2 Corinthians 9: 12-15: Thanks be to God!

Presented to TSA Alberni Valley Ministries, 10 August 2025. (Also presented to each the Nipawin and Tisdale Corps 12 October 2008 and Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army 28 April 2013) by Major Michael Ramsay

 

This is the 2025 Alberni Valley version.

 

To view the 2008 / 2013 version, click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/10/2-corinthians-912-15-thanks-be-to-god.html

 

Bette, Travis and others have been helping this week with the Wesley Ridge / Cameron Lake Fire Evacuation Services in Parksville and Qualicum. They left here Sunday after church and have been there most days this week. They have served between 70 and 150 meals for each meal, serving 1 to 2 meals each day. Since I have been in town Alberni Valley Emergency Disaster Services has supported emergencies here (fires, road closures, pandemic, etc.) and in Kamloops and Smithers / Prince George. EDS is something that I have been involved in quite a bit in my time in The Salvation Army. This week I ran across some of my notes from my first international deployment to help with Emergency Disaster Services.

 

September 2008, Hurricane Ike struck Galveston Island. More than 1 million people were evacuated from that part of Texas and more than 72 people were found dead as a result of the storm and the flooding. I was part of the first deployment of relief workers. Bodies were still being found when I left. After I left new problems developed in the way of mould and mildew. I heard from the crews that replaced us that the smell was almost overwhelming as soon as they stepped on the Island. People also began to notice the divide between the rich and the poor: which neighbourhoods were getting their garbage picked up and who was having their power restored, etc…

 

Homes were destroyed. Businesses were destroyed. When we were there, the sewers, the water, and the phones were not working. People were housed in shelters both on and away from Galveston Island. Many still had no place to go. Power remained out for a long time afterwards in some of the parts where we were posted. The power outage means that even for families that did not lose their stoves and refrigerators – and most did. There were many refrigerators destroyed and lying on the side of the road for pick up – they were unable to keep or cook any food. They didn’t have food and they didn’t have water.

 

Food and water: this is a big part of what The Salvation Army does. We had around 30 food trucks (CRUs) from which we helped to serve around 75 000 hot meals every day and give the people water and ice. Ice was very important. It was around 90⁰ F during our time there. And the food: many people told me that without The Salvation Army they wouldn’t have eaten at all. They wouldn’t have survived. We thank the Lord for the service that the volunteers were providing to God and this community. We prayed for them that as they continued to serve down there even after we left, the Lord continued to bless greatly the volunteers and the populace alike.

 

2 Corinthians 9:12-15: This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

 

I would like to share with you some of the testimonies and miracles that we have to be thankful for from our time on Galveston Island almost 2 decades ago.

 

I was part of the mobile Emotional and Spiritual Care team for most of my time down there. For my first four or five days I served on a canteen as an ESC Officers. I thank the Lord for all that he did through our crew. There were four of us on our canteen: myself Wilfred, John, and Jose.

 

John left his family back in Illinois to join us. Someone close to him was once an executive director of some firm but over the past few years he had been struggling with addiction. While he was away, she slipped. His children are grown and at least one of them has moved home again with his own young family. There were numerous struggles on the home front as those close to him struggled. When John heard some of the stories about the problems at home he was grieved but He prayed and experienced the Lord’s grace. He shared the testimony that his grown son called ‘daddy’ for the first time on the phone. The Lord protected John’s family. He blessed me and so many people on Galveston Island through him. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

 

Jose was also on our canteen. He came from Virginia, but he was born in Mexico. When he first came to the US, he spoke no English: now he is bilingual, speaking both English and Spanish. This was a real blessing because in this part of Texas there are many people who don’t speak any English at all and they were hit very hard by Ike. In the first few days he translated prayers for me into Spanish. By the time I left, he was leading prayers for people in need. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

 

There are many stories from our time down there. I can’t possibly share them all with you today. We don’t have enough time. I want to share a couple of very significant stories however.

 

I heard more than one account of a contemporary miracle paralleling that of the fish and the loaves. Our canteens were instructed to make sure that they gave away all of their food before they came in for the night. They did not want food returned when people were going without. One canteen had some food left. It was getting late so they were seeking out someone to give their last container of food to. They prayed. One person then saw a line of about 12-18 tired and hungry looking construction workers so they headed over to offer them food. They were really appreciative.

 

As they were feeding these men, a number of school busses filled with people pulled up. It is my understanding that they served over 800 meals at that location – no one went away hungry. Feeling blessed by what the Lord had done they started to clean up. (Now there was a non-believer, a Red Cross worker on their canteen with them today). Someone picked up the container from which they fed the 800 meals and read from the side of it, ‘serves 90 meals’. The Lord fed more than eight times that number and no one went hungry. The Red Cross worker who was helping them on the truck that day began to cry. He said that he had never believed in God – until now. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

 

This same canteen was used by the Lord to lead many more people in prayer to Christ. There were also some very exciting open airs that led to many more accepting Jesus’ gift of eternal life. There were many miracles in the midst of suffering. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

 

We met families who lost everything: their homes, their businesses, their possessions. I met one man who cried as he watched the machines scoop up all his destroyed possessions that he had to throw out. He praised the Lord that he just lost his things but it still hurt to see all the tokens of his memories scooped up into the back of a dump truck.

