Church – James & Carolanne https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com Serving God as a web programmer with Digital Strategies. Sat, 13 Dec 25 13:36:03 +0000 en-US A Few Encouraging Stories [and a newsletter change] https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com/2013/08/30/a-few-encouraging-stories Fri, 30 Aug 13 12:21:18 +0000 https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com/?p=2026 This morning, as I was going through some of the stories that have come in the past few days, I am reminded that people are continually showing up at our doorstep looking for answers to their life issues. It's a tremendous opportunity to engage in conversation and share Christ! We are continually looking for creative, dynamic and effective ways to share Christ with others. People are alone. They need someone to talk to and often they have no idea where to go. We are positioned in such a way that we can be there for them. This opens a tremendous door of opportunity to engage in spiritual conversations with people through their areas of need. Here is an incredible story of how a lonely person came to us for help. Through the role of one of our mentors, this person came to know Jesus!
"I'm at the lowest point in my life. I feel lonely, unloved, and misunderstood. I am feeling worthless and confused... I pray that God helps me get through this…"
A mentor spoke her telling her how sorry she felt that way but that God felt just the opposite about her and that He wanted to have a person relationship with her. (she talked to her about her feelings and then shared the prayer). The mentee responded "Wow thank you so much for the prayer. On that Tuesday specifically, I felt so much better. I did read the prayer out loud and have accepted Jesus as my Savior ...I have been overwhelmed by my worries this past month that I have not been going to God as often as I should and that has probably made the difference. I will surely turn to the Bible for help and hopefully find a church community here for good support. Thanks for the advice. Reading this really made my day." Here is another story of one of our mentees expressing the difficulty of finding a good Christian mentor:
"Oh boy. Today after I sent that email, asking for help. I said to myself 'I really suck at this whole Christian thing', I felt like giving up all together. I had felt so helpless because everyone knows me as the 'christian kid'. I couldn't ask a pastor, older adult, or even my own parents for help, because I didn't want to disappoint anyone. But this organization is amazing. God is doing good things through you and Teen Hope Line. I've always know that 'God loves me' and 'He died for my sins', but I had never really felt it. But through God, your words spoke to me. I actually wrote some of them down in my journal. I feel changed. I feel the Holy Spirit revived in me. God has given me the strength to carry on more than ever. Thank you so much for your inspiring words. May God bless you."
God is at work in this ministry! Would you keep us in your prayers?]]> Another Lost Sheep Found https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com/2013/08/23/another-lost-sheep-found Fri, 23 Aug 13 16:33:55 +0000 https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com/?p=2015 THE VISITOR WROTE: I'm at the lowest point in my life. I feel lonely, unloved, and misunderstood. I am feeling worthless and confused... I pray that God helps me get through this... A mentor spoke her telling her how sorry she felt that way but that God felt just the opposite about her and that He wanted to have a person relationship with her. (she talked to her about her feelings and then shared the prayer). The visitor responded "Wow thank you so much for the prayer. On that Tuesday specifically, I felt so much better. I did read the prayer out loud and have accepted Jesus as my Savior ...I have been overwhelmed by my worries this past month that I have not been going to God as often as I should and that has probably made the difference. I will surely turn to the Bible for help and hopefully find a church community here for good support. Thanks for the advice. Reading this really made my day." Thank you for your part in helping us fulfil the great commission through online evangelism.  We are so blessed to have caring people on our support team who stand with us financially and in prayer.  If you are new here, find out more about us here.]]> Recent Activities: The 35 Day Challenge https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com/2012/04/20/35-day Fri, 20 Apr 12 16:27:48 +0000 https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com/?p=1632 35 Day Challenge The past few weeks/months have seen our team incredibly busy with a new initiative called the 35 Day Challenge.  Designed as an evangelism training solution for Christians, the 35 day challenge can help you walk through the steps needed to learn how to share your faith effectively with other people. My part of this work has been in building the website and programming the technology that allows the website to function properly.  (yes, if you find bugs, you can mention them to me.  :) )  It has been quite a major process but it's been really rewarding to see all the people who have already joined from many different parts of the world including some very "closed" countries. The general idea of the site is to encourage believers to take new steps in their faith and to teach them very practical ways that they can begin to share their faith effectively with others.  Now that most of the technology has been created, we have started to challenge churches to consider taking their members through it. One such church that has started this process is Centre Street Church in Calgary, AB. The 35 Day Challenge was also featured this week on CanadianChristianity.com! Read the article here: http://www.canadianchristianity.com/faith/ministry/thirtyfive-days-life/. Would you join us in praying that we would reach our goal of having 2000 Christians take the 35 Day Challenge? If you are interested in learning more or if you would like to take the challenge yourself, please visit http://35daychallenge.ca.]]> Isaiah 22 https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com/2012/03/09/isaiah-22 Wed, 21 Mar 12 11:57:35 +0000 https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com/?p=1606 Now at the outset, this chapter does ring of the "doom and gloom" variety.  It discusses the impending destruction of Jerusalem and how God is even more angered by the people because instead of mourning and repenting in the face of death, they are a) preparing for battle simply in their own strength and then b) leaving the result up to fate instead of asking God for His forgiveness and help.
You say, "Kill the ox and slaughter the sheep, eat meat and drink wine. Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!" (v. 13b)
The passage that really struck me though was a little further on.  Isaiah makes reference to a man named Shebna who supervises the palace.  Apparently this Shebna had a very high opinion of himself and yet God says that he will throw Shebna away and replace him with another.  This is where it gets interesting because in verse 22 God says this about the man who will replace Shebna, the palace administrator:
I will give him the key to the house of David—the highest position in the royal court. When he opens doors, no one will be able to close them; when he closes doors, no one will be able to open them.
THAT sounds familiar, doesn't it!  This is exactly what Jesus said of Peter in Matthew 19.
Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven. (Matt. 19: 18-19)
There is also a warning here though.  In the Isaiah passage, God talks about how the man who replaces Shebna will be fastened like a peg in a solid place and will gain honor and respect.  In the analogy, all sorts of smaller containers will be hung off of this peg and "His father's family will gain increasing prominence because of him, including the offspring and the offshoots."  The warning comes at the very end though where God says that "the peg fastened into a solid place will come loose.  It will be cut off and fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut off." Now, in my mind, if we carry this analogy back over to the situation in the New Testament, we see Peter being set as the cornerstone on whom Jesus is going to build His church.  He is the peg on whom the offspring and offshoots (the bowls and containers) are being hung.  The question that comes immediately to my mind is whether the warning at the end has any connection to Peter and the church, or whether that part of the prophecy was simply for the Isaiah situation. If it was for the church, what does it mean?  Is the church going to be "cut off" in some way in the future?  There are a lot of possible situations and outcomes which can come to mind, but I'll leave the speculation alone for now.  Suffice to say that we the church should be very careful in our actions and decisions in order that we NOT come loose and be cut off.  Pauls seems to allude to this in Romans 11 where he says:
17 But some of these branches from Abraham’s tree—some of the people of Israel—have been broken off. And you Gentiles, who were branches from a wild olive tree, have been grafted in. So now you also receive the blessing God has promised Abraham and his children, sharing in the rich nourishment from the root of God’s special olive tree. 18But you must not brag about being grafted in to replace the branches that were broken off. You are just a branch, not the root. 19 “Well,” you may say, “those branches were broken off to make room for me.” 20 Yes, but remember—those branches were broken off because they didn’t believe in Christ, and you are there because you do believe. So don’t think highly of yourself, but fear what could happen. 21 For if God did not spare the original branches, he won’t[f] spare you either.
If you have thoughts on this or any other insight, I'd love to hear it.  I hope you have been challenged and blessed by this.]]>