I encourage you to watch an exclusive video interview of Joel Rosenberg.
He addresses:
• The significant events of 1979
• The effectiveness of The Jesus Film in reaching the peoples of the Middle East
• Prophecies in Matthew 24 and Joel 2
I especially enjoyed the true story of an Iranian woman’s vision of Jesus while watching the film.
An accurate and exciting movie on the life of the Apostle Paul.
I had planned a day and a half to clean the house for weekend company. My sovereign Lord had other plans for me!
Yesterday afternoon, Guillermo, an electrician, came by to work on our A/C. I could not identify his rich accent.
“I am Colombian… Colombian coffee,” he replied to my question.
We talked more and I gave him a tract on the Spirit-filled life in Spanish.
This morning, Marco came to do an annual pest treatment on our home. We have talked many times over the years about spiritual things. Today, he opened up about the physical abuse he suffered as a child and how he would like to help others who are suffering.
After he left, I had shopping errands and had good conversations with Ana, Walter, Beth, and Amy. I had tracts for each of them which they were very glad to receive.
When I got home I wanted to have my daily devotional with the Lord and get going on my housework.
The doorbell rang. Our neighbor, Sharon, dropped by and I invited her in. We have talked about the Lord several times. Today was one of our best conversations. I gave her Josh McDowell’s More Than a Carpenter.
After she left, I knew I really had to get going with dusting and such, so I turned worship music on and worshiped the Lord for the incredible privilege of talking to seven people in twenty-four hours about the hope and forgiveness they can find in Jesus Christ! I am grateful that he kept my heart open and available to these sweet souls on a very busy day when I normally would want to rush from one thing to the next, trying to check things off my to-do list!
Yesterday was rough. I was very angry several times for different reasons. I could not find what I needed. Some tasks I had planned to do were not working out. By the evening, I felt like the day was wasted.
Today, like most mornings, I started my day journaling and studying the Bible and praying.
As I opened my journal, I saw an asterisk next to my last entry for yesterday morning. (Whenever God seems to be speaking loud and clear to me about something, I put an asterisk next to that journal entry.) Yesterday, I had marked a quote from a footnote in my Bible: “When the unexplainable and unwanted intrude into our lives, we can find comfort in . . . [God’s] sovereignty.”
I suddenly realized I had totally forgotten God’s morning lesson to prepare me for yesterday! This morning, He gently reminded me I had not prayed throughout each setback as they came my way. I had been doing things “on my own” and was very frustrated with the results.
How much better if I had given the day to God. The circumstances may, or may not, have changed, but I would not have been frustrated. The day was His to do as He pleased.
He had a reason for showing me that quote yesterday; He wanted to prepare me for the day that was ahead for me! Sometimes I learn best by looking back and learning from my mistakes, but it would be wiser, I would think, to be prepared for what lies ahead.
God is using the life of Paul to reach Syrians for Christ.
The premiere showing of Damascus, a film on the life of Paul, was seen by more than 1,000 influential Syrian leaders. See the trailer.
When Paul encountered Jesus, his Messiah, in Damascus, “the Lord said to Ananias, ‘Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.’” (Acts 9:15)
How exciting to think that God may still be doing that through this film! Join with us in praying for God to use this film in reaching the people of the Middle East.
Mark had just helped Bill pick up the books, sweaters, and other items he had just dropped. They were walking home from school and Mark continued to walk with Bill and they ended up spending the afternoon getting to know each other. Mark continued on home.
They saw each other around school after that and went on to attend the same high school, where they saw each other occasionally.
Just before graduation, Bill reminded Mark of the day they met.
“Did you ever wonder why I was carrying so many things home that day?” he asked. “I cleaned out my locker because I didn’t want to leave a mess for anyone else. . . I was going home to commit suicide. But after we spent time together talking and laughing, it turned things around for me. You see, Mark, when you picked up those books that day, you did a lot more; you saved my life.”
This true story comes from Randy Alcorn’s In Light of Eternity, pages 121 and 122. Randy goes on to encourage his readers that God is watching and will reward us in Heaven for being faithful to Him. (To me, it would be reward enough to know that I had helped prevent a suicide!) We will probably be amazed in Heaven when we find out that some of the small things we did for others ended up helping them in a significant way.
I also highly recommend this book to clear up misconceptions people may have about what the Bible teaches about eternal life. If you aren’t excited about going to Heaven, this little book is for you! You may even find you will be more eager to share your faith with others so they can enjoy eternity with God, too!
