“Two young boys were raised in the home of an alcoholic father. As young men, they each went their own way. Years later a psychologist who was analyzing what drunkenness does to children in the home searched out these two men. One had turned out to be like his father, a hopeless alcoholic. The other had turned out to be a teetotaler.

“The counselor asked the first man, ‘Why did you become an alcoholic?’ He asked the second, ‘Why did you become a teetotaler?’

“They both gave the same identical answer in these words, ‘What else could you expect when you had a father like mine?’ It’s not what happens to us in life but how we react to it that makes the difference. Every human being in the same situation has the possibilities of choosing how he will react, either positively or negatively.”²

It is true that children who grow up in a warm, loving, and caring family atmosphere are given a much greater start in life. However, there is no guarantee that they will become model citizens. They, too, like the rest of us, either consciously or unconsciously, make the choice in how they are going to live their life.

If we grew up in a less than desirable home atmosphere, we can choose to feel sorry for ourselves, play the blame game, and limp along in the shadows of life without a goal or purpose—and waste our life. Or, if we so desire, like President Ronald Reagan whom I understand also had an alcoholic father, we can choose to make something worthwhile with our life, grow through our difficulties, and with God’s help become the person God envisions for us to be, and, in so doing, invest our life in a worthwhile cause and noble purpose. The choice is ours.

I realize that it can be very difficult to honor a mother or father who is an alcoholic, an abuser, or an abandoning parent. However, I believe the greatest way we can honor such a parent is not to allow our past to determine our future. What an honor it would be for all of us parents should our children rise above their early setbacks to invest their lives wisely in doing good for others.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to overcome any and all setbacks I may have had in the past, and choose—with your help—to invest my life wisely so that, when I give an account of my life before you, I will hear your welcoming words, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord.’ Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Luke 16:2 (NKJV).

2. From The West Side Baptist. Cited on www.sermons.com.

I have read how Hayley Mills, a child star at the time, was escorted through Disneyland. As she was led past hundreds of people standing in line, a security guard attempted to stop her. “Hey there,” he called to Haley’s escort, “who do you think you are? Walt Disney?” Imagine his mortification when the escort turned around and said, “As a matter of fact I am Walt Disney.”

As the saying goes, “It’s not what you know but who you know.” That certainly holds true to get into many places. Joy, my wife, had the opportunity to be a guest at the inauguration of President Bush. How come? Because of someone she knew. She was a very good friend of the mother-in-law of a high ranking military officer who was stationed at the White House. Joy phoned me from the ball room to share her excitement about seeing the president in person. Jokingly I kidded, “Have you touched the hem of his garment yet?”

There is one place much greater than any inauguration ball, the White House, or Buckingham Palace where so many would like to be invited to. However, to be invited to this one place it is absolutely imperative that we know the only person who can get us in—yes, it’s into God’s heaven. And that person is Jesus. You may know about Jesus, but do you know him as your Savior? And does he know you? If not, I urge you to accept his invitation to meet him today. For help, be sure to read the article: “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian without having to be religious” at: www.actsweb.org/christian.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you that your invitation to heaven is to ‘whosoever will may come.’ Thank you that that includes me. I confess that I am a sinner and thank you for dying in my place to pay the penalty for all my sins. I accept your invitation to come to you for my salvation, to ask for and accept your forgiveness, and to receive the gift of eternal life so that I will live with you forever in heaven. Thank you for your great gift of salvation and thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

If you prayed this prayer and genuinely meant it, please let us know by going to www.actsweb.org/decision.php

1. Acts 4:12 (NIV).

“On Thursday, March 16, 2001, Kenneth Water, 46 years old, saw a cell phone for the first time, drank his first cup of Starbucks coffee, and ate his first corned beef sandwich in two decades. Waters had just emerged from 18 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. His murder conviction had been vacated by newly tested DNA evidence.”²

And how was it that Waters was freed? It was because of his sister, Betty’s unrelenting efforts. From the very beginning she was convinced that Kenneth was not guilty of murder. At the time she was a young mother of two children. She hadn’t finished high school, so she went back to school, finished her high school education, went on to college, and then to law school and ultimately became her brother’s attorney. She “waged an extraordinary legal battle that led to Kenneth’s release.” Through the checking of DNA it was proven that Kenneth Water was not guilty of the murder of Katharina Brow.

