Message From Richard
Greetings my brothers and sisters and welcome to our latest edition of Gods Faith Book's weekly newsletter. I'd like to once again welcome all our new members that have been joining us over the past week. It brings me great joy to welcome all of you to our growing community of friends and prayer warriors. Our membership has been increasing by dozens every week and it's due in part to the comments spread by our current members. Thank you all and God Bless.
The GFB update is continuing on schedule. As promised we have updated our Gift Store which can be found on the Black menu bar on the home page. This update should be much easier to read and follow. We are now in the process of adding some new and exciting products to our growing list of products. Keep watching out for these new items which will include more Christian jewelry as well as a selection of Christian Books and Christian Music by some of your favorite authors and artists. As an added incentive for our members, you can deduct 15% from your total order by using our special member code, which is: GFBMEMBER
For a limited time only, we have also decided to drop all shipping and handling charges. We've done this as an incentive for you to try out our new gift store. And remember, that profits from our store will be used to fund our various charitable efforts as well as help fund the continuation of your GFB site.
Our E Card module should be ready within the next few days We will have FREE E-Cards available to all members. The selection of cards will include, Inspirational, Birthdays, Anniversary, Sympathy, Christmas, Easter and many more categories to be added during the year.
Many new and improved features are on the way. Keep following your weekly newsletter for all information on new modules.
Please make note that we will be having an additional Bible Class to held at 3 PM Eastern Standard Time in the chat room. This is being set up to accommodate our brothers and sisters in Europe and other parts of the word that cannot attend our later class. This class will be starting on Tuesday, September 11.
Bible Class will be held tonight in our new and improved Chat Room at 8 PM Eastern Standard Time led by our dear Sister Faith. Join us tonight and if it's your first time with us, let us know and we will send you a FREE 402 page King James Version of the Bible. If you have already received your Bible, just let us know and we will send you an angel or praying hands pin.
Also remember, If you don't want to receive an email for any or all particular remarks on GFB, you can go to your profile on the home page and click on profile and then click on privacy in drop down box. In this section you will see a variety of topics that you will be able to receive email notifications on. Check all the boxes you want to receive and uncheck the boxes you don't want to receive.
Many more changes are coming to our site. As we go through these changes, we will need your feedback and comments on the changes coming through. I welcome your comments and continued support.
As an added incentive to receive your comments, we are offering to send you a FREE 30 page booklet on how to save money (lots of money) by using home remedies for most everyday health problems.. Send us your comments and your user name, full name and mailing address and we will mail this out to you.
Remember, that this site does not belong to one person, it belongs to all of you. Without YOU, there is no US. Always Dare To Dream.
"Thank You Lord for this day, and for all you have done for us. Lord forgive us our sins, and help us with forgiveness of others. Lord please heal our bodies, minds and hearts, so that we are free and healthy in body, mind and Spirit. Lord may you guide, protect and provide for our family needs. In Jesus name we pray. Amen"
WE ARE IN JESUS HAND SO DONT WORRY HE IS ALWAYS WITH US
GOD'S GRACE IS WHAT ENABLES YOU TO BELIEVE IN HIM. SO THANK HIM EACH DAY FOR REVEALING HIMSELF TO YOU!
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Just enter code GFBMEMBER during checkout.
Proceeds from our store are used to both host and improve the GFB site...as well as fund different charities we are involved with.
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Remember Persecuted Christians by Max Aplin
As we read the Bible, time and again we find God's people faithful Jews under the old covenant and Christians under the new covenant suffering persecution. The Old Testament provides us with numerous examples of people, especially the prophets, who were willing to do and say what God asked them to, and who were perceived as a threat by those who were living sinfully. Those who felt threatened often retaliated by persecuting. Jeremiah is a special case in point. He faithfully spoke out for God and it cost him dearly. In the New Testament, Christians can frequently be found suffering at the hands of a variety of types of people Jews who rejected Jesus, Roman authorities, and various others.
In fact, persecution is such a trademark of what following Jesus involves that in 2 Timothy 3:12 we are told that 'everyone who wants to live a devout life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted'. Similarly, in His Upper Room discourse in John's Gospel, Jesus makes it clear that His disciples can expect to be hated and persecuted (John 15:18-25). This warning, of course, is relevant not only for those in the Upper Room at the time but also by implication for disciples of later generations too.
In Western countries of the present day, although it is still fairly low level, persecution of Christians seems generally speaking to be on the increase. Here in the UK it is certainly getting worse. In recent years there was a case in which a Christian husband and wife who owned a guest house refused to allow a homosexual couple to sleep in the same bed. They were taken to court and fined thousands of pounds. Along the same lines, a marriage guidance counsellor was punished for refusing to counsel a homosexual couple. I think he lost his job, although I can't remember the details of the case. There was the case too of a Christian nurse who was suspended from work for offering to pray for a patient. And then there was the teenage Christian girl who wanted to wear a ring symbolizing her commitment to remaining a virgin until she got married, and who was forbidden to wear it at school. Wearing jewellery in the form of a cross has also been banned in many work places. There are probably many more examples that have escaped my attention.
The instances of persecution of Christians that I have mentioned have, in some cases at least, caused real distress to the people involved, and I don't want to downplay them. However, even these examples are very mild compared to what is going on elsewhere in the world.
In the UK in recent years, as far as I know, no Christians have been sent to prison for the faith. Being imprisoned, however, is something that happens to Christians regularly in many places worldwide. It is important for us to remember too that in many countries the experience of prisoners is nothing like that of prisoners in the West. There is often a lack of food and water, severe overcrowding, terrible heat or cold, poor sanitation, and in many cases physical and mental torture as well.
