LABOR DAY

Man has found hundreds of things to commemorate from “Towel Day” in May to “National Ice Cream Day” in July.  In fact there is even a “National Ice Cream Sandwich Day” in August.  Does that sound frivolous to you?  Not all commemorated days are so lighthearted.  For instance take “Memorial Day” where we take time to honor the fallen soldiers who fought for our freedom on foreign and domestic soil.  Today I would like to ponder the upcoming day commemorated to give us rest from our labors, “Labor Day”.

Labor Day is a holiday that celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers. It was first nationally recognized in 1894 to placate unionists following the Pullman Strike.  Following the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the U.S. Military and U.S. Marshals during the Pullman Strike, the United States Congress unanimously voted to approve rush legislation that made Labor Day a national holiday and it was signed into law by President Grover Cleveland just six days after the end of the strike.  The legislation set the celebration activities as follows:  A street parade was given to exhibit the strength and spirit of the people in the labor organizations followed by a festival for the workers and their families including speeches by prominent men and women.  Today the holiday is generally viewed as time to celebrate a break (rest) from labor, for barbeques, end of summer vacations, and the starting of the school year.

The importance of resting and commemorating rest from labor is not originally man’s idea.  It was first recognized by God in that He rested after creating the earth and universe (Genesis 2:2).  He then set apart one day a week to commemorate the completion of creation and established it as a day of rest (Genesis 2:3).  He also promised His rest to us (Hebrews 4) when we believe and rely on Him, unlike the Israelites who harden their hearts and did not enter into the rest He prepared for them (Hebrews 3:11).

“Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter that rest of God, to know and experience it for ourselves, that no one may fall or perish by the same kind of unbelief and disobedience into which those in the wilderness fell.” – Hebrews 4:11 AMP

As we celebrate this extended weekend with our families, let us remember to thank God for the rest He provides even in the midst of the turmoil this world exhibits.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Sound of Freedom

 

I decided to see this movie when I was notified of its release by Angel Studios long before all the current controversy about it. I was not disappointed. Contrary to what some “conspiracy theorists” say, this film is not a documentary, docudrama, or a religious film; the statistics listed at the end of the film are published statistics easily found by an online search, and it was very tastefully done considering the subject content. This is dramatic movie based on the true story of Homeland Security Agent, Tim Ballard, and his experiences in trying to free people, especially children, from human trafficking. It focuses specifically on a brother and sister and his search for the sister after he freed the brother at the border crossing in Southern California. Inspiring and stirring, this move makes us aware of a tragedy that is happening all around the world and within the U. S. as well. It was thrilling and often had me on the edge of my seat. I highly recommend seeing it. It is well past time that these things that happen in the shadows around us are exposed to the light and dealt with.

If you cannot afford a ticket you can go to https://www.angel.com/legal/free-ticket-terms and get a ticket for free that someone else paid for just for that purpose.

For more information you can go to:

Operation Underground Railroad: https://ourrescue.org/

Operation Toussaaint: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q8dYM90PJA

Tim Ballard meets with President Trump at a staff briefing regarding human trafficking at the southern border: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHsiiaZTHxk

It happens right here in the U. S.: https://www.foxnews.com/us/57-percent-us-human-trafficking-victims-minors-2021-report

Bureau of Justice Statistics about caught and prosecuted offenders in human trafficking in the U. S.: https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/human-trafficking-data-collection-activities-2022

How to recognize human trafficking in your community and what you can do to help: https://www.dhs.gov/blue-campaign

#ChildSexTrafficking

#TimBallard

#OperationUndergroundRailroad

#TheSoundOfFreedom

HAVE YOU MISSED YOUR DIVINE APPOINTMENTS?

When Have you noticed that there seems to be a lack of faith in God in these trying times? Just this week we have experienced in the U.S. school shootings, police being shot (in one case by a little old granny, believe it or not), road rage, human trafficking, etc. We have heard all the negative things on the news but where are the reports of what God is doing? Why don't we hear about the things He is doing, like revivals and divine appointments? One problem with divine appointments, you can miss them if you are not looking.

