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From the Desk of a Friend: Buy the Truth

Proverbs 23:23 Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.

In these days many try to eliminate the truth and absolutes. God works with truth, and it is not relative. God is true and not adjustable or relative. Truth has been revealed to mankind in the Person of Jesus Christ (John 1:14; 14:6) and in the written Word of God (John 8:31-32). We are advised in our text to “Buy the truth and sell it not” (Proverbs 23:23).

Of course, this does not mean that we purchase the truth with money or riches. Too valuable to be obtained with any physical or worldly means, the truth is found in the person and the relationship of the Person of God. It is available to whosoever. There is no other supply nor substitute. It will never change or fail. The Person of God changes not, nor does His truth. Customs and societies change and sometimes try to change God’s Word, but the earth will pass away and still God’s Word will not change “one jot or one tittle.”

  1. The truth about salvation was established before the foundation of the world.
    1. Jesus Christ paid the awful price because He was the only TRUE sacrifice to satisfy a just God’s payment for sin.
    2. Because Jesus was “The Way the Truth and the Life” we trust the Person and the Word to be saved from sin.
    3. This truth is so valuable:
      1. It cost the suffering and life of the Son of God.
      2. Many who have experienced this truth gave their lives rather than deny it.
      3. Many have tried to change it by changing the message or distorting it, but it remains the same.
      4. Many have denied it and now suffer eternally in Hell.
      5. Many have embraced it and have a sweet fellowship with the Way, the Truth, and the Life and have assurance of eternal bliss in the presence of Jesus Christ in heaven.
  2. Keep it at all cost “sell it not.”
    1. There is no object or pleasure on earth worth sacrificing the Truth of God.
    2. There is no wealth worth straying from the truth.
    3. No plan or work which leads astray from the truth is worth forsaking or straying from the truth.
    4. There is no suffering worth forsaking the truth, even death.
  3. Application of the truth: (Also wisdom and instruction, and understanding)
    1. Wisdom:
      Romans 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
      1 Corinthians 1:30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
    2. Instruction: How to apply the truth
      2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
    3. Understanding:
      2 Timothy 2:7 Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.
      1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

Let us earnestly stand for and preach and live only for the Truth of the Word of God.

If Bro. Hurst’s article is an encouragement to you, please email him to let him know. You may also visit ebarnabas.org to make an appointment with him for encouragement.

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From Our President: December 2018

Danny Whetstone
For those of us that know the Lord, this is a very special month. Many families get together at this time, and maybe it is for the only time in the year. We exchange gifts with our family and friends. However, so does the world! The thing that distinguishes our celebration from the rest of the world is the worship of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is understood that we want to worship the Lord every day, but we emphasize His birth at this time. It really is not important to me that we have the exact day, but that we set aside a special day to remember the price that our God paid to redeem us from our sins.

In all of the hustle and bustle of this Christmas season, let’s take time on purpose to praise the Lord for His unspeakable gift to us. No one else could have accomplished this but Christ. We had no way to access heaven apart from His coming, living, and suffering for our salvation.

This is also a wonderful opportunity for us to share our faith in the Lord with others. Special gospel tracts are written just for this time of year. Christmas is on practically everyone’s mind. Even if it is simply to them Xmas it still opens the door for us to share Christ with others. What better gift could we give to the Lord than to extol His name to a lost world? If we are not careful we will see Christmas in our rearview mirror and realize that we did everything but worship and serve Him.

Darleen and I want to take this opportunity to wish each of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. In reality it is one day following another; however, it creates a time in our year that we can evaluate the past year, and then dedicate ourselves to the year that is ahead. Let’s dream big for the coming year. Let’s purpose in our hearts that we are going to make more of Christ than ever before. Whatever our best has been, by God’s grace we can do even more. The world can be changed one soul at a time. At the same time, each of those souls that we reach with the gospel of Christ will be changed forever.

May the Lord richly bless you, your family, and your ministry this day and every day in your future.

In His Service,
Danny A. Whetstone

If this article has been an encouragement to you, you can email Bro. Whetstone here to let him know.

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From the Memo Board: December 2018

Dates to Know

December 1 – October Financial Reports will be due.

December 10 – All prayer letters should be submitted to our staff in order for your recipients to get them before Christmas.

December 18 – Please contact us by this date via Signal if you will need funds in your account before Christmas or the end of the year.

December 21 – Special pay date for all non-resident aliens. (Final payment without tax withholding.)

December 24-28 – The Office will be closed in celebration of Christmas.

January 1 – November Financial Reports will be due.

January 8 – Missionaries will receive their statements of December Support Received.

