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Dear Partner in the Gospel,
For the last three consequent years POBLO-TX has had an annual fund-raising banquet in April. These banquets have been well attended and provided significant financial support for our outreach ministry to the Muslim community. However, planning and presenting these banquets required hundreds of man-hours which obviously were diverted from expansion of the ministry.
2009 has been an extremely challenging year with growth of the Arabic Church of All Nations (Our Redeemer Lutheran), Asian Church of All Nations (Prince of Peace Lutheran) and, plus the seeding of a congregation at Lutheran Student Center at the University of Texas-Arlington and prospects in East and South Texas. The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. As a result, we have been concentrating on the recruitment and training qualified missionary personnel. God is graciously opening new doors of opportunity for the POBLO-TX ministry, but we need your encouragement and support.
We deeply appreciate your attendance and support of our past banquets and pray that you will continue to be a partner in our important Gospel outreach to the lost Muslim children of Abraham.
Please prayerfully consider making a gift.God bless you,
Rev. Karim Baidaoui
Missionary-At-Large in Texas |
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Jesus was not crucified on the cross, but Judas was crucified in his place." At least, that's what I was taught and grew up believing as a Muslim. I believed that the crucifixion of Jesus was a sham, and if there was no crucifixion, then there could certainly not have been a resurrection... I scoffed at the very notion of substitutionary atonement - the idea that one could die in the place of another was preposterous and outright blasphemous to me. I could neither fathom nor understand it!!!
Years later, I became a militant fighting the "misguided" followers of this Christ. Fast forward some more, and in my zeal to disprove the cross, I came to worship the same Jesus I persecuted as a Jihadist (Acts 9:5)... However, I still do not fathom nor understand the cross. You see, I am incapable of reaching beyond my human limitations, outside the cage of my momentary existence to fathom the far reaches of love divine. What manner of love is this? I could never understand how an eternal and omnipotent God condescends Himself down the stairs of heaven, to die for me - the chief of sinners!!! Though I cannot understand it, but I gladly receive it...
The cross is a story of selfless love. A love that would give everything it has for others. It is an infectious story that has transformed lives from  the vicious cycle of hatred into divine love. Though I cannot explain it all, but I do grasp its transforming power. I know that I am not the man I used to be but am a new creation in Christ. You see, I experienced the power of the resurrection firsthand (Galatians 2:20). Thus, if the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus were a farce, then why did their transforming power of love ripple on the pages of history?
Long after the crucifixion, hundreds of thousands of slave gladiators shed their blood in Roman coliseums year after year to satisfy the perverted lusts of the Roman mobs for the sight of blood, until one day, when a lone Christian by the name of Telemachus leaped into the arena between two armed gladiators about to slay one another, and held them apart. At a sign from the Emperor, the gladiators pierced their swords into the helpless body of Telemachus, and he fell to the ground in a pool of his own blood. But by sacrificing his life, he spared the lives of tens of thousands of gladiators across the vast Roman Empire. For in that fateful day in a Roman coliseum, there was no cry of glee from the crowd. They looked at this saintly man lying dead in his blood, and a hush came over that vast arena. They went out shamefacedly, and that was the end of the gladiatorial shows in Rome. All because of one man who stood in the gap and paid the ultimate price...
You see, I was lied to as a child. It is possible for one man to pay the price to save many, as we glean from the story in that blood-stained coliseum, but more importantly as we glean from the story of the cross. God the Son condescended Himself to walk in dust among sinners, and was nailed to a Roman cross that we may be washed clean by His blood: "But He was pierced through for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities: The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed." (Isaiah 53:5 NAS)
Jerry Rassamni is an author and evangelist who was transformed by the power of the cross. He is the author of From Jihad to Jesus (Living Ink) www.FromJihadtoJesus.com, and can be reached at jr@fromJihadtoJesus.com
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What Happens When A Non-Believer Comes To Faith?
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When I Baptize
someone (infant, child or adult), the first thing I tell him/her, or
his/her sponsor and parents, is that this is a "New Birth"
(John 3: 5-6, Titus 3:5, 1 Peter1:23). The Baptismal fount is the
spiritual
womb that conceives us and delivers us into "the New Life in Christ"
(Cf. Romans 6:3-4; 5-15; Colossians 2: 11-12). The Gospel creates,
sustains
and grows the New Man within us as it comes to us through Baptism, the
Lords Supper and the spoken or written Word of God. In Luther's
explanation
of Baptism we find the dual treatment applying to our "old Adam"
and "new man". Part 4 of the Catechism asks, "What does
such baptizing with water indicate?" The answer is: "It indicates that the old Adam in us should,
by daily contrition and repentance, be drowned and die
with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should
daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and
purity forever".
I have been
in ministry for over 20 years; 13 of those years has been spent as an
ordained pastor. For the last five years I have been a partner, worker,
and church planter with POBLO-TX. These five years has been
extraordinary.
The Lord has taught me in a very personal and practical way from the
teachings of the Bible and from the Catechism about Baptism. I would
like to share a story to help you understand what I have learned. (Please click here for rest of article)
Pastor Abjar Bahkou, Arabic Church of All Nations
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A SIMPLE & EASY WAY TO HELP POBLO-TX!
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The
next time you're at Tom Thumb, pick up a Reward Card application at
customer service or link the card you already have to our account
#12207.
Every
time you use your Reward card Tom Thumb will pay 1% of the total
purchases at the end
of each calendar quarter to POBLO-TX. From your participation this year we have earned $21.00!
Look for the application, found
in the Good Neighbor Program brochure
available at Tom Thumb stores and
help support our missionaries
today!
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