Doing well in Zimbabwe!

Friends, it is indescribably great to be back in the harvest! Our team has had two excellent days ministering in schools. However, the last three days I have not been feeling very well. I think there is just some allergen in this area that my body hasn’t quite adjusted to yet. I’m feeling much better today though. Thankfully, yesterday, I was able to rest, as some of the other team members into the schools. But today I had the opportunity to share the gospel in two schools…

                  

Now, I have to lay a few disclaimers for our ministry.  Some evangelists are criticized for being too focused on “numbers” and are criticized for reporting erroneous results in order to get more support. We honestly try to report as conservatively as possible. We usually round numbers down. In some ways, we even pretty much try to convince people NOT to give their lives to Christ - unless they are totally serious!  Honestly, the number that is most important to us is “one.” One Spirit, one Savior, and one God glorified, one boy dying of AIDS finding hope in Christ, one orphan crying tears of joy while finding love in his Heavenly Father, one boy seeing you a few days after receiving Christ and telling you thanks for telling him how to be saved and telling you that he can already sense a change in his heart.

We also realize that it is not possible for us to determine who is really saved or not. We believe it is our duty to share the gospel as clearly as possible and call for people to repent and trust in Christ with a public profession of faith. We also believe that it is our duty to honestly and conservatively report results to the best of our abilities. Whether each individual person gets saved or not is between themselves and God…visit our website at www.davidstockwell.org/overwhelmingresponse for more information on my father’s conviction on this issue.

Anyway, I had the privilege of sharing the gospel in two schools today. The first was an elementary school with about 800 students. They were an amazingly well-behaved group of students with a headmaster who really seemed to have a heart for Christ. I don’t think there is a better sound in the world than hearing about 600 young students saying the sinners’ prayer! The second school was even more amazing!

We were told when we arrived that we would be allowed only 10 minutes to speak to the 1600 high school students because they only had a thirty-minute assembly time and two other people needed to speak before us. One was just a lady from the school that needed to say a few announcements. The other was a man from the Zimbabwean blood bank promoting a blood drive coming up next week. When the man from the blood bank heard what we were there to do, he made it clear to us that he is a follower of Christ and said that he would cut his announcement short because, “the blood you are speaking about is more important than the blood that I’m speaking about!” He ended up going on stage before us and kept his word about keeping his announcement short. He even finished his time on stage by saying, “This blood drive creates a lifeline for people on earth, but the blood of Jesus that my friend is about to talk about creates a lifeline for eternity!” what an amazing and completely unexpected introduction! I love how God works things out (-:  

I was able to deliver a slightly shortened presentation of the gospel and it was amazing to watch the Spirit work. You could see almost all the students’ faces change from excitement to conviction to hope and finally to joy! 1,200 of the students there committed to turn from their sins and make Jesus Lord of their lives! The past two days, our team has spoken in 10 schools to almost 10,000 students and about 6,000 have made the commitment to follow Christ. I love Africa! I LOVE JESUS!!!

Please keep us and all of the people we share with in your prayers as we continue ministry in schools. Tomorrow is supposed to be the busiest day on our upcoming schedule and we are speaking in 12 schools. Thank you again for all the prayer and support.

In Christ,

Steve Stockwell

Galatians 2:20 – crucified with Christ

Zimbabwe Tomorrow

Hey friends, we are leaving for Zimbabwe tomorrow, March 8th at 4:15PM. Please keep us and the people of Zimbabwe in your prayers throughout this mission campaign through April 9th. It is starting to look like internet access will not be easy during this trip. I will do my best to keep everyone as up to date as possible. Everybody has been added to the DSEA ministry email list and already should have received an email about this trip. If you would like to be taken off this list, there is a simple "unsubscribe" button on the bottom of each of their emails. Thank you so much for the prayers and support. Hopefully there will be plenty of amazing stories to tell throughout the trip and once we have safely returned!