 

Parts of the city of Galveston were under more than 10 feet of water. I spoke with one Lady who lost everything on the first floor of her house but praised the Lord because all her children’s things were unharmed on the second floor – so at least they were comforted and had something to do while their parents worked to clean up the mess and fix the house.

 

Many people relayed how they had lost all their possessions but praised God that they had escaped with their lives. This is really quite something because in 1900, a similar hurricane hit this same Island and claimed 8000 lives. Many people praised the Lord for the contemporary early warning systems. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! There was plenty of warning. No one needed to die. Everyone was saved who chose to leave the Island. Some, however, rejected their salvation.

 

There is a story of one 19- or 20-year-old who stood on the waterfront, intentionally defying the storm. He was swept away to his death. I met a man who lost his home and his business and praised the Lord for his insurance, but he wondered why his brother chose to stay behind and die. How does he deal with the fact that his brother rejected salvation?

 

This is really the same for us today here. We thank God for His indescribable gift! We praise Him that the early warning for the end of times hurricane was sounded 2 millennia ago. We praise the Lord, that he gave his life so that everyone can be saved - but the sad thing is that some will reject this salvation.

 

Jesus died on the cross and rose again so that we need not perish in that eschatological hurricane. The sad thing is that some refuse to call on the Name of the Lord. Some live their whole lives without the knowledge and comfort of God. Some ignore the early warning system. Some defy God. Some refuse to be saved. Some friends and family are like that man’s brother. Some friends and family are like that 19- or 20-year-old – just awaiting death. It is sad. It is tragic. Some suffer all the things that we all suffer and more and don’t experience the peace of God that can sustain us all.

 

But there is good news. It is my understanding that though 75 may have lost their lives needlessly, over 200 have been saved eternally through this event. I have heard story upon story of people who have heeded the early warning system, who have accepted Christ and who have been saved. Praise the Lord. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

 

I want to share the story of Scott and the story of Paul. Scott was a canteen worker from central Texas who had accepted the Lord not too long before coming to Galveston and Paul is a twelve-year-old boy.

 

Scott was working on of one of our canteens.  Paul lives in an apartment with 10 other people and is familiar with the neighbourhood activities of gangs and drugs.  This boy saw our canteen near his home and wanted to help.  He approached Scott and volunteered to help.  Scott welcomed him with open arms and very quickly made an impression on Paul - he kept coming back. Scott even gave him T-shirt and hat.  The look on Paul’s face was worth a million dollars or more.

 

The evening before Scott was to return home from his deployment, I had the opportunity to give him his exit interview. During this interview we began speaking about Paul, whom I had met a couple of days previous. Scott told me that he had prayed with Paul on a number of occasions and that Paul was asking about Jesus. I asked if Paul had asked the Lord into his heart. Scott said ‘not yet’ and asked me to help him do that.

 

The next day, Sunday, Scott, Paul, and a number of other volunteers working on the canteen eagerly awaited our arrival – Paul was ready to ask the Lord into his heart.  We arrived and I encouraged Scott to lead Paul in the ‘sinners’ prayer’.  After a simple confession of sin and profession of faith, Paul was welcomed into the family of God.  We then sang a verse of Amazing Grace and Scott presented Paul with a Bible.

 

While we were celebrating Paul’s proclamation of salvation, two apparent ‘good-ole boys’ rolled up in a pick-up truck with their radio blaring Hank William’s “I Saw the Light.”  They were angels. They were messengers of God who had come to celebrate with us, then they were gone.

 

In the midst of all the turmoil and all the suffering God was there. In the midst of all our troubles and all our sufferings, God is here. He offers this same salvation to us here on Vancouver Island today that he offered to them on Galveston Island in Texas in 2008.

 

So today we all here have the same choice that faced the people of Galveston Island. We can either defy the storm and perish like the nineteen-year-old boy or we can heed the warning; we can see the light, choose to be saved, turn our eyes upon Jesus, experience everyday of our life with him, and celebrate with the Angles sent from God in Heaven. We can all experience the comfort of Christ for now and forever through whatever storms come our way. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

 

Let us Pray.

 

www.sheepspeak.com

Psalm 146: Set the Captives Free (Now)!

Presented to TSA Alberni Valley Ministries by Major Michael Ramsay, 03 August 2025

 

We have a lot of scripture readings again because I want to chat some more about a truth that this is a common theme throughout the Bible: “Set the captives free!” Most of the time when we, in church, read about the captives being set free it is in the context of the Kingdom of God. The Gospels say that the Kingdom of God is at hand. In theology we use the term ‘prolepsis’ to refer to the time when the Kingdom of God begins, which is now, the time between the resurrection of Christ and His return at the eschaton. This is the time we are living in now and as Christians it is our responsibility to try to make this time as close to what the world will be like when Jesus comes back at the end of time – which is perfect.

