Following the Lord’s Lead

Presented to Swift Current Corps 29 May 2011

By Captain Michael Ramsay

Today Julie has spoken to us about the Lord’s calling her into missions. On Thursday Dusty and Laurie were confirmed as candidates for Salvation Army Officership. They are following the Lord’s leading in their life.

God created us all, humankind, and He didn’t ask too much of us for obedience at first – He simply asked us to fill and take care of the earth and then later of course, in Genesis 2:17, He asked us not to eat the fruit off the tree of the knowledge of good and evil – and we know how well that went.

So in Genesis 11 and 12 we are a couple of generations after Adam and Eve and if we haven’t messed things up enough already by eating the fruit and failing to do one of the two things God asked us to do, in Chapter 11 we are making sure that we really mess things up by failing to do the other one: refusing to move, refusing to go when God sends us.

 

read more: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2011/05/genesis-111-9-121-3-following-lords.html

Swift Current Specialling

http://cfot.ca/archives/8271

During Easter weekend, Cadets Kristen Jackson-Dockeray, Chalrimawia, Mary Maybury, and I had the great blessing of travelling to Swift Current.  Upon arrivial, we were immediately welcomed and made to feel at home.  While this weekend was certainly a great opportunity to share in ministry with the Corps in Swift Current, it was also a great time for fun and fellowship.

On Good Friday we attended and participated in the community-wide service in remembrance of the great sacrifice given at Calvary.  The community came together to sing songs of thanksgiving and to offer prayers of praise and hear the Word of God.


On Saturday, the Cadets were able to help with renovations to the youth room at the Corps.  We spent the day sharing with YP leaders and several young people as we worked on the floor and shared in a great time of fellowship.  It was so great to see the youth of the Corps come and invest their time and energies in preparation of a room that would be designated for them.  It was amazing to see the involvement of the youth in Swift Current and their desire for ministry and their passion for Christ and for each other was very evident.
Easter Sunday was a great day of celebrating the resurrection of Christ.  The day began with a Son Rise Service held outside the Corps where we joined together to sing praise to and worship our Risen Lord.  I had the great privilege of sharing a devotional with those who gathered and I spoke about the living hope that we have because of Christ’s resurrection. After this service, the Corps family came together for a breakfast and the time spent together was well enjoyed.  A time of sharing with each other in stories, laughter, and fellowship was certainly a blessing and the people in Swift Current made us feel welcomed and accepted us into their Corps family.

The morning worship service was an exciting time of celebration of our faith.  There was a band for this service which was comprised of youth, their leaders, and Cadets.  The band played for a prelude and the offertory which was a testament of how the youth of the Corps are dedicated to ministry. Cadet Kristen expounded the Word of God and shared with us how “It All Matters”.  She challenged us to live lives worthy of the sacrifice that was made on Calvary and how we should be thankful for the debt that was paid for us.

This weekend in Swift Current was a great time for us, as Cadets, to share with the Corps people and with each other.  We enjoyed every aspect of the weekend from the travel to and from Swift Current and certainly, the time in the city.  We were blessed over and over but none more than by the involvement of the youth in the Corps.

We pray God’s blessing upon the Corps in Swift Current and we will remember this weekend as an enriching ministry opportunity.

Cadet Kim Chan
source: http://cfot.ca/archives/8271

Quiz...

From Mark 13:32-37: Hope for a Happy New Year!  Presented to each the Nipawin and Tisdale Corps 30 November 2008 by Captain Michael Ramsay

What do these dates have in common: 8:00 AM October 19, 1533; April 5, 1534; March 21 and October 22, 1844; Sept. 10, 1979; Dec. 31, 1981; Sept 11 -13, 1988; March 31, 1991; October 20, 1997; December 12, 2012?

A: They are various people’s predictions for the end of world date.

What do these people have in common: Nero, the Pope, Mikhail Gorbachev, Prince Charles, the US President (elect), David Hasselhoff?[1]

A. They were/ are various people’s predictions for the arch-anti-Christ.

Now this next question is a good one. It is a riddle –you’ll have to pay attention. Someone has figured out a way to ‘out’ the beast of Revelation and solve the riddle of ‘666’ – let’s see together of we can solve the riddle and figure out who is the beast of John’s Apocalypse?

Given that 666 is the number of the Beast, First we must break that number down into its component parts in such away that when we add them back together, they will total 666.

I’ll give you this part: 100. 5. 5. 50. 500 .1 .5
Let’s do the math to prove we are right: so we have 100 + 5 =105 + 5 = 110 + 50 = 160+500=660+5+1= 666

So then mathematically proving as we did that these are the component parts of the number of the beast, we will need to translate them into Roman numerals as that was what they wrote with back then: So, does anyone know the symbol for:


100 = C
5 = V
5 = V
50 = L
500 = D
1 = I
5 = V

CV VL DIV

Now if we expand this using new web-based lettering for reassembling fragmented texts, we get the following:

CVT PVRPL DINSVR

Accounting for the fact that Roman lettering had no U and used a V instead and adding the missing vowels, we find out from this the one that the number points to as the beast…it is…

A CUTE PURPLE DINOSAUR; and we all know who the cute purple dinosaur who is leading children astray… Barney the dinosaur! “I love you; you love me!’

read more: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/11/mark-1332-37-hope-for-happy-new-year.html

Jesus is watching you

From a message presented to Swift Current Corps, 15 May 2011

By Captain Michael Ramsay

   

 Late one night, a burglar breaks into a house that he thinks is empty. He tiptoes through the living room but suddenly freezes in his tracks when he hears a voice say: "Jesus is watching you!"

