International Prayer Day First Monday each month 10 am

Joel Griffith 4/24/23 Joel Griffith 4/24/23

Lord...remember me?

“God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized.” Hebrews 6:10-11

I read this verse in a devotion recently and shared it with you. I read it again this week and also got a Thank You from Trinity HOPE the same day. Yesterday, I once again read verse eleven in a devotion and a different thought stirred my gray matter down to my heart.

Our Heavenly Father doesn’t forget our work and love that we have shown in His name while seeking to fulfill the Great Commission in the time we have left on this side of Paradise. Our Heavenly Father remembers our work; each individual act and He also takes note of the love within us that prompted the deed.

No one on earth can do those special things that we do; we are all wired differently. We forget, but God remembers. We see the action and Our Heavenly Father sees the motive. Sometimes we grow weary in our labors; even the best of servants get weary. The Lord's desire is to encourage us to be diligent and to trust Him in spite of the demands. And then comes verse eleven. Be diligent in your labors. Remain faithful to the very end. Gladly serve our Lord.

Dear Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.

May God be with you,

Jay

Joel Griffith 4/22/23 Joel Griffith 4/22/23

Our Commission.

“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20

We celebrated Easter thirteen days ago and back in the day a few centuries ago, our Risen Savior was still walking on the face of this earth with His disciples and others. If you recall from the messages you heard on past Easter mornings, Jesus didn’t just come back to life and then go straight to heaven. After the resurrection, He spent 40 days traveling in Jerusalem and talking to people; face to face, small groups and one time to a group of 500 people! Because He appeared to so many, the Gospel spread rapidly over the Roman Empire.

Right before He went back to heaven, Jesus gave the above instructions to His followers. These commands, known as the Great Commission, are not just meant for priests, pastors, ministers or missionaries. They apply to everyone who follows Jesus…even these young Haitian children.

This is the assignment for everybody in God’s family. We are to pass on the Good News to the world, near and far. Why? There are three reasons: first,

God wants a big family. If you’re in God’s family, then He wants you to bring others into His family. He wants you to tell people about the Gospel.

Second, only God can offer you salvation and hope. This is the greatest news in the world! Keeping it a secret would be criminal. And lastly; the Great Commission is the hinge point of history. The timing of Jesus Christ’s return is dependent upon our obedience to His instructions. God is waiting for us to finish the task of telling the world about Jesus.

The Bible tells us in 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” God will not force anyone to love him, but he wants everybody to have the chance to say “yes” or “no” to his love.

Finishing the task of the Great Commission is inevitable. Will it be finished in our lifetime or will the next generation will have the privilege of doing it? Each of us need to stay on track and complete the task that has been set before us along our journey.

May God be with you,

Jay

Joel Griffith 4/21/23 Joel Griffith 4/21/23

Walking with Jesus.

“Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” John 11:16

I listened to a Southern Gospel choir sing “Let us ever walk with Jesus” on Alexa a few days ago. That hymn always puts a potato sized dumpling in my throat and sometimes, bring a tear to my eye.

As Thomas suggested to the twelve in the eleventh Chapter of John, “let’s go and walk with Jesus and be prepared to die with him.” The children in the attached photo are attending Sunday worship in the Lutheran church in Torbeck which is about six miles west of Les Cayes; they too are walking with Jesus.

The hymn was originally written by Sigismund von Birken in 1653, composed by Georg G. Boltze in 1788 and translated by J. Adam Rimbach in 1900. For my daughter Deidre and anyone else that can read German or is interested in trivia, the original title was "Lasset uns mit Jesu ziehen". See if anyone at church can tell you about that title on Sunday.

