The Mission

 "And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not."  John 1:5

Five days ago, a Team of ten members from our church spent over seventeen hours of airtime to help our Missionary serving in Berlin, Germany.  The Mission:  To pass out fifteen thousand John/Romans.  In their first two days, they walked over twenty-five miles and passed out over four thousand copies of these two books from God's Word each day.

Exhausting, but worth it.

The wife of our missionary sent me a text this morning and she wrote:  ""As I read this passage today, I thought of all the people who will just throw the John/Romans away.  They have been given light and most will disregard it."

It's true.  All the money, effort, sweat and hard work going into distributing these John/Romans, out of fifteen thousand copies of this book, perhaps only one will read what they were given; perhaps only one will accept Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour.  Only one.

Was it worth it?

YES!

The wife of our missionary went on to say, "But it doesn't matter how many rejects it, we are to keep shining the light.  Jesus came and died even though He knew few would follow Him.  What a gracious Saviour we serve!"

My husband is part of this Team, and he said the same thing.  As exhausting as this work has been, if only one will receive Christ, it will be worth it all!

Christ would have died for only one...

    I had to ask myself, 'What am I willing to do to bring one soul to Christ?'

        What would you be willing to do?...

            But that's just me!

The Mission

Steve Green 1989

Jon Mohr/John Randall Dennis 

There's a call going out

across the land in every nation

A call to those who swear allegiance to the cross of Christ

A call to true humility, to live our lives responsibly

To deepen our devotion to the cross at any price

Let us then be sober, moving only in the Spirit

As aliens and strangers in a hostile foreign land

The message we're proclaiming is repentance and forgiveness

The offer of salvation to a dying race of man.

Chorus:

To love the Lord our God is the heartbeat of our mission

The spring from which our service overflows

Across the street or around the world

The mission's still the same

Proclaim and live the Truth 

in Jesus' name

As a candle is consumed by the passion of the flame

Spilling light unsparingly 

throughout a darkened room

Let us burn to know Him deeper

Then our service flaming bright

Will radiate his passions

And blaze with holy light.

Chorus

Stepping in the Light

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.

Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.

a Psalm of David.  Psalm 27:1-3

Webster defines 'light' as something that makes vision possible.

Because the LORD is my light and salvation, I have nothing and no one to be afraid of.  When I read this verse today, the first thing that jumped off the page was the fact that the LORD is my Light! 

So, what exactly, does light do?

    It removes darkness-

    It allows me to see what is before me, beside me and behind me-

    It allows me NOT to be caught off guard or be unaware of my surroundings-

    It illuminates the course of my steps-

    It allows me to step forward in confidence! (Verse 3)

In verse 2, an interesting thing happens...

    The very Light that keeps us from falling, causes our enemies and foes to stumble and fall!

The very ONE Who keeps us from falling, causes our enemies to lose their footing!  Their footholds!

Vs 3-My heart-my very being will not fear even when I am surrounded:

    By enemies-

    By foes-

When circumstances I find myself in seem to overwhelm me, deep down inside I will not be shaken.

Though war should rise against me, in this one thing I will be confident, sure, certain!  That with Christ I shall have no fear!

My Light vanquishes all darkness.

What a promise!

    But that's just me!

    Stepping in the Light

E.E. Hewitt 1890

Trying to walk in the steps of the Saviour,

Trying to follow our Saviour and King;

Shaping our lives by His blessed example,

Happy, how happy, the songs that we bring.

Pressing more closely to Him who is leading,

When we are tempted to turn from the way;

Trusting the arm that is strong to defend us,

Happy, how Happy, our praises each day!

Walking in footsteps of gentle forbearance,

Footsteps of faithfulness, mercy and love;

Looking to Him for the grace freely promised,

Happy, how happy, our journey above!

Trying to walk in the steps of the Saviour,

upward, still upward, we'll follow our Guide;

When we shall see Him, 'the King in His beauty,'

Happy, how happy, our place at His side!

chorus:

How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Saviour,

Stepping in the Light, stepping in the Light;

How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Saviour,

Led in paths of light!

    

"Quotes"

 "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers."  Ephesians 4:29

I love quotes.  I love to read what famous historians have had to say, what famous people have had to say, I just love quotes!  Often times, at the end of each Blog, I search diligently for a great quote that will illustrate the theme and go along with the topic or verse that was selected.

