Newsletter for R. D. Sopp International Ministries
Issue: FORTY-NINE

Grace and peace to all of you in Christ Jesus! Due to financial concerns and an ever increasing sense of urgency within me to reach the lost, I have diverted what little finances we have to outreach; I have also diverted most of my time and energy to that same sense of urgency within to reach the lost. As a consequence, our ministry's newsletter has been delayed, and we have changed our format. Also, as a result of the mandate placed within me to reach the lost, we are completely updating our mailing list in order to save funds by making sure you still want to be part of this ministry and receive our newsletter.

You will see two major changes within this newsletter. First the date is gone. I want this newsletter to be published according to need instead of being date sensitive. Lord willing, I anticipate our newsletter to come out twice a year as the need arises. To compensate for this infrequency, I started an Internet Blog which can be reached through our website. Unfortunately, you will need Internet access, but our Blog will allow me to share the things our Lord places upon my heart in a more timely manner. Depending on my Lord’s leading, I anticipate adding to our Blog at least twelve times a year, so I would suggest checking this ministry’s Blog on a monthly basis, or you can sign up for our RSS feed which can be found at the bottom of our Blog page.

The second major change to our ministry’s newsletter is the elimination of our prayer request page. Due to the new schedule for our newsletter, it’s now impractical to publish the prayer requests within our newsletter. Also, by eliminating the prayer request list, we will now be able to offer you our entire Newsletter via your Email, or you will now be able to read our entire Newsletter online. Again, this will allow this ministry to save much needed funds and allow me to devote most of my time and energy to reaching the lost that’s found both within and without the “Church” at-large, i.e., conforming my life and this ministry to the center of God’s will.

Speaking to this sense of urgency within me to reach the lost, I have placed a new MP3 sermon on our website titled: The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Me! Although this sermon is ONLY available as an MP3 download from our website, I would encourage all who can download it to please share it with others. Unfortunately, we had a technical issue arise which placed six “ping” sounds at different intervals within the sermon, so if I have not been able to find the assistance I need to clean it up by the time you listen to it, please don’t be startled, or put off, by the ping sounds. For those of you who downloaded this sermon with the “ping” sounds I have great news: The “ping” sounds have been removed and the audio volume has been raised. You may notice a missing word where the “ping” sound use to be. However, you will have to listen very hard to notice it. If you would like to download the improved MP3 file, please feel free to do so.

Very important for those who receive the printed edition of our newsletter via the Post Office: After I mail this newsletter, I will be deleting our entire mailing list for our printed edition. This is the last newsletter you will receive unless I hear from you! To continue to receive our Newsletter we will need to hear from you, even if you signed up for our printed edition recently. If you wish to continue to receive our newsletter, you can use the enclosed postcard, or just send us an Email. However, please be sure to tell us if you want to receive this ministry’s Newsletter via your Email, or if you want to continue to receive our printed edition via your home address. Also, please be sure to give us your first and last name, your current mailing address, and your Email address if you have one. Remember, if you can read our newsletter online, or receive it via your Email, it will help us save our very limited funds for our outreach efforts.

Very important for ALL our newsletter subscribers with an Email address: I still receive many prayer requests virtually daily from around the world. Most of the prayer requests I do not feel led to share with others, but there are a few I do feel led to share. Therefore, this ministry also has a second Email list for those of you who wish to receive the prayer requests I feel led to share, in order for you to join with me in prayer over those prayer requests. This will also allow me to share the prayer requests in realtime, which I believe will be a vast improvement over our old newsletter approach. Again, please, you must be specific when you write to us if you wish to be placed on our Email list for our Newsletter – or for our new Email list for prayer requests – or if you wish to be placed on both Email mailing lists.

May the peace and grace of our Lord and God be lavished upon all of you!

A Sampling From This Ministry’s Blog:

Genesis 22:8: “And Abraham said, ‘God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.’” (NASB)

Just a thought: What an awesome prophetic statement of God’s salvation plan for mankind. Yet, more than ever we are seeing more and more people fall into religion, which is nothing more than man reaching out to God to win His favor – to win their salvation, trying to win God’s favor and their salvation through self-imposed sufferings and/or the shedding of their own blood. The most tragic example of all is the Islamic terrorists (martyrs) killing themselves and shedding innocent blood in order to gain salvation for themselves and for their families. Eternal salvation is a very powerful motivator, but zeal that’s based on a lie is the definition of the word “tragic” to the utmost.

