Happy Thursday Family! Hope all is Glorious!
What a week it has been! I’ll get to the outreach news in a moment, but how mind blowing is it that we have literally just watched the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy (combined with signs in the heavens) on display before our eyes.
As I’m sure you know, on Saturday- Israel and the US executed a joint mission to take out the Ayatollah of Iran and over 40 of his top leaders. As you may know, modern Iran is ancient Persia, where 2400 years ago, God used Queen Esther to intercede for the Jews and save them from the annihilation that was being spearheaded by Haman.
This week, God once again took down a genocidal regime, located in the same land, and He did it just days before the Biblical day of Purim, which commemorates the deliverance under Queen Esther.
Kind of wild that Haman’s name is even found in Khamanei:
And to REALLY get our attention, He even gave us a lunar eclipse on Purim, which I was able to see for about 20 minutes on Tuesday morning.
In addition to the Esther connection, many prophetic voices have also been saying that what is happening is a fulfillment of the prophecy in Jeremiah 49 about the destruction of Elam (which became Persia after King Cyrus).
A great article about that is here:
Jewish Iranian Points to the Fulfillment of Bible Prophecy About Elam Today
And here is a video:
It is absolutely undeniable that God is showing us once again that He is the one who is ultimately in control, AND that His Word is infallible. Kind of interesting also that Purim and the eclipse also happened on Florida’s birthday.
Not sure what to make of that, but it must mean something extra special for us in the SonShine State!
Speaking of Florida, we are about to embark on our most exciting (and always most fruitful) Florida mission trip in just a few days- Spring Break in Ft. Lauderdale. And, once again, it is the top spot for spring breakers:
Keep us lifted up next week, and please come and help the local team next weekend (3/13-3/15) while we are gone.
As for this past weekend, it was another great one. Good weather, great crowds, and many open hearts.
On Friday, there was good traffic at Bayfront, and I even got to share the gospel with a young man in his early 20’s who had never heard it before. It went really well too. That night, we also got approached by some teenage believers (catholic I think), who were curious about things related to Israel. I could tell they had been seeing some of the propaganda, so I was happy to be able to shed some truth on them.
On Saturday I had the privilege of sharing some words of encouragement at an event at the Manatee Fairgrounds called the “Faith and Freedom” event. The attendance wasn’t that great, but it was cool to speak on the Christian foundations of America, my testimony, and why it is so important for the church to get outside the four walls.
Here’s one clip:
Saturday was a really fun and fruitful day at Riverwalk too. We had a new person with us named Susan, who is on fire for evangelism. She talked to and prayed with many people and even shared her testimony on the mic.
She was so fired up that she came back the next day to Siesta and says she wants to minister with us every week. So grateful for that!
On Saturday, I personally prayed with maybe a dozen kids throughout the night, but two interactions were very memorable. The first was with a 14-year-old named Jay. I met Jay the week before when he and his 3 friends stopped by the gift table to get some water. I asked them if they knew about Jesus and they said they really didn’t know much. I shared the gospel with all of them, and then they all prayed with me to receive Jesus. Jay told me this past Saturday, that the next day after I met him, he was in his room, and he found a video about Jesus on YouTube. After he watched it, he said he laid his head back, closed his eyes and felt like God was speaking to him to get his life right.
He shared with me that his dad died when he was a baby, and it was clear that he was lacking good mentorship. I poured into him for a little while and prayed with him again. It was powerful. Here we are:
Another memorable interaction with was with a little boy (maybe 7 years old) who came over and hung with us for a while. He said he loved Jesus, and he even wrote a Jesus message on the sidewalk. After about an hour, he asked me to pray for him and for his dad. He said his dad was really mean to the family and that CPS has come to his house before and taken him away. He was very emotional while sharing this and I really felt like God had given me a moment that could change the course of his life.
I poured into him the Fathers’ love, and I told him that his dad was likely just repeating the same behavior that he experienced as a child and that he needed to be saved and healed by Jesus. I encouraged him to pray for his dad and to love and honor him no matter what. I feel like he took what I said to heart and my prayer is that what I shared would help shield him from holding offense and unforgiveness towards his dad. Please keep the boy lifted up, his name is Jose.
On Sunday, we went to a church in Palmetto pastored by Kevin Washington, whom I met at Riverwalk a few months ago. It was our first time, and it was AWESOME! They have a choir and a great band, and I really felt like it was a little version of David’s Tabernacle. It was also a fun surprise that Pastor Kevin called me up to share my testimony.
I think we will be doing some partnerships with them in the near future, so keep that in prayer.
Sunday night, the beach was PACKED. Spring Break in Sarasota is in full effect, and we were busy all night. MANY people were drawn in to the worship, and we got to pray with a number of people including a group of older teens who were from the northeast. One of them hadn’t really ever heard about Jesus, and I was thankful to share the full gospel with him and his friends and to pray with all of them receive Christ. I even caught them reading the tracts on the beach later in the night!
Susan told me she had many powerful interactions with people too and got to pray for a good amount of them. Here’s one pic I got.
It was also really beautiful to see the Knight family (including little Jakey) worship together as a family!
BIG thanks to all the soldier who made it out onto the battlefield- Amber, Thom, Mike M, Jack, Rachael, Tom, Julie, Jacks mom and boyfriend, Ricardo, Susan, Paula, Steven, Stephanie, Justin and Blaze. Proud of you all!
That’s all for now! Hope to see YOU on the mission fields soon!
C, S, N & Y