 

The Bible repeatedly tells us what Christian nations look like, what we as Christians need to work toward in our country. Psalm 146 is example of how we can be a part of God’s Kingdom:

 

Psalm 146

1 Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, my soul.

2 I will praise the Lord all my life;

I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

3 Do not put your trust in princes,

in human beings, who cannot save.

4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;

on that very day their plans come to nothing.

5 Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,

whose hope is in the Lord their God.

6 He is the Maker of heaven and earth,

the sea, and everything in them—

he remains faithful forever.

7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed

and gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets prisoners free,

8     the Lord gives sight to the blind,

the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,

the Lord loves the righteous.

9 The Lord watches over the foreigner

and sustains the fatherless and the widow,

but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

10 The Lord reigns forever,

your God, O Zion, for all generations.

Praise the Lord.

 

Verse 7 says, “The Lord sets the prisoners free”; you can also see this sentiment in Zechariah 9:11, Psalm 68:6, Psalm 102:20, Isaiah 42:7 and elsewhere. Jesus, as recorded in Luke, quotes Isaiah 42 letting people know that the time to set the prisoners free is now. I think this is important. I think we do need to do what the Bible tells us to do. I was reading one African Liberation Theologian’s essay (I believe it was Bongajalo Goba) this week in Hammering Swords into Plowshares, a book dedicated to the Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He said that one main difference between capitalist western churches and the Universal Christian Church is that western churches either spiritualize everything (for example: God doesn’t’ really want us to let people out of jail, that is just a metaphor for something else…maybe being free from our personal bad habits) or they try to say that the things that God tells us to do as a society are only in the future and God will do it; it is not our responsibility (we shouldn’t try to give sight to the blind now; we shouldn’t end hunger or homelessness now – even though we can!- God will do that when Jesus returns at the end of time). But the real Church including the churches in the third world realizes that when God tells us to make it so that no one is hungry; no one is lonely; no one is homeless; no one is thirsty, and no one is in prison; He is telling us to do it now! We are not supposed to go on propping up (western capitalist ‘democratic’) systems that are opposed to the expressed will of God and just say “oh well, when we all get to heaven we will all be okay” -both me who has so much and my neighbour who doesn’t. When we all get to heaven what a day of rejoicing that will be.

 

I have been really convicted and cut to the quick with the sentiment I shared at the Summer Rain festival: Jesus speaks about a salvation society as one where the sick are healed, the captives are freed, the hungry are fed, the lonely are visited, the perpetrator is forgiven, relationships are healed. In our world, in our country, in our province, in our city there is still conflict, abuse, addiction, poverty, homelessness, murder, mental illness, hate, violence, unforgiveness… What if we didn’t have to wait until we die to experience a world without all of this? What if Christ was right and he wasn’t lying to us? What if the Kingdom of God is actually at hand? What if the Church (and our churches) is actually the body of Christ and what if we actually do this?  

 

Recently I read Wrongfully Convicted by Canadian lawyer and Founder of Innocence Canada, Kent Roach and this week I have been reading Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson, an American lawyer who has spent his career working with death row inmates. The horrors that people suffer behind bars in the USA are as bad as you imagine and even worse. Think of the TV shows you have seen and then place yourself or your loved ones in the place of the prisoners being abused by prisoners or guards, or judges, or whomever. When I studied Restorative Justice from Simon Fraser University a decade ago, we read stories of inmates who were actually lost in American prisons – it came time to release them and they had no idea where they were.

 

I have a story relating to that – when I was just a new Salvation Army Officer, I was appointed to the small town of Nipawin, Saskatchewan (Go Riders!). On Sunday a congregation member asked me if I could go see another congregation member, Zerah. “Sure” I said. “He is in cells” they said. Apparently, shortly before we had arrived to town Zerah had gone on an arson spree, lighting the town on fire. I spent the next weeks and months meeting Zerah whenever he was in town for the circuit court. In between court dates they would ship him off to prisons in Prince Albert or Regina – and I think his court cases were in Nipawin, Carrot River, or Tisdale. I would meet him in whatever small community courthouse the circuit court was meeting on that day of the week.

 

One time I was in the court room in Carrot River and they called Zerah’s name to stand before the judge. No answer. They called it again. No answer. The judge then said, “We will need to issue a warrant for his arrest for not showing up for court.” At this point I popped up from my seat and awkwardly raised my hand. I was in uniform so he knew I wasn’t Zerah; so he asked me “do you know where Zerah is?” “Yes. He is in prison in PA” I said. Everyone in the courtroom laughed. I didn’t. The judge didn’t. “Then we better not issue a warrant for his arrest – that would look pretty bad” the judge said as he instructed the bailiff to try to find Zerah and figure out how they lost him in the system. Eventually, they did find Zerah in prison; but can you imagine if I wasn’t there? This warrant issued from the bench would be on his record. They lost Zerah in prison.

