Written during the darkest hour of the American Civil War, this hymn is based on the twenty-third Psalm. Listen to the show for the author’s own account of its writing.
Praying for the needs of Special Touch Ministries, listeners with financial needs, the family of a woman who recently passed away as a result of brain cancer, and the film “Expelled”.
This was the final service of the LifeSpring church’s missionary emphasis week. We had two special speakers on this day. Colleen Severson is a missionary working with Chi Alpha, an outreach to university students. Chi Alpha is on many campuses (campi?) in the U.S., and Colleen’s work is with University of California, Santa Barbara.
After Colleen, our former senior pastor, Mel Bennett brings the week to a close. Now, you should understand that the way many Assembly of God churches work is that periodically (let’s say, once a year) the congregation is asked to make a pledge, or a faith promise, as to how much they will give to missions in the next year. This giving is supposed to be above and beyond the normal gifts and tithes. So, at the end of Pastor Bennett’s sermon, you’ll hear him talking about the faith pledge.
I’m including this part of the sermon only so that you can hear the way that our church raises money to support our missionaries. As it turns out, our small congregation of about 150 pledged over $35,000 for the next year.
On today’s show, we hear the second missionary we heard at LifeSpring Church during our missionary emphasis week. His name is Keith Heermann, and he is quite a dynamic speaker. He has been a friend of our church for years, even before his missionary years. He’s a good man, and we were blessed to have him with us. I think you’re really going to enjoy him.
I was recently having a fatherly discussion with one of my sons…whose identity will remain anonymous for reasons that will soon become crystal clear. At times the discussion became, shall we say, animated. You see, report cards came out in the weekend mail.
Listen to the show to hear the rest…
What is the evidence that we truly are followers of Christ?
I love baseball. I can remember sitting on my grandfather’s lap, watching the new team in town on the black and white television set, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and listening to to the great Vin Scully as he masterfully called every play.
Back then hall of famer Walter Alston was the manager of the Dodgers. Alston won seven National League pennants and four World Series Championships in his 23 years as Dodgers manager.
Today, Joe Torre is the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Joe has managed the Mets, Braves, and Cardinals, but his greatest success was with the New York Yankees, where from 1996 to 2007, the Yankees went to the post-season each year and won ten American League East Division titles, six American League pennants, and four World Series titles, in addition to compiling a .605 winning percentage with them.
Before moving to the Yankees, Torre had been a broadcast announcer for another of my favorite teams, the Angels, seeing the games from the broadcasting booth, high above the field of play.
Not long after he was named manager for the Yankees, the Yankee’s announcer Phil Rizzuto suggested that managing could be done better from that vantage point, where he could easily take in the entire ballpark.
Torre replied, “Upstairs, you can’t look in their eyes.”
My friend, in Jesus, God also chose to come down on the field and look into our eyes.
Listen to these verses from the NT book of Romans, chapter 15:
“5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, 6 so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.”
The God who gives endurance and encouragement. Just as a baseball manager trains and encourages his players most effectively from the same level as his players, our God came to us as the God/man Jesus, to look us in the eyes, help us, encourage, and yes, even to save us. Jesus knows you. He understands you. He loves you.
He is the God who gives endurance and encouragement.
For those who have been keeping up with the Lifespring! family on some of the other Lifespring! shows, you may know that our church just completed a week of missions emphasis. In eight days, we hosted i believe eight different missionaries and gave them a chance to tell us about their ministries. Some of their presentations were recorded, and over the next week or two, I’ll share those recordings with you.
What was very exciting for me is that my church invited me to tell them about what the Lifespring! Media family is all about. My church has decided to support Lifespring! Media as a missionary outreach, and i am so honored.
On today’s show, you will hear my presentation to the church, and then pastor Steve O’Brien.
I have to apologize for the audio quality during my presentation. While I was speaking, I obviously was not able to monitor the recording, and there is an echo that you’re going to hear. It’s only for the 22 minutes that I spoke, but if it bothers you too much, you can fast forward to Steve O’Brien’s message.
Also, if you want to see the service, you can do so at Lifespring.TV.
The London Fox Singers
“He Leadeth Me” (mp3)
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“I Am Yours”
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