Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 15 – No. 5113 December 21, 2013
Wishing you a very Merry and God blessed Christmas
Thought for the season:"The message of Christmas is not about the proclamation of a holiday or the declaration of a season. It is about the proclamation of a Person and the declaration of Salvation. The birth of the child in the manger was an event that prophets had written about, the people of Israel had spoken about, the patriarchs of old had wondered about, and the angels of God shouted about on that glorious night when Christ was born." – Roy Lessin, Co-Founder DaySpring Cards. Submitted by Dr. Cath Filmer-Davies
"The enemy surrounds us. Don't let one escape." – Vance Havner
"There is no cosmetic for beauty like happiness." – Countess of Blessington
"One person with a belief is equal to a force of ninety-nine who have only interests." – John Stuart Mill
"Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact." – William James
"A diamond cannot be polished without friction, nor the man perfected without trials." – Chinese Proverb
"By starving emotions we become humorless, rigid and stereotyped; by repressing them we become literal, reformatory and holier-than-thou; encouraged, they perfume life; discouraged, they poison it." – Joseph Collins
The celebrated pianist Arthur Rubinstein often wondered if he gave a concert in disguise what kind of critical reception he would get. Eventually, he tried a concert under an assumed name and a beard. Critics' verdict: The bearded wonder wasn't in a class with the great Rubinstein. – John McCarthy (Cited in Bits & Pieces)
"In 1968, when Kent M. Keith was a 19-year-old sophomore at Harvard, he wrote the following 'Paradoxical Commandments' as part of a booklet for student leaders. He describes the Commandments as guidelines for finding personal meaning in the face of adversity:"1
People are illogical, unreasonable and self-centered. Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.
The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.
People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.
People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.2
Year after year with "tireless regularity and eternal patience," God reminds the world every Christmas that he sent his Son, Jesus, to save lost mankind. Christmas is also God's reminder that Jesus is coming back to earth for all who have accepted him as their personal Lord and Savior.
His first coming is an indisputable fact of history. His second coming to end this world age is as certain. According to Bible scholars, there are 1,845 references in the Old Testament and 318 in the New Testament about Christ's coming again. This means for every prophecy in the Bible about Christ's first coming—every one of which was fulfilled in minute detail—there are eight about his second coming!
Jesus is coming again. God has promised this in his Word, the Bible. Jesus himself promised it as well.* And all the signs that Jesus and the Bible said would immediately precede his return are evident today, also reminding us that Christ's return could be very soon. If it were today, would you be ready?
To be absolutely sure that you are ready Click HERE to read "How to Be Sure You're a Real Christian ... without having to be religious."
* See "Thought for the Season" (John 14:2–3, NIV).
Bernard Gilpin, accused of heresy before Bishop Bonner, set out for London for trial. His favorite maxim was, "All things are for the best." On his journey he broke his leg. "Is it all for the best now?" jested a scorner. "I still believe so," he replied.
And so it proved, for before he was able to resume his journey, Queen Mary died. Instead of going to London to be burned, he returned home in triumph.
Dr. Hubert Davidson visited the noted poetess, Myra Brooks Welch, who perhaps is best known for her masterpiece, "The Touch of the Master's Hand." As he turned to leave her home, Myra patted the arm of her wheelchair and said, "And I thank God for this."
Imagine being grateful for a wheelchair! But her talent lay undiscovered prior to her wheelchair days. Rather than becoming bitter, she chose a better way, and a wonderful ministry opened new doors of blessings for her. Her poems have blessed people around the world.
"The people of this generation ... are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other: 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry'" (Luke 7:32, NIV).
On a December day back in 1903 at Kitty Hawk in North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright, after numerous failures to fly a heavier-than-air machine, made amazing history. They achieved something that no man had ever done before. Ecstatic, they sent a telegram to their sister Katherine: "We have actually flown 852 feet. Will be home for Christmas."
Overjoyed, Katherine ran down to the local newspaper and pushed the telegram—the greatest news story of the new century—into the hand of the editor. After reading it, he smiled and said, "Well, well! How nice the boys will be home for Christmas."
The religious people of Christ's day who were actually anticipating his coming as their Messiah failed totally to recognize him—and ironically had him crucified—because he didn't come and didn't operate in the way they expected him to.
How sad it is that so many miss the full meaning of Christmas in that they have never thanked Jesus for dying for their sins, nor accepted the most profound and precious Christmas gift ever given ... the gift of the Savior and his pardon for all their sins and his gift of eternal life.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you for the most wonderful Christmas gift ever given—the gift of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Please use me to share your great gift of salvation with as many people as possible for as long as I shall live. And because of my inadequacies, please do this through me. Use me every day to be as Christ to whomever you bring into my life and grant that they, seeing Jesus in me, will want you for themselves. Eternally grateful, 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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Books by Dick Innes, Editor of Weekend Encounter You Can't Fly With a Broken Wing How to Mend a Broken Heart I Hate Witnessing—A Handbook for Effective Christian
Communications
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