The Hand Of The Lord - Part 2

Dwight L. Moody was considered the most influential evangelist of the 19th century, and was founder of the Moody Bible Institue. God used him in great ways, and reached many for Christ through him. Yet he was an uneducated, ordinary person who sold shoes for a living when he was young. No one would have predicted that he would become a man greatly used by God. Here are some things that were said about him soon after he became a Christian in 1855:

"I can truly say, and in saying it I magnify the infinite grace of God as bestowed upon him, that I have seen few persons whose minds were spiritually darker than was his when he came into my Sunday School class; and I think that the committee of the Mount Vernon Church seldom met an applicant for membership more unlikely ever to become a Christian of clear and decided views of Gospel truth, still less to fill any extended sphere of public usefulness."

"The first meeting I ever saw him at was in a little old shanty that had been abandoned by a saloon-keeper. Mr. Moody had got the place to hold the meetings in at night. I went there a little late; and the first thing I saw was a man standing up with a few tallow candles around him, holding a negro boy, and trying to read to him the story of the Prodigal Son and a great many words he could not read out, and had to skip. I thought, 'If the Lord can ever use such an instrument as that for His honor and glory, it will astonish me."

Billy Graham is considered the greatest evangelist of all time. God has used him to reach millions for Christ. Yet he was a simple country boy raised on a dairy farm in North Carolina. He accepted Christ at the age of 16, but afterwards he was turned down for membership in a local youth group because he was considered "too worldly". He started college at Bob Jones University, where he was almost expelled. Bob Jones Sr. said this to him: "At best, all you could amount to would be a poor country Baptist preacher somewhere out in the sticks." He finished college at Wheaton College, and although he ended up being a great evangelist he never received any formal theological or seminary education.

How could these 2 men with such humble beginnings turn out to be some of the most fruitful and successful servants of the Lord ? Only by God's grace, and only by the all-powerful hand of the Lord. God's hand was upon these men in a powerful way. When God does great and miraculous things through plain, ordinary people everyone knows it is God who did it, and He gets all of the glory and honor and praise.

The Hand Of The Lord

Acts 11:21 - "The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord."

The early church in the book of Acts saw God do great and amazing things. Many people were reached for Christ, and the church grew quickly. What was the key to their victories and success ? Acts 11:21 shows the one thing that is absolutely vital to experiencing spiritual victories and to being fruitful in ministry - the hand of the Lord.

The hand of the Lord represents God's glory and power, His presence, His blessings, His favor, and His authority over the enemy. Why was the hand of the Lord with them ? Go back to Acts chapter 8 and you find the answer. Acts 8:1 tells us that a great persecution broke out against the church, and everyone in the church except the apostles were scattered to other areas. Verse 4 tells us that everyone that was scattered preached the word of the Lord wherever they went. Imagine a church where everyone shares the Good News of Jesus with others, not just the pastors or leaders. They understood that God's plan for the church is for everyone to share Christ with others, and they understood that this is what Jesus commanded them to do in Matthew 4:19 and Matthew 28:19-20. Not only did they understand this, but they obeyed what the Lord said to do. Thus the hand of the Lord was with them, and He empowered them to reach a great number of people for Jesus. God used everyone in the church, including the ordinary people, to do extraordinary things for His glory.

Here We Go Again

Now that it is almost August, we are getting ready for many new opportunities to share Christ. In August we will be speaking in 3 schools, and I will be preaching in a church on Aug. 24. In September we have 3 more schools to speak in, a People Sharing Jesus seminar in a church in Sao Bernardo, and an all day outreach event in Diadema with a church to share Christ in homes and at a special service at night. In the next 2 months we will share Christ with between 6000 and 6500 people in the schools, and overall we will be sharing with over 7000 people. Let's pray that God will touch and save "immeasurably more" than all we ask & imagine, according to His power working through us, for His glory. Thanks for your prayers. We really appreciate and need them.

Serra Negra Brazil

The other city we visited on our trip in July was Serra Negra, located in the mountains near the border between the states of Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais. Serra Negra is a beautiful tourist city with many hotels, restaurants, parks, and shopping, and is known as the "City of Health" because of it's natural mineral water springs. Here are some photos of Serra Negra.

Holambra Brazil

Last week Nancy and I took a 3 day trip to a couple of cities in the "interior" (country) of Sao Paulo state. One of the cities was Holambra, which is an interesting city founded by immigrants from Holland after World War II. The buildings have a Dutch architectural style, and the people are very friendly. Holambra is well known for being the largst flower producing area in Brazil and South America, and there are many flower farms and nurseries in the area. Here is a slide show of our trip:

Hearing God's Voice

When I am not preaching in a church or when we do not have a seminar to do on a Sunday, we normally go to Igreja Batista Boas Novas (Good News Baptist Church) in Sao Paulo. Today Pastor Wagner preached a sermon on how we need to hear God's voice when we are attending church. Yes we are there to worship the Lord, but we also need to hear His voice. He is always trying to speak to us.

