Sex and Dating Youth Rally

Today I had the amazing opportunity to speak at a youth rally of about 350 students on the subject of sex. I also got to share the plan of salvation with them. It seems like a strange mix- sex and salvation, but both originated from the heart of God. One relates to birth and the other to rebirth. My friend Luis translated for me and then he later shared a message about dating. The subject of sex is something that needs to be talked about a lot here. At Central Park in Antigua it’s a common thing to see young people making out for everyone to see. Makes me wonder what they do in private! I pray that today’s rally will be used by God to help bring a revival of purity to this part of Guatemala.

Fish Sandwich

A while ago I was fasting, and I started craving a fish sandwich. I could almost taste it! Well later as I was reading my Bible I happened to be reading in John 6, and guess what it was about! Jesus multiplying the bread and fish! "No fair!", I thought. Maybe it was God’s sense of humor. But then I thought of how much more valuable a spiritual fish sandwich is than a physical one. Eating a fish sandwich will feed my body, but reading about Jesus making a fish sandwich will feed my spirit! The Bible says that we can’t live on bread alone. We need every one of the words that God speaks. Which food do I hunger for the most? Also, I can multiply food like Jesus did! Every time I share God’s word with someone else I multiply it to those people, and they can get fed spiritually too! So, yes, I finally got the fish sandwich my taste buds craved. And it was sooooo good! But what’s better is knowing the God who feeds body, soul and spirit.

--Mark

Global Warming?

With all this talk about global warming and climate change I want to offer some thoughts. First of all, I’m not a scientist, so I don’t know for sure if global warming is even true or if it’s really caused by humans at all. But even if it is, there’s a deeper issue. When God made the world it was pronounced "good"(Gen 1:31). Creation fell when SIN entered the world- not when cars or factories were invented (Gen 3:17-18, Gen 6:5-7). So the reason the creation is so messed up is because of our sin in general. Some may say that our "sin" is not taking care of the earth better. But, no, Adam was probably taking care of the garden just fine (Gen 2:15)- until he disobeyed God’s commandment to not eat of the one tree God said not to eat from (Gen 3:6). So the real issue is disobedience to God’s commands. The real problem isn’t my carbon emissions it’s my sinful commissions. Because of our sin there WILL be a global warming one day. God has said he will destroy this earth with fire (2 Peter 3:7, 10) and make a new heavens and new earth (Is 65:17, Rev 21:1). So let’s seek God in this earth and look forward to the better one to come. Go green if you want to, but let’s let the Lord guide our steps, not the counsel of the ungodly (Ps 1:1).

--Mark