Justin Reimer Goes Full-Time with The Elisha Foundation

Elisha Foundation | Blog:

I can't tell you how pleased I was to read this today!

"Early this new year the Board of the Elisha Foundation officially requested that Justin Reimer commit his full time efforts to the Executive Director role of TEF. Justin and Tamara gladly accepted and will begin April 18th!

This is “Big News” for us and a step that is needed but also comes as a large step of faith for both TEF as a ministry and the Reimer family, particularly. Justin will be stepping away from his life long vocation and the security of an established career. Pray for TEF and its continued ministry efforts. Pray for the Reimer family as they step out in faith to lead TEF forward.

Currently, Justin is responsible for the administration and oversight of the various ministry activities inside of Respite, Retreat and Reach. With his acceptance of his new full time role, his primary responsibility will be to raise funds for TEF to continue to provide and expand its ministry functions. Simultaneous to that he will continue to provide the needed administration and oversight for all ministry functions. We have tasked him with a large job encompassing great responsibility. Pray for him as he transitions to this vital role."

Is Facebook making us sad? Stanford University research and Sherry Turkle's new book Alone Together suggest that social networking may foster loneliness.

Is Facebook making us sad? Stanford University research and Sherry Turkle's new book Alone Together suggest that social networking may foster loneliness.

"The human habit of overestimating other people's happiness is nothing new, of course. Jordan points to a quote by Montesquieu: 'If we only wanted to be happy it would be easy; but we want to be happier than other people, which is almost always difficult, since we think them happier than they are.' But social networking may be making this tendency worse. Jordan's research doesn't look at Facebook explicitly, but if his conclusions are correct, it follows that the site would have a special power to make us sadder and lonelier. By showcasing the most witty, joyful, bullet-pointed versions of people's lives, and inviting constant comparisons in which we tend to see ourselves as the losers, Facebook appears to exploit an Achilles' heel of human nature. And women—an especially unhappy bunch of late—may be especially vulnerable to keeping up with what they imagine is the happiness of the Joneses.

- Sent using Google Toolbar"

God's Generosity - A Kapic Quote

This world, God’s world, is a mess. Every day the fall darkens everything, God gave his creation everything it needed, but it chose to take the one thing that was not given. One would think that in order to fix this God should take something back. He doesn’t. Instead, he gives even more away. In fact, he gives everything away.

Kelly Kapic, God So Loved, He Gave: Entering the Movement of Divine Generosity, 60.

Consider How Jesus Fulfilled These Old Testament Prophecies... (From A.W. Pink)

Had prophecy declared that he should be the “woman’s seed” ( Genesis 3:15): then he was “born of a woman” ( Galatians 4:4). Had prophecy announced that his mother should be a “virgin” ( Isaiah 7:14): then was it literally fulfilled ( Matthew 1:18). Had prophecy revealed that he should be of the seed of Abraham ( Genesis 22:18): then mark its fulfillment ( Matthew 1:1). Had prophecy made it known that he should be a lineal descendant of David ( 2 Samuel 7:12,13): then such he actually was ( Romans 1:3). Had prophecy said that he should be named before he was born ( Isaiah 49:1): then so it came to pass ( Luke 1:30,31). Had prophecy foretold that he should be born in Bethlehem of Judea (Micah 5:2): then mark how this very village was actually his birthplace. Had prophecy forewarned that his birth should entail sorrowing for others ( Jeremiah 31:15): then behold its tragic fulfillment ( Matthew 2:16-18). Had prophecy foreshown that the Messiah should appear before the sceptre of tribal ascendancy had departed from Judah ( Genesis 49:10): then so he did, for though the ten tribes were in captivity. Judah was still in the land at the time of his advent. Had prophecy referred to the flight into Egypt and the subsequent return into Palestine ( Hosea 11:1 and cf. Isaiah 49:3,6): then so it came to pass ( Matthew 2:14,15).
Had prophecy made mention of one going before Christ to make ready his way ( Malachi 3:1): then see its fulfillment in the person of John the Baptist. Had prophecy made it known that at the Messiah’s appearing that “then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing” ( Isaiah 35:5,6) then read through the four gospels and see how blessedly this proved to be true. Had prophecy spoken of him as “poor and needy” ( Psalm 40:17 - see beginning of psalm): then behold him not having where to lay his head.
Had prophecy intimated that he should speak in “parables” ( Psalm 78:2): then such was frequently his method of teaching. Had prophecy depicted him stilling the tempest ( <19A729> Psalm 107:29): then this is exactly what he did. Had prophecy heralded his “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem ( Zechariah 9:9): then so it came to pass.
Had prophecy announced that his person should be despised ( Isaiah 53:3); that he should be rejected by the Jews ( Isaiah 8:14); that he should be “hated without a cause” ( Psalm 69:4): then sad to say, such was precisely the case. Had prophecy painted the whole picture of his degradation and crucifixion - then was it vividly reproduced. There had been the betrayal by a familiar friend, the forsaking by his cherished disciples, the being led to the slaughter, the being taken to judgment, the appearing of false witnesses against him, the refusal on his part to make defence, the establishing of his innocency, the unjust condemnation, the sentence of capital punishment passed upon him, the literal piercing of his hands and feet, the being numbered with transgressors, the mockery of the crowd, the casting lots for his garments - all predicted centuries beforehand, and all fulfilled to the very letter. The last prophecy of all which remained ere he committed his spirit into the hands of his Father had now been fulfilled. He cried “I thirst” and after the tendering of the vinegar and gall all was now “accomplished”; and as the Lord Jesus reviewed the entire scope of the prophetic word and saw its full realization, he cried, “It is finished”!

