June 2020 Update “At the Brink”

by David Cobb
The fields . . . are white already to harvest. John 4:35

Does it seem like the further we go the “behinder” we get? The great experiment of America is being challenged more than any time in our nation’s history. A man was arrested in Minneapolis for passing a counterfeit $20 bill. This man had been in and out of trouble with the law for most of his life. I’m not going to go into great detail, but it seems like the police used harsh force on the man probably causing his death. This is a most grievous turn of events. Rioting, burning, killing, and looting have become commonplace throughout most of our large cities the past week. A side note to this Is that we are still dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic that has been blamed for over 100,000 deaths in America since January, and virtually shut down the engine to one of the greatest times of economic blessing this country has experienced. We were shut up in our homes for the most part during the months of March, April and May. I have to wonder what effect the virus quarantine has had on people during the riots. I think it has escalated the anger of certain people.

Usually when I have the time after I have made a mistake and find my error, I like to go back and find out where I got off track, so I will not make the same mistake twice. There is an old Arab proverb that says, “No matter how far you have gone in the wrong direction, turn around.” Through my life experience and the reading of God’s word over and over, I have come to the conclusion that America has been going the wrong direction for quite a long time.

Did you know that our God is a God of order? Can you take a trip outside and look up at the sky in daylight or in darkness and understand that our God created this universe a long time ago and it has withstood the times because it was placed in extremely defined order? There are certain laws that basically hold everything In order. Break the laws and there becomes much disorder. This not only holds true for our planets and earth, but it also holds true in our cities and neighborhoods. Laws have been established by governments that have been established by God (Romans 13:1), and these laws are expected to be obeyed. Without laws governing people there is complete chaos. (I was in a state in India In 2008 which had no laws. We were driving on a four-lane highway that had cows, tractors, and other vehicles going with us and coming head on toward us for the duration of our travel time. It was most confusing and disconcerting to say the least).

In 1962 with President John F. Kennedy at the helm and Chief Justice Earl Warren head of our Supreme Court, our Congress decided to abolish the reading of the Holy Bible in America’s public schools. I was a senior in high school at the time and my class that graduated in 1963 was the last class that was challenged by God’s Word daily. I don’t think it hurt any of us. And another side point, our class had the highest ACT scores of any class since that time up until President Obama decided to lower the standards concerning those tests. This statement is not a statement to brag, but to help us understand that God blesses the reading of his holy Word in many ways. Within a year of this decision, President Kennedy was murdered. Ten years later we threw out the wisdom of Blackstone which had been the bedrock of our court system from our Founding Fathers. The Blackstonian view is:

1. God is the ultimate source of law.
2. God’s law is transcendent over man’s law.
3. A Biblical worldview is the well-spring of all legal knowledge.

Within a year of turning to the inferiority of legal precedent, in 1973, we said that abortion (murdering of babies in the womb) would be allowed in our nation. Less sixty million children later!

Deuteronomy is a key book of the Bible. In it, God commands His people to teach and to train their children in the ways of God. He gave them the 10 Commandments and He told them to teach them to their children and to their grandchildren. (Deut. 4:7-9) He told them, “The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with al/your heart and with all your soul and with al/your strength.# (Deut. 6:4) Continuing to read, God confirmed the blessings of a nation that would follow Him and the curses that
would befall a nation if it decided to turn from Him. He says in chapter 8 verse 18, “But remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth.” I think America has come to the point where we believe we can turn on the flow of dollars whenever and however we want. Most of our decisions, it seems, are made without a concern for God. We are a nation drowning in red ink! 25 Trillion Dollars (25 million, millions to wrap your mind around it)I There IS a payday, some day. Could be SOON!

