As our country experiences another peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the next, let us commit to pray for our new President. President Obama will need God’s direction and God’s wisdom as he leads our country. We must be diligent to pray for him and the decisions that he makes, that they would bring glory and honor to God. Pray for him to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to surround himself with wise counsel. The honor of leading our country is no easy task and our new President will need our prayers!
Category: Prayer
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Bits & Bytes
Here are some “sound bites” from Sunday morning’s sermon, “How to Have a Happier New Year” based on John 13:15-17:
- Believe in God’s power to save.
- Believe in God’s power to strengthen.
- Believe in God’s power to protect.
- Believe in God’s power to provide.
- Behave in your daily life.
- Behave in your witness before the world.
- Behave in your church fellowship.
- Beware of the deceptions of men.
- Beware of the snare of the devil.
- Beware of your own self.
- Belong to Christ.
- Belong to a local church.
You can listen to the sermon here or by clicking on the audio player below.
You can also listen to Sunday evening’s sermon, “Spiritual Support” based on Exodus 17:8-13 here, or by clicking on the audio player below:
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British Missionaries Held in African Prison
This story from the the Telegraph in England:
David Fulton, 60, a former British Army major, and his wife, Fiona, 46, are being held in separate prisons.
Mr Fulton, originally from Troon, Scotland, is being held in a cell at the high security Mile Two prison just outside the capital, Banjul.
His wife and the couple’s adopted daughter, Elizabeth, aged two, have been detained at a police station in Banjul.
A family friend has said that Mrs Fulton, originally from Torquay, Devon, is being treated well, with police officers volunteering to go on errands to buy nappies.
However, there are concerns about her husband’s safety in a jail built in colonial times and noted for its “tough” regime.
According to some reports in Gambia, other prisoners held on similar charges have been poisoned.
The family friend, who has asked not to be identified for fear of being targeted by the Gambian authorities, said: “Fiona has been treated well, but we are not sure about David. We don’t think he’s fared quite as well. He’s not eating.”
The Fultons, who moved to Gambia 12 years ago to work as missionaries, have two other children, Iona, 20, and Luke, 17, who are believed to live in the Exeter arera.
Mr Fulton works as a chaplain in the Gambian Army and his wife looks after the terminally-ill and spends time visiting women in their homes and in hospital.
They were arrested last Saturday after police arrived at their house in the village of Kerr Sering, an hour’s drive from the capital.
Yesterday they appeared in court in Banjul to face charges of sedition. They were offered bail, but have so far been unable to meet the requirement of four Gambian property owners to vouch for them.
Although the country is constitutionally secular, the population is 90 per cent Muslim.
The friend said: “While we are free to speak out, in Gambia you cannot.
“As a chaplain part of David’s job is to provide comfort to all sorts of people: people high up, people low down, and people who have perhaps fallen out of favour.
“I don’t know of anything they have done that could be called sedition.
“Their whole focus has been teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
The friend went on: “Sedition is a serious crime anywhere and the penalty would not be light.
“Obviously we are concerned. A lot of Christian people all over Britain and all over Europe are praying for them. We are just trusting the outcome will be good.”
Pastor Martin Speed, of Westhoughton Pentecostal Church in Bolton, Greater Manchester, said the couple had visited Christians at his church to talk about their work.
He emphasised that Mr Fulton’s work was not political, but said: “There does seem to be a growing difficulty of Christians in Gambia.”
The Foreign Office confirmed the arrests and said consular staff had been in touch with the couple.
I have visited Banjul, Gambia several times. While the people are friendly to westerners, they are hostile to the Gospel. Please pray for the Fulton family in this difficult time and that God will get all the glory.
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Abbott’s Arrived Safely!
Here is an email from Brian and Melissa Abbott:
Thanks to all of you who prayed for our trip. Your prayers were definitely felt over our 34 hours in transit. From being given food vouchers for a missed flight, to locating all our gates even in Russia with no English, to remaining healthy and safe, to getting through customs and immigration under an hour, we thank the Lord for bringing us to this point!
Currently, we are safe and sound at the NTM Guest House in Jakarta, trying to acclimate to the weather and 12-hour time difference.
Andrew did really well on the flights and layovers. Except for a few late departures and a missed flight in Singapore,. our flights were pleasant and uneventful. We lost a small bag with all Bryan’s clothes and spare diapers for the week, but it was delivered to the guest house in the middle of the night. Praise the Lord! By the time I realized we were missing Andrew’s diapers for the rest of the week, the bag had already been delivered. The Lord definitely had things under control and Singapore Airlines did take really good care of us, even with flight attendants to play with Andrew.
We spend a few days here in Jakarta, doing some paperwork and shopping, then we take a flight to Palu, get our VISAs stamped, and then fly to our temporary home in Salatiga for language study. We will probably be in Salatiga a little over a year, which will be the longest we have ever lived anywhere as a family, so we’re excited!
