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 Do you know the
story of Joshua? And how the wall of Jericho fell down after the Israelites
marched around it once a day for six days, then seven times on the seventh
day? Why not just walk around Jericho one time? I think it was because God
was testing their faith.
God was teaching them that “Waiting time is not wasted
time!” Isaiah 28:16 says, “he that believeth shall not make
haste.” God is never in a hurry like we are. We get upset when we
miss a section in a revolving door! God is also never late. He knows what
He is doing.
Do you know what our problem is? We’ve been around Jericho six
times and we’re ready to quit.
Psalm 27:14 tells us to “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and
He shall strengthen your heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.” Say with
the psalmist, “My soul, wait you only upon God; for my expectation is
from Him.” (Psalm 62:5)
What is it that you are wanting? What do you believe you need? Take
comfort in knowing God knows your heart’s desire. Take courage in
knowing God’s ways are far better than our ways.
Though it may be hard to wait, God will honor your obedience!
Here is your copy of firstIMPRESSIONS,
Volume 8.10. Live for God, on purpose, having
confidence that God is in control!
 The
Duffields in Concert
This Sunday morning will be a special time here at WFA as Jeff and Sue
Duffield return with their special blend of worship and praise, testimony
and encouragement, all wrapped around a style that is uniquely their own!
No strangers to WFA, the Duffields are regular guests at our fellowship.
Using great harmonies, outstanding arrangements, and anointed worship, the
Duffields communicate Christ’s love in a most unique way.
Jeff and Sue have traveled across the United States and Canada,
appearing at churches, concerts, and television and radio programs blessing
thousands with their music. Jeff is recognized as one of the leading keyboardists
and arrangers in Christian music today, with production credits on over 200
gospel albums. Sue is a gifted vocalist and songwriter, having written over
30 compositions. She also has a background in radio, hosting a morning
program for twelve years. Sue’s speaking abilities create demand as a
frequent guest at many women’s conferences.
The Duffields always bring a powerful and blessed time in the Lord. You
won’t want to miss it!
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Interesting Facts About Easter
We are just a few weeks away from Easter Sunday. In case you
haven’t yet realized it, Easter is quite early this year. Unlike
Christmas, which always occurs on the same date every year, Easter is
always the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon after the Spring Equinox
(which is March 20). This dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar
that Hebrew people used to identify passover, which is why it moves around
on our Roman calendar.
Based on the above, Easter can actually be one day earlier (March 22),
but that is pretty rare.
Here’s the interesting info. This year is the earliest Easter any
of us will ever see the rest of our lives! And only the most elderly of our
population have ever seen it this early (95 years old or above!). And none
of us have ever, or will ever, see it a day earlier! Here are the facts:
1. The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year
2228 (220 years from now). The last time it was this early was 1913 (so if
you’re 95 or older, you are the only ones that were around for
that!).
2. The next time it will be a day earlier, March 22, will be in the year
2285 (277 years from now). The last time it was on March 22 was 1818. So,
no one alive today has or will ever see it any earlier than this year!
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 I
Don’t Want Them to Change Me
by Alan Smith
Elie Wiesel was brought up in a closely knit Jewish community in Sighet,
Transylvania (Romania). When he was fifteen years old, his family was
herded aboard a train and deported by Nazis to the Auschwitz death camp.
Wiesel’s mother and younger sister died at Auschwitz — his two
older sisters survived. Wiesel and his father were then taken to
Buchenwald, where his father also perished. Wiesel has devoted his life to
ensuring that the world does not forget the atrocities of the Nazis, and
that they are not repeated. He tells this story:
A just man decided he must save humanity. So he chose a city, the most
sinful of all cities. Then he studied. He learned all the art of moving
people, changing minds, changing hearts. He came to a man and woman and
said, “Don’t forget that murder is not good, it is
wrong.” In the beginning, people gathered around him. It was so
strange, somewhat like a circus. They gathered and they listened. He went
on and on and on.
Days passed. Weeks passed. After a while, they stopped listening. After
many years passed, a child stopped him and said, “What are you doing?
Don’t you see nobody is listening? Why do you continue shouting and
shouting? Why?”
And the man answered the child, “I’ll tell you why. In the
beginning, I was convinced that if I were to shout loud enough, they would
change. Now I know they won’t change. But if I shout even louder,
it’s because I don’t want them to change me.”
We live in a world where there is a battle going on. I’m not
talking about the conflict in Iraq or Afghanistan or Kenya. You may not
even be aware that this battle is taking place, but I assure you that it
is. It is a spiritual battle being waged between God and his people and
Satan and his people (Eph. 6:12). It is a battle for the control of the hearts
and minds of men and women, including you and the people around you.
We sometimes use the word “evangelism” to describe our
attempt to influence ungodly men in a way that will draw them to God, the
God who created them and loves them. But we sometimes forget that efforts
(sometimes diligent efforts) are being made by ungodly men to pull us away
from God. Be assured of this: One of two things is happening — either
you are having an influence on other people, or other people are having an
influence on you. It’s a constant battle, much like a tug-of-war.
And there are times, as in the story above, when we need to speak up or
take some action, not so much to change others, but to prevent others from
changing us.
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that
you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which
is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that
good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:1-2)
This article by Alan Smith, Senior Pastor of the Helen
Street Church of Christ in Fayetteville, North Carolina. You can visit his
site at http://www.TFTD-online.com
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 The Bad News About the Good News
by Ron Hutchcraft
Not long ago, someone told me about a pastor who stood at the pulpit one
Sunday and announced this to his people: “Folks, I have some bad
news, some good news, and some bad news.” He had everyone’s
attention. “The bad news is that the roof on this church is shot. We
have to replace it. But the good news is – we have the money. The bad
news is – it’s in your wallets!”
