My good friend, John MacArthur, once told me that it is not cool to name-drop people.
No, I never met the late John MacArthur, but I have benefited from some of his teaching material over the years.
One of the things I appreciated about the ministry of John MacArthur is his reading plan.
You can find a link to the plan here.
I am currently going through the middle section of the book of Matthew. There is one verse in chapter 15 that I have been convicted by as I have read through it.
Jesus is talking to the Pharisees and quotes Isaiah in verse 8:
Matthew 15:8- “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.”
This verse was intended for the hard-hearted Pharisees who loved their rules. It did strike my heart as I pondered the verse. I felt convicted about the times I talk a good game but my heart for the Lord is checked out and focused on something else.
This month as I have listened to the passage, I have tried my best to pray that my heart will honor Him and that He will protect my heart from wanting to serve anything but Him!
This Saturday our Saints Prison Ministry Illinois softball team is heading to FCI Thomson. This will be the first time a Saints team has ever visited Thomson.
We are planning on having two different speaking times and planning on playing 3-4 softball games and hopefully seeing a couple hundred guys out in the yard.
During the first session of the day, Josh Thompson will be sharing his testimony and Kris Mettelmann will be sharing the Gospel.
During the afternoon session, Ray Koonce will be sharing his testimony and I will be sharing the Gospel.
This will be another really early morning, but the weather is looking fantastic for a day filled with softball.
Thank you to everyone who has been praying this year. It has been a blessing to continue to share the Gospel in Prison with the Saints Prison Ministry!
IN OTHER NEWS....
My plan next month was to be on the Louisiana State Prison trip. Unfortunately, Kelly has a medical procedure scheduled and I won’t be able to make that trip. Please pray for the men who are serving on that trip and that the Gospel is proclaimed boldly.
PRAISES
- Earlier this month we visited FCI Greenville and we handed out 347 Gospels and saw 28 men make professions of faith during our time there.
- My son and Missionary Athlete, Joe Gibson had successful triple jaw surgery. He is recovering well and is counting down the days until he can move on from his liquid-only diet!
- We often bring up the prayer request that God works in the hearts of the men that we will see. God has answered that prayer request all year but it was cool how many good conversations we had with men who were eager to hear about the Gospel.
- We had a prison back out for our 9/12 visit but we had the date filled by another prison the next day.
- We have had the opportunity to meet with some men who are interested in the ministry and who will be joining us later this year- this is an answer to prayer!
PRAYER REQUESTS
- Pray that God continues to keep the doors open for our remaining Illinois visits.
- Pray for all of the other teams going out this coming week.
- Pray for the hearts of the inmates we will see the rest of this summer. Pray that God draws their hearts to Himself.
- Pray that God provides more missionary athletes across the country for all of the opportunities to go in and share the Gospel!
- Pray for the hearts of our own missionary athletes and pray that we are bold in our prayer lives and bold sharing the Gospel this summer.
- Pray for the upcoming Angola, Louisiana trip coming up in September.
- Continue to pray for Joe’s recovery
- Pray for Kelly’s procedure and her recovery next month
