Category: Praises, Requests, & Updates

Wednesday

“For what can be known about God is plain to them,

because God has shown it to them.

For his invisible attributes, namely,

his eternal power and divine nature,

have been clearly perceived,

ever since the creation of the world.”

~Romans 1:19-20a, ESV~

We take Micah back to Children’s Hospital for a check up on his overgrowth bone, Wednesday (morning early). Keep us in your prayers.

Thanks,
Gretchen Simpson

Continue to pray for Rev. Butch Reviere as he has additional medical tests.

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WEDNESDAY WINDOW ON THE WORLD – November 18, 2009

NORTH AFRICANS OF PARIS, FRANCE (PAIR-is). God has answered your prayers for increased involvement on the part of French Christians. Many French believers are now participating in training classes, learning how to share Christ with their neighbors from other cultures. These cross-cultural training sessions are taking place on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Please pour out your thanks to God for these brothers and sisters in Christ who are committed to learning how to share their witness more comfortably. Pray that they will constantly use these newly acquired skills, boldly sharing the gospel with their neighbors. Pray that those being trained will then train others and that many will come to salvation as a result.

BISSA OF BURKINA FASO (BEE-sah). “‘Group Meditation.’ In a women’s group, that’s what they’ve begun to call repeating a Bible story that they are learning,” writes missionary Kathy Shafto. “They gather in a building with a straw roof and a dirt floor. Before the meeting, one woman with a servant heart sweeps the floor of its wind-blown debris and animal droppings. Some of the women are not readers, so this ‘group meditation’ (repetition) is helpful to them and to all the rest of the group as well. They listen carefully as someone tells the story, and then go around the group, repeating the story and listening intently to see if correction is needed. If some are struggling, they act it out. During the telling and retelling and correcting of the story (with much celebration for those who tell it without fault or help), they find that the Holy Spirit is whispering to those hearts who are meditating on His spoken Word. Recently the story was about Mary and Martha. ‘What has God said to you through this story?’ I asked. One responded, ‘When we have visitors in our homes, we should give them more than just food; we should talk about what Jesus would talk about.’ Thank God with me for these women who, according to Colossians 3:16, are letting the Word of Christ dwell in them richly as they teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as they sing psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in their hearts to God.” http://www.shaftonews@blogspot.com

MEMPHIS PEOPLE OF CHINA. Please pray for J as she faces many challenges. Authorities have questioned her and tried to intimidate her. The Lord has given her the right answers each time, and she has felt total peace. She has lots of rats in her house, and they are eating her grain, clothes and books. Like most people who live in villages, she doesn’t have screens on her windows. She had two cats, but they only stayed for a few days and wanted out and never returned. Please pray for this courageous woman to stand firm, and ask for God’s protection wherever she goes. Please pray for co-workers for her and encouragement from other believers.

KneEmail
“At the name of Jesus every knee should bow…” Philippians 2:10
Mike Benson, Editor

FAITH IS INDISPENSIBLE in the lives of individual Christians (Hebrews 11:6)…
Faith is also the vital ingredient for church growth.  The words “faith” and “belief” are used almost 500 times in the New Testament.  No individual or congregation can ever be great without faith!

The contemporary religious scene offers no shortage of church growth experts who tout a wide variety of leadership styles, management plans, and growth strategies for building bigger, better, more exciting churches.  In the final analysis, however, real growth in any congregation will never rise above the level of faith of its membership and leadership!

How can you determine whether or not a church possesses genuine faith?

A church with faith has its EYE ON THE FUTURE.  Faith causes a church to dream.  A church with faith has a plan, a vision for the future.  Too often we are ready to set limits — “We are big enough, are active enough, are well enough equipped, etc.”  But faith looks to the future.  We must dream or we die!  Our faith is just as big as our plan for the future! (To be continued)  Bobby Dockery

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him,
for he who comes to God must believe that He is,
and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
Hebrews 11:6
The share group will meet tomorrow night at the cabin at 6:30.  You are invited to join us.
Thank-you for praying today.  You are appreciated!
Anna Lee

Tuesday

Whoever wants to be great must become a servant.

Mark 10:43 (MSG)

Caring Bridge Sites

Wayne Morris is home with hospice care.  Please remember Cora, the girls, and other family members.