“Betty Anne’s commitment to proving her brother’s innocence is astonishing. By the time she walked out of the courthouse on March 16, 2001, she had spent 18 years in unbroken service to him. What commitment!”²

What an amazing expression this was of Betty’s love for her brother. It is also a graphic reminder of God’s total commitment to you and me—not because of our innocence, because we are all guilty before God in that every one of us has broken at least one or more of God’s commandments, and have fallen far short of God’s requirement for holiness.

Suggested prayer, “Dear God, because of your total commitment to me in giving your Son, Jesus, to die in my place on the excruciatingly painful Roman cross so I could be freely forgiven and receive your gift of eternal life, I commit myself totally to you to live for you all the days of my life. And please help me to be as committed as Betty in helping to share your gospel message to others so that they will be delivered from a lost eternity and receive your forgiveness and gift of eternal life. So help me God. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’ name, amen.”

Note: If you have never received God’s forgiveness by accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, please read, “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian” online at: www.actsweb.org/christian.

Or: If you would like to renew your commitment and dedication to God and Jesus Christ, please let us know by noting this on the response form at: www.actsweb.org/decision.php.

1. Romans 3:10, 23 (NKJV).

2. When You Can’t Pray, by Al Truesdale, Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, Missouri, 2002, pp 87, 88.

People Power is without question one of the most powerful means to accomplish any cause—either for good or evil. As Richard Halverson pointed out “People Power” is a mighty force.

People have the power to close down any operation—or prosper it! For example, pornography prevails because enough people want it, buy it, watch it, listen to it, and read it. It is extremely profitable because countless people prosper it!

People Power has also prospered the tobacco industry, the liquor industry, the movie industry, the gambling industry, the abortion industry and endless numbers of other products and causes—some of great value, some of little or no value whatsoever, and some that are destructive of individuals, families, and society.

The People Power principle could also work miracles for reaching millions of people around the world with the saving gospel message of Jesus Christ. As God’s people we have the power to prosper or hinder the reaching of people worldwide with the gospel. This is why we believe God has led ACTS to commence a people power for Jesus movement. To date 2,441 folk have made a commitment to God (not to me) to be a part of this movement.

I want to invite you to join this People Power for Jesus movement and see how you can help reach people for Christ in an extremely, simple yet attractive way. For more information and to join go to: www.actsweb.org/people_power/. And for helps in how to be involved go to: https://learning.actsweb.org/people_power/tips.php.

If you truly care about helping to reach the lost for Jesus, being obedient to Christ’s command, and having a vital part in what God is doing in the world today, I urge you to prayerfully consider becoming a People Power for Jesus Partner today. With God’s blessing untold millions of people worldwide can be reached with the saving gospel of Jesus Christ through People Power.

“When many people each do a little, together we can accomplish great feats for God.”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, because you gave your life to die for me, I surrender my heart and life to you in order to live always for you. Please use me to be ‘as Jesus’ to every life I touch and use me to help share the gospel in an attractive way with my family, friends and contacts. So help me God. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

Please join People Power for Jesus today at: www.actsweb.org/people_power.

1. Mark 16:15 (TLB) (NLT).

“One summer night a young man who lived in Scotland decided to take a shortcut across the moors on his walk into town where he worked.

“The countryside was known for its limestone quarries. He knew he would be passing near one of these quarries, but thought he could avoid it. The night was pitch black without a star in sight, but the young man set out through the rock and heather anyway.

“Suddenly he heard a voice call out with great urgency, ‘Peter!’

“He was unnerved but stopped and called back into the darkness, ‘Yes, who is it? What do you want?’ There was no response—just a gentle breeze over the deserted moorland.

“He decided that he’d been mistaken and walked on a few more steps. Then he heard the voice again, this time even more urgent than the first: ‘Peter!’

“He stopped dead in his tracks, bent forward to peer through the darkness, and stumbled to his knees. He reached out a hand to the ground before him, but only clutched thin air. It was the quarry! Sure enough, as Peter carefully felt around in a semicircle he found that he had stopped on the edge of the abandoned limestone quarry one short step before a fatal plunge into the abyss. Out there in the desolate moor someone knew him and someone cared about him.

“Peter Marshall never forgot that incident. Dedicating his life to the one who’d called him by name, he went on to become one of America’s greatest ministers.²

Did you ever stop to realize that God also knows you by name—and everything else about you. Have you ever “heard” him calling you? If you learn to listen with your heart, you will hear what he wants of you.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, help me always to be sensitive to your call. Please give me an attentive mind and a listening heart as well as a willing spirit to always heed your bidding and obey your word. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. 1 Samuel 3:10 (NIV).

