Thanksgiving

Have you ever noticed how Thanksgiving has been "pushed to the back burner", if you will, in our society? Two days before Thanksgiving my Mom and I went to Walmart to get some table cloth for our annual Pie & Praise. The sad thing was, there was no Thanksgiving decorations at all! Walmart went right from Halloween to Christmas.

Yes, I understand how important Christmas is, but I believe Thanksgiving is just as important. There are many, many verses in the Bible that talk about giving thanks to God for what He has done. Here are just a few:

"In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."

I Thessalonians 5:18

 

"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

I Corinthians 15:57

 

"Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Ephesians 5:20

 

So, what are you thankful for this year? Or a better question, did you remember to thank the Lord for all that He has given you? After all, without Him we would have nothing. 

A Reality Check

As many of you may know, Sunday was the National Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. As a result, the whole service at my Uncle's church was spent in prayer for the many, many persecuted Christians all over the globe. In the Sunday School hour, Uncle Eric showed us a slide show of the 20 Most Dangerous Countries for Someone to Be a Christian In.
1) North Korea - where Christians are punishable by death.
2) Saudi Arabia - where Christians are getting taken away from their families and being put to death, leaving many kids as orphans.
3) Afghanistan - where there is not a single church.
4) Iraq - where Christians are displaced from their homes by murder and abduction.
5) Somalia - where the only way for people to hear about God is through radio programs that have been allowed into the country.
6) Maldives - where the people don't even have a New Testament in their own language.
7) Mali - where Christians are being forced out of the country.
8) Iran - where Muslims that convert to Christianity are still thought of as Muslims to their friends and family.
9) Yemen - where evangelism is illegal.
10) Eritrea - where countless Christians are imprisoned in containers where it can get up to 120*F.
11) Syria - where Christians are being imprisoned and then their churches being raided of all goods.
12) Sudan - PTL where many people of Muslim background are turning to the Lord.
13) Nigeria - where the Christian youths are tempted to react in violence by the way they are treated for their beliefs.
14) Pakistan - where Asia Bibi was imprisoned for speaking out against Mohammed.
15) Ethiopia - where there are over 3,000 believers that have been displaced from their homes and family.
16) Uzbekistan - where there is only 1 registered Bible-believing church.
17) Libya - where it is illegal for Christians to meet.
18) Laos - where countless Katin and Hmong people have been expelled from their country and forbidden to return.
19) Turkmenistan - where the police and secret service are constantly monitoring Christian activities, trying to find an excuse to arrest them.
20) Qatar - where Christians are being deported and not allowed back.

Although many of theses countries have access to Christian TV and radio stations, many of these stations are not being taught by firm, Bible-believing people. After hearing this and watching a couple of movie clips from Voice of the Martyrs, it just really made me think. As Americans, we are free to worship as we please without having to fear being attacked by the government and yet we complain about the stupidest little things. We are so spoiled. But, if we don't pray for our brothers and sisters that are being persecuted, sooner than we want to think - we will be suffering the same persecution in our own land. The day is coming where Christianity won't even be accepted here in the US.
You may be thinking, "What can I do? I don't have the money to go overseas and witness to these people." The most powerful thing any of us can do is pray. Pray for the missionaries that are in these countries illegally. Pray that God would open up the hearts of the government officials and that they would allow the Bible in their countries. Pray for the people that do hear the TV and radio broadcasts that they might actually think about what they hear. We need to be one with our brothers and sisters through prayer. 

I'm just simply asking you to pray. It doesn't have to be an hour long prayer, just PRAY.

My New Toy

Today was the Harvest Dinner at my church. So my parents and brother and sister went with so Mom could sing. The morning service started like normal until we got to announcements. Then it went like this:

Uncle Eric was in the middle of announcements when a phone started ringing by the piano.

"Ruby, turn your phone off!" He scolded from the pulpit.

"It's not mine!" I replied.

"Yes, it is!" He said.

"No it's not!" I said.

Then he explained that it really was mine and that the church had bought it for me as a thank you for being willing to drive up there every Sunday to play the piano.

"Now make sure you turn it on silent so that it doesn't go off again." He told me.

"I don't know how." I whined.

Well, Cali was already half way up to the piano to turn it on silent for me.

What had happened was Cali distracted me so that they could lay it on the floor by the piano. Then Cali called it in the middle of announcements.

 

I just want to say thank you all so very much for buying me a cell phone and for all the love that you all have shown through your actions. Thank you again. Love you guys!

The Bema Awaits...

The Bema Awaits

 

 

As we go through life, how many times does someone do something to you and you hold a grudge? We need to live everyday as if we knew that Christ was going to come that day. There are many times in the Christian life where we need to just forgive and forget. But, do we do that? I know it may seem like I am "preaching to a choir" but, the Lord really brought this to my attention tonight.

 

Hebrews 12:1-2  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses,

let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

 

Jesus faced the cross with joy. We need to face difficulties and trials in our lives too. So, does that little thing that your brother or sister did to tick you off really matter? No! When we meet with Christ in the air, we are all going to have to give an account of our lives to Christ. I don't know about you, but I don't want to look back over my life and just see a life full of grudges that could've been easily forgiven and forgotten.  

A Whole Bible?

A whole Bible?

or a Bible full of holes?

 

 

Do we read the whole Bible? or do we only read the parts that "justify", if you will, our sins? There are many people in this world today that go about their lives living as they want, claiming to be Christians, but living however they want. They don't think about the Bible as a whole, they just read the parts that they want to read that they think will "justify" their sins. If you ask them, they would probably tell you that their sins were ok because the Bible says they are. However, they think this way because as they read the Bible, they are picking and choosing which passages they are reading and they are not reading the passages that they know are going to make them feel guilty about their sins.

 

How many times do we, as Christians, do this? When we have sin in our lives, is there certain passages that we stay away from because we know we will be convicted of our sin if we read them? When we read the Bible, we need to read it has a whole...not full of holes. 

A Funny for Today

If you need a good laugh...

Tonight Jimmy was working on cleaning his room.

(and from the pictures...he is doing a VERY deep clean ;)

As Dad walked by,

this is what he saw.

The only thing that you could see was his socked feet.

  

Then he thought that if he had a pillow,
he could just sleep there for the night.
I don't think it would've been too comfortable though. ;)
Anyway...he said that it would've been a pain in the neck.

God doesn't call the qualified...

Jacob was a cheater, Peter had a temper,

David had an affair, Noah got drunk,

Jonah ran from God, Paul was a murderer,

Gideon was insecure, Mirriam was a gossip,

Martha was a worrier, Thomas was a doubter,

Sara was impatient, Elijah was moody,

Moses stuttered, Abraham was old,

and Lazarus was dead.

God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called!

 

This last weekend, I went to the Truth Weekend at Camp Chetek. One of the sessions was on the message of the Gospel. Brother Ben Schettler talked about how we can be missionaries even now. But before we share the message of the Gospel with others, we must understand and get a grip of the Gospel for ourselves.

 

Have you ever just sat back and thought about what Jesus did for us? God sent His perfect Son to the world to take on all our sins and die in our place. We should have died on that cross for all our sins, but Jesus took the punishment on Him and went through the agony of His Father turning His back on Him. If we don't have a grip on that truth, then we are going to have a hard time sharing it with others.

 

Then this morning, Brother Mark Zimmer and his family were visiting our church from Yap, Micronesia. He also talked about how the Gospel changes lives and how we must first have a grip on it before we can share it.

 

I am so thankful that God can use me for His glory. This poor, wretched sinner...it was in His perfect plan to create me disabled so that through me, His glory would be made known. The question is, Are we willing to let God use us? After all, God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called!