KneEmail
“At the name of Jesus every knee should bow…” Philippians 2:10
Mike Benson, Editor

CHURCH MEMBERS NEED to be close to church members…

Anytime a Christian creates distance between himself and the church, he is under a great threat of falling away from the faith.  Some folks prefer to not be too involved with the work of the church, choosing rather to fall somewhere between “visitors” and “members”.  They come on Snday mornings to worship God, which is good in itself, but have little or no other interaction with the other Christians in the church for the rest of the week.
Take a valuable history lesson:
When ther great nation of israel prepared to cross the Jordan and take Canaan away from the enemies of God, and thus be blessed, two of the twelve tribes stalled.    1 “Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of livestock; and when they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, that indeed the region was a place for livestock, 2 the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spoke to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the leaders of the congregation, saying, 3 “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Shebam, Nebo, and Beon, 4 the country which the LORD defeated before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.” 5 Therefore they said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants as a possession. Do not take us over the Jordan” (Numbers 32:1-5).
The request regarding cattle sounded reasonable, as do most arguments which excuse compromise, but it was compromise none the less.  Their loyalty should have been to God’s people.  In other words, they said, “We like it here in the suburbs of Canaan.  You all go in and fight all the battles of Canaan, and we’ll just be content to build our houses here.”  Moses said, “No way!”  “Shall your brethren go up and fight while you sit here in comfort?”  No.  You come fight the battles of Canaan, and then if you choose, you may come live here in the suburbs of God’s Canaan land.”
And so they did.  Weren’t they like some Christians today who are half-hearted in their loyalty to the Lord’s church?
Let’s look at another scene, after many years have passed.  Israel has had times of great faith and obedience, but many more of idolatry and disobedience.  Ultimately, a divided Israel would fall into the hands of the idolatrous enemies, Assyria and Babylon, because of their worldliness in bowing to the gods of the heathen.  That fact is widely known.  But I want you to see something else.  Which tribes in Isarel went down first?  We see in 1 Chronicles 5:25-26 that is was Reuben and Gad.
As history progressed, it appears that they bowed first to the gods of the nearby peoples; and now they are the first to go into captivity.  Half-heartedness in the united work of God’s people always seems and easy way to be religious, but it costs, not pays.
The solution is to grow out of it!  Never be satisfied with keeping your distance from the activities of the Lord’s church.  Attend all the services of the Lord’s church.  Find a good work you can enjoy doing, and get at it.  Take advantage of opportunities to be around other Christians.
Be close, stay close, and let’s help each other go to heaven.  Glenn Colley
“Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm;
but how can one be warm alone?”
Ecclesiastes 4:11
The share group will meet at the cabin Thursday at 6:30.  You are invited to join us for food, fellowship, and a devotional.  At this time, it seems Rev. Dennie Walker will be our guest speaker.  Come and receive a blessing.
Anna Lee

Monday

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God

as a workman who does not need to be ashamed,

accurately handling the word of truth.”

~2 Timothy 2:15, NASB~

Revival at FBC, Kentwood has been great.  I haven been to Greenlaw, but I’m sure they are also having good services.  The Monday – Wednesday meetings at both churches will be at 6:30.  “Y’all come!”

Today, I want to remind you to pray for a few people.

  • Mrs. Kathryn Sanders
  • Chuck Puttman
  • Mrs. Faye Price
  • Mrs. Nat McKinney
  • Rev. Butch Reviere
  • Cliff and Lauree Titus

I wish I had read this before teaching a lesson on the prodigal son yesterday.

Prodigal

abson.jpgThe Prodigal Son, in the Key of ‘F’

Feeling footloose and frisky, a feather-brained fellow forced his fond father to fork over the family finances. He flew far to foreign fields and frittered his fortune feasting fabulously with faithless friends.

Finally, facing famine and fleeced by he fellows in folly, he found himself a feed-flinger in a filthy farmyard. Fairly famished he fain would have filled his frame with the foraged foods of the fodder fragments left by the filthy farmyard creatures.

“Fooey”, he said, My father’s flunkies fare far fancier.” The fugitive found feverishly, frankly facing facts. Frustrated by failure and filled with foreboding he forthwith fled to his family.

