A Weekly World Wide Word of Encouragement to those in the Ministry
PRAISE GOD IT’S MONDAY!
A WEEKLY ‘WWW (world-wide word) OF ENCOURAGEMENT’
TO THOSE IN MINISTRY
A FREE service, currently connecting with Christian leaders from 3,000 denominations and ministries, in 70 countries.
Issue No: 407 Published: 10 Aug 2009
SERMON ON THE MOUNT - THE KINGDOM WAY
7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:7-11)EXPOSITION: There is a 3 stage process towards getting gifts from God. First we must 'ask'. Many Christians stop there. Secondly we must 'seek'. Do something positive. Push on the doors to see if they will open. And thirdly, we must 'knock' and keep on knocking, which involves perseverance through faith. God is our Father and He will give gifts that are good for us, as He decides, according to our circumstances, as would any good parent.
TESTIMONY: The area of God answering prayer is one that gives rise to questioning and disappointment, as well as joy when our prayers are answered.
First of all, we need to understand that God is not a big Father Christmas in the sky raining down gifts to satisfy our every whim. Oh dear, how sad! We have all seen the result of parents meeting a child's every desire and understand the consequences in the development of a self centered, greedy, uncaring child - the exact opposite of what we are to be as followers of Jesus!
So let's understand, the Lord is not there to satisfy our every selfish want, nor to make us rich materially, which face it, we would all like to be, a fact which teachers of the prosperity doctrine prey upon to get followers, often in order to enrich themselves. If believing in Jesus was a way to guaranteed riches on earth, 'the world' would flock to the church!
On the other side, I see faithful believers in poor countries who do not have sufficient to eat. 'Why Lord', I ask, for their material needs are so much greater than mine will ever be. The desire to help these people is at the heart of our Seekers Megamarts operations.
As explained in the EXPOSITION, receiving is not simply a function of wanting something and asking for it. We need to seek and knock also, to prove our desire. Generally the effort required sorts out the wheat from the tares in our own life. 'Easy come' and 'easy go' are great bedfellows but certainly not part of God's ways.
New Christians, being spiritual children, may well given what appears to be a frivolous gift by the Lord in order to build their faith. But as we mature in Christ, our ways and prayers are to change to be more in line with His desires and His ways. Our prayers will then ask for the things that are on God's heart as well as our own. When our motivation is pure, as God's motivation is pure, then our prayers will be answered. For like any parent, God wants us to come to maturity and reflect 'the family values' - His values, in our life.
I have had prayers answered, prayers still to be answered, and others that have been answered in the negative, which I now realise, as I grow spiritually, were not in my best interests anyway.
Jesus tagged a very interesting verse onto the end of this section which, as we will see next week, goes a long way towards explaining His attitude towards our prayers.
Until then, may we reflect upon whether our prayer requests are truly glorifying God or are centered upon ourselves.
(To be continued next week.)
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FROM THE WORD
Israel Asks for a King"When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges for Israel. The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba. But his sons did not walk in his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice. So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.†But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,†this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. And the LORD told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do.†Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from th e king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day.†But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!†they said. “We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.†When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the LORD. The LORD answered, “Listen to them and give them a king.†Then Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Everyone go back to his town.†(1 Samuel 8:1-22)
"All this took about 450 years. “After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet. Then the people asked for a king, and he gave them Saul son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled forty years. After removing Saul, he made David their king. He testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’ “From this man’s descendants God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as he promised." (Acts 13:20-23)
"I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him." (1 John 5:13-15)
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DAVID'S DOODLINGS
PRAYER970. Prayer is not about 'I' but about 'hIm'.
971. 'A prayer a day' - is not enough!
972. When we pray we need to remember that God is God, not Father Xmas!
973. God has 3 answers to prayer requests, yes, no and wait. The secret of successful prayer is to understand which response He is giving now.
974. Praying for others reaches deep into the father heart of God.
975. Prayer is spiritual food. Little and often is healthier.
983. A Christian without prayer is as ineffective as a soldier without a gun.
984. A prayer in time, saves nine.
985. Prayer is the food of the soul.
986. Powerful prayer precedes perfect performance.
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CRANWELL'S CARTOON
15 These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 â€â€˜In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 20 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ (Acts 2:15-21)
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TUESDAY TEACHINGS
THIS WEEK: TRANSFORMATION OF THE CHURCH: 3. FROM KINGS TO KINGDOM continues.......... as we look at an unexpected turn in our lives.
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LAUGHING AT OURSELVES
***Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves for they shall never cease to be amused****** "Those who can't laugh at themselves leave the job to others." ***
80. SALES V MANAGEMENT
A passenger jet was suffering through a severe thunderstorm. As the passengers were being bounced around by the turbulence a young woman turned to a minister sitting next to her and with a nervous laugh asks, "Reverend, you're a man of God, can't you do something about this storm?"
To which he replies, "Lady, I'm in sales, not management."
79. MANY A TRUE WORD.....
It has to be confessed that the minister was rather long-winded.
