Jesus once told His disciples, "If I am lifted up, I will draw all men to myself." That day, when Jesus proclaimed those words, it was not just a promise for His disciples back then, but it was also a promise for His followers throughout the rest of history.
Today, we are so grateful that God is allowing each one of us to witness the continued fulfillment of these words proclaimed by our AMAZING SAVIOR.
We worked hard to get to Saltillo Mexico. As we encountered the roadblocks along the way, it was obvious that there were spiritual enemies at work trying to keep us from coming to reach out to these amazing people in Mexico. As the Ambassadors experience their last day of ministry in Saltillo, it looks like we are going to rub shoulders with more people today than we have been able to touch all week. What a big God we serve.
As most of you know, I am not actully with the team right now. I had to come back early to preach a wedding this evening for a young man whom I have poured into for many years. It was just an event I could not miss. However, I just got a call from Coach V and I had to write about what happened. I just can't keep it to myself.
A.D. wrote last night that yesterday we recieved an invitation to play on the professional field in Saltillo. Some of you may not know but Mexico has a pretty big professional baseball circuit. In fact, there are many players from the United States that will come to Mexico to play at some point in their professional career. Coach Tunnell actually played one year for the professional team in Monterey.
Yesterday, on our shopping day, the guys decided to go by the field to take a look. It is a beautiful field and one of the focal points for the city of Saltillo. When the guys showed up, the team gift shop was closed but they managed to talk their way into the store. Once they were inside, our guys unloaded some cash on the gear so they immediately fell in love with the Ambassadors.
Before long, they were getting a tour of the entire facility. We already had a game set up for today so one of our players said, "I wonder if they would let us play here?" The Coaches decided that it would not hurt to ask and in a matter of minutes, Lee, Coach V, and A.D, were up in the offices. All the guys gathered around the pitchers mound and prayed the Lord would open the door for us. When the coaches met up with the guys, we not only had permission to play 1 game but they are allowing us to play a double header.
The was not only a big deal for us but it is even a bigger deal for the local players we will be playing against. At this point, there has not been a local team that has been allowed to play on this field. The local teams that we will play this afternoon at 3:00 are fired up that they get to play on this field. This is such an incredible door that has been opened for us.
OK, for this next part, I am about to be a Baptist that gets a little Pentacostal because this makes me want to jump around. This morning, all of our Ambassadors got an invitation to go to the Saltillo Little League awards presentation. There were a lot of Little League teams present and about 500 people in the stands. Since we had a sound system, we set it up and helped make the presentation a bigger deal for the kids.
The president of the league, asked all of our Ambassadors to present the trophies to the winners of the league. As the teams were called up, all of our guys made a tunnell for the teams to run through. As the trophey presentation ended, Raul Corpus, one of our former Ambassadors who speaks Spanish fluently, got on the microphone and shared Justin's story. After Raul shared our story, Cristobal Lopez, the Hispanic pastor at Council Road, got up and shared the gospel.
Folks, as the gospel was presented, our guys stood there while hundreds of people prayed to recieve Christ. It was a revival service at a Little League baseball awards presentation. Are you kidding me? Is God AMAZING OR WHAT? I know that my pastor and every other pastor makes this comment but it works here: "If this does not light your fire, then your wood is wet."
After all these people got saved, the leader of the Little League invited everyone out to the games today. I guarantee you, today in Saltillo Mexico, The Ambassadors are going to play some tough baseball and have another opportunity to impact an entire city.
We went to Saltillo for one purpose this week: to lift up the name of Jesus. As we have faithfully lifted up His name, God has faithfully kept that promise He made to His disciples. We lifted Him up and He has drawn men to Himself.
In a couple of hours, our boys are going to play baseball and point people to Jesus. Let's take this opportunity to faithfully wrestle in prayer for them. Let's pray that the Lord will bless them on the field and open the hearts of our opponents and all the people in the stands.
Today, a lot of people are going to come to a baseball field to watch an American team play some of the best young players in that part of Mexico. Though they will get to watch that game, more importantly, they are going to encounter Jesus.
The title of the article about the Ambassadors in today's paper in Saltillo read, "A Team Plays with Faith". That article was worded extremely well and the lesson is clear for all of us.
The truth is that God is using the Ambassadors to teach us to live by faith and not by sight. Our baseball team is living that out right now in this very moment. Let's learn from these faithful young men.
All of you who are parents of the Ambassadors, I am now living in your world because I cannot be there with them in person. But let me remind you that we can still participate with them in this ministry effort by faithfully and consistently praying for them.
I love the Ambassadors and I love what God is doing in them and through them.
Thank you Lord for continuing to draw men to Yourself.
Posted on
Saturday, August 1, 2009
by Chris Wall