Jack S Last Thoughts for You

Acts 29 Ministry encountered a dramatic change when Jack unexpectedly passed away on November 17th. He died in their motor home near Vernon, Florida. He had just finished the following newsletter on Wednesday before his death. These final thoughts and comments are a testimony to God’s presence in his life. I spoke with Jack a few days before his passing and he was in a really good place with God. He was anxious about Sally because he wasn’t ready to turn loose but he knew God was preparing him for life without her and he was actually facing that reality for the first time. Jack wasn’t sure what God had in store for him and Acts 29 Ministry without her, but now he knows. The ministry that God used to touch so many lives over the course of the last 27 years is over. They often said,” we will serve God as long as He desires, and then He can take us home together”. Well, it didn’t quite happen in the manner they envisioned, but close. Sally will, most likely, join Jack shortly and I would like to think they will be able to rejoice in how the Lord allowed them to serve Him through Acts 29 Ministry.

Jack’s Last Thoughts for You Hello again to all our family in Christ. I thank you for allowing us to send our newsletter to your home as we are entering the Holiday Season that will take us right into the New Year. So, let me take this opportunity to wish you all a blessed and God- involved holiday season, especially Christmas, celebrating the birth of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ! I know I don't have to remind you of the state our world is in now, but doesn't it just emphasize the nearness of the coming of Jesus for His Church? Amen! Please receive our love and prayers as we ask you to continue to pray for us. It is easy to fall short in the expectations we have on our personal lives as Christians. But aren't we fortunate that we have an awesome God who never stops loving us and encouraging us to stay close to Him-especially as we are living in a world that has become so dark and yes…even dangerous. You just never know when it might strike close to home. We have to be aware that none of us are invulnerable to becoming victims of some kind of attack ourselves. I'm saying all this to share with you how God brought a scripture to my attention and basically said, "Pay close attention," as I was reading my Bible and came to a rhema from God in 2nd Peter. We must never stop growing or become complacent in our relationship with Him. After twenty-eight years of service I must never take for granted my walk with Him, as it is always onward and upward! Add to what you have. Add to who you are. 2nd Peter 1:1-11 "Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our savior Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature; having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And besides this, giving all diligence, (now pay attention) add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if you do these things, you shall never fall; for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

This, to me, is a very powerful message from God. It not only gives us a glimpse into the heart of God, but also lays out a sure way of teaching us how to be partakers of the divine nature. And I, for one, want an indwelling of His Holy Spirit influencing everything I do in my daily life. I want my life to reflect what God wants me to be and what He wants from me. No matter how often I fail Him or fail to be everything He expects of me, I must never stop growing and learning according to His demands on me. Peter begins with describing what he calls exceeding great and precious promises to guide us and build us into what God would have us be. It's a process for us to participate, in that it will make us fruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Beginning with faith-and you must understand that when he uses faith in this way he is referring to your being a Christian-that you have been born again. If you are not saved, this does not apply to you. So now, add to faith (our Christianity) virtue, that is, does your behavior look the same in public as it does in private? We add to Christianity the integrity of the things we do. In other words, we are honest. We have nothing to hide. And we add to our virtue, knowledge. That is talking about the stuff we have in our mind and in our life. Are the things we study and learn about acceptable to the divine nature? We are always putting things in our minds, so the difference now is that we are careful with what we see and what we do. Then we add to knowledge, temperance. Temperance is bringing everything into focus with the Bible. Self-restraint and discipline are critical to our Christian life. Temperance has everything to do with how we present ourselves. It matters what people see in us and expect of us. We have a pretty big responsibility, but yes, we have a very big God. So now, add to your faith (salvation), virtue. Virtue is the outward appearance of your honesty, the attribute that gives people the ability to trust you. So add to your virtue (outward honesty), knowledge. You are able to present yourself intelligently as you gain in knowledge, which to me is a type of wisdom. I think the essence of knowledge is knowing what God's Word says and being able to rightly apply it to everything you do or say. To show the best of yourself makes you able to make the right choices. Knowledge makes you smarter, simply put. Now, as you progress down this way of maturity, your growth makes it easier for you to just be in the crowd. That is, you are calm and have no need to prove yourself to anyone. Your level of anxiety isn't noticeable and now you find that it is alright not to expect anything from anyone. You have learned the real meaning of patience. Patience that not just characterizes your tolerance of others, but makes you man or woman enough to allow people to be who they are-whether Christian or non-Christian, without expecting them to live up to your own preconceived expectations. You are able to let things play out until the person reveals their true nature or motives.

You have now gotten rid of a lot of excess baggage and you are closer to God. You've become comfortable in His presence and filled with His Holy Spirit. You exhibit a more Christ-like life, which quite honestly makes many people very uncomfortable when they are with you. That, my friend, is Godliness. It is this godliness that convicts them and makes them want to know Jesus. Or, if they are saved, they realize they have drifted away from him and need to return.

