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 Dick Innes


Weekend Encounter

Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes          
Published by: ACTS International

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Vol. 18 – No. 0716 February 13, 2016

 
Thought for the week: "May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears." – Nelson Mandela
 
For God so lo V ed the world,
That he g A ve
His on L y
Begott E n
So N  
  T hat whosever
Believeth I n Him
Should N ot perish,
But have  E verlasting Life
   


God's Valentine greeting. (John 3:16)

Index
1.   Words of Wisdom
2.   On the Lighter Side
3.   Turning Pain into Gain
4.   The Love of Christ
5.   Don't Quit
6.   The Greyhound Principle
7.   Relational Living `
8.   Receive Daily Encounter Devotional  without Charge
9.   Weekend Encounter E-mail Edition  without Charge
10.   Know God ... Without Having to Be Religious
11.   Prayer Partners Needed
12.   Please Help Support Weekend Encounter
13.   Helpful Books, CDs, and Cassettes
14.   Services without Charge
15.   ACTS in Action Report
16.   Archives for Daily and Weekend Encounter

1. Words of Wisdom

"Life is like a coin. You can spend it any way you wish. But you can only spend it once." – Michael Josephson

"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80. Anyone who keeps learning stays young." – Henry Ford

"Difficulty is the excuse history never accepts." – Edward R. Murrow

"It is better to walk in the dark with God, than to run in the light alone." – Dr. Alexander Blackburn

"Success is where preparation and opportunity meet." – Bobby Unse

"Don't pray for easy lives; pray to be stronger people. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers; pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be a miracle." – Phillips Brooks

Index

2. On the Lighter Side

Johnny: "Do you think people can predict the future with cards?"

Jimmy: "My mother sure can. She takes one look at my report card and tells me exactly what will happen when Dad gets home."

Source: Mickey's Funnies. To subscribe go to: http://www.mikeysFunnies.com/sub/

Index

3. Turning Pain into Gain

As a young man Demosthenes, the famous Greek orator, had a speech impediment that made him feel shy and insecure. His father left him a wealthy estate, but according to Greek law at the time, to claim his estate he had to establish his right of ownership through public debate. Because of his inability to speak clearly and prove his ownership he lost his inheritance.

Motivated by his loss and through dogged determination Demosthenes overcame his speech impediment to become one of the great orators of ancient times. Nobody remembers who got his inheritance but the story of Demosthenes has been told to countless numbers for centuries.

– Author Unknown

Index

4. The Love of Christ

On the "Today Show" some months ago last year, Matt Lauer interviewed one of the wives of one of the Navy Seals killed along with the US ambassador in Libya. He asked, "What she would say to her children about their dad and how she would want them to remember him."

Her answer, and I quote, "His love for Christ," and then continued on with a few other things.

Throughout the day and on MSN homepage, replaying the story they edited the "Love of Christ" part out. Why? Because using the word Christ might offend someone!

Well, I am a Christian and I am offended! I'm offended that they would edit it out. Offended that we as Christians are asked to tread lightly so as not to offend someone of another religion. I think anyone who missed the original broadcast that morning should know what NBC has done.

This man loved his country and loved his God and gave his life for both just as Christ gave His life for him.

– Submitted by Robert Reece

Index

5. Don't Quit

When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don't quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out,
Don't give up though the pace seems slow,
You may succeed with another blow.
Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit,
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

– Author Unknown

For all the sad words of tongue or pen the saddest are these: "It might have been!"

Index

6. The Greyhound Principle

      By Michael Josephson of CHARACTER COUNTS (939.5)

Racing dogs are trained to chase a mechanical rabbit that always goes a little faster than the fleetest dog. This causes them to run faster than they otherwise would.

Companies that annually set overly ambitious performance objectives for their employees employ this greyhound principle. To a point, it works. Most people achieve more when expectations are set high.

The strategy turns negative, however, when firms chasing Wall Street's rabbit continually set "no-excuses" double-digit growth goals without regard to market realities (including multiple competitors driving toward the same goals) or systemic understaffing (part of the "do more with less" philosophy). Consequently, many corporate leaders are caught up in a ceaseless upward spiral of stress.

