Time Travel

My son, Anthony, asked me a very interesting question recently. He asked, if we were able to travel through time, would I be more interested in traveling forward or backward in time? I have to admit that my first thought was to travel to the future and see what things were yet to be invented. But as I thought about the question more, I began to think of the potential problems with traveling to the future. What if I picked a time when some great natural disaster was in progress or a time when a war was raging? I even thought, what if I managed to transport myself into the tribulation.

I quickly decided that it would be much safer to travel into the past. At least there, I had a general idea of what would be going on when I arrived. I could think of time periods to avoid and others that I would find amazing to witness first hand. Many possibilities raced through my mind. The signing of the Declaration of Independence. The first flight at Kitty Hawk. The birth of Christ. That really got me thinking. Wouldn't it be incredible to go back and be a witness to the miracles of Christ.

As I considered this possibility more and more, I began to realize that even though I am not able to travel through time, I am able to witness the miracles of Christ. The change in someone's life when they accept Christ as Saviour. The power of prayer. Even the miraculous recovery that God allowed me to make after suffering a massive stroke and several seizures. Not everyone gets the opportunity to witness something like that. But do we all have the opportunity to witness a miracle of Christ? I believe the answer is yes. Let me explain.

One of the fantastic miracles of scripture is the feeding of the five thousand. Christ was able to take five loaves and two fishes, an adequate but not extravagant lunch for a boy, and feed five thousand men and have significant amounts left over. So am I saying that this same thing is occurring today? I think that in a slightly different way it is.

How many of you have the financial ability to fully support a missionary family? I am talking about a monthly commitment of $3000 to $4500 or more. I am sure that there are some out there, but I do not know them. There are people being called into the full time service of Christ for both foreign and home missions on an almost daily basis. Could you support them all?

I believe that the same miraculous power that Christ displayed when He was given full control of that young boy's lunch can be applied to missions' support today. Take that little extra that you have every month and turn it over to God. Let him show you how to apply it, but give Him full control. Maybe you do not have any extra each month. Maybe God just wants you to show that you trust Him by asking Him in prayer an amount that He would like you to give on a one-time basis. Follow His direction and give. Let Him be responsible for the miracle both to provide the funds for the gift and to expand that gift to fill the need. Our God is not slack. He will provide both for you and for the missionary that He directs you to give to. Do not think that He will either ask for too much or too little. He will provide if you think the amount He wants is large and He will increase to fill the need if He only asks for a little.

Just think about that for a moment. We do have the opportunity to be a first hand witness to a miracle of Christ. Let's get involved in a little time travel right now.

Mark White

On the edge...

II Timothy 2:2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

The Lord has put BYM on the cutting edge of a great movement. Children’s work in fundamental Baptist churches is on the rise. There is a renewed interest in reaching kids in an effective way before they turn to unreachable teens. The task of imbedding the truths of the Word of God in the hearts of our children is a serious responsibility. Sunday school lessons haphazardly prepared, flippant attitudes toward children’s programs, delegating youth work to the least prepared is becoming a thing of the past. There is a new generation on the rise that is taking children’s work seriously. Diligent teachers are looking for resources, innovative ideas and most of all techniques that work. Churches are undertaking earnest goals and are determined to find what works. BYM workers are in churches across the country working with hundreds of teachers. They are gleaning and then refining the best practices that are yielding the best results. But unlike the many who learn great methods and just use them with just their own local church, BYM is learning and then replicating itself in institute style training at the National Training Center in Sinclair, Wyoming, and in hands-on seminar style training in local churches across North America.

Please pray for the Baptist Youth Mission that we could meet the demand of this new movement. Effective workers and adequate resources are needed but most of all, pray that the Holy Spirit will anoint the trainers as they sharpen those who are on the cutting edge.

— Mike Holmes, Director