Romans 8:38-39

“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.”

Source: http://www.actsweb.org/weekend_encounter.php#2

“And then he [Jesus] told them, ‘Go into all the world and preach [communicate] the Good News to everyone, everywhere.’”¹

Donald William Dotterer wrote, “Steven Jobs is the man who founded the enormously successful company called Apple Computer. Jobs decided that Mr. John Sculley was the man he needed to help him fulfill his dream of building a completely different kind of computer company, one which [Jobs dreamed] would make computers available to every person in the world. However, Mr. Sculley was comfortably and safely entrenched as president of the Pepsico Corporation, the makers of the soft drink Pepsi.

“In this position, John Sculley had achieved everything that a man could want: power, prestige, public recognition, an enormous salary and a secure future. The thought of a career change requiring a move to the West Coast frightened him. He was concerned about losing pensions and deferred compensation and the adjustment to living in California, in other words, ‘the pragmatic stuff that preoccupies the middle-aged.’

“John Sculley knew that he was safe at Pepsico. But he also knew that he had grown to dislike the competitive nature of the business. He also knew how bored he was. Steven Jobs at Apple Computer sensed this. And so he finally confronted his new friend with this pointed question. He said to John, ‘Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want a chance to change the world?’ That question penetrated deep into the heart and mind of John Sculley. It changed the course of his life. He therefore went to Apple Computer and helped it to grow into one of the most successful corporations in the world. Mr. Sculley’s life was changed because he took the risk and decided to invest. Was it a risk? Yes. But without it, there would be no reward.”²

I’m not suggesting that you should change your job (though some of you may need to), but I am asking, “Do you want to spend the rest of your life doing only what you are doing now, or do you want to help to truly change the world—one person at a time?”

You can. Here are a few of many simple ways you can do this:

First, make yourself available to God every day and ask him to use you to be as Jesus to every life you touch and that people seeing Jesus in you will want him for themselves.

Second, become involved in serving others through your local church or a fine voluntary organization and help make a difference in your local community.

Third, you can send copies of suitable Daily Encounters to friends and loved ones and share with them these non-preachy Christian messages that speak directly to their personal needs. Hundreds of people are being reached with the gospel and Christian message in this way and it, too, is helping to change the world—one person at a time.

Fourth, besides financially supporting your local church, help support faith organizations that are making a difference and those that are spreading the gospel. There are many such organizations that are dependent on the support of concerned Christians for their operation. And in your giving, please consider becoming a partner with ACTS International (publisher of Daily and Weekend Encounter) through your prayer and financial support and therein be a part of a work that is sending the gospel around the world via E-mail and the Internet every day of the year.

Suggested prayer:

“Dear God, thank you for Jesus, the Savior, the hope of lost mankind, and the only one who has the power to truly change the world. I am available—please guide me in how I can best invest my time, talents, and money in your work, and use me today and every day to be as Christ to every life I touch and therein help change the world in which I live—one person at a time. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Mark 16:15 (TLB).
2. Donald William Dotterer, “Living the Easter Faith,” CSS Publishing Company, 1994. Cited on www.eSermons.com, 2002.

Source: http://www.actsweb.org/weekend_encounter.php#2

By Michael Josephson of Character Counts (590.4)

I’ve talked about it lots of times before: The high cost of lying and deception by politicians, police, corporate executives, clergy, journalists, accountants, and educators has weakened every major social institution.

As each of these domains wages its separate battle to remove the cloud of suspicion and cynicism that hovers over it, there are six truths about trust that must be understood and dealt with.

First, there is no shortcut to building trust. Rebuilding it on the rubble of lost credibility is much harder. The antidote is nothing less than scrupulous and consistent honesty—especially when the truth is costly.

Second, where trust is important, there are no small lies. Falsehoods, however small they seem, are like germs. Without the antibody of trust, they cause infections that can kill credibility.

Third, the lethal quality of lies lasts long after they’re told. Lies told years ago have an immediate poisonous effect on trust when they’re discovered. Think of all the prominent people who’ve been undone by the discovery of trumped-up old resumes.

