Monthly Message April 2012
What a time to celebrate and be reminded of the Resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ, from the dead! It seems that the world around us has all-of-a-sudden turned green before our very eyes. The decline and death of Fall and Winter are being replaced with all the signs of new life in the Spring. I have made several trips recently, and on all of them, I have been blessed to watch the natural change from winter to spring. My favorite exclamation is, “Everything is so green—and beautiful.” This natural phenomenon is only a tiny reminder of the time-splitting, earth-splitting, heart-splitting message of the Glorious Resurrection of the once-dead (really, truly, “graveyard” dead) Christ who is now “alive forevermore in the power of an endless Life.” I’m glad the Bible says “He is risen indeed, and goes before you….” Though it is evident, we still must be reminded—such a claim as the resurrection claim for Jesus has never been made with a shred of credibility about any other person who has ever lived on earth. Jesus Christ is the Great Unlike, the Great Unique One, and His unique Life, and His unique Person, and His unique Power, and His unique Gospel, are all sealed by His Unique Resurrection from the dead. Do you realize that we wouldn’t have a Bible today if Jesus had not risen from the dead—and no Christian Church, and no Lord’s Day, and no “power to save”, and no forgiveness of sins, and no everlasting life, would be known to sinful men? The greatest Revolution in human history has been set in motion by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
I have just returned from a great experience and a great time of ministry with a dear brother and his family, Michael Madaris, his wife Melissa, and their two girls, Morgan and Mya. Michael is the pastor of Highland Baptist Church in New London, North Carolina. I preached on Sunday morning, then led a disciple-making conference in each teaching service through the following Wednesday evening. The people of the Highland Church were unusually warm and Spirit-seeking. Their future, as they walk in the Spirit, is as bright as the promises of God. It was a joy to teach them the Standard of Jesus in making disciples.
I was privileged to make another gratifying trip, this time to Peru, South America, a trip which ended within a week of the trip to North Carolina. I went with a teaching partner, Ron Surgeon, and a great team of men from Walnut Street Baptist Church in Jonesboro, Arkansas. We had a great gathering of very teachable Peruvian pastors, who listened with great interest and care as we taught the Strategy of Jesus (disciple-making to fulfill the Great Commission) to them. I am expecting that a great number of reproducing and multiplying disciples will emerge from this week of teaching.
I leave for Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Sunday afternoon, April 8, with Roy “Soup” Campbell for some disciple-making sessions on Monday and Tuesday. Then April 13-15 we will be at First Baptist Church of Hohenwald, Tennessee. I preach on Sunday morning, April 22, at Sharon Baptist Church in Savannah, Tennessee. Then I am scheduled for hip replacement surgery on April 30. Please keep me in your prayers.
Since the Fall of Adam and his sin, the world has remained in darkness, a “darkness that could be felt”. But after penetrating the darkness with many rays of prophetic light in the Old Testament, suddenly “Son-rise” came, and the world was flooded with God’s Light. Now, the “God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (II Corinthians 4:6). Thank God that Jesus is risen, and that He is reproducing His Life in our hearts!
In The “Cross-Ties”,
Herb Hodges
Spiritual Life Ministries
2916 Old Elm Lane
Germantown, TN 38138
901 758 2777
herbslm@mindspring.com
www.herbhodges.com