Faith in Action: Building Churches in the Heart of Panama

As you can see, we're taking a perpetual vacation down there in

the country, Panama.

We are having the time of our lives.

I was privileged to grow up on the mission field.

My dad went to Mexico in 1985 with three supporting churches, believe

it or not.

He went on two years of deputation and found three supporting

churches back in the early 80s and went to Mexico in 85 with $250

a month support.

I was five months old and my dad's dream was to go to the EFE

Mexico City and start a church.

But when he got down there and went through Bible, excuse me, language

school, he took a few trips down to Mexico City and God always

closed the door.

So he stayed at Mount Hebron, which is just south of Monterey,

and and taught in the Bible Institute for I think it was 12 years

and started churches up in the mountains.

He would take missions trips basically up into the mountains.

I went with him on many of them.

Some of them we would walk up to 14 hours one way to get to a village

witness and then turn around and come back down the mountain.

I just got back from Mexico two days ago, Friday night, got in

at midnight to head to Texas yesterday.

But my brother and I went to Mexico City and found out that there

are two churches that my dad supported or basically started in

the 80s and 90s that are still in existence today.

We went to one of them, San Juanito, way up in mountains and

got to go there.

My dad was there when the pastor, the current pastor got married

in the 1990s.

And I arrived right when another man and his wife who were

Bible students of my dad in 87 and 88 walked in and they were reminiscing

and all four of them are Bible students of my dad's.

And they said that my dad was probably the greatest influence in

their lives and it was just wonderful reminiscing.

My dad passed away when I was 16.

He had colon cancer, was found with stage 4 colon cancer when I

was 12.

He was 41 years old and died of colon cancer when he was 45.

It was my dad's dying wish for us to move to Lawrence, Kansas and

be under the Ministry of Dr. Scott Hanks, my pastor today.

And when I graduated from Bible college there, he had a. I

actually started a Bible college there at our local church

in Lawrence, Kansas with three of us.

And I got to graduate there and he hired me on as staff and I

ran the Mercy and Truth Printing ministries, if you've ever

heard that, for about eight years.

And then God called us to the mission field.

So we've been.

We got down there in July of 2016.

I've just been taking a vacation, as you have seen in the

video.

Couple things that weren't in the video, I purposely cut it off

at six minutes.

I didn't want it to be too long.

But in 2024, a Mexican missionary, Jonathan Jacobo, came

down and stayed nine months with us at our church there in Panama

City.

And while he was with us kind of acclimating to the country, we

started a bus route in the area where he was wanting to start

a church.

And when he started the church nine months later, we merged a bus

route of 2025 people and into a church.

And then five of our church members moved their membership to

La Iglesi Baltiste de Providencia, and we were able to

help jumpstart that church.

Three of the five of the members that transferred the membership

were junior church and Sunday school teachers.

And so that was really fun.

I didn't also mention our Bible institute.

I teach four hours a week, 12 of our church members there, two

hours on Monday night and two hours on Tuesday night.

Also didn't mention two ministries that we're hoping to start.

Hoping to start a deaf ministry.

A dozen of our church members went through four months of learning

Panamanian sign language and also would like to start a prison

ministry.

I was in charge of the Douglas county jail ministry up in Lawrence,

Kansas, for several years.

And we went into the jail there twice a week for several years.

And I would like to get into the prison there.

There's a ladies prison right close to our church.

And then there's a large prison, the country's largest, about

an hour from our church.

So we're trying to get into both of those and preach the gospel.

So please do pray for us.

This is our first official furlough.

We came back to the States to have Davey back.

During the pandemic, it was impossible to get into the hospital

for any reason outside of having Covid.

So pregnant woman was on her own.

We couldn't have a hospital birth in Panama.

And so we came up for a couple months during the pandemic, but outside

that, this is the first time we've been in the states in 10 years

or going on 10 years.

So my pastor said, you're supporting churches need to see you

get back here.

So we're here for 11 months, and thank you so much for allowing

us to be here.

I was in College Station in November, right after Thanksgiving,

and Pastor Jonathan Moore said, hey, you need to go to Haslett,

Texas.