Nor in many countries is persecution of Christians limited to imprisonment. There are many places in the world where Christians are frequently murdered martyred for Jesus, often in horrific ways.
Now, for a Christian, martyrdom is a huge honor. However, that does not of course mean that there is anything glamorous about it. (Nor is it right for Christians to seek martyrdom. The Bible teaches that we should avoid dying for the faith unless avoiding this would involve committing sin; see Matt 10:23). Those of us who live in the relative safety of the West should try to imagine what it would be like to live in a place where Christians have recently been brutally murdered. Think how it would feel to know that there are people living round about you who may well be plotting against you in this way. It must be very difficult, even taking into account the power of God to help us. Yet that is the reality for thousands upon thousands of Christians today.
Just as the Bible tells us to expect persecution, it also instructs us to remember those of our brothers and sisters who are being persecuted:
In Hebrews 10:32-34 the author commends his readers for having helped persecuted believers. Then in 13:3 he commands: 'Remember the prisoners as if you were in prison with them, and those who are badly treated as people who are also in a body'. It is highly likely that this verse specifically has in view Christians who are being persecuted.
In 2 Timothy 4:16 Paul states: 'At my first defense no one stood by me, but everyone abandoned me'. Imagine how that would feel. God's purpose in making these words Scripture is doubtless in part to encourage us to stand by those who are suffering for the faith.
In Matthew 25:31-46 one of the characteristics of those who end up in heaven is to have visited prisoners. Those who are prisoners for Christ's sake surely comprise a large proportion of the people being referred to.
In Colossians 4:18 one of Paul's final sentences in this letter is a plea to the Colossians to 'Remember my chains.' I think there are many thousands of Christians who would say something similar to us if they could.
These passages, and others, speak to us about how important it is for us 'to be there' for our fellow Christians who are suffering persecution. If we are in Christ, the ties that bind us to each other are strong. We are all part of one spiritual family (Mark 3:31-35 etc.), parts of one body of Christ. If one part of the body suffers, says Paul, all parts suffer with it (1 Cor 12:26).
In recent years the phrase 'global village' has become a common one. It is a very good way of portraying how modern communications and travel systems have made countries far away seem much closer. A neighboring country can be thought of as the next street to our own, and another continent can be thought of as another block. For Christians, who are linked by the omnipresent Spirit, there is even more reason to think of our Christian brothers and sisters as being close to us.
If fellow Christians are being persecuted on the other side of the world, we should therefore never think that their plight is something far away that is bound to be someone else's responsibility. Given the amount of persecution of Christians in the world today, and the importance of helping our brothers and sisters in need, remembering persecuted Christians is something that we should all be careful to do. This will certainly involve praying, but for some it may involve providing practical help too. There are a number of Christian organizations that give financial assistance to Christians whose poverty has been caused specifically by persecution. If you feel God leading you in this direction, an internet search will quickly point you in the right direction.
I have been a Christian for over 25 years. I have a Ph.D. in New Testament Language, Literature and Theology from the University of Edinburgh. I am a UK national and I currently live in the south of Scotland.
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Member Profile - Sonjia McGuire
My name is Sonjia McGuire and I am from Butler Mo. I come from a fairly big family that includes 3 brothers and 2 sisters. I work in a First Baptist church daycare which I love. I do photography as a hobby/small side job. I love going to Christian concerts something about singing all those praises to the Lord with other Christians that is just awesome.
I didnt really grow up in a Christian home, my parents were divorced, I went to my Dads every other weekend and I never really went to church except when my step Mom made us. It was around age 13-14 that I started going to church weekly with my mom and little brother, my step Dad eventually joined us.
Late October 2005 my family and I were at our church's hayride and cook out. There was a big fire for roasting hotdogs and marshmallows, it was the type of wood that burns super HOT so hot it was hard to look at it. I was squatted down trying to roast a marshmallow when my pastor comes up and says to me "that fire is pretty hot huh" I said "umm yeah it is" He looks down at me and says with the straightest face "could you imagine what it would be like to spend eternity in hell?" That question hit me like a ton of bricks. For weeks after that night that look on his face and that question rolled around in my mind, the sermons at church on Sunday felt like they were aimed at me. The Lord was working on me.
I was around 17 years old when I went forward with my step dad on Sunday morning in November 2005 and accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and was saved. A few weeks later me, my step Dad and another guy from our church were baptized. Since that November I have back slid into my old ways but you better believe that the Lord opened my eyes and made me realize that I better get my self back on track. I recommitted my life to Christ a few years ago. Today I am striving to grow more in Christ and to live my life for him. I believe with all of my heart that it was God who led me here to GFB and since I have I joined I feel my self growing more and more every day. I am so thankful for all you. Thank you and God Bless.
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Weekly Prayer
Dear Lord Jesus, forbid that we fall into the trap of using Your own Word to justify any kind of sin and wickedness, especially impenitence, self-righteousness, and hypocrisy. Keep us mindful of the continuing judgment of Your Word upon all human sin, and of the assurance of Your full and complete forgiveness of our sins when we turn to You in repentance and faith. Help us to judge properly - the sin and impenitence; and to avoid all missteps into hypocrisy. Lord, have mercy. Amen.
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Featured Video
 | Carrie Underwood - How Great Thou Art
(featuring Vince Gill) |
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Bible Study Classes and Prayer Meeting
Bible Study is held in the AV Chat Room each Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Each Saturday we also have a Video prayer and worship session. Classes begin promptly at 8:00 PM EST.
The GFB Prayer Meeting is held each Wednesday at approximately 9:00 PM EST in the AV Chat room.
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For all members or friends of members who have your own ministry...
You can now create your own private or public ministry group on GFB! Click for more information,
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