Reachout

EVERY CHRISTAIN A MINISTER

(April 01, 2022) Charles Schwab shares that every Christian is a minister so let’s cut to the chase…

I feel led by the Holy Spirit to share here my long-term convictions about Christians taking up their God-given capacities to be vessels of God towards a whole range of needs in the lives of others.

Yes there can be challenges to Christians – ordinary Christians – when it comes to being mobilised in ministry. We will come to these in a moment.

Biblical truth
Since the Protestant Reformation (1517 AD – 505 years ago) which highlighted the biblical truth that justification – being made right with God – is a consequence of faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord (Romans 5:1), various other biblical truths have been resurrected from relative obscurity.

One such truth is that every believer has one or more areas of ‘ministry’ or service to which the Lord has called and is equipping them. We don’t get to ‘call the shots’; God determines and in such a way that we are not consulted!

The notion that ‘the priest is the minister and does everything that is central in the life of the church’ had its ‘back broken’ in the Reformation.

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GOD STILL LOVES ALL THE NATIONS!

(April 01, 2022) Honouring the memory of the late missionary statesman Dr George Forbes, we run one of his blogs, bringing an Easter reminder that God still loves the world…

Nations around the world have experienced so many troubles these past few years – and still are! But God truly loves them all!

God cares for all nations, just not Israel
David, who knew his God’s heart wrote, ‘O let the nations be glad and sing for joy; for you [God] shall judge the peoples righteously and govern the nations on earth’ (Psalm 67:4).

When this short psalm was written and then sung in Israeli households and other places, the truth of God’s love for all nations, as well as His eternal purpose for them was expressed well.

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JOURNEY INTO THE UNKNOWN

(March 13, 2022) Robert McQuillan shares about an intrepid missionary’s bold decision…

When I received a brief email a few days ago from missionary to Romania, David McGuire, I was immediately reminded of that old snowclone intro to the original 1966 Star Trek TV episodes – Where No Man Has Gone Before (Changed in the Next Generation series to the gender-neutral Where No One Has Gone Before).

Why? Why was I so thrown that I reminisced about that old classic intro? Well, with all the reports on TV news programs about what Ukraine is suffering from Russia’s invasion, likened unto Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland back in 1939, one wonders ‘Who would want to travel to Ukraine at this time!’

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says Russia might use chemical weapons following its invasion of Ukraine and that such a move would be a war crime, according to an interview in German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.

He added that although the Ukrainian people were resisting the Russian invasion with courage, the coming days are likely to bring even greater hardship.

‘That’ brief email
Let me tell you some things about my friend David McGuire. He doesn’t waste words, preferring to be about the Lord’s business! Consequently his short email simply said this…

‘About to leave home with medical and humanitarian to go and join with team from Cluj YWAM. From there we will travel up into Ukraine overnight to base ourselves where we can serve many needy people.

‘Pray for strength love and courage to bless and strengthen these we meet and have needs. The team will be led by Pastor Alin who will decide how and which way we travel and in what from Cluj. I travel with Project Romania van to Cluj and from there we see how leadership want best to go with vans.

‘For Jesus we live and love. Thank you for prayers.’

Let me tell you more about David…

Firstly… straight to the point
As intimated above, he’s not really one for words (so with pleasure I’ve reworded some lines, adding capitals… although his mission Reachout articles are great, such those mentioned below).

Rather David (right) uses his camera to let supporters and interested people like myself know how the Lord is leading him and what, with the Holy Spirit’s help, his missionary activities are achieving practical as well as spiritual needs (Read the article link highlighted below).

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8 IMPORTANT REASONS WE NEED THE BIBLE

(March 12, 2021) Erica Grace, ex-missionary to South America, challenges Christians to value God’s word!

First the bad news… a youthful pastor announced a coming marriage seminar to his congregation. Sounds good – with so many troubled marriages such seminars are really needed!

But… to encourage people, both church and non-church, to come along, he also announced: ‘Don’t worry! This seminar won’t have anything to do with the Bible so it’s safe to bring your friends along. there will be no Bible bashing!’ Was he misguided!

The Bible is good news and here are eight important reasons that tell why…

The Bible is…
1. The ultimate marriage manual…
That pastor erred in thinking that humanistic teaching could help anyone in the matter of marriage and family relationships. It’s like the blind leading the blind! The Bible tells us that God is the creator of man and woman and marriage and family, not man. 

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PRODIGAL PARABLE RECONCILES SUICIDAL JEWISH MAN TO GOD

(March 9, 2022) David Calderon shares a good news reconciliation story…

Trevor Rubenstein got mad when some Christians approached him at a mall and talked about Jesus.

Trevor – his Hebrew name is Tuvia – grew up in an affluent family. His parents did well; his grandparents did very well, he says on a video posted Chosen People Ministries, formerly One for Israel.

Experiencing depression
Despite living in the lap of luxury, Trevor experienced significant depression to the point of being suicidal.

