Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 12 – No. 0410 January 23, 2010
Thought for the week: "Joy is not in things, it is in us." – Richard Wagner
"You are what you repeatedly do. Excellence is not an event—it is a habit." – Aristotle
"You have to be little to belittle." – Unknown
"The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery." – Winston Churchill
"Remember that the six most expensive words in business are: 'We've always done it that way.'" – Catherine DeVrye
"A person of character feels and expresses gratitude freely and frequently." – Michael Josephson
"Do a little more than you're paid to. Give a little more than you have to. Try a little harder than you want to. Aim a little higher than you think possible, and give a lot of thanks to God for health, family, and friends." – Art Linkletter
A mom was driving her five year old son to McDonald's one day and they passed a car accident. Whenever the Mom saw something terrible like that, she would always say a prayer for those who might be hurt, so she pointed and said to her son, "We should pray."
From the back seat she heard his earnest request: "Please, God, don't let those cars block the entrance to McDonald's."
Today's thought:
The optimist says the glass is half full. The pessimist says the glass is half empty. The engineer says the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
"There is no vice so mean, so pitiful, so contemptible; and he who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and a third time, till at length it becomes habitual. He tells lies without attending to it, and truths without the world's believing him."
Some readers may recall that the following quote of John Lennon of the Beatles that was printed in an interview by reporter Maureen Cleave in the London Evening Standard on March 4, 1966:
"Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue with that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first—rock 'n' roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me."
This caused quite an uproar but I wonder if, at that time, the Beatles across the UK society might have been more popular than Jesus. And just how popular is Jesus today in the UK? I don't know, but the way so many people in the U.S. today are wanting to get rid of Jesus out of the public arena, do they perhaps believe that they or the leaders they put their trust in are more popular than Jesus? And do they agree with the Beetle's song, "Imagine" that said:
Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today.
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace.
The tragedy is that John Lennon was murdered in December of 1980 and at some point, if not already, he will know that there is both a heaven and a hell and will also know which one he is in or not in.
It doesn't matter if the Beatles were more popular than Jesus in their heyday. Jesus remains forever and will always have the last say for both time and eternity. Furthermore, when here on earth, Jesus promised that he would come again and take all his true believers to be with him in Heaven forever.
He said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house [Heaven]are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am" (John 14:1-3, NIV).
Men will come and go. False Christs and false prophets will come and go, even heaven and earth as we now know them will pass away, but the Word of God—including God's promises—will remain forever (see Matthew 24:35).
Please read the article, "What If There Is a Heaven?" online at: http://tinyurl.com/8jcepz and whatever you do, make sure you have your "Passport for Heaven" before leaving earth. It's totally without charge. You can see how to get it at: http://tinyurl.com/passport-heaven.
The word encouragement with "en" meaning "in" literally means "to put courage into one another."
"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up..." (1 thessalonians 5:11, NIV) is what God's Word, the Bible, teaches us all to do. We need to do this all the time. So make sure you put courage into someone today ... and every day.
As Cavett Robert said, "Three billion people on the face of the earth go to bed hungry every night, but four billion people go to bed every night hungry for a simple word of encouragement and recognition."
Chris's parents were proud of him when he graduated from college. But it's been six months and he hasn't gotten a job yet. In fact, he hasn't even looked seriously. He has no idea what he wants to do and is thinking of grad school.
He's living at home with his parents and things are getting tense, especially with his father, who says he's lazy and afraid to enter the real world.
Chris thinks his dad is unreasonable. After all, you're only young once and he needs some space. During a recent argument, Chris said, "I'm not you, Dad. I have my own way of doing things. I want a job I enjoy."
His dad replied, "That's a nice idea, but in the end they call it 'work' because it's about making a productive living—not having fun."
There are many youngsters like Chris who are having trouble getting started and becoming self-reliant. Some, like Peter Pan, just don't want to grow up. Some are afraid of making a wrong decision or of being rejected. Others are victims of what psychologists call "magical thinking." They believe when the time is right, everything will fall into place. So they wait for opportunity to come knocking or until they feel inspired or excited enough to take the next step.
Unfortunately, it doesn't always work that way. What's crucial is to begin. Things happen and opportunities appear most often when we're moving, not standing still.
Momentum is vital. Basic physics stipulates that it's easier to alter the course of a moving object than to start movement initially. In the end, it's not really about finding yourself. It's about making yourself.
The first steps are the hardest, but the key to success in anything is getting started.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
Ed. Note: True, finding work these days can be extremely tough, but the important thing is to keep looking and never give up ... and be willing to do menial tasks to start with, if necessary. Years ago when I was a college student, I did some very menial work but was happy to get the work so I could pay my bills. – RWI
"And then he [Jesus] told them, 'Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.'"1
If you've traveled much or little, or have seen movies shot in various parts of the world, inevitably you will see the Coca-Cola emblem just about anywhere you or the movie camera goes.
I'm not here to either praise or otherwise the benefits or otherwise of Coca-Cola but one thing I find fascinating about this company is that "at the end of World War II, Robert Woodruff, president of the Coca-Cola Company from 1923 to 1955, had a mission. 'In my generation,' he declared, 'it is my desire that everyone in the world have a taste of Coca-Cola.' With a vision and dedication rarely matched in corporate American culture, Woodruff and his colleagues spanned the globe with their soft drink.2
Would to God that we Christians would pull together and make it our goal in our generation to give everybody in the world a taste of the Water of Life!
One thing is certain, if you drink Coca-Cola or any other soft drink, you will thirst again. But as Jesus said, "Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."3 What Jesus was referring to, of course, was the "water" of eternal life which his gift of salvation brings.
In today's world with all its turmoil, terrorism, and threat of war, perhaps now, more than ever, people around the world are thirsting for the "Water of Life" that only Jesus can give. That's our goal here in ACTS International; that is, to reach as many people as possible worldwide with the saving gospel of Jesus Christ while the doors of opportunity are so wide open. To see how you can have a vital part in this outreach, please consider joining the People Power for Jesus network. For more information go to: www.actsweb.org/people_power.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please give me a passion to help reach my generation with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Help me to be as Christ to every life I touch and help me to stand with others who are spreading the gospel around the world. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."
1. Mark 16:15 (NLT).
2. Dr. Gary Nicolosi.
3. John 4:14 (NIV).
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