Last night my father, Roger Smets, experienced a heart attack. Around 4:00pm he began having chest pains and decided to drive himself to the hospital. Upon arriving he collaspsed and attendants frantically worked to “keep him alive.” It turns out he had a 100% blockage in one of his main arteries. Thankfully, he made it to the hospital just in time and due to the freshness of the blockage they were able to penetrate the blockage and put in an angioplasty stent instead of having to do bypass surgery. The angioplasty procedure was successful and my dad is recovering. Thank you for all your prayers, comments, texts messages & phone calls.
It is in times like these when we become acutely aware that life is a gift of God. As 1 Samuel 2:6 says, “The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up.” We are grateful God in his wisdom has seen fit to give life to my dad and keep him with us longer. We praise God for his goodness to us in this and even more so for the goodness of the gospel. In Jesus we have a life that heart attacks can’t touch (Rom 8:31-39).
- Duane Smets
Roger & Pastor Tom
On Thursday, May 20st, I was making a follow-up call to my dear friend, Dr. Tom Ferguson, when Jodi (his secretary), told me the sad news that Tom had passed away just minutes before my call. Tom was my nearest and dearest friend. We have been close friends for over 35 years. Tom was my supervisor for eight years in the Northwest District of Foursquare Churches, and my pastor for the past ten years.
Pastor Tom was always a great encouragement to me in my ministry as an evangelist. He challenged me to memorize the promises of God’s Word and to prophetically speak those promises into the hearts of people everywhere. I was honored to minister annually at New Life Center in Everett, WA over the many years that Tom was Senior Pastor there, and more recently at Hope Foursquare Church over the past ten years in Snohomish, Washington.
Pastor Tom was a very “Word focused” pastor. He would always begin the service declaring such words as, “It is written, I John 4:4 that “Greater is He who is with you, than he who is in the world.” – It is written, Rom. 8:37 that “You are right now, More than a conquer through Jesus Christ our Lord: – And It is written, Eph. 3:20, that ”God is able…” Upon hearing three or four “It is writtens” the entire congregation would spontaneously stand to their feet and applaud the Lord!
I am grateful for the close relationship that we have shared together for so many years. In many ways Tom was a mentor to me, passing on to me his passon for souls. Even though he functioned in a pastoral role, he was without doubt an evangelist at heart. We spoke frequently over the phone, having conversations that always ended with an anointed prayer for each other and our ministries. Often, if Gwen and I were in need of special prayer, he would call his entire congregation to stand together and intercede in our behalf. I am so grateful for the spiritual covering that he extended over us and our ministry for so many years.
I am going to deeply miss Tom and the love he extended to me for so many years. Our heartfelt and earnest prayers shall be with Ronda and the family during this most difficult time.
Evangelist Roger Smets
- Roger Smets
It is clear that fewer and fewer “Christians” in the church today are willing to take an uncompromising and unwavering stance on the truth of the Scriptures. Any Biblical commands that are considered “uncomfortable” or “old fashioned” are written off as mere “suggestions” for godly living, not literal commands of God for all who believe. The common recurring response of many to any such commandments has been the phrase, “It depends on your interpretion of the Bible”. They believe there are ”many different interpretions” and thus many “different ways” to live a godly life. One “Christian” woman recently told me that she and her “live-in” boyfriend have their own “private faith” where they have decided which commandments and Biblical teachings “best fits” them, abide by those and reject the rest as being “incompatible” with their desired lifestyle. She said “some of the admonitions of the Bible “just don’t work” for them. Thus, she and her boyfriend have in essence, fashioned their own hand made gospel which bears no resemblance to the gospel of God’s Word. Another “professing Christian” told me that he believes there are different levels or degrees of Christianity and that all Christians don’t necessarily have to live their lives in response to a common behaviorable standard set forth in the Bible. As for himself, he said he consders himself a “C- Christian”, the grade or level he feels most “confortable” with. Sad to say, this kind of verbage is a ”new age” brand of thinking that is appalling to mainline christianity and is rapidly creeping into the church today at an alarming rate. The once unquestioned and undeniable foundational doctrines of the Bible are now being reconsidered and redifined as merely one of many different theological views or ways of thinking.
