WHAT IS YOUR HOPE WHEN YOU STAND BEFORE JESUS?

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This is an important message from Nelson Walters and the Last Days Overcomers team.

“Most readers miss this simple fact about hope. In these seemingly “hopeless” times, they ask, “What is our hope?” And many times, people at our conferences ask Marquis, Jake, and me the same question, what is our hope? 

After completing four amazing (4) conferences so far this summer and interacting with a number of you one-on-one, we can answer inarguably. It is the same answer that the Apostle Paul gave to the Thessalonian church. And it’s not the answer you expect:

“For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it, not you? For you are our glory and joy.” 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20

Yes, you are our glory and hope. The people to whom we minister. Didn’t see that coming, did you? 

As Westerners (USA, UK, Canada, Australia, SA, etc.) we tend to view hope in terms of politics or comfort. Do we have hope in our nation’s survival, do we have hope in the economy, do we have hope in our church? But on the day that we stand before Jesus when he comes, you will be our hope and glory.  And likewise, your ministry will be your hope. Our hope isn’t in our individual survival or comfort, but it’s in those we have been called to disciple and minister to. Because on the day of Jesus’ return, all other things will be swept away.

In our private conversations, Marquis, Jake, and I spoke of these summer conferences as “building up the remnant;” as an opportunity to prepare those who will face the things we read about in prophecy. And here is the second shocker: you share that ministry with us. 

Notice in 1 Thessalonians, Paul didn’t say “You are MY glory and joy,” he said, “You are OUR glory and joy.” It was a shared ministry then, and we are thrilled to share our ministry with you now.

In this upcoming month, you will receive a notice about a new series of free, online conferences we will be undertaking in the Fall and Winter with a number of well-known guest speakers. And you will be given an opportunity to participate in FOCUS GROUPS to help us form and shape what those conferences will be like. We look forward to you sharing in this ministry in this way.” 

Check out the website http://www.lastdaysovercomer.org. Get the monthly Newsletter.

GOD PRESERVES HIS SERVANTS

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After 52 years of ministry, skydiving 98-year-old preacher, Roy Jernigan wants people to see Jesus in his life. I can relate to Roy’s testimony. I am 86 and I know God still has more for me to do specifically to alert the church to God’s soon-coming Millennial Kingdom on this earth. Checkout http://www.millennialkingdom.net

Asked to comment on the state of the American Church today:

Jernigan quickly explained that the main driver of his faith is the Bible without the trappings of denominational restrictions.

Jernigan has certainly got this right. The denominational church is not the church Jesus established as outlined in the Book of Acts. Jesus calls us all to be disciples who make more disciples. We all like the denominational church model as it removes this essential facet of the church. It is the pastor’s responsibility to grow the church so we can get on with our lives doing what we want to do.

“I’m not a denominational man. I don’t criticize the denominations but think about this: we have all kinds of denominations — Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, you name it, and every one of them has a different doctrine,” he explained. “They can’t all be right. And so, consequently, I don’t claim a denomination. I claim to be a Christian. And as a Christian, I follow the New Testament teachings on the Apostle Paul.”

And Jernigan’s nondenominational approach to ministry aligns with the direction of the American Church today. Data from the 2020 U.S. Religion Census show that in the last 10 years, the number of American Christian adherents in nondenominational churches nearly doubled in number and surpassed America’s largest Protestant denomination, Southern Baptist, by several million adherents.

Other recent studies also show that while America remains a highly religious nation, with seven in 10 claiming affiliation with some kind of organized religion, for the first time in nearly 80 years, fewer than half now say they have formal membership in a specific house of worship. Church attendance has also continued to decline in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.

While he admits that being a Christian today is much harder than it was 50 years ago when fewer distractions were competing for people’s attention, Jernigan believes that the model of many church ministries today is partly to blame for people deserting the pews.

“I’ll be honest with you, one of the biggest problems that pastors have today is trying to build a church on their own,” Jernigan told CP.

“Today, preachers have gotten themselves into such a rut by building big buildings with stained glass windows and everything. And the people have deserted them because they get tired of being bled to death [financially]. And hear the preacher say, ‘you got to give, you got to give, you got to give.’ My conviction is you don’t have to hound Christians to give. If they are saved, they love the Lord, they will give,” he said.

Jernigan also criticized preachers who treat their ministry as a business. “I think it’s the wrong approach. Commercial? You don’t commercialize God. I believe this is a gross mistake, that people, you see so much of this today, trying to commercialize and put things into a peaceful (more like bless me) type of thing rather than teaching the Bible,” he said. “I do believe if preachers would come down off the high horse, and quit preaching, what I call cotton candy messages, that’s all fluff and no substance, I believe there’d be a great difference in the world today.”

And as the church continues to compete for the attention of society today, Jernigan is worried that current social trends might lead to a point in society where Jesus is “completely rejected.”

“Today, there is much more to pull a person away than there was in my day,” he said. “It is much more difficult. And it does appear to me that as the time approaches (Jesus return to put things right), that things are going full circle to the extent that Christ … is going to be completely rejected.”

He urged Christians who left institutional churches but still want to maintain their Christian faith to keep reading the Bible and praying to God for direction.

“My heart goes out to so many people, it really does,” he said. “There are a lot of people out there that are hungry, and they’re thirsting for the Word of God, but they don’t have anyone to give it to them.” You be one of those Christians that does do what Jesus called us to do i.e. bring the good news of Jesus Christ to the lost.