Moving Christians from the pew to the harvest.” Matthew 9:36-38
August 2, 2023
We have work to do!
Greetings from the desert. It has been incredibly hot here in Tucson, and I know many of you have been impacted where you are as well. The good news is that God is not shocked or intimidated by the weather. He has our future in His hands and we will see our destinies fulfilled, weather or not.
I have had an interesting summer, getting some writing done and healing up from some medical stuff. Now, it’s full speed ahead! I got to minister at Ministerios Zoe-Tucson 2 weeks ago. What a blessing! Another of the things I do locally is minister in a rehabilitation center. It’s good for me to stay in touch with people who aren’t confined to the rarified atmosphere of the local church, and who don’t watch YouTube videos of famous preachers every day. These earth people are truly fun to be around. In general, I find them to be real, and often hungry for spiritual reality.
One of the big lessons of these forays into the real world is that people in our country, even those who profess to be Christians, don’t know very much about our faith. Recently, I had the privilege of praying with a gentleman to receive Christ. He was an intelligent man and quite successful in his business, though his personal life was in shambles. I asked him if he was a believer, and his response was, “I try to be.” So I followed up by asking if He believed that Jesus is the Son of God who died for his sins and was raised from the dead. He responded, “I think so.” After a few instructions, we prayed together and He professed the Lordship of Jesus Christ. That was a precious moment.
He didn’t have a Bible, so I talked to a staff person about getting him one. He said he had never read the Bible because it seemed too complicated to fathom. Now, I am a big proponent of getting folks to follow Jesus after they pray the prayer, and that is gonna require a little Bible reading. I asked him to read the 23rd Psalm every day for the next week, stopping to think about each verse and what it says about the Lord’s desire for his life. Here’s the rub: He didn’t know what the 23rd Psalm was! This is a middle-aged man from the Bible belt, an active part of the local community, a family guy of above average intelligence, who never heard, “The Lord is my Shepherd…” I could only think, “Dear Lord, we have a lot of work to do!”
There are people around you every day who hunger for truth, for love, and for hope. You have all that. Find ways and places to give away what you have. You know more than you think you do, so don’t be intimidated. If you need training, or some written material to help you, check out pastorvirgil.com.
Tithe Class: The class on the tithe is in its 4th week. So far, we have looked at the history and purpose of the tithe, the power of the number 10, and the first reference to the tithe in the Bible (Genesis 14:17-24). The videos of the classes will be coming to YouTube soon. The outlines will be updated after we finish the class, then will be available to you if you want them. I like to teach a course the first time to see what needs to be tweaked to improve the study notes before we send them to the public. We want you to have the good stuff!
To read some of the material in print form, go to www.pastorvirgil.com. In the search box on the left of the page, type in “Tithing,” and hit enter. There’s a lot of stuff there.
Help Wanted: Speaking of the website, I could use some help in remodeling. If you have talents and time, let me know. We want to refresh the look, and at the same time add a dedicated feed for Spanish materials. Our Spanish material in print and on video is about to increase. God has blessed me with more help in those areas, and the fruit of that increase needs to be presented in a way worthy of the message and the recipients.
IEMFe in Hermosillo: We continue to build up our folks in Mexico with monthly Zoom meetings on leadership issues. The attendance remains good, and the men and women in leadership are growing. I will be in Hermosillo September 7-8 to teach the 2nd level course on “Powerful Prayer.” The translation of the outlines is almost done, and I believe that this class will be life changing. You have no idea how much these materials impact the churches.
Along the same lines, we are updating our discussion guide for addicts and their families. The translation is being updated, and I want to reformat it to make it a little easier to use. This material is being used in a number of rehabs in Mexico, and doors continue to open. The situation there is hard to describe. The number of folks in need of help is huge, including many from other countries. Many “treatment centers” have no real program, just AA meetings at night and a place to sleep. Our co-workers are taking the 7 Principles of Recovery into these facilities and seeing great results.
Rescheduling New York. I had to miss my Spring Fling in New York due to being one-handed and recovering from my little health issues. I am scheduled to be in NY the first 2 weeks of October. Details will be forthcoming as soon as I have them.
Thank you for your prayers and support. Because of you, lives are being changed. It sounds trite, I know, but we just couldn’t do this without the loyal support of our friends. Thank you for believing in us. Thank you for loving Jesus and loving people enough to take action. It matters.
Financial support can be sent to Faith Christian Fellowship of Tucson at the address below or given online at www.fcftucson.org. Make checks payable to FCFT and designate missions or pastorvirgil and it will get where it needs to go.
Please follow us at www.pastorvirgil.com. There’s new stuff every week. You don’t want to miss it. Share it with your friends. You can help by looking at the Pastorvirgil.com Facebook page and hitting “Follow.” Whenever you see a post, share it. This will help us reach more people. We also maintain a Facebook page in Spanish @IEMFeonline.
We are yours in His service,
Virgil and Judy Stokes
3141 W. Ironwood Hill Dr.
Tucson AZ, 85745
520-792-3238
pastorvirgil.com 