TRIBE WAITED 2000 YEARS FOR THEIR OWN BIBLE

(December 15, 2022) Michael Ashcraft shares another missionary enterprise.

After years of learning the language, developing an alphabet, teaching literacy, missionary Brooks Buser and team gave the YembiYembi tribe in Papua New Guinea copies of the Bible five years ago.

‘It has been a long time, almost 2,000 years, that the YembiYembi church have waited for this translation of the Bible into our own language,’ says a tribe leader on a Radius International video.

Welcoming their own Bible
Waving palm-like branches (or feathers) and dancing, about 100 tribe members received the printed and bound Bibles – the labour of nine years delivered by small prop plane – with fanfare, preaching and jubilation.

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WORRYING? HAVE CONFIDENCE IN GOD!

(December 13, 2022) Robert and Maureen McQuillan share…

Unfortunately, some Christians worry instead of trusting Almighty God!

Yes, we should certainly be concerned about troubling matters that arise from time to time… but there is a huge difference between being concerned (taking responsibility to correct matters) and worrying!

Paul gave good advice in Philippians 4:6 – ‘Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.’

Seven don’ts…

1. Don’t worry –
Message Bible is very direct: ‘Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns.’ Complete Jewish Bible charges: ‘Don’t worry about anything.’

It’s almost Christmas when we celebrate the amazing coming to planet Earth of Jesus in physical form – the incarnational birth of the one who would become our Saviour.

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HURTING KIDS! HEAR THEIR CRY! HERALD JESUS’ LOVE!                                                            

EDITORIAL NOTE: For some 40+ years the late Dorothy Gardiner (left), with her husband Ken, led the enterprising Life4Kids kids’ ministry touching thousands of children’s lives with care, helping them discover the love of Jesus. Ken Gardiner still leads this children-centred ministry, encouraging churches, especially leaders, to care for their church kids in these troubled days and assuring children that God is still in control and cares for them. The following is excerpted and updated from one of Dorothy’s caring teachings.
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(December 10, 2022) Dorothy Gardiner urges kids’ workers to really care in these dark days…

‘John’ (not real name) sits with his shoulders slumped, head bent, tears streaming down his face and with a voice filled with pain says, ‘The day my dad left my whole world fell apart and I can’t put it back together.’

No, he can’t put it back together, but when Jesus becomes the centre of his life he can know and experience the wonderful love of a heavenly Father who is bigger than any circumstance or hurt. God will see him through, lift him up, support and hold him.

God’s Word – the Bible – tells us that He will be a Father to the fatherless, that even if our own father and mother forsake us, He will lift us up. (See scriptures such as Psalm 68:5).

But… how will they know without someone to tell them? God-inspired churches and really caring kid’s ministry workers can offer–

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MARY – WHAT AN INCREDIBLE LADY!

(December 10, 2022) Geri  B challenges us not just to believe the gospel message but to live it!

When Christmas comes around we naturally think of Jesus, born of a virgin, born in a manger, born to die on a cross for the sins of the world. That’s as it should be! There is no greater message to be proclaimed, nor any other focus that should be given.

But I would add that one of the greatest messengers of this truth is the mother of Jesus, Mary herself. Mary doesn’t preach this message, she lives it!

When we take time to go through the gospels and study this woman of God we find a very humble woman…

  • Great in faith
  • Persistent in prayer
  • Steadfast in her trust in God
  • Specific in believing that what He said about her son, Jesus, would come to pass
  • Willing to be willing!

Mary was willing to –

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JOSEPH – THE UNSUNG HERO OF CHRISTMAS

(December 10, 2022) Richard Winter shares some Christmas highlights…

There’s a list that we hear much about at Christmas – the Virgin Mary, angels, shepherds … an unknown number of wise men (who were possibly kings of foreign lands).

Heroes of the Christmas story, they played an important part in the birth of our Saviour and the message that God was with us!

However we often tend to forget to list one more hero… a true servant of God and to me the unsung hero of Christmas.

