dead in bed, of an unexpected heart attack.
Less than a year later I worked for Scientific Data Systems in Santa Monica - and was friends with a young man, 21 years old, who worked in our tool department. Coming to work one Monday I was told that he had died of a heart attack, at 21, over the weekend.
Pastor Freddy's conversation with Brenda in this message was a great reminder of how vulnerable I felt back then. When my two friends and co-workers died at such an early age of an unexpected heart attack, I began to wonder about my own heart. Today I realize that my focus was in the wrong place. It was not my mortal heart I should have been concerned with, but my immortal soul. I should have done an "eternal soul check." But of course at that age, without spiritual guidance from someone who really cares - who thinks of such things?
Now I know that we ALL should care - and we ALL should be telling our FRANs (Friends, Relatives, Associates, Neighbors) about Christ and eternal life.
Pastor Freddy's message today is a great example of a Christian believer caring. One of the online listeners has close friends who are not believers, possibly even believing they are atheists. This online believer cares enough about her friends to ask Pastor Freddy to repeat his message from last week, about atheism and how people only fool themselves into believing they can live while totally denying the existence of God.
As Pastor Freddy has said in his previous message, and I agree with him 100%, people who claim to be atheists are really only folks who are emulating the ostrich, hiding his/her head in the sands of secularism.
Yesterday Pastor Freddy offered his message from last week about atheism, but with enough new flavor to make it interesting for all of us - so that the online listener can have a "watch party" with unsaved friends.
That, my Friends, is what it means to be Ambassadors for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20) - care enough to tell your unsaved FRANs about Christ and the gift of eternal life He has purchased for ALL who will believe and receive Him as Lord and Savior (John 1:12).
I pray that you will be further edified by this new flavor of last weeks message on atheism:
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
Great question. Glad you asked. Jesus Christ, in the Great Commission commands all believers to, "Go, Make disciples, Baptize them, TEACH them. . . Be My witnesses in all the world" (Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 1:8, Mark 16:15). TEACH them does not mean just sharing the messages and writings of only your favorite pastor - it means getting the Gospel out to all people.
Just as not all people will like vanilla ice cream, preferring instead strawberry, chocolate, or some other flavor - not every pastor, teacher, expositor will appeal to all people. So, not wanting to give my Friends "rocky road ice cream" messages, I offer messages from those teachers which I feel will reach the most people who are in need of hearing the Gospel, using the video messages or writings I believe will appeal to the most people.
One thing I learned many, many years ago is that just because a pastor/teacher/theologian has written a commentary that is outstanding - that does not mean that all the commentaries he has written are equally as good. When selecting Bible commentaries to study, I do not limit myself to those written by only one man - but search the contents of each commentary to find the best, most Biblically accurate writing by a known good Bible teacher/expositor.
That is also what I do when sharing video messages from various teachers. And having known Pastor Freddy Cortez for over thirty years, having had him as my pastor for several years, I know he is a man of God whose main goal in life is to teach the Word of God in the most effective way. And because I know his heart and his Christian education background, I think his messages are worth sharing.
About 10 minute into his message Pastor Freddy addresses a lady in the congregation, Brenda. Very recently two of her young friends have died unexpectedly. That brought a major deja vu reflection for me.
In the mid-1960s when I was about 25 years old, working with Ramo-Wooldridge (later TRW), one Friday evening I was at a party with my co-workers and got to know one young man much better. He was also about 25 and a programmer with whom I worked, but until that evening, did not really know that well. That evening we became close friends. Monday at work I was told that he had died of a heart attack in his sleep. His parents had flown from the Midwest for his soon scheduled wedding and on Saturday morning found him dead in bed, of an unexpected heart attack.
Less than a year later I worked for Scientific Data Systems in Santa Monica - and was friends with a young man, 21 years old, who worked in our tool department. Coming to work one Monday I was told that he had died of a heart attack, at 21, over the weekend.
Pastor Freddy's conversation with Brenda in this message was a great reminder of how vulnerable I felt back then. When my two friends and co-workers died at such an early age of an unexpected heart attack, I began to wonder about my own heart. Today I realize that my focus was in the wrong place. It was not my mortal heart I should have been concerned with, but my immortal soul. I should have done an "eternal soul check." But of course at that age, without spiritual guidance from someone who really cares - who thinks of such things?
Now I know that we ALL should care - and we ALL should be telling our FRANs (Friends, Relatives, Associates, Neighbors) about Christ and eternal life.
Pastor Freddy's message today is a great example of a Christian believer caring. One of the online listeners has close friends who are not believers, possibly even believing they are atheists. This online believer cares enough about her friends to ask Pastor Freddy to repeat his message from last week, about atheism and how people only fool themselves into believing they can live while totally denying the existence of God.
As Pastor Freddy has said in his previous message, and I agree with him 100%, people who claim to be atheists are really only folks who are emulating the ostrich, hiding his/her head in the sands of secularism.
Yesterday Pastor Freddy offered his message from last week about atheism, but with enough new flavor to make it interesting for all of us - so that the online listener can have a "watch party" with unsaved friends.
That, my Friends, is what it means to be Ambassadors for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20) - care enough to tell your unsaved FRANs about Christ and the gift of eternal life He has purchased for ALL who will believe and receive Him as Lord and Savior (John 1:12).
I pray that you will be further edified by this new flavor of last weeks message on atheism:
There's No Reason To Be An Atheist (Part 2)
By Pastor Freddy Cortez
https://www.facebook.com/aicortezjr/videos/10157518764760359/?t=108
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
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