Fourth, while honesty and forthrightness don’t always pay, dishonesty and concealment always cost. It’s true that in some settings nothing good may come of admitting wrongdoing, but it gets a lot worse when you don’t.

Fifth, lies breed other lies. It’s harder to tell just one lie than to have just one potato chip. Once you start deceiving, it takes more and more bodyguards of new lies to protect the old ones.

Finally, don’t be seduced by the “I’m just fighting fire with fire” excuse or all you’ll end up with is the ashes of your integrity. Self-justifications aside, you can’t lie to a liar or cheat a cheater without becoming a liar or a cheater.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

© 2009 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

Source: http://www.actsweb.org/weekend_encounter.php#2

A worried woman went to her gynecologist and said: Doctor, I have a serious problem and desperately need your help! My baby is not even one year old and I’m pregnant again. I don’t want kids so close together.

So the doctor said: “Ok, and what do you want me to do?”

She said: “I want you to end my pregnancy, and I’m counting on your help with this.”

The doctor thought for a little, and after some silence he said to the lady: “I think I have a better solution for your problem. It’s less dangerous for you too.”

She smiled, thinking that the doctor was going to accept her request.

Then he continued: “You see, in order for you not to have to take care of two babies at the same time, let’s kill the one in your arms. This way, you could rest some before the other one is born. If we’re going to kill one of them, it doesn’t matter which one it is. There would be no risk for your body if you chose the one in your arms.”

The lady was horrified and said: “No, doctor! How terrible! It’s a crime to kill a child!”

“I agree,” the doctor replied. “‘But you seemed to be ok with it, so I thought maybe that was the best solution.”

The doctor smiled, realizing that he had made his point. He convinced the mom that there is no difference in killing a child that’s already been born and one that’s still in the womb. The crime is the same!

Together we can help save precious lives!

– Source Unknown

Over in Scotland a confirmed atheist took his boat out to the middle of the lake to do some fishing. Suddenly the legendary Loch Ness Monster popped out of the water and came charging toward the boat. The monster’s huge mouth opened wide and was poised to swallow the fisherman and his boat in one gulp. Whereupon, the terrified atheist looked up to the heavens and cried out, “God, help me!” Immediately there came a voice from out of the clouds say, “I thought you didn’t believe in me!” And the man in the boat answered, “Please God, give me a break. Until a minute ago I didn’t believe in the Loch Ness Monster either.”

Source: Preaching Well, www.voicings.com/preachingwell.php

“People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.”¹

Problems. Nobody is immune from committing sins. However, often the problems we see are not the problems that are! For instance, a problem, whether it is emotional, spiritual or physical, is often the symptom of a deeper problem; that is, “the fruit of a deeper root.” The root cause may be an unresolved emotional, spiritual or moral problem which can express itself in any one of a number of ways such as the following: relational conflicts, worry, stress, anxiety, insomnia, depression, addictions, spiritual dryness, physical sickness, abuse, etc., etc.

Many physical symptoms can be symbolic. For example, ulcers may be caused not so much by what we eat but by what is eating us. Tension headaches can be caused by “jamming up” anger in our head. Aching shoulders may be caused by our feeling that we are burdened by a heavy load. And if I have a pain in the neck, I may….

Confession opens the door for recovery: not only from the symptoms but also from the causes.

After David confessed his sin, he said, “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight! Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty! When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, ‘I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.’ And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.”²

1. Proverbs 28:13 (NLT).
2. Psalm 32:1-5 (NLT).

<:))))><

Daily Encounter … The Fruit of a Deeper Root [Monday, May 19, 2008]

Amazingly, I got the link to this video from OrangeShark…

The following are words from the video description.

A son asked his father, “Dad, will you take part in a marathon with me?” The father who despite having a heart condition, said, “Yes”.

They went on to complete the marathon together. Father and son went on to join other marathons, the father always saying, “Yes” to his son’s request of going through the race together.

One day, the son asked his father, ‘Dad, let us join the Ironman together; to which his father said, “Yes”, too.

