August 29, 2019 Show with Joe Jacowitz on “Joe Jacowitz’s Personal Bout with Aggressive Leukemia & His Trust in a God Who is Greater Than Cancer”

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Many of you have been hearing me every day, most of the time towards the end of the program, sometimes both in the beginning and the end of the program.

You've been hearing me request prayer from you, if indeed you are a brother or sister in Jesus Christ, for my friend,

Joe Jackowitz, Joe Jackowitz, who is founder and president of First Love Radio, the live streaming network that airs

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio over the internet every single day. He is also the pastor -at -large at Family Radio and Family Stations Incorporated, and founder and president of First Love Missions and First Love Publications, in addition to being pastor of Christ Bible Church of Pleasanton, California.

If you've been listening every day, you've been hearing me asking prayer for Joe, asking for prayer for Joe, because of the fact that Joe was very recently, just about a week ago, diagnosed with a very dangerous, very aggressive and fatal form of leukemia, and we have been asking you, obviously, to pray for his miraculous healing, to pray that the physicians are guided by the hand of God, and that they perform the very best that they could possibly perform in all they do to care for Joe, and that the chemotherapy is used, whatever means

God chooses to use to bring this brother to a full recovery and full healing is what we are asking, but also to pray for Joe's mental, emotional, and spiritual state during this crisis in his life.

Well, you know, I spoke to him yesterday on the phone. I called

Joe in his hospital room, thinking that I was going to be an encouragement and comfort to him.

Well, the reverse actually occurred, because I was already depressed about matters in my own life, and Joe wound up being the one that encouraged me and comforted me, and he has really blown me away with his faith that he has demonstrated during this very frightening crisis in his life, and he has agreed to be my guest today, right from his hospital bed there in California, to discuss his personal bout with aggressive leukemia and his trust in a

God who is far greater than cancer. It is my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Troupe and Zion Radio, my friend,

Pastor Joe Jacobs. No, my friend, it is my honor and my privilege. Thank you for asking me to come on the show today and to share with my friends and church family and others what we were talking about yesterday, but yes, it has been a tremendous trial, the greatest trial of my life, and I am so blessed to be able to be with you on the program today and share a few thoughts with you and others as to what is going on in my life and why this is happening to me.

Well, if you could explain in a little bit of detail the specific kind of leukemia that you have been diagnosed as having.

The official name is acute myeloid leukemia, which in essence is bone cancer.

It is cancer of the bone marrow. The bone marrow is where our blood gets made.

All of our blood comes from the marrow inside of our bones, and the marrow consists of white blood cells, red blood cells, blood platelets, and hemoglobin.

All of these different forms make up the blood, and so what happens is the white blood cells, which is where we get our immunity to diseases, those white blood cells, they turn bad.

They don't come to full maturity, so when they emerge from the bone marrow, they are bad cells.

They are not good cells, and they don't provide the immunity that we need to stay free from disease, and they end up multiplying so fast.

It's a very aggressive form of leukemia, and there are many types of leukemia, but this one is so aggressive that the bad white cells that are being produced in the bone marrow, they are like blasts sent out into the bloodstream that crowd out all of the red blood cells, the platelets, and the hemoglobin, so they end up taking over your body, and you die.

And so there are many types of leukemia, children's types, adult types.

Within the adult types, there are those that you can, you know, that has better chances of being healed.

There are many different types of treatment, including chemotherapy, bone marrow transplants, different types, and there's, for this specific kind that I have, the survival rate is 40 -60%, depending on a number of factors like your age and how early they catch the leukemia and its growth.

Now, I've had it probably for about a month and a half to two months, not a week. It's probably a week ago that you found out about it, but I've had it, it's pretty much in an early stage, but in my bloodstream,

I have what they call 65 % blast, but a lot of people don't find out that they have leukemia until their bad cells are at the 80 -90 % blast level, where it's at a late stage.

So at 65%, mine is at a relatively early stage, believe it or not, even though it's 65%, but because it's so aggressive, it grows quickly.

So what they've had to do, in my case, because of the acute aggressiveness of it, they have to have me in a hospital room, a secluded room, so I don't come into contact with people because my immune system is shutting down so quickly and I can't get germs, and so they need to monitor me very closely because if my white cells go down quickly, they need to give me transfusions, blood transfusions, to bring up my immunity while all of my cells are being killed.

With leukemia, they don't have the treatment so specialized where they can target the white blood cells only that are bad.

The chemo that comes in kills all the bad cells, but also kills the good cells, the red blood cells, as well as the platelets and the hemoglobin, so that after a couple of weeks or a week and a half of the treatment

I'm getting, I'm not going to have any resistance left to immunity, so they have to give me some good blood somewhere to bring up the immunity so I get one or two transfusions a day, and that will start about the middle of next week because I'm very low on my blood counts now.

But the Lord has given me much, much grace. It's a miracle what God is doing spiritually in my life.

I've been a Christian for 43 years, a pastor for 36, and I've never experienced what

I've experienced the last three and a half days, and I'm looking forward to sharing it with you. Amen. Just out of curiosity, did you discover this, or did the doctors discover this leukemia during a routine exam, or were there symptoms you were experiencing?

Why is it that you went to the doctor and found this out? Very good question. I'm glad you asked me that question because as part of this miracle, that's one of the reasons why

I'm very optimistic that I can be healed on this. My wife and I went on vacation to New York, and about two weeks ago we got back, and I had been putting off some routine lab work and blood tests.

My insurance, my medical insurance comes through the VA. I was in the Marines for four years in the early 70s, and so the

VA provides my medical coverage, and so I've been putting off just routine blood work, so I got back from vacation, went into the blood work, and the doctor that does not normally take care of me, she was on vacation the day before that, or the day of my blood test, just happened to look at a few of her patients' lab work while she was on vacation, which she normally doesn't do that.

I was one of them, and she saw that my white blood cell count was very low, and I have never had a problem with that before, so she sent a message to my primary care physician that moment.

They called me and said that they noticed that I just happened to have my annual appointment with my hematologist, with my blood doctor, because I had two pulmonary embolisms before, which almost killed me, and they set me up with an annual appointment with the blood doctor, which

I happened to have the next morning, so she said, when you go and see the hematologist, let him know about your low white blood cell count, which

I did. She had already been alerted. She said to me, go in now and get a lab work done, a blood work done on it, and to verify that the numbers are low.

Well, they did, and the numbers were low. She set me up for the following morning for a bone marrow biopsy, which they did, and they found that I had acute myeloid leukemia at that moment.

A week and a half later, which was three and a half days ago, I'm in the hospital, and the treatment for this has to be in the hospital, in the room, for a minimum of 30 days to 40 days, because it's such a dangerous leukemia that the blood count can drop so low and you can die immediately if they don't watch it very, very closely.

