The
Lord has been dealing with me about giving a warning from Him through
next year; not every message but several will give these warnings. I
have been praying about this for months and will talk a little bit about
it Thursday night.
Some
of what God has given me to deliver will cost me relationships both
within and outside of the church. Please those of you who are truly
friends of this ministry, keep us in your prayers. One thing I
determined many years ago is that I will follow the
Lord in every way He leads me at the cost of everything, everyone, and
every dream. I must deliver my soul and declare what Thus Saith The
Lord.. thanks from Angie and I!
Our country is in desperate need of spiritual revival. We’re quick to
agree that those outside of Christ live in disobedience to God, but what
about those of us who claim to follow Him?
The famous song writer, Horatio Spafford, passing over the ocean spot
where a storm had claimed the lives of his children, penned these famous
words, "When sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot Thou hast
taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul."
I still believe in old fashioned, heart felt, heaven sent, Holy Ghost,
Blood bought Revival that will change the sinner and take hell out of
the human heart! Grace doesn’t mean it’s ok to keep sinning. Grace
empowers Holy living.
Never compromise the Truth of the Word of God in order to fill seats or have friends. Stay true to Jesus and to the call on your life. People can choose to walk with you or leave; better to please God!
I would much rather offend some by the truth in the moment and see the
Holy Spirit work on them, bring them to Christ in the long run than be
all politically correct and nicey nicey while they go to hell.
We live in a world where people who are offended by the truth of the Word of God demand that we be silenced. Preacher: do your job, keep proclaiming the Truth. Never change to get people to like you!!
We are committed to following the will of GOD for our lives... The will
of GOD will always lead you to PEOPLE.... For GOD so loved the WORLD
(PEOPLE) that HE gave........... Meeting the needs of people, including
material needs, is very close to the heart of GOD...... No defense of
what GOD has called us for; just saying.... Folks, it matters so little
what others think or say.... Follow GODS will for YOU........... When others stop supporting you because they cannot be you, God will judge rightly.. He will send many to take the place of the one..
In these last days, it will be important that you do not grow weary in
well doing. Do not allow the nay saying of unbelieving believers to slow
or stop you. You will be judged by them but thats ok. It is Gods
approval we must seek in these days...,.... Preach and proclaim what God
gives you.
Turn a deaf ear to ALL those who presume to know your heart and focus...
You answer to God... Many are those who try to make their candle burn
brighter by dimming yours. They will answer to God.
Happy New Year!! In Jesus, all the promises, the incorruptible seed of
the Word of God, all the promises , all the blessings, all the
ingredients of your Divine destiny, is deposited on the inside of
you..Look To JESUS, He gives us what we need, and Fight the Good fight
of faith and draw water from the wells of salvation.. Jesus makes us
partakers of the Divine Nature and we are enabled by Grace to excel and
succeed in our spiritual lives as we walk with the Lord and are conformed
to His image. We will bring souls into the Kingdom, we will finance
Kingdom projects, we will defeat fear and doubt in His Name... 2018 will
be a year to Remember and a time of Kingdom advance. Persecution may
arise but can never choke out the Kingdom seed. We will not fear.. We
will not give way to the enemy and we will accomplish our assignments
with great Joy...... In Him...... Now BE BLESSED AND VICTORIOUS IN JESUS
NAME.... Draw out of the resources He has invested in you!! And
friends, partners, and fellow disciples.... Happy New Year In
CHRIST!!!!!!
Since 1981, Acts 26:18 Ministries and Len Paxton have been standing for the Preaching of the unchanged, Undiluted Gospel Of Jesus Christ.
May we always lift up Jesus Christ and exalt Him in our preaching. Let
us reject unbiblical and superficial drivel and preach Christ centered;
Christ honoring sermons from the pulpit.. The old saying says, “You
can’t advertise a feast when there is no food on the table.”.. So many
today are hungry for the reality of a living Jesus… They may not know it
yet… Lets always give them life; always give them Christ…
We exist as a ministry to Preach the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and to win souls for His Kingdom. Also to reach out to as many Pastors and churches as possible, to be a friend to them; an encouragement; speaking into their lives.
As we see many saved in our meetings, its our prayer that we will be able to plug as many of them as possible in to good, strong, Bible believing churches. Another directive we have from the Lord is, through our teaching ministry, to assist the Local church in the Discipleship of believers.
A strong direction that is being taken also is the connection between the Gospel and the History of our great Nation. With that in our hearts we are traveling to many old and historic churches once on fire for God now struggling and reaching out to Christians and Pastors there to facilitate prayer, preaching, and revival. The strength of Americas churches is tied directly to the strength of the Nation. When
the churches were the center of our community life, America was a
stronger moral nation. We believe that God wants to work this way again in America.
