Greetings from Spain!
I’m eagerly awaiting the visit of about 60 people from the U.S.; they’ll meet with our students here and hear first-hand from our Field Directors from around the world. I wish you could be here too!
While I’m here, I’m teaching the book of Romans to the central student group in Madrid.
Romans is always a thrill: It reaches far back into eternity yet also reaches out from Genesis into our eternal future. The themes are timeless.
This is a book saturated with the grandeur of God’s person. It’s also a study of His work in making mankind in His image, and then—as He sees us use our mind, will, and emotions—managing us like a herd of cats!
We’re practically “impossible,” yet He has amazingly loved us all the while. He is relentless in His loyal love—not willing that any should perish, but that we might come to repentance and a true love relationship with Him for the rest of eternity!
I also went to the Canary Islands to teach our students there on apologetics. On Sunday I preached at the church to prepare them for their next focus of study: the epistle to the Ephesians.
What a lesson for us today! Look at the amazing sequence:
First, Paul tells Timothy to stay at Ephesus and teach the church that the goal of the training they are to undertake is to LOVE from a pure heart, and a good conscience, and a sincere faith.
Yet years later, the apostle John writes this message to Ephesus from Jesus Himself: “I have this against you, you have left your first love!”
I was stunned all over again to see how a church could decline:
(1) receiving the guidance of Paul the apostle himself;
(2) receiving the specific teaching of Timothy;
(3) receiving the bulk of the pastoral ministry of John the “beloved” disciple;
(4) likely receiving the influence of the mother of Jesus, who no doubt was an active member at Ephesus—
Yet they went cold on love for the Lord!
This is a “cautionary tale” for you and me today—especially at Thanksgiving time.
- As we celebrate the holiday, as we “count our blessings,” it’s important to truly ponder how important gratitude is.
In Psalm 50, God summons the people of earth to hold a court session on the importance of gratitude toward Him. He says He doesn’t need to be fed, nor to accept the various sacrifices that the people bring to Him. He wants a Thanksgiving sacrifice. He wants us to be grateful to Him. He wants us to acknowledge the blessings received as coming from Him. Why?
Gratitude keeps God in the center of our “heart picture.”
This keeps us aware of His divine presence and influence in our lives, for our own sake and for the sake of our loved ones.
Gratitude also promotes humility.
It reminds us that we are part of a much larger context. It is not by our efforts that things get done, but by God—who gives us the ability and blesses our efforts.
Ecclesiastes says that our efforts can end up in bitter frustration, but God brings about success, blessing, AND the enjoyment of it: “This is a gift from God.”
Gratitude strengthens our faith.
It helps us to keep our attention on the One who is the source of every good and perfect gift from above. As Paul shares: One plants, another waters, but it is God who causes the growth!
Gratitude also strengthens human relationships.
It can intensify bonds in friendship and produce a crop of friends. Gratitude among us develops a sense of networking, where we are helping one another and grateful for one another.
Gratitude develops generosity.
Knowing how we have been helped . . . recognizing how God has so graciously led, provided, and blessed . . . gives us the impulse and motivation to share. We see that He has blessed us so that we in return might be channels of His love and of His grace. We become living examples of Ephesians 2:8-9, acknowledging that it is by grace, not by our works, so that no one may boast.
Children in their dependence see provision as necessary and “normal.” But when we mature, we realize that not everybody gets what we get, nor as much as we get. There are people who work like slaves, even in the U.S., and get a pittance in return.
But God’s ethic provokes better standards—in Christian ethics and Christian nations. This enhances our own growth and maturity, and it compels us to improve life for other people as well. Psalm 67 asks for rich blessings so that God’s name may be made known among the nations of the world. When we lift up someone else, we’re offering a message of hope and joy: God loves us all.
“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift” (2 Cor. 9:15; Rom. 5:15). Gratitude is the proper response to God’s unconditional love and mercy!
By God’s grace, through your generous support, our students are growing!
Looking at our campus, and our work all around the world, they used to think that generous people give simply because they have so much to give away. But now they are coming to see the bigger picture. They more and more clearly understand the motivation, the true passion, behind your generosity.
In their prayers I hear our students giving thanks that there are people who love God, who love His Word, people who are in step with the Lord’s desire that the whole world may hear about a God who loves, and who wants to see people saved.
- Our students have come to see our ministry family, partners like you, not as “well off” or as “do-gooders” but as people of faith who are serious about doing what God has called us all to do in Christ’s Great Commission!
And so, here I am, in the midst of two very full weeks, including weekends. My first weekend was spent in the Canaries, a 2.5-hr flight from Madrid, off the southernmost coast of the African nation of Morocco. (However, the Canary Islands are as much a part of Spain as Hawaii is a part of the U.S.)
It was the week following Charlie Kirk’s assassination, but I wasn’t prepared for the impact this tragedy had made on our students. They were with me to learn about apologetics, and our hope as believers—but they had endless questions about Charlie Kirk and Donald Trump!
I was more than simply a commentator from America; there is a real connection for me. Dr. Norman Geisler taught me apologetics and mentored me for four years, and he also taught Frank Turek—mentor to Charlie Kirk. Links in the chain of faith!
Yoshua Filgueira, the student who brought this group together, has admired Kirk’s strategy of reaching out on college campuses. Yoshua dreams of launching a national university movement—and has asked for our help.
This is a very real example of how God has positioned you and me to advance the cause of Christ. These students in a faraway place look to the U.S. for ideas and inspiration and hope. Let’s not miss this moment.
- We know, from our own experience, that God will honor your generosity.
35 years ago, when we landed at our first missionary assignment in Spain, there were only 40,000 believers in that country.
Today, by God divinely intervening, there are more than two million—and the Church in Spain is growing faster than ever before.
I know God will bless you as you give. As Hebrews 6:10-11 declares: “God is not unjust to forget your work and your love which you have shown toward His name, having ministered to the saints, and still ministering. AND we desire that you show the same diligence to fulfill the hope until the very end.”
God is aware of you 100%. And His capacity as El Shaddai is infinite. He is able to strengthen you and to supply your every need—and much more than your need only. He is an endless source and wants us to be the channels of His grace. He calls us to be gracious as He is gracious to us.
His truth is marching on! Let’s march faithful and true until the very end . . . singing of the goodness of God, sharing the goodness of our God.
Thank you in advance for giving as generously as possible, out of a heart of gratitude for the blessings God has bestowed upon you and yours.
Rejoicing in the year’s harvest,
and even more in the Great Soul Harvest,
Dr. Manny Fernandez
P.S. Let this be our Psalm 50 moment: “Offer to God a sacrifice of Thanksgiving and pay your vows to the Lord.” And however you may celebrate the holiday, my prayer is that on Thanksgiving Day you will take joy in knowing that others are celebrating in Christ because of the gift of love you gave today.