Thus, the time has come for true Christians, to take an uncompromising unwavering stance for the undeniable and unchaning Word of God. The Bible says that “The time will come in the last days when people will not endure sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around themselves teachers who will say what their itching ears want to hear.” (II Tim. 4:3 NIV/KJV) This prophetic time has now come, a time when true Christians are being called upon to take a uncompromising and unwavering stance for the clear teaching of the Word of God. In such times, sister may have to stand against brother and brother against sister. Such a stance against compromising what the Bible says, is a costly one but is one that pleases God and that honors the price He paid for our sin through Jesus Christ at the cross. As Jesus Himself said, “If any man come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me”. (Mt. 16:24)
In the midst of a weak mediocer modern day “Christianity” may God help us to unashamedly take an uncompromising unwavering stance that the Bible is without doubt the inspiried Word of God and is the foundation for all that we believe is true.
So be it Lord Jesus!
Is there any hope? Life at times seems to be an endless chain of recurring crises one right after another, and just when we feel we have gotten things under control, we find ourselves facing yet another overwhelming challenge. Amid the disappointments and discouragements that such circumstances bring, we find ourselves often asking the question, “Is there any hope? Is there any hope that we will ever overcome? The good news is, yes, there is hope because there is a God. The Bible says that “God is a God of hope who will fill you with all joy and peace…. that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Rom. 15:13) When life seems hard and you don’t know how you’re going to make it, be like David who said, “I hope in your Word o’ God” and “In your Word do I have my hope”(Ps. 119:81, 130:5)
I praise God that amid the storms of life God has given us a hope that is “as an anchor for our soul, both sure and steadfast…” (He. 6:19a) The hope that we have is not a mere wishful thinking kind of hope, but rather an unwavering steadfast hope that will never fail us. This hope that we have is not in man but in God, for the Bible says, “The Lord alone shall be the hope of His people” (Joel 3:16) Perhaps the hymn writer said it best when he penned these well known words,
“My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame but will wholly lean on Jesus’ name
On Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.”
The Bible says that when God told Abraham that he and Sarah were going to have a child, (even though they were long past child-bearing age) that he had a steadfast, unwavering unrelenting hope that if that was what God had spoken, then so shall it be. It certainly didn’t seem likely that they could be new parents of a little baby at that stage of their lives. In fact, the Bible says that when Abraham told Sarah what the Lord had spoken, that she laughed at such a notion and thought Abraham must be joking. But Abraham “staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God and was fully pursuaded that whatever God had promised, that He was also able to perform.” (Rom. 4:20-21) Abraham had a unrelenting hope in God. The Bible says “Who against hope believed in hope” or as the Amplified Version puts it, “When all human reason for hope was gone, he hoped on in God.” (Rom. 4:18a)
May God grant us this kind of hope that is not easily shaken, a hope that can withstand every doubful thought, and emerge as the foundation of the miraculous. May God help us to “hope on” in Him. So be it Lord Jesus!
We have moved into this near year with a “Fresh Vision” of what God has called us to do. I have preached a message all across the country entitled, “What Do You See?”. It was a call to envision and embrace all that God has for us. It is important for us to know what that is and to keep our eyes focused upon it. The Bible says that without a vision we will perish. (Prov. 29:18a) As for me, my “Fresh Vision” for this year is to see more people saved, healed, delivered and restored in our services. May God help us all to have a “Fresh Vision” for souls in 2010. So be it Lord Jesu!
As we began our 2010 Ministry Schedule I sensed a “Fresh Anointing” upon my lips. An undeniable fresh flow of the Holy Spirit has come upon my preaching of the Word of God. Spontaneous revelation has recurringly come in the midst of my prepared message. Some months ago, Pastor Sean Appleton of the Quartz Hill Foursquare Church in Southern California prophesied the promise of Romans 10:8a over me, that God’s Word was not only near me, but that His Word was in my mouth! I received that word in faith believing and am now experiencing the impartation of this powerful promise from the Lord.
