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. 16 – No. 5014 December 13, 2014
Thought for the week: "It is easy to sit up and take notice. What is difficult is getting up and taking action." – Honore de Balzac
Self-respect cannot be hunted.
It cannot be purchased.
It is never for sale.
It cannot be fabricated out of public relations.
It comes to us when we are alone,
in quiet moments, in quiet places,
when we suddenly realize that,
knowing the good, we have done it;
knowing the beautiful, we have served it;
knowing the truth, we have spoken it.
Alfred Whitney Griswold, 1906-1963
American Historian and Educator
Back in 1932, I was a fairly new husband. My wife, Nettie and I were living in a little apartment on Chicago's south side. One hot August afternoon I had to go to St. Louis where I was to be the featured soloist at a large revival meeting. I didn't want to go; Nettie was in the last month of pregnancy with our first child, but a lot of people were expecting me in St. Louis. I kissed Nettie goodbye, clattered downstairs to our Model A, and in a fresh Lake Michigan breeze chugged out of Chicago on Route 66.
However, outside the city, I discovered that in my anxiety at leaving, I had forgotten my music case. I wheeled around and headed back.
I found Nettie sleeping peacefully. I hesitated by her bed; something was strongly telling me to stay, but eager to get on my way, and not wanting to disturb Nettie, I shrugged off the feeling and quietly slipped out of the room with my music.
The next night, in the steaming St.Louis heat, the crowd called on me to sing again and again. When I finally sat down, a messenger boy ran up with a Western Union telegram. I ripped open the envelope....
Pasted on the yellow sheet were the words: "YOUR WIFE JUST DIED."
People were happily singing and clapping around me, but I could hardly keep from crying out. I rushed to a phone and called home. All I could hear on the other end was "Nettie is dead. Nettie is dead.'"
When I got back, I learned that Nettie had given birth to a boy. I swung between grief and joy. Yet that same night, the baby died. I buried Nettie and our little boy together, in the same casket. Then I fell apart. For days I closeted myself. I felt that God had done me an injustice. I didn't want to serve Him anymore or write gospel songs; I just wanted to go back to that jazz world I once knew so well. But then, as I hunched alone in that dark apartment those first sad days, I thought back to the afternoon I went to St. Louis.
Something kept telling me to stay with Nettie. Was that something, God? Oh, if I had paid more attention to Him that day, I would have stayed and been with Nettie when she died.
From that moment on I vowed to listen more closely to Him. But still I was lost in grief. Everyone was kind to me, especially one friend. The following Saturday evening he took me up to Maloney's Poro College, a neighborhood music school. It was quiet; the late evening sun crept through the curtained windows.
I sat down at the piano, and my hands began to browse over the keys. Something happened to me then. I felt at peace. I felt as though I could reach out and touch God. I found myself playing a melody. Once in my head they just seemed to fall into place:
'Precious Lord, take my hand,
Lead me on, let me stand,
I am tired, I am weak, I am worn;
Through the storm, through the night,
Lead me on to the light:
Take my hand, precious Lord,
Lead me home.'
The Lord gave me these words and melody, He also healed my spirit. I learned that when we are in our deepest grief, when we feel farthest from God, this is when He is closest, and when we are most open to His restoring power.
And so I go on living for God willingly and joyfully, until that day comes when He will take me and gently lead me home.
"It is time to get back to basics: to self-discipline and respect for the law; to consideration for others; to accepting responsibility for yourself and your family; and not shuffling it off on the state."
When my daughter Samara was four, she pointed to a delicate glass vase and asked, "What's that?"
"It's very special," I answered. "It was my mother's. I would really feel bad if it ever got broken, so please be careful to never, never touch it."
Without a moment's hesitation she said, "Then you should never, never put it where I can reach it."
Her remark reminded me of an Oscar Wilde quote: "I can resist anything but temptation." Samara understood the power of the temptation and shifted the responsibility to me. If I wanted the vase safe, keep it out of her path. And, of course, she was right. We would both be happier if I didn't tempt her.
After all, it is easier to avoid than resist temptations. Even people of character can succumb to temptations at weak moments. If you're on a diet, don't let them bring out the dessert tray. If you're on a tight budget, don't even window shop for things you can't afford. And if you're committed to celibacy or fidelity, don't get near situations where your resolve could be tested.
The 19th century English novelist Margaret Oliphant said, "As a general rule, temptations come when they are sought." If we're honest with ourselves, we would have to admit that many of the morally precarious situations we've found ourselves in were not entirely unwelcome. It's reckless to invite temptation to sit beside us and believe that we will have the strength to say no at the right time.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"Do not be deceived: God is not mocked. A man reaps what he sows."1
It is a fact of life that our lifestyle affects the quality of our life and that of our families.
Alcoholism, for example, affects millions of families and individuals. It tears families apart, and is terribly damaging to children in their developmental years when they have a parent or parents who are alcoholics. It causes innumerable crimes, including rape, physical and sexual abuse, murder, robbery and maimed lives—and slaughter on our highways.
Smokers also adversely affect their loved ones and others. Pulpit Helps reported that thirty percent of all cancer deaths are related to smoking. There is also a 70 percent greater risk of heart disease among smokers than among nonsmokers. Furthermore, second-hand smoke inhaled by non-smoking family members (and others) can also be deadly.
And while it is far from being politically correct to say so, according to an article in the former Moody Monthly magazine, homosexuals account for half the nation's cases of syphilis, even though they represent only a small percent of the population. The reason? Promiscuity. Homosexuals are also the principal victims of AIDS and other infectious diseases, and are fifteen times more likely to commit a murder. And according to the EP News Service, the U.S. government spends more on AIDS research than it does on heart diseases. This is in spite of the fact that cardiac disorders claim forty times more deaths than AIDS.
God has a sound reason for all of his laws—including the ones that cover the sins of the spirit such as emotional dishonesty, jealousy, envy, malice, hatred, resentment, greed, lust, an unforgiving spirit, and so on. All of these are damaging to the body as well as to the emotions and spirit just as much as cigarette smoking is to the body—and perhaps even more damaging. It's a fact of life that whatever we sow, we reap. That's the law of the harvest.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank You for Your Word, the Bible, that gives clear instructions for healthy physical, emotional, relational and spiritual living. Please give me a love and deep appreciation for Your Word, the desire to study and understand it, and the good sense to follow the instructions found therein. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus's name, amen."
8. Receive Daily Encounter E-mail ... Without Charge
Daily Encounter, a without charge weekday e-mail inspirational from ACTS International is now going to 374,000+ 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 95 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.
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 373,000+ subscribers, and every week Weekend Encounter is going to 7,400+ 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, almost every day of the year we are seeing decison for Christ responses from around the world!
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:
13. Helpful Books, CDs and CassettesOprah 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."