In Christ,
Steve Stockwell

One week until Zimbabwe

Hey friends, sorry I haven’t had too much to say these last few weeks. Some of the details have begun to work out for my transition to full time ministry. I sent out my application to join the Gideons. It looks like I will be able to spend at least one day a week at Central Texas LifeCare counseling young guys who come in for STD tests and possibly even speaking in schools about STDs and abstinence. I have also had it on my heart to organize a group of people in the New Braunfels area who have a passion for evangelism and are willing to do/pray for street witnessing in our area. This might include organizing an evangelism training course to help start this ministry. I’m officially starting to get excited about the upcoming trip to Zimbabwe! I will be there from March 8^th-April 5^th. We are planning to share the gospel in several churches and in several dozen school assemblies to tens of thousands of students. Now is the time when we need prayer the absolute most. Please pray that God will send the Holy Spirit to Zimbabwe in front of us and begin doing the work before we even get there. Pray that He will begin opening doors and opening hearts to hear the good news, that their hearts will be good soil ready to hear His word. Pray that we get our flesh out of the way and that we will be pure, clean, holy vessels to carry God’s word. And pray that we will have safe travels and that all of our financial needs will be met. Our main prayer verse as we GO is Isaiah 61:1,

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
 because the LORD has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
 He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
 and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.”

Thank you all so much for the prayer and support! I’m not sure what internet access I will have while I am in Zimbabwe, but I’ll do my best to keep everyone as up to date as possible. Thanks again! 

In Christ,

Steve Stockwell

God revealed through His Names

God is so amazing! one of the ways God reveals Himself to us is through His names. He is literally EVERYTHING for us. i can't think of anything we would ever need in life that isn't included in God's names. i recently read through all the names of God and it never ceases to amaze me how all-inclusive His names are. i just want to encourage everyone to read through this list and remember that He is there for us with whatever we need right when we need it as long as we trust in Him!

http://www.bible.ca/trinity/trinity-definition-god-titles.htm

P.S. only 20 days til Zimbabwe! there are countless details that still need to be worked out, but i know God is in control. please keep us in your prayers!

Obedience vs. Victory

Hello friends, I just finished the book I quoted last week, The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges, and I wanted to share a couple more thoughts I learned from it.

Obedience vs. Victory- Many people speak and write about victory over sin. This isn’t a bad thing by itself, but I believe victory should not be the focus of our attempt to be holy. It is true that Romans 8:37 tells us we are more than conquerors, and many verses speak about victory over sin and death. However, victory is the effect of something else, so I don’t feel victory should be our focus. Also, victory is a self-centered attitude to have about sin. We seem more focused on our own victory over sin than the fact that every sin we commit grieves the heart of God. 

God wants us to walk in obedience, not victory. Obedience is oriented toward God, victory is oriented toward self. This might seem like a small difference, but it can have a large impact on the way we pursue holiness in our lives. Obedience places importance on following all of God’s commandments because they all grieve the heart of God. Attempting to live in victory causes us to focus on conquering certain sins that seem to “defeat” us the most frequently. 

Another key difference is the result of our sins. The opposite of victory is defeat. Saying we were defeated by sin implies that something bigger than us that is outside of our control has beaten us. Being defeated by sin is not possible. This is a lie from the enemy designed to steal our effectiveness to produce good fruit. The devil desperately wants us to feel defeated and depressed. The opposite of obedience is disobedience. Saying we were disobedient shows that we knew what we were doing is sin, but we still made the choice to do it anyway. 1 Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” Victory has already been given to us. Falling into sin is not defeat, it is disobedience. When we are disobedient, we repent and are forgiven which allows us to continue our walk. 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

We have already been given victory through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Our duty is to live in obedience. Walking in obedience will lead to a victorious life that is full of love, joy, peace, and all the other fruits of the spirit.

1 Corinthians 15:54-58 “When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this. I hope everyone has a blessed week!

