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 Dick Innes


Weekend Encounter

Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes          
Published by: ACTS International

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Vol. 18 – No. 4016  October 01, 2016

 
Thought for the week: "Losers fix the blame; winners fix what caused the problem." Denis Waitley
 
    INDEX
1.   Words of Wisdom
2.   On the Lighter Side
3.   Possible
4.   Stop Waiting
5.   Evolution or "Devil-ution"?
6.   The Doctrine of Relative Filth
7.   To Be or Not to Be
8.   Receive Daily Encounter Devotional  Without Charge
9.   Weekend Encounter E-mail Edition  Without Charge
10.   Know God ... Without Having to Be Religious
11.   Seven Pillars of Character
12.   Prayer Partners Needed
13.   Please Help Support Weekend Encounter
14.   Helpful Books
15.   Services Without Charge
16.   ACTS in Action Report; Archives for Daily and Weekend Encounter
 

1. Words of Wisdom

"A good place to find a helping hand is at the end of your arm." Unknown

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result." Albert Einstein

"Read books, listen to tapes, attend seminars—they are decades of wisdom reduced to invaluable hours." Mark Victor Hansen

"Difficulties are things that show what men are." Epictetus

"Difficulties mastered are opportunities won." Winston Churchill

"The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining." John F. Kennedy,

"Dig your well before you're thirsty." Chinese Proverb

"An aim in life is the only fortune worth finding; and it is not to be found in foreign lands, but in the heart itself." Robert Louis Stevenson

"If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things of nature have a message that you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive!" Eleonora Duse

Index

2. On the Lighter Side

A Scotsman, planning a trip to the Holy Land, was shocked when he found it would cost $50 an hour to rent a boat on the Sea of Galilee.

"Hoot mon," he said, "in Scotland it wouldna ha been more than $20."

"That might be true," said the travel agent, "but you have to take into account that the Sea of Galilee is water on which our Lord Himself walked."

"Well," said the Scotsman, "at $50 an hour for a boat, it's no wonder He walked."

– Mikey's Funnies, www.mikeysfunnies.com

Index

3. Possible

The teacher asked her class what each wanted to become when they grew up. A chorus of responses came from all over the room. "A football player," "A doctor," "An astronaut," "The president," "A fireman," "A teacher," "A race car driver." Everyone that is, except Tommy.

The teacher noticed he was sitting there quiet and still. So she said to him, "Tommy, what do you want to be when you grow up?"

"Possible" Tommy replied. "Possible?" asked the teacher.

"Yes," Tommy said. "Mom is always telling me I'm impossible. So when I get to be big, I want to be possible."

– Cited on Aiken's Daily Laughs
   http://www.AikensLaughs.com

Index

4. Stop Waiting

So stop waiting until you finish school,
until you go back to school,
until you lose ten pounds,
until you gain ten pounds,
until you have kids,
until your kids leave the house,
until you start work,
until you retire,
until you get married,
until you get divorced,
until Friday night,
until Sunday morning,
until you get a new car or home,
until your car or home is paid off,
until spring, until summer, until fall, until winter,
until you are off welfare,
until the first or fifteenth,
until your song comes on,
until you've had a drink,
until you've sobered up,
until you die,
until you are born again
to decide that there is no better time than
   right now to be happy....

– Author Unknown.
   Cited on Inspiration Peak.

Index

5. Evolution or "Devil-ution"?

A few years ago (March 01, 2006)

Montreal, Canada

In a rare public dissent, 19 Catholic priests have denounced the Vatican's opposition to gay marriage and allowing homosexuals into the priesthood.

The clerics signed an open letter that ran Sunday in Montreal's La Presse newspaper, criticizing the church's positions on the issues.

The priests said the church was invoking "natural law" to make its case against homosexuality, arguing that slavery was also once considered "natural."

"What we are saying is that human nature is constantly evolving," Claude Lemieux, one of the signatories, told The Associated Press by phone Tuesday. "We believe this position is closer to that which is shared by our parishioners."1

Editor's note: Can you imagine men who claim to be spokesmen for God believing (or wanting to believe) that human nature is constantly evolving and that homosexuality and gay marriage are a result of this evolution—something that is diametrically opposed to God's Word and God's creation. Maybe it should be called "devil-ution" rather than evolution!

1. As seen on Fox News at: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,186381,00.html

Index

6. The Doctrine of Relative Filth

       By Michael Josephson of Character Counts (451.1)

In the early nineties I was asked to spend a full day talking about ethics with the entire California Senate. I was their punishment. Three senators were convicted the previous year and voters passed an ethics initiative including a requirement that legislators receive education on principles of ethics.

This was a high-profile, high-prestige program and I didn't want to be naïve about the political realities and rationalizations in Sacramento, so I spent days interviewing senators and staffers.

During one interview a very senior staffer confided, "We need this program. People really lie a lot up here." I wondered, should I act surprised? "Lying in the state's capitol? I'm shocked!" But before I could respond the staffer added, "I hardly ever lie."

"Gee," I thought, "do you hardly ever take bribes?"