Why is it that mankind continually tells God, “I will provide for myself the sacrifice”? What a silly notion! Can the sacrifice of the imperfect make someone clean – make someone perfect? What a silly notion indeed! Can the imperfect tell the Perfect One, “No, You must do it this way,” or “Thank you for Your salvation, but it’s not good enough for me,” or “I will decide for myself the right way – the right penitence – the right atoning sacrifice”? Or how does this sound to you? “I will force reverence for God upon the world by the law and/or by the sword.” Is reverence truly reverence if it’s forced? Of course not! What profound arrogant statements!

From the beginning, God’s plan of salvation was to sacrifice the Perfect One for an atonement which could not be broken – which was not dependent on mankind’s abilities, but on His all-powerful ability. Ezekiel 36:25-27: “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” (NASB)

Now that’s salvation! A salvation which begins from within – from a born-again heart, working its way outward unto holiness. A holiness neither contrived, nor forced, but created within by the Creator Himself. A love for God and His ways neither contrived, nor forced, but created within by the Creator Himself. And you want to say no to this profound salvation? If so, that would not only be profoundly arrogant, but also profoundly irrational and absurd! (Read Matthew 23:23-28 and Galatians 3:22-29.)

Prayer: Lord, my God, it’s never been by might nor by power, but from the very beginning it’s always been by Your Spirit. I humbly accept Your free gift for my salvation through the sacrifice of Your Perfect One, Jesus. Amen!

Isaiah 53:1-3: “Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.” (NASB)

Just a thought: What an amazing word portrait of Jesus taken from God’s Word! How it so differs from all the artist depictions we see today. The deliverer of all mankind – God in flesh had no stately form, nor an appearance that would turn anyone’s head. Yet, this is the form – the tent God chose to live in during His brief earthly visit. Furthermore, Immanuel – Jesus was born in an animal’s cave, laid in an animal’s feeding trough, and raised in Nazareth, the slum area of their times. Indeed, can anything good come out of Nazareth?

The forerunner for God – for Jesus, John the Baptist, not groomed, nor polished, but an outcast from the general public. He lived on wild honey and locust, and covered himself in a burlap type of fabric made from camel’s hair. A pitiful sight indeed! Do you get a picture that God did not want to use this world’s so called attractiveness to draw people unto Himself? Indeed, who has believed our message? Yet, today we try to use the attractiveness of this world to draw people unto God’s salvation. Did God get it wrong, or do we have it wrong? Yes, we have it wrong. Using God’s way our (Christian) numbers will likely go down, but we have to ask ourselves this question: By using our ways, are our numbers now just an illusion? Well, the overall fruit of today’s church seems to indeed confirm an illusion as it conforms to the world much more than it conforms to holiness.

Maybe, just maybe, we should return to the ways of our Lord and rely totally on the Holy Spirit to draw mankind unto Him – to convict the world of sin – to convict the world of righteousness – to convict the world of judgment? Right now we seem to be offering people two different roads to calvary – to salvation. One paved by the world with the pride of life, and the other paved by the Holy Spirit with contrition. However, there is truly only one road which will bring genuine salvation! John the Baptist, filled with the Holy Spirit from birth, used the road paved by the Holy Spirit with contrition – a baptism of repentance.

Are we losing our saltiness? Is darkness coming in like a flood? Yes! Then maybe it’s because we are pointing people to the wrong road in order to fill our churches with numbers – in order to pay our bills so we can keep up our worldly attractiveness. What a vicious and insidious trap to keep the “Church” ineffective in winning souls! Do we want to count numbers – count heads, or do we want genuine salvations? If it’s genuine salvation, then we must come to understand the following verses: Matthew 7:13-14: “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it. For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it.” (NASB) The Christian must never confuse numbers with success. The only way we have to tell a good tree from a bad tree is its fruit.

Prayer: My God – my Father, if in my zeal to see loved ones saved I’ve used the means of this world to draw mankind to You, please forgive me. If I have, then at best all I have done is to have placed myself within an illusion to soothe my breaking heart. No longer do I want to live in an illusion. I need to see the truth so I can work effectively for You. I must no longer use a whitewash to say all is well – to say peace when there is no peace. Salvation can only be found through the cross – our cross – my cross. Not pleasant, nor of this world, but then again, salvation is not of this world. God, forgive us for whitewashing, for indeed, today’s “Church” at-large appears in so many ways to be like this world, i.e., not holy. Help me, through Your Holy Spirit, to be yet another voice in this spiritual wilderness saying: “Without holiness no one will see the Lord.” (Hebrews 12:14-17) Amen!