I'm not sure why he loves you all so much, but he.

He says, get up there, and I'll give you the contact information

of Brother Stone.

And.

And he'll get you in.

And.

And sure enough, here we are.

So if you don't like us, it's.

It's Brother Morris fault.

Okay.

If you know who that is.

Isaiah, chapter five, if you have your Bibles.

Thanks so much for having us.

It's a blessing.

We.

We do desperately need a little bit more support.

We're only at 83% of our support.

And you can ask me how in the world we have made it on 83% of our

support, I have no idea.

It doesn't add up on paper.

We do not starve.

Even though I may look like I'm starving, I'm not.

But the cost of living in Panama City has tripled since the

pandemic.

And so, please do pray for us.

I'd like to read two verses with you.

Almost started in Spanish.

I apologize.

I've spent 25 years of my life in Latin America.

Cuantos de ustes?

Hablan espanol?

Puentos hablan espanol.

Oviamente los misionos.

Oh, several of you speak Spanish.

Okay, excellent.

Is it okay if I just pray?

Preach in Spanish?

I feel more comfortable in Spanish.

Some of you are lost in English anyway.

All right.

Isaiah, chapter 5, verse 13.

Isaiah 5:13

The Bible says, therefore my people are gone into captivity because

they have no knowledge, and their honorable men are famished,

and their multitude dried up with thirst.

Therefore hell hath enlarged herself and open her mouth without

measure, and their glory and their multitude and their pomp, and

he that rejoiceth shall descend into it.

Let's pray.

God, thanks so much for this day.

Thank you for the Heritage Baptist Church and for their willingness.

Allow us to come in and present our work and allow me to

preach.

I ask and pray that you please preach through me with power, authority,

and wisdom.

Give your people what they need, for it's in Jesus name I pray.

Amen.

Folks, here in Isaiah, chapter five, you know your Bible.

Isaiah chapter six is really the missions chapter.

In Isaiah.

Isaiah, chapter six, you have Isaiah saying, here am I.

Send me.

And I know it's probably odd for a missionary to preach from the

previous chapter, but folks here In Isaiah, chapter 5, God's

Isaiah 5 · chapter mention

going to lay out for Israel.

Even before Isaiah surrenders his life to God, God's going to lay

out to Israel why they're going into Captivity and why they're

heading to hell.

And folks, he says here that there were multitudes in Israel heading

to hell.

And I believe that a preacher should always explain interpretation.

First.

That word hell, we translate it as hell in English.

The best word for it is actually in Spanish, it's seol.

It's the word, the place of the dead.

Now you have to understand that before Jesus Christ was here

on earth, the Jews knew, the Hebrews knew that there was a place

of judgment.

They probably didn't know where it was or its name or anything

else like that.

Jesus Christ was the one that explained to us exactly what hell

is and how long hell is for and all the details that we know.

Jesus Christ explained that, but they did know that there were

consequences and there was a place of judgment for those who did

not believe in the Messiah to come and put their faith in Christ

and the Messiah to come.

And God says here, let me explain to you.

Actually, he has already explained it.

If you notice, the very first word of both verses is therefore

he's already explained to Israel why they're going to captivity

and why they have children and grandchildren and neighbors and co

workers on their way to hell.

And folks, much has not changed.

The same reasons why there, there was a great falling away before

this event.

There is the same reason why we have many people on their way

to hell today.

Now can we ever change the, the, the, the dynamics of, of the

truth?

There are more people in hell than there are in heaven.

Jesus said broad is the way that lead to destruction.

Many there be.

He used the word many and he says that narrow is the way that

lead to life everlasting.

And few.

So there are a few going to heaven, many going to hell.

Can we ever change that dynamic?

I don't think so.

If Jesus Christ, the very son of God could not or did not while

he was on earth, you and I cannot change that dynamic.

However, I do believe that there are many on their way to hell

that would not end up in hell if the truth of the gospel only got

to them in time.

And folks, God here explains to Israel.

Listen, I want to explain to you before it happens and before

you get to captivity and wonder why you're there.

