SINGLENESS OF HEART, WITH ONE PURPOSE

SINGLENESS OF HEART, WITH ONE PURPOSE 

By: Michael D. Tobin Sep. 12, 2016

For audio broadcast of this blog go to: LATEST EPISODE SINGLENESS OF HEART, WITH ONE PURPOSE

You know, the reason for this title broadcast is because throughout the past 27 years, I have been learning, studying, working full-time, raising my children and providing for them as I was able, while at the same time, participating in many various aspects of ministry, broadcasting, writing and missions travels. All this time, I have also been preparing for a time when I can dedicate the rest of my life in full-time broadcasting and missions/evangelism, and I believe it is now that I must begin, but not without the help of some who may "discover" me, who sees some value in the things I have written, broadcast and filmed on youtube about. But it can not be done without singleness of heart and mind, which is what the subject title mentions. And one of my most recent accomplishments was this year, becoming a first-time author of my new book in kindle e-form, "Making America Righteous-Again: From Bitterness to a Delight." 

So, how is your life or walk with God doing? Do you have a life? Have you lost your life? Do you have a walk with God? Have you quit your life with God? Do you have little, but recently you lacked nothing? Or have you lacked much, most or all of your life, but now lack nothing? Do you have a wonderful walk with the Lord and enjoy helping others to spread the Gospel far and wide? Or are you like me, who has a burning desire that is unquenchable, to spread the Gospel and go to the world, but in need of those who will help send me? Whatever your present situation, I pray the following message is of use to you.

Romans 10:13-15 13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

Romans 15:20-22, 29  20 Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation: 21 But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see: and they that have not heard shall understand. 22 For which cause also I have been much hindered from coming to you. 29 And I am sure that, when I come unto you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.

* I'm past the point to where I am able to help my children now, who are all 28, 30 and 31 yrs old, and fortunately I have been able to help them all these past several years whereas before it was way more difficult,  and I am now at the point to where I must remain focused on my goals and will that the Lord has in store for me.

* Self-doubt has taken hold of me in many ways, including fear of failure, weariness in pursuing a small set of steps after decades of preparation for full-time ministry, broadcasting and disaster response, and temptation to quit, many times.

*James 1:1-12 speaks of all I am describing; like being double minded, not being in a successful or lucrative position at my age of 52 yrs after so many career set-backs, yet I have still always been provided for. And there's temptations to just quit working for the Lord and simply focus on my own life and stop street witnessing, being a first responder Chaplain, continuously studying the Scriptures, attending seminars and church, participating in activities such as preaching to and feeding the homeless, ministering to U.S. marine recruits, visiting prisons and jails preaching to the literal captive, and the list is long. But most recently between June and August my son Michael Jr and I had taken a 30 day road trip cross country to Virginia and back where we had spent 24 of those days at a Bible school conference where we served meals, worked in media ministry and worked on the 16-acre grounds with building and property maintenance while others from all over the world and the U.S. came and experienced 3 services a day preached and taught by  pastors, missionaries and teachers from all over the world. It was quite an experience for both of us. Also, on March 31 I had used what I had on my credit card, as i had with this last road trip, to spend three days in the San Francisco bay area at the cheapest hotel i could find, to assist as a Billy Graham rapid Response Chaplain at one of Franklin Graham's State Capital stops, in Sacramento, California for a day. Another great experience where we prayed with others individually and say over a thousand people show up as we gather at the capital steps to pray for our country.

These three asterisks above are subjects I can spend about three hours each talking about. But they are in brief, as I further focus on more things following.

 1:1-12  James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.

Rejoicing in Trials

(Philippians 1:12-20)

2  My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

Contrast of the Rich and Poor

9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: 10 But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. 11 For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

The Apostle, Paul wrote "Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord."  1 Corinthians 15:58

1 Chronicles 12:23, 33,38 English Standard Version

23. These are the numbers of the divisions of the armed troops who came to David in Hebron to turn the kingdom of Saul over to him, according to the word of the LORD.

33. Of Zebulun 50,000 seasoned troops, equipped for battle with all the weapons of war, to help David with singleness of purpose. 31 Of the half-tribe of Manasseh 18,000, who were expressly named to come and make David king. 38 All these, men of war, arrayed in battle order, came to Hebron with a whole heart to make David king over all Israel. Likewise, all the rest of Israel were of a single mind to make David king.

So let me tell you about what I've been doing for the past 27 years when I came back to the Lord after a 9-year backslide, and especially the last 10 months since losing my last job of 7 years. 

(My marriage, children, separation and returning back to Jesus)

(5 years of preparation as my ex had our 3 children, 7 years I had the children, and the following 7 years my ex had the children) Those were the hardest approximately 20 years of my children and myself and of course my ex wife, also, who thankfully, we were able to have a good working relationship being separated until our final divorce about 1997. Through all of this we have all had our individual trials, tribulations, growing pains and hardships, to the point of unbearable and excriuciating pain physically and spiritually, and all to each uniqueness of our own experiences and many we all suffered the same.

