Author: a4cadmin1

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eBooks 1a-March2020

SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY BELOW

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In a world with so many religions, why Jesus?

We are living in a time when you can believe anything, as long as you do not claim it to be true. In the name of “tolerance,” our postmodern culture embraces everything from Eastern mysticism to New Age spirituality. But as Ravi Zacharias points out, such unquestioning acceptance of all things spiritual is absurd. All religions, plainly and simply, cannot be true.

Jesus Among Other Gods provides the answers to the most fundamental claims about Christianity, such as:

Aren’t all religions fundamentally the same?

Was Jesus who He claimed to be?

Can one study the life of Christ and demonstrate conclusively that He was and is the way, the truth, and the life?

In each chapter, Zacharias considers a unique claim that Jesus made and then contrasts the truth of Jesus with the founders of Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism with compelling insight and passionate conviction. In addition to an impressive breadth of reading and study, he shares his personal journey from despair and meaninglessness to his discovery that Jesus is who He said He is.

“In Jesus Among Other Gods, Ravi Zacharias demonstrates that he is one of the most intellectually gifted as well as spiritually sensitive writers of today’s leading apologists for the Christian faith. Zacharias brings alive the unique power of the claims of Jesus about himself and the utter relevance of his message today for the human condition.”

— David Aikman, author of Great Souls

Videos
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MF-Keeping the Go in the Gospel

The imperative in the great commission according to Matthew 28:16-20 is to make
disciples or call people to commit to Jesus Christ as Master and Lord. Making
disciples was the central focus of Jesus’ commission to His disciples then, and
it is to us today. As the resurrected Lord, Jesus calls upon His followers to
make disciples of all people groups on the earth. This is done by going with
the gospel of the kingdom and preaching it among unreached people, baptizing
Christ-followers in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, which
identifies them with the church, and teaching them all that Jesus commanded us
to obey. Teaching is the emphasize of Matthew because it is the method by which
Jesus’ followers are transformed to be more like Christ. In His risen state,
Jesus exercises total and absolute authority throughout heaven and earth, and
He promises to be with His followers as we obey Him. We are not on a fool’s
errand. People may think those who obey Jesus by going with the gospel to the
nations are foolish, but we are not. We “get it” because we have been captured
by God’s love. He has poured His love for all people into our hearts and we
cannot stay back. By God’s calling upon us, we are sent by His people, who also
“get it.”

Why do I briefly go through Matthew’s version of the great commission? Because
we, the church, can become overfamiliar with this text and be complacent about
our lives in Christ and ho-hum with our ministries. We can become overly
focused on ourselves inside our church, home or support group, Sunday school
class or worship service, which are all necessary means of God’s grace, and
lose concern about those who are perishing outside the church. We must keep the
“go” in the gospel by making disciples among all people groups whether they are
across our street or around the world. Leaders lead others from the front. They
lead the way forward by both word and deed. Is there an unreached people group
that the Spirit has imprinted in you? Perhaps it’s not an unreached people
group but a group of people who are hard to reach with the gospel like street
kids and their families. Maybe you are not called to go, not everyone is, but
you can help send those who are by praying for them and giving to their
support. Maybe you are stirred to be an advocate for an unreached or
hard-to-reach people group. Do it now. The perishing need you. We, the
harvesters, also need you.

Today I read 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but all should reach repentance.”

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MF-Somebody Is Praying

A4C Philippines joined with A4C US held a simple worship service last January 26, 2020. It was filled with thanksgivings and praises for yet another productive year made possible only by God’s grace in the different conferences and ministries the team has ventured. At one point, there was a moment of silence when Ate Barb Stensgard mentioned about a Sister from her church who composed a very meaningful prayer for A4C.

 

It was a pleasant reminder for us that the graces of heaven were made available at our disposal through prayers. We thrived in “going alongside” God’s servants through uncertainty of calamities (volcano eruptions), threat of a virus (NCoV), long travels, sickness, among other challenges because many people share our desire for the greater glory of God. Surely, someone unknown to us, in his or her room, secretly but fervently was knocking on heaven’s door in our behalf.


Listen to her prayers.