The chemo is administered 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Three different types of chemotherapy, and they completely kill all your cells, blood cells, not all your cells, but your blood cells, and they completely take out all of your bone marrow three times over three 10 -day periods, and they administer the chemo 24 -7 to kill all the cells.

While your bone marrow is reproducing, good cells to take their place. So hopefully after the three washings of my blood marrow, all of my cells will be good.

Two weeks from now, they're going to do another biopsy, bone marrow, to see if the chemo worked, and if the chemo didn't work, then they have an option of a bone marrow transplant from a match of someone in my family or someone else.

And if that doesn't work, then I'll be with the Lord in heaven, I'll be rejoicing before his presence.

So I'm right at a situation now where I'll know within two weeks where the next step is going to be, and then after that, we'll see where the

Lord has me. But I am so, so comfortable, more than I've ever been, with this worst trial of my life, and I'll tell you why in a few minutes.

Wow, well that's just all remarkable that you can maintain such poise and such a calm and confident perspective.

As I said in the outset of this program, I'm basically a whiner and complainer by nature, and I get depressed about things that are infinitely less serious than you are going through.

And to hear you just have such a strong faith that you're maintaining is such a testimony to me, and is such a blessing to me, and an example to me.

And I thank God for you, brother. Just a couple more quick questions about this leukemia.

How rare is it? And it's interesting you are saying now that the survival rate, the prognosis, is that you have a 40 to 60 percent chance of survival.

When you first told me about this, it was 70 percent. So what was the change? Well, it was, in talking with the head hematologist in charge of the team, they told me the correct numbers are between 40 to 60 percent, depending on the factors involved in the kind of leukemia

I had. I read some wrong information on it when I first told you, but when I met with the doctor team, they said, no, no, it's 40 to 60 percent, depending on your age, and whether you're a good risk, an intermediate risk, or a bad risk, which

I'm a good risk. It seems like I have everything going in my favor from a natural, medical, human perspective.

I know in the end God is the only one that's going to make this decision, and the only way

I can be the way I am with my perspective is by pure grace,

I can tell you that much, because I've been a pastor for a long time, almost four decades, and the only, no matter who you are, a pastor, whatever gifts you have, whatever position in the

Church, the only thing that's going to get you through this with the right biblical perspective is grace.

That's it. It all comes down to grace. You can't learn how to handle things God's way from a book to get this spiritual nourishment into the blood cells of your spirit.

Only by grace can you do that, where the rubber meets the road. So I can't take credit for anything, but the last three and a half days,

God has poured out grace upon me, brother, unlike very few other times throughout my

Christian life, and it is an eye -opening experience, a reminder of where I really need to be all the time.

But getting back to the medical part of it, He also provided a tremendous opportunity to be here at Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford Hospital, outside of San Francisco, the

Bay Area. Now, I told you that my medical coverage is with the VA, the Veterans Administration, but the

VA in Palo Alto has a very close relationship with Stanford University, which is basically on the same campus as the

VA hospital here, so that the VA has contracted with Stanford for like 90 -95 % of the doctors at the

VA are Stanford doctors, and they've also contracted with an organization that refers veterans to Stanford Hospital directly so that if someone like myself is here at Stanford, the

VA pays all the medical bills, and I'm given indications that being in the hospital at Stanford where one bag of chemotherapy juice is $4 ,000, a bag, and I'm getting,

I don't know how many a day of three different kinds of chemotherapy, and the doctors here are the top doctors.

For example, there are 482 research hospitals in the

United States, oncology or cancer or hematology or blood research hospitals that treat patients.

Stanford and UCSF, that's University of California San Francisco Medical Center, are in the top 10 consistently rated research hospitals in the

United States. The top hematology blood doctors, cancer doctors in the world, some of the top ones, are right here at Stanford.

The VA has referred me out to Stanford, I'm in a Stanford private room right now, I have to stay in this room except once a day

I walk the hallway with a World War I type gas, looking type gas mask to get a little exercise, otherwise

I'm secluded in this room and I don't go out, but God is doing things in here that, in this room, that you wouldn't believe.

But Stanford, I've got the, my doctor is the head of the hematology department here.

He is the top, one of the top doctors in the world, he walks around with an entourage of six or seven doctors, and he's treating me personally, he specializes in the exact type of leukemia that I have, and God arranged it for him, and I'm getting all these indications, these optimistic signs that, you know, through these kinds of things, that God wants me to stay around for a while, but I'm not trusting in external signs, but I'm getting encouraged by them, that's the main reason why

I'm getting encouraged, but God is, you know, this hospital is amazing, and, you know,

I've spent a lot of time in hospitals as a pastor, I've worked in them as a bivocational pastor, but I'll tell you, as a patient, it's the best hospital

I've ever been, the care, when the janitors come in here to clean the room, or the people who deliver my food, they're asking me, can

I get you something, do you need something else, it's like overkill, it's so good here with the care, and the doctors, and it's just amazing,

I feel very humbled by it all. And going back to an original question I asked, how rare is this leukemia?

It is not the most common, it is on the rare side of it, but it's not the most rare, but it is among the rarest kind that you can get.

And how long so far have you been in the hospital being treated? Since Monday at 4 .30,

so it's about just short of four days, about three and a half days.

Well you said something remarkable to me, I guess it was yesterday morning, when

I had my first phone conversation with you, you said this cancer is a gift.

Now that obviously is a mind -blowing concept, and I want you to explain in further detail what on earth you could possibly mean by that.

Well listen Chris, this isn't the first time I've had a life -threatening illness. Three years ago

I had a pulmonary embolism, which is a large blood clot in your lung, and one year later

I had another pulmonary embolism where my lungs filled to capacity with blood clots, and I also had what they call a

DVT, which means deep vein thrombosis in my left leg. It's a very long blood clot in the leg.

Those two incidents almost killed me. Thirty percent of people who have pulmonary embolisms and DVTs die on the spot without any chance of survival, and I had two of them survive.

The lead doctor of the second PE team said I'm a walking miracle. So as short as two or three years ago,

God had brought me to the brink of eternity and woke me up and shook me up and gave me a fresh spiritual perspective about the need to live moment by moment for Jesus Christ, and the need to use every platform and open door

I have to Christians around me who tend to fall asleep and get complacent, to wake them up and shake them up in love and in encouragement that they need to be living moment by moment because all

God has to do is speak a word and pop a blood vessel in your head or shut your breathing down and you're gone, but we live sometimes as if we're going to live forever on this earth, but with this leukemia, this bone cancer, it's so aggressive.