We were never set up to be a secular society. I’m going to be bold by saying that we virtually have a “foreign nation” that has risen up inside of our own nationI This poses a most grave problem. This “foreign nation” follows foreign gods. Our “God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” (Deuteronomy 4:24) This “foreign nationn is at war with our nation. They have infiltrated our schools at all levels teaching socialism without God which Is nothing but godless communism. They are possibly even more prevalent in our religious schools teaching their liberal and liberation theology, they have rewritten our history books, they say wrong is right and right is wrong, they are as piranhas in many different streams. This “foreign nation” controls most major airwaves of our news agencies even having a “prince” (Satan; Ephesians 2:2) at the head of them. Non-Puritanical illicit sex and the perverted purveyors of pornography and homosexuality (sodomy) command the majority of our movie and music industries from Hollywood to New York City. Young lives that have not been fully grounded by the reading and study of God’s Word DAILY have little to no defense! Make no mistake about it, money and power are this “foreign nation’s” gods.

The true church of God must up her gameI The feel-good mentality that has permeated our pews of the past must be cast down. WE ARE AT WAR! WE ARE AT THE BRINK OF LOSING ALL !! Man up! Boots on the ground !  “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds!” (2 Corinthians 10:4) We are unot wrestling against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:12) God says that His house shall be called a house of prayer. (Matt. 21:13) I’m not against preaching, but when was the last time we had a night of prayer? When was the last time we had a week of home prayer groups? When was the last time we had a day of prayer and fasting? (Matt. 6) When was the last time when we met the forces of darkness head on? Folks, God is concerned with usI He has allowed everything in the recent past to have happened. He will lead us out of the darkness, IF, WE WILL FOLLOW HIM! But it will cost us somethingI THAT WHICH HAS WORTH, COSTS! Our nation is worth itl Our children and our precious grandchildren are worth it!  We have allowed the pendulum to swing the wrong way too long and too far. Now is the appointed hour for God to move. Cry out to Him! Will you allow Him to have total control? “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not unto your own understanding. In a/I thy ways acknowledge Go_d, and He shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs 3:5,6), PRAY! FAST! PRAYI And PRAY AND FAST some morel God bless you. May we be with God; May God Be With Us,

David and Sue

DCEA
Post Office Box 1419
Gatlinburg, Tennessee 37738
(865) 436-7011

May 2020 update

The fields … are white already to harvest. John 4:35

“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts and the wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12)

I hope that you are weathering the Covid-19 situation without too much difficulty. It is affecting each of us differently (I’m having trouble with what day of the week it is), but all in all I pray that we will come out better for it. Oswald Chambers says that we go through nothing that God does not know about. As long as God is in control, I’m not worried. He said that He would never leave me or forsake me, any of us! (Hebrews 13:5)

Most of my life I have been infatuated with the story of Samuel hearing God’s voice. (1 Samuel 3) When I was a little tyke, I would crawl up into my mother’s lap and request her to read that story over and over and over again. In fact, I believe it is the greatest blessing of the Christian after one is born again to hear the voice of God-to know God’s heart. I believe Samuel lived one of the purest lives illustrated in the Bible other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Toward the end of his days Samuel stood before the people of Israel and stated, “I am old and gray-headed I have walked before you from my childhood
to this day. Here I am. Witness against me before the LORD and before his anointed: Whose ox have I taken, or whose donkey have I taken, or whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed, or from whose hand have I received any bribe with which to blind my eyes? I will restore it to you.” And the Israelites said to him, “You have not cheated us or oppressed us, nor have you taken anything from any man’s hand.” (1 Samuel 12:2-4)

The Bible is replete with stories of men that grew up with godly parents but then their children turned away from God. The best story is perhaps about the prodigal son. But there are other examples such as Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas; or Samuel’s sons, Joel and Abijah. Eli was disappointed in his boys and Samuel was disappointed In his boys. There was a period in my own life where I turned away from God also. I can remember my Dad being disappointed in me one day as I hardly hesitated driving my car through the intersection of Park and East 22nd receiving a ticket, otherwise known as a citation. My Dad had a way of catching me every time I did something crazy and he drove up just as the policeman was driving away, took my ticket and went and paid it for me. That may have not been the wisest thing for him to do for even last year I did something crazy and paid the penalty for it.

