REMINDER: "Truth That Transforms" broadcast - (Cen. FL - Sun., 5 pm, ch. 55.1; Mon. 7 pm. ch. 52.2; www.truthinaction.org, this week’s episode is about “Five Prayers That Will Change Your Life” as well as a special video on THIS Thursday’s National Day of Prayer”Don’t miss another great broadcast!
URGENT PRAYERS/PETITIONS:
Same -Sex "Marriage"- PLEASE PRAY WITH ME (every day untill the decision is revealed around mid-June) THAT THE SUPREME COURT WILL VOTE TO UPHOLD THE 2 LAWS REVIEWED SUPPORTING A TRADITIONAL DEFINITION OF MARRIAGE.. PRAY that the Court will resist any pressure to MAKE new law based on "cultural trends." PRAY as though the very future of the institution of the family is at stake because it is. PRAY! - for the sake of possibly millions of children, and for our country if it is to continue to be shown any more favor by our Heavenly Father, who I promise you will be very displeased if homosexual marriage is legalized; "GOD IS NOT [TO BE] MOCKED..." - (Gal. 6:7) - Stan [Be sure to check out my brief essay at post #478.]
CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR PASTOR SAEED (Iranian-born AMERICAN pastor) who just started an 8 year sentence for helping the underground churches in Iran) If you have not already, please join over 500,000 (was recently250,000) who have signed the petition for Pastor Saeed's release and tell your friends about it. http://aclj.org/iran/save-american-pastor-from-iranian-prison-sentence As the Lord leads, please pray: *For Pastor Abedini as he endures one of Iran’s most deadly prisons, potentially beaten and abused regularly, simply because of his Christian faith. *For the pastor’s wife and family and the Holy Spirit’s comfort upon them. * For God to visit his tormenters and all in his cell with him with supernatural dreams of the risen Christ, and use the pastor's actions and words to draw them to repent and turn to Christ; that God would use the pastor's time in that prison to spark a genuine spiritual revival that will bring scores of Iranians to Christ..*For the growing world pressure to finally obtain the pastor’s release.
LATEST Update - April 15 - 1)".. During the weekly prison visit today, Pastor Saeed's family reported that his physical condition is worsening - seeing first-hand the marks and symptoms left by the recent beating. These beatings and the internal injuries are causing Pastor Saeed frequent fainting spells. Iranian officials are telling Pastor Saeed it could be an additional two months before he will receive medical treatment. Such a delay is inhumane and a gross violation of Iran’s international obligations. ...In addition to refusing to give Pastor Saeed the medical care he needs, it now appears authorities are stepping up their physical abuse and psychological torture. Pastor Saeed reported that cellmates, who appear to have connections to the Iranian intelligence police, recently threatened they would suffocate Pastor Saeed in his sleep, making his death look like an accident. The daily threat that his life could be taken by his internal injuries or by the hands of cellmates, weighs heavily on Pastor Saeed. .."(http://aclj.org/iran/beatings-intensify-american-pastor-saeed-condition-worsens-in-iranian-prison PRAY that Pastor Saeed might finally receive the medical treatment he needs. 2) More than 550,000 people from 180 countries have signed the petition to Save Saeed. Your voice has moved the U.S., the European Union, and many others to call for his release. But as Pastor Saeed's May 7th 33rd birthday approaches, it's time to encourage him directly. At the ACLJ, they've obtained the address of Evin Prison, and their goal is to flood the prison with thousands of messages of encouragement for Pastor Saeed. Just write a letter (or simply sign your name to one proposed greeting) and they will be sure that its delivered. These messages will let Pastor Saeed know that we're praying for him and his release, as well as send a signal to the Iranian leaders that Americans will not give up standing up for him. Go to Save Saeed.org and add your name to those sending letters to him.
"42 Turning the Other Cheek-The Jackie Robinson Story," by: Eric Metaxas, Breakpoint.org, April 15, 2013 http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/breakpoint-commentaries-archive/entry/13/21947
Some Christians are heroic because they fought back against evil. But today we’ll learn about a hero who was great because he didn’t fight back.