Sometimes I find great quotes, sometimes not; and sometimes I find quotes that probably should not even be repeated, but something happened today that made me think about quotes on the flip side.

I love when that happens.

A dear friend of mine and I are doing an email bible study together.  Every day, we read the same verse, and then we email one another to share what the Lord placed on our hearts.  In her email to me this morning, she put something that I had written to her in quotation marks and put my initials beside what I had said.

She turned a thought that I had said, into a quote.

It made me realize a few things:

    -My words matter to those who hear them-

So, are my words worth quoting?

Do they bring glory and honor to my Saviour?

Do they encourage those who hear them?

Or would they rather I had not spoken anything at all?

    It gives me something to think about...

        But that's just me!

   

𝅘𝅥𝅮 "Oh, be careful little tongue what you say, oh, be careful little tongue what you say, for the Father up above is listening from above, oh, be careful little tongue what you say!"  𝅘𝅥𝅮 

(Traditional Children's Song)

P.S. Our bible verses for today were from Ezra 7:27-28

My quote?

"God never asks anything of us that He cannot do through us."  TH

FitBit

"Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?" Job 31:4

A Fitbit is an electronic device that tracks the places you go, how many steps you take, tracks your heart rate, and motivates you to stay active throughout the day to improve your physical fitness and health.

As a Christian I have Someone much better than that.  I have a Personal Lord and Saviour who is an active part of my life and leads me in the way that I should go.  He knows the number of hairs on my head, (Matthew 10:30) he knows how many tears I cry, (Psalm 56:8) and He directs my steps.

Every morning when my feet hit the floor, I ask God to direct my steps, to let me be a blessing to someone today, and that I would have the opportunity to praise Him and point Him to others along my way.

I had errands to run this morning with lots to do and places to go; what my husband calls a 'Bebop-and-Scat-Day.' 

First stop, the Post Office.  As I turned the corner onto a busy street, I saw a mother bird hustling her baby across the street.  After getting out of my car, I walked towards the two frantic birds.  The mother flew away as I neared, but as I slowly walked towards the baby bird and clapped my hands, the baby made its way to the curb.  I walked back to the Post Office, and an elderly man was standing there watching the whole thing.  Once I was away from the baby, the mother returned and guided her baby safely into the grass of the nearest lawn.  I turned toward this man and said, "And He watches over even the tiniest of Sparrows."  The man turned to me, and after a moment pause, he smiled and said, "Yes, He most certainly does."

I told him to have a nice day, collected my mail and headed off to my next destination.  I was heading to an Office to drop a card off for a friend who is going through a difficult time.  I walked down the hall in this building and realized I had taken a wrong turn.  Laughing to myself, I turned around and asked God, again, to direct my steps.  My friend was not in her office today, so after leaving the note in reliable hands, I headed back out the door, only to run into a friend I have not seen in thirteen years!  We laughed, we cried, we talked about the Lord, exchanged phone numbers, and after about twenty minutes, I again headed out for my next errand.  As I walked to my car, my husband pulled up in his truck.  He 'just-so-happened-to-see-me' walk out of this Office building, as he was just leaving a meeting that took place in the building across the street.  'Happened-to-see?'  I think not.  The Lord blessed us both by allowing us to see each other in the middle of our busy day.  After a kiss goodbye, we were both on our way.

As I finished my errands for the day, I thanked the Lord for all He allowed me to do, all He allowed me to say, and for all those I was allowed to see throughout the day.

Proverbs 3:6 says, "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."

At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter how many steps I took...

    What matters is that I walked in the way that the Lord would have me to go...

        But that's just me!

"A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps."  Proverbs 16:9

Out-Of-Joint

"For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:

So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another."  

Romans 12:4-5

When I was a little girl, I remember my sisters, brother and I always helping my mom one way or the other in the kitchen when she prepared for big holiday, family get-togethers.  My older sisters would help prepare the food, my brother would arrange the table and chairs, and my job was to fold the napkins, set them beside the dinner plate, and lay the silverware just so.  She knew the strengths and weaknesses of each one of us kids and she assigned each one of us different tasks to complete the end result.  No job was 'better' than the other. 

But sometimes, I wanted to be the one to help with the food.

Sometimes I didn't want to set the table, I wanted to do a bigger, more important job.

I found myself getting-out-of-joint.

Sometimes, I still see myself getting-out-of-joint.

