Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
To receive the email edition of Weekend Encounter (without charge) click on the Subscribe button.
Privacy policy: We do not sell or rent subscriber's e-mail
addresses to anyone. We value your privacy.
Global Communications Outreach:
Learn how to be a missionary right from your own home and have a vital part in worldwide gospel outreach by becoming an ACTS People Power for Jesus Partner. Click HERE There is no charge.
Vol. 14 – No. 0212 January 14, 2012
Thought for the week: "He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, "Here lives a great street-sweeper who did his job well." – Martin Luther King Jr.
Today I will make a difference. I will begin by controlling my thoughts. A person is the product of his thoughts. I want to be happy and hopeful. Therefore, I will have thoughts that are happy and hopeful. I refuse to be victimized by my circumstances. I will not let petty inconveniences such as stoplights, long lines, and traffic jams be my masters. I will avoid negativism and gossip. Optimism will be my companion, and victory will be my hallmark. Today I will make a difference.
Before Randy Pausch died of pancreatic cancer in 2008 he wrote the best seller book, The Last Lecture. In a letter to his wife Jai and his children, Dylan, Logan, and Chloe, he wrote this beautiful "Guide to a Better Life" for his wife and children.
Personality:
Don't compare your life to other's. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
Don't have negative thoughts of things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
Don't overdo; keep your limits.
Don't take yourself so seriously; no one else does.
Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.
Dream more while you are awake.
Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner of his/ her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.
Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class, but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
Smile and laugh more.
You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
Community:
all your family often.
Each day give something good to others.
Forgive everyone for everything.
Spend time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of six.
Try to make at least three people smile each day.
What other people think of you is none of your business.
Your job will not take care of you when you are sick. Your family and friends will. Stay in touch.
Life:
Put GOD first in anything and everything that you think, say and do.
GOD heals everything.
Do the right things.
However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
The best is yet to come.
Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.
If you know GOD, you will always be happy. So, be happy.
Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture. Submitted by Karen Bradley.
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.
The most traditional way to measure the quality of one's life is to list accolades, achievements, and acquisitions. In its simplest terms, success is getting what we want, and most people want wealth and status.
Yet, as much pleasure as these attributes can bring, the rich, powerful, and famous usually discover that true happiness will elude them if they don't have peace of mind, self-respect, and enduring loving relationships.
Peace of mind doesn't preclude ambition, desire for material possessions, or high position, but it assumes a fundamental foundation of contentment, gratitude, and pride—a belief that whatever one has is enough and an active appreciation for the good things in life.
Feeling successful can generate satisfying emotions of self-worth, but feeling significant—that one's life really matters—is much more potent. Peter Drucker, the great management guru, captured this idea when he wrote of the urge many high achievers have to "move beyond success to significance."
The surprise for many is that one of the surest roads to significance is service. It doesn't have to be of the Mother Teresa missionary variety. Parents who sacrifice their comfort and pleasure for their children are performing a service, as are teachers, public-safety professionals, members of the military, and volunteers who work for the common good.
In addressing graduates, Albert Schweitzer said, "I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve."
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
Referring to Heaven God's Word says, "On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's [Jesus Christ's] book of life."1
Recently Joy and I attended a Memorial Service on the Marine Base at Camp Pendleton here in Southern California. Our town is next door to Camp Pendleton, and our church is very involved with the Engineer Corps. Among a variety of ways we support the marines, whenever a contingent is sent overseas, our church is given the name of each marine so members can choose one of the marines to be a prayer partner for him.
Sadly, one of the marines for whom Joy and I were prayer partners was killed in action earlier this year. This is why we attended the Memorial Service in his honor.
It was an extremely moving ceremony. There were quite a few marines who took part in the service and, during Roll Call, their names were called out one at a time by the officer in charge. Each marine loudly answered "present" when his name was called. When the name of "our" marine, Lance Corporal Alejandro Yazzie, was called, there was no answer. The officer called his name louder ... still no answer. A third time his name was called—very loud this time. Dead silence followed! It was so sad that Joy and I cried. Family members and other marines cried too. Lance Corporal Yazzie had died serving his country.
After the ceremony I couldn't help but think about the time when it will be "Roll Call in Heaven." Imagine, if you can, if the name of a loved one is called and there is no response? What if God calls his/her name a second time ... and a third time ... and still there is no answer? The sound of silence would be deafening ... and devastating.
The question we all need to face is this: at the Roll Call in Heaven when your name is called, will you be there to answer? Also, we need to think of those of our loved ones whose names will not be called and do something about it now.*
As today's Scripture vividly reminds us, only those whose names are written in the Lamb's [Jesus Christ's] book of life will be there to answer, "Present."
To make absolute certain that your name is written in the book of life, please read the article, "How to Be Sure You're a Real Christian," at: http://tinyurl.com/real-christian. Be sure to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior so that when the roll is called in Heaven, you will be able to answer with confidence, "PRESENT."
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you that you gave your Son, Jesus, to die on the cross in my place to pay the penalty for all my sins so that I can be freely forgiven and receive your gift of eternal life, and in so doing, have my name written in your book of life. Because of your forgiveness I can know with assurance that when the roll is called in Heaven I'll be there. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."
1. Revelation 21:25-27 (NIV).
*Note: To help loved ones be able to answer "Present" when their names are called at the "Roll Call in Heaven" see helps at: www.actsweb.org/people_power02.php.
8. Receive Daily Encounter E-mail ... Without Charge
Daily Encounter, a without charge weekday e-mail inspirational from ACTS International is now going to 409,000+ subscribers. Scores of letters from around the world have come from readers saying how much they are being helped by this brief, practical devotional.
Over 100 million e-mail Daily, Weekend and Prayer Encounters are delivered to subscribers every year!
NOTE: Some ISPs (especially AOL) now use e-mail filtering software that allows you to add e-mail addresses to your 'buddy', 'safe', or 'approved' list. Please be sure to add acts@actsweb.org to yours so you won't miss any issue of Daily Encounter.
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 one prayer report is e-mailed monthly. Thank you.
If you have a special prayer request please submit it to David Clark at: www.responda.co.uk/prayer.php. David is not on the ACTS staff but is offering this as a service to Daily and Weekend Encounter readers.
Helpers Needed: If you can help David pray for prayer requests, please could you go to: www.responda.co.uk/member.php
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 409,000+ subscribers, and every week Weekend Encounter is going to 7,986 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—almost 3000 in the past 12 months!
If you find value in the 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:
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
1. Bible concordance and Bible helps
2. New Hope Crisis Counseling with trained
lay/volunteer counselors. www.newhopenow.org 3. E-Word Today for a daily Bible reading
4. To find your ZIP+4 Area Code in the U.S.A.
5. How to find and write to your U.S. Representative
6. ASK ... Smart answers fast
7. Send a greeting card without charge for all occasions
8. To check the weather in your area
9. Hoax Web Sites
10. Plus many more sources of helpful information
"Because the world is hungry,
go with bread.
Because the world is filled with strife,
go with peace.
Because the world is filled with deceptions and lies,
go with truth.
Because the world would die without,
go with the love of God."
