Opening Session Prayer

Thought you might enjoy this interesting
prayer given in Kansas at the opening session of their Senate. It seems
prayer still upsets some people.. When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open
the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is
what they heard:

Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask
your forgiveness and to seek your direction and
guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those
who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we
have done.

We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed
our values.

We have exploited the poor and called it
the lottery.

We have rewarded laziness and called it
welfare.

We have killed our unborn and called it
choice.

We have shot abortionists and called it
justifiable.

We have neglected to discipline our
children and called it building self esteem..

We have abused power and called it
politics.

We have coveted our neighbor's possessions
and called it ambition.

We have polluted the air with profanity and
pornography and called it freedom of expression.

We have ridiculed the time-honored values
of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts
today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free.
Amen!


The response was immediate. A number of
legislators walked out during the prayer in
protest. In 6 short weeks, Central Christian
Church, where Rev. Wright is pastor, logged more than
5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls
responding negatively. The church is now receiving
international requests for copies of this prayer
from India , Africa and Korea .

Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on
his radio program, 'The Rest of the Story,'and
received a larger response to this program than any
other he has ever aired.


With the Lord's help, may this prayer sweep
over our nation and wholeheartedly become our
desire so that we again can be called 'one nation
under God.

The Lord is in Charge

Just go.

Since the nurses are very familiar with the patients, I usually ask them if they have anyone I should see first. On this particular morning I was told the man I should really see wasn't here but instead, he was in the hospital.

I decided to make the trip on Tuesday. I was really dragging my feet today. I really needed to snap out of it! I prayed on the way that the Lord would take care of all the details. I knew that if I would just plant the seed, salvation would be up to Him. When I got up to the room I was concerned because I could see that there were no sheets on the bed. As I peeked in the room I saw an elderly lady sitting in a chair.


"Hi." I introduced myself and told her I was from the nursing home.

"I'm Geri, Charlie's wife. Charlie is down in dialysis right now. You are welcome to wait with me." She gave me a weak smile. Geri looked very worried and tired.

We talked for a while about her children and grandchildren. We talked about Charlie, whom I had yet to meet. Soon enough the subject of death was discussed. I asked what she thought about the afterlife. She told me about her father, who was trained for the priesthood in Rome.

"He came back and told my grandmother that he just could not do it. He was a wonderful man", she reminisced. "He instilled in me a very strong belief in Purgatory."

Oh, great, I thought. Ok Lord, You have to do the work. I am going to do what I came to do. Seeing that Geri was a Roman Catholic I knew that she would be familiar with the 10 Commandments, so I took her through a few of them. She admitted to lying, stealing and blasphemy. Then she told me that God would not send her to Hell because nothing she did was 'that bad'. We went through a couple more Commandments and then finally she told me she would end up in Purgatory.

"You know, good works!" she smiled.

"You know Geri, that is really a comforting thought, but the trouble is there is no Purgatory mentioned in scripture. And if it were true then why did Jesus have to die?" When I said this her jaw dropped slightly. She just stared at me as though this were the first she was hearing of something that really shocked her.

"If God is truly Righteous and Just, as scripture says He is, He will be bound by His Holiness to send you to Hell for eternity-no chance of escape for you! God sent Jesus to die for us because we don't have the payment He is looking for. You see, Jesus died so that He could pay our penalty. We deserve to go to Hell-we did the crimes. What God expects of us is that we humble ourselves and admit that we've done wrong. We don't deserve Heaven but He made a way for us to spend eternity there. We must repent, or turn away from our sin, admitting we are wrong. Then we must follow Jesus, putting all of our trust in Him. 'For by grace are you saved, through faith, not of works, lest any man should boast.' There will not be one person boasting in Heaven that he got there on his own. Does this make sense to you?" I asked her.

Sharing the Gospel

Hello to All,

Dennis and I would like to thank you for all of the encouragement, donations and prayers for FFM Ministries. It has really been exciting and eye-opening to see what the Lord has done!!

