Timothy International Ministries, Inc.
520 Spicer Road, Lynchburg, VA 24504
www.timothyint.org
2011
Rocky's Blog
Miscellaneous Messages From
The Founder of Timothy International Ministries
June 8, 2011
The chances are you have a friend, or a loved one hurting from the blows of life. Helping others carry their burdens when life blows hard can be a humbling, joyful, and arduous task. At times, we all need some help and much of it comes from the house hold of faith, but unfortunately some of our greatest trials also came from the household of faith where you would least expect it.
I have never experienced a Tornado, but I have experienced a number of Hurricanes/Typhoons. On one occasion I rode out a large Hurricane off the New England coast at sea. Our tiny craft was just 83 feet long with mountainous waves crashing all around us. Every one of our eleven man crew feared we would not survive. But, we did.
One man told of his experiencing a Typhoon of an Aircraft Carrier. He remembered it had been a horrendous experience until I related my experience on the 83 foot Coast Guard Cutter. We have faced many life’s storms that were threatening, but by faith we survived. We even came out of these experiences better people.
While on furlough we visited good friends in Slidell, Louisiana. A group of women who met weekly to pray for missionaries ask me if during a certain date and time we were experiencing any difficulties. As a matter of fact the time they gave coincided with one of the greatest trials of our lives.
One of the ladies told me that as she prayed for us she had a vision of Sue and me with our girls in a tiny boat being bashed around in a terrible storm. The situation seemed hopeless. But as she prayed she saw Jesus guiding our boat to a safe harbor. As I heard this my heart went cold and my eyes filled with tears. The words of the children’s song came to me, ‘With Christ in the boat we could smile at the storm.”
I remember those times at sea traveling from place to place in bad weather with waves crashing over our tiny boat. Sue and our children would be huddled behind me covered in a trap. I could hear Sue and the girls singing this children’s song. “With Christ in the vessel we can smile at the storm.”
In our numerous years in ministry we have encountered many such storms because life blows hard. Health problems, family problems, financial problems and fortunately by faith have weathered the storms. Through it all there were always those there to help when help was most needed. It’s times like these when God reveals His true Saints in your life.
The world is full of people who see them selves to be servants of God, but when challenged with the opportunity to live up to their calling and help others in need they avoid the opportunity and some how feel at ease looking in another direction.
We all know people like this who declare to be part of our Christian family, and even some pious influential spiritual leaders. Isn’t this why the secular world sees little value in religion? Isn’t this the reason India’s Gondi is quoted as saying, “I to would be a follower of Jesus Christ…if it were not for the Christians?”
Unfortunately Sue and I like many others have encountered several people in our years of ministry who claimed to be spiritual, but they simply proved to be self serving, not God serving. They were willing to help others only when they had something to gain.
For Sue and me making our calling and election sure has been the primary goal of our lives. It needs to be for every believer and especially when you step out by faith to serve the Lord. When we stepped out by faith to become missionaries it was like stepping out into a tempest leaving our security behind. Taking our young family on a one way ticket into one of the most remote places on earth to make our home brought many challenges. Some we expected and many we never expected. But this gave us the unique opportunity to seek God’s divine power and goodness and we learned of Him in ways we never knew before.
In 2 Peter chapter one verses 3-4 we read these words.”His divine power has given us everything we need for life and goodness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in this world caused by evil desires.”
It is all because of His glory and goodness we may participate in His divine nature. Brotherly kindness and love can come only from his divine nature that dwells within us through the Holy Spirit. So as the scripture employs us, “Be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure.
May 29, 2011
Education Without Biblical Morality
This morning I watched a program on TV about the Nazi death camps of WW2. They showed a pile of human ashes that probably weighed many tons, the remains of thousands of cremated men, women and children who were ushered alive into gas chambers. The men who did this in the name of Nazi Germany were mostly educated men. Doctors, Lawyers, Scientists, Teachers and college professors, men and women educated without morality. Can this happen again?
The evil in the world is no less now then it was in 1941. As a matter of fact the world is growing darker every day. Such atrocities are still happening some where in the world. Perhaps not in the large scale as it was in WW2, but it is happening never the less and it will continue to happen so long as human society continues on its downward spiral by turning away from God.
America was once known as a Christian nation with a Constitution and laws based on the Bible. Today the Ten Commandments are no longer allowed to be displayed in many court houses across the nation.