 

I was reading some research this week. Did you know that quite a few people in U.S. jails, federal, and US state prisons have never even been convicted of a crime? What percentage of people in US jails do you think have never been convicted of a crime? 80%! 80% of people suffering all that they are suffering in prison have never been convicted of an offence and some of them never will be and some of them will have their convictions overturned on appeal. I didn’t find the stats for Canada but, from experience, I wouldn’t be surprised if they are similar.

 

A member of our church in Toronto when he immigrated to Canada from Dubai about 10 years ago, they held him and his sister in jail until they processed them – I am not sure how many months they were in jail. He was separated from his sister (she was put in a different jail) and quite concerned about her. I wound up having to go to the consulate with him to figure out a whole bunch of things – this is Canada.

 

I spoke to my friends in Stony Mountain Penitentiary when I was there for two years. They told me that the prison organized the wings by gangs: the Indian Posse had one wing, the Hells Angels another. They set the rules. They told me that you never make eye contact with anyone. It was hard not to be part of a gang. We put people who have never been convicted of a crime through this and more in Canada. And they can lose you in this system, like they did Zerah. Can you imagine if it was the day of your release and no one knew where you were to release you?

 

In 2023, in Canada, 61 people died in custody.  According to StatsCan, from 2017-2020 there were 169 deaths in our prisons: there were 20 suicides, 11 confirmed homicides, 19 drug overdoses and many other natural and suspicious deaths. In 2019 alone in the USA 143 were murdered while in the care of the State.

 

We, the Church, are called to free the prisoners; we, the Church, are supposed to be good stewards of the money God entrusts us with too. The estimated total court spending in Canada for 2014 was $1,614,017,311. That is not even including the incarceration and other costs! We could provide everyone the mental health and addiction support they need in this country for that amount of money. The average hotel cost across this country is $211.00 per night. The daily average cost of keeping someone in prison here is $326.00 per night which works out to $9780.00 per month. We could afford to put everyone in a hotel and give them the mental health and addition help they need for less than putting them in prison – and there are lots of safer cheaper ways to contain someone still. The average rental cost in Canada is $2200 / month which works out to $74 a day (as opposed to the $326 /day that it costs to put someone in a cage!); the average mortgage in Canada (including Vancouver, etc.) is just $2100 a month which works out to just $70 a day. We can feed and house people at the Bread of Life, Tiny Homes, or a shelter here for a lot cheaper than that too – with all the supports to keep themselves and others safe! So why do we lock people in prisons? It doesn’t help them. It doesn’t help us! – oh and btw I read that over 70% of those in Canadian prisons have diagnosed mental health conditions.

 

Instead of locking someone up to be tortured in the cages we call prisons, we could send someone somewhere actually safe and secure for mental health and addiction support – we just choose not to! Derek, one of our regular friends at the Army and the Bread of Life, every time he gets out of jail he is healthy-ish, well fed and not visibly fighting his demons for a week or so – but when they toss him out of prison they toss him out on the street with no support; so his own mental health demons torment him so much until he hurts himself and others in unimaginable ways and then winds up back behind bars where he suffers everything that one suffers there. That doesn’t make society safe. That doesn’t make Derick safe.

 

That doesn’t need to be the case. My friend Zerah was eventually sentenced to mental health care and weekly injections for his schizophrenia instead of jail and he was able to contribute to society. Why don’t we help everyone who needs help like that? Why do we torture people like we do to Derrick instead? Why? Just because Zerah ‘lucked out’ and had a compassionate judge? Because he had a TSA Officer with him the whole time? We are called to set the captives free. There is no reason for anyone to be tortured in a cage, let alone the 80% of the people we are doing this to who have never been convicted of a crime. And how can we punish people with mental health and addiction issues for acting in manners consistent with their mental health and addiction issues?

 

And… why am I asking us this question? And to 25 people here who actually do a lot for people in our community? What do I want us to do? Are we able to go speak with Judge Wolf and ask that he never sentence someone to incarceration again? – maybe; I wouldn’t object to that. Do I want a volunteer to start a court worker program here like we had in Saskatchewan that helped keep people out of prison? - maybe; I wouldn’t object to that. Am I asking us to write letter or speak in person to Josie (our MLA) and Gord (our MP) and ask them to change the legislation so that we try to help heal our community heal rather than punish the sick and even innocent people this way; maybe. I wouldn’t object to that.

 

I guess the main thing I am asking us is to keep our eyes open; keep our ears open. Remember that Jesus and the Bible does command us set the captives free and we as members of the church are asked to do that, just as we are asked to forgive one another like we have spoken about the previous few weeks. So today, I ask that we please just leave here knowing and believing that our world can be changed and it can be changed now; there are other solutions, let us look for them; let us pray for them, and let us fight for them. Jesus tells us to set the captives free.

 

Let us pray

www.sheepspeak.com

4 Categories and 12 Steps to Holiness.

Presented to TSA Alberni Valley Ministries, 27 July 2025 by Major M Ramsay

 

The previous few weeks I have been camping with Susan and Heather – and coming back here to work: some weeks I was more with them such as last week and some weeks I was more at work here such the week previous.

