Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 8 – No. 1706 April 29, 2006
Thought for the week: "Great occasions for serving God come seldom. Little ones surround us daily." – Bob Russell
Over 1 billion people use the Web ... the
Internet is changing the world ... God is
using the Web to transform lives. For more information go to:www.InternetEvangelismDay.com
1. Words of Wisdom
"Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little." – Edmund Burke
"When a church stops doing—it starts dying. The church that doesn't reach out—fades out." – Unknown
"We are the trustees of what funds we are temporarily given on this earth. May we share those with others." – Andrew Carnegie
"People may not always live what they profess, but they will always live what they believe." – Timothy Warner
"You will never find time for anything. If you want time you must make it." – Charles Buxton
"It is no sin to attempt and fail. The only sin is to not make the attempt." – Suellen Fried
"A man's heart is right when he wills what God wills." – Thomas Aquinas
A young man who wants to see the world signs on to a steamship to be trained as a helmsman. He masters the classroom instruction, and then starts his practical training on the wheel of the vessel. In his first lesson the mate gives him a heading and the young fellow holds to it. Then the mate orders, "Come starboard."
Pleased at knowing immediately which way starboard is, the young man leaves the helm and walks over to his instructor.
The mate has an incredulous look on his face as the helm swings freely. Then, rather gently considering the circumstance, he asks politely, "Could you bring the ship with you?
"The most important thing about a man is what he believes in the depth of his being. This is the thing that makes him what he is, the thing that organizes him and feeds him, the thing that keeps him going in the face of untoward circumstances, the thing that gives him resistance and drive."
– Hugh Stevenson Tigner. Cited in
From the Masterswww.beliefnet.com/
President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed April 30, 1863, as a day of National Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer.
We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven, but we have forgotten God. We have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! 33
It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sin, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.... All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope, authorized by the Divine teachings, that the united cry of the Nation will be heard on high, and answered with blessings, no less than the pardon of our national sins and restoration of our now divided and suffering country to its former happy condition of unity and peace.
On April 29, 1980, a crowd estimated at a quarter to a half-million poured onto the Mall in Washington, D. C., for a marathon prayer meeting that its organizers called Washington for Jesus.... The words of Abraham Lincoln's Proclamation for a National Day of Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer reverberated off the granite monuments of America's capital city, as did the words of numerous Old Testament prophets; they challenged the assembled to renew the vows of Lincoln and the first settlers of this land so that the godly character of America might be restored.
"Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people" (Proverbs 14:34).
The day's most frequently cited verse of Scripture virtually the theme of the rally came from an Old Testament covenant story. Solomon asks God what is to be done to restore his favor. God replies: "If my people which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:14).
Heaven only knows the impact our witness can have.
Many will know how the layman, Edward Kimball, gathered the nerve to witness and win the soul of a young shoe salesman named D. L. Moody to Christ. D. L. Moody went on to become one of the greatest evangelists in his world. But, do you know the rest of the story?
D. L. Moody went to England and worked a profound change in the ministry of F. B. Meyer. F. B. Meyer, with his new evangelistic fervor, influenced J. Wilbur Chapman. Chapman helped in the ministry of converted baseball player, Billy Sunday, who had a profound impact upon Mordacai Ham. And Mordacai Ham, holding a revival in North Carolina, led Billy Graham to Christ. And the man who started it all was a layman, Edward Kimball, who took seriously Christ's commission to be a witness in his world.
As an addendum, Mordacai Ham had considered retiring after many years on the tent revival circuit, but he felt a call from God to do "one more tour." As he prayed during his years of evangelism, God kept assuring Ham that his ministry would have an impact on the world. Nearing the end of his career, Ham was discouraged, but he knew he was making a difference, just not to the extent that God had seemingly promised. Aren't you glad that he was obedient to take that one last tour where a young man named Billy Graham was saved and went on to preach to the world?
"A spiritual gift is given to each of us as a means of helping the entire church" (1 Corinthians 12:7, NLT).
"Motivational speaker Danny Cox tells about a 'Broom Hilda' cartoon in which her troll-like, naive, innocent little friend Irwin puts on a long-tailed formal tuxedo jacket, picks up a conductor's baton and walks into the woods alone.
"Irwin steps up on a fallen tree trunk and begins to wave his arms as if to conduct. There are no musicians, only rocks, trees and flowers. Soon, musical notes pour from the rocks, trees and flowers and fill the panel.
"Finally, Irwin turns and confidently says to the reader, 'It's all in there; you just have to work at getting it out.'"1
Michelangelo, the great artist, said, "I saw the angel in the marble and chiseled until I set it free." That, my friend, is what God wants to do for you and me. Every one of us has gifts, abilities, and talents that God wants us to see, develop, and use in some way (large or small) for the betterment of others and the enrichment of mankind. Remember that God has a place for you and what you have to offer—no matter how small or large your giftedness may be—in his work in your world. There are no exceptions to this rule!
As Irwin said, "It's all in there. You just have to work at getting it out."
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you for the gifts, abilities and talents you have given to me. Please help me to identify these, develop them and use them for serving you by helping others and therein help make my world a better place in which to live. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."
1. Seize the Day by Danny Cox and John Hoover, Career Press, Hawthorne, N.J., 1994, p. 81.
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