Dear Pastor and Brethren
To share the beauties of our great salvation which we have in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the depth of that doctrine, is a rare opportunity these days. I had that wonderful opportunity when I went to keep my appointment with my primary cardiologist, Dr. Dasari, on July 31″ down in Edmond, OK. At the beginning of my visit with him he asked me what I preached about the preceding Sunday. I told him the title of my message was, “The Fruits of Christ’s Merits Applied to God’s Elect.” He then began asking me questions concerning the meaning of that title. So, I began explaining the doctrine of soteriology to him. As he had never heard of that word, he asked me to define it for him. I gladly obliged and began to explain the doctrine of salvation to him. He had never heard of the way that the Holy Spirit saves an elect sinner from his sin. It starts with the effectual call of God the Holy Spirit, followed by regeneration, both of which work within the inner man, then are followed by gifts of repentance and saving faith that both work in the mind of man. Those two make up what is known as conversion and are followed by justification, progressive sanctification and glorification. To my great surprise, after I finished saying all those things he asked me to repeat them because he wanted to write them down. Those great activities are just part of the fruit of Christ’s merits that are applied to the elect sinner at his salvation. Other such activities include the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance (self-control).
Now brethren, I believe that the Lord has kept me alive through the expertise of this doctor to witness these things to him for the glory of the Lord and his exhortation. He said, at the end of our conversation, that I need to come down to visit with him once a week to explain to him more of these spiritual things. He then proceeded with my examination, and I’m glad to say that I am still here to share this witnessing experience with you. I will be following up with him concerning these spiritual things at my next appointment with him in November, Lord willing.
On July 25, Roxanne celebrated her latest birthday and on July 26, we celebrated our 53″ wedding anniversary. We are grateful for the cards, emails, and text messages you all sent us during this time. Not many these days reach those milestones, and we are grateful to our Lord and Savior for His kindness to us in this matter of life, and we are very thankful to you all for your support throughout the years to keep us active.
By His love and grace,
Tim and Roxanne Parrow
II Tim. 1:7