I have gotten to the point where I've looked at this as a real game changer because I could be gone a month from now, six months from now, and when all the treatments are pursued and they don't work, you know, it's not a sudden thing most of the time, but the seriousness of it has really impacted me deeper than ever before, and so God began to really open me up.

I've had some mentors in my life who have shared some truths with me to help me understand that sickness and pain and trials and very difficult situations are the tools that God uses to teach the most deep spiritual lessons that we learn, and without pain, serious illness, tremendous wake -up calls in our circumstances, accidents, suffering, deprivation, we are so sinful and remaining corruption is so strong is that we won't listen to God unless He turns our life upside down like this, and I'll tell you, what

I've learned through the years, even though it has blessed me, I've grown from it, it's when

I actually come into the trials that I understand a spiritual perspective that I don't normally have.

I know what it says in the Bible, but to have it personally and powerfully change me and affect me where I am living moment by moment before God in His presence, that's a different story, and that's what happened with this leukemia.

The first thing that the Lord reminded me about is the worst trial is actually the greatest gift, one of the greatest gifts that God can give you, and so the cancer is not an issue for me.

For the last two weeks, I have not been dwelling upon the cancer. You see, the cancer is one of the greatest gifts

God has ever given to me, and I know that's a radical statement, and I'm not being insensitive to those people who are hurting with similar situations, cancers, leukemia, serious illnesses.

I'm not talking about our obligations to comfort the weak and the sick and bearing one another's burdens that Christians have with other believers and other people in situations like I'm in.

Yes, we need to comfort people in those. I'm talking about the spiritual principles that God revealed to me and to Christians who are in those situations where they're seriously ill, and how should

I, who have leukemia, how should I be looking at myself? What should be my self -image?

What should be my attitude towards God and towards other people because I have this leukemia?

Should I sit around twiddling my thumbs at a pity party all day? Should I expect people to come and shower love and affection and so forth?

You see, because many people don't gain from the spiritual lessons that God teaches, that He designs pain to teach, they miss out because they're not listening to God at the moment.

You see, we need spiritual understanding to tap into the hidden wisdom of God so that the eyes of our spiritual understanding can be enlightened to the spiritual lessons

God is teaching us as individuals when we go into the trials. I'm not talking about looking at other people with compassion, which we need to do.

And so what God is showing me is that this cancer is the greatest gift He's ever given me next to salvation and my wife, because it's at that moment, if I'm listening to God and I'm receiving the spiritual lessons

He's teaching me, I'm going to grow by spiritual leaps and bounds, and I'm going to be able to shift my attention from the pain and the sickness to Christ and to God, and I will open the door to a flood of grace and spiritual truth that God will bring into my life that will enable me compartmentalize my illness to a place where I don't even hardly think about it.

Now for the last week, especially the last three and a half days, I have not even thought about the kids.

The doctors are coming in here and they're reminding me that I have cancer and how I'm feeling, how you're doing, what you need, and my mind's on the

Lord. You know what, Chris? I brought 30 gospel books into my room and my wife, when she visited me a couple of days ago, brought 20 more.

The book is questions answered from the

Bible and for seekers of God. All 50 of them are gone.

I've given away 80 tracts. I had 10, I had 12 books left this morning.

They're all gone. And I don't have any left. My wife's coming tomorrow. She's going to stay overnight with me in the room.

She's bringing 30 more. In three and a half days, they're gone. I've witnessed 16 people on extended witnessing opportunities who've come in here.

I've made four appointments with people to come back for more counseling and more witnessing, just in three and a half days.

And you know what? I haven't left the room. Chris, listen to me. I haven't left the room except once a day for a short walk with a gas mask.

And I come back. God has brought all the people to me. It's like a friend of mine reminded me that it's like the

Apostle Paul who was under house arrest. God brought all the people to him to witness to. The same thing with John the

Baptist. John the Baptist spent 98 % of his time in the wilderness.

How did he make such an impact as the forerunner leading up to Christ? God brought all the people of Jerusalem and the surrounding regions out to him.

So in the worst possible circumstances, humanly speaking, when you look at it,

God can do the greatest possible work, but you have to be listening to God, and you have to have spiritual eyes of understanding to put your pain in its proper place.

But God promises grace to give you, and which we'll talk about in a minute.

And that's what I'm going through the last three and a half days. I am on not cloud nine right now.

I am on cloud ten, Chris. It is amazing. Well, we're going to go to our first break right now.

If anybody wants to send in a question to Joe Jakowicz about the leukemia he is now doing battle with, trusting in God, no matter what the outcome, send in your questions to chrisarnsen at gmail .com,

C -H -R -I -S -A -R -N -Z -E -N at gmail .com. Please at least give us your first name, your city and state, and your country of residence if you live outside the

USA, and only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter. And with a subject like this,

I could readily understand there being people who may have questions arise that are deeply personal, intimate, painful, troubling, etc.

So we will obviously honor your request to remain anonymous if your question is personal and private.

But if it is a general question, a theological question, an experiential question about this battle that Joe is waging right now, please give us at least your first name, city and state, and your country of residence if you live outside the

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We're back now with our interview, our live interview with Joe Jackowitz from his hospital bed in California, as he experiences his bout with an aggressive form of leukemia and receives treatment for it.

If you have a question for him, our email address is chrisarnsen at gmail .com. We have Harrison in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.

He says, I know that you are filled with optimism and confidence and even rejoicing in the midst of your illness right now, but what was your first reaction to the news of your cancer?

Well, the first reaction was one of great sorrow, was a shock and trauma.

And my doctor called me at Family Radio, where I was working at the time a couple weeks ago, and the flesh just reacted, as anyone would, with shock, because cancer is a life -threatening disease, and many die from it.

So I immediately packed up and left, and began to struggle and search and wrestle within my heart, praying, asking

God why. It's okay to ask why, as long as you do it respectfully.

But then I began to work through all of these fleshly kind of thoughts that emerge, you know, they're normal for us, and then struggle to get my mind on what

Scripture says, and to get God's perspective on it. And after about 45 minutes,

I got home and I told my wife and we cried together. And in the forthcoming days,

I really strove hard with the help of God to put on a mindset and a perspective on the situation the way

God looks at it. You know, that's true. My definition of truth is to see as God sees.

And so we've got to see all of reality, including serious illnesses and every trial and circumstance the way

God sees it, because that's the only way we're going to profit from it and listen and gain from the spiritual lessons that God teaches us, which are hidden right there in every trial.

And so within a few days, I was able to begin to rejoice, to rejoice exceedingly for this great gift of illness, of leukemia that God has given me.

I say that carefully, and I know a lot of people can't say that, and a lot of people struggle, and it's not meant to hurt anyone at all.