2. Steven R. Mosley, Glimpses of God, (Sisters, Oregon: Questar Publishers, Inc., 1990), pp. 149-150. Cited on www.sermons.com

Year after year with “tireless regularity and eternal patience” God reminds the world every Christmas that he sent his Son, Jesus, to save lost mankind. Christmas is also God’s reminder that Jesus is coming back to earth for all who have accepted him as their personal Lord and Savior.

His first coming is an indisputable fact of history. His second coming to end this world age is just as certain.

According to Bible scholars there are 1,845 references in the Old Testament and 318 in the New Testament about Christ’s coming again. This means for every prophecy in the Bible about Christ’s first coming—every one of which was fulfilled in minute detail—there are eight about his second coming!

Jesus is coming again. God has promised this in his Word, the Bible. Jesus himself also promised it—as did the angels at the time of Christ’s ascension into heaven. And all the signs that Jesus and the Bible said would precede his return are becoming increasingly evident today reminding us that Christ’s return could be very soon. If it were today, would you be ready?

Christmas is also a reminder to all Christians that Jesus has commissioned all of us to spread his message of salvation to everyone everywhere.² Jesus said that, “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”³

Never has this been more possible than it is today because our generation has the greatest means of worldwide communications the world has ever seen. And working together we can reach literally millions of people with the gospel just through email and the web alone. Please help ACTS to do this. To see how you can help, go to ACTS secure donor site at: http://actscom.com/

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, how can I ever thank you enough for your great Christmas love gift to the world in giving your Son, Jesus, to come to earth and die for my sins. And Jesus, because you gave your life to save me for all eternity, I surrender my life to you as my Christmas gift to you. Please make me usable and use me to be a part of your plans to reach people across the street and around the world with the gospel. Help me to so live that people seeing Jesus in me will want you for themselves. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

Note: If you have never accepted God’s incredible Christmas love gift, be sure to read, “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian” at: http://tinyurl.com/real-christian.

1. John 14:2-3 (NIV).

2. Mark 16:15.

3. Matthew 24:14 (NIV).

Dr. James Moore wrote, “During World War II, four young American soldiers who had been on the front lines of battle for some time, were sent back to a small French village for a little R & R. When they arrived in the village, they realized that it was Christmas Eve. They began to discuss how they would like to spend Christmas. One of the soldiers said, “You know, as we were coming into town earlier today, I noticed an orphanage on the outskirts of the village. Why don’t we go there in the morning and take some Christmas joy to those children?” The others liked the idea and the more they talked about it, the more excited they became. So they went out and bought all kinds of toys, candy, clothing, food, books, and games. Early the next morning they showed up at the front door of the orphanage with wonderful Christmas presents for all the children.

“The orphanage director was pleased and all the children were delighted as they opened their gifts. All the children that is, except for one little girl who stood quietly off to the side. She appeared to be 5 or 6 years old and her face looked very sad. One of the soldiers noticed that she was not participating, so he asked the orphanage director about the little girl. ‘Bless her heart,’ said the director, ‘we just got her last week. Both of her parents were killed in a car wreck. There was no one to take her in, so we brought her here.’

“The soldier went over to the little girl and gently he said to her, ‘It’s Christmas morning and we have wonderful Christmas presents here: toys, clothes, candy, food, books, and puzzles. Which would you like? What do you want most for Christmas?’ And the little girl said, ‘I want somebody to hold me.’

“Maybe that is the best Christmas gift of all—someone to hold us. As somebody once put it, ‘Rich is not what you have. It’s who you have beside you.’ Well, this sacred season comes along once each year to remind us that ‘Love Came Down At Christmas,’ that God is even now reaching out to us with open arms, and that He wants us to accept His love and to pass it on to others.”²

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you that love came down at Christmas from Heaven in the birth of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who came to earth to give his life as a ransom for my sins. In gratitude for all you have done for me, help me to live with eternal values in view and not get caught up in the materialism of this world. But rather, help me to give to others as you have given to me. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

Note: If you have never accepted God’s incredible Christmas love gift, be sure to read, “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian” at: http://tinyurl.com/real-christian.

1. Luke 12:15 (NIV).

2. Dr. James W. Moore, ChristianGlobe Sermons, ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc., 2003. Cited on www.eSermons.com.

You may be familiar with the story of Father Maximilian Kolbe, a Catholic priest who was imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. Father Kolbe’s love for the other prisoners earned him the nickname “Saint of Auschwitz.” One day, a prisoner escaped from the camp. Each time anyone escaped, the guards executed ten men as a punishment. As the guards prepared for the execution, Father Kolbe came forward. He asked to take the place of another prisoner, a man named Gajowniczek. The guards agreed.