Yes, the financial rewards for such success are ample, but the driving motivation is usually not greed and certainly not job satisfaction – it's fear. This can often morph into desperation, a dangerous mindset that can spawn imprudent short-term decisions and outright cheating.

It's unwise and unethical to ignore the business and moral implications of aggressive growth strategies that put executives under unprecedented, unrelenting, and unreasonable pressure.

On one level, it's a matter of values. Work-life balance should be more than a rhetorical ideal. A good company cares about its people. The path to career success shouldn't be littered with the ruins of failed marriages and neglected children.

On another level, it's long-term self-interest. Without an abundant and replenishing pool of talented and committed leaders, no company will succeed for long. The organizations that will pull away in the next decades are those that can attract and retain the best talent because they're places where those people want to work – and that will take a lot more than money.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

For Commentaries go to: http://whatwillmatter.com/category/commentary/

© 2016 Josephson Institute of Ethics; reprinted with permission. Michael Josephson, one of the nation's leading ethicists, is the founder of the Josephson Institute of Ethics and the premier youth character education program, CHARACTER COUNTS! For further information visit www.charactercounts.org

Index

7. Relational Living

A sample of Daily Encounter by Dick Innes

"The Lord God said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.'"1

It is good to remind ourselves that God created mankind primarily for relationships from which come eighty percent of life's satisfaction. To live meaningfully we need to be in meaningful relationships, without which life can be very empty and lonely.

If we don't know how to relate in healthy ways, we don't know how to live fully, and we can impair both our mental and physical health as a result. Or another way to put it: to fully live we need to fully love!

It helps us to remember that God Himself is in relationship through the Trinity (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit). Also, Jesus started the Christian movement with relationships: "He [Jesus] appointed twelve...that they might be with Him."2

Furthermore, practically all of Christ's ministry was done while in relationship with His twelve disciples.

As a Christian, our first need is to keep in a right relationship with God, which begins by accepting Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord. Trying to live the Christian life without this is like trying to go east by traveling west.

We then need close, healthy relationships with people. Only then can we realize some of the deepest longings of the human heart. This doesn't mean that we are to be over-dependent on others, codependent with them, or independent from them, but interdependent with them.

The reality is that we need people. Barbra Streisand expressed it well in the song: "People who need people are the luckiest people in the world."

Furthermore, the degree of our mental health, emotional maturity, and spiritual well-being will be reflected in the health of our close relationships. God's command to "love one another" is not a sentimental suggestion. It's an imperative.

Suggested prayer, "Dear God, please help me first of
all to have a right relationship with You and then to resolve any character issues in my life that may hinder my having healthy relationships with others. Help me to love You and others more fully and myself in a healthy way. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus's name. Amen."

1. Genesis 2:18 (NIV).
2. Mark 3:14 (NIV).

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Index

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Index

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Index

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Index

11. Prayer Partners Needed

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Index

12. Help Support Weekend Encounter

    "Changing the World . . . One Person at a Time" 

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 7,000+ 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:

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Index

13. Helpful Books, CDs and Cassettes

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

Books:

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

   On Sale at: http://www.actscom.com/store

CDs/Cassettes:

  Healing, Wholeness & Happiness by Dick Innes
  Loving & Understanding People by Dick Innes
  I Hate Witnessing by Dick Innes
  God's Formula for Success by Dick Innes
  Damaged Emotions by David Seamands
  Healing of the Memories by David Seamands

  On SALE at: http://tinyurl.com/2unmmy

Index

14. Services Without Charge

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 8. To check the weather in your area
 9. Hoax Web Sites
10. Plus many more sources of helpful information

GO TO: http://www.actsweb.org/links.php

Index

15. ACTS in Action Report
 
Click HERE for ACTS in Action ... Monthly Report Letter
 
16. Archives for Daily and Weekend Encounters
 
Click HERE for ARCHIVES: Daily and Weekend Encounters
 

"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."



© 2016 ACTS International


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