When my mission team was stranded (because our bus ran out of diesel) in-between Alamogordo, New Mexico and El Paso, Texas we could see nothing but desert for miles in any direction. A few of the guys decided to walk up the road to see if they could get help. The rest of us prayed and then had lunch. The guys did not come back for some time, but when they did they were brought back in an old Cadillac. You see, they had walked up the road out of sight and just as they arrived at a dirt cross road this gentleman in the Caddy drove up, stopped and offered to give them a ride into El Paso and bring them back with a can full of diesel to get us going again.  Was this a miracle or what?  That’s not the end of the story!  The gentleman was the Regional Gideon Director and he had a trunk full of New Testament King James Bibles which he gave to us to give out as we felt led by the Lord to do.  Now, you tell me, how could it be by chance or coincidence that this man would be on this dirt road in the middle of nowhere and meet up with our guys, purchase diesel, bring it back to us, and give us so many Bibles to boot?!

This was a divine appointment set up by God, yet we could have missed it if we had purchased enough diesel in Alamogordo to make it into El Paso or if the guys would not have walked up the road.  It is so important to pay attention to the direction of the Holy Spirit or you may miss your divine appointments.

Another example of a divine appointment that happened to me was at Disneyland in 1988.  After our mission team returned from Jamaica we decided to go to Disneyland on our way home to Oregon.  When I was praying and reading my Bible the Holy Spirit impressed upon me that I would meet a lady on a bench on Tom Sawyer island.  She would be wearing a sleeveless pink blouse.  I was to share what our mission team did that year in Jamaica.  When we arrived at Disneyland I wanted to go to Tom Sawyer island right away but sensed the Holy Spirit say to me, “Not yet”, so I followed my friends around on rides until lunch.  After lunch I was impressed by the Lord that it was time so I headed for the island.  I followed the trail over bridges, through the fort, in and out of caves, and then, as I exited a cave, there she was, a woman who appeared about 50 years old, wearing a sleeveless pink cotton shirt.  I asked if I could sit and she said OK.  I asked her where she was from and she said she had flown in from New York City to visit with her grandkids for a few days and she was scheduled to fly back the next day.  She asked me where I was from and I shared about Jamaica, living there, working with Jamaicans to white wash a church inside and out, giving puppet shows to the local kids, and providing food and clothing for the poor.  I explained that our mission organization believed that if you help someone with their physical needs they are more willing to listen to what you have to share about God.  She was not a Christian but she listened to what I shared and pondered it all.  I asked her if she would like to know Jesus like I did.  Her grandkids came up and she thanked me for sharing with her.  She said she would give it all more thought on her flight home.  I encouraged her to seek out someone she knew that was a Christian and talk it over with them or to go to a church and speak with the pastor or its members.  I asked her if she knew about the Times Square Church in Manhattan and she said she had heard of it.  I encouraged her to check it out.

She did not become a Christian that day, but I was there to plant a seed to start her seeking the Lord.  Was this divine appointment a failure?  Definitely not, because God showed me where to go and who to see and I did just that. That was 35 years ago and I suppose she is about 85 years old now but I pray for her every time I think about her, and now I pray for her grandkids.  You never know the far reaches divine appointments bring.

For instance, the following six divine appointments eventually brought about the conversion of millions around the world:

Divine Appointment #1

A Sunday School teacher named Edward Kimbal led one of his hyper students to the Lord.  That boy’s name was Dwight L. Moody.

Divine Appointment #2

In his lifetime, Moody touched two continents for God and under Moody another man became a believer, Wilber Chapman.

Divine Appointment #3

Chapman preached to thousands and one day a professional ball player went to hear him.  Billy Sunday gave his life over to the Lord and gave up baseball to preach.

Divine Appointment #4

Sunday was preaching at a meeting and a young man named Mordecai Ham heard him and accepted the Lord.

Divine Appointment #5

Ham was speaking in Charlotte, North Carolina when a 17 year old son of a farmer, Billy Frank, decided to go  with his schoolmates and disrupt Ham’s meeting.  Billy was so intrigued he came back the next night to hear more.  He responded to the invitation to come forward and accept Christ.  Billy Frank was born William Franklin Graham Jr., or the name we know him for, Billy Graham.

Divine Appointment #6

Graham preached to an estimated 2.2 billion people, in 185 countries, during his lifetime.  2.2 million people came forward at his crusades to accept Jesus and Lord and Savior…all because a Sunday School teacher was obedient and worked to bring his students to know Jesus.

What would have happened if Edward Kimbal did not teach that Sunday School class?  You can never know the results of missing a divine appointment.  Our goal should be to listen to the Holy Spirit as He directs us and seek out each divine appointment He arranges for us.  Let’s pray that we will recognize each day’s divine appointment and do as the Spirit directs us.