Let me explain to you before it happens why you're there.

If you would go back to verse one with me.

The Bible says now while I sing to my well beloved a song of

my beloved touching his vineyard.

The Bible says my well beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful

hill.

Now if you jump down to verse Seven.

The Bible says that the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is

the house of who?

Who is it?

Israel.

Now, I'm not one of these replacement theology kind of guys.

I do not believe that we're the 13th or the lost tribe of Israel.

There's a lot of false doctrine popping up everywhere.

I don't believe in the replacement.

We didn't replace the children of Israel.

We are going to heaven by the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

I mean, there's no way.

But however, if you go to the New Testament, God also refers to

us as part of the vine.

You go to John chapter 15 and you will find that he is the vine,

John 15 · chapter mention

we are the branches.

Now, we didn't replace anybody, but we did get grafted in.

All right?

And what he says to Israel I believe that we can apply to us today.

Look at verse two.

The Bible says, and he fenced it.

What did he fence?

He fenced the vineyard and gathered out the stones thereof and

planted it with the choicest vine and built a tower in the midst

of it and also made a winepress therein.

And he looked that it should bring forth grapes.

So that's what he was hoping for, right?

Now check it out.

It doesn't say that Israel did not produce grapes.

Look at what it says.

The Bible says, and it brought forth wild grapes.

See you.

First of all, you see how well God took care of Israel.

And folks, we are well taken care of.

The American Christian is the most pampered and the most blessed

person that has ever walked on this earth.

I feel like we are even more blessed than Israel was.

We're just pampered beyond description.

But it doesn't come free.

We're bought with a price.

He's expecting something out of us.

Unfortunately for us, when we get comfortable, we get lazy.

I hope you all aren't soft skinned this evening because I'm

really fed up with what I'm finding after being out of the country

for a long time.

Christians today are lazy.

It's sad, but it's because you're comfortable.

And folks, I have to tell you the truth, if I were as comfortable

as the American Christian, I'd probably be as lazy.

Now God has done something for us and took us completely out of

our comfort zone.

I am comfortable in Latin America.

In fact, white people make me nervous.

Y' all make me nervous.

All right, I have unos amigos right down here that are helping

me out behind Brother Hendricks.

Maybe you're too white, brother, But I spent 16 years in

Mexico and I've now spent almost 10 years in Panama, and the

Latino is my friend.

But when God sent us to Panama City, I begged him, God, please do

not let us stay in the city.

I'm from the country.

My family and I, we grew up in the valley of the Sierra Madres,

right in the valley of what is the Rocky Mountains up here in the

States and out in a little village about an hour and a half

south of Monterey, Mexico.

And I grew up in the country, and I just ran wild, you know, I

could climb the mountain, go to the creek or.

Is it a creek here?

Y' all speak English or creek?

Okay, thank you.

Okay.

You do speak English.

Goodness.

My wife is from a farm in Ottawa, Kansas, and.

Right, Ottawa, yes.

I thought I said Olathe.

Sorry.

But anyway, so we're from the country, both of us.

And God has us in the middle of the city.

We are uncomfortable, and uncomfortable.

Christians do more.

The problem is we're comfortable.

And, folks, God fenced us in and he protects us.

And the Bible says he gathered out the stones there.

We don't even have to do a lot of work to be able to produce a harvest.

Y' all understand that what we do is very minimal compared to what

he has already done.

When he says gathered out the stones, you have to understand that

a farmer, he has to pull the stones, stones and the rocks out

of his field to be able to have a plowable field.

But because of the earth's movement, the earth shoves rocks

to the surface.

And what he does one year, he'll have to repeat.

And it's a very arduous.

It's a very heavy job.

And God says, hey, listen, I do that job in your hearts.

He pulls out, he breaks up the fallow ground.

He works on it.

And, folks, we are so, so pampered.

We don't know what persecution is.

But you know what?

We get upset about what somebody said.

We have not resisted unto blood.

But she wore the same dress as I did.

Boy, that's persecution right there.

That's suffering for American Baptist.