Have You Prayed About the Money You Are Spending This "Holiday Season?"

Every Christmas I watch lots of people dive into the retail riptide and spend more money than they have. Reasons for being silly like this abound, not the least of which is a creatively nurtured guilt by advertisers that erodes our common sense into thinking that the people around us will not feel valued unless we buy them something. If we lived like this all year we would be bankrupt and hungry.
My friend Walter has lived a long time and written a few words on money and how it should be used. I was privileged to read his letter to the folks at Carey Conference this year and I recently noticed that the audio of that has been posted. So, why not download Ol’ Walt and give him a listen while you drive in circles trying to find a parking spot at the mall?

Can you believe in God without believing in Jesus?

The Most Brilliant Hymn Ever Written (so far)

This could likely be the most brilliant English hymn ever written.

That is what I think, anyway.

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.

- William Cowper, 1774.

John Knight on a good way to pray for a better theology of disability

Pray that our leaders would know AND love the truth « The Works of God:

"What is particularly frustrating about Dr. Otieno’s article is that it is very well written and she has clearly given this a great deal of thought. This article is full of scriptural references, and she has looked directly at some of the most difficult passages on disability in the Bible.

But it is not written from the perspective that this is God’s story, that he is a holy God, that he has sovereign authority over his creation, that he is entirely good, that he is completely merciful, and that anything that draws us closer to him and into treasuring Jesus above all things is better than anything in this life. Even a life full of suffering and exclusion because of disability – which he has ordained – does not compare to an eternity of increasing joy spent with Jesus.

And that is why we should pray for the gathering of the Evangelical Theological Society this week. Disciplined, smart people write articles about the Bible all the time – and get it wrong. It is God alone who gives new life, eyes to see, and a desire to make much of him."

Not Many Christians Really Believe in the Resurrection

“There are very few Christians who believe the resurrection of the dead. You may be surprised to hear that, but I should not wonder if I discovered that you yourself have doubts on the subject.
By the resurrection of the dead is meant something very different from the immortality of the soul: that, every Christian believes, and therein is only on a level with the heathen, who believes it too. The light of nature is sufficient to tell us that the soul is immortal, so that the infidel who doubts it is a worse fool even than a heathen, for he, before Revelation was given, had discovered it—there are some faint glimmerings in men of reason which teach that the soul is something so wonderful that it must endure forever. But the resurrection of the dead is quite another doctrine, dealing not with the soul, but with the body. The doctrine is that this actual body in which I now exist is to live with my soul…
The spirit, every one confesses, is eternal; but how many there are who deny that the bodies of men will actually start up from their graves at the great day! Many of you believe you will have a body in heaven, but you think it will be an airy fantastic body, instead of believing that it will be a body like to this—flesh and blood (although not the same kind of flesh, for all flesh is not the same flesh), a solid, substantial body, even such as we have here.
And there are yet fewer of you who believe that the wicked will have bodies in hell; for it is gaining ground everywhere that there are to be no positive torments for the damned in hell to affect their bodies, but that it is to be metaphorical fire, metaphorical brimstone, metaphorical chains, metaphorical torture. But if ye were Christians as ye profess to be, ye would believe that every mortal man who ever existed shall not only live by the immortality of his soul, but his body shall live again, that the very flesh in which he now walks the earth is as eternal as the soul, and shall exist for ever.
That is the peculiar doctrine of Christianity. The heathens never guessed or imagined such a thing; and consequently when Paul spoke of the resurrection of the dead, "Some mocked," which proves that they understood him to speak of the resurrection of the body, for they would not have mocked had he only spoken of the immortality of the soul, that having been already proclaimed by Plato and Socrates, and received with reverence.” – C.H. Spurgeon

Did I Really Think That?

I faced a rather awful thought in my mind this morning. I won’t tell you what it was, but I after it reared its ugly head I wondered aloud, “Where did that come from?”

This reminded me of a passage that has intrigued me for years in The Pilgrim’s Progress. It comes from section IV, where Christian is making his difficult way through the Valley of the Shadow of Death:

One thing I would not let slip; I took notice that now poor CHRISTIAN was so confounded, that he did not know his own voice. And thus I perceived it: just when he was come over against the mouth of the burning pit, one of the wicked ones got behind him, and stept up softly to him; and whisperingly suggested many grievous blasphemies to him--which he verily thought had proceeded from his own mind. This put CHRISTIAN more to it than anything that he met with before, even to think that he should now blaspheme him that he loved so much before! Yet could he have helped it, he would not have done it; but he had not the discretion neither to stop his ears, nor to know from whence those blasphemies came.

Sometimes I wonder if the awful thoughts come from a source other than that cesspool of remaining sin in our hearts. Bunyan captures the idea well here. I suppose we will never know exactly the source of these things, but in our self-examination, we do well to remember that there is an Enemy and that he does attack.