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PRAYER LETTER OF CHALLENGE LITERATURE FELLOWSHIP |
MAY 2009 |
 DEVOTIONAL
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Luke 12:36-37Luke 12:36-37 “And you yourselves be like men who wait
for their lord, whenever he will return from the wedding,
so that when he comes and knocks, they may ready for
him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the
Lord will find watching when He comes. Truly I say
to you that he will dress himself to serve and make them
recline; and will come and serve them.”
Jesus’ words tell us so much of His delight in blessing ‘the
watching ones’, but many people today are sadly unaware of
the great importance of being alert to Christ’s return.
Blessed — Where God is referred to, this word has the sense
of “praise”, but where man is in mind it is used in the sense
of “happy” or “favoured”. It is to be Supremely blest; or, by
extension, fortunate or well off.
Who are blessed of the Lord? It is the servants of the Lord.
Servants — A very common word with a variety of
meanings, all imply a greater or lesser degree of inferiority
to the master and freedoms. The most frequent meaning is
the equivalent of “slave”, but it can also mean an attendant
or “hired servant” in the service of someone, or one who is
distinguished as obedient and faithful to God or Christ.
Why is it that the servant is being blessed by the Lord? It is
because he has been found faithfully watching and obedient.
The key is readiness
Watching — to keep awake, be vigilant, and be watchful.
Waiting — does that mean sitting and doing nothing?
Certainly not — it is waiting patiently — as when your wife
is having a baby you wait expectantly, looking forward to
hearing the news and seeing mother and child.
What is it that we are watching for? Christ’s return. Should
not the immanency of this encourage us to work even more
diligently and fervently in sharing the good news of Jesus
Christ while there is still time? Will He find us in His service
being faithful to the call He has placed on our lives — loving
the lost and longing for their salvation, being Christ to the
poor, the down trodden, the hungry, the widow and orphan?
And why is it that we do these things? Is it for our benefit,
for our prestige, or that the Father may be glorified through
Jesus Christ as He works in us? Have I invested my life wisely
for His eternal purposes or have I wasted it seeking temporal
satisfaction?
Is He my joy and delight, do I long to see Him and to
be in His presence forever? Faithfully abiding in Christ and
desiring to continually improve my relationship with Him as
I learn to strive less and abide more in Him, loving the Lord
with all my heart, soul, mind and strength.
Will we be found watching at Christ’s return?
The key to it all is readiness for Christ’s return whenever
that may be.
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Challenge Literature Fellowship Bank Account direct deposit details
BSB: 066162 / Account: 00900455
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AROUND THE WORLD
WITH CHALLENGE
Honduras — A team distributing
the American Hispanic Challenge
Paper on the streets of a predominately
Roman Catholic village were blessed with 177 new converts
and 100 recommitments. A new church has subsequently
been planted there.
Southern Argentina — a team visited 460 homes door to door
distributing El Desafío (Challenge) and received a huge response.
110 people made first time commitments to Jesus Christ and are
presently being
discipled.
USA — The
results there regarding the use of the
paper locally and with use on mission
trips has been nothing short of amazing.
To see the way the Lord has blessed
the paper and the passion these people have for sharing the good
news of the gospel is a real blessing to us. Approximately 125
American churches have used the paper over the past three years.
India — The response to the first edition of the Destiny (Challenge)
paper has exceeded our expectations. Have received lots of
new orders for the next edition of the paper and need to double
the next print run.
New Zealand — Ran with the Easter edition and have been
greatly encouraged by the response that they have received to the
quality and content of the paper. It is hoped that they will run
with another 5 editions for the remainder of the year.
South and Central America — Christian workers in these
regions are desperate for the El Desafío paper in Spanish and
Portuguese, which we hope to provide later this year, once God
provides the finances.
Fiji — Several hundred papers are sent there every month. In
light of recent unrest please pray about the effectiveness of the
paper.
Australia We have received wonderful feedback from our
2009 editions — both an improvement in the quality of the content
and it’s effectiveness for evangelism.
Stuart Bonnington, pastor of Fremantle Presbyterian church,
told us: “Handing out 400 April edition papers in three hours
at a local shopping centre was easier than we have ever experienced”.
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POINTS TO PONDER
 PRAYER AND PRAISE POINTS
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The India “Destiny” edition
with an initial print run of
50,000 English language papers
has been extremely well received.
The printing was delayed by
a week, due to various printer
issues. Please pray with us that
any niggles will be ironed out and
the distribution by local churches
will be greatly effective.
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Please also continue to pray
for finances and God-appointed sponsors to meet the
ongoing staff and printing cost of the Destiny paper. The
currently monthly cost of $3000 will rise dramatically as
we print twice as many papers next edition. We hope to
print Tamil and Hindi languages in future also.
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Carl and Graeme have just finished their trip to USA, UK
and Ireland. They have been able to meet a number of
potential partners. Sometimes it was just a mutual need
for expertise and experience in evangelical
literature, while other meetings were strategic,
building relationships and partnerships. Carl spoke at
many churches throughout USA, please pray for all those who
were encouraged and challenged. After previous trips
some have written to share their testimony as a result of
hearing Carl. Please pray that all of these meetings will
help to bear fruit of new orders and more people hearing
the gospel. God knows how He wants the ministry to
grow.
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Please continue to pray for our staff needs here: With
Carl away so much, Darryl would appreciate someone
to work with who has had experience — either a
managing editor or fellow assistant editor. We also need
a desktop/layout person. We have had a few enquiries
and interviews, but no-one seems to fill the role yet. We
are very grateful for Di Chapman, who has begun to take
on the momentous tasks of illustrating and designing the
children’s pages. In future, we may increase them to 4
pages, and print overruns of just those pages for children
around the world.
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Please pray specifically for:
- The paper distribution globally
- The people faithfully distributing the paper
- The people who are receiving the paper that their
hearts are prepared to receive the good news of
the gospel.
- The workers who follow up these people and
that they are ready and equipped to receive new
converts
- That we all work expecting the Lord to bless and
add to those being saved
- That countries that use the paper, where practicable,
will eventually be financially self-suff cient.
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Finances are always an ongoing issue and we have the
opportunity to extend the Kingdom work into many
more nations as the Lord has opened many new doors.
As always it seems that the funding is our single greatest
hurdle at present.
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One final thing, we have a few thousand extra papers left
over from the Easter edition, please pray these will all be
used! These papers are not too Easter themed that they
can’t still be used after April.
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My Response
Post to: Challenge Literature Fellowship, PO Box 978, Cloverdale WA 6985; or Fax to: (08) 9453 3006
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following way(s):
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