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. 17 – No. 4415 October 31, 2015
Thought for the week: "Be careful the environment you choose for it will shape you; be careful the friends you choose for you will become like them." – W. Clement Stone
Some of you may be wondering what Judge Roy Moore has been doing since he was removed from the bench for refusing to remove the Ten Commandments from his courtroom wall. Please read the poem he wrote.
The following is a poem written by Judge Roy Moore from Alabama. Judge Moore was sued by the ACLU for displaying the Ten Commandments in his courtroom foyer. He has been stripped of his judgeship and now they are trying to strip his right to practice law in Alabama! The judge's poem sums it up quite well.
America? the beautiful,
or so you used to be.
Land of the Pilgrims' pride;
I'm glad they'll never see.
Babies piled in dumpster's,
Abortion on demand,
Oh, sweet land of liberty;
your house is on the sand.
Our children wander aimlessly
poisoned by cocaine
choosing to indulge their lusts,
when God has said abstain.
From sea to shining sea,
our Nation turns away
From the teaching of God's love
and a need to always pray
We've kept God in our
temples, how callous we have grown.
When earth is but His footstool,
and Heaven is His throne.
We've voted in a government
that's rotting at the core,
Appointing Godless Judges;
who throw reason out the door.
Too soft to place a killer
in a well deserved tomb,
But brave enough to kill a baby
before he leaves the womb.
You think that God's not
angry, that our land's a moral slum?
How much longer will He wait
before His judgment comes?
How are we to face our God,
from Whom we cannot hide?
What then is left for us to do,
but stem this evil tide?
If we who are His children,
will humbly turn and pray;
Seek His holy face
and mend our evil way.
Then God will hear from Heaven;
and forgive us of our sins,
He'll heal our sickly land
and those who live within.
But, America the Beautiful,
If you don't—then you will see,
A sad but Holy God
withdraw His hand from Thee.
The drive home is a great time to reflect on the day. What positive things happened? Did I learn something useful today? Was someone helped by my actions? How did I make a difference? Would I have done anything differently?
It helps to know what actions and activities I will repeat and those I won't.
Using Business Witness Cards is a unique and effective way to reach hundreds of people—one at a time—with the saving gospel of Jesus Christ. For example, leave a "Thank You for Your Friendly Service" card with your tip at a restaurant, and give one graciously to anyone who has been helpful to you. Give other suitable cards to friends and contacts as suitable opportunities arise. Each card has the Internet address of a specially designed website with practical articles to help improve the quality of everyday living—emotionally, relationally and spiritually—and how to discover God without having to be religious—all without charge.
Click HERE for a listing of all available witness cards showing both the front and back of each card, with a special message on the back to address the felt needs and interests of the recipient.
In a Peanuts cartoon, Lucy asks Charlie Brown, "Why do you think we were put on earth?"
Charlie answers, "To make others happy."
Lucy replies, "I don't think I'm making anyone happy," and then adds, "but nobody's making me very happy either. Somebody's not doing his job!"
People like Lucy are so sure happiness is a matter of getting something that they ask not what they can do for others but what others can and should do for them. They usually feel shortchanged or cheated. They become so preoccupied with what they don't have that they can't enjoy what they do have.
What's more, they don't realize one of the best ways to be happy is to experience the joy and self-worth of making others happy.
In his book Happiness Is a Serious Problem, Dennis Prager argues that it's human nature to want and feel we need more. The problem is, the quest for more is endless because we can always add more to whatever we have. As a result, the Lucys of the world often live in an "if only" world that keeps them one step away from happiness: "If only I get this raise, make this sale, pay off my debts, or win this game, I'll be happy."
Abraham Lincoln understood that happiness is essentially a way of looking at one's life. "A person is generally about as happy as he's willing to be," he said.
Thus, we're more likely to experience happiness if we realize it's not just getting what we want. It's learning to want what we get.
"And then he [Jesus] told them, 'You are to go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere.'"1
I have often felt that much of my education taught me how to make a living and do a lot of good things, but it didn't teach me how to live or make a life. That I have had to learn the hard way—and am still learning how to do that.
Nevertheless, my education did teach me many valuable lessons. One that I have never forgotten was from my journalism professor. Time and again in bright red he would write on my papers, "Show me. Don't tell me!"
I took it to mean that in my writing I needed to illustrate important points with stories, which was the way that Jesus taught in his many parables.2
I like to apply the "show me—don't tell me" principle not only in my writing, but also in my teaching and especially in my witness for Christ. In other words, one of the greatest ways we can teach others and witness for Christ is to model true Christianity and effective witnessing. While the words we use ARE important, until we do the above, our words won't carry much weight.
Like St. Francis of Assisi wisely said: "Preach the gospel at all times. Where necessary, use words." And as another wisely said, "The living truth I long to see, I cannot live on what used to be, so close your Bible and show me how the Christ you talk about is living now."
In other words, "To win some we need to be winsome."
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please help me to so live the Christian life that others, seeing what You have done in my life, will want You in their lives as well. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus's name, amen."
1. Jesus (Mark 16:15, TLB).
2. See Matthew 13:35.
NOTE: If you would like to accept God's forgiveness
for all your sins and His invitation for a full pardon, click on: http://www.actsweb.org/invitation.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 373,000+ 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.
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 7,300+ 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 3,000 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."