We’d love to have hear from you as we have internet here at the Guest House, but it may take us a couple weeks to get things set up in Salatiga, so don’t worry if you don’t get a reply during that time. We have Skype, so feel free to contact us, my username is FlyingAMT. We are 12 hours ahead, so 8 pm your time is 8 am the next day for us.
We are excited to be here, but it is still a bit unreal. Once we get settled in our new house in Salatiga, life should start to seem normal again. We’ll try to give more cultural insights and pictures over the next few days/weeks, so stay tuned.
Thanks again for your prayers and support,
Bryan, Melissa and Andrew
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Updated Prayer Requests for Abbotts
We have updated the prayer requests for Bryan and Melissa Abbott who will leave on July 24th for Indonesia. You can see their updated requests here. Be sure to lift them before the Lord as they get ready for their lives to change!
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Free Bibles During Olympics
Bibles to be available free during Games
(July 7, 2008, People’s Daily)
Athletes, officials, spectators and tourists can pick up the Bible or just the New Testament for free during the Olympic Games next month. Tens of thousands of copies of the Bible, the New Testament and booklets with just the four Gospels (according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) have been printed for the purpose, say officials of China’s Christian society. Rev Xu Xiaohong, an official of the Shanghai-based China Christian Council in charge of publishing, says 50,000 bilingual (Chinese and English) editions of the Gospel booklets had already been printed by June. They are on way to six cities hosting the Olympic events in the mainland. As has been the practice at earlier Games, the Gospel booklets will be available mainly in churches and the Olympic Village in Beijing, and in Qingdao, Shanghai, Shenyang, Tianjin and Qinhuangdao, Xu says. Places of worship for people of other religions too have been set up in the Olympic Village, Chen Guangyuan, president of the Islamic Association of China has said. The cover of the Gospel booklet will have the Beijing Olympics logo. Nanjing-based Amity Printing Co, the country’s major printer of the Bible, has printed the Gospel booklets. Its general manager Li Chunnong says 30,000 copies of the New Testament (Chinese-English bilingual edition) are being printed for free distribution during the Games. The Beijing Christian Council has placed an order with Amity to reprint 10,000 copies of the bilingual Bible edition to be distributed in the Olympic Village, Li says.NOTE from Bro Rick: Pray that the Bibles would be available to Chinese citizens!
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Steve Krumm Voted Interim Minister of Music
Last Wednesday night, in regular business meeting, the church called Bro Steve Krumm to serve as our Interim Minister of Music. Bro. Steve is willing to fulfill this position for an indefinite period of time. My desire is to see our church grow enough that we are able to hire a full-time vocational Minister of Music within the next two years. Won’t you join us in praying to this end?
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2008 Lottie Moon Offering Goal Announced
The International Mission Board has announced that the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering goal for 2008 is $170,000,000.00.
Won’t you begin praying about your gift and begin saving up to give a generous offering this year?
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Items for Prayer
There are two on-going major events that need our prayer attention.
First is the tragedy in Myanmar from the effects of the recent typhoon. Living conditions are atrocious and the death count is estimated to be around 100,000. The ruling junta there is more concerned with preserving their rule than they are getting aid to the people who need it. Pray that God would be glorified in this mess, that people who need help would get it, and that local believers and missionaries would be able to minister to the people there and share with them the hope that is in Christ Jesus.
Second, Sichuan Province in Western China had a huge earthquake on Sunday. 7.9 on the Richter Scale is just incredible. Authorities have put the “official” death toll at about 12,000. There are tens of thousands of people still trapped in rubble. Pray that God would be glorified in this mess, that people who are in need of rescue would receive it quickly, and that local believers would be able to use this to minister to people and share with them the hope that is in Jesus.
I had the opportunity to visit this area a few years ago. It is a beautiful area, but people are poor and they are lost, by the millions.
Thirdly, on a less global scale, Rev. Forrest Pollock, pastor of Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon, Fl, is missing after he and his 13 year old son, Preston, took off in their private plane to return home from North Carolina. They have search parties looking for them, including three aircraft. They have found an emergency signal from somewhere in the mountains, but are unable to locate the plane due to heavy undergrowth. You can read updates about this here. Pray that if they are still alive, that they would be found quickly and if they are not, then their wreckage would be discovered quickly. Pray that God would be glorified in this and that many people would come to His saving grace through this difficult situation.
Interestingly, in reading his bio, I found that we both graduated from the University of Oklahoma together in 1986. I don’t think I knew him, but it brought it “close to home”. Bro. Forrest was born in OKC.
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Missions Quote of the Week
“The trouble with nearly everybody who prays is that he says ‘Amen’ and runs away before God has a chance to reply. Listening to God is far more important than giving Him your ideas.” – Frank Laubach
Immanuel Southern Baptist Church 