“Let us ever walk with Jesus, follow His example pure. Flee the world, which would deceive us and to sin our souls allure. Ever in His footsteps treading, body here, yet soul above, full of faith and hope and love. Let us do the Father's bidding. Faithful Lord, abide with me; Savior, lead, I follow Thee. Let us suffer here with Jesus, to His image, e'er conform; Heaven's glory soon will please us, sunshine follow on the storm. Though we sow in tears of sorrow, we shall reap with heavenly joy; and the fears that now annoy shall be laughter on the morrow. Christ, I suffer here with Thee; there, oh, share Thy joy with me! Let us also die with Jesus. His death from the second death, from our soul's destruction, frees us, quickens us with life's glad breath. Let us mortify, while living, flesh and blood and die to sin; and the grave that shuts us in shall but prove the gate to heaven. Jesus, here I die to Thee there to live eternally. Let us gladly live with Jesus; since He's risen from the dead, death and grave must soon release us. Jesus, Thou art now our Head, we are truly Thine own members; where Thou livest, there live we. Take and own us constantly, faithful Friend, as Thy dear brethren. Jesus, here I live to Thee, also there eternally.”

Thank you for your continued support of Christian education throughout this world, as His children go about fulfilling His Good and Perfect purpose and walk with their Savior. Trinity HOPE has an online auction taking place right now. It started yesterday. It is a wonderful way to purchase something and the proceeds feed children who are walking with Jesus in Haiti.

May God be with you,

Jay

Joel Griffith 4/20/23 Joel Griffith 4/20/23

Glory overflows.

“We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.” 2 Corinthians 4:10-11

We celebrated Easter eleven days ago. We heard about the empty tomb. We read and heard the words from our Risen Savior. These two verses remind us today, that we ALWAYS carry around in our body the death of Jesus. The Apostle Paul wrote ‘Always’.

I have written about Eternal rewards a few times this week and we can see the temporal reward woven into the lines of those verses from 2 Corinthians. I am of the opinion that this is part of what Paul meant when he wrote, that the life of Jesus "may also be revealed in our mortal body." Can you possibly imagine a more satisfying and encouraging reward than deeply realizing that our actions are visible expressions of Christ to others.

And Paul went on to write in verse 15 of this same chapter “All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.” It's not hidden; you can feel it bubbling inside as the Spirit uses your time, treasures and talent to serve others for our Risen Savior. The Lord comes up front and says that when you and I take the role of a servant, there is the joyful realization that a thankful spirit is being stimulated. And who gets the glory? Me? Nope. God gets the glory. Every drop. It overflows!

May God be with you,

Jay

Joel Griffith 4/19/23 Joel Griffith 4/19/23

Life ain't fair!

“God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.” Hebrews 6:10

How many times have you listened to a teenager lament “Life is NOT FAIR!” I’m sure those words have never slid off your tongue. I daily read about the challenges and my mind ‘thinks’ those words. There were probably a few people living in Nashville last month that expressed those words either verbally or mentally following the loss of life at the Covenant School. Our Heavenly Father is faithful to take special note of those who serve Him in many different ways on this side of Heaven.

In the above verse from Hebrews, the writer is talking to believers; you, these Haitian kids and me. He is writing out of concern for a few of the first-century believers who had begun to cool off and drift from a close walk with God. Do you know anyone like that? There are gangs like that in Haiti. The writer wants to encourage his followers to stay at it, follow the course, keep going.

In other words, he reminds them and each of us of that great truth all of us tend to forget when days turn into a slow grind: God is faithful! He uses eight words to convey this fact: "God is not unjust; He will not forget."

What does it mean to say that God is faithful? It means He is steadfast in His allegiance to His people; His believers, His servants. He will not leave us alone when life seems unfair. God keeps His word.

May God be with you,

Jay

Joel Griffith 4/18/23 Joel Griffith 4/18/23

Life and peace.

“The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.” Romans 8:6

I’m a Lutheran and getting older, and the changes in my life and in this sin filled world seem to be accelerating at light speed. And, there is a phrase that I recall when seeing these challenges in this fallen world; “I’m mad as hell…and I’m not going to take it anymore!” Making changes in any area of your life on this side of Paradise requires that you change the way you think. That is going to be a challenge for me. That’s because our brain is where God’s Spirit works in us.