But as I sit here and ponder the Covid-19 situation I can see America like a wayward son or daughter.

Sinful, you betcha!!! Statistics in America say that there is just as much sin in the church as there is in society at large. I say there is possibly morel People continually voice the falsehood that you cannot legislate morality. You can! And you must! The more something is available to the public-the more it is used; be it alcoholic drink, drugs and marijuana, pornography, abortion-you name it.

In the situation of God’s people in Samuel’s day saying they wanted a king so they could be as other peoples, we all fall to peer pressure and want to be as other people. Teenagers and adults buy the designer’s clothes, we have to have the latest devices to play on, or the most stylish automobile to drive. It is that familiar fleshly feeling of ours. We say no to God, we want a king to rule over us. Samuel told the people what a king would do for them. He would take their sons and daughters, increase their taxes, take their land from them-but still the people wanted a king. When Samuel went to God about this, God told him that the people had not rejected him, ”but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.” (1 Samuel 8:7)

I wonder, have we wanted government to rule over us too much? Have we desired the pleasures of life and work too much-good roads, good healthcare, Social Security, peace everywhere, convenience? There is a price to pay for all we have. And our sons and daughters have suffered for it.

Samuel told the people, “Now therefore, here is the king whom you have chosen and whom you have desired. And take note, the LORD has set a king over you. If you fear the LORD and serve him and obey his voice, and do not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then both you and the king who reigns over you will continue following the LORD your God. However, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then the hand of the LORD will be against you, as it was against your fathers.” Samuel had heard from God-he didn’t speak from his own feelings.
Samuel then showed the people the God that they had rejected. “Now therefore, stand and see th is great thing which the LORD will do before your eyes: ls today not the wheat harvest? I will call to the LORD, and He will send thunder and rain, that you may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking a king for yourselves. So Samuel called to the LORD, and the LORD sent thunder and rain that day; and all the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel.” (1 Samuel 12:19) (BTW I believe we are getting ready to witness a great harvest of souls!!! The fear of the Lord is coming on people).

Then the people of God confessed their sin. “Pray for your servants to the LORD your God, that we may not die; for we have added to all our sins the evil of asking a king for ourselves.” (1 Samuel 12:19)

False prophets only tear down; Samuel’s exhortation shows that he was a true prophet of God-to build up, not tear down. “Do not fear. You have done all this wickedness; yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. And do not turn aside; for then you would go afte r empty things which cannot profit or deliver, for they are nothing. For the LORD will not forsake His people for His great name’s sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make you His people.” (1 Samuel 12:20-22) Samuel continued strongly in a personal note, “Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD i n ceasing to pray for you; but I will teach you the good and the right way.” (1 Samuel 12:23)

During Covid-19 and whatever follows I want you to know that Jesus is praying for you. Read John 17. Sue and I are praying for you also. The word of God is here to teach us. God uses his word to speak to us. Those are not just our thoughts we receive in our minds as we read his word, God is speaking to you and me. Hear His voice. Will we be God’s people through all the suffering days? Or will we turn from Him to rely on ourselves or upon our government? For Samuel 12:25 says, “But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.” (king=government)

FEAR the LORD, Serve Him in Truth with ALL your Heart;

Consider what Great Things He has done for You! (1 Samuel 12:24)

Love you in Jesus,

David and Sue

 

Post Office Box 1419 • Gatlinburg, Tennessee 37738 • (865) 436-7011

February Update

Valentine’s Day is special to most of us! Maybe I should say our special Valentine is SPECIAL to us. Mine certainly isl Sue and I have been Valentine’s for over 53 years now.
We were in the Daytona area witnessing to the crowds before the Daytona 500 Race on Sunday. Last month a thirty-something year old lady and three young boys gave their hearts to Jesus as I preached during halftime at Upward Basketball. Pray we see many saved hereI TIME IS SHORT!I!

