Seeking and Finding

So much opportunity never look so bad,

When all you do with what God has given you is

Throw it at His feet. In denial you walk away from the only One

That has truly cared and loved you like a son. He gave His very

Life to save you; you redeem that time by mocking his very Son.

He reaches out, you jerk away.

When all men despise you, his love stills finds its way.

He steps towards you and you walk away.

Yet you seek and find exactly what you wanted.

You reaped what you've sow through the years,

Knocking upon Satan's door, he then deceives you

Into a Living Hell.

The yearning for peace will never come. Until you lay

Your head to sleep and wake in the Torment,

Seeking and Finding will be the norm.

What Kind of Friend am I?

I was recently thinking about all the different friends that I've had growing up over the years. Many of them were church kids, their parents went to church or they maybe rode the church van, but many of them were just good "Christian" school kids. It was great growing up with these good friends, but I was thinking the other day. Why is it that most of my "Christian" friends that I grew up with out of the will of God today? Teens that heard hundreds of messages, lived godly, went to Christian schools, had great parents growing up and now they can not be found.

I began thinking what could I have done more. I just finished reading Proverbs chapter 27 and it has a few verses on friendship. Verses 5-6 say "Open rubuke is better than secret love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." Tell your friends in love when they're doing something against God's holy standard, speak up against their sin. Not because your better than them, but because you are a true friend. Oh how I wish that I could have spoken more truth to these wayward friends. Remember that "Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend." Be strong in the Lord, Trust in Him, Have faith in the Saviour, and follow the Lord. I encourage you to hold to the simple foundational truths of the Bible and see what God will do in your life. God Bless you all today and be a true friend.

He doeth all things well..

This past fall semester God tried my faith like I never thought possible. God allowed me to meet many new lifelong friends and to build some strong relationships with them. Coming off a great summer working at Hoosier Hills Baptist Camp, I was so ready to begin the fall semester at Crown College of the Bible. My goal was to grow in the Lord and to get closer to Him.

Several churches helped me in more ways than they know to get back to college. The semester was a time when God gave me certain friends to challenge my faith, and come back to the Bible and that was the biggest blessing of all. Such Christ-like friends pointed me back to the Savior.

Midway through the semester doubts of my Salvation had begun to spring up in my heart. I had made a few professions of faith in Jesus as a young boy and was baptized at the age of 7, but deep down in my heart I didn't have peace about my eternal Home. I knew everything about Jesus, the Bible, and often shared the Gospel with those on my bus route and people that I met in town, but without peace in my heart I could never be what Jesus wanted me to be.

On Saturday morning of the 4th I was reading through the book of Matthew and my eyes ran across the verse Matt. 16:26 "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" This verse spoke to my heart. I was not going to die and go to Hell because my friends and family believed that I was saved. I had to know that I know that I'm going to Heaven. Around 5:30 in the morning I went outside my dorm to the cold front porch steps and bowed and asked Jesus to save me. My life will never be the same and my goal is to know God and to glorify Him in all I do. He knows the path that I trod. I'm so happy to have peace in my heart and the whole world needs to hear what Jesus did for them on Calvary.

God has land on my heart the city of Frankfurt am Main, Germany and would love for you to keep me in your prayers. Continue to pray for my school bill for Crown College; I'm home now looking for work and to help my parents in the church plant in Columbus, Indiana. We want to win Columbus for Christ! I'm so hopeful what the Lord has for me in the future!

This is the Generation of them that seek Him!

Wow, these past two weeks have been a whirlwind! Two weeks ago, training for Hoosier Hills Baptist Camp started and I was very excited. On the first night of training I hurt my leg when I was playing basketball, and I was in intense pain all that night. It was a little discouraging at first, but after I doctored it up with the help of the camp nurse, I realized it was God testing me to see what I was made of. It was a struggle to work with the injured leg, but God gave me strength hour by hour to complete the task at hand. Sometimes during the week I would want my leg to be healed, but God kept letting me know He would give me strength for that hour. It was exciting to see God supply my need.

The first weekend was great; Me and Jon Keen stayed with a fellow counselor friend and thoroughly enjoy his family and stay. The camp staff introduced themselves to the church, then sang a few good songs at Lifeway Baptist. The church took good care of us with some great meals.

As the first week was getting ready to start some of us new counselors were a little anxious, but were very excited. Junior Camp began with some big storms and a few floods, but my campers were pretty awesome. I was able to lead one of my campers, Nicholas, to the Lord monday night after the service. We had a great time all week and it was a blessing to my heart when one of my campers, Draven, would earnestly read his Bible. He was a great blessing to have in my dorm as well as all of the other campers.

Overall it was great and I look forward to trusting the Lord more and spending more time in His Word and in prayer over the next few weeks. Pray that I'll be used for the Lord and not look for others applause but to serve to please the Lord. Thanks

Hey, I hope things are going great for everyone! We made it to Indiana safely and the Lord provided some free lodging at the camp for two nights so that was a blessing. It was hard to see Dad and Jeremy go, but we had some fun times on the way up and had some story's to tell. I received several blessings these past few days: first I got a new Bible and a workout book for almost free, then we went yard selling and God provided some awesome shoes for a $1 and also a golf set, and I was at this one yard sell, when this man found out I was a Bible college student, so he was looking to give me some free books or something but couldn't find then, so he have me $9 out of his pocket.. It was kind of strange but must have been from the Lord! Keep me in your prayers as I start camp Monday; the Lord is already opening doors!

In Christ,

Brett Jones

Hey all! Things are going great and the Lord is blessing my life with so much. I had the opportunity of preaching for the first time at Heritage Baptist Church in Opelika, Al. It was such a blessing to see the Lord give me the words to say with boldness with confidence. The text was Psalms 1:1-3 and the Lord encouraged my heart by doing what He wanted me too. Dad, Jeremy and I are headed to Indiana on thursday to drop me off at Hoosier Hills Baptist Camp, where I'll be working as a camp counselor for the rest of the summer. Please pray that the Lord will have His way with me and that I'll have the strength to witness to and encourage these young people whom I will have influence over.

Also pray that the Lord opens other doors of ministry while I'm in Indiana and please continue to pray for me with my school bill as I plan to head back to The Crown College of the Bible this Fall! On a side note I'm continuing a work out program called New Rules for lifting this summer.. I'll keep you updated on that whoever is interested in fitness and weight lifting! :)

In Christ,

Joshua Brett Jones

Just Starting my new blog.

Hey all! This is my first post on my new Blog! I'm very excited to learn all that I can do with this blog. This will help me to stay in contact with people while I'm at college, and will help you stay in contact with me so you can keep me in your prayers. The main reasons for starting this blog is to help dad to learn more about how to blog! Wish me luck as I try to figure this out.