God’s Spirit doesn’t work in my crooked arthritic toes, coughing lungs or thankfully not in my plugged wrinkly nose. He works through our mind! I have often read that our heart is a place where God works. For example, we say and sometimes sing, “I invited Jesus into my heart.” But I feel that our heart is really, just a symbol for our brain. Our brain is where we think; so it seems that in our mind is where God begins the real change process. It’s where the reset takes place and I start seeking His wisdom, direction and His peace in my life.

You, these Haitian children and I were created to be like God. But we are sinful and have been molded in the ways of this fallen world and we know that doesn’t happen instantly. To grow into someone who serve’s more like Jesus, we’re going to have to go through a lot of change in our life; we’re going to have a lot of resets. Becoming a new person in Christ starts with changing the way you think. Our Heavenly Father desires us to live a full, meaningful, purposeful life. He wants you to grow in faith and spiritual maturity and experience peace in our lives.

May God be with you,

Jay

Joel Griffith 4/17/23 Joel Griffith 4/17/23

Eternal reward.

“Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.” Matthew 10:41-42

Over the years, there have been just a few Shepherds who beam with pride that they will receive a ‘double portion’ when they reach Paradise for the work they did as a Pastor here on earth. I shared with them that I will continue to serve my Savior in whatever way His Spirit moves me and it doesn’t matter if I get a single, double or triple reward in Paradise…I just want to be with Jesus when I leave this side of Heaven. A double dip ice cream cone on this side of Paradise is always okay. But when I get to see Jesus on the other side…that is all I will need.

In the above reading from the Gospel of Matthew, we read that while preparing the His disciples for a lifetime of serving others, Jesus promised, and tells us too that ‘improving our service’ begins with little things. It begins with thoughtful things; an understanding embrace of one who is hurting, a brief note to one who is lonely and feeling unappreciated and forgotten, giving a plate of beans and rice to a hungry Haitian child, a cup of cool water for one whose lips are parched from the hot blast of a barren desert in this fallen world when all seems futile and worthless. I believe that Jesus takes special notice of all these efforts.

These types of sacrificial service take on a new meaning when recall the words of Jesus in Matthew 25-31-39; where He is telling about how we unknowingly serve Him. Jesus assures us in Matthew 25:40 of what will take place because of our service; “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” When we believers draw our last breath and that final grain of sand gently drops into the mound of sand at the bottom of your journey’s hourglass…the Judge will offer His reward. The servants receiving them were so unselfish, they had long since forgotten the deeds. Hungry Haitian children fed. Seeing the face of Jesus awaits each of us…and each of those hungry Haitian children.

May God be with you,

Jay

Joel Griffith 4/15/23 Joel Griffith 4/15/23

God is at work.

“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed; not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence; continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” Philippians 2:12-13

I read a ‘parable’ recently that made me chuckle at first and then caused me to consider its subtle worldly wisdom. “Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.”

The church in the attached photo is “Christ the King” Lutheran church in Merrotte, Haiti which is in the Arcahaie District and is located about 50 minutes Northwest of PAP in the Northern claw of Haiti. It is nestled within a rural neighborhood with scattered houses, plantain groves and vodou temples. When visiting this church back in the day, I would usually sleep in a backroom on Saturday night so that I didn’t have to drive there on Sunday morning. And Saturday nights were a diabolical, sinister and evil concert of vodou priests and their followers pounding on large drums, making music to their evil spirits.

This sanctuary was constructed with support from a family in Southern California, adopted by the FL-GA District as a mission outreach and a school and daycare facility were constructed by a congregation in Kansas. There are 421 children attending school here and enjoying the Trinity HOPE feeding program sponsored by Joe and Sharon Kemper; God is at work in Merrotte.

There have been struggles here, good versus evil type of struggles. Satan continues to bring challenges to the Christians attending Church and school in Merrotte. Decades ago, the evil foe manifested itself into the life of their pastor, and he had to leave the congregation. Attendance dropped and it appeared that the vodou priests had brought sufficient evil spirits to cease the Gospel message at Christ the King. God is in control, and school attendance has grown, and children continue to be blessed and share the message of their risen Savior throughout their neighborhood, bringing an end to the lies of the vodou priest and prayerfully, in time will silence their drums. The work of the Holy Spirit in their lives enables their “Christian” witness to be more powerful than the lies of this fallen world, and in their neighborhood. Thank you for your continued support of their Christian education as they go about fulfilling His Good and Perfect purpose.

