WHEN YOU SEE THE GRACE OF GOD…ARE YOU GLAD?
by: Dr. Steve Heidenreich
“And they sent for Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch. Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad.” Acts 11:22-23
Those who were traveling preached the Word and a great number believed and turned unto the Lord. When the church of Jerusalem heard, they sent Barnabas to see what was happening. When he got there he saw that the grace of God was at work and he was glad.
One thing we need in Fundamentalism is when the grace of God is working in another place other than ours we need to be glad. Many times we have become jealous or envious of someone else when the grace of God is at work in their ministry. I have the opportunity to travel to many places around the world and see the grace of God at work, and I am glad!
I just had the opportunity to go to the Philippines and preach the 25th anniversary of Gospel Baptist Church in Calinog. When I saw that the grace of God was still at work after twenty-five years, I was glad. I can remember when the Lord allowed my wife and I to go there as missionaries and start Gospel Baptist Church what an exciting time that was. Now after 25 years, it was a joy to see many of those who were saved and baptized still there serving the Lord.
Brother Ronnie Howell and I arrived late at night in the Philippines. Early the next morning we caught a flight down to the islands. We then took a jeep back into the mountains. After watching the grace of God at work while we were there, we were glad to be able see all that God was doing.
When should we be glad when the grace of God is at work?
First, we should be glad when the Word of God is preached. When we had our Anniversary Sunday at Gospel Baptist Church, there were almost 1500 people in attendance. After the preaching of the Gospel there were 332 people saved. I have been saved over 40 years and I’ve never gotten over the excitement of seeing people saved. I was personally able to help with the baptism and I was able to baptize 26 people myself. The grace of God is at work through the preaching of the Gospel all around the world and we should be glad. We were able to give away 100 Bibles for those desiring to have their own copy of the Word of God.
Second, we need to be glad when we see a great number of people believe in the Lord. There always has been a great opportunity to go to the public schools and preach the Gospel and see many people are saved. We had the opportunity to go to open assemblies, and then were able to go room to room. Many times I will ask for permission to be able to speak to the superintendent and all the teachers in a room by myself. This is one of the highlights of my trip when I see teachers bow their heads and accept Christ as their Saviour! On this trip we were able to see 2,737 people saved through the public school ministry. We were able to go soul winning many days on this trip. With the help of many other soul winners, we were able to see 1,107 people saved. We then rented many extra jeeps on the Anniversary Sunday and many of these people were able to come to church for the first time.
Third, we need to be glad when we hear that people are being saved somewhere else in the world. Barnabas went as far as Antioch. We need to be willing to go as far as we can with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. God has allowed me to take the Gospel to many countries of the world. Watching many of those people in those countries respond to the Gospel will make you glad to be a part of sending it to them. I pray that more of us will be glad that the grace of God is at work in more than just our place of service.
Dr. Steven Heidenreich
3G Ministries