Book Recommending

I haven't done this for a few weeks. I was giving y'all a chance to catch up on all your other reading! I would like to recommend John Bevere's book Under Cover. This is an excellent book on understanding how crucial it is to be obedient to God by obeying those God has put in authority. The Bible says that all authority comes from God, and we are wrong to think we can disobey authority and still be obeying God. (With exceptions only when authority is asking us to do something against God's clear commands). To think we are obeying and honoring God if we are not obeying and honoring our bosses, pastors, parents, police, and other authority is to be deceived. God puts all authority in place for our good and His glory. This book has caused me to ask God that He would replace my rebellious heart with a heart that loves and honor authority, realizing that I'm not honoring that person alone, but I am honoring God through my submission to the authority he has put in place. (See Romans 13). Essentially, to honor authority, is to put ourselves in position to receive God's protection, blessing, and to fully understand His will for us.

Missions Quotes

Hey all, I just thought I'd post some quotes about missions from the small book God's Great Ambition.

"If you found a cure for cancer it would be inconceivable to hide it from the rest of mankind. How much more inconceivable to keep silent the cure from the eternal wages of death." - Dave Davidson

""But I don't have any special talents or abilities that would qualify me to be a missionary." Then you're just the person God's looking for." -Keith Green

"The Great Commission is not an option to be considered, it is a command to be obeyed."

"Missions is the overflow of our delight in God because missions is the overflow of God's delight in being God." - John Piper

"The Spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions and the nearer we get to him the more intensely missionary we must become." -Henry Martyn

"What would happen to this world if more evangelical Christians were to realize that God blessed them with money in order to make them a blessing, not to pamper them." -Ralph Winter

"You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving." - Amy Carmichael

"Christianity in the west today says we must have a bigger church and a bigger car and a better suit. Once christians fall out of love with that and in love with Jesus, I won't need to talk mission; they will become missionaries because they love Him." - Dr. Helen Roseveare

"A man's treatment of money is the most decisive test of his character- how he makes it and spends it." - James Moffat

"No one really knows why they're alive until they know what they'd die for." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

"My Lord was pleased to die for my sins; why should I not be glad to give up my poor life out of love for Him." - Giralamo Savanarola

"I feel very happy since the Lord called me to step out in faith, and I obeyed. The Lord is our inexhaustible treasure." - Pandita Ramabai

"You would believe in pioneer missions if your family were part of an unevangelized people group." - Norm Lewis

"I love to live on the brink of eternity." - David Brainerd

"I Jesus Christ be God and He died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him." - C.T. Studd

"No one will be able to rise to the magnificence of the missionary cause who does not feel, know, understand, seek or have the magnificence of Jesus Christ our Lord." - John Piper

"Give up your rights and you will receive greater privileges with God." - Loren Cunningham

"If Christ could stoop so low as to visit our...sinful world, and be moved with compassion upon the most undeserving and guilty, the most sinful and depraved...in what better way could we demonstrate that we are partakers of His Grace than by earnest endeavor to imitate His example...by laboring to promote the salvation of the most ignorant and helpless of all mankind." - William Carey

"everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. ... All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." - Jesus, Matthew 19:28, 28:18-20

Summer Prepare

Hey all, I've done a poor job of posting lately! Praise God, camel camp last week went incredibly well. May God get all glory for His kindness to us. I think all of us present would agree that we were much strenghtened, encouraged, comforted, and instructed in our faith. I hope to put up a few pictures from the camp soon, and maybe more...we'll see.

For this summer mark your calendars with the different Prepare events going on so that we can grow in grace and stay in fellowship.

Bible studies every Tuesday in Hopkins. Contact matt.hendley@gmail.com for more information.

Friday night, June 30th there will be an all campus meeting. Contact charlieprepare@yahoo.com for more info.

Saturday, June 24th there will be a time for "Camel Training". This will be a time of teaching from the Word, with hopes to develop our overall understanding of the story of the Bible. You can contact Charlie at the above mentioned address for this as well!

Quote: "If we are to make any progress in the pursuit of holiness, we must assume our responsibility to discipline or train ourselves. But we are to do all this in total dependence on the Holy Spirit to work in us and strengthen us with the strength that is in Christ."
Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness

Oh for more Joy in God!

Joy in God is an absolutely critical and essential part of the christian life, and essential to honoring and glorifying God. Here is a link to an interview with John Piper about fighting for joy in God. I especially find his acronym IOUS helpful that you will find in this interview. It is an acronym of how to pray in such a way that is fighting for joy, and it is taking directly from the following Scriptures: Psalm 119:36, 119:18, 86:11, and 90:14.

FightForJoyInterview