‘I would often contemplate killing myself,’ he said. ‘There was this overlying feeling that I’m not loved like I want to be loved.’  The inner emptiness prompted him to look for acceptance, which he found among the druggies. He began to drink and abuse drugs.

‘That really affected my grades and my education,’ he says. With plummeting grades and behavioural issues, he got kicked out of school. ‘You’re not coming back to this school,’ the principal told him in his office. I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure you don’t come back to this school.’’

At college, a friend invited Trevor to a Bible study. Without really listening to what the activity was, Trevor acceded. Only too late did he realise he was in a Bible study.

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CONFUSED MUSLIM LADY’S ‘CHANCE ENCOUNTERS’ WITH WITNESSING CHRISTIANS

(February 11, 2022) Jalen Jenkins shares a good news story…

Raised in England in a Muslim family, Laila Nassali was bewildered by the number of religions and different doctrines.

‘It was so confusing for me,’ Laila says on her YouTube video channel. ‘God is not a God of confusion, so why are there so many different religions out there? If he’s the one true God, why are there so many religions saying he’s this or he’s that? It looked like a confusing puzzle that I would never be able to solve.’

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Like so many, she gave up on trying to compare, contrast and determine the truth. Instead, she started to live for personal pleasure and be happy-go-lucky like so many fellow university students appeared to be having fun.

Feeling trapped
‘I was literally just living my best life, and that led me to a lot of sin,’ she says. ‘I was trapped in the flesh. I didn’t believe in God, period.’

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DON’T ASSUME!

(January 18, 2022) Jerry Wiles challenges us not to assume that someone is a Christian because they attend church or work at a Christian college!

In the early 1990s I was introduced to the work of Living Water International. At that time, it was estimated that 1.2 billion people around the world were without access to clean, safe drinking water. (That number has been reduced to approximately 770 million today).

That was an eye-opener for many of us who have grown up with indoor plumbing and safe water at the turn of a tap. We in the modern Western world enjoy many benefits and privileges, that we often take for granted. The more time we spend in other parts of the world can give us a greater appreciation for the things we sometimes take for granted. 

It can help us overcome some of our false assumptions. While spending some time in a communist country a few years ago, a young lady asked me, ‘Is it true that in your country, there is a church in every village?’

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GRATEFUL FOR 2021 SUCCESSFUL OUTREACHING, BUT MOVING AHEAD INTO 2022 WITH VISION

(January 05, 2022) David McGuire brings a colourful, picturesque report from Romania…

Those engaged in overseas missions ‘send in’ reports to headquarters back home, to supporting churches, friends or contacts. This is often pages of typed information.

Rather than a lot of text, I thought I’d like Connecting with You readers to know visually what’s been happening here by way of photos. After all, there’s an old saying: A picture is worth a thousand words.

In short, despite ongoing troubles around the world last year we have continued to reach out to children, build houses for gypsies, and meet other needy people… where they’re at here. These following pictures speak for themselves!

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Mesmerised children

Christmas presents joy
Over 2000 presents, received from four sources of the body of Christ, were distributed giving great joy for so many kids as well as adults.

Some presents left over from home distribution were perfect for kids who beg in supermarket carparks, as below…

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PRIORITISED 2022 RESOLUTIONS

(January 01, 2022) Brian Bell shares afresh on some of his December thoughts as we move for Jesus into this new year…

Christmastime is over and 2022 is here!

Like some others, maybe you too are looking back on difficult 2021 life experiences. Amid the uncertainties of life perhaps some situation injured you, people may have hurt and or disappointed you.

Perhaps you had failed the Lord in some way, or you made poor decisions and thought He won’t forgive you. Well, a December Features was on the very spirit of Christmas… forgiveness (Christmas – Perfect Time for Forgiveness).

There is a wrong tendency with Christians to feel difficult circumstances must be an indication of sin in our lives, or that we have displeased and or failed the Lord… and this can hinder us from moving ahead, especially into every God-given new year.

Now there may be times when we have made choices that have contributed to our certain circumstances. But we need to remember that varied, changing and indeed difficult circumstances of life are common to everyone, believer and non-believer. So, I encourage you to deal with whatever needs dealing with, perhaps putting things ‘right’ with another believer… and resolving to move on!

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CREATING CHRISTMAS MEMORIES
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(December 16, 2021) Erica Grace, ex-missionary to South America, challenges us to ensure our children have happy Christmas memories…

What is the first thought that comes to your mind when you hear the word ‘Christmas?’

  • Most children say: Food!
  • Most men too!
  • Most mothers say: Work!  

Good memories are…

Vivid
Why is food so memorable? Food is of special significance because the sense of smell is intricately linked with memory, more so than any other sense, just one whiff can evoke memories. 

Good memories are intricately connected to good food. Our brain sorts through our memories associating happy events with good food and celebrations. The emotional association of events and food leaves an indelible print, much more accentuated during our childhood. Childhood memories have a longer lasting imprint, especially in association with special days like birthdays and Christmas.

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