To read more of this ministry's Blog: Click Here

Letters To This Ministry:

2 Corinthians 3:2-5: "You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. And such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God." (NASB) Dear friends, as I continue to share with you a sampling of the letters this ministry regularly receives, please see it only as evidence of God's participation in this ministry and give God all the glory!

Date: Sun, 3 Jun 2007 20:13:12 -0400
Subject: Baptized For The Dead:
Just wanted to give you some exhorting words on your commentaries; I love them! I study the Bible a lot, and I’m always looking to learn more about the Lord. I love Him dearly and I want to know everything that is humanly possible about Him. I never really grasped the theology of “the resurrection of the dead” before, so this was an enlightening read for me. Thanks for publishing these Heart to Heart commentaries on the Internet so all of us out here can become better learned on spiritual matters. May the Lord bless you for blessing me! In Christ, Chris B. from USA

Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2007 11:26:47 -0400
Subject: E-mail Newsletter:
Dear Raymond, I have been reading your Heart to Heart commentaries. I am almost down to the end now and I was remarking to myself, “why is there no contradictions with the Scriptures.” Your wisdom in translating the Word is supernatural! I told the Holy Spirit I could never remember all I am learning. I’m writing to ask for a subscription for my son, because I think he could use such insights into the Word. God bless you! Judith J. from Trinidad, Caribbean

Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2007 03:52:31 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Thanks for the tapes:
Dear Pastor Raymond, thanks so much for the sermon tapes you sent to me. Your sermon tapes really helped me a lot. In fact, the day I played the one titled, “The Joy” it was like I was in heaven. The joy I received that day is different from any other day. I really thank you.

The message in that tape healed me because I wasn't feeling too good that day, but when I started playing your cassette, I forgot that I wasn't feeling okay and my focus was in heaven. Glory be to God! May the good Lord continue to increase your anointing and bless you more abundantly in Jesus’ name. Amen! Rekiya from Nigeria

Date: Sat, 14 Jul 2007 00:32:40 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Sir, I have received your tapes:
Dear Sir, thank you very much for sending your sermon tapes. I know that it had to cost you great expenses, but I am using them in the expansion of God’s kingdom. And I myself have really benefitted from them. Thanks a lot for the insights that were contained inside the tapes. I believe our church will surely be blessed too. Joy S. from the Philippines

Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 15:47:44 +0300
Subject: Greetings:
Dear Pastor Raymond, I visited your website and found blessings. I was very much touched by your commentary: Do You Genuinely Desire Heaven? I think every one of us should ask ourselves that question. I found other areas of your website a blessing too. I will be reading all your messages. Peace be with you in wherever you go spreading the gospel. Amen! Willy K. from Kenya

Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2007 12:25:18 +0200
Subject: Re: Jesus Instructed Them To Tell No One!
Good Day Sir. Just last week I remembered reading Luke 8 and wondering why the Lord would tell the healed people to keep the news of the miracle just to themselves. Your commentary has come at the right time and I found it very enlightening. I will be forwarding the article to all my e-mail friends. I know they will stand to benefit as much as I have. Tendai M. from Zimbabwe

Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2007 02:08:43 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Request:
I just want to thank God for you having accepted His call upon your life. I am touched by your testimony and how God called you, and the steps of faith that you took to start the ministry. The Bible says to follow the example of those whom through faith and patience have inherited the promises of God. I am a pastor of a small church here in Kenya. I’m in need of a spiritual father whom I can look unto for counsel, spiritual care, and be a mentor so I can be a proper servant of God. Can you be in a position to offer me that opportunity to be your spiritual son? Thanks Aggrey M. from Kenya

God Bless,
Raymond D. Sopp
Founder & President

Support for this ministry comes from the gifts of our Prayer Partners and friends. We are not funded or endowed by any group or denomination. R. D. Sopp International Ministries, Inc. is a 501(c)3 nonprofit ministry and your gift is tax deductible (USA only) according to IRS guidelines.