But God, with the Lord, there is consolation. Through the death and the atoning work of Christ on the cross, there is an application of His work to we who are saved and we who are sanctified, whereby through Jesus Christ, we are given grace and power and peace to be sustained in the valley of the shadow of death even, so that we fear no evil.

We don't have to fear the future. We're forgiven. We're saved. We have the brightest future possible in the worst circumstances down here on earth.

And so God has enabled me to put on that mindset of Christ through these circumstances, and that's why

I can rejoice exceedingly as the Apostle Paul rejoiced when the thorn in the flesh was given to him, and God said,

My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

And then Paul responds and says, Therefore I will most gladly rejoice, and I take pleasure in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

And that's where I'm at right now, brother. The same attitude that God portrays in Scripture that we should have,

He's enabled me to break through with this attitude by His grace. Many times

I've failed, but here and now, boy, He's given me victory in the midst of this great trial.

PAUL Yeah, we have examples of that, both in ancient history and recent history.

A recent example, at least relatively recently, Johnny Erickson Tada, who is paralyzed after a diving accident.

I believe it was in the 1970s, but I'd have to check on that. But Johnny Erickson Tada did not instantly or even quickly become so confident in God's sovereignty over that incident that she was immediately pulling this, a gift.

But after struggle and battle and even battles with anger and wavering faith and so on, she eventually came to embrace her paralysis as a gift because it enabled her to have a larger audience than she ever would have had otherwise to proclaim the gospel.

JOHN Yes, you can minister to people like you never would before without the trial. You would be brought to a level of worship and the hard knowledge of Jesus Christ that you would never have had on that previous level.

There are countless blessings that trials, serious trials, bring into your life that you would never experience unless the mercy, the love, and the grace of God decides that it's time for you to go into the deep waters of purification and fiery, fiery trials of affliction.

PASTOR BARRY Amen. And we have a couple of people who just want to wish you well.

We have Pastor Josh Bice of Praise Mill Baptist Church in Douglasville, Georgia, who is the founder of the

G3 Conference. JOHN Yes, I know Josh. He's a dear brother. PASTOR BARRY Yes, he just wants to know that he's praying for you.

He so has enjoyed meeting you and sharing brief times of fellowship with you and is so honored that you have chosen for at least a couple of years in a row the

G3 Conference to be a platform to put on display the first love publications.

And he's praying for you and hoping for your soon return to the G3 Conference. And we—

JOHN Oh, Josh, you're listening. If God brings me into remission, I plan on coming back this year to the conference.

PASTOR BARRY Amen. And we have Larry in Juneau, Alaska, who says, Sorry, Chris. No question.

Just wanted to send my love to Pastor Joe. And we thank you, Larry, in Juneau, Alaska. In fact, if you give me your full mailing address in Juneau, I will have a

New American Standard Bible shipped out to you for being a first -time contributor via email to our discussion.

We also have your friend with first love publications, Timothy Oliver, just chimed in and said that he wants to send his love to you.

Tell Joe I love him and I'm praying daily for him and the family. And by the way, he also—Timothy

Oliver gave me a bit of detail on Johnny Erickson Tata.

The diving accident was in the Chesapeake Bay in 1967. Thanks a lot, Timothy.

One of the things that you have been saying as a caveat, which

I think is very, very important, as a caveat to the fact that on one hand, you're declaring this cancer to be a gift from God to you, but you're saying that not all people view such a horrific trial as a gift as you do.

And I think that it's very important, and I'm confident you would agree, that it's one thing for the person experiencing the pain in the trial to adopt this or declare it and accept it as a gift than for us to impute that level of or that category of providence to others.

For instance, I don't think that we should be walking into the hospital rooms of our family, friends, and loved ones who have serious illness and say,

Happy birthday! How do you like the gift that God gave you? Or look at the early

Christmas present God has given you. Aren't you happy? Why aren't you rejoicing about this?

We cannot impose that on others. That's for the person who is actually suffering to be given that gift from God to be able to even view it that way.

Well, that's why I went out of my way to explain the difference between the two at the very beginning, is that it would be cruel to be able to go around to people or to say that to people.

Actually, the Scripture teaches us that we're to comfort those, comfort the weak, weep with those that weep, rejoice with those that rejoice.

We're not to go around and condemn them or to impose some kind of artificial mindset of spirituality that God has not given to them in the perspective that He would want them to have on their illness.

Not everybody has that, and it's something that is a gift from God. It comes by way of revelation.

I'm not talking about direct revelation, I'm talking about the Spirit of God opening up some truths and principles of Scripture to help you adopt a mindset that will comfort you, but it's something the

Spirit does through the Scriptures directly to you. But my job horizontally with other believers is in their trials and sicknesses and illnesses,

I am to pray with them. I'm to listen to them. I'm to uphold them. I'm to bear their burden.

I'm to comfort them and console them with the consolation that we have in Jesus Christ. Well, I'm not to go around and say,

Brother, are you missing the blessing of this gift? No. If the

Holy Spirit communicates that with them, that's His decision. But as far as we are concerned, we are to provide the balm of Gilead and not the poison of condemnation.

And of course, how you view such a crisis as a gift is a relative thing because a young man in his teens or 20s or young woman may view this differently, and parents with a baby or young child, obviously they're not necessarily going to react in a similar fashion.

Yes, there are many, many exceptions and qualifications to this, and we certainly don't want people to misunderstand what we're saying.

So if you could expand further upon why you are actually rejoicing in the midst of this horrifying trial?

Well, you see, Chris, the Lord has reminded me as a believer in sovereign grace that God is in complete control of every single detail in the macro and the micro of my life.

Therefore, I can trust Him with my life. If I can trust God in the good times,

I can trust Him that He knows what He's doing during the difficult times. And this is all based on sound theology.

This is why theology and sound doctrine is so important, because everyone, when they go through trials, wants to know why.

We ask God, why is this happening? What's going on? What did I do? Trials come to us sometimes not because we did anything or because we committed a sin, but because we enter into a school of Christ, a school of suffering, that by itself is an instrument of God to bring us to levels that we would never arrive at unless God stirred up our life.

And this is all based on the character and attributes of God, such as His goodness,

His wisdom, and love. This is how I can trust God with my life, how I can rest my entire life with all of its needs and circumstances and pain in the comforting, capable, wise hands of God.

Because in the end, when I look under the rug for answers, most of the time I'm not going to get the answers.

And when I study the Bible to try to get answers, I'm going to be confronted with the character of God. The answer is going to be, trust my goodness, trust my wisdom, trust my love, that I will take care of.

Because God's wisdom is always the best, Chris, even when I don't have answers.