Falling at father’s feet, he floundered forlornly. “Father, I have flunked and fruitlessly forfeited family favor,” But the faithful father, forestalling further flinching frantically flagged the flunkies. “Fetch forth the finest fatling and fix a feast.”

But the fugitive’s fault-finding frater frowned on the fickle forgiveness of the former folderol. His fury flashed. But fussing was futile, for the far-sighted father figured such filial fidelity is fine, but forbids fervent festivity?

The fugitive found. “Unfurl the flags, with fanfares flaring Let fun and frolic freely flow ” Former failure is forgiven, folly is forsaken And forgiveness forms the foundation for futile fortitude.” (Charles Hastings Smith)

“And he arose and came to his father. But hen he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.” Luke 15:20

Posted by Mike Benson

Set  your mind to having a great week!

Anna Lee

Sunday

“Call to Me, and I will answer you,

and show you great and mighty things,

which you do not know.”

~Jeremiah 33:3~

This morning, let’s pray for revival at Greenlaw and FBC, Kentwood.  I think both revivals are scheduled for Sunday through Wednesday.  Kentwood will have dinner on the grounds today.  Rev. Gibby McMillan will preach at Greenlaw.  Rev. Bill Robertson and Rev. Dennis Walker will lead the Kentwood revival.

Fellowship

ant.jpgANTHILLS ARE MADE when a bunch of insignificant creatures get together…

If you ever mistakenly step on an anthill without shoes, their fellowship will make an impact on you. One ant bite might sting a little. Most folks can handle that. But if a person messes with the whole family in an anthill, those ants will gather around your foot and serve notice that you are unwelcome in their house…

One ant can’t create that kind of impact by itself. Gathered together, their combined effect is much greater. Not only do they ward off intruders together, they will also work together to rebuild in a day and a half what was destroyed. (Tony Evans)

“Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” Ecclesiastes 4:12

Posted by Mike Benson

Have a great Lord’s Day!

Anna Lee

Saturday

“Whoever wants to be great must become a servant.”

~Mark 10:43 MSG~

Caring Bridge

Baptist Press

November 13, 2009

VIRGINIA–In Ethiopia, uncovering the truth. http://bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=31686

LOUISIANA–Great Commission resurgence requires radical change, Rankin says. http://bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=31687

WASHINGTON–Calif. reverses on non-embryonic research. http://bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=31688

WASHINGTON–Attorney: ENDA would ‘burden’ religious groups. http://bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=31689

WASHINGTON–Down diagnoses in unborn up, births down. http://bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=31690

GEORGIA–‘Fireproof’ makers to announce next movie. http://bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=31691

COLORADO–Colo. Baptists mark 54th meeting. http://bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=31692

GEORGIA–Ga. Baptists minister in the rain. http://bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=31693

SOUTH CAROLINA–S.C. Baptists address legislative issues. http://bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=31694

MISSOURI–Anglo-Hispanic ties grow in Mexico (Mo.). http://bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=31695

TENNESSEE–INTERNATIONAL DIGEST: Christians concerned over Orissa acquittal rate. http://bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=31696

LOUISIANA–FIRST-PERSON (Kelly Boggs): If he talks & behaves like a terrorist … http://bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=31697

KOMpray

40 Days and 40 Nights

Can you imagine??? Some missionary kids in Africa get to go to a bush camp, visit a crocodile farm, eat foreign foods!  Missionary families working with Sub-Saharan African people groups can go to a special training called 40/40.  For 40 days and 40 nights, they learn how to live in Africa and learn more about the culture there.

Missionaries are real people who sometimes get nervous about talking in the local language.  Their 40/40 training helps them not be so nervous.  It’s a little like you.  When you first learned to read, it was kind of scary to stand in front of a class and read from a book.  But now?  You are an expert, aren’t you?  …okay, maybe you need more practice… That’s just what the missionaries and their children need—practice.  40/40 helps them get that practice.

One missionary learned so well, he went into a village by himself and talked to the chief of the village.  Then he sat in the yard with 23 people and told them about Jesus.  He was SO excited!