In all branches of our military the importance of morality is being slowly diminished. Even in the Civil Air Patrol where we deal with young cadets the role of the chaplain is for the most part being side lined. In all branches of the military the official roll hasn’t changed at least on paper, but in day to day reality?
At a recent Chaplains College I attended, all the chaplains in attendance spoke openly their concerns about this emerging attitude. Most all these men were former military, many of them combat officers with years of experience. All of us were concerned for the future of our nation. Without God we are as the Bible indicates no more than animals.
No moral code will ever fill the void in every man’s heart that only God can fill. There is a critical need for men of God to step up and fill the call for Biblical morality, or there will be more piles of human ashes such as I saw on TV.
Chaplain (Capt.) Rev. Harold L. Roberts
VA-017 Civil Air Patrol
May 5, 2011
In John 16:32 these words of our Lord seem to speak of this time of year, "Indeed the hour is coming....that you will be scattered." When this semester comes to a close many of you will be scattered across the world. He was speaking to His disciples whose faith was disordered and unfocused, but their faith was real, but not at work in the important realities of life. They had their own concerns and interest apart from Jesus Christ like so many of us. As you go let your faith be exercised in the realities of life. Let the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in your life be your reality no matter what circumstances come your way.
Those of you who are graduating go with God's speed and make a difference in your world. For the rest of you Lord Willing, we will here for you when you return. You all have honored Sue and I by allowing us to be part of your lives.
April 5, 2011
This e-mail came from Sam Gobel who serves as the national director of the Evangelical Church Alliance. He has an interesting take on the subject.
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Dear Rocky and Sue:
Thank you for the recent email focused on the need to reach foreign students studying in America. As I read your email I thought of great historical figures like Yamamoto who studied at Harvard from 1919 through 1921. He was one of Japan's most trusted and respected leaders and served as the Commander in Chief of the Combined Japanese Fleet during WWII. I wonder how different history would have been had someone reached him for Christ while he was a student at Harvard. And he is just the time of the iceberg. It would be informative to see a list of foreign students who returned home to wield great influence within their societies. Often we see them only as harmless students when in fact many of them hold the destiny of their nations future in their hands. And who knows? Perhaps God has raised you and Sue up for such a time as this. There may be another Yamamoto or future prince who has been placed in your path that they might come to know and love the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
I appreciate you both. I appreciate your sharp focus on the calling God has placed before you and your tireless determination to remain faithful.
Sam
March 24, 2011
Timothy International Ministries is following God's lead in meeting the many opportunities presented to us world wide for advancing the cause of Christ. Prayer is essential for any ministry and especially for Sue and I as we try to meet the needs of students that God brings into our lives.
Church planting over the past decade has changed, but the Biblical principles haven't. Churches are not buildings, but people. Many still believe that church planting is "Hanging church bell in the jungle." This is not the case, and it never was. but the idea still hangs on.
The great majority of Christian leaders around the world were once International students who came to know the Lord while studying in other countries. Many are serving in nations where traditional missionaries are no longer allowed.
The American church needs to be focused on the thousands of foreign students studying at universities and colleges here in America. God has put the world on our door step and no greater opportunity exist for planting churches around the world. Ten years from now many of these students will be the leaders in their own countries and the cause of Christ will be the beneficiary.
Pray for the Timothy International Fellowship Choir and the Nations United Club we sponsor on Liberty University campus. God has blessed us with some of the most wonderful young people and we believe with all our hearts they will make a difference in the future of our world.
March 7, 2011
This morning I read an article that was sent to me condemning all "Right Wingers" as a danger to our nation’s future. The article pointed to those in the so called right-wing media and Christian churches speaking out against left wing organizations like Planned Parenthood, the concept of Global Warming, closing down the Porn Industry, laying everything wrong in American society on President Obama's shoulders. Well, I suppose I am a Right Winger because I do hold these views, except I don't blame President Obama for all that is wrong. He is not the anti-Christ, only represents the spirit of anti-Christ, and there is a lot of this in the world.
My views are the result of reading and studying the Scriptures (Bible). They are also the results of the many years I have served in other countries where people like me are not even allowed to hold or speak such views publicly. I honestly believe that many liberals do not realize that they are in fact in lock step with socialism, which is a friendly word for Communism. These misguided souls have no idea what their social orientation will bring to our country. I have seen the results of socialism in Romania, Kosovo, Moldova, and Serbia. I don't think those folks liked it much and I don't think liberals in our country would like it either.