Am I not lying?

Come on, now.

And we get so bitter and so upset and so out of sorts over silliness.

And God has to constantly come in, change our little diapers, pamper

us, pull out the rocks.

He says, I'm constantly.

I'm protecting you.

I'm pulling out the rocks.

I am.

He says, I planted you with the choicest vine.

If you don't know what that's all about, just go to a Buddhist

country or a Hindu country or a Muslim country.

Or a Catholic country and you'll find a people serving a hateful

God, a nasty, mean, diabolical God.

You go to Africa and you'll find people worshiping devils.

Go to Haiti.

Hey folks, do you all have any idea that we believe in the most

loving God that man can even invent?

We can't come up with a comparison.

We're planted with.

We're connected to the choicest vine.

And by the way, young people get out of sorts with the Baptist

church and go after some non denominational junk.

They don't believe in the same God of mercy and love that you believe

in.

And we believe in your planet.

Do you understand what God is saying to Israel?

Do you not understand all that I've done for you so that I can get

a harvest at of you?

I want some grapes.

But here's my complaint with you, Israel.

You gave me wild grapes.

That word wild means poison, poisonous.

And you have to understand in the wild there are grapes you can

eat and there are grapes that you cannot eat.

The way you can tell the difference, they say, is by three

ways.

You can tell by the leaves and you can tell by those.

The spiral tentacle looking thing, my bobs.

All right, there's a technical word for you, but folks, I have four

boys and they're mischievous.

They're mischievous.

And if they ever come to me with a handful of grapes and they

say, hey dad, we found these, can we eat them?

I don't have leaves to refer to.

I don't have the tentacle little spiral things to look at.

They say the only other way of identifying a good grape or a poisonous

grape is by the seed y' all catching what God is doing here.

He's saying, Israel, you look nutritional, you look nutritious.

From the outside, you look like the real thing.

People from the outside are looking in and seeing your temple

worship.

They see your sacrifices and they think that you're serving me

from your heart.

But if they were to get closer, they were entering your houses,

they would find idolatry.

And that is the reason why they're going in captivity.

You see, they have adopted the world's philosophy and the world's

way of worship and this, that and the other.

And they say with their mouth, but their heart was far from God.

Was that not his complaint with Israel?

And folks, if I can sum up what I'm talking about in one word,

it is hypocrisy.

Y' all understand what God is saying to Israel?

He's saying, Israel, do you, do you know why you're going into

captivity.

Do you know why you're going?

Why your children and grandchildren and co workers and

neighbors and loved ones are going to hell?

Because you know what the truth is.

But your life is not matching up with what you say you believe.

And folks, it is the same way.

Today I am totally convinced that there are many people on their

way to hell for one reason.

They have never.

Listen to me carefully.

They have never come in contact with a genuine Christian.

We say we're a religion of love and we serve a loving God.

But when we see somebody that's tattooed from head to toe

and they have piercings all over their face and they have hair

that's colored different ways and, and spikes and whatever, and

they smell of alcohol and drugs and this, that and the other,

we do not treat them with love.

Do you all have any idea why they're there?

Because they've never come in contact with a genuine Christian.

And do you not understand what all of this paraphernalia is?

I went to Colorado several weeks ago and I have never seen so

much black as far as clothing and so many diabolical symbols on

clothing as I did in Colorado Springs.

My word, it was nasty.

But do you know what that is, folks?

It's a call for help.

People, especially young people.

They're coloring themselves and they're painting themselves and

they're tattooing themselves and they're piercing themselves and

they're showing themselves and they're this and the other and they're

screaming out, will somebody please look over here.

And unfortunately, the wrong crowd, Satan's crowd is looking at

them and saying, hey, we'll take you just like you are.

And God's crowd is shoving them away.

I was in with my son Daniel.

He was about 8 years of age and we were on a hill.

If you've never gone to the Mission Field, you don't know what

I'm talking about.

But a hill in a residential area is an ant hill.

It's just a network of paths and everything.

Houses stacked on top of each other and behind each other and this,

that and the other.