During his sermon a young wife of the congregation remembered that she had left the Sunday dinner in the gas range without regulating the flame.
She hastily wrote a note and slipped it to her husband, who was an usher.
He, thinking it was for the minister, calmly walked up and laid it on the pulpit.
The minister paused, took the note with a smile, which turned into a terrific frown as he read:
"Please hurry home and shut off the gas."
78. INTIMATE CONGREGATIONS
A group of women were talking together. One woman said, "Our congregation is sometimes down to 30 or 40 on a Sunday."
Another said, "That's nothing. Sometimes our congregation is down to six or seven."
A maiden lady in her seventies added her bit, "Why, it's so bad in our church on Sundays that when the minister says 'dearly beloved,' it makes me blush."
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FACTS FOR FUN
LAST WEEKS QUESTION: What bird migrates from the Arctic to theAntarctic each year?
ANSWER: The Arctic Tern. This travelling bird flies nearly 22,000 miles
(35,000km) each year in its migration (roughly the circumference of the
Earth), making it the animal with the greatest migratory range. Takes six
months to fly each way. It migrates to live! It lives to migrate! (Gets there,
then ‘terns’ round and goes back!)
THIS WEEK'S QUESTION: What controversy involving Pluto occurred in
1999?
Answer Next Week.
SOME FUN FACTS346. HOLDING US DOWN
Air pressure at sea level is roughly equal to the weight of an elephant spread over a small coffee table. (How did they get the elephant to stand on a coffee table to prove this? I know really!)
347. BETTER THIN THAN THICK
If hot water is suddenly poured into a glass, the glass is more likely to break if it is thick than if it is thin. That is why test tubes are made of thin glass. (Tested through ‘thick and thin’.)
348. SETTING A TREND
A & P was the first chain-store business to be established. It began in 1842. (There has since been a chain reaction.)
A WORD PUZZLE FOR YOU
Make another word from this word using all the letters.
INROAD
Answer at the end of A David Musing
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BIBLE QUESTION - WATER WATER EVERYWHERE!
15) This man lost his preeminence because he was as uncontrolled as water:A - Saul
B - Manasseh
C - Reuben
D - Eli
Source: www.biblequizzes.com
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IF ONLY I'D THOUGHT OF IT!
"""OTHER'S SAYINGS TO ENLIGHTEN, AMUSE, OR BEMUSE"""!!!!!!! I don't have a big ego, I'm way too cool for that.
!!!!!! I panicked and hung up! What kind of sick company has an actual PERSON answer their phone?!
!!!!! Fleece on earth, good wool to ewe.
!!!! Those who say they "sleep like a baby" obviously haven't got one.
!!! I took a course in speed waiting. Now I can wait an hour in only ten minutes.
- Steven Wright
!! The most enjoyable way to follow a vegetable diet is to let the cow eat it, and then eat the cow.
! The trouble with being punctual is that nobody's there to appreciate it.
100'S MORE TO BE FOUND AT...
GREAT GROANS!
89. THE PIGEONSI was driving to work this morning when my car stalled in the damp weather. I was sitting in the car at the side of the highway, contemplating my next move, when a pigeon flew down and landed right in the middle of the hood of the car.
It seemed fairly tame, and I soon became fascinated in watching it up close as it strutted around and made cooing noises.
A few minutes passed, and two more pigeons flew in and joined the first bird. Pigeons seem to be attracted by crowds, and soon I was sitting there with a whole hood full of pigeons, all cooing loudly and beginning to change the color of my hood.
Gradually I noticed that the birds seemed to be trying to get my attention, which was unnerving, since I had always regarded pigeons as rather stupid birds. But, sure enough, several of them were dragging a piece of rope around on the hood, and several others
were flying out in front of the car and returning to the hood.
All of a sudden, I realized what they were doing, so I yanked open the door and wildly chased them all off. No way was I going to be pigeon towed!
90. CANVESSLESS
A news item this morning was about a local coal miner.
It seems That his vocation was painting, but since he couldn't afford to buy canvasses he simply painted on the wall of his small cottage. Unfortunately, a gang of youths broke into his cottage earlier this week and defaced his paintings.
Yesterday the young miscreants were charged in court with having "corrupted the murals of a miner."
91. THE BOSS
The Head of The Church of Humor is the Puntiff.
Groan some more here.......
BIBLE TRIVIA
COPPER SCROLLS.... were also discovered in the Dead sea caves describing a treasure - 26 tonnes of gold and 65 tonnes of silver - supposedly hidden at 64 locations throughout Israel. Most believe it was a myth, although some think treasure was taken from the Temple and hidden before the Roman Legions arrived in AD 70. It is very rare to find a Hebrew text on thinly beaten sheets of copper, such as these.
Adapted from: '1001 Surprising Things You Should Know About The Bible' MacGregor & Prys
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Bringing Church to People in the Mall
by Paul Strand, CBN NewsWILMINGTON, NC - Most people realize that it takes much more than efforts from the top to make a thriving economy. One North Carolina pastor and his congregants have found a way even they can help.