 

The themes I have been preaching on lately are what I have been reading about the past few weeks: forgiveness and the Kingdom of God. I have been reading a few books and articles by and about Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He shares some examples about the power one has when they forgive. You can even be free of awful hurts – pain from murder, torture, racism, etc. – by forgiving people who harmed you. Forgiveness can save your mental, emotional and spiritual health.

 

Last week was also one of my favourite recent sermons; I was reading a lot of liberation theologians so I shared some of my ideas of the Kingdom of God – where there are no more wars, no more prisons; where countries take the resources we currently spend on killing other people’s children and use them to save our own and other children instead.

 

This week I have been reading a lot about Alcoholic Anonymous’ 12 steps so I will speak about that. I have often left AA meetings realizing how good a vehicle they are for the gospel and have often quoted them in various sermons.

 

This week I noticed that I could arrange the 12 steps of AA into 4 categories of Salvation; so I will share these and  the12 steps as they relate to Holiness, as I understand them:

 

Category 1 - Steps 1-3: the Sovereignty of God (Jonah 1)

1.     We admitted we were powerless over [sin] — that our lives had become unmanageable.

2.     We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us…

3.     We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

 

I want to share a bit of a miracle related to Category 1, the sovereignty of God – my phone stopped charging on Monday (I need it for work, for a lot); I was camping last week ¾ of an hour west of Langford, past Sooke. I drove a long way to lot of places to see if I could get a tech to help me. I couldn’t. I needed my phone at least for an alarm clock as I had to get up at 3 or 4am Wednesday morning to get here for work. When God placed preaching about  ‘His sovereignty’ on my mind, I prayed for the sovereign God to charge my phone so at least I would have an alarm on Wednesday – and He did! And then it stopped charging again. God does all kinds of big, little and other miracles for His Kingdom and His purposes. (He also used others here to fix my phone on Wednesday too. God is good.)

 

When I think of the sovereignty of God I think of Jonah. We know the story of Jonah. Jonah knows that God can save people from destruction; God asks Jonah to tell Jonah’s enemies how to be saved from destruction – Jonah says ‘no’. Not only that. Jonah says, ‘I am outta here’. God tells Jonah to go to an inland city like Saskatoon or Red Dear and tell them how they can be saved; so, Jonah hops the first boat to Japan. The actual city is Ninevah, in modern day Iraq, and Jonah heads to the Mediterranean Sea, but you get the point. Jonah knows God is sovereign, but Jonah made the mistake of thinking he could thwart that somehow.

 

God then proves He is in charge, of course. When Jonah hops on a boat to run away, God sends a storm and all the people on the boat believe they are going to die; they ask their gods and each other why this is happening; they find out that it is Jonah’s fault; they ask Jonah what to do so that the storm will end; Jonah says ‘kill me’ – really!?! Jonah would rather die that do what God wants him to do. Eventually they do throw him overboard, the storm stops and the other people on the boat are saved; everyone worships God.

 

But of course, God didn’t let Jonah off the hook by letting him die. Much to Jonah’s dismay God sent a big fish to swallow Jonah, keep him from the storm for three days. The fish then vomits him on shore and God says [more or less], ‘Jonah now go and do what I told you to do in the first place’. God is sovereign.

 

Step 2: Restoration - Jonah begrudgingly does it, God restores the whole city of Ninevah – nothing is impossible for God

 

Step 3: Turning our will over to God – Jonah never really reaches this stage- Jonah winds up whining and complaining under a branch the Lord gave him; the Lord then took the branch away – and Jonah complained all the more.

 

Better examples of turning our will over to God, repentance, is Terah and Abraham’s family. Terah is Abraham’s dad. They are called by God, in turn, to move to Canaan from Babbel. We remember that story. The people of the earth think they are better than God or at least equal to Him – they don’t even have the understanding of the sovereignty of God that Jonah does. God had told the people to disperse, go and fill the whole earth in Genesis 1 but they decide that they would rather challenge God, stay and build this tower to the heavens and make a name for themselves instead of following God’s direction… God then says, (I’m paraphrasing) challenge accepted. He knows that they cause all these problems working together because they are speaking the same language; so, He confuses their languages – He makes them speak a whole bunch of different languages and since they can’t understand each other the people go to the different areas of the earth like they were told too. Abraham’s family was called to Canaan. Terah, his dad, looks like he started that journey and then gave up. But Abraham repented, turned His will over to God and continued.

 

An even better example is Saul in the NT. He persecuted God’s people: Christians and Greeks (Gentiles). God then strikes him blind while travelling the road to Damascus and God winds up using him as one of the main Christian ministers to the Greeks (Gentiles); as a result of his turning his will over to God, in history we remember him by the Greek version of his name, ‘Paul’, rather than the Hebrew version of his name ‘Saul’

 

Category 2 - Steps 4-7: Confess Our Shortcomings (Galatians 5:19-21)

4.     We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5.     Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6.     Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7.     Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

 

About a month ago of so we preached a number of sermons on Galatians 5 and the fruit of the Spirit vs. the fruit of ourselves, the flesh. During one of those sermons, I told Gerry Fostaty’s story from As You Were: The Tragedy at Valcartier. I will summarize it here:

 

Gerry was a cadet leader at camp. As part of the camp, the young children he led learned how to use weapons properly and how to take care of the weapons and how the weapons worked and all kinds of things like that.