January 11 – All US Citizen missionaries will receive their final December support on this day, regardless of the day they normally receive support. (Non-resident aliens will not receive funds this day.)

January 15 – December Financial Reports will be due, along with any remaining receipts or financial paperwork for 2018.

January 25 – New monthly pay date for all non-resident aliens. (Tax withholding begins on this date.)

January 31 – W-2 Forms and other tax documentation for the 2018 year will be available.

New Missionaries

Chris and Candace Beane are new associates with World Wide. They are sent out of Cross Roads Baptist Church in Columbus, NC, with Pastor Nathan Deatrick. Chris is the IT director at Ambassador Baptist College, where he is also a student. Their goal is to take annual trips to the United Kingdom during the remainder of his time in school. They will then start deputation after his graduation, with plans to plant churches in the UK along with veteran missionaries Travis and Terri Snode. The Beanes have two children: Hayla (11) and Teddy (8 months).

New Baby!

Congratulations to Stephen and Anelly Villarreal on the birth of Stephen Daniel. He was born on November 13. Mom and baby are doing well! The Villarreals have been serving as furlough replacements in Mexico this past year. They will return to the US soon and plan to begin full-time deputation in February.

December Support

Please contact us via Signal by December 18 if you would like funds in your account before Christmas. Final December support distributions will be made on January 11th for all US citizen missionaries, regardless of their regular pay date. Contacting us by December 18 will enable us to schedule your funds around bank closings and holiday hours. Should you have an emergency need after December 21, you may contact our staff at the following numbers:

John O’Malley: 704-974-6108
Kim O’Malley: 704-974-1008

January Income Totals

During a typical month, we close the books on the 25th and any checks received after that date are posted to the following month. Due to receipting requirements, we cannot do this in the month of December. As a result, please be aware that your December support total may be higher than normal, while your January support total may be lower than normal. Please be sure to plan ahead for this!

Are You Prepared for an Emergency?

Every day it seems we hear news of someone facing a tragedy, whether from a storm, an accident, or an unexpected death. Dealing with the aftermath of such situations can be frustrating and time-consuming, and is often compounded in foreign countries. We encourage all missionaries to plan ahead and prepare your family for emergencies. One excellent tool is a Legacy Drawer, as recommended by Dave Ramsey. Click here to learn more about this system of organization that will help make sure your family is taken care of during unexpected life events.

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Prayer & Dates: December 2018

December Prayer/Praises and Special Dates

Click the link above to download a PDF of prayer requests and praises as well as the birthdays and anniversaries for December. Note: You will need to login to SecureCloud in order to view this document. Once you have logged in, click on Files, Shared, then Headquarter Happenings, then scroll to the month you would like to view. This step protects people with WWNTBM in restricted access fields.

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From the Desk of a Friend: No One Excluded

John 3:16; 2 Peter 3:9

God crowned His creation by giving life to the first human being and naming him Adam. Even in a perfect environment, Adam failed God by disobeying a simple command. Adam plunged the whole human race into a condemned state before our Creator by passing along a nature prone to sin. Additionally, one of Adam’s sons was a murderer. Humankind neglected our Creator so much that God saved only one family when He restarted the human race: Noah’s family.

God used some great and godly people through history. We read about them in the Word of God. We learn of men like Abraham, a friend of God; David, a man after God’s own heart; and the heroes of the faith who challenge us in the Book of Hebrews. Even these men and women fought the common problem of mankind. They sinned and needed the grace of God.

On a darker side, God recorded names that bring evil to our minds, like Ahab and Jezebel, and Judas, who betrayed our Lord. Many others in history, both ancient and current, could fit this frame: Hitler, Saddam Hussein, and many others who shocked society with their wickedness. Though these crimes and criminals are famous, we still share the common trait that we all have sinned and justly deserve God’s wrath.

One other commonality we have with every human of the past, present or future is that God loves every one of us. It is God’s will that every man’s sin is covered by the shed blood of God the Son. He loved every one of us enough to send His Son to pay our debt. As we go into the fields of humanity witnessing for our Lord, some seem to be enemies to God and us. However, we need to realize they are loved by God, the One Who loves and saves us. God is not willing that they perish and spend eternity in Hell.

What a thought to consider: There has never been a human being that God did not love and has not given His Son to save. Such amazing grace from a holy and loving God!

If Bro. Hurst’s article is an encouragement to you, please email him to let him know. You may also visit ebarnabas.org to make an appointment with him for encouragement.

