Messages from Rev.Tim Hill

Message No: 1 Correcting a Distorted View of God
Let me ask you a question right up front today.
Have you ever encountered something that left you with a distorted view of your Heavenly Father?
Naomi returned to Bethlehem saying, "The Almighty has dealt bitterly with me."
 It seemed that she blamed God for all of her misfortunes.
 James 1:13, "Say not when you are tempted, 'I am tempted of God,' for God cannot be tempted by evil, neither does He tempt any man."
 Do not allow the enemy to use your problems to leave you with a false image of God. I understand that He doesn't wink at sin and that He is a God of justice. He judges sin and we all know that, but remember, too, that it is not His will that any should perish, but that all come to repentance.
Consider all that Job endured.
 He lost health and wealth and three friends began to accuse and challenge his integrity. His wife said, "Curse God and die." This was spoken from a burdened heart with a distorted view of God. She had lost the same children that her husband had lost. Her house was gone, too.
 It all left her with a less-than-perfect image of her creator. But Job had a different opinion. He seemed to know this; "If I can curse God and die, then I can bless God and live."
 My troubles in life do not alter who God is. God does not change with the wind. He is faithful and consistent.
 Scripture states that in Him, "There is no variableness, nor shadow of turning," James 1:17.
 He is God on the mountain and in the valley. He is God in the storm and the sunshine.
Trust His consistency. He won't let you down.
Message No: 2 Destiny That Can't Be Destroyed
I'm glad my Heavenly Father has a vantage point that is so much greater than mine. From where He sits, He always knows the end from the beginning. That's particularly true when it comes to my destiny, as it was with Naomi in the story of Ruth from the Bible.
Even in her old age, Naomi was destined to be a part of a kingdom connection that she could not even begin to imagine. Her destiny was to help bring Ruth into the life of Boaz and, as a result, produce a child that would be connected all the way to the throne of David.
Upon the birth of Ruth's new baby, the neighbor women brought the child to Naomi for nurturing and care.
By her own admission, Naomi was beyond her natural ability and too old to give the baby what he needed. However, when a future generation linked to a coming Messiah was brought to her, God resurrected her ability to do all she was challenged to do.
Part of the destiny of a Christian is to nurture future generations that will welcome a coming King. We do that with our testimony, our music and teaching, and even our daily walk.
Don't let Moab destroy your destiny. Come out of the wilderness and refuse to allow the residue and remnants of where you've been to mark you for the rest of your life.
You are who the Father says you are.
Even the three Hebrew children came out of the fire without the smell of smoke upon them.
Mother Circumstance must never be allowed to tag you with a name that negatively marks your future.
The Father's name on your life is the only name that matters and He says that you are"blessed and highly favored."
Message No:3 The Foundations of Life
In 1989, as I watched the World Series from the comfort of my home, I noticed unusual movement on the screen. An earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale was shaking San Francisco. Fifty-two people were tragically killed as overpasses and bridges crumbled. The damage was enormous.
In February 2010, an earthquake of 7.0 on the Richter Scale left Haiti in the ruins of devastation. Nearly 300,000 precious people were killed. From the president's palace to the most humble of homes, little was spared. There was only a fraction of a point of difference on the Richter Scale, yet so many more died and the destruction seemed massive in comparison. One place was hugely damaged, while one was totally devastated.
 What made the difference?
 The difference in damage and devastation is found in one word: foundation.
 Because of economy, regulations, engineering - you name it - the standards in one location over the other as it related to foundations, made all the difference in life and death.
Knowing the proximity of fault lines helped the engineers determine the time and money that went into the foundation a structure was to be built upon.
It seems that fault lines abound everywhere beneath the surface of life.
 Emotional fault lines.
Relational fault lines.
Financial fault lines.
 They sprawl everywhere beneath the surface of all we hold dear.
David encountered all of these and more while fleeing for his life on one occasion. He contemplated his circumstances, surmised his place in life, and asked this question in Psalm 11:3, "If the foundations be destroyed, what shall the righteous do?"
 Being a carpenter, Jesus knew about foundations. He related a meaningful parable about two home builders. One built on a foundation, while the other built only on the sand. The storm came and went and only the house with the foundation under it stood firm.
 Two powerful principles are contained in this parable.
 First of all, storms do come. It's never a matter of "if," but "when." But, the greatest lesson of all is that the rock is stronger than the storm.
 Let the winds blow and the rains fall.  When it's all said and done, you will discover the foundation you're built upon on will "weather" the storm.
 Isaiah 28:16, "Behold, I lay in Zion a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation."
 What are you built upon today? I hope you can sing with confidence the words of the old hymn...
 My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus name.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

