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