Interesting thought, huh? The money is there for the work God wants to
do. But it’s still in our wallets, our bank accounts, our toys.
Recently, a friend who is the head of a major missions organization
said, “It’s taking our missionaries three years to get their
support raised. And we’ve tried every creative means we can to change
that, but nothing has worked.” The experience of their missionaries
is echoed by hundreds, and maybe thousands, of missionaries. Here they are
ready to get to the people God has called them to reach and they have to
wait three years because they can’t get enough financial support. Is
it because there’s no money to send them? Probably not. The money is
there, it’s just tied up in our wallets. And meanwhile, on the other
end, people go on dying without Christ.
In our word for today from the Word of God in Romans 10:14, God asks a
series of questions that are very revealing and convicting –
uncomfortably revealing really. Pouring out His heart for the people who
don’t yet know His Son died for them, God asks, “How, then, can
they call on the One they have not believed in? And how can they believe in
the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone
preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent?”
Now where does this bottom line responsibility rest for whether or not
lost people ever hear the Good News about Jesus? With the messenger?
Apparently not. It’s with the sender. God takes the process of the
unreached hearing the message all the way back to its source – a
sender. For 2,000 years the Great Commission of Jesus has depended on two
kinds of people sacrificially playing their position – the senders
and the sendees.
In what may be the fourth quarter of God’s game on earth, there is
so much work to be done in Jesus’ name. And it’s going to take
money. Money we have tied up in things other than what God gave it to us
for. He sacrificed His Son so the lost could be rescued. Many of His
workers and messengers are willing to sacrifice to tell the lost about His
Son. Rescuing the spiritually dying has always meant sacrifice and no
follower of Jesus is exempt. We can’t delegate the sacrifices to a
few spiritual warriors. God intends for all of us to spend and be spent in
the cause for which His Son was spent.
Lottie Moon was a great missionary hero, who made real great impact on
19th Century China. She asked some hard questions. She said, “Where
is the silver and the gold that should be in the Lord’s treasury to
send out those men and women who are asking to be sent? Alas! Some are
adding more fields to their broad lands. Some are spending in selfish
indulgences. So these lost souls go down to death without ever having heard
the name of Jesus. In the day of judgment, at whose door will lie this
sin?”
By God’s grace, let’s release the funds God gave us to send
His messengers. Let’s transfer funds in our account on earth to our
eternal account in heaven. The soldiers of Christ are waiting for the
bullets they need to win the battle, and it’s in our hands!
Copyright © 2008, Ron Hutchcraft. Reprinted with
permission. “A Word With You” is a radio outreach of Ron
Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc.
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 Eagles
in the Storm
Did you know that an eagle knows when a storm is approaching long before
it breaks? The eagle will fly to some high spot and wait for the winds to
come. When the storm hits, it sets its wings so that the wind will pick it
up and lift it above the storm. While the storm rages below, the eagle is
soaring above it. The eagle does not escape the storm. It simply uses the
storm to lift it higher. It rises on the winds that bring the storm.
When the storms of life come upon us... and all of us will experience
them... we can rise above them by setting our minds and our belief toward
Jesus.
The storms do not have to overcome us. We can allow God’s power to
lift us above them. God enables us to ride the winds of the storm that
bring sickness, tragedy, failure, and disappointment into our lives. We can
soar above the storm. Remember, it is not the burdens of life that weigh us
down, it is how we handle them. The Bible says, “Those who hope in
the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on the wings like
eagles.” (Isaiah 40:31)
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Top 10 Reasons Eve Was Created
After last week’s little tome about God’s conversation with
Adam about creating Eve, I guess I need to give “equal time”
here. So, here are the “Top Ten Reasons Eve Was Created...”
10. God worried that Adam would frequently become lost in the garden
because he would not ask for directions.
9. God knew that Adam would one day require someone to locate and hand
him the TV remote.
8. God knew that Adam would never go out and get himself a new fig leaf
when his seat wore out and would therefore need Eve to get one for him.
7. God knew that Adam would never be able to make a doctor’s,
dentist or haircut appointment for himself.
6. God knew that Adam would never be able to remember which night to put
the garbage on the curb.
5. God knew that if the world was to be populated, men would never be
able to handle the pain and discomfort of childbearing.
4. As Keeper of the Garden, Adam would never remember where he left his
tools.
3. Apparently, Adam needed someone to blame his troubles on when God
caught him hiding in the garden.
2. As the Bible says, It is not good for man to be alone!
And finally, the number ONE reason that God created Eve...
1. When God finished the creation of Adam, He stepped back, scratched
His head and said, “I can do better than that.”
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 The Last Impression
A little boy opened the big, old family Bible with fascination, looking
at the old pages as he turned them.
Then something fell out of the Bible and he picked up and looked at it
closely. It was an old leaf from a tree. The leaf had been pressed in
between pages.
“Momma, look what I found,” the boy called out.
“What have you got there, dear?” his mother asked.
With astonishment in his voice, the young boy answered:
“It’s Adam’s suit!”
 Don’t forget
that Daylight Saving Time goes into effect this weekend! Before you go to
bed on Saturday night, be sure to set your clocks AHEAD by one hour! Spring
forward! You won’t want to miss one moment of the great time we have
in store with the Duffields joining us here at WFA! See you on Sunday!
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