Prayer Requests from Missionary Kids

Please pray for my friends because not all are Christians.  Please pray for my family that they will be safe and please pray for me that I will know God more, (I am a Christian but I still need to learn and need God’s help).  JESSE, age 13 (East Asian peoples)

Me and my family are going to the US for a year.  And we won’t go back to the same country when we go back to the field.  I am very, very, very sad.  After we go to the USA for a year we are going to a different country.  Got to go and thank you.  Bye.  PS.  Please pray for my family.  AY, age 8 (East Asian peoples)

Who’s missing? Whose mission?

You play a key role in teaching children about God’s love for children who live in Peru, Ghana, India or China, about the people He uses to show His love and about His commission to all who love Him to tell His story around the world. During 2009, we invite you to join us as we focus on “Who’s Missing? Whose Mission?”  More than 1.5 billion people are still missing out on the opportunity to hear the Gospel. Do your children know they have an important role in helping to reach them?

KneEmail
“At the name of Jesus every knee should bow…” Philippians 2:10
Mike Benson, Editor

RECENTLY MY WIFE and I sat in the backyard swing discussing how busy our lives had become…

Between activities at work, a full schedule with our church family, grandchildren and various other commitments, we determined that we hardly had time to even talk with one another.  We continued with a discussion of the reasons for all that we were involved in when my wife said, “You know, one of the sweetest times I can remember was sitting in the carport, eating cheerios, watching the rain pour down, and talking to each other’s hearts.”  She remembered how relaxed we were when I was recovering from heart-valve replacement and she was looking after me. Memories are the wallpaper of our hearts, and on those sheets we write the things that matter and affect us the most.  I understood exactly what she was feeling, because I felt it too.

How much joy do we miss because we have allowed the world to dictate what we do with our time, and because we allow others to assign importance to the real treasure that makes up our lives–our time?  We fill up every minute with things that “must” be done or else.  More often than not, that “or else” amounts to virtually nothing.  Our time is the most important commidity we have.  We measure our very lives by time and write on our hearts the memories that matter.  Those we help, those we love, those we pray for, those we share with, and those we serve are all written in the time record of our lives.

Perhaps the lesson is that no matter what we “must” make time for, we should never neglect to just eat cheerios and watch the rain.  Don’t just use time…make it count.  Ken Upchurch

“Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:16
Reminders
  1. Revival at Greenlaw Baptist Church led by Rev. Gibby McMillan
  2. Revival at FBC, Kentwood led by Dr. Bill Richardson and Rev. Dennis Walker.  Bring side dishes  and desserts for dinner tomorrow.
Have a great day today as you prepare for the Lord’s Day tomorrow.
Anna Lee

Friday

“Declare His glory among the nations,

His wonders among all people.”

~1 Chronicles 16:24~

Please pray for Billie Jean Booty.  She continues to have several health issues.  Your prayers  will be greatly appreciated.

Caring Bridge Sites:

PRETEND THAT YOU’RE HAVING A HEART ATTACK

The story is told of a married couple who enjoyed their luxury fishing boat together, but it was the husband who was always behind the wheel operating the boat.  He was concerned about what might happen in an emergency.  So one day out on the lake he said to his wife, “Please take the wheel, dear.  Pretend that I am having a heart attack.  You must get the boat safely to shore.”  So she drove the boat to shore.

Later that evening, the wife walked into the living room where her husband was watching television. She sat down next to him, switched the TV channel, and said to him, “Please go into the kitchen, dear.  Pretend I’m having a heart attack.  You must set the table, cook the dinner, and wash the dishes.”

It’s not a very pleasant thing to pretend such a thing, but there are some legitimate concerns we should have.  I wouldn’t consider it at all out of place for an insurance salesman to ask the question, “If you were to have a heart attack today, would your wife and children be taken care of?”

An even more important question, though, needs to be raised as we consider our spiritual relationship with God.  If I were to have a heart attack tonight and die, would I be prepared to stand before the great judgment seat of Christ?  It’s a legitimate question.  When I was a teenager, I thought that I would live forever.  As I grow older, I become more and more aware of the fact that each day is a blessing provided by God, and I am not promised even one more.

“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow.  For what is your life?  It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” (James 4:13-14)

I know it requires a degree of seriousness that may make you a bit uncomfortable, but just for a moment, pretend that you are having a heart attack.  Are you prepared for eternity?

Have a great day!

Alan Smith
Helen Street Church of Christ
Fayetteville, North Carolina

Enjoy a fantastic Friday!

Anna Lee