Bienvenidos! Welcome!

Welcome to our blog page. After spending about five years serving as missionaries in Guatemala we are now in Minot, ND working at planting a Spanish church. We encourage you to check out the different information on this site. Thanks to all who have supported us with their prayers, thoughts, and finances. We couldn´t do it without you.

God Bless...

the Goedkers
Telephone: 218-331-8168701-500-9951
davidgoedker@hotmail.com; sherrigoedker@hotmail.com



The MOST IMPORTANT Question...

If you died RIGHT NOW, today, are you SURE that you would spend eternity in heaven? The Bible says that we can be sure where we will spend eternity right now. The Bible says, "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23). Sin is defined as transgression of the law (1 Jn 3:4). The Law (i.e. 10 Commandments) is God's standard of goodness. If we can keep the commandments, we can enter heaven. BUT, we must keep ALL of the Commandments and NEVER fail (Jam 2:10). Have you ever lied? If so, you are a liar in God's eyes. Ever stolen anything, the value makes no difference. If you have, you are a thief. The Bible also says that if we hate someone we are murderers and if we have ever looked with lust we are adulterers at heart. As you can see, it is impossible to keep the Law. The Bible says that "the wages of sin is death..." (Rom 6:23). Because we have sinned we have earned the wages of death and must pay for our sins forever in the Lake of Fire, Hell (Rev 21:8). God is just and thorough. He will judge every sin, even our thoughts and the secret intentions and motives of our hearts. God requires perfection in order to enter heaven and He will not let sin enter. Remember the story of Jesus on the cross when Jesus cried out saying " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Mat 27:46). Do you know why He said that? For all of eternity the Father and Son had a close intimate relationship. But when Jesus was on the cross, the Bible says that all our sins were placed upon Jesus (1 Pet 2:24). God the Father turned His back on His only son. Why? Because of sin. Not Jesus' sin, He had no sin. It was for OUR sin that was upon Jesus that the Father turned away. Now, just think of what will happen to YOU if you die in your sins if the Father turned His back on His only Son Jesus who had no sin of His own. This is very bad and sobering news. It would appear at this point that there is no hope, that we are all doomed. But wait! There's more... God doesn't want ANYONE to go to hell (Jn 3:16). This is the reason that Jesus came to earth. God showed His loved to us in that "while we were yet sinners, Christ died FOR US" (Rom 5:8). In other words, we owed a sin debt that we could not have paid and Jesus satisfied it by shedding His own blood on the cross as a payment for us on our behalf. He satisfied the just demands of a holy Law. This is a free gift (Eph 2:8-9). We can not earn it. We can not buy it. We can not do anything in order to obtain it. BUT, we must turn from our religion, our good works, and everything that we have trusted in to help us get to heaven and we must turn to God. The Bible says, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" (Rom 10:9). It's like this: You are walking along living life your own way when suddenly you realize you are a sinner on your way to spend eternity in hell. You stop, turn to God and say, "I am a terrible sinner. I deserve to go to hell forever. I am sorry God and realize that you are right and I am wrong. Please forgive me. I put all my trust and hope in the shed blood of Jesus Christ to wash away my sins. I believe that He paid for ALL of my sins and I believe that You accepted His payment by raising Jesus from the dead. Thank you God for salvation. Amen." At that very moment the Bible says that you are passed from death unto life (Jn 5:24). Please know that the prayer does not save you. It is the fact that you are putting your faith and trust in the saving and cleansing power of the blood of Jesus Christ for your salvation based on the promise of God's Word, the KJV Bible. Please don't delay. Think about the reality of these things and call upon the name of the Lord today for your salvation and forgiveness of sins (Rom 10:13). May God bless you.

Monday, September 9, 2013

God's Continual Protection

Last night after church we were giving a ride home to some church members when suddenly I saw in front of us a man sprawled on his back trying to drag himself with one foot. I slammed on the brakes and Carlos and I got out and helped him over to the other side of the road. I chewed him out telling him that he needed to stop drinking or it would be the death of him. But I am sure he didn't understand anything or, if he did, he forgot it by the time he sobered up. Mind you, here in Guatemala the roads are dark. There really are no lights to illuminate the roads, and most of the people wear dark colors. Thankfully, this man was wearing some white so that I was better able to see him. Not only are the roads dark but a very large percentage of cars and motorcycles do not have front or back lights (some have neither) or, if they do have lights, they are on high beam so as to blind you. Shortly thereafter, there were two successive incidents of drunks walking in the road and swerving toward our car as we were approaching them. Praise the Lord that He protected them from death and me from a lot of unasked for and unnecessary problems. The lesson that can be learned is that sinners are oftentimes the beneficiaries of the grace and mercy that God shows toward his children.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

