Other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.

Joh 4:38 I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.

Good morning dear friends what a wonderful and blessed weekend we had at Calvary Baptist! We were so privileged to have our Missions Revival soar into the next level and the testimonies from last night were just awesome! On Friday we had Brother Alexander Spears preach, and then he had to leave because of a death in his family, however the Lord blessed us by sending Brother Mike Tabugan our way! Brother Mike is a Filipino national that was saved because of the the church that we support in the Philippines, he was a fruit of the labor that we entered into years ago! This goes to prove that the Word of God is truth, and truth unto life everlasting through Jesus Christ our Lord! Oh that we would understand that even though we weren't physically there in the Philippines, our support to that missionary helped him to labor and sow, and water, and praise God, He giveth the increase, and because of the faithfulness of our giving we too reaped and were able to bear witness of that fruit! On Saturday Brother Mike and Brother Carl Stanley went out on visitation with us and stirred the hearts of those around them by labouring to reach souls in our own city! Then we had our International dinner that night and Brother Mike led a wonderful devotional, on Friday night however he made a comment that I think is appropriate for us in America to remember, he said "please don't let out blessing turn into a curse". What he is referring to is the blessings of good jobs and a good life as given by God, as we have much, much, much more than many people in this world! I know we all have bills to pay, but a lot of those bills are our fault because of our frivolous desires to have things verses our desire to worship a Holy God and support our local churches! God has blessed our nation for so many years and now look at where we are, secure in our own conceit as if we had anything to do with making ourselves of any stature. Because we have been blessed we are now spoiled and unthankful, people have now wanted to move away from any mention of God, because they think that it is not because of Him that has done anything for us. Quite contrary my dear friends, it is because of the Lords long suffering arm that He has blessed us, but how long will He allow our iniquities to go on? Now I know that isn't a popular thing to say, however mad it makes you it is the truth. Did you know that only the rich have cable television in the Philippines...and here we live in America and well over the whole population can't even survive without a stupid satellite dish and 300 channels of absolutely nothing. Friends I just want you to understand that there is much more to this life than the things that we burden ourselves down with when it comes to luxuries, now you may say I am not driving a Cadillac, well be thankful to God you have what you have, most countries people can't even afford a junker! I was walking and talking with Brother Mike and I started observing the houses and the yards full of toys (cars, boats, motorcycles) then I became convicted of our own prosperity in America and all we ever do is find a way to whine, I want more, I deserve this, this is garbage it's not like so and so's. Well I say hogwash, it's by the grace of God that we have what we have! Friends I just want you to look and evaluate your life and see if there is anything in it that may be distracting you from seeing the blessing of the Lord, and if there is confess that to God, and ask Him to forgive you and begin to thank Him for what you have, then ask the Lord to use you according to His will. Sunday was just as great with all the wonderful preaching, and I even had the privilege of preaching at our Jr. Church; the kids were so great and attentive. I even had one little guy ask me after the services if he could help by ushering! Praise the Lord that he came forward! I am praying dear friends that God would move in the lives of our church members, and that the preacher would be encouraged by those that will make sacrifices for our Savior. Friends may this be an encouragement to you to see God change your heart from un-thank fullness to thank fullness for the many blessing that we have no matter the size!