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PRAYERGEAR.COM / SPIRITUAL RESOURCE SERVICES
NEWSLETTER
August 3, 2000; Issue 56: Who Is the Holy Spirit? Part 1 of 4
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<>< CONTENTS <><
1. Mini-Reflection
2. Cruising Christian Cyberspace!
3. Prayergear.com product and services updates
4. Let us know!
5. Weekly Reflection: "Who Is the Holy Spirit?" (Part
1)
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Greetings once again and a prayerful welcome to our new
subscribers! Thank you for helping to spread the news about this
ministry and helping it grow. One of the most cherished labels we
can bear is "servant of Christ", which connotes joy,
love and commitment. As the Scriptures declare, let us keep
praying for one another and do all things in His Name.
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1. ~~ ** Mini-Reflection ** ~~
This week we are substituting an email from a subscriber for our
usual Mini-Reflection and thank him for writing:
"I thought of something really interesting a week or so ago,
and felt I had to share it with you, since you got close to
mentioning it here in your last Prayergear newsletter...I've
heard a few times the reason why there is bad and good and not
just good: In order for God to have a truly loving relationship
with us, God had to give us a free will so we could choose to
*not* serve Him.This means that God loves us so incredibly that
He would let us walk away from Him. Otherwise, we would
essentially be robots, and being able to do only good, how then
would we define good? It would be all we could do anyway.
"With that explained, I believe that the founding fathers of
this nation could have had a similar view. Earlier this week I
wondered if they really knew the effect their decisions were
going to have. I was listening to a commentary that said we left
a nation of tyranny to pursue religious freedom. Did our founding
fathers have a clue what would happen to the interpretation of
"freedom of religion"? Think about that. Did our
founding fathers think about the idea that in order for people to
truly worship God freely, there had to be the option to worship
some other god, or worship nothing at all. Once again, otherwise,
we might be worshipping, but then we would not be free to do it
in our own way, and then it probably wouldn't be worship.
"I wonder if the founders of America could visualize what is
going on today, where most men (as in mankind) are worshippers of
themselves, other gods, other things, and everything but the true
and living God. I do believe God's heart was put into the writing
of the documents that preserve the foundation of this nation. God
knew that with what those men wrote, many people would forsake
Him, but praise God, He has not forsaken us!" (Joel.)
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2. ~~ ** Cruising Christian Cyberspace! ** ~~
Our web site feature of the week is
Bible Devotional
(http://www.cs.uidaho.edu/~gibl5393)
Meet Joel, the writer of the above Mini-Reflection, by visiting
his home page. He told us, "I've heard that some people will
say to young Christians, 'Well, when you've been saved as long as
I have, *then* you'll mellow out.' But I know that's not what God
wants, even for the young Christians. Paul told us to stir up the
gift within
us, not let it settle out." Indeed, and you'll be encouraged
by Joel's varied and spiritually content-rich web site.
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3. ~~ ** Prayergear.com Product and Service Updates ** ~~
In past newsletters we referred to a special book titled,
"Jesus Freaks" by DC Talk and the Voice of the Martyrs.
This is not about the "Jesus Freak" movement in the
1960s but rather "Stories of those who stood for
Jesus," saints and martyrs from 34 AD to 1999, along with
country-by-country updates on the current level of persecution.
We were so moved by this book that we now carry it in our
inventory. You can find it in the Best Sellers book section in
our online store or by
clicking here.
In our area, and perhaps where you live, appliqued, weather
resistant flags depicting tons of embroidered colorful image
themes are becoming very popular. We will soon be providing a
Christian selection of 21 flags in a new section in the online
ministry store. Please look for it anytime after tomorrow (Friday
night)! Like our T-shirts and accessories, they make excellent
witness tools.
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4. ~~ ** Let us know! ** ~~
Last week we put a question out there regarding Jesus' cry on the
cross, "My God, why have You forsaken Me?" Here are
some thoughts from a subscriber:
"...There is a difference between paying the penalty for our
sins and becoming or 'being made sin for us.' (2 Cor. 5:21.) It
is easier for me to understand the first than the second. In
Genesis, God told Adam and Eve, "You shall die when you
partake of the fruit," and it did happen. However, Adam
lived 930 years after that. This means Adam died spiritually
before physical death occurred. The Bible tells us that they hid
from the presence of God. Sin does separate us.
"I believe this relates to Jesus' agony in the garden when
an angel had to comfort Him. Why did Jesus need an angel? Didn't
He have direct access to His Father? I am sure that His agony
wasn't caused by the prospect of dying physically on the cross,
but by something much more horrible that only pure Spirit of
Christ could fathom. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law
by becoming a curse for us. It is written, "Cursed is
everyone who is hung on the tree." (Gal. 3:13.)
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5. ~~ This week's Weekly Reflection follows below ~~
We delight in making this an interactive, mutually edifying
newsletter and welcome your thoughts and feed back! "To the
Lord belongs the earth and all it contains, the world and all who
live there." (Psalms 24:1.) Let us pray we be faithful
stewards of all He has entrusted in our care.
God bless!
John
John S. Hilkevich, Ph.D.
Spiritual Resource Services: Prayergear.com
~ Education, Services and Products
in the Christian Faith ~
www.prayergear.com
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For a more attractively formatted Weekly Reflection or links to
previous
Reflections, point your browser to
http://www.prayergear.com/weeklyintro.html
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WEEKLY REFLECTIONS
Who Is the Holy Spirit?
Part 1 of 4
What's New/Article Index / Home/Welcome Page
Subscribe to the Weekly Newsletters and have them sent directly
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