God's Protection

The last week or so we have been experiencing sporadic shaking of the front end of our car. I was fearing what the cost would be as well as what the problem could be. I wanted to ask a knowledgeable friend about the possibilities but had forgotten and/or didn't have the time. Today on the way to teaching at the Institute, I hit a small pothole in the road and my car started shaking violently, significantly worse than ever. I slowed down and started to pull over and it returned to normal. This happened twice on the way to church, which is about 2 - 3 miles away from our house, and once on the return trip. I pulled into the yard and made a sharp turn to back into where I normally park and my car stopped dead. As I got out of the car, I saw that my tire had essentially fallen off as soon as I made it to our yard! I immediately thought, "Praise the Lord! What would have happened if I was barreling down the highway at a high speed? Death, disaster, etc. because it was on the left front and would have pulled me into oncoming traffic. Or, what would have happened if it would have fallen off in the middle of our road (that is only about one car width)? What a bother to the neighbors (and quite embarrassing too!)." Well I took a closer look and found that there are two bolts that hold the tire on and one of them had fallen out. So the tire was hanging on by a "thread." There was no damage other than a rubber boot that was probably torn when the tire fell off. I jacked the car up and put the tire back in its place thinking that I could possibly drive it a few kilometers to a repair shop. However, another part fell out where the rubber boot was which made it impossible for the car to go into gear. I think maybe God was trying to protect me from my own stupidity!? Then I started thinking, "What about tonight? I was going to go visiting. And much worse, what about tomorrow morning? I have jail ministry. That will be a huge pain without a car." We prayed that God would guide us and help us get the car repaired. I then began my mission to try to find a tow truck. I had a business card with the number of one on it, so I called that number. A man answered and told me, "My tow truck is no good." Okay?! I then thought of the tow truck that is almost always parked at the entrance of our road blocking our view of oncoming traffic. I walked to the end of the road but there was no tow truck. Just when I finally need one it is gone! I walked to the nearest tienda and asked if they knew of a tow truck service. My neighbor told me that there was a tow truck about four blocks down the road, so I walked there. I found someone and explained my problem and he gave me a ride to my house and looked at my car. He started to temporarily fix it so that he could bring it back to his repair shop. I kind of got the impression that he wasn't the most organized guy in the world. He had a box in the back of his pickup that had an assortment of a few tools, nuts and bolts, broken car parts, and other miscellaneous garbage. He eventually found a bolt that would at least hold my tire on until we got back to his shop. His shop was no better as far as organization goes. I kind of wanted to leave, but I also wanted to make sure that he put all the parts back on (and didn't lose any!). So I stayed. He sent me to buy the part at the nearby parts store. When I returned, he said, "Oh I forgot to tell you that I don't like the metal bands (which hook the boot to the shaft) I like the plastic type." So after he hemmed and hawed for a minute or two I offered to go back and buy a plastic band. I returned with a band that was too small, but it was the biggest they had. So he started to put it back together. He slipped the boot on the shaft and I asked him if he needed to put the metal band on first and he said no. So I curiously looked on. A few moments later a puzzled look came over his face as though he thought, "What am I going to do now? The gringo was right." Then a look of genius came over him as he remembered the plastic band that was too small for the other end. He used that one. We still had the problem of the other end. He put the shaft back on all greased up and everything but without a band to hold it on. I thought, "What is he going to do? I suppose I can always take it somewhere else to have them put a band on." Then he started looking around in his shop. Finally, he found his treasure: a long plastic band. He got down under the car to put it on but as he tightened it, it broke. It was too old (and brittle) he told me. "Now what?" I thought. I told him we could put the car back together and go to another parts store farther away. But he said no. I then showed him the large metal band and asked what was wrong with it. It looked the same to me, if not better than the plastic band. But he refused with an explanation that I couldn't understand. Then, suddenly, I remembered that I had a bunch of those plastic bands in my trunk. I tried jimmying the lock to my trunk as it is next to impossible to open anymore. Thanks to God, I got it opened and found my plastic bands. We were able to hook two together and it worked! It took him overall about 2.5 hours to fix it but now it is working. I didn't think I would have a car for tonight let alone for tomorrow. Praise the Lord!!! Although I don't know if he overcharged me, the cost was very reasonable compared to what it probably would have been in the States. He charged about $30 which included the part. I think what happened is that a few months ago I had some work done on my front end. I think that when they replaced those two bolts, they didn't tighten the one tight enough. I just want to praise the Lord for His protection and His help and guidance and I want to thank all those of you who lift us up in prayer for protection. We REALLY can feel your prayers!!! Thank you.

