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Newsletter
I FEBRUARY 2006
FEBRUARY 17TH ISF GATHERING
We would like to again invite you to our February gathering. This gathering will be on Friday, February 17th at 7:30 PM in the beautiful Ballroom of the William Pitt Union . The William Pitt Union is located in Oakland on the corner of Bigelow and Fifth Avenue. To get to the Ballroom, use the entrance on Fifth Avenue and then follow the signs. At this gathering we will have an interesting lecture, special music, wonderful fellowship, a full course meal, and children's activities in the Kurtzman room. It's all free so come and invite your friends!
A TIME TO LAUGH
In William Barclay's daily devotional Daily Celebration, appears this little story: “There was a little Indian girl at school today,” announced my son proudly. “Does she speak English?” I asked. “No,” came the quick reply, “but it doesn't matter because she laughs in English!” Laughter is the universal language. You can laugh in any language and it will be understood. Keep laughing!
When Everything Material Is Lost
Dr. G. Campbell Morgan tells of a man whose shop had been burned in the great Chicago fire. He arrived at the ruins the next morning carrying a table. He set it up amid the charred debris and above it placed this optimistic sign, “Everything lost except wife, children, and hope. Business will be resumed as usual tomorrow morning.”
- TREASURY OF BIBLE ILLUSTRATIONS
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LETTER
FROM THE ISF ASSISTANTS
Dear International Friend,
Warm greetings to you our dear International friends. We hope that you are facing each new day of this year with faith, hope and love as your companions. We can all make a definite choice as to how we live each day. Difficulties and discouragements face each one of us but it is not necessary for those things to conquer us. God loves us and cares for us. He loves us enough to allow these perplexing things to happen. It is His way to reveal what is in our hearts and thinking. Many times I have thanked God for permitting a circumstance to be a part of my life because it was in those moments that God revealed some thing in my character and attitude that was not one of true love for Him or my neighbor. The emphasis in February is on Valentine's Day here in the United States . Although it is a wonderful thing to celebrate the love people have for each other by buying candy or sending flowers and valentines to the one they love, it is just a shadow of the perfect love God wishes to give to anyone who becomes a Christian.
--Terry
& Pam Tiberio, ISF Assistants
NO ROOT--- NO FRUIT
Have you ever wondered why you do what you do? A former pilot tells how he was living a life that he knew he should not be living. He decided his problem was that he was being led astray by his friends in flight training. He arranged to finish his work in the program early and be transferred to another field nearby. Yet, it wasn't long before he was back in the same old lifestyle just with different friends. One night out-on-the-town he wondered, “Why do I do this?' And he realized, “Because I like to.”
Before a person becomes a Christian - I mean a real Christian, not just someone who says he is - his “want-to” is broken. He is not interested in God. He is bored by church and by reading the Bible. He cannot make himself “want to” do right and he cannot make himself “not want” to do wrong. When a person is born again, or truly becomes a Christian, God repairs his “want-to.” Even though he may still be tempted to do wrong, he will have a new set of desires. He will love God and want to talk to God in prayer and see what God has to say to him in His Word, the Bible. He wants to be around other people who love God. Church attendance becomes more meaningful. There is a new desire to obey God. Why do we do what we do? The answer is simple: we do what we do because of what we are. It's like fruit trees. Apple trees bear apples, pear trees produce pears, peach trees grow peaches, the fruit is the natural result of the nature of the tree. I suppose you could tie apples to a peach tree, but that would not make it an apple tree. In the same way, adding religious activities to one's schedule doesn't make one a Christian. Just as the fruit of the tree naturally flows from the nature of the tree, even so the attitudes, words, and actions of our lives reveal the true nature of ourselves. Jesus said, “Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit…Therefore, by their fruits you will know them.” (Matt. 7: 17, 20)
NO ROOT--- NO FRUIT
THE GREATEST HANDICAP… FEAR
THE BEST DAY… TODAY
THE EASIEST THING TO DO… FIND FAULT
THE MOST USELESS ASSET… PRIDE
THE GREATEST STUMBLING BLOCK… EGOTISM
THE GREATEST MISTAKE… GIVING UP
THE GREATEST COMFORT… WORK WELL DONE
THE MOST DISAGREEABLE PERSON… A COMPLAINER
THE WORST BANKRUPTCY… LOSS OF ENTHUSIASM
THE GREATEST NEED… COMMON SENSE
THE MEANEST FEELING… TO REGRET ANOTHER'S SUCCESS
THE BEST GIFT… FORGIVENESS
THE GREATEST MOMENT… DEATH
THE GREATEST KNOWLEDGE… GOD
THE GREATEST THING IN THE WORLD… LOVE
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ISF JANUARY GATHERING (January 20, 2006)
85
were present from the following 7 countries: Bosnia, China, France, Indonesia, Yugoslavia, Zimbabwe, USA.
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Hope
to see you at the February ISF Gathering on Friday,
February 17th, at 7:30 PM in the Ballroom of the William
Pitt!
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