So far He has allowed us to:
-Circulate over 64,000 gospel tracts.
-Give out over 600 bibles.
-Distribute 14 Way of the Master training kits.
-Help send 3 individuals to the Ambassadors Alliance Academy in California for training.

100% of the money given goes toward getting the Gospel out.

We were recently contacted by Pastor Harry in the Mindanao region of Philippines:
Thanks a lot of your prayers and concern towards the ministry here in our area. The God's work here is in Mindanao area, it has 17 cities. Our desire and prayer by the grace of God that we can share to them the word of God. Mindanao is a wide island many destitute and poor brethren don't have Bible to use. Please behind us in your prayers that God will harvest more souls to His Kingdom before Christ return. We appreciated so much of your deep love concern towards the ministry here, we never forget you all in our serious day and night prayers that God will bless you abundantly. May God's best be upon you all. In Christ, Harry

We are so grateful to tell you that we were able to supply him with 200 desperately needed Bibles. We got a note from him a couple of days ago...
Greetings in Jesus name! I just arrived from the destitute brethren in the Muslim area distributing the Bibles. Praise God! The meeting there is very successful! but I can't send you pictures through email because I don't have digital camera.... We traveled 3 hours from here reaching that critical place to meet them and sharing to them the good news of Jesus. However, I can send you photos through your physical address so that you can see the result of the distribution. We are praying for more Bibles because I talk to their pastor, he has also a friend who has in need of the 200 Bibles who is pastoring to the next town, they are also praying for a long time that God will provide Bibles for their guidelines. Please share and transmit this email to your lovely and merciful brethren there in your place. Wishing of your love and compassion towards the ministry here. We pray for you day and night that God will bless you more and use you mightily! May God bless you all!

We have also put him in contact with Living Waters Asia. They have scheduled training meetings for next month. (PTL!) The area that Pastor Harry is speaking of is the dangerous mountain region of Kauswagan, where Muslim rebels wage war against Christians and the government.

As you can see there is a great need here in this region and you can see that there is someone willing to share the Gospel already in place. But certainly, you can also see that there is a great need for funds to supply literature and training in this very dangerous area. 2 Corinthians_9:7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

If any of you would like to help in this effort to get evangelism training to the Philippines, please go to:

http://www.ffmministries.com/support/support.htm
PayPal is preferred but there is also an address for checks.

The number of training seminars we will hold and amount of material distributed is directly affected by this effort to raise funds.

Luke 12:16-21 And he told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?'
And he said, 'I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God."

Luke 12:35 Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning.

God is good - ALL the time!

STEWARDSHIP
CRAIG & YVETTE WHEELER

Tithing was not a hard thing for me to learn. As a young man, my parents instilled in me to obey God and give at least ten percent of the money I made to the Lord. My first job was at age 13 when I began to deliver a local newspaper. I made it a point to tithe; it is a practice that has served our family well. I cannot explain how God makes your money go farther after you give your tithe but I know it works. It has been evidenced in my life many times.

As a married couple, Yvette and I decided early on that we would tithe and be obedient. God has taken care of us beyond anything we can imagine. That does not mean that we have not had times of need or struggles along the way. That does not mean that we have gotten everything we ever wanted. It does mean that God has met all our needs.

I could give testimony of the many times God impressed us to give to the Church Missionary, a needy family or a Ministry when the money did not seem to be in our bank account. The money might have been in the account but it was for a designated bill or other expense. We have given time and time again as the Lord has directed. The result is that things have always worked out. There have been times when we gave to meet a need knowing it was a sacrifice. At some point, we would always receive unexpected money that provided for our needs or God provided another way.


I am not saying money falls out of the sky when we give our tithes and offerings but I am saying God provides. Luke 6:38 says: Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye met withal it shall be measured to you again.

God sometimes provides for us in ways other than monetarily. I firmly believe that for the Christian who is a faithful in giving tithes and offerings God will put his hand of protection on them and provide. Sometimes that provision means that kids remain healthy, the old car and washing machine does not break down or God provides for a specific need we have.