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Prayer & Dates: November 2018

November Prayer/Praises and Special Dates

Click the link above to download a PDF of prayer requests and praises as well as the birthdays and anniversaries for November. Note: You will need to login to SecureCloud in order to view this document. Once you have logged in, click on Files, Shared, then Headquarter Happenings, then scroll to the month you would like to view. This step protects people with WWNTBM in restricted access fields.

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From the Memo Board: November 2018

Dates to Know

November 12 – Most US Banks will be closed for Veterans Day.

November 19 – Please contact us by this date via Signal if you will need funds in your account before Thanksgiving.

November 22-23 – The Office will be closed in celebration of Thanksgiving.

December 1 – October Financial Reports will be due.

December 10 – All prayer letters should be submitted to our staff in order for your recipients to get them before Christmas.

December 18 – Please contact us by this date via Signal if you will need funds in your account before Christmas or the end of the year.

December 24-28 – The Office will be closed in celebration of Christmas.

January 1 – November Financial Reports will be due.

January 8 – Missionaries will receive their statements of December Support Received.

January 11 – All missionaries will receive their final December support on this day, regardless of the day they normally receive support.

January 15 – December Financial Reports will be due, along with any remaining receipts or financial paperwork for 2018.

January 31 – W-2 Forms and other tax documentation for the 2018 year will be available.

Financial Status Reports

We have uploaded a Financial Status Report to your SecureCloud account. This is meant to show you the financial details that we have on file, such as your support estimate and the average amount of support you received this past quarter. This is information we provide to pastors who may call about your ministry. We ask that you update your support estimate once every four years or as your lives and ministries change. Please review this information and contact us if you have any questions or changes.

January Income Totals

During a typical month, we close the books on the 25th, and any checks received after that date are posted to the following month. Due to receipting requirements, we cannot do this in the month of December. As a result, please be aware that your December support total may be higher than normal, while your January support total may be lower than normal. Please be sure to plan ahead for this!

New Missionary Families

Wesley and Kayla Grant have been added to our missions family. The Grants are sent out of Morning Star Independent Baptist Church of Easley, SC, with Pastor David Ellenburg. Bro. Grant currently works in the medical field and is a student at Tabernacle Baptist Bible College in Greenville, SC. Their desire is to plant churches in Northwestern Montana. Please pray for them as they begin deputation.

Ayser and Fatan Mazahreh have joined our missions family. Bro. Mazahreh is currently pastoring the Faith Independent Baptist Church of Amman, Jordan, and works alongside Bro. Ghassan Haddad and Bro. Daab in the Biblical Theological Seminary as well. They have three sons and a daughter: Rae’d (23), Mario (20), Leen (17) and Matthew (9). Please pray for this family and the ministry in Jordan.

 

Uplift Podcasts

The following recordings were recently published on Uplift.com. You may access the site by entering the username: wwntbm and the password: gospel. These recordings for our missions family contain the Uplift calls in their entirety, including prayer requests and challenges to our missionaries. We hope they will encourage your heart.

God’s Faithfulness During Affliction by Ted Daub

Conveying Your Story, Part Two by Duey Whitfield

Learning to Be a Soul Winner by Byron Foxx

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From Our President: November 2018

Danny Whetstone

Yet for love’s sake I rather beseech thee, being such a one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
Philemon 1:9

Paul has had an amazing ministry by the time he gets to this “aged” place in his life. We look back through the Scriptures and read of the work accomplished by this faithful servant of Christ. He is now in a perfect position to exhort the young preachers coming behind him. It is probably true that he cannot maintain the exhaustive efforts of years gone by, but he doesn’t have to with so many young preachers now hanging on to his every word. It has been my practice through my ministry to fellowship with older preachers that have gone before me. I have always loved hearing them describe the journey that the Lord has taken them on, and I have learned from their experiences. Oftentimes it has saved me from many pitfalls along the way.

There seems to be a feeling among a few young preachers today that the “aged” should be set aside. That they have somehow outlived their usefulness and are not worthy of the support of the Lord’s people. I say that the very opposite is true. If we ever needed the “aged,” it is in these years. In some ways, they can help us more than ever before. The experiences that they have had, the lessons that they have learned, the battles that they have fought, all of these things and more make them the most qualified people that we have in the ministry today. Instead of setting them aside we should give them a raise in pay. They are worth far more to us now!

To those of you that have plowed a straight furrow year after year: don’t quit now when we need you desperately. I challenge you, young preachers, to hang around these faithful servants and listen more than you speak. You will probably find that the education you get will surpass anything that you got in school.

If you are among the “aged,” and you are feeling the pinch of lost support, I will do anything that I can to help you remain in the Lord’s work if that is what you believe He wants you to do. If the Lord should lead you to retire from your present work, that is between you and Him, and it is honorable. If you believe He wants you to stay in the harness, then that also is honorable.