LOVING GOD WITH ALL OF YOUR HEART
On 41 occasions the Bible says that we are to love and serve the Lord our God with “All” of our heart. It is a recurring command of the Lord that calls for an exclusive “whole hearted” surrender. When we choose to love the Lord with “ALL” of our heart that means that there will be nothing left of our heart to love or serve anything or anyone else. The capacity of our hearts to love has been completely consumed with loving the Lord alone. While the devil may try to capture some of our heart’s affection, there will be nothing left of our heart to surrender to him. We will be “surrendered out” as it were, to Jesus. The capacity of our hearts to love will be all used up, loving and serving our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
How much then do we love the Lord our God? If it hasn’t been with all of our heart, the devil will try to capture those unsurrendered areas over to him and his ways. This is why the Lord has commanded us to love the Lord with all of our heart so there will be nothing left for the devil’s choosing.
Deut. 6:5: “And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength”.
So be it Lord Jesus!
Evangelist Roger Smets
A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
“THE SENT WORD OF GOD”
Psalm 107:20 says that God “sent His Word and healed them and delivered them from all their destructions“. When we were sick, God “sent His Word”. When we were brokenhearted, God “sent His Word”. When we were bound by the stronghold of darkness, God “sent His Word”. The promises of Holy Scripture are the words He sent to miraculously heal and restore us and to cause us to abound.
So, whatever your need may be this day, embrace the “sent” Word” of the Lord and let it restore, renew and release you to overcome.
Evangelist Roger Smets
BESEECHING JESUS!
Chapter 8 of the book of Matthew tells the story of the centurion who came to Jesus in behalf of his sick servant who was in near death. When the centurion heard that Jesus was coming to Capernaum, he left his home and went to find Jesus. The Bible says that when he came to Jesus, he came “beseeching” Him. The word “beseech” is not a commonly used word in modern times, but it was a word that meant to “seek out with all that is within you” or “to passionately pursue with an unrelenting desire”. Beseeching Jesus was not a casual approach to the Master. It wasn’t what I have called, a “bump into God” kind of theology whereas the centurion would have said to his sick servant, “I heard that Jesus is coming to Capernaum, so this is what I’ll do for you. I’ll go to Capernaum and hang out there for a while and if I happen to bump into Jesus or He bumps into me, I’ll put a good word in for you”. No, he went to Capernaum with a strong conviction to find Jesus no matter what and he wouldn’t return home until he did. His was a passionate pursuit, a driving force that would not rest until that which was being pursued was embraced. Such was the heart of this centurion.
Likewise, may we learn what it means to “beseech” Jesus in our lives, knowing He is the Only Answer for every need, the Only One who can save, heal and deliver. May God free us from the casual “bump into God” theology that knows nothing of seeking God with all that is within us.
So be it Lord Jesus!
UPCOMING MINISTRY:
Over the next few weeks we will holding special meetings in:
-Granada Hills, CA -Modesto, CA -Las Vegas, NV -San Diego, CA -Santa Monica, CA
PLEASE PRAY FOR EACH OF THESE CITIES. EACH ONE REPRESENTS PEOPLE WHO NEED JESUS.
Last night my father, Roger Smets, experienced a heart attack. Around 4:00pm he began having chest pains and decided to drive himself to the hospital. Upon arriving he collaspsed and attendants frantically worked to “keep him alive.” It turns out he had a 100% blockage in one of his main arteries. Thankfully, he made it to the hospital just in time and due to the freshness of the blockage they were able to penetrate the blockage and put in an angioplasty stent instead of having to do bypass surgery. The angioplasty procedure was successful and my dad is recovering. Thank you for all your prayers, comments, texts messages & phone calls.