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Welcome Bob and Lois Gillespie to the rforh team

Hey Everyone,
I wanted to welcome Bob and Lois Gillespie to the rforh team. We are privileged that they wanted to join us and are excited about what the Lord is going to do through their obedience.
Bob and Lois have over 35 years of ministry experience under their belts. They’ve been in all kinds of environments and have seen firsthand the impact that being able to trust the Bible completely can have on individuals. Yes, as a ministry, we place a focus on apologetics. BUT, our hearts are purely on the Gospel. We’ve just seen that if you can’t trust the first book in the Bible, you’ll never “sell out”, so to speak, for any of the rest of the Bible. Therefore we do our best to show that the Bible actually deals with the issues that this generation is faced with. We believe by showing them that they can trust the Bible completely, they will trust the Gospel when it is presented to them as well.
So, we use apologetics, to preach the “Good News” that Jesus is who He claimed to be. He is the Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer! He loved us so much that while we were rejecting Him, He was willing to hang on a cross for us. Oh what a Savior!
Please pray for Bob and Lois as they join us on January 1, 2018. Please pray for us that we’re able to stay busy and most importantly stay obedient to God’s Word. Get with us if you’d like to book Juan, Bob or myself for speaking. We count it a privilege to serve.
There’s no doubt that something just isn’t right in the culture today. We see so much negativity around us and lets be honest, it could discourage you if you’re not careful. We believe that there’s a cure for the darkness that seems so prevalent, and that cure is God’s Word. Unfortunately many people don’t trust the Scriptures today, so what do we do?
Please let me share with you what Bob does. Blessings and . . .
 
Stay Bold!
Carl Kerby
And now a word from Bob:
Yes, I do talk a lot about the book of Geneses…really a lot. Some people ask me, “Why is Genesis so important? Does it really matter?”
Interestingly, I don’t usually get that question from young people though; they seem to be able to connect the dots as to why the first book of the Bible is so important.
My wife Lois and I spent almost 10 years in West Africa teaching missionary kids. It didn’t make any difference if I was teaching science, history, or Bible…just ask the kids…I always seemed to bring up the history of Genesis and why we can trust the whole Bible. I remember one young teen who told me in tears that she was not sure she could trust God. She said that God had promised in Genesis that he would never allow another flood like that again, but she had just seen how a tsunami had killed so many people. I was confused at first, then it dawned on me that she had been taught that the flood of Noah was just a local event, and I understood her problem. I was able to help her understand that the flood as described in Genesis was a global event. She began to realize that when you can trust what the Bible says, things begin to make sense. In other words, you can trust what God says in the whole Bible!
Now that we are back in the US, God has called me to share these things with churches across America and sometimes abroad. Not long ago I was in a small country church in southern Ohio that was ministering to young people from difficult family situations. There were two boys who had heard the gospel many times but made no decision, yet they still kept coming back. That evening I talked about why we can be confident in the history of Genesis. I finished by explaining that God had judged the world once with a global flood, but had provided a way to be saved in the Ark. I mentioned that there is another judgment coming, and that God has already provided the way to be saved through the blood of Jesus. That evening, both boys received Christ. It seemed that the issue with them was whether they could really believe what the Bible says. They are right: that really is the issue. Romans 10:17 “So faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
I recently held a conference in a church located in the back of a restaurant. In Sunday School I talked about why we can trust the history of Genesis. There was a junior high girl who had heard the gospel many times but had not made any decision. She seemed to have trust issues with the Bible. She too thought the flood was a local event and wondered why God could still allow floods to happen. Hurricane Harvey had just gone through Texas, and Irma was moving through Florida. One thing that caught her attention was a picture showing how a local flood could not cover all the high hills as described in Genesis.
Then the question became, “Why would God do that, and why would he allow the hurricane?” To answer this, I had to go to the book of Genesis. Adam and Eve could have lived forever in a perfect world, with no death or suffering and perfect fellowship with God. But when Adam sinned, it changed everything. God, who is Holy, cursed all of creation; that is why we live in a world where bad things happen. Worst of all, we are all separated from our Creator forever. But God,
who is merciful, sent His Son to take our punishment and undo the effects of the curse. If we have trusted in Jesus, when He comes back, God has promised to return us back to that perfect state, much like it was at the beginning. God, who is loving, had already made a remedy for the problem of evil; it’s just a matter of timing.
We want God to cure all evils now, but in God’s timing His cure will last forever. This young lady who had issues with God began to connect the dots. She began to realize when you can trust the Bible just as written, it all comes together and the questions have answers. That afternoon she posted her public confession of Christ on her Facebook page, and that evening she was at the front with the pastor making her public confession.
Yes, that first book of the Bible really is important. If you can’t trust the book that gives the answers to life’s biggest question, you really can’t trust the Bible at all. In this world that seems to be convinced that you can’t believe the Bible, the book of Genesis becomes the most important book. Trust issues don’t start with Jesus; they actually go back to whether one can place their trust in the very words of God Himself.
 
Bob Gillespie
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