His name was Joseph who is identified by his personal characterists – which we should also embrace: Spiritual, sensitive, and submissive to God’s great plan to bring to earth our Saviour.

1) Spiritual
Let’s just imagine the scene with Joseph and Mary…
– ‘So… you’re tell me you’re pregnant, Mary – and to whom?’
– ‘What! You’re blaming God! Ha!’
– ‘So, God did this – you want me to believe that?’
– ‘Okay then… what’s else has God been doing to you?’

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HEEEEELP, HOLY SPIRIT!

(December 07, 2022) Robert McQuillan shares…

I was warned decades ago when I first attended Friday night church prayer meetings about a ‘longwinded “Mrs XYZ”’ – that ‘She’ll go on and on, praying all around the world about everything and forget to stop and let others pray!’

Spiritual prayer
When we encourage people to pray, Maureen and I point out that we don’t have to pray long prayers. God will hear us, even if it’s only the shortest prayer! He sees our circumstances, knows our concerns. We simply be sincere, ask in Jesus’ name and trust God. Trusting means leaving it with Him, never trying ‘to take it back.’

The Holy Spirit, third person of the Godhead, is our helper, and will bring God’s answer. We tell folk our own prayers are sometimes brief… with our thoughts and spiritual eyes on Him! Merely ‘Help, Holy Spirit’, even ‘Heeeeelp, Holy Spirit.’ Sometimes just a desperate ‘Heeeeelp!’ Now that really rocks their boat!

No, we’re not being irreverent, dishonouring God, misusing Jesus’ name, and belittling the Spirit! Our hope is in our heavenly Father whom we know deeply in our hearts, and that He loves, His spiritual children.

Spiritual S.O.S.
Such a plea is a spiritual S.O.S call! When there isn’t time for a long prayer, that unless God moves quickly, immediately, all will be lost. It’s a little child’s cry from the heart, a ‘Daddy’ wail as it were.

Paul wrote, ‘Because you are His children, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts. He is the Holy Spirit. By His power we call God “Abba.” Abba means Father’ (Romans 8:4NIRV). Complete Jewish Bible reads… ‘Abba that is “Dear Father.”’

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WHEN LOVE CAME DOWN AT CHRISTMAS

(December 6, 2022) Carol Round reflects on Christmastime…

Paul gave us all good advice in 1 Corinthians 16:14 – ‘Do everything in love.’

One of the things I love about this time of the year is the music, including the hymns and the contemporary versions of those songs. It’s interesting to read the stories of the songwriters and what inspired the lyrics they wrote.

Love Came Down at Christmas is one of my favourite hymns. Written by Christina Georgina Rossetti in 1885, the lyrics capture the essence of Christmas in one word – love.

One of the most well-known scriptures on love is John 3:16 – ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.’

The essence of Christmas
In his book titled Christmas Gifts That Won’t Break, author James W. Moore, writes, ‘Well, of course, the essence of Christmas is love. God’s incredible love for us, expressed when He sent His only Son into the world to save us. “Love Came Down at Christmas”– that’s how the hymn writer puts it. That’s the answer to our question. Whenever and wherever we receive God’s sacrificial love, whenever and wherever God’s love is accepted and shared, Christmas comes once again.’

Moore explains it this way. ‘When we, like the shepherds, fall down in awe, wonder and commitment before the manger of God’s love, there is Christmas! When, like the three wise men, give our best to the Master, there is Christmas! When we, like Mary and Joseph, trust and obey God and try our best to do God’s will, there is Christmas.’

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GOD’S WATCHMEN AND WATCHWOMEN

(November 30, 2022) Hope Flinchbaugh shares an end-of-month thought from her recommended meditation book below…

‘I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower,
and will watch to see what he will say unto me,
and what I shall answer when I am reproved. 

And the Lord answered me, and said,
Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables,
that he may run that readeth it’ (Habakkuk 2:1-2KJV).

Have you heard speak to you this month? Did you write down what He said?

