In our October newsletter we asked you to pray about our plan to give Good News Comic and Four Fantastic Facts (children’s evangelistic booklets) along with a tasty treat to “trick or treaters” on Oct. 31st. We ordered 50 booklets, not expecting to need even that many. As it turned out, however, God provided a much bigger opportunity when we teamed up with one of our church’s Bible study groups to participate in a church “Trunk or Treat” community outreach event. The group members provided LOTS of candies. Meanwhile, Betty and I ordered 250 more booklets. Attractive gifts bags were put together, each containing one of the booklets and several candies. While I mixed and mingled with the crowd trying to connect with any Spanish-speaking guests, Betty worked with one of the men from the Bible study group to greet “trunk or treaters” and their parents. They distributed all of the gift bags and could have used 25 to 30 more. Please join us in praying that those gospel booklets will be read and re-read and that whole families will be drawn to faith in Christ.
In light of the Thanksgiving holiday that is quickly approaching, I (Larry) wanted to write briefly on the theme of the important spiritual discipline of giving thanks. Every Thanksgiving season for the past number of years I inevitably find myself thinking about what Romans 1 says about the tragic result that a lack of giving thanks to God produces in the human heart. In Romans 1:21 the apostle Paul makes a connection between a lack of gratitude to God and those who have rejected God:
“For even though they knew God [as the Creator], they did not honor Him as God or give thanks [for His wondrous creation]. On the contrary, they became worthless in their thinking [godless, with pointless reasonings, and silly speculations], and their foolish heart was darkened.” (Romans 1:21, Amplified Bible)
An attitude of gratitude is vitally important in the Christian life. I believe that the initial step of coming to faith in Christ is directly related to a recognition of and a deep thankfulness for the great sacrifice God the Father and God the Son made for Jesus to die on the cross as our substitute so that we could be forgiven and saved from the punishment we all deserve for our sins.
At this Thanksgiving season, may we all renew our thanks to God for our salvation that cost God everything and live with an attitude of gratitude to Him every day for His many blessings that we can all too easily take for granted. Thank you, Lord!!!
Happy Thanksgiving,