Add to godliness, brotherly kindness. Godliness has to be seen as being mature in your relationship with God and brotherly kindness a result of it. Brotherly kindness is the fatherly position you must now take in your relationship with younger Christians. It is a position to be taken very seriously. It is the role of being the spiritual father to those God brings to you to teach or mentor. Being a spiritual father means that you can now help those that are younger than you in the Lord to achieve goals that they, or God, set for them. You have become a father figure and you have accepted a huge responsibility for yourself! But it is easier now to identify those who truly know how to love their neighbor as Christ loves them. Love is the natural product of mature salvation. I know for sure that I would like to be recognized as a spiritual father figure, a solid man of God, but I think when God looks at me I would look more like Swiss cheese. You know, full of holes, or lots of places that still need to be filled! But I can tell you this for sure, God is not through with me and He has promised He will never give up on me. He will never leave me or forsake me. Charity or love is the expression of God to every person in this world. Everything that has anything to do with God has to culminate in love because God is love. It is the natural tendency of Christians to be willing to shed the things of this world to gain the things of God. It is a good thing to grow older with God. It has made me a much younger seventy year-old man. I am stronger both physically and spiritually because of God's demands on me. That is the gift of God. It makes me think of the song, "How Great Thou Art". Our God is greater than great, isn't He? I am so glad that my Holy Father quickened my heart when I read 2 Peter 1: 1-11. It stirred me at a time when I needed it most.

Life for Sally and me is sure not dull these days. It has become an exciting adventure with thrills and suspense. Believe me, becoming a caregiver was challenging and was frustrating at first, but like every other phase of our life together as husband and wife and ministry partners, it was God's gift of salvation to us that has made the difference between success and failure. I look back over the twenty-eight years we have been together and I have to be amazed at the miraculous success story we can tell. It is a story that is rapidly changing and I think I can see the horizon of our goal line. Of course, I will continue to minister in whatever way God allows me to, but I have to face up to a reality that it will not always be JacknSally, but as Paul said, "the gifts and calling of God are without repentance." I will always be a bond-servant to God in this world, released of course, only when He calls for me. Honestly, I have been like the little boy whistling in the dark when I have made

2 statements concerning Sally's departure. I am frightened and when it comes right down to it, I can't honestly tell the Lord it is okay for Him to take Sally because I don't want to give her up. But at the same time it breaks my heart to think of her being trapped in that 36 by 90 inch bed that is her world. So I just pray to Him that I will be okay with whatever He decides. As long as I can, I will (and you can fill in the rest but I know He already has it planned out for me.) Please forgive me if I'm being too gloomy. It has never been my intention to seek or expect sympathy, we have received more than we could ever expect already. I don't think I have ever seen a greater outpouring of love than we have already received as it is! But the one thing that we have always tried to do with the people we know…is to say things as they are. Maybe not the best approach, but what more can you expect out of a simple redneck that God took from one impossible life and put him in another impossible life? The difference is that in the second impossible life He added a little Irish Yankee girl to the mix. I write the words, but she has always been the story. Heck, without Sally I would still be a nobody, doing nothing. But with her, man, I just throw my head back and laugh. Nobody but Almighty God could do with us what He has done with us and taken us to the places He has taken us! Sally and I have known for years that the reason God chose us for each other is because no one else could put up with us. We are truly the weak and the foolish that confounded the strong and the wise. We have been so blessed and loved that it is almost embarrassing. Even to this day-with our life as it is, we have no complaints or regrets. God has loved us with a perfect love. I wish I had the words to express it.

Well, dear ones that is my take on God's Word in 2nd Peter and a little catching up on us. Our traveling days are done but our living days are still pretty great. We love you all and we thank you all for what you have shared with us. How can I ever begin to say how much you mean to us? Your prayers and support are our life-blood. We thank God for putting you in our life and we thank you for filling such a great place in our hearts. So-o-o-o, until the next time Bob and his gang and I can send you another newsletter, we wish God's richest blessing upon you. Until we meet again; here, there, or IN THE AIR! Y’all take care now, ya hear? All our love, JacknSally

From the Board: Please pray for Sally as she continues under hospice care…for her daughters, Kenda and Dea and David and Cindi as they see to her daily needs. For those of you that have been faithful supporters of Acts 29 Ministry, you can continue to do so as you have, for the near term, and we will notify you when the ministry status officially changes. We are currently planning a memorial service for Jack in January in conjunction with the annual board meeting. If you would like more information, let me know and I’ll follow up with details. On a personal note, Jack was a good friend…assisting him as a Board member and with the newsletter over the years has been both rewarding and challenging. The rewards came from personally serving along-side him and the challenges, well…as many of you know, he could be a bit stubborn and opinionated at times. But, experiencing his dedication to God, Sally and all those he had the privilege of ministering to and with was a real blessing in my life. I thank God that he gave me that opportunity! Rick Taylor, another good friend of the ministry, shared the following, which I thought you might appreciate: “I am so thankful God blessed me with the opportunity to have a limited but personal relationship with Jack. I have been reading Paul’s writings in the New Testament lately, and I can’t help but find a bit of comparison between Biblical giant Paul and modern day Jack Hollingsworth. They both traveled spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, both suffered rejection by many, both carried on while battling physical and emotional pain, neither ever abandoned his role of serving his Savior, and both survived by faith alone. I can pay no greater tribute to the late Jack Hollingsworth than by these simple words.”

Current contact info: Robert King - e-mail [email protected] phone 417-664-0606 David McFarland - e-mail [email protected] phone 850-832-4913