Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 13 – No. 5311 December 31, 2011
2011 has been another very productive yearwith both its challenges and its victories and, as we draw to a close of another year, we thank all of our partners for making Weekend Encounter, Daily Encounter and Prayer Encounter available without charge to 423,000+ subscribers worldwide. Be sure to read our encouraging report at http://www.actsweb.org/acts_in_action.php.
Happy New Year:Joy and I wish all of our readers God speed and his very best for a very Happy New Year of 2012.
"Faith is not about everything turning out OK; Faith is about being OK no matter how things turn out." – Unknown
"We are the Bibles the world is reading; We are the creeds the world is needing; We are the sermons the world is heeding." – Billy Graham
"During my 87 years, I have witnessed a whole succession of technological revolutions. But none of them has done away with the need for character in the individual or the ability to think." – Bernard Baruch, financier
"I would rather live my life as if there is a God, and die to find out there isn't, rather than to live my life as if there isn't, and die to find out there is." – Unknown
"A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself." – Joseph Campbell
"The reputation of a thousand years may be determined by the conduct of one hour." – Japanese proverb
"If life be short [which it is], then moderate your worldly cares and projects; do not cumber yourselves with too much provision for a short voyage." – Thomas Manton
She was responsible that all instruments and materials were accounted for before completing the final steps of the operation. She said to the surgeon, "You've only removed 11 sponges. We used 12 sponges, and we need to find the last one."
"I removed them all," the doctor declared emphatically. "We'll close the incision now."
"No," the rookie nurse objected, "we used 12 sponges."
"I'll take the responsibility," the surgeon said grimly. "Suture."
"You can't do that, sir," blazed the nurse. "Think of the patient."
The surgeon smiled and lifted his foot, showing the nurse the twelfth sponge. "You'll do just fine in this or any other hospital."
When you know you're right, you can't back down.
– Dennis Waitley, "Your Absolute Bottom Line," Priorities
Magazine. Cited on KneEmail, www.forthright.net/kneemail.
According to the Pew Forum's U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, 57 percent of self-identified Evangelical Christians agreed with this statement: "Many religions can lead to eternal life."
Think about the staggering implications of what you just heard: 57 percent of Evangelicals believe that many religions can lead to eternal life!
Yet Jesus Himself was very clear. "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). Either Jesus was right, or he was wrong. What Christians, Muslims, and Jews say about the person and work of Jesus Christ can't be reconciled. They may all be false, but they cannot all be true.1
Most Jews today still do not believe that Jesus Christ was or is their promised Messiah. Muslims are anti-the-real Christ; to them Jesus is not the Son of God, he didn't die for the sins of mankind, and he is not the Savior of mankind. They say that Jesus was a prophet but that below Mohammed. Christians stand alone in that they believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that he did die on the cruel Roman cross in our place to pay the penalty for all our sins, to obtain God's forgiveness for us, and to grant to us the gift of eternal life to be with him in Heaven for all eternity.
If you have never received God's forgiveness by receiving Jesus Christ as your Savior, I encourage you to do that today. For help read the article, "Find Peace With God" ... Click on: http://www.actsweb.org/articles/article.php?i=156&d=1&c=1&p=1
1. Reported by Chuck Colson in Breakpoint, May 18, 2011
From the past by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: "Peace for Israel means security, and we must stand with all our might to protect its right to exist, its territorial integrity. I see Israel as one of the great outposts of democracy in the world ... Peace for Israel means security, and that security must be a reality" (Mar. 25, 1968; just two weeks before his death).
– Cited on: American News Commentary,
June 15, 2011
According to an old parable, three men were working hard cutting stone from large blocks of granite. When asked what they were doing, the first fellow said, "I'm making bricks." The second said, "I'm creating a foundation for a large building." The third person answered, "I'm building a cathedral."
They are doing the exact same job, and all three responses were accurate, but they reveal the huge difference attitude makes. It's the difference between tolerating or enjoying one's life, between thinking small or large. Mindset matters.
Just like the stone cutters, most of us have a habitual or characteristic mental attitude that determines how we experience and interpret situations. It's pretty clear that the fellow who saw himself playing an important role in building a grand cathedral is much more likely to feel good about his work and his life than the guy who defines his job as making bricks.
A bookkeeper for a school may think of herself as someone who just works with numbers or as part of an enterprise that educates children. A math teacher can characterize himself as someone who teaches long division, someone who seeks to make all math interesting and understandable, someone who teaches students how to learn difficult concepts, or, larger yet, someone who helps young people develop attitudes and skills that will help them lead worthy and successful lives.
What do you do?
Don't minimize yourself by just describing the tasks you perform; think big. There is no job that can't be meaningful and gratifying, if not because of how it fits into a larger picture of producing human happiness, then at least in terms of the gratification you can feel simply from a job well done.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
According to an article in Today in the Word, soon after Queen Victoria's marriage to Prince Albert, the couple had a quarrel, whereupon Prince Albert locked himself in his private apartment. Queen Victoria knocked furiously on his door.
"Who's there?" asked Albert.
"The Queen of England, and she demands to be admitted."
There was no response and the door remained locked. The queen knocked furiously again.
"Who's there?" asked Albert again. The queen's response was the same ... as was Albert's.
After more furious knocking and no response came a quiet pause—and then a gentle tap.
"Who's there?" asked Albert once more.
"Your wife, Albert," the queen replied. Immediately the door was opened.
As the writer of this article pointed out, "Love opens doors."
Need I say more?
Suggested Prayer: "Dear God, help me always to be a door opener and not a door closer! Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."
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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
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