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Today I was reading yet another sermon from John MacArthur. If any of you out there in the cyber world are interested in reading/listening to some of his sermons, it really is easy! All you have to do is go to Gty.org, go to sermons in the top right, and there you will be flooded with an index of sermon after sermon, after sermon. My mom has always encouraged me to listen to John MacArthur, and to be honest I would usually just brush her off, and carry on with my day. For the past several days I have spent day and night reading his sermons. I have to say it is amazing to see the Spirit of God working through John MacArthur, and in his church. In these few days, my faith has been feed like it has never been before. Through all of the trials that I am currently going through, and all of the distractions here in Africa, reading these sermons, they have really refreshed me, and they have given me spiritual nourishment.

During the holidays, it can be a difficult time to be away from family, and this week I am officially, maybe, halfway through my time here in Africa (HOW THE TIME FLIES!) so right now, I honestly feel like I am running on fumes. I am tired, my brain is flooded with work, and because it is dry season, I have this cough that will not go away. Like I said, I have been running on fumes. Something that God has really been showing me through the sermons of John MacArthur, is that I need to not give up. I am going through trials. During these trials, I am not to give into my silly powerful emotions and throw in the towel; I in fact need to do the opposite. During trials, we are to lean solely on Christ; we are to have a heart of thankfulness that we are in fact going through trials, because it is a sign that God loves us. Through the trials we are made perfect.

Everyone goes through trials, some of you reading this blog right now may be in the middle of a trial. You may want to give in; you may want to just let your emotions take full control of your mind. But I am here to remind you to NOT give in. Be strong! Lean onto God, and seek him. Have a heart of thankfulness. We can all be thankful together. You know why? Because we are God’s chosen, we are going through convictions and trials because the Lord loves us. I wanted to share with you some quotes from John MacArthur’s sermon titled “The Grim Reality of the Last Days.”

“The truth is, the one who endures to the end, he will be saved! And what are we learning from that? That false Christians will not be able to handle it. By your endurance, Luke 21:19, you will gain your lives. You do not earn Salvation by endurance. You prove you have the real thing by endurance. Superficial faith will collapse under persecution. This is basic gospel truth, authentic, God given faith will endure because the Holy Spirit will provide strength, and God will provide grace.”

“In James is says, ‘Count it all my joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials knowing the testing of your faith produces endurance.’ True faith is strengthened to endure.”

1 Peter “In this you greatly rejoice even though now for a little while is necessary you have been distressed by various trials so that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold which is perishable even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation on Jesus Christ.”

Fact is that this world we will face persecution, we will face hatred, we will face many things because of our faith in Christ Jesus. What John said in the first one that I quoted, those who have superficial faith will not endure, they will fall apart, and they will scatter. But, those with true faith, who endure, those who will last and face trials with God, and persecution, they will have grace given to them. The Holy Spirit will provide strength.

“Luke 21:15 says ‘None of your opponents will be able to refute it. You testimony will be so powerful.’ That’s what happened. Virtually all of the Apostles were martyred. The last of them, John ended up in exile, a kind of permanent martyrdom. They were killed in myriad of different ways; beheaded, crucified…that did not stop the spread. And in a moment of their death, as with all true believers through history in the midst of persecution, the Spirit of God was there to lift them above human strength to say things that were basically generated out of their hearts by the work of the Holy Spirit.”

I have to just say how thankful I am to be a child of God. I have been blessed with a family who are all devout followers of Christ. I have always been able to lean on Christ through everything in my life. There was never a time that I did not have Christ with me. To think of all of the people out here in the world who do not have Christ, where do they go during trials? What do they think about during those tough times? They are empty, lost people who rely on themselves to get through the tough times. Thinking about that fact really makes my heart sad…to think that here I have been living my life, knowing the truth, while there are so many out there, that I PERSONALLY know, who just live day to day without Christ.

The end times are near people. We need to be movers and shakers. It might be scary, and we might face persecution..but just know, that the Lord is right there with us.

So many times, I allow my trials, and my problems flood my mind. I allow them to become my focus. Here I am thinking about myself and my circumstances, while there are people out here who do not know the truth…who are lost sheep..just seeking for something. We are going through trials, and God uses those trials to push us closer to him, we use those trials to reach out to those who are lost. We show them that although our circumstances, our troubles may be great, we have a Savior who will take away all the hurt, who will take away all of the pain. We all have our stories; we need to use them to reach out to others. Reach out to them and share the love of Christ with them. We are all fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. We all need to love one another, we all need to work together to reach out to those who are lost.

Revelations 22: 20-21

“He who is faithful witness to all these things, says,

‘Yes I am coming soon!’

AMEN! Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all.”