May 17, 2009

Photographic Memory

“Truth will readily be exchanged for error when no more sweetness and joy is to be found in it than is to be found in error. When we find any of the good truths of the gospel coming home to our souls with power, giving us gladness of heart and transforming us into the image and likeness of it, the Holy Spirit is then at his work. He is pouring out his oil.” —John Owen

 

Remembering His Grace, Begging His Mercy

Our study of the Bible’s teaching on the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15 is refuting the doctrinal errors our minds are likely to believe. Praise God for His truth which leads us in His righteousness!

Thank you Lord for the grace You gave to Michael Moon in order to complete the requirements to graduate from college. The ceremony at USC was held last Friday.

As you vote in the special election this Tuesday, May 19, ask God to have mercy on us whether or not these propositions pass.

Carol Mead had a biopsy Wednesday. The results confirmed cancer in one lung and in the lining around the lung. The initial diagnosis is that this is inoperable and incurable.

You may remember several weeks ago we learned that Armon Siemsen’s teaching contract will not be renewed for next Fall. Now Armon and Elona received word from their daughter and son-in-law that her teaching contract will also not be renewed and his position in an Accounting Office was terminated. They live in North Carolina. Please pray that God will provide.

Bill Edwards phoned to update the progress of great-nephew Kayden who had cancer surgery. He is out of ICU and progressing without any complications. Bill also offered a huge “thank you for praying” to everyone. Please remember that in a few weeks Kayden will begin radiation treatments.

Shirley Fryer’s friend, Tammy, died last Sunday. It was Tammy’s 50th birthday. Would you pray for Tammy’s family and friends in this time of grief?

The hospice care people believe Mark Sheets may only have about two weeks to live. Mark is now receiving morphine. Our prayers since the beginning of Mark’s illness, in part, is that God would heal him physically, if this is the Lord’s will. Who can tell or know all that God has done and is doing spiritually in Mark, his family, and those whose lives he has touched? Would you continue to pray for Mark at this important time?

Arvalee Palmer is in Wisconsin visiting her daughter and family. Granddaughter Emily was selected to perform a harp solo accompanied by the complete orchestra. She played a difficult piece to perfection! Praise the Lord for the gifts and talents He inspires!

The Korean congregation is now preparing for their Bible conference which will be held June 30 to July 3. Please be praying that many will be saved by God’s grace and that believers will be further equipped in our faith.

Stella Rogers suspected something might be wrong with her pacemaker because of some swelling around the unit. Her doctor confirmed there was no problem. Praise the Lord for the means He uses to bring healing!

Shirley Garrison continues to improve a little in health. She learned this week that her doctor is quitting. Please pray that Shirley will gain strength and find another doctor who can help.

Barbara Goodhue is in Colorado visiting family for a week. Jim Covington will be flying to Wyoming this Friday and returning the next Friday. Would you ask God for HIs traveling mercies?

We pray for the physical safety. emotional stability, and spiritual awakening of the men and women of our military forces who are engaged in fulfilling their responsibilities.

• Marvin Funkhouser—deployed to Iraq for 18 months
• Coleen—a friend of Woody and Barbara Blalock
• Tony Loving—flying troops in and out of various areas
• Bryan Miller—in Guam, will be in Iraq soon
• Sam Im
• Steven Henning
• Jorge Avalos
• Ryan Bareng
• Jeremy Peters—currently in Iraq
• Jeremy Thomas—currently in Afghanistan
• Jason Kiser—currently in the Gulf
• John Kiser—currently in Iraq

 

Hear God’s Word

Browse the audio sermons preached by Pastor Rigsby (or download for later listening).

A Mother’s Day Sermon

Our exposition of Isaiah will resume in a few weeks.

A Godly Mother and Grandmother, 2 Timothy 1:5-6.

The Resurrection

This special series is an exposition of 1 Corinthians 15, which is the most complete teaching in the Bible on the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of Christians.

Standing for the Truth, 1 Corinthians 15:12-15.