This is a very important point that some Christians are missing. To reverently listen and to hear God's voice is worship, and if we are not hearing God's voice then we are missing the point. The same is true of our prayer time or "quiet time" with the Lord - hearing God's voice is the most important part. Although Pastor Wagner did not use this verse, his sermon reminded me of Ecclesiastes 5:1 - "Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know they do wrong."

The word listen in this case means to reverently listen to God's voice, with the intent of doing or obeying. This is a heart attitude of reverence, of worship, and of love for the Lord. May God give us this type of heart for Him.

Bureaucracy In Brazil

We are in the process of renewing our drivers licenses, and the bureaucracy here in Brazil is amazing. Any government process here in Brazil is very complicated, even for Brazilians, and it is even more so for "estrangeiros" (foreigners). In the US it takes one trip to the license bureau, maybe 30-60 minutes, and a small fee. Unfortunately the process here is not as simple and is much more expensive (about US $140 each). We needed to visit the tranportation department 5 times before we were done with the initial process, because they are not very helpful and they do not seem to know much. Here are some of the other things we needed to get or do: go to a couple of places to get several government documents; go to a special place for"authenticated" copies of other documents; go to a photographer to get small photos of each of us; go to a specific bank to pay the government fee for license renewal; go to a government approved doctor to get an eye test and physical exam. Until now we have had to go to 7 different places to get 9 different things, and it took 2 days. Now we are waiting for the paperwork to clear, and then we have to go to one more government place to take a written test to get the renewal. 8 different places + 10 different documents or things to do + 3 days = new license.

Brazil Photo

Here is a photo of a Toucan, which live in the tropical
forests of South America, like the Amazon.

Embu Brazil

When our son Anthony was visiting us in June we went to a place called Embu, which is outside of Sao Paulo, about an hour from where we live. It is a neat place where you can find alot of artwork, antiques, souvenirs, gifts, and other interesting products from Brazil, as well as restaurants and cafes. On weekends they have an artist fair.

Ministry Video

Here is a new video about our ministry of sharing Christ in the Sao Paulo area of Brazil. We share Christ and the message of God's love in schools, churches, hospitals, and other places, and we also help & train pastors and church members to share Christ with others. God is doing amazing things here, saving tens of thousands of people, for His glory. You can click here to see other ministry videos.

Inspiring Quotes

"Lord send me anywhere, only go with me;
lay any burden on me, only sustain me;
sever any tie, but the one that binds me to You."
- David Livingstone, Missionary to Africa

This quote inspires me to fully surrender all I am and have and do to our Lord Jesus, and to be willing to go anywhere and do anything that He wants, as long as He is with me.



"Oh the fullness, the pleasure, the sheer excitement of knowing God on earth."
- Jim Elliot, Missionary to Ecuador


When I first read this quote in the early 90's I realized that when this man was alive he had something I did not have. I had accepted Christ in my heart and life in 1985, but I was inspired to go much deeper in my personal relationship with Jesus, and make Him the Source of fulfillment, joy, satisfaction,... This quote is about the abundant life that Jesus talked about in John 10:10, and the satisfaction and joy and excitement that comes when you become a fully surrendered servant of the living God.

"Lost In Church" - Could This Be True ?

The following is a portion of an article on the Facing Forever webpage (click the link to read the entire article):

How would your approach to evangelism be different if you knew that up to one-half of the people attending your church were not Christians? As startling as this idea may appear, recent research indicates it is a hard reality for many churches in the United States. Researcher George Barna has discovered the disturbing fact that “half of all adults who attend Protestant churches on a typical Sunday morning are not Christian.” He also points out that people who call themselves Christians but are not born again are “a group that constitutes a majority of churchgoers.”

Barna’s findings are similar to those reported by Bill Bright, founder and fifty-year president of Campus Crusade for Christ. According to Bright, “Our surveys suggest that over 50% of the hundred million people in church here in the United States every Sunday are not sure of their salvation.” In addition to discovering that 50% of people in church are “lost churchgoers,” the Barna Research Group has also revealed that 44% of Americans are “notional Christians.” These 90 million notional Christians are people who describe themselves as Christians but do not believe that their hope for eternal life is based on a personal relationship with Jesus and the belief that He died and rose again from the dead. According to On Mission magazine, published by the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, “notional Christians” do not know “whether they will experience eternal life, eternal damnation or some other outcome.”

When I first started to read this article a couple of years ago I could not believe that up to half of the people in US Protestant churches could be lost and without Christ, but as I continued to read about how Campus Crusade research showed the same I started to think that it could be true. It would certainly explain alot of things that are going on in the church in the US (the percentage of divorces in the church is the same as outside the church; a lack of evangelism in many churches; a lack of passion for Jesus; a lack of power to influence others in society;...). So what do you think ? Could this be true ?