All in

The event in the Old Testament we are all very familiar where the Children of Israel are just about to cross the Jordan after wandering in the Wilderness for 40 years due to their disobedience before the Lord. The people had been here once before 40 years before but because of a scary report given by ten of the twelve people sent to spy out the new country, the promised land, the people became terrified and did not want to go any futher. You can see that account in Numbers 13 and 14. Now here they are again under new leadership with the death of Moses and Joshua the son of Nun is about to take them into the land.We pick up the account in Joshua 1:2 where Joshua is being spoken to by the Lord and he says"Moses my servant is dead; now therfore arise, go over this Jordan thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel... Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land which I sware unto their fathers to give them. ONLY BE THOU STRONG AND VERY COURAGEOUS, (my emphasis) that thou mays observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therin day and night, that thou mayes observe to do according to all that is written therein: FOR THEN THOU SHALT MAKE THY WAY PROSPEROUS, AND THEN THOU SHALT HAVE GOOD SUCCESS.(my emphasis) Joshua 1:2,3,6-8Here Joshua is where he has been 40 years before and once again God is giving them the land but notice. He is telling him to be strong and courageous.... Why? He has given him and the Children of Israel the land?! We know the answer. The same walled cities, the same large people, the same giants in the land that were there 40 years before are still there and Joshua and the Children of Israel will still have to fight them to get the Land and claim it. Along with his commanding him to be strong and courageous though God also is giving him a checklist to make sure he and the people are walking in the right direction. By keeping the book of the law always before him by meditating on it day and night and doing everything it says... THEN they shall be prosperous. THEN they shall be successful. When people are playing cards and gambling with money there is a phrase I have heard when they are about to make their big move. "I'm all in." They say this to signify they have nothing left and they are betting that they have the best hand in the crowd. I submit to you that the Children of Israel were about to be in that position. They had been given an opportunity to cash in their chips 40 years before but because of their fear they had not. Now 40 years later they had come to the end of all of that, they had come to the end of all the games, they had come to the end of themselves and they were telling God, "I'm all in." That is where we need to be every day with our Lord. We need to show we have nothing left we have to cash our humanity in every day, every moment and push our sins across the table and say to our Heavenly Father, "I'm All In!!" By doing so we will be different from those gambling on the luck of the draw, we will be different by hoping we have the winning hand. We can confidently say “We are all in.” Our confidence is on God and He has won and we are totally in His hand.

February Praise, Prayer and Schedule

Jerry and Amy

PRAISE:

1) For three weeks of safe travel and good ministry.
2) For wonderful hospitality as we traveled.
3) For God’s continual provision financially even during economic hard times.
4) For our wonderful family and friends.
5) For many new prayer partners, we now have 180.
6) For a new couple joining the church planting team in the Southeast.
7) Susan's 2008 income tax problem has finally been resolved.
8) We get to spend some time with our granddaughter, Cara, while in California
9) Though Amy still has pain in her knee, therapy did help to strengthen her leg and she is walking better.

PRAYER:

1) For the Lord to bring us 300 prayer partners to pray for us daily.
2) For our trip to California February 19-March 9.
3) For the blessing and encouragement needed for Family Bible Church, Martinez, GA.
4) For several couples to do church planting in several places in the Southeast.
5) For the planning for our spring and Summer travel schedule.
6) For our own walk with the Lord and growth in our spiritual lives.
7) For all of our grandchildren to love God and follow after Truth.
8) For wisdom and boldness in all our contacts and witnessing.
9) For our granddaughter Aimee's health problems.
10) Our granddaughter Cara who was in an auto accident, is still getting treatment for neck pain and headaches.
11) For needed employment for our Son-in-law Todd.
12) For God’s protection of homes, vehicles and people in our neighborhood.