Prayers for Presenters:

 

I pray for good flight connections and safety in the air and on the ground.

 

I pray that each person involved would get sufficient rest and that You would multiply their sleep. I pray for the quick adjustment to the time change

 

I pray that the team would be anxious for nothing but that in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving they would present their request to You.

 

I pray for good health and safe food.

 

I pray that each member of the group would be united in purpose and faithful in prayer.

 

I pray for supernatural wisdom for the leaders so that each would know when to speak, when to be silent, when to intervene and when to be still.

Remind the group daily that faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Don’t let what is seen with the eyes cloud what they know to be true.

 

I pray that each person would daily humble themselves under Your Almighty Hand so that they are only Your vessel through which Your power and Your purpose can flow.

 

I pray that You alone would be lifted up and glorified.

 

Prayers for the Facilities:

 

I pray that You would spread a spiritual canopy of divine love and divine protection over the entire grounds and over each person involved in any way.

 

I pray that Your peace which surpass all comprehension would permeate the meeting rooms, the sleeping rooms, and the entire area where this conference is being held. I pray that each person would feel Your peace and know Your presence.

 

I pray that You would command Your angels to surround and protect the grounds, the buildings, and each person involved.

 

I pray that Satan would be bound from having any control over these meetings in any way.

 

Prayers for the Pastors attending:

 

I pray that every Pastor who desires to be at the conference would get there safely and on time.

 

You are the God of all hope. Restore hope to those who have lost it and remind each person in attendance that You are the God who rose the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead; You are the God who parted the Red Sea and You are still the God who can do far more than we can ever ask or imagine.

 

I pray that You would daily instill in each person attending this conference a deep and permanent and unquenchable hunger and thirst for You and Your Word and Your righteousness.

 

I pray that each Pastor attending would daily and deliberately offer their bodies to You as living and holy sacrifices that are pleasing to You.

 

I pray that the spirit of division would have no place in this conference and that instead, the spirit of peace and unity would permeate all the sessions.

 

Prayers for the home congregations:

 

As the pastors return home, I pray that they would return to congregations whose hearts and minds are open and ready to hear and act upon Your truth as it is spoken to them.

 

I pray that revival would sweep through the land like a mighty roaring river washing away the phony facades that have been erected. I pray that sins would be uncovered and that Your truth would shine like a beacon drawing many more to a saving knowledge of You as their Lord and Savior.

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MF-The Incomparable Christ

More than nineteen hundred years ago,

There was a Man born contrary to the laws of life.

This Man lived in poverty and was reared in obscurity.

He did not travel extensively.

Only once did He cross the boundary of the country in which He lived;

That was during His exile in childhood.

 

He possessed neither wealth nor influence.

His relatives were inconspicuous and had neither training nor formal education.

 

In infancy He startled a king; in childhood He puzzled doctors;

In manhood He ruled the course of nature, walked upon the waves as pavement,

And hushed the sea to sleep.

 

He healed the multitudes without medicine and made no charge for His service.

 

He never wrote a book, and yet perhaps all the libraries of the world

Could not hold the books that have been written about Him.

 

He never wrote a song, and yet He has furnished the theme

For more songs than all the songwriters combined.

 

He never founded a college, but all the schools put together

Cannot boast of having as many students.

 

He never marshaled an army, nor drafted a soldier, nor fired a gun;

And yet no leader ever had more volunteers who have, under His orders,

Made more rebels stack arms and surrender without a shot fired.

 

He never practiced psychiatry, and yet He has healed more broken hearts

Than all the doctors far and near.

 

Once each week multitudes congregate at worshiping assemblies

To pay homage and respect to Him.

 

The names of the past, proud statesmen of Greece and Rome have come and gone.

The names of the past scientists, philosophers, and theologians have come and gone.

But the name of this Man multiplies more and more. Though time has spread

Nineteen hundred years between the people of this generation

And the mockers at His crucifixion, He still lives.

His enemies could not destroy Him, and the grave could not hold Him.

 

He stands forth upon the highest pinnacle of heavenly glory, proclaimed of God,

Acknowledged by angels, adored by saints, and feared by devils, as the risen,

Personal Christ, our Lord and Savior.