As we pulled into our hotel this week, two ladies came up to read the signs we keep in our van’s side windows. My side reads, ‘The Righteousness God requires is the Righteousness His Righteousness requires Him to require.” May be a little confusing but it generally sparks a conversation. No one can be righteous enough without the Lord Jesus Christ being the (our) Righteousness for us. But the ladies were not reading my sign, they were reading the one on Sue’s side of the van which reads, ”The Answers to all of life’s Questions are in the Bible.”  Stephanie was looking at the sign as Sue got out of the van
and said to Sue, “I have lots of questionsI”

Sue replied, “I will try to answer them. Do you have a Bible?” Stephanie answered that she did not have one. I came back out from checking in and Sue asked me to get her a Bible, which I did. Stephanie’s friend, Ellen, said she was Catholic and that she had one. Stephanie seemed troubled to some extent and kept saying she had many questions, yet when we asked her to give us one, she wouldn’t. Sue and I shared Jesus with Stephanie and Ellen but don’t think we made much headway. God commands that we witness; He will give the increase. Pray for these ladies.

We were booked into a certain hotel, but I was tired from driving and pulled into two wrong hotels. We were at the second wrong hotel when this situation (above) occurred. I believe God wanted these ladies to have a witness and directed me to the wrong hotels (or at least one of them).

Pray that every tract and every witness we give hits the target. Brother George Bellmany and his wife, Gloria, will be working with me again this year at Daytona. We expect to hand out thousands of Gospel tracts and a few Bibles. It has been speculated President Trump will be at the races. Sue wants you to know that we do not go inside to these events where we witness. Our monies are spent on Bibles, tracts and travel. Thank you for keeping us in your prayers.

We leave Monday and head to New Orleans for the annual Mardi Gras event. We are thankful for our friends Bob and Patty Hayward that give us rest along the way. Dennis Mohr heads up the MG event now and has over 50 men signed up to witness. Pray we see many souls transformed. This will be my thirty-ninth year to participate. Please pray for everyone’s safety as we preach and witness on the streets. Pray we have favor with the people and with the Authorities.

Thank you for your prayers and support. We go as the Lord leads, our Board of Directors confirms, and support comes in. Thank you so very much.
David and Sue Cobb

David shared his testimony at IAMtv.us

Here is the video of the program:

 

Ministry Update & Challenge – July, 2019

We are starting our 30th year of evangelistic ministry after being on various church staffs for almost ten years. It has been a demanding, exciting ride each day! God has been so gracious to us having folks like you praying and supporting us these many years. One pastor friend has had his congregation praying for our 1. Boldness and Confidence in Jesus (Romans 1:16, 17 and Ephesians 6:19} 2. That the light of the Gospel Will Penetrate the Darkness of Sin (2 Corinthians 4:4-6) 3. That Many Will Accept Jesus (Ephesians 1:13) 4. The Cobb’s Will Be Blessed for Their Obedience (2 Corinthians 9:13}

How can I lose with prayers as these? Yesterday I went downtown early to set up for the annual 4th of July Parade. I took four cases of New Testaments with me to see if anyone might want one. Was I ever surprised? Within two hours I had handed out 192 New Testaments to people that desired one. It was a powerful testimony to me that God is still drawing people to His side. Many people are searching for answers to life’s problems. Pray these individuals will read these Bibles and not forget about them.

Later that evening Evangelist Mark Martin, Reverend Cedric Smith from the Bahamas, and Dolly Baker teamed up with me to witness to the crowd. Storms kept us from handing out as many Gospel tracts as we had wanted, but we still handed out over 3,000 tracts like I am sending in this letter. Pray with me that the word of God in these tracts will penetrate hearts and that the Holy Spirit will convict people of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. (John 16:8)

At the beginning of June, I traveled to Birmingham, Alabama to work alongside about 80 seminary students who knocked on doors and presented Jesus in surrounding neighborhoods. Dennis Mohr of Call the Grace Ministries made all the necessary arrangements. Shawn Mccloskey of Wichita, Kansas also witnessed with us. Each morning was spent listening to professors of evangelism from four of our seminaries. I was invited by Dr. Preston Nix of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Dr. Tom Johnston of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Dr. Tim Beougher of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary to encourage their students in soul winning and witnessing. The groups had a few people saved during the week but for the most part the people I met seemed cold and indifferent to the gospel. I felt like the areas we were in had not been adequately prayed over. It is a dire necessity before this type work is engaged, for it to be prayer walked or driven for three or four months.