God's decisions for my life are always the best, even if they're filled with much pain like Job.

But at the end of his trial, Job didn't have all the answers from God.

God didn't give him all the answers why his children were killed and his possessions taken away, and he was left in dust and ashes with boils in his body, and his wife cursed him and said, why don't you curse

God and die? He had a revelation from God, and his understanding of God's character was renewed in his heart, and that brought him comfort.

He said, up until now I heard thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye has seen thee, and I repent in dust and ashes.

This is where Job was getting those spiritual lessons that God was taught the

Apostle Paul, who submitted to the thorn in the flesh, and Job was able to just not need to know any answers why.

I don't need to know why. I'm sitting in the... I'm not asking God. Why didn't I ask God why this time?

You know, except that first day, it was the instinct of why. But I didn't ask him why. I don't need to know why, because this idea of compartmentalization, where much of our serving is in pain and difficult circumstances.

How else are we going to continue to serve God and witness and share the gospel like I've been doing in this hospital room for three and a half days, giving out, you know, tons of material?

If I don't set aside this trial, leave it in the hands of God at the moment, and just serve him.

Why? Well, how can we do this when we're in pain? How can we continue to serve and not get distracted? It's called grace.

It's grace, and that's how we can do it. We need grace to be able to trust our pain and our leukemia into the hands of God.

And if I can trust him with my salvation, with the forgiveness of my sins, I can trust him with everything else.

There's been a few verses that encouraged me. In fact, if you could keep your finger in the

Bible where those verses are, because we have to go to our midway break right now and read those verses as soon as we come back.

This is our midway break, which is longer than most breaks, because Grace Life Radio, 90 .1 FM in Lake City, Florida, requires a long break in the middle of our show so that they can accommodate the

FCC by localizing Iron Trip and Zion Radio to Lake City, Florida, with their own public service announcements and other messages.

So, while they air their own messages during this break, we air our globally heard messages.

Please use this time wisely. First of all, please be patient with us as we take this longer break. Write down the information provided by our advertisers so that you can more frequently patronize them, which means that we will more likely remain on the air because that will mean if you're patronizing our advertisers, they're probably going to stick around and remain our advertisers, which means that we can exist because we depend upon our advertisers for their financial support to stick around and bless you with our programming.

So, please patronize our advertisers. Write down the information that they provide so you can more successfully and frequently do that.

Also, write down questions for Joe Jacobs and send them to chrisarnsen at gmail .com. And as always, give us your first name, your city and state, and your country of residence if you live outside the

USA. And please only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter.

Don't go away. God willing, we'll be right back after these messages with Joe Jacobs. Chris Arnson, host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio here.

I want to tell you about a man I have personally known for many years. His name is Dan Buttafuoco.

Dan is a personal injury and medical malpractice lawyer, but not the type that typically comes to mind.

Dan cares about people and is a theologian himself. Recently, he wrote a book titled

Consider the Evidence for the Bible. Ravi Zacharias wrote the foreword.

Dan also has a master's degree in theology. Dan handles serious injury and medical malpractice cases in all 50 states.

He represents many Christians in serious injury matters all over the country. Dan is an exceptional trial lawyer.

He wrote the test for the National Board of Trial Advocacy, and currently his firm has over 100 cases that have settled for $1 million or more, and in approximately 10 different states.

In Illinois, his lawyers had the fourth largest settlement in the state's history. In New York, his case involving a paralyzed police officer made the front page of the

Law Journal. If you have a serious personal injury or medical malpractice claim in any state,

I recommend that you call Dan. Consultations are free. There is no fee unless you win.

Dan Buttafuoco's number is 1 -800 -669 -4878. 1 -800 -669 -4878.

Or email me for Dan's contact information at chrisarnson at gmail .com.

That's chrisarnson at gmail .com. James White of Alpha Omega Ministries here.

If you've watched my Dividing Line webcast often enough, you know I have a great love for getting Bibles and other documents vital to my ministry rebound to preserve and ensure their longevity.

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That's ptlbiblerebinding .com. One sure way all

Iron Sharpens Iron radio listeners can help keep my show on the air is to support my advertisers. I know you all use batteries every day, so I'm urging you all from now on to exclusively use

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they're changing the status quo. They're flipping the script. They're sticking it to the man. In other words, they'd like to change the battery industry for good by providing an extensive inventory of top -of -the -line batteries that are uniformly new, dependable, and affordable.

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If you live on Long Island or if you're visiting the metropolitan New York area, I invite you to join us for worship at The Haven on Sundays at 4 .30

p .m. We meet at the Ascension Lutheran Church facility, 33 Bayshore Road in Deer Park, New York.

At The Haven, you'll find God's saturated singing, gospel -rich ministry, and great commission opportunities.

Learn more about us at TheHavenLI .com and join us this Sunday at 4 .30

p .m., 33 Bayshore Road, Deer Park, New York. Iron Sharpens Iron welcomes

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That's 631 -385 -8333. Or visit liyfc .org.

That's liyfc .org. As host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, I frequently get requests from listeners for church recommendations.

A church I've been strongly recommending as far back as the 1980s is Grace Covenant Baptist Church in Flemington, New Jersey, pastored by Alan Dunn.

Grace Covenant Baptist Church believes it's God's prerogative to determine how He shall be worshiped and how

He shall be represented in the world. They believe churches need to turn to the Bible to discover what to include in worship and how to worship

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God -centered focus. Reading, preaching, and hearing the Word of God, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, baptism, and communion are the scriptural elements of their corporate worship, performed with faith, joy, and sobriety.

Discover more about Grace Covenant Baptist Church in Flemington, New Jersey at gcbcnj .squarespace

.com. That's gcbcnj .squarespace .com.

Or call them at 908 -996 -7654. That's 908 -996 -7654.

Tell Pastor Dunn that you heard about Grace Covenant Baptist Church on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. I'm James White of Alpha Omega Ministries, and my friend

Chris Arnzen and I are excited to be attending another G3 conference together in Atlanta, Georgia, Thursday, January 16th, through Saturday, January 18th, on a theme that is vitally important to all of us,

Worship Matters. I'll be on the speaking lineup with Eric Thomas, Joel Beeky, Paul Washer, Steve Lawson, Phil Johnson, Tom Askell, Bodhi Balcombe, and the world -renowned preacher, teacher, and author,

John MacArthur. A fascinating new addition to the roster is Kosti Hinn, nephew of the notorious false teacher,

Benny Hinn. Kosti has repented of the word -faith heresies of his youth and is now a Reformed Baptist pastor and cessationist in California.

Come join me and Chris Arnzen at G3 2020, January 16th through the 18th in Atlanta by registering at g3conference .com.