Of course, we continue our ministry efforts with the Camp ministry and the Prison outreach; Feeding outreach and also music Evangelism. Bible Distribution is at an all time high in Acts 26:18 Ministries. All outreaches which have been approved by the board will continue to function normally on a day to day basis.
In future updates we will give reports on each of these ministry arms of Acts 26:18 Ministries.
For many years our ministry has been called Acts 26:18 Ministries....
"To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from
the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins,
and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me."
(Acts 26:18).... Our Passion, now more than ever is to preach the
Blood, The Cross, and win souls to Jesus... To exalt and Lift His Name
in our Generation.... To see precious souls go from Darkness
To Light..... I am so thankful for all who are taking this journey with
us!! We are called to declare the fact that men are sinners and God
loves them and has provided a way for all to be saved, at least all who
come God’s way. And that way is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. To
preach anything else is to violate the sacred trust of the call....
So, preacher friend of mine, let us join together in calling America and the World back to the Cross of Christ. Let us plead with men and women, boys and girls, to repent of their sins and run into the open arms of the savior today.
I'm often asked, “How can I know if I am called to pastoral
ministry?” Here is a very quick checklist of questions I would want to
ask in any discussion about a call to the ministry. 1. Do you have a holy desire (1 Tim. 3:1)?
There
is nothing wrong with wanting to be a pastor. In fact, when God calls a
man, he usually implants a strong desire for the work in his heart.
A holy desire for the pastoral ministry will be motivated by a
passion for the glory of Christ and the salvation of precious souls. To a
certain degree, every Christian should have these desires. But
potential pastors should have them to an unusually high degree.
Sadly, many want to be pastors for unholy reasons: these include a
love of books, an ambition to make a name for yourself, or wanting to
become a Seminary professor. On that last point, I know there are
exceptions, but I get quite worried when Seminary students start
expressing a desire to be a teacher of pastors without having spent even
a day in pastoral ministry. 2. Do you have a Christ-like character?
Do you have the fruits of the Spirit in your life (Gal. 5:22-24)?
Do those who know you say that you are being conformed to the image of
Christ? No one is strong in all areas of character. But if I was to give
a top three of non-negotiable character traits, they would be (i) love,
(ii) love, and (iii) love. Of course, holiness, integrity, patience,
and wisdom are all vitally important too. But without a love-filled
heart you will never be a shepherd of sheep. 3. Do you have spiritual maturity (1 Tim. 3:6)?
When young men are converted, they or others often start talking
about the ministry. There are exceptions to this rule, but in general it
is best that young men spend some time working as Christians “in the
world” before pursuing a call to the ministry. They will develop
spiritual maturity there in a way that they won't by going straight into
Seminary. Even a few years of working among unconverted people has a
rapid ripening effect on Christian character. It also helps to build
empathy with Christians who are called to be salt and light in
factories, offices, etc. 4. Do you have the necessary gifts (1 Tim. 3:1-7; Titus 1:6-9)?
One of the most useful exercises I've given in my class on the
Christian ministry was to ask the students to write up a job notice
based on the characteristics and gifts found in the passages above.
(Maybe I'll ask some of my students for permission to post their
responses in a future blog.) I noticed that one of the recurring gifts
in these lists is self-control, or self discipline. This is so utterly
indispensable for time-management in pastoral ministry, when we have no
boss or professor to keep us on track. If you have a record of being
late for work or appointments, or if you are regularly late in
submitting assignments, what reason is there to think that you are
suddenly going to change when you have to preach a sermon every Sunday
at 9.30 am?
Another vital gift is simplicity. Are you able to preach or teach
simply? I'm not talking here about “dumbing-down.” I'm talking about
taking profound truths and translating them into simple, clear language
(as Jesus did). Some men seem to have the opposite gift, the ability to
make the simple complicated and confusing. If that's your gift, then
please don't burden the church of Christ with it. 5. Proven track record
This is related to (3) above. However, I want to make this a separate
point to stress the importance of having proven oneself in “less
public” forms of Christian service. If a young Christian man will not
teach a children's Sunday school class, or won't join the “yard clean up
team,” or excuses himself from the congregation's evangelism program,
then he is not fit for the ministry of the Word. If he is not faithful
in the “little” things, he is not ready for the “bigger” things. 6. External confirmation
Before pursuing the ministry, or studies for the ministry, you should
seek input from your local church. You should ask your pastor and
elders to examine you in points 1-5 above and give you their own more
objective opinion of whether you have the marks of a man called to the
ministry. You should seek their prayerful and practical support in going
forward. If they express doubt or disapproval, you should usually view
that as the voice of God speaking through His Church. However this is not always the case but rather a general guideline.
This list is not exhaustive, but it is a useful starting point for
anyone wanting to examine and test their “call” to the pastoral
ministry.
We exist as a ministry to Preach the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and to win souls for His Kingdom. Also to reach out to as many Pastors and churches as possible, to be a friend to them; an encouragement; speaking into their lives.