May God be with you,

Jay

Joel Griffith 4/14/23 Joel Griffith 4/14/23

His plans for us.

“In all their distress He too was distressed, and the angel of His presence saved them. In His love and mercy He redeemed them; He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.” Isaiah 63:9

Have you ever looked at something and felt sad because you knew that you could help to improve whatever it was you were looking at? What my old weak eyes look at may seem pitiful because of my North American culture, but in fact may be a real blessing to others and more importantly may be a very important step in God’s plan for just a handful of lives who are needed to complete His plans.

The attached photo is of a preaching station in the Plateau Central that I took back in the day, and I am sad to tell you that I don’t recall the name of this location. I just recall having walked there because it was at least a half a mile on the other side of a creek that my truck could not drive through. It seemed like it was always that way when making visitations in rural areas; preaching stations were generally located on the other side of an impassable creek or deep ravine. My feet, ankles and knees cried “why always on the other side?”

As you look at this photo you are probably thinking that ‘preaching station’ is akin to ‘temporary church’ and you would be correct. When the winds blow the branches move…away. The blue plastic that can be seen in the backside of this structure covers some of the worshippers and protects them on rainy days. When I would come back to North America every 60 days as per my VISA requirements, I would typically purchase a few extra blue plastic sheets from the nearest Walmart to take back with me to Haiti and bring to preaching stations that would be on my next series of visitations.

Dear Easter child, you and I both know that all things in life are temporary. If life is going well; enjoy it as these times will not last forever. If things are not going well, don’t worry, they won’t last very long. God protects us and He protects the people worshipping under the blue plastic tarp. He has plans for us and also for them…under the blue plastic tarp. The Holy Spirit works within us and within the people worshipping at this preaching station to accomplish His good and perfect will.

May God be with you,

Jay

Joel Griffith 4/13/23 Joel Griffith 4/13/23

Home church.

“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” 1 Peter 4:10

The earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince (PAP) late in the afternoon on January 12, 2010 brought death and destruction to hundreds of thousands of people living there; and many are still not fully recovered today.

The attached photo is of my white pickup truck parked in front of Bon Berger Evangelique Lutherienne in Caredeux which is a suburb in the eastern part of PAP. This Church was built with the support of faithful stewards living in Michigan, and the school which is behind was constructed with support of faithful stewards living in Nebraska, South Dakota, Washington and Canada.

The photo was taken in 2001 and the only damage to this church that was sustained by the earthquake was to a portion of the north security wall. Following the earthquake, the congregation worshipped outside on the south side of the church for a couple of months until the government allowed them to return as the buildings on this property were determined to be structurally sound.

Bon Berger was my Church home while living in Haiti and worshipping there always made me think of what Heaven must be like. The two-hour long services, the joyful music and the hope of a Risen Savior that was etched in the smiles of the members will never fade from my memories. I heard a Bluegrass song recently by the Stanley Brothers called “The Prettiest Flowers” and that brought back what it felt like in Haiti and what it might feel like when we all are together in Heaven.

“I know there is a land of beautiful flowers where we’ll meet again when life is over where we’ll while away the endless hours on heaven’s bright eternal shore. The prettiest beds of flowers will be blooming by the prettiest treats our eyes will ever behold where the beautiful tree of life for us is waiting by the prettiest mansion made with purest gold. I want to meet you by that beautiful river on that eternal morning in the sky where we’ll live in peace through endless ages where we’ll never say goodbye. The prettiest robes and crowns we’ll all be wearing in the city four square beyond this world of strife and the prettiest songs of the angels will be singing on the beautiful morning by the river of life.”

Thank you for sharing your prayers and support for the Trinity HOPE feeding program at Bon Berger as the children attending school are being prepared to go out into the world and share the reason for their Hope. Neither earthquake, cholera, gangs, vodou or financial challenges in their homeland will separate them from the love of Jesus Christ.

May God be with you,

Jay