Father Kolbe and the other nine men were placed in a cell and starved to death over the next few days. Father Kolbe died on August 14, 1941. Every year, Mr. Gajowniczek returns to Auschwitz to commemorate the death of Father Kolbe. It is his way to say thank you to the man who died in his place.²

Suggested prayer: “Dear Jesus God, how can I ever thank you enough for giving your life and dying on the cross in my place so that I could inherit your gift of eternal life. Help me to always live in an attitude of gratitude for all that you have done for me. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

NOTE: If you have never accepted God’s gift of love for you, be sure to read: “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian—without having to be religious” at: http://tinyurl.com/real-christian.

1. John 15:13 (NIV).

2. From “A Man for Others” by Patricia Treece. Found in God’s Unexpected Blessings, edited by Kathy Collard Miller (Lancaster, PA: Starburst Publishers, 1998), pp. 79-80.

Some time ago when Dr. W. A Criswell was pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas Texas, he told how on an airplane flight he was sitting beside and visiting with a well-known theologian. The man told how he had lost a son who, one day, had come home from school with a fever that he and his wife thought was just a childhood sickness. Sadly it turned out to be meningitis. The doctor gave no hope for the boy’s survival.

Near the end when the professor was sitting at his son’s bedside, the child said, “Daddy, it’s getting dark isn’t it?”

The professor answered, “Yes, son, it is getting dark, very dark.”

“Daddy, I guess it’s time for me to go to sleep isn’t it?” the boy continued.

“Yes, son, it’s time for you to go to sleep.”

As the child fixed the pillow on his bed as best he could in his weakened condition and, putting his head on his hands, said, “Good night, Daddy. I will see you in the morning.”

Those were the last words the professor’s son said as he closed his eyes in death and passed from this life to enter God’s heaven.

For a long time, Dr. Criswell said, the professor just sat looking out the window of the airplane. Later he turned again and, looking at Dr. Criswell, with tears in his eyes, said, “Dr. Criswell, I can hardly wait till the morning.”

Dear reader, are you sure that you are ready for God’s heaven so that when you go, your loved ones will also be able to say, “I’ll see you in the morning?” Or, if your loved ones go first, you will be able to say to them with certainty, “I’ll see you in the morning.”

If not, be sure to read the article, “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian—without having to be religious” at: http://tinyurl.com/real-christian.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you for the assurance of Heaven that you have promised to all who accept your Son, Jesus, as their Savior. Please help me to know that I am ready to meet you face to face so that I will see all of my loved ones who’ve gone before. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 (NIV).

Greg Asimakoupoulos writes about Nome, a village on the edge of the Bering Sea. “Nome . . . is like many villages of the Artic. The ground on which the community sits is frozen, sponge-like tundra. Sanitation landfills are unheard of. Garbage trucks do not haul off the kind of refuse we leave curbside each week. Instead, a typical front yard displays broken washing machines, junked cars, old toilets, scrap wood, and piles of non-degradable refuse.

“Tourists who visit Nome in the summer are amazed at the debris and shake their heads. ‘How could anyone live like that?’ they wonder.

“What those visitors do not realize is that for nine months of the year Nome sits under a blanket of snow that covers the garbage. During those months the little town is a quaint winter wonderland of pure white landscapes.”²

In some ways many of our personal lives are like that. We have hidden all sorts of junk, unresolved issues from the past, bad habits that have us beaten, impaired relationships, etc., etc., and we make the outside of our life to appear as if we have it all together and everything is fine.

True, I “may” be able to hide who I really am on the inside from you, from my family and friends, but one thing is certain: I cannot hide from God. One day who I really am will be revealed by God for all to see. Much smarter and healthier to clean up our life now while the door of opportunity is so wide open. No matter what we have ever done or have failed to do, God is ready to forgive us, to heal us, to deliver us if we are truly repentant and acknowledge who and what we really are—not to whitewash over our sins with a covering of “snow” but wash us “whiter than the snow.”

Suggested prayer, “Dear God, help me to see who and what I am on the inside, not to put myself down or to berate myself, but to be real and acknowledge the fact that in your sight I am a sinner and need your salvation. And, in the words of David, ‘Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.’³ Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. 1 Corinthians 3:13-14 (NLT).

2. Greg Asimakoupoulos, Leadership, Winter 1999. Cited in Encounter magazine (Australia), April/May 2004, 17.

3. Psalm 51:7 (TLB)(NLT).