That's g3conference .com. See you there! When Iron Sharpens Iron Radio first launched in 2005, the publishers of the

New American Standard Bible were among my very first sponsors. It gives me joy knowing that many scholars and pastors in the

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio audience have been sticking with or switching to the NASB.

I'm Pastor Nate Pickowitz of Harvest Bible Church in Gilmanton Iron Works, New Hampshire, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Rich Jensen of Hope Reform Baptist Church in Coram, New York, and the

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Welcome back. This is Chris Arnson. If you just tuned us in, our guest today for the full two hours with a little less than an hour to go is my dear friend,

Pastor Joe Jackowitz, who wears many hats. Joe is not only the founder and president of First Love Radio, which live streams

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio every day, but he is also the founder and president of First Love Missions and First Love Publications, a publishing ministry that gives all of what they publish away for free.

They do not charge a dime for anything that they publish. And he is also the pastor -at -large for Family Radio and Family Stations Incorporated.

We are discussing something very serious in Joe's life, but something that very ironically and amazingly has brought him joy, something that he considers a gift from God, and that is the very aggressive cancer that he now battles, a cancer that has left him with a prognosis of a 40 to 60 percent chance of survival, according to his doctors.

Only God knows the truth behind that, but we are praying that Joe is one of the good reports of being rescued from this deadly disease.

And if you would like to join us on the air with a question for Joe, please send your emails to ChrisArnson at gmail .com,

ChrisArnson at gmail .com, ChrisArnson at gmail .com, and please always give us at least your first name, your city and state, and your country of residence if you live outside the

USA. Only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter.

And before we return to Pastor Joe, we just have a couple of upcoming announcements that we want you to be aware of, events that we hope that you will attend.

The first is coming up very quickly, Saturday, September 7th, 6 .30

p .m. at the Word of Truth Church in Farmingville, Long Island, New York. My friend Pastor Bruce Bennett will be debating

Roman Catholic apologist Matthew Luke Broderick on the theme, Is the Office of Pope Biblical?

Is the Office of Pope Biblical? Saturday, September 7th, 6 .30 p .m. at the

Word of Truth Church in Farmingville, Long Island, New York. Admission is absolutely free of charge. They are taking a love offering.

For more details, call 631 -806 -0614, 631 -806 -0614, or go to their website for the

Word of Truth Church in Farmingville, Long Island, New York, wotchurch .com,

wotchurch .com. Then we have an event that I am going to be attending and packing up my bags in December and heading back to my old stomping grounds in New York City during the

Christmas season. I think that's the best place on the planet Earth to be during the Christmas season, and that's in Manhattan.

That's Thursday and Friday, December 19th and 20th in New York City, the Foundations Conference.

This is a conference only for men in ministry leadership. One of the reasons for that is they have a very small venue, they can only seat less than 200 people, so this is for men in ministry leadership only, and I would strongly urge you, because of the small size of the venue, to register quickly if you intend to go.

The roster includes Dr. Stephen J. Lawson, Paul Washer, Rev. Jeff Thomas, Rev. Armand Tomasi, and Richard Caldwell Jr.,

and Andrew Quigley. That's the Foundations Conference, a conference of sermonaudio .com.

To register, go to thefoundationsconference .com, thefoundationsconference .com.

Then in January, I am going to be returning for my fourth year in a row to the

G3 Conference, God willing, at the Georgia International Convention Center in College Park, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta.

This is a conference that my friend who I'm interviewing today, Pastor Joe Jakowicz, has attended.

He loves it as much as I do, and we hope that you attend this January's conference on the theme,

Worship Matters. The dates are Thursday, January 16th, through Saturday, January 18th, and the roster of speakers, as always, is absolutely extraordinary.

The roster includes Kosti Hinn, who is the nephew of notorious charlatan

Benny Hinn, and Kosti doesn't mind me saying that because he is a Reformed Baptist and cessationist pastor, now in Arizona.

He was in California, now he's in Arizona, and he takes advantage of every moment he can to warn people about the heresies and the deadly and damning, deceiving doctrines of the

Word of Faith movement. So, take every advantage of hearing

Kosti Hinn as you can. Other speakers include Derek Thomas, my friend,

Dr. James R. White of Alpha Omega Ministries. Once again, we have Stephen J. Lawson and Paul Washer on the lineup.

We have Bill Johnson, the Executive Director of Grace to You, the media ministry of world -renowned

Bible teacher John MacArthur. We have Dr.

Tom Askle, Executive Director of Founders Ministries, the Calvinistic ministry within the Southern Baptist Convention.

Votie Baucom, one of the most profound preachers on the planet Earth alive today.

And John MacArthur himself, as you heard moments ago from an ad by Dr.

White and an ad by Todd Friel of Wretched Radio. John MacArthur himself has been added to the lineup and that makes this even more of a spectacular event for me since he is one of my greatest modern -day heroes.

If you want to register for this conference, once again, it's Thursday, January 16th through Saturday, January 18th at the

Georgia International Convention Center in College Park, Georgia. Go to g3conference .com, g3conference .com.

And remember, this conference every year draws over 5 ,000 people to attend.

This year with John MacArthur there, I believe there's going to be over 6 ,000 people. So this is a perfect spot to register for an exhibitor's booth and I would strongly urge you to do so as soon as you can if you think that that applies to you before they run out of room.

If you have a church, parachurch ministry, business, special event, or anything else that you want to promote to the body of Christ, just as I do every year,

I have an exhibitor's booth there every year. I hope that you join me with your own exhibitor's booth.

You might even have one near mine at the G3 Conference. So to register to attend and or for an exhibitor's booth, go to g3conference .com,

g3conference .com. Last but not least, if you love this show, you don't want it to disappear from the airwaves, please go to ironsharpensironradio .com,

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Send in a request for advertising if you want to promote something. We surely could use your advertising dollars as well.

Send us an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com. chrisarnson at gmail .com and put advertising in the subject line. If you are without a church home and you're not even prayerfully looking for one, we have helped many people in the

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio audience find church homes in all places in the world and also churches for where our listeners are going on vacation or where family friends and loved ones live.

Send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com and put I need a church home. I have biblically faithful churches listed all over the world and I possibly very likely can help you find a church somewhere near to where you are either living or vacationing or where a loved one lives.

That's chrisarnson at gmail .com, chrisarnson at gmail .com, put I need a church in the subject line.

That's also the email address where you can send in a question to our guest Joe Jackowitz on his battle with leukemia.

That's chrisarnson at gmail .com, chrisarnson at gmail .com. And Pastor Joe, before the break you had some scriptures that you wanted to read.