I believe that there is right and that there also is a dark force active in this world and in many of our churches, raising its ugly head to turn mankind away from God. Why do I believe this, again I refer back to the Bible that says it will happen.
The Word of God is right in everything else so why shouldn't' I believe it? I also believe that these dark forces believe this their time. All we have to do is turn on the news and look around us and the evidence is there. We see this dark force active in almost every aspect of our lives, in our churches, in our streets and in our governments.
Yes, I do have a problem with people who oppose God's view of the world simply because I do not want me or my family to live in a world they envision. I want to live in a free country, a country whose motto is In God We Trust, a nation where the Ten Commandments are not outlawed. The only way I know to save our nation is for God's people to humble themselves and pray that God will heal our land.
October 2010
My concept of a call to ministry has changed, or better said, “matured” over the years. Experience and circumstances play a big part in helping me to grow in my understanding of the “call” to ministry. The call to serve is a “mystery”, an awakening thought that we are not our own. Over time there was a drastic switch in control over me. I came to realize that I was now the personal property of another, with a capital “A”. I went from human property to being God’s. This in essence is the definition of what my “Salvation” is all about. Much like the Apostle Paul we don’t necessarily serve because we want to, but because we are compelled to by God’s Holy Spirit. It certainly helps though when we are willing. In the beginning of our ministry I was not a very willing servant. But with the “Mystery” of God’s call on my life I was under constraint to do no other.
The well-known hymn writer Al Smith made an interesting comment to my wife and me setting in his living room. “I travel thousands of miles every year and meet hundreds of pastors and missionaries. Every once in a while I am humbled to meet one truly called of God.” Al Smith was referring to the fact that too many pastors and missionaries appear to be self serving rather than God serving. Perhaps this is the reason why the church doesn’t seem to have the societal influence it once did. When my family and I arrived in Micronesia in August 1971 it wasn’t long before the reality set in that I had taken my wife and four young daughters into one of the most remote places on earth. Everything in our lives changed. No more fantasies and graven images, this was reality. The Spirit of darkness, the prince of Micronesia was quick to close in on us and confront us with “Who are you? Why have you come? By what authority have you come? All my fantasies and graven images about being on the mission field came tumbling down in the earth quake of reality. The one and only thing that sustained us was the deep intervening conviction that we were sent there by God. We knew in spite of anything else, we were where God wanted us. We were not called not by men, but God, sent not by men, but God; to be used not by men, but God. Very often during those years our hearts cried out, “Lord we cannot love these people. Every thing about them is offensive and obnoxious. But the Spirit of God spoke to our hearts; “I have not sent you to love them. They are what they are because you are what you are. I will love them through you, but first you must decrease that I may increase. You must empty yourself so that I may fill you with my Spirit.” There was also the reality that we had a one way ticket. This was no short term raid into enemy territory. This was the real thing. We were there to stay.Early on in my life I had a deep conviction that God had a claim on me. As I look back I realize that God kept me close. God wanted me as he dose all believers to have an intimate relationship with Him. This came at age 15 when I made Jesus my personal savior. I had come to realize that if I were the only person on Earth, He would have died for me. At that point God became the father of the fatherless. My earthly father died a few hours after I was born. We are often challenged by the forces of darkness, and as many will tell you this often came from the household of faith. The attacks always came at a high point in our ministry when God is doing mighty things, but Satan will work at our back door to hinder what God was doing. There was one time when the darkness almost over came my reason. My heart cried out in distress for a word from God concerning our ministry. I was convinced that I had made a mistake. God spoke to me in a way that burned His words in my heart for eternity. “My son, before the world was formed and your bones were formed in your mother’s womb your ministry was established. You shall walk in places that no man of your caliber has walked before and my Word will prosper in your hands. As the canopy of stars covers the heavens so shall my peace cover you and never will the waters of tribulation rise above your ankles.” From this point we moved on in our ministry and over the coming years we saw God do amazing things in our lives and ministry. God is the surgeon; we were just the gloves on the surgeon’s hands.God’s call comes to different people in different ways, but no matter how it comes it must be answered. So many Christians in their later years have voiced regret because they felt they had wasted their lives because they had other ambitions.Sue and I are humbled that in our senior years God is allowing us to serve here in a ministry to international students from all over the world. Seeing these young people come to know the Lord in a meaningful way is enthralling. As one brother recently said, “You are sending flaming arrows throughout the world.” This is something only God can do. The ignorance that abounds in the church today concerning “Mission” is astounding. May God help us to find the way again.Rocky & Sue Roberts