Monday, May 6, 2013

Specific Prayers

About three weeks ago while out soul winning on a Saturday, my friend, Maynor was witnessing to a barber at his barbershop. The young barber seemed very attentive, but before Maynor was able to finish, a customer came. I told Maynor that we should stop and come back another day and we left the barber on that note. The next two weeks we arrived at his barbershop but he was busy with customers. Last Saturday, while praying, I asked God to make sure that there were no customers when we got there and that we would not be interrupted by customers while witnessing. When we arrived, there were no customers. Praise the Lord! I took that as encouragement that God had indeed heard my prayer. So I started witnessing to the barber (Marvin) this time. After a few minutes, he seemed to be nervously looking outside for a customer. I stopped my witnessing and told him, "You don't need to worry about any customers coming until I am finished because I asked God that He would not let any come until I was done telling you what God wanted you to hear." At that I finished witnessing, taking about an hour in all. Finally, I asked him if he would like to be saved and he said yes. Praise the Lord for answering prayers and for answering specific prayers so that we can know that HE deserves the credit, the honor, and the glory for answering them. Please pray for Marvin to have a desire now to grow spiritually. He normally works every Sunday from 10 am until the evening. I am praying now that God will not send any customers to him during the normal hours of church so that he will KNOW that God wants him in church. :)

Are YOU evil?

If you KNOW something is evil, and DO nothing about it, you are COOPERATING with evil. If you COOPERATE with evil, you are PARTICIPATING with evil. If you PARTICIPATE with evil, you are DOING evil. If you DO evil, You ARE evil. In a court of law you would be PROSECUTED. Don't think for one moment that willful ignorance is a valid defense. Not asking questions amounts to giving permission for evil. Today there is no lack of evil in this world. But many Christians are burying their heads in the proverbial sand through sports, entertainment, and other self-interests. They are either unaware or are willfully ignorant of what is actually going on in the world. They expect our government to solve all the moral issues of the day including alcoholism, drug addiction, poverty, etc. But morals absolutely can not be legislated. It is OUR RESPONSIBILITY to change the hearts and minds of the people through the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is NOT the responsibility of the government. Once the heart is changed, changed morals will follow. But too many Christians involve themselves in the political process in order to effect this change and neglect their first duty; to preach the gospel to every creature. IF you are a Christian, DO something. Look around. Ask questions. What seems to be is not necessarily so. Read your Bible! Prophecy is being fulfilled in front of our very eyes each day. Just because you will be raptured before everything gets really bad does not mean that you should neglect your primary responsibility; to seek and save the lost. Go! Do something! Make your life count for something bigger than your self. One day you will stand before God and give account for what you did, or didn't do, while on earth. If that doesn't make you tremble, perhaps it is time to ask yourself if you are really saved. May God bless you as you go about HIS business.

The Crash of the Dollar will Fulfill Bible Prophecy...

The Bible talks about 10 economic unions that will form in the last days (Dan 2 & 7;Rev 13 & 17) like the European Union. This is coming to pass before our very eyes. There are 10 ecomomic unions already planned, the USA, Canada & Mexico being one of them. One way to cause this union to come to pass is by destroying the dollar. Many countries have already backed away from using the dollar as a standard. It is just a matter of time before the dollar crashes and we see hyperinflation with all of the bailouts from the Bush and Obama presidencies and the Quantatative Easing measures of the current administration that have taken place in the recent few years. One way to protect yourself financially is to change your dollars into silver or gold. I believe that silver will outperform gold due to the lower cost and greater ability for the masses to obtain it. Please go to Silversaver to find out how you might protect your assets during these difficult times. "Lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." (Luke 21:28)

Are YOU 100% Sure That You Will Go To Heaven When You Die?