Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Four Pastors - Four Churches - October 18, 2020

THE LEGACY OF THE FOUR PASTORS AND FOUR CHURCHES VIDEO SERIES CONTINUES ~ Four who are faithful to the moving of God the Holy Spirit's admonition to "Go, Make Disciples, Baptize Them, TEACH Them.  .  . Be His Witnesses In All The World"  (Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 1:8, Mark 16:15). 

While I do not believe God caused the CoronaVirus, I am convinced that He is using it to cause His churches to move away from "preaching to the choir" in our local fellowships - and to start using the power of the internet and social media to take His Gospel of Salvation to the far corners of the earth.  Many churches and pastors who had never learned to use social media before to share the Gospel, are now very effectively using it to share His Word. 

Matthew 24:14, "And this Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come."

Another thing many of us in the Christian communities have learned - is to streamline the message, realizing that we are reaching out to the unsaved of the world - not necessarily to folks who want to hear a long discussion of the Gospel.  We are reaching out to folks who most likely are not interested in hearing a long sermon. 

That should motivate us to keep our Gospel messages short and to the point.  That should motivate all of us to reevaluate and rethink:  Who are WE trying to reach with our messages?  Those already in our Christian family - OR - those who have not yet believed?  In the Great Commission, who is Jesus Christ telling us to Reach and Teach - those believers in our local Christian family or the unsaved?

Luke 5:3132, "Jesus answered and said to them, 'Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.' "

That is why each week I take the videos which have long dead time in front, and videos which contain a lot of material which is part of our normal local Sunday worship service - and trim the video to share only that portion containing the Gospel message.  It is my belief that is what God wants us doing right now.  Not sharing our whole worship service, but only His Gospel message of Salvation.  I believe He wants us reaching out to the unsaved - not "preaching to the choir."

If we focus our thoughts and efforts on those who are not yet believers - or those who have sometimes in the past believed, but are not yet connected with a local church fellowship, or have just become lax in attending worship services, Bible studies, and other methods of fellowship - we must adjust our messages toward those folks.  Especially those who are still not yet believers

Two things we know about that latter group:  (1) they are most likely not interested in attending long church services, and (2) they most likely will not sit still and listen to a long Gospel message.

To reach the non-believer and the unchurched - our messages need to be short and to the point.  A great example would be the 15 - 20 minute messages in Pastor Sam Lacanienta's playlist, where each week he is taking one attribute or one name of God - and sharing what it means. 

Thinking back some 35 years to my own personal experience - if I encountered a person sharing a short message, out of curiosity I would most often stop and listen.  But if that message stretched to 45 minutes, 60 minutes, 90 minutes - I would have been gone after the first 15 minutes.  And most likely, the chance to reach me and make me want to hear more about God, would also have left with me.

We want our messages long enough to be effective - but not so long as to drive away those who should be listening.

Since the Covid-19 Panic has shut down our worship services ~ I have been sharing Gospel messages taught by these four pastors whom I trust to give you the true Biblical Gospel. 
These four pastors, four churches - I personally know and I am proud to share their teachings with you.  I have chosen them because they are Conservative Theology pastors whom I have known for years - and in whose Worship Services, Sunday School Classes, and Bible Studies I have participated over the years. 

That is why I want to share their online messages of hope, assurance, and peace found only in God's Word with you.  I am doing this through my Friends Ministry eNewsletter, our Bill & Dory Gray Christian Ministries blog site, and on Facebook.  All four pastors and churches are Dispensational, i.e., they believe in and teach a PreTribulation Rapture of the Church and a PreMillennial Second Coming of Jesus Christ to establish His Millennial Kingdom on earth.


And most important, all four believe in and teach "Salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, alone" and Eternal Security of all believers.

What I am sharing with you is a YouTube Playlist for each of the four pastors/churches, and I will keep adding their latest message videos on top of the playlist stacks each week.  That way you can view their latest videos, and you can also scan the playlists to find other videos which may address issues you want to study. 

I pray these video messages will help you during this time of isolation and trial, and even after we are back to having open church services once again - with assurances that with God's help we will all get through the valleys and come out stronger on the other side.


PASTOR SAM LACANIENTA
- Talakag Church on the Solid Rock, Philippines   (15 - 20 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C01SVraWTDE&list=PL_YT3RttutrjP4_ws1dHh8bO_CvVYWkPi

PASTOR ED DACIO - Corona International Christian Fellowship, Corona, CA   (20 - 30 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEgot3_gfkM&list=PL_YT3Rttutri2x3a9teQBvznVAO4IjUEt

PASTOR FREDDY CORTEZ - Church of Hope, Aliso Viejo, CA    (30 - 60 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otOmr5_c5XU&list=PL_YT3RttutrjNG8vXg20iPm0FNhfwZImX

PASTOR SERGIO NOLASCO
- International Bible Baptist Church, Riverside, CA   (50 - 90 minutes)


God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,


Bill
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