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. 2112 May 26, 2012
Thought for the week: "Don't argue for other people's weaknesses. Don't argue for your own. When you make a mistake, admit it, correct it, and learn from it immediately." – Stephen R. Covey
"I am grateful for all of my problems. After each one was overcome, I became stronger and more able to meet those that were still to come. I grew in all my difficulties." – J.C. Penney
"It's better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret." – Jacki Joyner-Kersee
Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock." – Ben Hecht
"You miss 100% of the shots you never take." – Wayne Gretzky, Hockey Great
"Start by doing what is necessary, then what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible" – St. Francis of Assisi
"Without God there is no virtue because there is no prompting of the conscience ... without God there is a coarsening of the society; without God democracy will not and cannot long endure ... If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a Nation gone under." – Ronald Reagan
Smith goes to see his supervisor in the front office.
"Boss," he says, "we're doing some heavy house-cleaning at home tomorrow, and my wife needs me to help with the attic and the garage, moving and hauling stuff."
"We're short-handed, Smith" the boss replies. "I can't give you the day off."
"Thanks, boss," says Smith "I knew I could count on you!"
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
The year is 1910, just over 100 years ago.
What a difference a century makes!
Here are some statistics for the Year 1910:
The average life expectancy for men was 47 years.
Fuel for the 1910 Ford car was sold in drug stores only.
Only 14 percent of the homes had a bathtub.
Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.
There were only 8,000 cars and only 144 miles of paved roads.
The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower!
The average US wage in 1910 was 22 cents per hour.
The average US worker made between $200 and $400 per year.
A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.
More than 95 percent of all births took place at home.
Ninety percent of all doctors had no college education!
Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and the government as substandard.
Sugar cost four cents a pound.
Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.
Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.
Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used Borax or egg yolks for shampoo.
Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering into their country for any reason.
The five leading causes of death were:
1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke
The American flag had 45 stars.
The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was only 30!
Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented yet.
There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.
Two out of every 10 adults couldn't read or write and only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.
Eighteen percent of households had at least one full-time servant or domestic help.
Try to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years.
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
I've talked before about the importance of making moral judgments. The idea is not to encourage categorizing or labeling the character of others, but to clarify personal moral obligations in terms of specific values and attributes that make us better people and produce a better society.
The most effective framework I know is built on six core ethical values called the Six Pillars of Character: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship.
If you want to be a person of character:
First, be worthy of trust; live with honor and integrity; be honest, keep your promises, and do what's right even when it costs more than you want to pay.
Second, treat others with respect; live by the Golden Rule; and avoid physical violence, verbal abuse, prejudice, and all other acts that demean, or offend human dignity.
Third, be responsible; exercise self-discipline and self-restraint; do your best, be self-reliant, and be accountable for the consequences of your choices.
Fourth, strive to be fair, don't cheat, be open and consistent, don't jump to conclusions, and be careful in making judgments about others.
Fifth, be caring, kind, empathetic, and charitable; avoid selfishness; and do what you can to improve the lives of others.
Sixth, be a good citizen, do your share to make your community better, protect the environment, participate in democratic processes, play by the rules, and obey laws (unless you have a compelling conscientious objection).
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."1
In recent days, Joy, my wife, and I have faced some sobering times. For instance, a very good friend, still in the prime of life, last year lost his battle with cancer. Not that long afterwards we were shocked to learn that Joy (my wife) had breast cancer. Fortunately, following major surgery, she has healed and, confirmed by the medics, is cancer free. The point I am making, however, is this: "How do people without faith in God and peace with him handle situations like these?" At some point in life we all have to deal with crises in one form or another. And for each one of us there will come a time when we have to face our own immortality.
Imagine, if you will, that you are at the end of your life and are facing imminent death and are about to cross the great divide—from which there is no chance of ever returning—knowing that you have never made peace with God and are about to face him. As God has said, "It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment."2
This would be absolutely tragic and totally unnecessary because life never has to end this way if you have made peace with God in the here and now. So how does one do this?
First, acknowledge the fact that in God's sight you are a sinner and have fallen short of his standard of holiness—without which one can never enter God's heaven nor survive in the presence of his infinite holiness. God's Word confirms that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory [standard] of God."3
Second, acknowledge the fact that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that he left the "ivory palaces of heaven,"4 to come to earth as a man to identify with sinful mankind and die in your place on the cruel Roman cross to pay the just penalty for all your sins. As the Bible says, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."5
Third, acknowledge the fact that Jesus Christ is the only way into God's heaven. When Thomas, a disciple of Jesus, asked about the way to heaven, Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father [God] except through me."6 God's Word also says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast."7 Had there been any other way into God's heaven, Jesus Christ would never have had to come to earth clothed in a garment of human flesh to die in our place to pay the just penalty for all our sins.
Fourth, offer to God the following prayer of confession, faith, and repentance. Genuinely follow these simple steps and you will make and find peace with God.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please be merciful to me a sinner and forgive me for all my sins. I believe that Jesus Christ is your Son and that he died in my place to save me from the consequences of my sin which is eternal death and separation from you forever. And Jesus Christ please come into my heart and life as my personal Lord and Savior. I thank you, God, for giving your Son to die for me; and thank you Jesus for dying in my place to pay the just penalty for all my sins; and thank you God for your forgiveness, the gift of eternal life, and the gift of finding and making peace with you. With your help, I repent of (turn from) all sinful living to trust, obey, and serve you. So help me God. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus' name, amen."
If you genuinely prayed this prayer, or would just like to re-commit your life to Jesus Christ, please let us know and we will be happy to send you, without cost, further articles to help you in your Christian life. You can do this online at: http://tinyurl.com/pgntm.
8. Receive Daily Encounter E-mail ... Without Charge
Daily Encounter, a without charge weekday e-mail inspirational from ACTS International is now going to 400,000 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 400,000 subscribers, and every week Weekend Encounter is going to 7,869 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."