A handful of men stood outside their huts and brandished spears at the strange metal bird that buzzed overhead. They had probably never seen a plane before and WE had never seen THEM!
Several photographs were just released of an Amazonian tribe in Brazil that has never been contacted.
We should remember to pray for the remaining 100+ tribes around the world that have not had any contact with the outside world, and therefore, with the Gospel.
Secular anthropologists believe these tribes should NOT be contacted and work to enact laws to prevent missionary work among them.
We know, however, from the Bible that God’s Kingdom will include people from every tribe and language. Some day these very men may be holding palm branches before the throne of God!
“After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’” ~ Revelation 7: 9 – 10 (NIV)
“Whenever you give to someone who is helpless or needy, you are serving Jesus and, in turn the Father. In addition, I can tell you from personal experience that serving those who can’t repay you brings the deepest satisfaction.
“Several years ago, Vonette and I were about to celebrate our wedding anniversary. I was trying to think of a special, elegant place to take her that would express how important she is to me. I wanted it to be a meaningful evening.
“But . . . after discussing the plans with Vonette, we agreed that instead of going to an elegant hotel . . . we would serve meals to the homeless. We knew a friend who ran a kitchen for the homeless, so he arranged for us to go.
“Soon after we arrived, we were given our assigned places in the serving line, and people began walking by cafeteria -style. Right away I noticed that these people carried an air of defeat. No on e looked me in the eye. I found myself identifying with them. I thought, But for the grace of God, what happened to them could happen to me, and I began to weep.
“I served for an entire hour with tears streaming down my cheeks. I thought about the compassion Jesus had for people as He ministered to them. I recalled . . . Matthew9:36: ‘[Jesus] felt great pity for the crowds that came, because their problems were so great and they didn’t know where to go for help.’ The experience . . . gave me a deeper compassion for people who are less fortunate than I am. “
–[Excerpt from Discover the Real Jesus by Bill Bright, pp. 107 -108]
Recently, our friends, Tom and Betsy, wrote us how God directed them to donate toward our ministry. We wanted to share what they wrote because God encouraged us very much through this letter.
“Tom and I wanted to share the following with you because we felt it would be a wonderful testimony to how God provides and works through his people.
“We have been praying about your situation for quite some time. You can imagine the requests we get for assistance each day . . . Each time Tom and I receive a request we pray about it separately and together, then after a period of time we come together and discuss what God has revealed to us. . . most of the time if God wants us to give he will give us both the same amount.
“. . . for the last month and a half our schedules have been extremely busy and neither one of us had been spending the quality time in prayer that we should have been. . . I was mowing the yard and talking to God and the two of you were on my mind. I told God that if he would provide extra funds, then I would take that as He wanted this for you. That day, . . when I greeted Tom I asked him to retrieve the mail and when he returned he said, ‘look at this.’ It was a check from the IRS for $329.47!
“I looked at Tom and told him it had to be fake and . . . I shared my conversation with God from the morning mowing.
Tom said, ‘Well now we have our answer.’
“Tom called [the IRS] on Tuesday and found out that the check was from 2005 from an over payment of $300.00 . . . and that the $29.47 was the interest.
“May God continue to bless us all in unexpected ways and may we always be the stewards that he created us to be.”
We could not have said it better!
I kept looking toward the roller coasters, nervously tapping my foot. I had waited more than a half an hour, instead of enjoying the theme park. I needed to meet up with the rest of the family, but time crawled as I fidgeted on the bench. It was only natural that I asked for walkie-talkies that next Christmas.
For several years after that, the walkie-talkies were a great help on a lot of our vacation trips. Now in 2007, we use our cell phones when we need to connect, but actually our kids really don’t want us to split up anymore. They want us to spend the day together when we go to a park.
The walkie-talkies waited silently in a drawer for two years until last month when I came across them and knew it was time to find a new home for them. They were still in good condition and worth a little bit. However, I don’t do yard sales anymore, so I did not even think about selling them. Instead, I started thinking about who might use some walkie-talkies.
I tried our church because our campus is getting more spread out, but they already have some. I was getting a little tired of the time and effort of looking for new owners when I thought of friends of ours who were expecting their fifth child. This little princess is due soon and will find herself in a homeschool family with four active brothers, ages four to fifteen.
I sent an e-mail off to Jo. She was thrilled and so was I. Now she can stay inside when she needs to rest or watch little ones and know she can easily reach her active boys. The boys will have a lot of fun with the walkie-talkies, too.
Of course, I could have just donated these to a charity. It would have been easier, but it is a lot more fun and rewarding to find a need and help to meet it.
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