 

Read the Bible

In April, May, and June our Bible reading centers in Hebrew History, from Joshua to Esther. In May we’ll read I Kings (22), II Kings (25), I Chronicles (29), II Chronicles (36). The chapter totals are listed to help set your reading pace. Remember to include 3 Psalms and 1 chapter from Proverbs each week.

The suggested 2009 Bible reading guide (1 page) can be downloaded here.

 

“Sin is like quicksand: Your own efforts only make you sink deeper.”

 

Lester & Laura Black

May 2009

Dear friends,

We started working on our cross country trip in January when June was six months away. Now June is next month. How time flies.

In late September or early October we will travel to Montana, Oregon and Northern California. Listed is our schedule for the summer. Some dates in late August are tentative. On June 25 we will start our trip.

June 26-28 – Central CA – Laura’s brother
June 29 to July 12 on the road with several stops
July 11 or 12 – Arrive in Maine
July 19 – AM – Weeks Mills Baptist Church
July 19 – PM – So Gardiner Baptist Church
July 26 – PM – North Belgrade Baptist Church
August 9 – Allagash Baptist church
August 16 – AM – Mattawamkeag Bible Church
August 18 – Leaving Maine
August 23 – Galmey Community Church – Missouri
August 24 to 31 – On the road to CA with several stops.

We ask for your prayers as we travel and to be a blessing at each stop we make.

Thank you for standing with us in your prayers.

In His Service,

Lester & Laura Black
Tecate Mission Representatives

 

Byron & Robyn Siemsen

May 1, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

I, Byron, have the privilege of serving for the past year or so on the board of The Urban Ministry Institute of Los Angeles (TUMI-LA). TUMI-LA endeavors to provide biblical theological education for urban leaders. In most cases these leaders cannot attend a traditional seminary for financial or other reasons.

This month TUMI-LA will be hosting a one-day conference entitled, Excellence in Fathering. The Institute is partnering with approximately 25 urban churches to offer this equipping conference, and we hope to see a whole generation of fathers equipped and challenged for the things God has called them to do.

Dr. Canfield, our speaker, has been interviewed on NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s World News Tonight, Dr. Dobson’s Focus on the Family, and numerous other radio and television programs as an authority on fathering skills and research, as well as on the negative consequences of father absence. He is also the founder of the National Center for Fathering and served as its president from 1990 through 2005. Among his numerous books is the award-winning 7 Secrets of Effective Fathers. We are very thankful to have him volunteer his time for this conference.

One of the pastors of a sponsoring church that is sending 25 fathers to the conference wrote us an e-mail. It was his prayer that the “family trees will be changed” and that the sinful patterns in families will be broken because of this conference. This pastor’s church is less than a year old but already is making a significant impact on the fathers and the families in its community—an impact that will be felt for generations.

This month please join us in praying that the fathering conference really will make a radical, Christ-driven change to many of the family trees in inner-city Los Angeles and that all of the fathers who attend will accept their God-given responsibilities as fathers.

Please also pray for the the “mentor fathers” in each church who are responsible for getting the word out to the men in their churches and encouraging the dads in their church to take advantage of this opportunity.

It is our great hope that hundreds of urban fathers (both physical and spiritual fathers) will carve out the time in their schedules to be at this conference!

Thanks again for your partnership in our ministry.

Cling to the King!

Byron and Robyn Siemsen
World Impact, Los Angeles

 

Bill & Barbara Bielecki

May 13, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

Yesterday, a friend passed away. His name was Bladamere Short Bull. I believe he is with our Lord in Heaven. My heart feels heavy for this family. His sister Genice is a dear lady we have prayed for so many times. She is getting so weak and tired yet, she stays strong in her belief in the Lord. I thank the Lord that she still has breath in her because it is her that keeps showing her family the love and compassion of Christ.

Bladamere was a quiet man. He was the kind of man that just blended into the crowd. Sometimes you would not even know he was there. But when you stopped to say hello to him and shake his hand he always had a pleasant word to say to you. Yes, we would also see him in White Clay but he would always acknowledge you when you spoke to him.