So my son and I, we were walking down and I looked down a

path and I saw two fellas.

One was leaning against the railing of a staircase that went

up to a road and the other was leaning against the back corner of

an abandoned broken down house.

And I said, daniel, let's go give them a track.

So we headed over there.

As I'm about halfway to these two fellows, another fella, a third

one, stepped out from behind the house.

And of course, I'm getting suspicious already.

I'm in Villa Guadalupe.

We're in 18 different sections of the cities, many of them I mentioned

in the video.

13 of the 18 are called sonarojas.

Sonaroja is a red zone.

It's a.

A very dangerous area.

Gringos that would be me should not go in sonar rojas.

But we're in 13 of them.

And some of them are so bad that the police do not go to.

It's too dangerous for them.

We're there now.

Villa Guadalupe is not.

Not quite that dangerous.

But Villa Guadalupe is a high gang area.

There's more, multiple gangs in that area.

So I got to them, and the guy that stepped out from behind the

house said, hey, mira lo queta, nemos aqui.

Hey, professor, look what we have here.

I'm thinking, oh, goodness, I'm going to be their supper.

And I stood in front of el profe.

He was.

He was right in front of me.

The guy that had stepped out, the third guy that I saw, he was

to his right, my left.

And then I had two wingmen.

Wingmen over here.

He thought he left my peripheral, but he moved.

He tried to move out of my peripheral on my right.

Wingman over here moved out behind me.

I have Daniel right here.

And so I sat down.

I didn't want to offer him any resistance.

I didn't want to show them that I'm competition, I'm something

different.

I sat down, I said, fellas, listen, I know who I am and I know

what's going on here.

I said, but if I were to die right now, I'd go straight to heaven.

But I have a question for you.

If you were to die right now, are you 100% sure you're on your

way to heaven?

I'm in the middle of a gang and I'm at their mercy.

There's no way out for me.

The professor, he nodded, I could continue.

I went through the plan of salvation with him.

When I got down to the end, I noticed that the wingman over here,

his eyes were watering.

I said, now, if you would like to ask Jesus to save you from your

sin and take you to heaven, repeat after me.

I went through a prayer.

I don't usually do that, but I was in a little bit different situation

at the moment.

The guy to my left, the right hand man to the prophet, or professor

and wingman on my right, both asked Jesus to save them.

When I got down, I stood up and I looked at the professor.

And I have to have his permission to Leave.

He says, if you're ever in this area and you're ever in trouble,

you tell anybody you're under the professor's protection.

And I walked away.

You know, those four men had never come in contact with a genuine

Christian.

They had never.

They probably didn't land in that situation because they wanted

to.

It's just their lifestyle led them to that.

But then light came into their life, and somebody that wasn't afraid

to die, an American way out of his zone.

And the contact with a genuine Christian just illuminated their

hearts.

And folks, I can tell you story after story after story of

people that have been transformed by the gospel you heard.

In the video, I talked about Imada.

Imada would elbow her visitors until they raised their hand.

The reason for that is because Aymada came to church, was a visitor

for her son.

Her son got a prize because she came to church.

And during the invitation, she raised her hand that she wasn't saved.

And a soul winner took her out and led her to Christ.

And she thought, that's the only way you get saved.

It was her experience, and she thought that's how she got everybody

gets saved.

So she started bringing all kinds of people, neighbors and friends

and family members to church.

And she would sit next to them, and if they didn't get their

hand up, she'd elbow them.

You know, they're going to get saved whether they want to or not.

I mean, she's just green.

She is new to this.

And one of the young men that she brought to church was.

Was Yasir.

Yasir was, oh, about 18, 19 years of age, in trouble with the

law.

That's why he was at Imada's house and from a very dangerous area

called Manyanitas and just, just horrible, just scarred up by

the world, already involved in all kinds of sin.

And I'll never forget, it was very humorous to me.

I asked, if anybody is not saved, would you raise your hand?

Amada looks over at Yassi standing right next to him.

Next to her, Yasi is closing his eyes.

He doesn't want to raise his hand.

She elbows him, gives him a good old shot there.