(Past 13 years from 2003-present. But God has had us all in His hands the whole time, and yet now, socially, politically and economically, it seems we are in a time nobody alive has ever wished to live through, because after all, we are mostly products of the past 20th century and now well into the first part of the 21st century.)

With all the above said now, it is Monday, September 12th. A day after the 15 year mark from the day that changed all of our lives following the destruction of the Twin Towers in new York City, the loss of 2900+ lives, and all who are 15 years old or younger have a absolute lack of any clue as to how we were before that tragic day we call 9-11, or 9-11-01. Specifically, September 11, 2001. The Japanese Imperial Navy attack on Pearl Harbor is known as The Day of Infamy. I would refer 9-11 as the day the world became a cluster, and it remains so to this very day. 

Two days ago, after reading a 9-11 salutation for the U.S. from an Australian friend on my facebook social media site, I had described that attack as the U.S. allowing our enemy the first strike, then us turning the cheek for a second strike. And now the whole world is sick and tired of us, but now anyone in the world will think twice before ever getting any more ideas against us, because they now know what we are capable of doing. We actually succeeded in making the whole world miserable. Does that seem fair? Whether it does or it doesn't, doesn't really matter, because as i said; the whole world no longer wants to mess with us, and believe me, they all had their own ideas on how to bamboozle us in one way or another, but now they don't. They just want us to get back to being the great nation we were before we were so rudely interrupted. But concerning the other cheek: Just hours after writing the comparison to turning the other cheek on my friends comment, I saw something in an article I had never seen in the 15 years following and relating to the Twin Towers attack.  It was the very verses on a torn page from the book of Matthew where jesus described an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, and Him telling those at the Sermon on the Mount, to instead, turn the other cheek. That piece of paper was found at Ground Zero, fused to a stone, or a piece of rubble the size of a grapefruit. It was found just laying in the dirt. Well, we did turn the other cheek. 

But now, we're about to make lemonaide out of the lemons we dealt and that were dealt to us. For myself and many of us, we now need to get busy and stay busy, with singleness of purpose, a single heart, an undivided loyalty. All the ways various translations have described how Israel's 2nd king, David, was helped by the hundreds of thousands of his people and others from surrounding nations, to set him up as king of all Israel as was foretold by the prophet Sammuel when he was about 14 years old. This same singleness of purpose and heart needs to be set toward doing as jesus said; to go ye to all the world and preach the Good News, salvation, baptizing and teaching. As Christians that is our single purpose on this earth, other than raising our children in the way they should go, of course being of benefit and good use in our nations and all the good stuff that goes with making the world a better place than we found it. 

But back to God's will for you. And God's will for me. John the Apostle, (not John the Baptist, who was Jesus' cousin) wrote it perfectly in the book of 3 John and the 2nd verse, as it is simply a one chapter letter. 

 "2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in good health, even as thy soul prospereth." 

Let's not get sidetracked and start splitting hairs, and begin scrutinizing and skepticalizing just what is our purpose on this earth as if the Scriptures are telling us all that we all need to be on a boat, bus, car or plane at all times circling the globe while others toil and work tirelessly to feed our commands to travel and evangelize. Just read the Bible for yourself and you will see even Jesus and God does not require us all to be traveling evangelists and missionaries. The Scriptures, believe it or not, actually confirm all that is right, reasonable, in moderation and extreme. Jesus said His burden is light. And God also has an easy command. But what about the so-called extreme. What about it? Preaching, evangelizing, being a missionary, teaching Sunday school, organizing all the legalities, records, finances, laboring in the synogogues and churches keeping the floors clean, visiting the widows, helping the fatherless and ALL that goes into "church work" is not all fun and games, but we all enjoy and appreciate the facilities, services and encouragement we receive from the pastors, janitors, book keepers, electricians and so on and so on, who labor for us during the week, weekends and holidays. Only God can make sense of everything. All we need to do is allow Him to direct us in a useful, meaningful life. And it is a fact that when we do allow Him, He does.

Micah 6:8 He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

Matthew 11:28-30 28 (Aramaic Bible in Plain English) Come unto me, all of you who labor and are forced to bear burdens, and I shall give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am peaceful and meek in my heart and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is pleasant and my burden is light."

Please help me to respond to natural disasters as a Billy Graham Rapid Response Chaplain and support God's Extended Hand homeless ministry by purchasing my first and new e-book released this year by selecting this link:

Making America Righteous-Again: From Bitterness To A Delight Kindle Edition
by Michael D. Tobin (Author)  https://www.amazon.com/Making-America-Righteous-Again-Bitterness-Delight-ebook/dp/B01A1JPHUC

You may support my efforts through my paypal account at this link:https: //www.paypal.me/michaeldt