SCHEDULE:

February
1 ---- Drive to Baton Rouge, LA
1-3 ---- Pastors Retreat and IFCA Regional, Baton Rouge, LA
3 ---- Drive to Camp Pearl, Reeves, LA
7 ---- AM. Moss Bluff Bible Church, Lake Charles, LA
7 ---- PM. Broadlands Bible Church, Deridder, LA
9 ---- Drive Home
16 ---- Pastors Lunch, Lawrenceville, GA
19 ---- Fly to Los Angeles
21 ---- First Fundamental Bible Church, La Puente, CA
22-26 ---- Meetings with pastors in L.A. Area
28 ---- Los Angeles Community Bible Church, Los Angeles. CA

March
1 ---- Los Angeles Bible Training School, Los Angeles, CA
3-6 ---- Shepherds Conference, Sun Valley, CA
7 ---- Valley Korean Bible Church, Northridge, CA
9 ---- Fly Home
12 ---- Drive to Louisiana
13-14 ---- Mandeville Bible Church, Mandeville, LA
15 ---- Drive Home
16 ---- Pastors Lunch, Lawrenceville, GA
18-19 ---- Prof’s Summit, BMW Office
22-23 ---- IFCA Atlantic Southeast Regional, Martinez, GA
26-27 ---- Workshop, Bethany Chapel, Marion Center, PA
28 ---- Church in PA
29 ---- IFCA Western PA Region, Butler, PA

January Stepping Stones

Smith Stepping Stones
Psalm 37:23-"The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and He delights in his way."

“IMPACT THROUGH INTERCESSION.”

February 5, 2010

Dear Friends,

As we have been reminding you, “Impact Through Intercession”, is the motto our Mission has adopted for 2010 and beyond. We are convinced that intercessory prayer is the most important part of our ministry and we believe the ministry of those who pray for us is absolutely vital. Amy and I are still seeking to bring together a “PRAYER FORCE” of 300 people who will promise to pray for us daily. In modern warfare, victory comes mainly through the air war. In the same way, the success of our ministry is dependent on the effective prayer support of our prayer warriors. We are so thankful that we now have about 180 people who are committed to pray daily for us. Will you please consider becoming a member of our prayer team? This would be a great blessing and encouragement to us.

Jerry began 2010 in Myrtle Beach for four days of golf with friends. Eight men braved freezing temperatures to “enjoy” this annual outing, but bad weather and a busy travel schedule have kept Jerry from playing golf since then. On January 6th, Jerry flew to Albany, NY for his first ministry trip of 2010. He enjoyed the opportunity to participate in the annual Mission Conference at Word of Life Bible Institute. It was a blessing to be able to spend time in fellowship with friends from our long ago ministry with Word of Life.

January 11-22 we were involved with Candidate Orientation at the BMW Home Office. 6 couples were accepted as new missionaries and are now part of our BMW family. One couple will join the Church Planting Team in the Southeastern USA. This couple will be working in a church recovery project in Fayetteville, NC. We look forward to working with Rodney and Chris Phillips, and are eager to make a trip to see their ministry firsthand. Tom and Selva Kweder will be nationwide Representatives for BMW and we are glad to have them on our team of Representatives.

We left home on January 21 for a three week ministry trip and are now getting close to the end of that trip. We were blessed to visit many friends along the way. Our first stop was an overnight with Doug and JaneAnne Smith in Little Rock, AR, and the next stop was Branson, MO, with Rich and Patti Toliver and our grandchildren, Eric and Sarah. Then we drove to Belton, MO where we stayed with Matt and Penny Mills until Thursday, January 28. We enjoyed ministry on Sunday morning at Grace Bible Church in Stilwell, KS and Sunday evening at Shawnee Bible Church in Shawnee, KS. I also spoke at Blue River Bible Church on Wednesday evening. It was good to represent our mission at the Mission Conference at Calvary Bible College, Monday through Thursday, along with two other BMW missionaries, Lee Whitworth and Justin Gort from our Mormanland field. It was a privilege to take our BMW MK’s, who are students at Calvary Bible College, out for food and fellowship one evening. They are a great group of young people.

On our way to Waterman, IL we spent the night with Gary and Chela Armstrong and their boys. We sort of “adopted” this family years ago and it is always a joy to spend time with them. Jerry taught the Mentoring for Ministry workshop at Waterman Bible Church Friday night and Saturday morning and we enjoyed meeting new friends there. From Waterman we drove south and spoke on Sunday evening at Open Door Bible Church in Memphis. We connected with many friends from years past and spent the night with Jim and Bobbie Leonard. We were thankful that, though we had some very cold weather in our travels, the roads were clear and God protected us as we drove many miles.