The words are famous even among those who know little about baseball: “I’m looking for a ballplayer with guts enough not to fight back.” They were spoken by Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey to the man whom he’d chosen to break baseball’s color barrier: Jackie Robinson.
We see this famous scene in the new film, “42,” a biopic about Robinson. “42”—named for the number Robinson wore on his uniform—is a fine and memorable film starring Chadwick Boseman as Robinson and Harrison Ford as the immortal Branch Rickey. But the film all but omits the most significant factor in Jackie Robinson’s ability to endure almost unbearable insults and physical attacks on the field: namely his strong Christian faith.
Branch Rickey wasn’t the first person to teach Robinson that keeping his temper was more powerful than letting it blow. As I note in my new book, “Seven Men and the Secret of Their Greatness,” while he was a student at Pasadena Junior College, “Jackie met a Methodist preacher named Karl Downs. Downs knew that Jackie was a Christian and taught him that exploding in anger was not the Christian answer to injustice. But he explained that a life truly dedicated to Christ was not submissive; on the contrary, it was heroic…. Downs eventually led Jackie to a deeper faith in Jesus Christ. He began to see that the path to justice would be done not with fists and fury but with love and restraint.”
As “42” opens, we see Jackie Robinson sitting in the office of Brooklyn Dodgers manager Branch Rickey hearing the incredible news that Rickey wants Jackie to play for the Dodgers. Then Rickey acts out the vicious varieties of bigotry Jackie will face from white hotel managers, restaurant waiters, and fellow ballplayers—insults he will have to face with dignity.
How much more dramatic this scene would have been had “42” told the whole story. Rickey knew that Robinson shared his devout Christian faith, and wanted to reinforce the spiritual dimensions of the battle into which the two men were about to step. So Rickey pulled out a copy of a book by Giovanni Papini, “Life of Christ.” He flipped to the passage in which Papini discusses the Sermon on the Mount. There he referred to Jesus’ call to “turn the other cheek” as “the most stupefying of [Jesus’s] revolutionary teachings.”
Rickey’s faith told him that injustice had to be fought wherever it was found. As for Jackie Robinson, he believed that God had chosen him for this noble purpose. And he knew that if he committed himself to doing this great thing, God would give him the strength he needed to see it through.
Day after day, Jackie Robinson’s faith fueled his ability to play great baseball. And night after night, he got down on his knees, asking God for strength in the face of unrelenting hatred.
The reason I include Jackie Robinson in a book about some of the greatest men who ever lived is not because he played great baseball, but because he engaged in a heroic sacrifice. While he didn’t have to, Jackie Robinson followed Jesus and sacrificed his right to fight back.
If you’ve got young baseball fans in your family, or among your friends, take them to see “42,” which by the way is rated PG-13 for the evil language shouted at Robinson on the ball field. And then I hope you’ll also consider giving them a copy of my book, 7 Men and the Secret of Their Greatness.They’ll learn why Jackie Robinson changed America for the better. He did it by living out, on and off the baseball field, the revolutionary words of Jesus: Turn the other cheek.
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
Further Reading and Information
Turning the Other Cheek: The Jackie Robinson Story - Next StepsThese next steps are fun ones. Sports stories are often great parables. That is one reason so many of us love sports. Take a look at the trailer ( https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10102201670301886) for the movie. Even better, go to the movie's new FaceBook page here: facebook.com/42movie.(https://www.facebook.com/42movie) ...If you like it, comment and help the public to hear the rest of the story, as Eric Metaxas tells it in his new book..
There is also a Christian ministry resource, "42 United," (http://www.42united.com/)which aims to get people thinking about spiritual issues as they watch the film. It lists resources, background information and also screening information. Check it out.Eric Metaxas | Thomas Nelson | April 2013
"42" screening opportunities (http://www.42united.com/screenings.html)
Community, Courage and Faith
Robert K. Johnston | ColsonCenter.org | April 8, 2013
http://www.colsoncenter.org/the-center/columns/call-response/19524-community-courage-and-faith
Renewing Virtue, flashdrive, study guide
Chuck Colson, John Stonestreet, T. M. Moore, Timothy George | BreakPoint.org, http://www.colsoncenterstore.org/product.asp?sku=2191_VIRTUE
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