In Christ,

Steven Stockwell

P.S. This Saturday is January 22, the 38^th anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade decision that legalized abortion in the US. There are many rallies, marches, and other meetings around the country set on this day to promote pro-life legislation. I’m going to the Texas Rally For Life in Austin. One of my good friends, Briana Fischer, will be sharing her testimony at the event. One of the specific focuses of the rally is to support the Sonogram Bill in Texas, which would not allow an abortion to occur until the woman had seen the image and heard the heartbeat of her unborn baby. This has the potential to save countless lives. All are welcome to come. Please pray for this and all other similar events that are going on this Saturday. Here is the website for the event if you would like more info, www.TexasRallyforLife.org.

Pursuit of Holiness

Hello everyone! This week I have been reading a book called the pursuit of holiness. It is a practical, uncompromising look at how our lives should be. It also focuses on finding and eliminating things we might not even view as sins that hinder us from having a fruitful walk with Christ. Today I want to share an analogy from the book that I really like as a representation for how we can increase the holiness in our lives.

A farmer plows his field, sows the seed, and fertilizes and cultivates—all the while knowing that in the final analysis he is utterly dependent on forces outside of himself. He knows he cannot cause the seed to germinate, nor can he produce the rain and sunshine for growing and harvesting the crop. For a successful harvest, he is dependent on these things from God. Yet the farmer knows that unless he diligently pursues his responsibilities to plow, plant, fertilize, and cultivate, he cannot expect a harvest at the end of the season. In a sense he is in a partnership with God, and he will reap its benefits only when he has fulfilled his own responsibilities. Farming is a joint venture between God and the farmer. The farmer cannot do what God must do, and God will not do what the farmer should do. We can say just as accurately that the pursuit of holiness is a joint venture between God and the Christian. No one can attain any degree of holiness without God working in his life, but just as surely no one will attain it without effort on his own part. God has made it possible for us to walk in holiness. But He has given to us the responsibility of doing the walking; He does not do that for us. We Christians greatly enjoy talking about the provision of God, how Christ defeated sin on the cross and gave us His Holy Spirit to empower us to victory over sin. But we do not as readily talk about our own responsibility to walk in holiness.

Ephesians 4:22-24 “Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”

Thanks for reading, hope everyone is having a blessed week!

In Christ,
Steven Stockwell

Jealous God

Hello everyone, I hope you had a merry Christmas and a great start to the new year! Today I want to write about an attribute of God that I’ve had issues with. This is jealousy.

Exodus 20:4-5, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God.”

Jealousy is considered such a negative characteristic. How can our perfect, holy, loving God be jealous? I think many people struggle with this word. In fact, this is where we lost Oprah! Oprah said that she absolutely refused to believe in a jealous God. I believe the problem is based on an improper definition of the word jealousy.

Jealousy has different meanings. Jealousy is most frequently used as a synonym for envy or covetousness. He is jealous of his neighbor’s new car. This is obviously not how God is jealous.

Another meaning for jealousy is being vigilant in guarding something or someone. This is generally considered controlling and possessive and a very negative human characteristic. However, we need to be very careful when comparing characteristics of humans to those of God. This is how I view the jealousy God has for us.

How many times have you watched a friend make mistakes that negatively affect their lives? Do you just sit back and watch, or do you care enough to tell them the facts and tell them that they are going down a path that leads to destruction? This is jealousy for their well being. Knowing what can benefit someone, and helping them achieve it. We can only understand God’s jealousy when we consider who He is.

God is perfect. He is holy. He wants the best for us. Jeremiah 29:11, “I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” The only way we can be fulfilled, joyous, and successful is to submit ourselves to God’s will. He wants to bless us, but He is pained and disappointed when we go astray because He knows that any path other than following Him leads to destruction. God is jealous for us because He knows that following Him is the only way good things will happen for us.

I am full of immense joy when I consider that the God of the universe cares enough about me to be jealous for me!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this! i pray that you have a blessed week!

In Christ,

Steven Stockwell