His hand goes up.

Joshua, a young man in our church, walks him through the Romans

road and Yassir gets saved.

Yassir takes his earrings out of his ears and starts cleaning up

his life.

Gets baptized, gets discipled.

When we started, like Les I Bautista Providencia, Yasir came

to me.

He had been in the church for about two years.

He was working in the junior church at that time.

He says, pastor I want to go with Brother Jacobo and help him

start that church.

I said, yasir, I don't want you to fall into sin.

I don't want you to backslide.

I said, you're doing well.

The only reason I want you to go over there is if you start growing

faster and do more for God than you're doing right here.

He says, pastor, I want to help.

I said, yasir, you can transfer your membership with my

blessing.

Yasir is Jonathan Hakobel's right hand man today.

He's a song leader.

He goes soul winning with him every single week, multiple times

a week.

He does everything with Jonathan Hakobo.

It's just amazing when somebody can can meet the real thing.

But folks, let me ask you, how much of the real thing do we have

today and how much are say so on Sunday, but don't do so on Monday.

Y' all with me.

This is why our generations are going to hell.

The second reason is in verse 8 and I'll breeze through these next

two.

The Bible says in verse 8, Woe unto them that join house to house,

that lay field to field, till there be no place that they may be

placed alone in the midst of the earth.

He says, first of all Israel, do you understand why you're going

into captivity?

And do you understand why you're going into hell?

Many of you multitudes are going to hell, first of all because

of hypocrisy.

Number two, because Israel had become materialistic.

And here in this verse, he says, listen, y' all are more interested

in occupying your whole inheritance.

You're trying to build bigger and wider and you're trying to occupy

your entire.

But that is your goal and that is your life and you're not even

thinking about eternity.

And folks, does that not describe American Christians today?

Our jobs are not given to us just to make money.

They're really not even to support our families.

That's God's responsibility.

Our jobs are given to us many times because we're in contact with

lost people.

God gives us poor health as a gift, as a ticket to get into and

before doctors that otherwise we would never be able to see because

they will not allow us to knock on their door.

We have everything that has to do with a Christian's life is to

be able to give the gospel.

Our children are supposed to be a light in the school systems,

but most of the time they're more interested in sports and education.

At least that's our interest.

Their interests are other things.

But folks, we don't even look at what God is doing.

We don't even see God's hand in different situations.

We have lost vision of eternity in our day to day life.

We have become materialistic.

Our goals are to get a better or a more newer.

A newer this, that and the other better iPhone, car, bigger

house.

And that was Israel's problem.

Look at verse 11.

The Bible says, woe unto them that rise up early in the morning

that they may follow strong drink that continue until night till

wine inflame them.

Verse 12 talks about different pleasures.

Verse 18.

Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity and

sin, as it were with a cart rope.

Verse 20.

Woe unto them that call evil good and good.

Does that not describe America today?

Good night.

And that put darkness for light, light for darkness.

Verse 21.

Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes.

Boy, that's.

That's the Christian nowadays.

Prudent in their own sights.

Verse 22.

Unto them that are mighty to drink wine and men of strength to

mingle, drink.

Hey, can you hold your alcohol?

You know, y' all see what God is saying?

He says, israel, you're on the way to captivity.

And many of you, multitudes of you are on your way to hell.

Let me explain to you why.

Because those who believe in me are hypocrites.

Those who believe in me are materialistic and they're not thinking

about eternity.

And number three, those who believe in me are involved in sin.

You all understand what the problem with darkness is?

The problem with darkness is not because darkness has power.

Darkness cannot rise in power.

It has no strength.

Are y' all with me?

The problem with darkness is the absence of light.

You flick on a light, darkness cannot fight.

It has no power.

What our problem is today is that the local Independent Fundamental

Baptist churches are dwindling and the Child of God is no longer

shining in their community and.

And being what they ought to be.

And folks, I look at Israel back then and I see America now.

And the reasons why Israel were where they were then is the

reason why America is where we are today.

Is not because of darkness, is not because of the lost.

We have the fault.

Let us pray.