Aches and Praise Three Hundred & Fifty Five

June 28, 2018

 
Dear friends,
 

This week, Karen and I are in Connecticut to help our daughter, Candace, and our son-in-law, Richie, move into a larger apartment. Entering their new place brought back memories of our first apartment. We were near the high school in Châteauguay, where Karen graduated five years before. When I was living with my parents in Montreal, I didn’t know where Châteauguay was, but found out when I took some time off from my job at the Gazette newspaper to help send bulletins out from the ministry office. I remember riding the bus over the Mercier bridge and through the native reserve, hoping that I would get off at the right place.

The Lord has blessed us with four precious children, many wonderful friends and lots of adventures since we lived in our first apartment. We are very grateful to all of the saints who faithfully pray for us and stand with us as we proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Staying with Richie’s parents this week is a time for us to recharge our batteries and to enjoy being with friends who share the same faith and desires: to serve the Lord, bless His church and share God’s love with others. In his Study Bible, Dr. David Jeremiah writes: “Christians are to love:

  1. Unconditionally.God calls His sons and daughters to love people as they are and to pray that He will do a work in their lives (Romans 5:7, 8)
  2. Sacrificially.We should not merely tell others of God’s love but show them that God loves through our demonstrations of love (1 John 3:16-18)
  3. Personally.The only Christ most people will ever see is the Christ they see in us (1 John 4:20, 21).”
 

In his book “Reason to Rejoice,” Ray C. Stedman tells the account of the late Charles Colson, former special counsel to U.S. President Richard Nixon, who trusted Christ as his Lord and Savior shortly before entering the penitentiary to serve his sentence for crimes connected to the Watergate scandal. Stedman writes: “While in prison, Colson found another Christian brother and they began praying for their fellow inmates. Soon, they saw God begin to work. One by one, they saw hardened, violent, brutal men – men who had spent their lives in rebellion against God – begin to break down and seek God’s grace.”

Next week, George Verwer, the founder of Operation Mobilization, will turn 80 years young. He trusted Christ as a teen when he went to hear Dr. Billy Graham preach at Madison Square Garden in New York City. You can read his tribute to Dr. Graham at: www.georgeverwer.com. God has used men like Brothers Colson, Graham and Verwer in mighty ways and He will continue to use those who wholeheartedly follow Him to build His church around the world.

Scripture for the weekend: “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.” John 15:12-14 (NKJV) 

Thought for the weekend: “The bottom line in mission work is people work … loving them, serving them and helping them become strong disciples of Jesus.” – George Verwer
 
 
By His grace,
 

Steve                 


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