One of the greatest scriptures that has sustained me through this difficulty is the verse,

God's strength is made perfect in weakness. And on the surface it doesn't make sense.

How can you be strong when you're weak? But that is the way that God uses to proclaim who he is.

He confounds the mighty by showing them that God works through ways that the world doesn't work.

The other verse is the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. And so God has enabled me to overcome the weakness of the flesh by looking to the

Lord and asking him for grace to strengthen and support my flesh.

And he pours out grace on me. As we read in the third verse, therefore we do not lose heart even though our outward man is perishing yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.

For our light affliction which is but for a moment is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory while we do not look at things which are seen but at the things which are not seen.

For the things which are seen are temporary but the things which are not seen are eternal. Another thing

I've learned is the importance of care and compassion when you're in great pain.

When you have a serious illness or any kind of trial really, it really does help to take your mind off of your problems and so it allows you to reach out to others and it really encourages you, it stirs you up to show care and compassion to other people because now you know that how much care and compassion you need you're able to take some of that and give it to others.

Another lesson is that pain and suffering are often the best times for ministry.

Like I said at the beginning of the show, I've given out just in four days now about 50 books to 50 different people dozens of tracks.

I've had many discussions. God has brought all those people to my room because I really can't leave my room and you want to use those times of great struggle and pain when people are listening.

They're looking at you in your circumstances and they very often are a lot quicker to listen to you because of what you're going through.

You need to take advantage of that. We have to remember in another sense that it's our reasonable purpose to serve

God in difficult circumstances because Jesus is our example in serving others while in great pain and suffering himself.

Think about it. While he was hanging there on the cross, he wasn't focusing on himself.

He was still saving people like the thief on the cross. He was praying for the wicked Pharisees.

Father, forgive them so they know not what they do. All the while, while his life was flowing out of his body, it was a tremendous time still for him of ministry.

He looked down at his mother and John and his friends and he was thinking about his family.

He said, son, here's your mother. Mother, here's your son. What an example when in the midst of dying, it's both from a perspective of love, his family and his disciples, the perspective of suffering.

He is saving the thief next to him who's suffering and in the perspective of loving his enemies like the

Pharisees and praying, Father, forgive them. How are we to emulate his example? And that by God's grace alone, what we've been able to do here.

I haven't been thinking about my cancer. I've been too busy loving others with only the love of God that he has been pouring out upon my heart.

But remember, we often take things for granted in our lives and stumble over trivial matters and temporal matters easily.

But the pain tends to keep things in spiritual perspective and keep our focus on Christ and rivet our attention on heaven and not on earth.

We don't stumble over these trivial, ridiculous things that we often get caught up with as Christians that we shouldn't.

And another thing God has taught me is that God is greater than cancer, leukemia, and any trial that I have.

Why? Because no matter what happens in those trials, I know that Jesus' love for me does not change.

As we read in that powerful passage in Romans 8, what then shall we say to these things?

If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns?

It is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen. Who is even at the right hand of God who also makes intercession for us?

Who shall separate us, Chris, from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?

As it is written, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are counted as the sheep of the slaughter.

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our

Lord. And so I not only know that he loves me, I know that in my trial of cancer and whatever it may be, if you have a trial,

I know that Jesus will use me. So never, my friend, never question your potential usefulness if you are weak, if you are sick.

It really is a stepping stone in the most useful service for God and in fellowship with God you'll ever experience.

And the lessons learned in the fiery furnace of afflictions will deeply impact you and will stay with you for the rest of your life.

Be encouraged. Amen. Well, thank you so much for that, Pastor Joe. We have

Mary in Cork, Ireland, who says, this is just a little message to Pastor Joe, to say that as I am listening to you,

I am reminded of the quote regarding John Bunyan. If you cut him, he'd bleed scripture.

You are truly overflowing in the midst of your storm and God is being glorified through it.

You are a wonderful example of how a Christian should behave in a trial. Thank you, Mary in Cork, Ireland.

And we have, let's see here. We have Grady in Asheboro, North Carolina.

Hi, brothers, Chris and Joe. Brother Joe, thanks so much for your ministries. Please know that you're in my prayers, praying that our

Heavenly Father will be glorified through you as you walk with him through this. Love you, brother.

And we have, let's see, we have Tom and Margaret Smith of Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in Dale City, Virginia.

We want to tell you, Joe, we love you and our church family is praying for you. Sherry and his sons, you have, and your sons, and you have been such an encouragement to many who know you.

Sherry as well. We love you, brother. And we also have here, this is, let's see here, who is this from?

I'll get back to that one. We have an anonymous listener, an anonymous listener who says,

Pastor Joe, what is your best counsel to discuss the glory and sovereignty and providence of God in the midst of such trials with people who are so angry at God during these trials that they have written them off as either not existing at all, saying that a loving

God could never permit these things, or they are just hateful towards God, whether they are atheist, agnostic, or not.

They are just embittered and furious with him and have no words of praise or prayer or honor to provide for him.

Good question. I think there's an encouraging word for those folks, because if God did not care about them, he would not send them these trials to begin with.

The Bible says, whom the Lord loves, he chastens and scourges every son whom he receives.

So for many of these people, for many of them, it's the beginning of the process of God turning their hearts, turning their minds around from cursing

God, from doubting God, from denying God in their circumstances, into getting their attention and beginning the process of saving their never -dying souls.

And so for many of them, they may not see it at the moment, but it results in their conversion.

But for others, the chastisement is a form of the consequences of their sins, but for others it's an encouraging thing that leads to their awakening and reconciliation with God.

Praise God. We have Bobby in Hartsdale, New York.

When we approach someone who is in the hospital with a serious illness, we are typically trying to comfort them and encourage them, even if they are unbelievers.

But obviously, unbelievers are facing a very horrible and indescribably nightmarish eternity awaiting them, unlike you, who are expecting either to live and be rejoined by your family or to be in the arms of Christ for eternity, and there's no better place to be than the latter, obviously.

But how do we enter into a sick room when somebody may be facing eternity very soon and they still reject

Christ? How can we possibly be comforting to them? We don't want to add to their fear and terror and discomfort, but at the same time, we want them to know the truth.

Well, the one rule that guides everything when you're not sure about what to say to people is

Christ is the solution for everything. So when you have an unsaved person on the deathbed, which

I have seen many times myself and visited folks myself, what you want to do is you want to direct them to Christ.

You don't have to loom over their bed and preach condemnation and sin to them, but what you want to do is say, look, you may be moments away from leaving this world, but there is still hope for you.

As long as you're still alive, as long as you still have breath, there's still hope for you. Jesus Christ is on his throne in heaven and he always lives to make intercession for us.