          In one class, the adult instructor was handing out dummy grenades for the children to examine. The dummy grenades are different from the real grenades: the dummies are brightly coloured - orange, pink, blue – not the military green of combat weaponry. The cadets, these children were encouraged to take apart these dummy grenades, put them back together, examine how they work, etc., etc., etc.…

Apparently and disastrously in with the orange, pink, and blue-coloured grenades was at least one live green grenade. The children were passing this live green grenade – along with the toy grenades – along the line of cadets in the class. They were taking the pin out and placing it back in and they were holding (I don’t know what the term is but…) the safety and disabling and reassembling it along with the coloured grenades and then… one little boy pulled the pin on the live grenade and holding it out too long…

One deadly green grenade had mixed in with the harmless coloured grenades and this one green grenade brought death and destruction with it. The result of this green grenade in the room full of children is essentially the same result as hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissentions, factions, envy, and other defects of character wind up in our lives.

 

Therefore, we need to make a moral inventory – we need to find those and other green grenades in our life. We need to point them out to God and someone else. God knows but He likes us to tell Him when we figure things out – because He loves us. We need to realize that we can’t actually get rid of all of these green grenades by ourselves – if we try, they may blow up in any of a myriad of ways. We need to ask God to get rid of the grenades because He really is the only one who can safely do that.

 

Category 3 - Steps 8-11: Keep us Blameless (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24)

8. We made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

 

Who here has never hurt people? Who here has never made anyone mad at you? I could at this point hand out papers and pens or pencils and ask you to make a list of all the people you have hurt – but we probably don’t have enough time. I probably couldn’t get past Grade 2 by the time our time is up today. (Romans 3:23: for we all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God)

 

Step 9. Make amends where we can – this is important: if you stole 1 million dollars, if you have some way to pay it back, do it. If you don’t’, you can’t. Also, it is suggested that you don’t throw anyone else under the bus. If you robbed a bank or stole from work, you might or might not want to rat out your accomplices and the security guard who was asleep at the desk – but that may cause more harm than good. You would have to figure that out. Adultery is often mentioned here in the literature – if you slept with a married person’s spouse – and it is still unknown years later; you probably don’t want to surprise the spouse and ruin a reconciled marriage just so you can feel good. That would be selfish. Basic rule of thumb: don’t let fear be an excuse to not make amends – always stand up to your fears. But some people get such a high out of confession that they wind up outing other people in the process – this is bad. Don’t make other people’s lives worse so you can feel good.

 

Steps 10 and 11: keep it up! Make a moral inventory (step 4) and keep on making moral inventories. See where those green grenades are. We will each probably make mistakes in the future too. Let us be aware of that and let us confess our sins -mistakes, shortcomings – as they happen. John Wesley did this daily. We should do the same: set up times of prayer, meditation and reflection and confess our mistakes to others, ourselves, and God. Personal devotional time, connecting with God is so important. It is the only way we can ever fully have peace in our lives.

 

Category 4 - Step 12: Evangelize (Matthew 28:18-20)

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to [others], and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

 

That is our final step and the last category – Evangelize. I will teach you some Greek. εὐαγγέλιον (euangelion) evangelism is the Greek word for ‘Good News’. Evangelism means ‘good news’: When you share good news with some one you are evangelizing them. This is what the word means and that is what it is meant to be. We can be saved from so much here and now and forever: that’s what salvation is; we can share that good news with others: that’s what evangelism is.

 

So today we went through the 12 AA steps, applied them to holiness and organized them into four categories of Salvation. The categories are:

 

Step One: Let us acknowledge the sovereignty of God

Two: Confess our shortcomings

Three: Let God keep us blameless

Four: Evangelise, share the Good News

 

That is my hope. That we will all experience this Holiness, this peace with God as we live out our Salvation both now and forever – and then that we will share the Good News of that possibility and that reality with others so that they can experience the love, joy, hope, and peace of Christ that can get us all through all of the struggles of this life and keep us holy unto eternal life.

 

Let us pray.

 

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Luke 4:16-21; Isaiah 2:4, (Isaiah 61:1-4; Matthew 25:31-46). Swords, Summer Rain, and Salvation.

Presented to the Summer Rain Christian Festival and TSA AVM on 19 and 20 July, 2025 by Major Michael Ramsay

 

Last year here I spoke about Human Trafficking and the workers at San Group. They said they paid between $20 000.00 and $30 000.00 to come here to work for a wage in excess of $30/hr. They said they never received that wage. They said they were subject to unsafe working conditions: working with toxic chemicals without proper protective gear, working long hours, many days in a row. They were afraid for themselves, and they were afraid for the safe transportation of their family. They showed us where they lived. They explained to us how they lived. They asked us to help them flee.

