Adding to the Church

I have been meaning to post this praise for quite a while.  I found out a few weeks ago that God is transplanting a couple of fantastic Christians to add to our ministry.  I've met Patty a couple of times and have been greatly enriched and encouraged with each meeting.  She has a unique ability to infect everyone she encounters with joy.  I've met Steve once very briefly.  He's relatively quiet, but its easy to see his love for God, deep faith, and strength of character.  Both have addicted themselves to the work of the ministry.

We're greatly looking forward to their being added to our ministry in person and not just in prayer.

Pressing on,

Mark Hebert
Ps. 16:11
Praise God!

Youth Night

The all nighter was fantastic!  We invited Gethsemane Baptist (Bro. Nemo - Pastor), and Pioneer Baptist (Bro Snyder) teens to come and had a total of 30 teens and 6 adults.  God was definitely present and working throughout the evening.  The first message resulted in a hand going up for salvation and several for decisions to go for God's blessings and leave the world behind.  Since this was an all night activity we only invited those teens who had been faithfully attending and participating in Youth Group activities.  A hand going up for salvation in that instance is remarkable.

The second message (Bro. Jose) was really good and challenged the kids to seek after and excercise wisdom in their decisions.   The next message, preached by Bro Ken M., Youth Director of Gethsemane Baptist resulted in a full alter and perfectly dove tailed withe Bro. Jose's.   Bro. Eric's message was fantastic.  God certainly used him to grab the kid's attention, and soon there were comments that the event was like Youth Conference.

The last message was the hardest to preach and for the kids to pay attention to.  We had been at it for 11 hours.  Each message was followed immediately with a fifteen minute prayer time and an activity.  Each activity was progressively more physically demanding than the previous by design and had the desired effect of exhausting the kids and keeping them awake and interested.  As I preached the message several of the kids were really struggling to keep their eyes open so I invited them to stand if they were having trouble.  Twenty six kids stood up.  Hands went up everywhere at the invitation and we finished the event with a half hour prayer session.

Pressing on,

Mark Hebert
Ps. 16:11
Praise God!

Street Preaching

I realized this morning that I would have the opportunity to go to a catholic church and preach the Gospel for the first time since I received the burden to do so. My first attempts ended when the church I had selected, for some strange reason, did not have services at the times they normally did. My schedule was prohibitive from that point until today. As I prayed in my closet this morning, that realization hit me, and I prayed for boldness to do so. When gathered with the praying men from our church, in the midst of my praises to God, I again prayed for the same thing. Today He put me in front of the church I had attempted to preach at three times earlier but this time people were arriving for mass.

Was I scared? I can't say with certainty that when Paul told the Corinthians he was with them not in excellency of speech or wisdom, but in weakness, fear, and in much trembling that he was nervous, but I can say that I identify with that passage in my own weakness, fear, and trembling. Never-the-less, God gave me grace to open my mouth with boldness and preach to the small groups that were arriving. Praise God! What a moment!

It was well below freezing and the wind was blowing. During the brief moments that no one was approaching I was chilled to the bone and regretted not having anything to cover my ears, but when people showed up the heat was on! I was stunned that the Gospel of peace was not well received. I knew people would be in a hurry to get out of the cold, but mean and nasty?! Are you kidding? Not all of them were, but I think I now know why God had me do this on a bitterly cold day. It just may be the chill that kept those mean ones from staying outside and working to hold the truth in unrighteousness. At any rate, the message was always cut short in their ears as they entered the synagogue of satan.

"Synagogue of satan?" Sound harsh? I don't know what else to call an organization who will draw people into it promising heaven, and delivering them to hell. The Bible is very clear, if you don't know for certain you're going to heaven, you're not going. These folks are being made to believe that they can be good enough to get heaven on their own righteousness. I know that's a fact because that's what they tell me their counting on to get into heaven. It's satan's oldest trick. he started in the garden of Eden, "...ye shall be as gods, (Gen 3:5)," and he continues deceiving people with same lie wrapped in a slightly different package.

Tomorrow may be a new opportunity to do the same thing. I pray that next week will be. My message truly is the Gospel of peace and not one of condemnation or judgment. It is not my goal to be offensive to these people, but that they may see the love, grace, and mercy of God. I know the Gospel will offend and divide. I know Noah preached well over 100 years without a convert, and Jeremiah managed to double that number in less time. Will I have the patience, faith, and fortitude to do the same if it be God's will? If it is His will, I trust He will supply the grace.


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Prayers, Praises, and Powerful Joy

We had a fantastic time in our men's prayer group this morning. Another of the teen boys from our youth group joined us this morning and it was obvious by his prayer that he was in touch with God. What a blessing. God continues to raise up godly young men who can pick up the mantle of the older men before they pass from the scene, and I get to be one of the vessels used in that proccess. What an awesome God I serve!

I have discovered that my best prayers are the ones that are filled with God's praises. When I say my best ones, I mean the most fulfilling, most exhilarating, most rewarding. Just thinking about the fullness of joy I get during those prayers is pumping me up again! Praise God!!!!!

This blog started as a result of the conviction God gave me from Psalm 68:19 which says, "Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah." I was convicted that I failed to see let alone thank God for even one of those benefits daily benefits yet here God said that He doesn't only give one, but a LOAD of them. Over the months, I have learned to thank Him for many things that I used to take for granted, and sometimes still do.

I guess He never gets tired of hearing me thank Him for the air He gives me to breath, the ability to breath, and the ability to turn the oxygen in that air into sustenance for my body. Simply, every day, common, stuff; yet when I sincerely thank Him for this and more, He always deepens my joy. Rather, it would be more accurate to say that He gives me fullness of joy just as Psalm 16:11 states. After all, are we not to come into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise; being thankful to Him, and blessing His name (Ps 100:4)? If there is a secret to getting the fullness of joy which is only in our Saviour's presence, surely this is it!

It's during these praise sessions that a prayer request or two will come up, not because I intended it to, but more because it just fits into the praise. Truth be told, I'm often afraid that I will lose the great joy I get from praising God if I start asking Him for things. It's as if the requests come out because God sees them there and wants me to ask Him so He can answer them and I can praise Him some more. There is joy in answered prayer, but it is magnified 100 fold when I praise my God and my Saviour for the answer.


Visit Revival Baptist Church - Scranton, PA

Click here for daily devotions.