Though his statement about lying sounded like a confession, he wasn't embarrassed at all. In fact, he was proud. "Hardly ever lying" made him morally superior. In a culture where lying is common, the occasional liar feels like a saint. In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

I've heard variations of this justification—"I'm not so bad as long as others are worse"—so many times I've given it a name: The Doctrine of Relative Filth.

It's a rationalization used by cheating athletes and coaches, dishonest businessmen, and others who minimize their moral shortcomings by comparing themselves to others who have even lower standards.

What a pathetic defense! People of character aren't satisfied being better than someone else. They strive to be the best they can be.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

© 2016 Josephson Institute of Ethics; reprinted with permission. Michael Josephson, one of the nation's leading ethicists, is the founder of the Josephson Institute of Ethics and the premier youth character education program, CHARACTER COUNTS! For further information visit www.charactercounts.org

Index

7. To Be or Not to Be

Sample of Daily Encounter by Dick Innes

"Then He [Jesus] appointed twelve, that they might be with Him."1

God is not into religion. He's into relationships. That is, his goal for you and me is that we be in healthy relationships both with him and with one another.

Please don't ask me to explain it, but God himself is in relationship as the Holy Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And being created in the image of God, we too were created for relationships. Furthermore, Christianity began in a relationship when at the beginning of his earthly ministry Jesus chose the twelve disciples "that they might be with him."

As another has said, "To be is to be in relationship" without which we limp along in the shadows of life with an empty hole in our heart. It may not be most desirable but we can live a fulfilling life without being in a romantic relationship, but we cannot fully live, let alone fully love, unless we have a healthy relationship with at least one other loving person ... preferably with more than one. To be in relationship is to be open, vulnerable, and known as we really are, for we can only ever be loved and truly relate to others to the degree that we are known. As long as we hide behind a mask we can never feel loved. Masks can't relate.

In his book, The Transparent Self, Sydney Jourard said, "Every maladjusted person is someone who has not made himself known to another human being and in consequence he does not know himself. Nor can he be himself. More than that, he struggles actively to avoid becoming known by another human being. He works ceaselessly at it day and night. And it is work!"

True relationship begins with being ruthlessly honest with one's self and with God—and then with at least one other honest, loving and trustworthy friend.

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please help me to be an authentic person—honest with myself, with You and with at least one other trustworthy friend so that I will learn to be the person You envisioned for me to be, and therein discover how to fully live and fully love. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus's name, amen."

1. Mark 3:14 (NKJV).

Index

8. Receive Daily Encounter E-mail ... Free

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Index

9. Receive E-mail Edition of Weekend Encounter ... Free

 

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Index

10. Know God ... Without having to be religious

Click on: How to Be Sure You're a Real Christian -- without having to be religious. Know God

Index

11. Seven Pillars of Character

The first of these six pillars of character are from Michael Josephson of Character counts to which I have added a seventh:

  • Trustworthiness
  • Respect
  • Responsibility
  • Fairness
  • Caring
  • Citizenship
  • Personal Honesty

Index

12. Prayer Partners Needed

One of ACTS greatest needs is Prayer Partners to stand with us as we seek to share the gospel with millions of people around the world through E-mail and the Internet and to win the lost to Jesus. If you would like to be an ACTS Prayer Partner, please subscribe to the Prayer Encounter list. Approximately two prayer reports are emailed monthly. Thank you.

 

Index

13. Help Support Weekend Encounter

    "Changing the World . . . One Person at a Time" 

Weekend Encounter and Daily Encounter are just two of the ways the nonprofit organization, ACTS International, is working to improve the spiritual and emotional life of many thousands of people around the world.

Every weekday Daily Encounter is going to 374,000+ subscribers, and every week Weekend Encounter is going to 6,000+ subscribers worldwide—many of whom are in places where it is forbidden to spread the Christian gospel and message. Plus we reach several hundred thousand more every week through our advertising. As a result every day we are seeing an average of 5-6 salvation responses from around the world—over 2200 in the past 12 months!

If you find value in the free Weekend Encounter and/or Daily Encounter, we hope you will be comfortable donating at least $26. That's only 50 cents a week for an entire year (tax-deductible in the U.S.). You can donate in one of the following ways:

Donate Online: You can donate online at ACTS secure web site. Click HERE on ACTS support donations.

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Index

14. Helpful Books

Oprah Winfrey: "Books were my pass to personal freedom. I learned to read at age three, and soon discovered there was a whole world to conquer that went beyond our farm in Mississippi." – Oprah Winfrey

Books:

Books by Dick Innes, Editor of Weekend Encounter
   You Can't Fly With a Broken Wing
   How to Mend a Broken Heart
   I Hate Witnessing—A Handbook for Effective Christian
      Communications

   On Sale at: https://actscom.com/books_sale_5-14.php

Index

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 8. To check the weather in your area
 9. Hoax Web Sites
10. Plus many more sources of helpful information

GO TO:
http://www.actsweb.org/links.php

Index

17. ACTS in Action Report and Encounter Archives

ARCHIVES: Daily and Weekend Encounters





"The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make his face shine upon you
and be gracious to you;
the LORD turn his face toward you
and give you peace."


Know God

ACTS International
PO Box 73545
San Clemente, CA 92673-0119
U.S.A.

To receive the email edition of Weekend Encounter
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