In Memory of Lovell Cary

Nothing to Win but the World

• Lovell R. Cary, 83, veteran missionary and church leader, completed his earthly assignment last night, February 27, and was translated to an eternal home.
• Dr. Cary accepted his first appointment to missions in 1954, and went to Hawaii.  In 1959, he moved to the Philippines.  He later served as Field Director of Asia Pacific for 20 years and as Assistant Director (8) and General Director (8) of World Missions.  Since 2004, he has served as a Missionary Evangelist.  He also served eight years on the International Executive Council.
• He has introduced Christ to thousands, and his Christian life and global passion have impacted the world.  He was known as an effective preacher of the Gospel and as "Mr. Missions."  His biography, Nothing to Win but the World, sums up his life as a missionary statesman.
• Lovell and Ginny were married for 65 years.  They have two daughters - Sharon and Susie - three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.  Sister Cary has shared his call, commitment, and ministry.Please remember them in your prayers and thoughts.  Funeral arrangements are yet to be determined

.In Memory of Lovell Cary

• In 1946, Lovell and Virginia Cary embarked on a lifetime journey of missionary service destined to influence hundreds of thousands of people around the world, and at the same time significantly impact the world missions ministry of an entire Pentecostal denomination. From the United States to the territory of Hawaii in 1954, from Hawaii to the Philippines in 1959, from the Philippines to the entire Asia Pacific Region in 1967, and to continents and countries beyond, the Carys have carried the life-changing message of Jesus Christ. 

Their journey has been one of unimaginable challenges and untold sacrifices. It has also been a journey of incomprehensible fulfillment and the miraculous manifestation of God’s amazing grace and power. Unquestionably, they have done their part, and they have done it well. 
Surely, heaven is rejoicing as they welcome a faithful servant of the gospel, Lovell Cary.

In 1946, Lovell and Virginia Cary embarked on a lifetime journey of missionary service destined to influence hundreds of thousands of people around the world, and at the same time significantly impact the world missions ministry of an entire Pentecostal denomination. From the United States to the territory of Hawaii in 1954, from Hawaii to the Philippines in 1959, from the Philippines to the entire Asia Pacific Region in 1967, and to continents and countries beyond, the Carys have carried the life-changing message of Jesus Christ. 

Their journey has been one of unimaginable challenges and untold sacrifices. It has also been a journey of incomprehensible fulfillment and the miraculous manifestation of God’s amazing grace and power. Unquestionably, they have done their part, and they have done it well. 

Surely, heaven is rejoicing as they welcome a faithful servant of the gospel, Lovell Cary.

Cary receives Spirit of Azusa Award

10.15.10 - 10:46 am

Dr. Lovell R. Cary received the Spirit of Azusa Award Tuesday evening as part of the fifth annual Azusa Lecture at the North Cleveland Church of God. The award is given each year to honor a person whose life and ministry reflects the legacy of what is one of the best-known revivals in Christian history. 

A reception in honor of Dr. Cary followed the award presentation. Dr. David Roebuck, director of the Dixon Pentecostal Research Center, and the Rev. Billy Wilson, director of the International Center for Spiritual Renewal, made the award presentation.

Lovell R. Cary was born in Logan, W.Va., and his early ministry was as an evangelist and pastor in West Virginia and Florida. He and his wife, Virginia, began their missionary service in 1954 in Hawaii, which was not yet a state. The Church of God appointed him as overseer of the Philippians in 1959, and superintendent of the Far East in 1967. In 1984 Cary was elevated to assistant general director of World Missions and four years later to general director of the department. 