You know, it’s possible that God is showing you things that are not just for you, but for other people. I want to encourage you to read over your drawings photos, and writings from this month.

  • Has God renewed your strength as waited on Him?
  • Have you heard His voice?
  • Did you experience, ‘Be still, and know that I am God’ (Psalm 46:10)?

More importantly, is there anything that God has told you to do? Did you obey Him? Obedience is the thrill of His heart and the greatest evidence of our love for Him.

I encourage you to take time to reflect on what God has shown you and finish this month watching and waiting before the Lord one more time.

Jump-start prayer: Lord, I come to the garden alone. Here I am, watching and waiting at the womb of the dawn. What is on your heart today?

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Hope Flinchbaugh, editor-in-chief of Hope Editors, a special team helping publishers and authors, has written three historical fiction novels and two nonfiction books. Hope’s love for children is evident in her delightful Baby Babbles series… available from Amazon Author Page or International Orders Here.  

 I Come to the Garden Alone… Jesus is waiting – come and talk to Him, is Hope’s inspiring daily devotions booklet. Hope’s Amazon Author Page. Link: OnlinerConnect@gmail.com
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HOLY SPIRIT LANGUAGE KEEPS MISSIONARY FROM BEING EATEN BY CANNIBALS!

(November 30, 2022) John Sherrill shares an amazing story the most amazing story from the heart of Africa in 1922.

That year, Reverend Henry B. Garlock and his wife Ruthanne, of Toms River, New Jersey, volunteered for a dangerous assignment: they were to go to Africa as missionaries to the Pahns, a small tribe in the interior of Liberia. No missionaries had ever before worked with the Pahns. The reason was simple. The Pahns were cannibals!

The Garlocks (right) arrived in Liberia and set up camp with a group of African Christians whose tribal boundary touched that of the Pahns. Almost immediately Mrs. Garlock came down with malaria. Their meagre medical chest was soon emptied and still her fever rose. Garlock had a difficult time persuading the natives to take a short route to the coast for more medicine because the way led through Pahn country.

At last, however, Garlock convinced the chief that it was possible to skirt the danger areas, and that if medicine didn’t arrive soon, Mrs. Garlock might well die. One morning at dawn a group of men left the compound and headed out, filled with misgivings, to bring back supplies.

Captured by cannibals
About noon the head carrier suddenly appeared in the doorway of the mud hut where Mrs. Garlock lay. He was out of breath. In gasps he blurted out what had happened. One of his men had been captured by the cannibals. The African assured the two missionaries that unless the man could be rescued, he would be eaten.

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CARING AND CARRYING

(November 29, 2022) Dr Robert McQuillan warns an ‘over-caring’ Christian…

Dear Dr Robert

I care for people and I follow that command of Jesus to care for, to love anyone who is mt neighbour. Some of those I’ve been interceding for, praying for, has me thinking a lot about them, even during the day and sometimes awakening to do so during the night. They have what I call heavy problems and… well, I can only describe what’s happened this way. I’ve been feeling heavy myself, deeply sensitive to their hurts and it’s as if I feeling their burdens on my heart. This making me feel down – yet some of them seem to be getting free of their problems. Am I making myself clear here. Maybe this all sounds too mixed up. Sorry. ‘Weary Will’ (not real name).

Dear ‘Weary Will’

Hold it right there! Yes, I understand you, how you’re feeling, that heaviness that you’ve encountered. To help you, I’ll go straight to the point! The problem is that you’re not just caring, you’re wrongly carrying!

Yes,  you’re doing right in caring – as all Christians should for anyone that we consider ‘Luke 10:25ff neighbours’ and in every way we can. But one thing we can’t do is this: we can’t carry them! This is a mistake that Satan has lured well-thinking Christians into and it has eat away at them, stealing their own happiness, even causing sickness.

I urge you to recall that you’re a servant of Jesus, not our Lord Himself! Only Jesus can care to the extreme of carrying sicknesses, heartbreak, hurts and  burdens that we humans experience.

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