In His Service,
Danny A. Whetstone

If this article has been an encouragement to you, you can email Bro. Whetstone here to let him know.

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From the Memo Board: October 2018

Dates to Know

October 8 – Most US Banks will be closed for Columbus Day.

November 1 – September Financial Reports will be due.

November 12 – Most US Banks will be closed for Veterans Day.

November 19 – Please contact us by this date via Signal if you will need funds in your account before Thanksgiving.

November 22-23 – The Office will be closed in celebration of Thanksgiving.

December 1 – October Financial Reports will be due.

December 10 – All prayer letters should be submitted to our staff in order for your recipients to get them before Christmas.

December 18 – Please contact us by this date via Signal if you will need funds in your account before Christmas or the end of the year.

December 24-28 – The Office will be closed in celebration of Christmas.

January 1 – November Financial Reports will be due.

January 8 – Missionaries will receive their statements of December Support Received.

January 11 – All missionaries will receive their final December support on this day, regardless of the day they normally receive support.

January 15 – December Financial Reports will be due, along with any remaining receipts or financial paperwork for 2018.

January 31 – W-2 Forms and other tax documentation for the 2018 year will be available.

New Missionary

Scott and Marilee Norman have been added to our missions family. The Normans served as missionaries for 20 years in Saipan. Their desire is to be used in the area of pulpit supply and furlough replacement. They are sent out of Trinity Baptist Church in Wilson, NC, with Pastor Mike Renfrow.

New Babies

Our missions family continues to grow! We rejoice in the safe delivery of these babies. Pray for the mothers who are recovering from deliveries, and for the babies to remain healthy as cold and flu season is around the corner!

Congratulations to Joel and Noel Smothers on the birth of their firstborn, Gabriel Paul Smothers, on September 8. He was 9 pounds 6 ounces and measured 20 inches long. There were some complications in his birth as he was born chin first! He also had to have a procedure done to fix a lip and tongue tie. However, he and his mother are both recovering well! The Smothers are on deputation to go to Brazil. Pray for them as they continue raising their support.

Congratulations as well to John and Sarah on the birth of Alaina Joy on September 19. Alaina is their third child and joins her brother John Gabriel (3) and sister Eliana (19 months). Keep their family in prayer as they continue to serve overseas.

Wedding Announcement

Gerald Mosher and Marie Story were married on June 9, 2018.

Bro. Mosher has served with World Wide in Nova Scotia since 1987. His first wife Delores (Lorie) went to be with the Lord in June of 2013. Mrs. Marie Mosher is originally from Indiana. The World Wide family would like to extend our congratulations to the new couple. We wish them all the best of the Lord’s blessings as they continue to minister together. They are currently meeting with a small group of believers in a home and are praying about what the Lord would have for them next.

Financial Report Reminder

As we enter the last quarter of the year, thoughts turn to year-end tax procedures. Many people begin thinking of last-minute deductions that will affect them. If you anticipate making large ministry purchases and you desire the purchase to be a deduction in the year 2018, you may wish to make the purchase by the end of November. Because of the way our W-2s are calculated, December expenses are “reimbursed” out of January income, so the tax benefit on your W-2 would actually be considered a 2019 reimbursement. Regardless of when the purchase is made, you will still receive a tax benefit. However, we wanted you to be aware of these deadlines as you plan your expenses over the next few months.

Remember, due to changes in tax law this year, if you have previously been submitting ministry expenses through your tax preparer, you will lose that tax benefit this year. The best situation is for you to report all ministry expenses through WW, thus providing the fullest tax benefit. If you are not currently submitting financial reports we suggest you consider this option. If you have questions about this, please contact Naomi Torberson.

Uplift Podcast

The following recordings were recently published on Uplift.com. You may access the site by entering the username: wwntbm and the password: gospel. These recordings for our missions family contain the Uplift calls in their entirety, including prayer requests and challenges to our missionaries. We hope they will encourage your heart.

Soul Winning on the Road by Byron Foxx

Advocates vs. Accusers by Dwight Smith

The Dangers of Spiritual Indifference by Freeman Weems

Faithfulness by Jonathan Earnhart

Paul’s Singular Focus by Jeremy Lockhart

The Practice of Praise by Alton Beal

When God Hides the Answers by Chris Swiatocho

Crazy Schedules, Disobedient Kids, and Sergeant Dads by Jeremy Lockhart

Conveying Your Story, Part One by Duey Whitfield

The “I Wills” in Psalm 138 by David Landers