 

fifteen of the 16 workers were taken out of town to a secure Salvation Army facility in Victoria where they could have their physical, emotional and spiritual care needs met and where they could get the legal and other counsel that they needed.

 

The years prior I spoke here about our Emergency Disaster Services work and pointing people to salvation from natural disasters. This was really on my mind lately as all those children recently died in Texas. The first international deployment I was ever on was in Texas. Those children who died recently were at a Christian sleep away camp. We just sent 33 children from here to a sleep-away camp. It has been heavy on my heart. When I spoke about our EDS work here last, I spoke about a hurricane that struck Galveston where people didn’t necessarily need to perish; people who had the chance to choose to get on a bus to escape the impending disaster or to stay and perish: some chose salvation, some rejected it.

 

I often speak about how salvation is forever and how it begins right now and we can choose to take advantage of that salvation – whether it be a bus out of town to free us from human trafficking or a bus out of town to free us from impending flood or hurricane or a metaphorical bus out of sin and death into eternal life. But…

 

Salvation, of course, is more than that. Jesus, Luke, Isaiah, the Bible speaks about a salvation society as one where the sick are healed, the captives are freed, the hungry are fed, the lonely are visited, the perpetrator is forgiven, relationships are healed. Isaiah 2:4 speaks of Salvation as where the Lord:

He will judge between the nations

and will settle disputes for many peoples.

They will beat their swords into plowshares

and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nation will not take up sword against nation,

nor will they train for war anymore.

 

In our world, in our country, in our province, in our city there is still conflict, abuse, addiction, poverty, homelessness, murder, mental illness, hate, violence, unforgiveness…and we still pick up our swords. What if we didn’t have to wait until we die to experience a world without all of this? What if Christ was right and he wasn’t lying to us? What if the Kingdom of God is actually at hand? What if the Church (and our churches) is actually the body of Christ and what if we actually do this? It has been said that poverty isn’t a matter of scarcity: God has provided more than enough for the whole world; poverty is a matter of distribution. Countries, organizations, and people with resources simply do not share. I understand that the payroll of the NY Yankees alone could feed and clothe the world – how many sports teams are there in Canada and the US alone? Baseball? Hockey? Football? I plan to watch the game today … Is that what we choose instead of feeding a starving child? America is seemingly always at war and we are when they tell us. I read an article about their recent bombing of Iran. It was a very small American attack – nothing like Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya. etc. They only used four planes: each plane cost one billion dollars, the missiles they launched each cost 1 million dollars. How many American children could they feed, shelter and educate for that? They (we) would rather spend money killing other people’s children than providing the needed care and education to save their (our) own children. It seems that they (we) would rather their (our) own children die in poverty than pass up the opportunity to kill their (our) enemies’ children. Isaiah says God’s nations will beat swords into ploughshares. We are beating ploughshares into swords. I only pick on the US because I read the article about them and they are the world’s only superpower: Israel, Britain, France, China, Russia, India, Canada, etc., etc. etc.… it all applies. Our countries: if we are sheep nations rather than goat nations, if we are saved, we will beat our swords into ploughshares and we will put more effort into saving people than we do in killing them.

 

Of the over 35 million people in Canada today, 35 485 of us are locked in cages, prisons. There are homeless people right here on the streets of our town today. In BC addiction is more in your face than anywhere else in Canada. I did not see as many people on the streets in Regent Park, Toronto, Canada’s first ghetto, as I did in front of the OPS here when I first arrived.

 

Matthew 25:31ff says that the sheep nations, the ones that are saved are ones who feed the hungry, water the thirsty, visit the lonely, sick and imprisoned, house the unhoused stranger…. Are we a saved nation or do we have unhoused, hungry, lonely people in prison and on the streets? Do you care? Are we as the church doing our part? Are we members of the Kingdom of God fighting to overthrow the powers, principalities and systems of this world?

 

Who here professes Christ as our saviour? When we look at Matthew 25:31ff – even the goat nations that don’t go to spend eternity with our Lord do that! Matthew 7 says that not everyone who calls Jesus Lord is saved. Salvation is more than that. I recently read a poem that was shared at a ‘poor persons conference’ in Albergue years ago. Here is a modified excerpt:

I was hungry

and you formed a … club

and discussed my hunger.

Thank you.

 

I was imprisoned

And you crept off quietly

To your chapel in the cellar

And prayed for my release

[Thank you]

 

I was sick

And you knelt

and thanked God

for your health

[Thank you]

 

I was homeless

And you preached to me

Of the spiritual shelter of

The love of God

[Thank you]

 

I was lonely

and you left me alone

 to pray for me.

[Thank you]

 

You seem so holy;

So close to God

But I’m still very hungry

And lonely

And cold…

 

Liberation Theologian Albert Nolan asks, “How can one speak about the church as the body of the crucified Jesus of Nazareth when church people are so healthy, well-fed and have no broken bones?”  Are we complicit with the systems of this world or are we fighting to expand the Kingdom of God? What can we do? How can you and I at least, beat our swords into ploughshares? How can you and I, at least, act like sheep? First we must advocate for real change! (to de-commodify the world for starters) Then we must do it!