The good Lord willing, I will be working again with Evangelist Dennis Mohr as the Illinois Baptists are doing some evangelism work in the city of Beardstown July 24-27. Be praying that our time there will be most fruitful. Thank you for your prayers as we travel on the highways.

Isn’t the word of God so rich! I’ve always loved the story in 1 Samuel 3 where God is calling Samuel. Samuel doesn’t know the voice, but Eli tells him it must be God. Whenever God calls again, Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” I pray for each of us to be dose enough to God to be hearing His voice. However, before this passage, 1 Samuel relates the story of Hannah being childless and praying for God to give her a son. I believe that this must be one of the most heartfelt prayers that any woman would ever pray, the prayer for a child. For God has designed woman to bear children. Without mothers,civilization would cease to exist! Abraham and Sarah prayed for children. Jacob and Rachel prayed for children. In fact, Rachel became so forlorn that she said to her husband, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”

Trying to hear what God was speaking to me the day I reread these passages, I thought about the new birth that is available to every person that’s In the world. And I think about the number of lost souls that are about us on a dally basis. God has placed us here to be useful in the expansion of his kingdom. You and I should be weeping dally for lost souls to be saved. Are you in agony to see someone Born Again today? Are you at the point to cry out to God and say, “Give me children, or I’ll die !” I believe God will hear and answer that prayer for us Spiritually on behalf of others as He did physically for the beautiful Rachel! I have a little statement printed on my desk, “Have you thought about your responsibility to God today?” Every Christian’s responsibility is to be an open witness for Jesus!

I close with a little story from D. L. Moody. He said, “Whenever I speak to parents, two fathers come before me. One lived on the Mississippi River. He was a man of great wealth. One day his eldest son had been borne home unconscious. They did everything that man could do to restore him, but in vain. Time passed, and after a terrible suspense he recovered consciousness. “My son,” the father whispered, “the doctor tells me you are dying.”

“Oh,” said the boy, “You never prayed for me, father; won’t you pray for my lost soul now?” The father wept. It was true he had never prayed. He was a stranger to God. And in a little w ile that soul, un­prayed for, passed into its dark eternity. The father has since said he would give all his wealth if he could call back his boy, only to offer one short prayer for him.

What a contrast is the other father! He, too, had a lovely son, and one day he came home to find him at the gates of death. His wife was weeping, and she said- “Our boy is dying; he has had a change for the worse. I wish you would go in and see him.” The father went into the room and placed his hand upon the brow of his dying boy, and could feel the cold, damp sweat that was gathering there; the cold, icy hand of death was feeling for the chords of life.

“Do you know, my son, that you are dying?” asked the father.

“Am I? Is this death? Do you really think I am dying?”

“Yes, my son, your end on earth is near. ”

” And will I be with Jesus tonight, father?” ”Yes, you’ll soon be with the Savior.” “Father, don’t weep; for when I get there I will go straight to Jesus, and tell him that you have been
trying all my life to lead me to Him.” Moody continued, “God has given me three children, and ever since I can remember I have directed them to Christ. I would rather they carry this message to Jesus–that I had tried all their life to lead them to Him–then have all the crowns of the earth; I would rather lead them to Jesus than give them the wealth of the world.”

Half-way through 2019 I say, “Give me children, or I’ll die!” Thank you for your prayers and help along the way.

David and Sue Cobb

(Sue became my Bride 52 years ago July 9. We have a Good God!)

Post Office Box 1419 • Gatlinburg, Tennessee 37738 • (865 ) 436-7011