There are people who have been saved on their deathbed. Their sins have been forgiven. They've known the love and peace of God before they've left this world.

Turn to Christ. Put your trust in him. He's there. He understands what you're going through, and he will save you.

You don't have to pinch people with the very sharp words of hell and judgment and sin.

You can touch upon them by implication when you talk about Christ, because the opposite of Christ is their sin, which condemns them, and most of the time they're looking at their faults anyway and reviewing their life of rebellion and thinking about how they've wasted their lives.

So it doesn't take much to bring that part of the gospel out. Direct them to Christ and God will take over the rest.

And always give them hope that is in Christ. That's what I would say. The same is true at a funeral, where you have an unsafe person who is being buried.

It's very difficult to preach at a funeral, but you bring up the glories and the salvation and the comfort that Jesus offers from the scripture, from his own words, and it applies to everybody, and they apply it to themselves.

Praise God. We have a listener who is on your team with First Love Publications, and I'm assuming some of the other ministries,

Pastor Austin Huggins of Christ Evangel Church, I believe it is, in Florida?

Yes, Milton, Florida. Milton, Florida, okay, and Pastor Austin says,

Pastor Joe, I just want to thank you in the ears of many witnesses for the years of godly pastoral mentorship in the ministry.

Thank you for your passion and devotion to uncompromising

Christian ministry and following Christ in a way that sets a goal for others to emulate.

Thank you for your selfless provision toward my own growth and development as a servant of God in the ministry, as well as the encouragement of the brethren here at our little church in Florida.

Paul's imprisonments stood to encourage the believers in Philippi and made them bold in proclaiming

Christ. Please know that though you remain bound by wires and IVs in California, we in Florida are encouraged by your faith, are rejoicing with you, and desire to grow bold in praising

God in the face of suffering. Press on, brother. Very beautiful. Thank you. Thank you, brother, and let me say to my dear brother

Austin, to whom else shall we go where he has the words of eternal life? Brethren, we can't go backwards.

We can only go forward. Jesus is our only hope, our only hope, and to our dying breath, you and I must cling to Christ and share him with others.

Please, please, brethren, the Lord is calling us to a ministry of Christ in the midst of our pain.

Keep serving him. Be not weary in well -doing, for in due season you shall reap if you faint not.

Praise God. Well, we're going to go to our final break. It's a lot briefer than the last one, and if you have a question or comment that you would like to send in, do so quickly because we're rapidly running out of time.

Our email address is chrisarnsen at gmail .com, c -h -r -i -s -a -r -n -z -e -n at gmail .com.

As always, please give us your first name, your city and state, and your country of residence if you live outside the USA, and only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal or private matter.

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Spread the word about firstloveradio .org. Welcome back and as you know we are interviewing the founder and president of First Love Radio whose ad you just heard and if you have a question please send it in quickly because we're rapidly running out of time when we have our friend

Joe Jackowitz discussing how the Lord is using leukemia, a horrible and deadly disease, as a blessing in his life as a

Christian and if you care to offer not only a word of encouragement but a question our email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com

chrisarnson at gmail .com and as always please give us your first name at least your city and state and your country of residence if you live outside the

USA we've been getting emails from folks that are not bothering to give us their location so please try to rectify that let us know from where you are writing.

Pastor Joe I want to make sure that right now you have about five minutes of uninterrupted time just to summarize a lot of what you want our listeners to have etched in their hearts and minds before the show is over.

Well I understand that illnesses like cancer and leukemia are a blessing in disguise and though we don't confront people with that we comfort them but as a

Christian when you suffer for whatever reason don't try to figure out why because most of the time you won't understand why.

It's in my mind that this cancer was was issued for me for positive reasons and there can always be positive reasons why

God brings pain and suffering into our lives if we're looking for them and we can benefit and grow from them if we're listening to God.

Another thing God is in sovereign control of my life. If I can trust with my salvation

I can trust him with everything else that happens to me. He will never leave me nor forsake me.

Another one is don't stop serving God in your sickness. There are many many opportunities that we miss to give glory to God and to bring forth the gospel through word and through lifestyle when we're suffering and when we're sick.

Another thing is that focus on other people, passion on other people and serve other people when you're sick.

They will see the love and the sacrifice and the gospel of Christ when you take the limelight off yourself and in serving other people.

Remember that pain and suffering are often the best times of ministry. I've had three and a half days of extremely concentrated ministry here as I sit right now in my hospital bed.

God's bringing tons of people into this room and I've hardly even thought about the cancer. It's like an add -on.

Another thing is that it's our reasonable service. Look at what Jesus did in suffering and dying for us and to summarize you know no matter what happens if you're a believer

Jesus is not going to stop loving you and he will not stop using you because you're limited by pain and suffering.

Look for the open doors. God has given me much grace to be able to set aside the pain because grace replaces it.

And so I would like to end with how humbled I am Chris by the many expressions of love, the prayers of churches and believers and friends from all over the world.

It has comforted me so greatly to know that so many are praying for me and encouraging me.

So many good friends I can't even begin to name them who have called me constantly and have encouraged me and lifted me up.

And God has a way of sending messages and tokens of his love through these dear people who love me and I love them to send me reminders that God loves me and he's here for me.

Thank you so much all of you. You know who you are for praying for me and I'm going to be putting up progress reports on our website.

You have a pencil it's christbiblechurch .org one of our several websites but the main one you can go through is christbiblechurch .org

and every few days I'm going to put up a progress report and maybe put down some other things that God is revealing to me and you can you can keep up with my situation and if God puts it on your heart to pray for me.

God bless you Chris and your audience. Oh my pleasure Pastor Joe and we do have another listener.

We have a listener in Lagos or Lagos Nigeria, Tony Okoro. We're encouraged hearing you ministering in love in spite of the pain.

Thank you. Expecting a miracle and that's Tony. Yes our dear dear brother

Tony, Pastor Tony. Thank you. And let's see here we have

Bebe in Cumberland County Pennsylvania. Bebe asks in what way should those of us who may be experiencing similar ailments as you are now suffering with reach out with the love of Jesus Christ from either our hospital bed or wherever we may be where we have to include a firmness and a sternness in what we say to our loved ones especially if we do not believe they are saved or they are not living a life according to the scriptures.

That's like a reverse of the question we got earlier. This is a question about basically what you've been saying through the entire program but do you have any more counsel about when you are lying there in a bed sick and you're talking to others you know this

I'm assuming not only in spite of your suffering all the blessings that you've been talking about that you have

I would think this also gives you added boldness because there is hardly anything a person could say to rebuke you if they love you care about you if you're the one that is facing eternity and suffering and you're taking the time to love the people around you enough

I'm sure this gives you extra boldness about their eternity doesn't it?