 

Now there is a glimmer of hope even here. This Thursday, as every Thursday, there was I prayer meeting at the Bread of Life Centre. Friends who eat with us there, friends who sleep there, friends who live and visit us there – they pray. You should see the tears. You should hear the testimonies. The Spirit is moving (preaching Good News through the poor); God is transforming lives.

 

When I was in the Cypress Heath region, people were dying in the hospital without the congregations or their pastors even knowing they were there. People were not getting any support. The Lord used His people to set up a hospital chaplaincy program where a pastor would do the rounds everyday and visit everyone in the hospital and reach out to the pastors of the other churches when their congregation members were in the hospital.

 

When I was in Southwest Saskatchewan it was put on hearts, the number of people who were going to prison over and over again – and the number of victims of crime who never had the opportunity to face their accuser and never had the opportunity to be free of unforgiveness. Before my time, God used TSA set up restorative justice in SW Saskatchewan where the victim and offender were able to see each other, the victim would be able to have their questions answered and the victim would be given the opportunity to be freed from unforgiveness which can kill us all.

 

During my time there, God used His people to set up a transition through incarceration program where we sat with the offender (and victim) in court, kept in touch with them in prison, set them up with a place to stay, a job, a social group that was different than the one they had when they went into prison. Of all the people we sat with only one person ever re-offended. Societies can be changed. God does transform lives and He will transform the world. (We do need to get rid of prisons altogether! In the Kingdom of God people aren’t locked in cages!)

 

Since I have been in town, I have seen God use His people to set up the shelter at the Bread of Life centre, and provide food and shelter 24 hours a day, seven days a week through staff, volunteers, soldiers, and community partners (including the ministerial association and various churches) past and present. (We do need to provide supportive housing; there is no homelessness in the Kingdom of God)

 

My friends, this is what the kingdom of God looks like; this is what Salvation looks like. It is people being transformed as they come to know our Lord and Saviour; it is societies being transformed as they come to follow our Lord and Saviour. Are you a part of God’s transformative church in our society? Do you want to be? Do you want to offer food and prayer to people on the food truck? You can. Do you want to serve people at the food bank or the soup kitchen? You can. Do you want to lead a Bible Study at the shelter or the Bread of Life? You can. If service, study, or hospitality are not your gifts… maybe you would like to organize a food drive? Maybe God has given you two coats and you can donate one to the Thrift Store - so that it can either be given to someone in need, or sold to someone in need so that they can have the dignity of selecting and purchasing it themselves, and/or sold to generate funds for services to those in need? Maybe you don’t think that you have anything to offer but maybe beyond your tithes to your local congregation, God is leading you to feed the hungry in your own community by writing a cheque. There are a million ways or more to serve and be used by God as part of transforming our whole society into a salvation society and everyone is welcome to participate!

 

I often think of Randall from my time in Toronto. He is blind. I think he grew up in quite an abusive home. He lived in 220 Oak, the worst building in one of the worst areas of Toronto. Randall is a soldier in our Salvation Army. Randall played music. He was a blind man carrying a tuba (or baritone) on his back, his white cane in his hand, finding his way on subways, busses, and through the roughest most crime ridden areas of Toronto by himself to play music at churches, funerals, Christmas kettles, anywhere he went he shared the gospel in music. And every Friday morning at 7am he would join me and others as we walked around regent park and prayed for people living in the neighbourhood that was once North America’s first ghetto. This is Salvation and it begins now and continues on forever. I have friends of mine from my time serving at Stoney Mountain Penitentiary in Winnipeg who, even though they were behind bars, led people to a saving relationship with our Lord who then brought that Salvation they found behind bars to the outside world. God can use each and everyone of us to change this world, to grow His Kingdom!

 

We posted a picture recently on social media of a child who donated his birthday money to the Bread of Life Centre – most of our employees at The Salvation Army are what in contemporary vernacular we call ‘piers’ or people with ‘lived experience’ – most of us come from backgrounds of addiction, abuse, homelessness. I can’t tell you the number of people we have working with us right now who have their first ever jobs and they are in their 30s 40s and 20s, parents, people who God is using to do wonderful, amazing things.

 

God will transform Our world – He promises whole new heavens and a whole new earth. The question for us is will we be a part of it? We can. He wants us to be.

 

So, let us ask to the Lord where and how He would like each of us to live out our salvation, to be a part of His Kingdom? Let us ask Him how He can use each of us to point our neighbour to salvation both now and forever? As the Lord is leading you to help out in your church, go talk to your pastor today while it is still on your heart. As the Lord is leading you to help at the soup kitchen, shelter, foodbank, food truck, or other ways, you are welcome to chat with me today. As we all share the Gospel of Christ in word and deed, then the Lord can and will save us all and He will use even us to transform our society into His Kingdom, to make our whole world anew.

 

Let us pray

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