I look around at all the other members in my local church and wish that I could be serving where they are serving.

Then God reminds me that He has given me different talents, gifts and abilities, and He placed me exactly where He wants me to be.

"From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love."  Ephesians 4:16

Just like my mom assigned each one of her children a different task to complete the same goal, my Heavenly Father places me in my local church to do a specific task to complete His goal. There is no big or small task when doing the Lord's work, we just need to work together in unity to reach the goal.

I've learned that God places me where He wants me to be...

    And when I stay where He places me, there is no reason to get-out-of-joint!

        But that's just me!

"Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much!"  Helen Keller

Urgency

 "...and ye shall be witnesses unto me..." Acts 1:8b

I received a prayer request via email this morning.  This is what it said:

    "If you could please pray for (----  ----).  Many of you know (...) and is in (hospital) and not expected to recover.  She is not saved."

I can understand the email, I can understand the purpose of the email, but the first question running through my mind was, "What are we supposed to pray for?  A painless entrance into hell?"

My second question was, "Did Pastor read this email and if so, is he going to go and visit this person?"

(Sad, isn't it, how we always expect the Pastor to handle situations like this?)

This email stirred something in my heart.

I've had emails similar to this in the past, but this time, I knew the Lord required something of me, because I knew this person.  This person is part of the community in which I live.

As I began to pace the floor, I began to sense an urgency; this person is on their death bed.  I asked, "Who is going to go witness to this person in the hospital?"

As soon as that question was presented before the Lord, He answered.

"You."

In the past, when the Lord spoke to me concerning things, He wants me to do, I wrestled with Him.  I kept asking, 'Are you sure you want me to do this Lord?'

This time there was no wrestling.  I simply obeyed.

I called the hospital and the nurse said that this person has to ok who her visitors are, "so what is your name?"

I gave her my name and waited for the call-back.  I was already thinking, 'I've put into motion what you want me to do, Lord, but I don't think this person will agree to see me.'

The Lord had other plans.

In less than a minute, I got the call; this person wanted me to see them.

I got my physical self-ready, then got my Spiritual self-ready, grabbed my bible and walked out the door.  I prayed all the way to the hospital.  I got half-way there and began to have a panic attack.

I prayed harder.

And the Lord answered.

God's hand was with me every step of the way.  He was in each word that I spoke, each verse that I read.  I witnessed, for the first time, to a person on their death bed, and shared Christ.

The decision is now up to them.

When I read this email this morning, there was an urgency I had never felt before to go and tell this person about Christ and how they can be saved.

I had to wonder why I don't feel this same urgency every day when I speak with my family, neighbors and friends?  Do I think I have all the time in the world to directly tell them about Jesus?  Do I think they have all the time in the world to choose?

I don't know how much longer this person has to live...

        But with every breath, there is still hope...

            But that's just me!

"If we understand what lies ahead for those who do not know Christ, there will be a sense of urgency in our witness."  David Jeremiah

Gamble Responsibly?

My husband and I were driving to town the other day and on the side of the road a Billboard was advertising a casino; the Billboard said, "Gamble Responsibly."

Advertisers for alcohol will tell you the same thing, "Please drink responsibly."

I couldn't wrap my head around that statement.  It's an oxymoron.

Webster defines oxymoron as:  A combination of contradictory of incongruous words.

    Can you really drink or gamble responsibly?

Webster defines gambling as:  

    -to bet on an uncertain outcome-

    -take a chance-

    -to risk-

    -something chancy-

    -playing of a game of chance FOR STAKES.

As of May 2023, there are as many as 10 million Americans who live with a gambling addiction.

They have lost their jobs and families because they took the chance to win it big.

140,557 Americans die from the effects of alcohol in an average year.

It only took one drink to get them hooked.

Can anyone really be responsible under the influence of sin?

Question:  Has the Lord been speaking to you about salvation, and you keep putting it off until later, thinking you have plenty of time to get saved?

If so, you are playing a game of chance and the stake is a very high price to pay.

We are not promised tomorrow.

James 4:14 says, "Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away."

2 Corinthians 6:2 "(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)"

There is no such thing as drinking and gambling responsibly...

    Don't gamble with eternity...

                        But that's just me!

"Yielding to Jesus will break every form of slavery in any human life."  Oswald Chambers

"There is no better gambling than not to gamble."  German Proverb