Tenure limitations led to a change in 1992, but Cary was returned to the office again in 2000, making him the first person to serve as general director on two different occasions. He served for a total of 16 years as assistant director or general director of the department. 

Dr. Bill George, in his recently released book, “Until All Have Heard: The Centennial History of Church of God World Missions,” writes that Cary’s “long tenure in the field and as a missions executive earned him the appellation of ‘Mr. Missions’ in many quarters of the Church.” George stated that Cary brought innovation to the World Missions department that greatly expanded the number of missionaries.

And during his time as general director the Church of God entered 25 new fields. Although tenure limitations forced another change in their lives in 2004, Cary and Virginia continue to travel widely as missionary evangelists. A biography titled “Nothing to Win but the World” will be released later this month.

According to Roebuck, the Spirit of Azusa Award is given each year to honor a person who represents the ongoing revival that began in Los Angeles in 1906. He noted, “Among the characteristics of the revival at the Azusa Street Mission was an emphasis on Pentecost, a hunger and expectation for revival in the last days, and a sense of global mission. 

Participants fully expected God to repeat the Acts 2 Pentecostal outpouring in their day. But the revival was not just a feel-good meeting. Lives and destinies changed. Countless numbers of people looked upon the harvest field and responded, ‘Here am I Lord, send me.’ They went to countries they had only heard about. Believing the Lord would return soon, they often went without expecting to return home. Historian Vinson Synan called them ‘missionaries of the one way ticket.’ Today many scholars believe that the Pentecostal movement has been the greatest missionary movement in the history of Christianity.” In making the presentation Roebuck noted, “Although there are many missionaries worthy of honor, we have chosen Dr. Cary for his missionary zeal, dedication, and sacrificial obedience to Jesus’ Great Commission to ‘go into all the world.’” 

The Azusa Lecture and Spirit of Azusa Award were in established in 2006 on the occasion of the centennial of the Los Angeles revival.

The Dixon Pentecostal Research Center and the International Center for Spiritual Renewal present the award each year. North Cleveland Church of God hosts the lecture, and the Church of God World Missions Department supported this year’s event, which celebrated the centennial of the denomination’s world missions ministry.

Historically a Missions-Minded Body, the Church Of God Still Gathers the Worldwide Harvest

By Lovell R. Cary, General Director of the Church of God World Missions Department

FROM THE TIME our first missionaries sailed from the shores of America, global evangelization has been a primary focus for the Church of God. World Missions is still focused on that global harvest. More than 1,800 souls are added to the kingdom of God daily through the witness of national workers, missionaries and laity. Yet the task looms large.

Reaping the Harvest

Reaching this harvest demands urgency on our part. All of us must labor faithfully together if we are to reach every nation and people group with the gospel before Christ returns for His church. Recent world events confirm that the end-time harvest must be brought in before it is lost. For this General Assembly period, World Missions has set a goal of 1.5 million souls saved with 1 million of those added to the membership of the Church of God. Stories reach us daily of God's move. In a recent e-mail, missionary Tommy Smith in Indonesia wrote: The nearly 15,000-member Church o f God in Medan has 23 Sunday services in this city of 3 million people (Indonesia's third largest city). Five of them are in a seven-floor mall. The church uses floor six, which seats about 3,000, for worship and floor seven as a prayer center in the Medan Plaza Mall. Four services are also held in the Lake Toba International Hotel ballroom; and two special services, conducted in the Mandarin Chinese language, not Bahasa Indonesia, are held at other locations. The miracle is that the Medan Plaza Mall was about to go out o f business. Stores were closing down and moving out. But after the church moved in, life was given back to this mall and people started to shop here again. Rental rates for shops in this mall have now increased to four times what they were prior to the churches moving in. It reminds us o f the story o f Joseph; wherever he went, God was with him, and others were blessed because of it. The Medan Plaza Mall was blessed because the David's Tabernacle-Bethel Church o f God congregation moved into the building.