When it becomes quiet again, the burglar creeps forward. And again the voice says, "Jesus is watching you".

The burglar stops dead in his tracks. He is frightened. Frantically, he looks all around. In a dark corner, he spots a… birdcage and in the cage is… a parrot.

Gathering his senses, he asks the parrot: "Was it you all this time who said ‘Jesus is watching me?’"

"Yes", said the parrot.

The burglar breathes a sigh of relief, then gaining some confidence he asks the parrot: "What's your name?"

"Clarence," says the bird.

"That's a dumb name for a parrot," sneers the now confident burglar. "What kind of a silly person would name a bird, 'Clarence?"

The parrot replies, "The same person who would call his attack dog ‘Jesus’… Jesus is watching you."

Parrots are good imitators and our verse today is exhorting us to be good imitators, it says, 3 John 11: “Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God”

read more: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2011/05/3-john-11-anyone-who-does-what-is-good.html
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http://www.sheepspeak.com/

Mother's Day, Love and Obey

My mom had her first Mother’s Day in the hospital, I was born a couple of days prior and in those days, apparently you were left in the hospital for a few days after giving birth rather than these days in maternity where they have the quick, ‘catch and release policy’ as it has been called.

The birth of your first child and grandchild is important. I remember when Rebecca was born, my folks were quickly in the hospital to see us and Susan’s parents stayed with us for a while afterwards and when Sarah-Grace was born my folks were kind enough to come and look after Rebecca while Susan was in the hospital with baby Sarah-Grace. That was when we lived in the same city as they did. Just this past year when Heather was born my folks came again for a couple of weeks planning to help out after the baby’s birth but apparently Heather and the doctor disagreed as to what her due date actually was and she arrived quite a few days late so my parents just got to introduce themselves to Heather before they had to return home.

Mother’s Day is an appropriate time to remember some of these important events around giving birth. My mom always tells the story about how important it was to my dad that I was born. It was so important that my dad actually made time to come down to the hospital and see me arrive, even though on that very same evening there was… a Stanley Cup play-off game on. And it wasn’t just any play-off game, it was the final series when I was born and no I wasn’t born in July. The finals actually used to be in early May.

Now for Mother’s Day, today, I thought we would look at 2 John.

read more from 'Love and Obey': http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2011/05/2-john-1-13-love-and-obey.html

Election Night.

Being born and raised on the west coast of Canada, I can remember watching the election returns on election night and it is always exciting but I can never remember a time when the election wasn't over before the polls were even closed on Vancouver Island. The Prime Minister's party had always already won the election before we even finished voting out west. He had already defeated his foe. This is the same with Christ. Even though we each have until the last polls close (until we breathe our last breath) to cast our vote, Christ has already won the election. The only question we have is whether we want to join Him in His victory party or not. The election results were counted on the cross and announced at the empty tomb. Christ has won the victory.

Christ has already been resurrected and he is coming back to celebrate his victory and when the eternal polls close we will be resurrected too; we will all be raised (cf. Doctrine 11) and at that point some of us will be raised to eternal salvation and some of us – those who reject the opportunity – will be outside where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (cf. Matthew 8:12, 22:13). But it is our choice. The victory has already been won. We have all already been invited to the victory party.

Salvation is there for any of us who want it and this is important: there is the resurrection, there is the judgement at the end of the day and any of us who call on the name of the Lord at anytime before our polls close here can be saved! Jesus died and rose again so that whosoever may, will be saved!

Christ is our salvation. We should remember this as we cast our votes very soon (in our temporal elections) that there really is no other name by which we may truly be saved. Christ is the leader who deserves our full support. He is both liberal in His love and conservative in His steadfastness. He is neither a small 'd' democrat nor a small 'r' republican. He is a capital 'M' Monarchist – He is a King and He is the Son of the King. Unlike all the others who are trying to get us to turn to them for our salvation, He has actually run the race and won the election already. We are just waiting for the polls to close, so if you haven't done so already then go out and vote for Christ today: there is no other name by which we may be saved. The Lord raises up mere earthly governments and He topples them but when the eternal polls close and he does come back, make sure that He has your vote so that we will all be a part of His victory party at the resurrection of the just.

Our salvation comes from Christ alone.

read more from JAC 57's  'Vote For Jesus': http://www.sheepspeak.com/Michael_Ramsay_JAC.htm#Vote%20for%20Jesus

More from JAC 57 : http://www.armybarmy.com/pdf/JAC_Issue_057.pdf

Latest Issue of JAC (#72) http://www.armybarmy.com/jac.html