Gtcotr/ss082910
Today marks the beginning of my 23rd year as Pastor of GTCOTR. Thanks!
Matthew 25 NKJV
31 ¶ "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.
32 "All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.
33 "And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 "Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35 ‘for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in;
36 ‘I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’
37 "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?
38 ‘When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?
39 ‘Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’
40 "And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’
41 "Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:
42 ‘for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink;
43 ‘I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’
44 "Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’
45 "Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’
46 "And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
The Past
When we began this journey together none of us imagined that we would one day be able to look back on 22 years of credible and productive ministry together. At that time we had but one goal and that was to make our church important to God. Our hope was that God would be pleased with our labor each day and that each night, when we laid our heads upon our pillows, that we had succeeded in putting a smile on the face of God that day.
We hoped and diligently prayed that God would give us a loud voice with which to proclaim the good news gospel. We declared that if we ever erred, that we would err on the side of mercy, grace, patience, and care. Our hope was that we could only be convicted of loving too much, forgiving too much, and/or giving too much.
The Present
Today we begin our 23rd year together as Pastor and Congregation. Many of you have been here for the whole time while others have come along during the years, some very recently. However, without regard as to how long you have been a part of this family of believers at Golden Triangle Church On The Rock, you are important to the overall plan of God for work to which our Church has been called.
• We operate a COTR Food Bank in Port Arthur – we need more workers, prayers, and supporters of that ministry.
• We are heavily vested in several weekly ministry opportunities in the local county jail, state prisons, juvenile detentions and federal correction facilities within our communities. We need more volunteer ministers, counselors, mentors, and supporter personnel.
o One of our current projects is to find 100 people who will each give a one time $80 gift which will go directly towards purchasing a tent to seat 300 inmates so that we can better accommodate those who wish to attend our church services at the State’s Gist Unit.
• On any given Sunday we need approximately 120 volunteers to completely outfit our Sunday morning service support team. These range from Sunday School teachers to greeters, ushers to singers, camera personnel to Children’s Church workers. In fact, just finding a volunteer who would pick donuts up for our Café Church and extra workers for the coffee bars we run before and between each service can be a weekly challenge.
• Currently we have approximately 200 producing water wells under our belt in Mexico alone. We need 300 and we hope to branch out to other areas of need around the world. Each year there are opportunities to get involved in our water well ministry from providing hard labor to becoming a member of the prayer and support home team.
• At Church Online dot TV we broadcast the gospel 24 hours per day, 7 days per week to the whole known world. Virtually anywhere in the world that has internet connection people can access the gospel of Jesus Christ through our Church’s internet broadcast ministry.
• The 13 additional churches which we have birthed from our congregation are weekly working in their communities and around the world fulfilling their own ministry and mission’s calls. Together we wrap the globe with the gospel each day.
• Through our several websites people from all around the world can access daily devotionals written in our church, and translated into Arabic, Swahili, Hindi, Nepalese, Russian, and Thai. Through these daily devotionals strength, wisdom and guidance from the scriptures is made available to millions worldwide.
• Our Television program, “Postcards from the Bible”, is broadcast over TBN’s worldwide satellite and cable network, The Church Channel, to a potential viewing audience of 2.3 billion people 3 times each week. We get response from people who have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior and from those who wish to support through prayers, encouragement or finances, from literally all over the world.
• Our ministry training project in Nepal has just graduated the fourth class of pastors and ministers bringing our total number of certificated graduates to 51. These wonderful men and women from 18 to 65 have pledged their lives to spread the gospel in the Himalaya Mountains among the unreached people groups of that region.
• Also in Nepal, we give guidance, funding and support to our SARA COTR Orphanage in Katmandu. Without our help these outcast children would not know where their next meal was coming from or where they would spend this night trying to sleep. However, they are well protected, cared for and educated through your generous gifts.
• From working with the impoverished children in the city garbage dump of Iloilo Philippines to our outreach to the drug addicted youth in Russia, from planting our newest church in Pueblo West Colorado to feeding the victims of famine and tribal conflict in Nakuru Kenya, from our food bank in Port Arthur to feeding the thousands still displaced after the earthquake in Port Au Prince Haiti, from our prison ministries in Jefferson County to the new Christian radio station we are building in Thailand which will reach much of Southeast Asia, and on to the several other works which I have not mentioned this morning but who look to us for guidance, vision and support in cities literally all over the world,
Today we are making a difference – every day – in many ways … And – In as much as we are helping the least of those among us, we are ministering to Jesus! Our continued hope is to keep making our church important to God and His plan for mankind, and to keep God smiling on us.
The Future
I would not be too surprised if the Rapture of the Church occurred sometime within the next 2 weeks. Why? Well it is because of my belief that Jesus will come for His Bride during the fall of the year on a date which coincides with the Jewish New Year and the Jewish Feast of Rosh Hashanah.
The feasts of Rosh Hashanah will be celebrated on September 8th, 9th, and 10th. So, quite naturally each year I look for His coming around this time and specifically, due to all of the prophecies of late along with the current and impending world crisis, I consider this to be a good year for the rapture to occur. Most of us might already be gone in a couple of weeks.
Now, I don’t mean to scare you, but I believe He might come. And, even if He comes for no one else, He will certainly come for you in your lifetime!
However, providing Jesus tarries yet another year, then I have plans to continue the work of enhancing and advancing the Kingdom of God in the several communities we serve here in Southeast Texas and in communities like ours around the whole world.
We have but One Life and but one chance to make our greatest impact. Together we have spent years growing the team, creating the structure, forging the relationships, building a global network, and pursuing the vision of being a voice to our community and to our generation.
For the sake of planning and preparation, allow us to assume that Jesus is not going to come and rapture the Church in the next two weeks, or even if He does for that matter, … how ought we to live our lives to reflect His glory?
1. With respect for the Past; With respect for the Future; And with respect for the Present and the job which only we can do.
2. Each day, in some way:
a. Make a Living
b. Make a Life
c. Make a Difference
3. Remember:
a. God has a plan
b. He will succeed
c. You have a chance to participate
Three ways to immediately begin participating and start making a difference:
1. Salvation
2. Church Membership
3. Commitment to Service
In as much as you did it for the least of these … you did for to Me!
