Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 13 – No. 2711 July 02, 2011
Thought for the week: "Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful." – Albert Schweitzer
"Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well." – 3 John 1:2 (NIV).
"Diseases of the soul are more dangerous and more numerous than those of the body." – Cicero
"In a disordered mind, as in a disordered body, soundness of health is impossible." – Cicero
"I see rejection in my skin, worry in my cancers, bitterness and hate in my aching joints. I failed to take care of my mind, and so my body now goes to the hospital." – Astrid Alauda
"A healthy body and soul come from an unencumbered mind and body." – Ymber Delecto
"In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments; there are consequences." – Robert Green Ingersoll
A special word of advice from Noah Webster, 1882: "Let it be impressed on your mind that God commands you to choose for rulers just men who will rule in the fear of God (Exodus 18:21).... If the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted.... If our government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the Divine commands, and elect bad men to make and administer the laws."
Bob Cavinder, in his Daily Hug, talks about a favorite motivational speaker, Bobb Beihl, who shares the following message that he called, "The Elephant Story."
It was eleven o'clock on Friday night. I was sound asleep when the phone rang. On the other end was my friend Duane Pederson, founder of the Hollywood Free Paper and now president of Helping Hands Ministries. "How would you like to go to Tucson tomorrow?"
"Tucson?" I groaned, "What in the world would we do in Tucson?" "My friend, Bobby Yerkes, has a circus playing in Tucson tomorrow and I would like to go down just to get away, clear the cobwebs, and work the circus with him. We'll move some props, have a good time, and be back by ten o'clock tomorrow night."
Now there probably isn't a man or woman alive who hasn't dreamed about running away with the circus as a child, so it didn't take me long to agree to go. Early the next morning at seven o'clock our jet lifted off the runway at Los Angeles International Airport headed for Arizona.
When we got there, it was a hot, dusty, windy day at the fairgrounds where the circus was playing. We moved props from one of the three rings to the next, helped in any way we could, and generally got dusty, dirty, hungry, and tired.
During one of the breaks, I started chatting with a man who trains animals for Hollywood movies. "How is it that you can stake down a ten-ton elephant with the same size stake that you use for this little fellow?" I asked. (The "little fellow" weighed 300 pounds.)
"It's easy when you know two things: elephants really do have great memories, but they aren't very smart. When they are babies, we stake them down.
They try to tug away from the stake maybe ten thousand times before they realize that they can't possibly get away. At that point, their 'elephant memory' takes over and they remember for the rest of their lives that they can't get away from the stake."
Humans are sometimes like elephants. When we are teenagers, some unthinking, insensitive, unwise person says, "He's not very good at planning," or "She's not a leader," or "Their team will never make it," and zap, we drive a mental stake into our minds.
Often when we become mature adults, we are still held back by some inaccurate one-sentence "stake" put in our minds when we were young leaders.
Don't let an imaginary stake someone placed in your life hold you back. You've got what it takes and you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you!
When Arnold Toynbee, the renowned British historian, was 83, he made the following observation about Western society:
1. There's a decline in honesty, and absence of common purpose in the Western world.
2. Material success and gross national product are aims of Western peoples and governments.
3. Nations rise or fall in relation to the moral unity of the family and the moral purpose of the state—both in decline in the West.
Even though Toynbee was pessimistic about the West, he believed if leaders of government would appeal to the ideals of the people and not just to their pocketbooks, there could be hope for an ethical revolution.
True, we need an ethical revolution, but much more we need a spiritual revolution. But unless we turn to God and acknowledge his rightful place in our hearts, and as the One who made our nation possible, and rebuild our nation's moral foundation based on his directives, neither an ethical nor a spiritual revolution is likely to happen.
As God's Word says, "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people" (Proverbs 14:34, NIV).
No matter what Gary did, it was never enough to please his father. When he got seven A's and three B's, his dad asked about the B's. When he described the wonderful girl he'd fallen in love with, he got a lecture cautioning that she may be different than he thought.
Gary's dad was stunned and hurt when Gary took a job in another town. He tried to talk him out of it, explaining the advantages of being close to the family and the pitfalls of moving. Finally, Gary exploded, "Dad, I'm moving to get away from you! I love you, but I can't stand the way you tear down everything I do."
He braced himself for a counterattack, but for the first time in his life he saw his dad's mask of confidence dissolve into vulnerability. With tears in his eyes, his dad stammered, "All I ever wanted was to make you better and help you reach your potential and avoid risks. It's what I do. It's why my business is so successful. Do you want me to ignore my experience and just be a cheerleader?"
"Dad, our relationship isn't about productivity," Gary explained. "You're my dad. Sometimes I need praise more than a push, and approval more than advice. Constantly trying to make me better just makes me feel worse. It's not enough that you love me; I need you to appreciate me."
That's an important lesson. In personal relationships, there may be benefits to the relentless pursuit of better, but the cost may be too high.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
Jesus Christ said, "You are to go into all the world and preach [communicate] the Good News [the gospel] to everyone, everywhere."1
People Power is without question one of the most powerful means to accomplish any cause—either for good or evil. As Richard Halverson pointed out "People Power is a mighty force."
People have the power to close down any operation—or prosper it! For example, pornography prevails because enough people want it, buy it, watch it, listen to it, and read it. It is extremely profitable because countless people prosper it!
People Power has also prospered the tobacco industry, the liquor industry, the movie industry, the gambling industry, the abortion industry and endless numbers of other products and causes—some of great value, some of little or no value whatsoever, and some that are destructive of individuals, families, and society.
The People Power principle could also work miracles for reaching millions of people around the world with the saving gospel message of Jesus Christ. As God's people we have the power to prosper or hinder the reaching of people worldwide with the gospel. This is why we believe God has led ACTS to commence a People Power for Jesus movement. To date, 2,650 folk have made a commitment to God (not to me) to be a part of this movement.
I want to invite you to join this People Power for Jesus movement and see how you can help reach people for Christ in an extremely simple yet attractive way. For more information and to join, go to: www.actsweb.org/people_power/.
If you truly care about helping to reach the lost for Jesus, being obedient to Christ's command, and having a vital part in what God is doing in the world today, I urge you to prayerfully consider becoming a People Power for Jesus Partner today. With God's blessing untold millions of people worldwide can be reached with the saving gospel of Jesus Christ through People Power.
"When many people each do a little, together we can accomplish great feats for God."
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, because you gave your life to die for me, I surrender my heart and life to you in order to live always for you. Please use me to be 'as Jesus' to every life I touch and use me to help share the gospel in an attractive way with my family, friends and contacts. So help me God. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."
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