For those who don’t know, Ironman is the toughest triathlon ever. The race consists of three endurance events of a 2.4 miles (3.86 kilometers) ocean swim followed by a 112 miles (180.2 kilometers) bike ride and ending with a 26.2 miles (42.195 kilometers) marathon along the coast of the Big Island.

Father and son went on to complete the race together.

Based on the TV interview of Dick and Rick Hoyt, Dick, the father explained that Rick while still in his mother’s womb, the umbilical chord was wrapped around his neck cutting off oxygen to the brain.

And when Rick was born, the doctor who was looking after Rick told Dick and his wife that Rick would never be able to walk nor talk all his life that it would be best that they put him away. But the Hoyts would not be willing to do such a thing and decided to bring him home instead and decided likewise to treat him just like anyone normal kid. So that when the family went for a swim, Rick went with them and so on and so forth.

It was one day while wathing TV (if my memory serves me right) that Rick saw a benefit marathon for a paralityc child and he wanted to be a part of the benefit marathon. And that started both father and son with their races even while Dick had a heart condition and Rick himself was not well all the time. In fact there were two years where they were not able to join the races because Dick had a heart attack and the other year was that (if I remember it correctly now, Rick was the one who had a problem.

And also based on an article that I read about them, both had so far completed 212 triathlons, 4 15-hour Inronmans. And that it was two years back from today, when Dick had his heart attack, and his doctor said, had it not been his good physical condition on account of the races, he would have died 15 years ago.

Both then via the races have served one another in a loving and wonderful way.

Dick humbly said in the interview when he was called a hero by the interviewer, “I just simply love my family”.

And indeed, he loved them even as he loved Rick that much that he committed himself to do the tough physical demands of the races and the triathlons, the Ironman that his son may have the chance to enjoy the races and be a part of life. And in a return show of love and appreciation, Rick says this of his father, “Dad is my hero.”

And to end my inputs on the father and son, I’d like to end what Rick says that he likes most…(Rick types using a special machine), he says, “The thing I most like is my dad sit in the chair and I push him once.”

How touching!
______________________

My personal take from the video is that it enriched me greatly in terms of better understanding and appreciation of the love of God for me and you – a love so great and infinitely amazing and unmatched compared to the great and amazing love of the father in the video for his son.

If we could only plainly and in human terms ask God, the Lord Jesus Christ how much He loves us – He who came in the flesh to be mocked, spat upon, punched in the face, bruised with spiked whip, stripped naked to be utterly humiliated by His beloved creation – man, and then subjected to the most excruciating death of all- death by cruzifixtion of the cross in order that by taking His death and blood as the payment for our sins, we may escape the second death which is hell, the lake that burns with fire and brimstone (fire never quenched and all the senses intact and the body is never consumed unto eternity)and that we might live unto eternity with Him in heaven……. perhaps He would answer us in this way ….this much, He would say, “First He would look at us directly in the eye as He would spread HIs hands to the sides horizontal to the ground and as we see His nail- pierced hands, He bows his head (meaning, dead on the cross by cruzifixtion). And maybe, all of us would kneel before His feet, with a return show of love and appreciation for what He has done, in chorus we would say, “Oh Lord and my God!”

Praise God for His amazing love for all of us. May all who have the chance to view the video even all of mankind who would not be able to see the video, may in some way find themselves thru other means, find a better understanding of the depth, height, width and length of the beauty and wonder of God’s love for all of us, the righteous and unrighteous even the fullest appreciation of such amazing love and appropriation of it.

All glory to God in the highest!

Here’s the link to the video at YouTube…

I wonder how late this will be but… Happy Father’s Day to all fathers out there… That includes mine. I’m lucky to still have him.

“Now, the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, he gives freedom. And all of us have had that veil removed so that we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more.”^*

I wouldn’t post all of the letter this time but the summary, or the bigger words of the letter would be enough this time…

Being Vs. Doing, Witnessing, Part III

Instead of being taught to DO witnessing, we need first of all to learn how to BE his witnesses. As I read on a poster at college:

“The living truth is what 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.”

Daily Encounter … Being Vs. Doing, Witnessing, Part III [Wednesday, May 14, 2008]