Monday –Wednesday of this week we were at a Pastors/Wives Retreat in Baton Rouge, LA. Dr. John Talley challenged us to have a more effective prayer life by praying Biblically, using prayers from the Bible as a basis for our prayers for others. It was a wonderful time of challenge from the Word and of sharing with other couples who are in fulltime ministry.

We look forward to getting home sometime on Tuesday. We will be home for 10 days. One of Amy’s jobs is to take down all of our Christmas decorations. Do you think we have set a record for having Christmas up for the longest time??? Please pray for safety and protection of the homes and families in our neighborhood. There have been several break-ins in our neighborhood recently and this week Vince and Jill’s car was stolen out of their driveway during the night (they live next door to us). The car was found but was damaged and papers were stolen from the car.

Jerry has started sending out daily prayer requests on Twitter and Facebook so any of you can follow these.

Thank you for praying for us,

Serving with Joy,


Jerry and Amy

Law of the Garbage Truck

Law of the Garbage Truck.. I was in a taxi one day. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean he was really friendly. So I asked"Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!" This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, "The Law of the Garbage Truck. He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run aroun full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump on you. Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread itt to other people at work, at home, or on the streets. The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets. So I am wishing you a garbage-free day.

Dear Friends,
I saw this material and do not know the source but it is a great reminder of the importance of prayer for missionaries.

Suppose you received a letter from a Mission Board that said, we regret to inform you that it will be necessary to recall your missionary from the field immediately. We have discovered that they have not been receiving sufficient prayer support either for their ministry or their spiritual well-being. They will remain home until appropriate prayer support can be assured. We can no longer subject them to the immense spiritual battle without proper backing for strength, protection, and victory.

Effective prayer is a vital ingredient of the missionary enterprise. Without it, financial support is a waste of resources---like purchasing an new home and then failing to maintain it.

Some have called the average prayer for missionaries, “PRAYING LIKE THE DICKENS.” That is the word’s of Tiny Tim at the end of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol: “God bless them, every one.” Imagine receive a missionary prayer letter that simply said: “Praise God, He has blessed us! Please pray that He would keep blessing us.”

For this reason we are still seeking 300 people to pray for us daily. We are now praising the Lord that we have 200, but are eagerly expecting to provide 100 more. Some are concerned that they may forget some days. Then pray for us that we want forget a day in serving the Lord. If you want to be a part of our PrayerForce then send an e-mail saying that you want to join our team.

Jerry and Amy


Biblical Ministries Worldwide
“A leader is a godly servant who knows where he is going and inspires and equips others to follow”

Jerry SmithChurch Relations
1595 Herrington RoadLawrenceville, GA 30043
jsmith@biblicalministries.org www.biblicalministries.org
tel: fax: mobile:
770-339-3500 770-513-1254770-617-4609


Pray for Power, Ephesians 1:15-21
Personal ability will not get the job done. Pray that we will be empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Prayer for Passion, Colossians 1:24-28
Routine can set in. Pray that we will remain passionate in our life and ministry.
Pray for Purity, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
We are not immune to temptations. Pray for moral, doctrinal and ethical purity.
Pray for Progress, Philippians 3:12-14
We can feel like we are spinning our wheels. Pray that we will always be moving forward.
Pray for People, 2 Peter 3:8
Don’t lose the focus on People. Pray that all our ministry be focused on People. “People need the Lord”

Biblical Ministries Worldwide“A leader is a godly servant who knows where he is going and inspires and equips others to follow”
Jerry Smith, Church Relations 1595 Herrington Road, Lawrenceville, GA 30043 jsmith@biblicalministries.org www.biblicalministries.org tel: fax: mobile: 770-339-3500 770-513-1254770-617-4609

Prayer

Beginning today I am putting daily prayer requests on my twitter and my facebook.