They've decided to hold church in a Wilmington mall that's suffering from lost business and shuttered shops.
"What we're going to do is bring hundreds and hundreds of people coming through these doors, flooding this mall with people, and what mall doesn't want a bunch of people to show up at their facility," Pastor Tim Blevins said.
Church members have had varied reactions.
"Initially, I kind of thought that's weird," Lindsey Holmes, Life Community Church member, said.
"When I heard about the mall, I knew without a shadow of a doubt, that's where we were supposed to be," Greg Bradshaw, also a member at Life Community, said.
History experts say its not that weird to worship outside church walls.
"As far back as 1739, there was an Anglican Evangelist by the name of George Whitfield," Walter Conser, professor of Philosophy and Religion at the University of North Carolina said. "When he preached here, he preached in the courthouse, he was known for preaching in fields, and barns, wherever he could find an audience."
The ailing mall jumped at the idea.
"We called the mall and they just opened the door wide open for us to come be here," Blevins said.
The move may bring many more people to the church.
"Now, instead of being in a location where people have to go find us, we're going to where the people meet," Bradshaw said.
"All of a sudden, we've found ourselves in the mall, which is right in the middle of the community," Holmes said.
Its a win-win, for both the sacred and the secular.
Source: CBNnews.com
via OpenHeaven.com
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DAVID'S DOWNLOAD
A REVELATION OF……. 3 MIRACULOUS CONCEPTIONSAnd how they mirrored aspects of the life of Jesus up to 2050 years before He was born. Our God is amazing!
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WAXING LYRICAL
So often we 'live for the day' but the reality is, we don't know how many more days we will have to live! What will be our eternal future of endless days!PLANNING AHEAD
Reality is, today's life is ever so uncertain,
Never know when God will pull down the curtain!
Yes, we all like to think it will never end,
That forever, death's punches, we can fend!
But that is not the way with real life,
Never know when we'll end up in strife.
Yes, it's true our life may be long - or it may be short,
But, one day, by death's clutches, we'll all be caught.
When that day comes, what will we say?
For there's no longer any time to pray.
Yes, it's time now to be held accountable,
Will we then rejoice - or be miserable?
We only get one shot at living,
Too late now for any misgiving.
Yes, the reality of heaven and hell has come,
Can't change our mind, what's done is done.
"Oh Lord, give me another chance,
My claims to heaven to advance!"
"No, you've had your chance, it's now too late,
With a loud clang, He closes the heavenly gate."
Where will you be found on that inevitable day?
On which side of the gate will you forever stay?
Yes, I know now where I'm going to be,
How will it, my friend, be with thee?
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A DAVID MUSING
This week has had its ups and downs, but that is life. Sometimes hard decisions have to be made which can have consequences that one doesn't like. But the end result is still worth it, once the hassles are dealt with. That has been my week.In Jesus too, we need to make the hard decisions. What is there in our life that doesn't honour Him? What needs changing in order to make us more like Jesus? What pet habits (sins) are we holding on to that we need to let go?
Are you like me this week, unable to put off the inevitable for any longer? Do you to need to face your problem head on and deal with it? It is hard, but eventually, the results will be worth it! I can come to work now, more relaxed. Your life too can become better too, when you deal with the 'put off problems' in it.
In the words of (unspiritual) Nike sportswear company, 'Just do it'!
It will be worth it!
Until next week...
MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND YOU BLESS GOD.
His servant and yours
David Tait
Today's 'Word Puzzle' Answer: ORDAIN
TODAY'S 'BIBLE QUESTION' ANSWER: 15) C - Reuben (Genesis 49:3-4)
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ABOUT US
WALKING WITH JESUS MINISTRIES is a non-profit, non-denominational, Bible based ministry located in Hastings, New Zealand. A ministry dedicated to developing discipleship, fostering unity amongst God’s people to achieve the Great Commission, and in doing so, preparing for Christ’s return. It is securely based upon the foundational principles of the Apostles Creed while recognising the wide and rich diversity of beliefs amongst Christians in other areas. In accordance with the Lord’s direction, materials produced by the ministry are available, free of charge, to genuine enquirers upon request. The ministry is solely funded by donations, as the Lord provides. A list of materials available (plus some fun!) is obtainable and freely downloadable from our websitewwj.org.nz or by contacting us as follows.
Walking With Jesus Ministries
7 Bull Street
Ahuriri
Napier
New Zealand
Phone: (06) 835 0567 International (+64) 6 835 0567
Email: enquiries@wwj.org.nz
Web: wwj.org.nz
Our role is to bless and encourage those in ministry while promoting co-operation and unity of direction amongst the body of Christ, as emphasised 3 times by Jesus in His longest prayer, immediately prior to His arrest and crucifixion. "… so that they may be one as we are one." (John 17:12, 21, 23-4) Our website is currently being developed to encourage your participation one with another, to share resources, and to enable you to promote events and items of interest to the body as a whole – and have a smile while doing it!
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david@wwj.org.nz