How Is Your Thankfulness Today (as well as yesterday)?

Have you ever wondered why you receive no thanks when you give or do some for someone?

Well what about us? Are we personally, especially as Christians, a thankful people?

- Have we thanked our wonderful gracious God today for His salvation and tender mercies to us such sinful people?

- As we worship on Sundays, do we lift our hearts to our Heavenly Father in praise and thankfulness to Him?

- Did you thank your pastor last Sunday for his message?

 
- Have we thanked the deacons, teachers, elders, ushers, greeters, music leaders, kitchen crew, and others at your church for their excellent service? How about taking a gift card to each from time to time! (However this does not always work as I gave a gift card to one and he said rudely, “What is this for, and besides, I could not read your note as your writing is terrible!”

 
Well, let’s be thankful anyway!

- When you are invited to special occasions and meals, be sure to thank all involved.

- Have you taught your children to be thankful, including how to write thank you notes to their friends, teachers, for gifts and kindness given to them?

- Have you, yourself, learned to be thankful to others? To those at the bank, post office, store, leaving a good tip at restaurants?

 
- Whether we have little or much, we can be a kind and thankful people to the glory of God!

What is the Good News (the Gospel)?

It is this:

Although sin is great and universal and deadly (Romans 3:23, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."; Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."), Jesus, the son of God, has come into the world to save sinners (Matthew 25:46, “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”).

Christ died for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:3b, “…that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures”).

God made him to be sin who knew no sin so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”).

We are justified by his blood and reconciled to God (Romans 5: 9-10, “… having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”).

There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1, “Therefore there is now no condemnation at all for those who are in Christ Jesus.”).

The just died for the unjust, to bring us into fellowship with God (1 Peter 3: 18, “For Christ also suffered for sins once for all time, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.”).

This Jesus, Lord of the universe, has been raised indestructibly from the dead and cannot die or be defeated (Romans 6:9, “Knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.”); Hebrews 7:16, “Who has become a priest not on the basis of a law of physical requirement, but according to the power of an indestructible life.”).

The way to be saved by him is not works of merit, but faith in the God who justifies the ungodly (Romans 4:5, “But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.”; Romans 5:1, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”; Ephesians 2: 8- 9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”)

All verses are from the New American Standard Bible.

Questions to Ask a “Visiting” Missionary

When missionaries return from their fields of service (or a short-termer returns from months of ministry, or summer workers returning after weeks of summer ministry), sometimes the only questions people ask are, "Was it hot in the country?" and "What was the food like?" and nothing else. The conversation then switches to the recent ball game, the high price of gas, or the latest movies. This can be discouraging to a missionary or a short-term worker.

The following are suggestions of 34 simple questions to ask missionaries to share about their ministry so that you can learn more about what God is doing in other parts of the world:

1. What did you most enjoy about your work?

2. Tell us something about the people of your country.

3. What was the economic situation of the people you ministered to?

4. What most encouraged you in your ministry?

5. Were many people responsive to the gospel or just a few? Why?

6. Describe an experience you had on the mission field that impacted the way you do ministry.

7. How was your devotional Bible study time schedule on the field. Was it difficult to maintain?

8. What did you appreciate most about the culture you were living in?

9. Tell me about a special friendship you had with a person of the country. Who was your best friend?

10. What was security in the country like?

11. How were church services different or alike in your country of service?

12. Tell me about your church and worship in your country.

13. Were there times that you could specifically focus on children's needs? Tell something about them.

14. What are some specific prayer requests you have for your country and mission of service?

15. Tell me about raising your children in a different culture. Advantages? Diadvantages?

16. Were you able to purchase the books, supplies, and materials you needed for your ministry in that country? How?

17. What was the greatest spiritual need you noticed in your ministry? Physical need?

18. What was your biggest surprise about the country? The people? Yourself?

19. How did you adapt to being in a different culture?

20. What has been your most noticeable spiritual change since you began ministry as a missionary?

21. What is/was a typical day like for you? Your family?

22. Tell me about your local church.

23. Who provide your pastoral care? Your church or mission?

24. Please tell me of someone whose life was impacted with the gospel and the change you saw in his/her life.

25. Were you able to share the gospel and disciple people freely in your country of service?

26. What was really important to you in your time there that you want us to know?

27. Tell me about the missionaries you serve/served with. What are their ministries and how are they doing? Are they encouraged?

28. What are some ministry needs and opportunities that need filling on your team?

29. How is your support? Do you have any projects/ministries that need funding?

30. How can I help you while you are here?

31. What could the church/friends/others do to help encourage you?

32. What did you learn from the indigenous Christians…..especially in the area of faith, contentment, materialism?

33. What did God show you about being a servant?

34. How can I change my lifestyle to dedicate my life to the same values God has for the poor and disadvantaged in the developing world?

These questions will not only encourage the missionary, but also help inform you of God's work worldwide for His glory. Please feel free to make copies of these questions to distribute to your family, friends and church.

They went out for the sake of His name . . . therefore, we ought to help such men, that we may be fellow-workers with the truth (3 John 7-8). – Doug Nichols

Praying for Revival

It all began at a tea party. In 1856 in Ulster, Ireland, James McQuilkin was invited to tea. There a visiting woman skirted the civilities of discussing the weather and spoke openly on a subject McQuilkin found uncomfortable: the condition of the soul. After another guest at the tea party described the nature of her Christian experience, the visitor said, “My dear, I don’t believe you have ever known the Lord Jesus.” McQuilkin later wrote, “I knew that she spoke what was true of me . I felt as if the ground were about to open beneath me and let me sink into hell. As soon as I could, I left the company. For two weeks I had no peace day or night. At the end of that time I found peace by trusting the Lord Jesus.”

The following year McQuilkin felt burdened to pray for his neighbors. He asked three friends to join him. Once a week the four men gathered at the village schoolhouse to pray for each person in their community by name. The town was Ahogill, County Antrim, Ulster, Ireland. The date: September 1857.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to them, God was laying the same burden on many hearts, and similar prayer groups started throughout northern Ireland. Pastors began preaching about revival.

In December 1857 McQuilkin’s group rejoiced to see the first conversion in Ahogill. But widespread revival did not come. Still, God’s people prayed—for nineteen more months. Then one morning in the city of Ballymena, just six miles from Ahogill, a young man fell prostrate in the crowded marketplace and called out, “Unclean! Unclean! God be merciful to me a sinner!”

The night of March 14, 1859, the McQuilkin group responded by inviting Christians to a prayer meeting at the Ahogill Presbyterian Church. The church was so crowded that they moved the meeting out into the street. There hundreds of people knelt in the mud and rain, confessing their sins and praising God. They were the first of one hundred thousand people God called to himself in 1859 in what became known as the Ulster Revival.

There was a great spiritual movement among young people. It was not uncommon for teenage boys to hold street meetings to reach their peers for Christ. At one such street meeting an Irish clergyman counted forty children and eighty adults listening to the preaching of twelve-year-old boys.

The results of the revival were remarkable. In 1860 in County Antrim the police had an empty jail and no crimes to investigate. Judges often had no cases to hear. With their owners converted, pubs closed and alcohol consumption fell so drastically that whiskey distilleries were sold. Gambling at horse races fell off by 95 percent.

A visitor to Ulster reported “thronged church services, abundant prayer meetings, increased family prayers, unmatched Scripture reading, increased giving, converts remaining steadfast.” The Ulster movement touched off similar revivals in England, Scotland, and Wales.

God drew hundreds of thousands of people to himself, and it all began with a woman unafraid to speak spiritual truth over tea.

Source: The One-Year Christian History by E. Michael and Sharon Rusten, pages 148-149.