Training Laborers

Where we have trained our national leaders, the Church of God flourishes and souls are saved every day. Tommy Smith's story confirms the effectiveness of the Bethel Theological Seminary in Jakarta, Indonesia, where hundreds of pastors have been trained. These pastors in turn mobilize their laity to reach the harvest. This mobilization has now grown to nearly 3 million Church of God members. We have 107 schools and training ministries around the world preparing more than 21,233 workers for the harvest. Our national leaders, missionaries and laity in 161 countries outside the United States and Canada have a passion for global evangelization. Daily they touch millions of lives spiritually and physically through the gospel and life enhancing humanitarian outreaches.

A Part to Play

Every Church of God congregation here in America is also a vital part of reaching the global harvest. Through prayer, financial support and personal involvement, each one impacts the harvest. Stateside churches and individuals have made possible the Eurasian Theological Seminary in Moscow, the Asian Center for Christian Ministries in Manila, and churches in the Ukraine and India, to name just a few. The building for the Eurasian Theological Seminary in Moscow is now complete and equipped. Dozens of students are trained in this new facility to reach the expanding harvest across the former Eastern European and Soviet Union nations. From 16 nations, 230 students gather at the Asian Seminary for Christian Ministries in Manila, preparing to reach the greatest harvest field of souls across Asia. China and a majority of the 10/40 nations, plus most of the unreached people groups of the - world, are located in Asia. Churches reaching their local harvest around the world are so numerous it would take several large books to describe them all. Two examples are the church of Pastor Alex Demidovich in the Ukraine and the church in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India. Pastor Alex Demidovich's vision of a thriving church in the city of Slavjansk in his native Ukraine, formerly controlled by the communists, has blossomed into a congregation numbering between 700 and 1,000 members. Their new church building not only houses a worship center and the Ukrainian national offices, it is also the site of a training ministry for reaching their local and national harvest. In the city of Mumbai, India, Overseer A. Mathai has his division offices in the new multistory youth center on the old site of the YWEA center in the city once known as Bombay. Within this building, a growing local congregation meets for worship and another of our 107 Bible schools trains workers for the harvest across India. God works around the world through dedicated, passionate individuals and congregations called and empowered to reap His harvest. Where do you fit in His plan of global evangelization?

“Dr. Grant McClung reminds us in  Globalbeliever.com  that

from the very first verse and chapter in Genesis to the last

chapter and verse in Revelation, world evangelization is at

the heart of God’s revelation of Himself and His Son. I urge

believers to read this book. It will broaden their vision and

increase their burden for the lost of this world, particularly

those in the 10/40 Window who have not yet heard the good

news that Jesus is both Savior and Lord.”

Lovell R. Cary

Church of God World Missions

Lovell and Jennie Cary

Lovell R. Cary was born in Logan, W.Virginia, and his early ministry was as an evangelist and pastor in West Virginia and Florida. He and his wife, Virginia, began their missionary service in 1954 in Hawaii, which was not yet a state. The Church of God appointed him as overseer of the Philippians in 1959, and superintendent of the Far East in 1967. In 1984 Cary was elevated to assistant general director of World Missions and four years later to general director of the department.

Tenure limitations led to a change in 1992, but Cary was returned to the office again in 2000, making him the first person to serve as general director on two different occasions. He served for a total of 16 years as assistant director or general director of the department.

Dr. Cary has given his life to the work of reaching the world, having served as a missionary in Asia/Pacific for over 32 years. As general director of World Missions for four separate terms (1988, 1990 and 2000, 2002), his combined years in World Missions culminated to more than 51 years of fulfilling the Great Commission. In recent years, he and his lovely wife, Ginny, evangelized in Asia, Africa, Mexico, Eastern and Western Europe, and anywhere else the call to share the Gospel might be propagated.

Lovell Cary remains true to his calling – a calling since 1944 that has produced many, many souls for the Kingdom of God. Let each one of us be true to the call to prayer for this beloved leader.