Ralph Gathering

Ralph at the 2017 Renewal Ministries’ Gathering: “Our response (to the Lord) should be worship, adoration, praise, and rejoicing.”

Ralph Martin shared some of his own testimony as part of his talk at Renewal Ministries’ 2017 Gathering: “I was in danger, but I didn’t know I was in danger. I once saw a tow truck passing by, they called them wreckers, and I really felt that the wrecker was coming for me—that the devil was coming for me, and the way I was headed was not going to be good.”

“At a Cursillo weekend, I realized that if Jesus really was God, I was faced with a difficult decision. I knew the only sensible response, if He was Lord, was surrender.

“But I also knew that meant writing Him a blank check. And you know what Jesus writes? All.

“I invite all of us to think of all our yesses to the Lord, to make sure we haven’t taken anything back. He’s worthy of adoration. He’s worthy of obedience. He’s worthy of following Him.”

Ralph explained, “People have a choice to make. Will they let go of their darkness and embrace the light, or will they hate the light and embrace the darkness? We want more and more to be transformed by the light of God.”

Ralph said that the key to that transformation can be found in John 3:16. He said, “It’s all about love.”

“What price could ever be found to buy eternal life?” he continued. “Do we realize what we’ve been promised by the Lord is precious and very great? It’s worth making sacrifices to persevere to the end and stay with Jesus. Jesus is very, very close to us, and He wants us to be very close to Him.”

The answer to staying close to the Lord is prayer, said Ralph: “I recently decided to increase my daily prayer life by fifty percent. Think of that as a very practical way of saying to Jesus, ‘I want to be close to You.’”

“Our response should be worship, adoration, praise, and rejoicing,” he explained. “There really is something to rejoice in! The Lord wants us to look forward to what is coming, because that’s supposed to give us hope for today.”

Ralph concluded, “There is sorrow in life, there is suffering. If we just hang in there, and keep on working, and keep on serving, a great reward is coming.”