“But in your hearts set Christ apart [as holy—acknowledging Him, giving Him first place in your lives] as Lord. Always be ready to give a [logical] defense to anyone who asks you to account for the hope and confident assurance [elicited by faith] that is within you, yet [do it] with gentleness and respect.” -1 Peter 3:15 AMP

Some information obtained from:

https://www.travisagnew.org/2013/07/22/the-chain-of-events-for-billy-grahams-conversion/

https://research.lifeway.com/2018/02/21/billy-grahams-life-ministry-by-the-numbers/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Graham

FEAR, FAITH, AND CHINESE SPY BALLOONS

So many people are discussing the Chinese Spy Balloons that recently flew over the United States. Many speak in fearful undertones or about the terrors of possible future wars, and wonder why the government did not shoot them down sooner. Others see them as no big deal since China has spied on us for years with satellites that can see amazing details from space. In all the conversations I have heard I have never heard about God’s role in it all. Have we become so fearful or complacent that we have forgotten that there is still a God in heaven and He is STILL in control?

The Living Bible (paraphrase) says, in Psalm 56:3, “But when I am afraid, I will put my confidence in you. Yes, I will trust the promises of God. And since I am trusting him, what can mere man do to me?”

We have a God mightier than any man, country, or army for that matter. Indeed, what can man (or spy balloons, for that matter) do to me?

1 Samuel 17:42-51 (MSG) shares the familiar story of David and Goliath. Did David show fear when he heard the Giant’s taunts? No, in fact he wondered why King Saul’s armies were afraid with God on their side. After Goliath even taunted him, telling him that he would feed him to the buzzards and wild animals, David ran at the giant shouting, “You come at me with sword and spear and battle-ax. I come at you in the name of God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel’s troops, whom you curse and mock. This very day God is handing you over to me. I’m about to kill you, cut off your head, and serve up your body and the bodies of your Philistine buddies to the crows and coyotes,” and David did just that. Was David operating in fear or faith? When we worry about what China can or will do to us, are we operating in fear or faith?

Charles Capps once said, “Fear-filled words will defeat you, but faith-filled words will put you over!” and Napoleon Hill said, “Faith and Fear make poor bedfellows. Where one is found, the other cannot exist,” but I like how Bob Proctor put it, “Faith and fear both demand you believe in something you cannot see. You choose.”

Of course, God puts it best; “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.” — Proverbs 29:25 (NJKV)

FACING THE NEW YEAR

 

"Then I heard a mighty voice from the throne and I perceived its distinct words, saying, See!  The abode of God is with men, and He will live (encamp, tent) among them; and they shall be His people, and God shall personally be with them and be their God...for the old conditions and the former order of things have passed away.  And He Who is seated on the throne said, See!  I make all things new...it is done!" -Revelation 21:3, 4b, 5a, 6a AMP

The New Year means an everlasting farewell to the Old Year.  We may not relive the "old" but we may, by God's help, redeem the "new".

We face the New Year in the joy of new possibilities, and in the settled purpose to redeem the time.  The first day of January always seems radiant with glory, calling us to new undertakings and accomplishments.

For the moment we pause and look into God's great coming new year, many say it will be a Year of Revival, which awaits this sad, sin-stricken earth.  Do we perceive the hope this New Year heralds?  If we face this New year with joy, how much more do we face with joy what the Lord holds for us in it?

Behold, earth's shadows flee,

No bitter wail comes now to me;

Instead, a blooming Paradise

O'er all the earth doth now arise:

To Thee all hail!

The Lord has come to reign:

His glory shines, earth's sorrows wane;

So long as sun and moon endure,

His rule of righteousness is sure:

Love intertwines!

    -R. E. Neighbour

"We will be glad and rejoice in Thee.  We will not open the gates of the year to the dolorous notes of the sackbut, but to the sweet strains of the harp of joy.  'O come, let us sing unto the Lord:  let us make a joyful noise unto the rock of our salvation."  What heavens are laid up in Jesus!  What rivers of infinite bliss have their source, ay, and every drop of their fullness in Him!  Since, O sweet Lord Jesus, Thou art the present portion of Thy people, favor us this year with such a sense of Thy preciousness, that from its first to its last day, we may be glad and rejoice in Thee."  -Rev. C. H. Spurgeon

"A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart of flesh and I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall heed My ordinances and do them."  -Ezekiel 36:26-27 AMP