Sunday, March 07, 2010

A Look Back

Today: For 2 1/2 years, I posted Daily Devotionals (from July 2004 to October 2006) on several websites and my mailing list. I have these Devotionals also posted on Eagle's Wings Ministries, but somehow never got around to posting the month of October 2006 - perhaps because it was only half a month. Then my new job at the Gospel Mission took up a lot of my time and I was no longer able to send out Devotionals on a daily basis after that point.

Some of the Daily Devotionals were links to my own studies, some short(er) Devotionals of mine as well; plus, links to excellent books, articles, and studies gleaned from solid Bible study sites on the Web. Unfortunately, over time many of these links became outdated - some of these boards and study sites went out of Internet existence - and I was not able to keep up with updating the links. Some of the best blogs and study sites I have found that are currently available are now in my Links bar on the side of this blog.

I am re-posting some of these studies and articles here and on my other study blog (with sound articles by others), Faithful Men Of God. Some of these books can still be found on Baptist Bible Believer's Website. I also wanted to include the entry for October 1st/2006, as a look back at where I was when I started at the Mission. Then, Lord willing, I will later post an updated testimony of the Mission now.

October 2006:

Wow - September sure was one busy, hectic month for me! God was stirring up some things in my life and getting me to leave the nest I was in - so that I would be ready to move into the new sphere He wanted me to be a part of now. (See Deuteronomy 32:11-12) I am no longer working full-time at the hotel (though the door is still open for me to work shifts here and there), but am now working at the Gospel Mission where I have been preaching once (sometimes twice) a week for over 2 1/2 years, and have done several years of volunteer work on top of this.

I have been praying for ways to get more involved in the lives of the people there - and all of a sudden this job opportunity came up (the senior evening position in the Mission), and the job was basically dropped in my lap. Because of the work the Lord was doing in my heart prior to this point in time, I knew this was exactly where the Lord wanted me to be. A lot of things fell into place - including His peace like a blanket covering my heart and mind. I am finished with the full-time graveyards at the hotel, and am adapting to the days at the Mission now...

It will be 4 days on, and 4 days off (plus whatever odd shifts I might still get at the hotel - no set schedule there though). That will give me plenty of time to work on studies, my websites, my blogs, etc. and still work on my messages at the Mission. I was thinking that if I had to preach up to 4 days in a row that would mean I would have to shorten my messages and not have as much time as needed to develop them - but even will a full hectic week last week, the Lord still gave me two messages - the second one (Pharaoh's Four Proposals) actually went a little longer than planned, but it sure had everyone's attention! Praise the Lord for His grace - especially for this step into greater ministry opportunities, for a day job that will allow me more time to get involved in church soulwinning times (could not easily do that before with full-time graveyards), for being able to be around the people at the Mission throughout the week (not just on the day I was to preach), and for more opportunities to preach the Word of God (which gives me more experience in this area too - not just more opportunities to get the Word of God out to those in the Mission) - also, I am looking forward to being able to do more series and build upon prior messages (which I can easily do if I am preaching two to four days in a row).

My message today (linked above) is what I preached on Sunday - the basic idea is not new to me, as someone has pointed out these four passages in a message I have read before (though theirs dealt with Satan trying to hinder us from being involved in our local church - attempting to hinder us from worshipping God in the manner and place He has designated - and using work as one of the main hindrances from assembling together with other believers). Using the same four passages as my springboard, I took it in another direction, aimed at presenting the Gospel to the lost at the Mission.

October 1st/2006
Jerry Bouey

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