Being faithful is a quality that is rare in our Society today. I think it is one of the best things we can do for the Lord and the Church. God has certainly been faithful to provide for our needs.

You know our Government takes a lot more than 10% and spends our money foolishly. Yet God only requires 10% and he meets the needs when we do so.

As indicated by Luke 6:38, we cannot out give God. The more we give, the more God blesses us and provides. As one who has given tithes and offerings for many years, I can tell you I have never missed a meal because I did not have something to eat.

Several years ago, Yvette and I felt impressed to help a family member following a Hurricane. They had lost a lot of their possessions and were living without some basic necessities. We gave some money that we really did not have. I knew I had a bonus coming in several weeks but it was pretty much spent already. We did the right thing and followed through on what God impressed us to do. There is good and bad
news. Although we helped out privately, one family member criticized us for helping and said that the money would not be well spent.

In a case like this, God does not judge us for how the money was spent. He judges us our obedience. Well the good news, we were obedient and did what God asked us to do. Several weeks later when I did get my bonus, it was twice what I was expecting. You cannot out give God!

In closing, recently God provided for us in a real time of need. With over 20 years invested in a company, the doors began to close for me. I began to ask God to close doors that I should not go through and open the doors that He wants me to go through. I shared this burden with others who began to pray as well. Shortly thereafter I spoke with a couple of Christian businessmen about my situation and in short order both companies offered me a job. God is good - all the time!

Rick L. Carter
Senior Pastor
Canyon Creek Baptist Church
Richardson , Texas

Unremarkable.

The lopsided smile gave her away-she had had a stroke. It had affected her on the same side my grandmother's stroke had. She said her name was Jean. She was small and looked scared. Nothing special about her. She was unremarkable to the human eye.

"I don't know what time they will come to get me today." she said.

"Are you waiting for therapy?" I asked her, knowing the schedule was different today.

She nodded. "Well, since it's Saturday it might be different."

She nodded her head and told me she forgot what day it was. Easy to do in here. Every day was the same. Same food, same people. Florescent lights instead of the sun.

We talked about the horrible weather conditions 'up north'. She shook her head from side to side. Jean was nearly deaf and told me so as I watched her continually try to adjust her hearing aid. This always makes it more difficult. But nothing is impossible with God. One time I was talking to an old Irish man who was nearly deaf and even though I was sitting next to him, almost screaming in his ear, he could not make out what I was saying. Then the Lord showed me his calendar, which was hanging on his board. I took it down and rolled it up, making a sort of bullhorn. After that, he heard me just fine.

After a few minutes I got down to the business of eternity. Jean thought she was ok, as far as being a good person goes. She faced off with the 10 Commandments and found out that she had failed to be perfect. This caused her to politely justify herself. We went back over a couple of the Commandments and she stopped. I asked her where God would have to send her she hesitate and said, "Well, I think that God would have to...Hell." Her shoulders slumped when she admitted this.

I watched her a moment and then asked her if she knew what God had done for her so she would not have to spend eternity in Hell. She didn't understand what I said, so I began to write it out on paper. As I wrote the name Jesus my pen stopped-just stopped writing. For some reason I had another pen in my book so I just continued on. I saw behind her a picture of a dapper man in a WWII uniform. When I explained why Jesus came I told her that, just like someone who went to war, He did it for all of us. At this her eyes teared up and she nodded her head. When I was finished Jean told me she was tired.

"Hard to think." she muttered.

"I know I've given you some heavy things to think about. But I know you realize this is very important, too. The only one who can make this decision is you, Jean. You don't need me."

She nodded and told me thank you for coming in to talk with her. I left with a heavy heart. Allyson was waiting for me in the hallway and we stopped to pray for her and another lady that Allyson had just finished with. After speaking to another lady, we parted ways around 11am.

At around 4pm, my cell phone signaled to me that I had received a message. it came from Tucker, another friend who works at the nursing home. "I am just calling to let you know that the work of the Lord goes on! Jean ________ has just prayed to received the Lord Jesus Christ and I wanted to let you know!"

Unremarkable? Obviously not to God!


1 John 3:1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.