As we were there with the family two of the brothers arrived. They had just came back from White Clay. Yes, they had been drinking, but their hearts were broken in two and they came home to be with their family. Will they go back, yes in a couple of more days.

My heart and my eyes saw something much different last evening. These are the people we call alcoholics, street people, drunks, hopeless, forgotten, homeless.

Oh my, the Lord loves them so much. Thank our Lord they are not forgotten by him. They are not hopeless by him or forgotten and I do not even believe they are homeless. Their home is not in this world it is with our Lord.

Bladamere was a man who was just struggling to live in this world. There are no jobs to be had here. It is just a hard land to live on. Land that was given to them and where they were put upon. But it was their land. Oh the government gave them food and medical care, and they get clothing but they have no stores here on the reservation to go buy them from. They have to leave the reservation to do that kind of shopping. They get their monthly checks and my goodness is not that all a body needs to live.

The one thing they could not give them was Pride, Dignity. Is that not what we get when we have jobs to go to and contribute to our world. We bring them God but sometimes it seems like we bring them God without the hands and feet and only with words.

The two brothers names are Kevin and Reagan. When I left they said we will see you again sister. Yes I know I will see them again in White Clay. When I see them again I want them to see Jesus with hands and feet.

Is our brother Bladamere with our Lord. Yes I do believe he is. He knew the Lord this I do know from some of our short conversations. He was just in this world not of it. He was a man that just tried to survive 66 years in a land that was very hard and in a family that struggles to survive. Who was afflicted by Alcohol and violence the product of hopelessness.

I thank my Lord for the people who come out here to this land and bring clothing, food, toys, Bible school, a helping hand to fix a home. It is important, you may leave not seeing what you have done but the truth is what you have done is given a touch of God to a empty heart.

Please say a pray for our homeless people today. The people that are in White Clay, God knows their names. I can give you a few, Reagan, Kevin, Darling, Virgil, They have names, they have families, they have souls that need the touch of the masters hands.

Pray for the Short Bull family. The funeral will probably be on Thursday or Friday. Saturday is when Sissy (Darwina Short Bull) graduates from High School. Sissy has a year old baby and we are so proud of her that she finished school.

The jail ministry has grown a lot, we have had to add on another night for movie night. We are now at the jail on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Keep these folks in your prayers as well.

Well I need to go for now we have to be in Kyle this morning at 10am.

God Bless you all today,

Sincerely and

In Christ’s Love,

Bill & Barbara Bielecki
Lakota Native American Outreach

 

“Sin is like quicksand: Only an outisde hand can pull you out.”

On the occasion of a graduation from school

Hello Everyone,

I was invited to attend a college graduation. While I hadn’t planned on it, I learned a couple of things at the graduation.

Most commencement exercises offer a rare public display of just how distinctly the view of life contrasts with that of Jesus Christ.

I listened to three inspiring speeches. One esteemed mankind’s efforts as a means to significance. The next outlined a guaranteed formula for individual achievement. Another promoted humanity’s intellectual superiority. While each speech was highly motivational, I wondered how many steps of the recessional it took before these pearls of wisdom fell out the other ear.

The graduation also made me realize I have no brilliant (or, for that matter, ordinary) counsel with which to encourage a graduate.

But there was a word from God that might appropriately inspire and motivate. It was here that I noticed how clearly His wisdom contrasted with that of the commencement speakers. The verse is 3 John 4.

“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.”

John affirms his readers’ “walking [living their lives] in the truth” as his greatest joy. Surely, that same joy can be shared by all Christians as the faith of those with whom we regularly walk alongside is observed.

As believers we know that truth is not arrived “at by rational contemplation or observance of nature,” but is embodied in Jesus Christ and the Gospel message about Him.

A result of “walking in truth” is not others observing significance in myself or my work, even work done on behalf of others. A result of “walking in truth” is “no greater joy.” In other words, the manner of my life and the way you live your life especially benefits those who walk in the same way.

The means to “walking in truth” is not intellectual superiority. The way to “truth” comes from having embraced, believed in, or welcomed with open arms something outside yourself (or phrased another way, Someone you can’t control).

Jim Covington