Saturday, November 1, 2008

Target Opportunity!

Hi friends!
I haven't blogged this week tsk tsk! I need to!

A girlfriend of mine did post some awesome witnessing tips which I've asked if I can link to...and, have tried to use them this week!

Yesterday at Target, I was presented with a perfect opportunity to share the gospel with someone but ended up inviting her to church and am praying she'll come! I still need to work on being BOLD!

As Abby and I were in the PHONE aisle yesterday, a woman asked what were doing Halloween night. We'd passed out ALL of our Fall Fest flyers so I told her that our church was hosting a Fall Fest! I then asked "do you go to church"? I'd hoped this would lead to deeper conversation.

"No, I haven't been to a church in a long time. I used to go when I was a little girl and I've been meaning to go back". "I grew up Methodist but, we didn't read the Bible a lot there" She told me she believes in God and that she's definitely not Catholic because, no pope is going to tell her what to do.

"You should try our church! Our Pastor teaches straight out of the Bible and, teaches us how to apply what we've learned in our life!" We also have great groups where you can meet other people, like our Heritage group. They also do fun events and go on trips together. She then asked me what the dress code was :) I told her too how great it is that we can pray to God without having to go through a priest, that we can have a relationship with Jesus! I was really hoping that she'd ask more questions about that too!!! By then, Christian had started melting down after a long 2 1/2 hours of shopping...

I didn't have a Compass pen or flyer BUT, she gave me her phone # so I could call her and give her the specific information! We live blocks away from each other too.

Today, I called and gave her all the churches info. I got her email address also and sent her an email :) I asked if she'd want to go tomorrow...well I might try it, not tomorrow but maybe someday.

Yesterday, she seemed so eager to get involved, to go to church! Today when I called, she sounded hesitant, procrastinating almost, I might go someday and said it's hard for her to get around (she has some sort of a walking handicap and was riding a Target cart when we met). I didn't want to sound pushy but did volunteer to give her a ride to church too if she'll just call me :)

Why can't I speak up more? I got my Partners Umbrella chapter out, my Bible ready to go, I'd prayed before calling her...what keeps me from speaking out!? I left my phone conversation with, I hope to talk to you again soon! I pray she comes, I pray she calls or emails me...I wonder should I call again...my heart is still beating fast!!!

Saturday, October 25, 2008

DBR

2 Thessalonians 3
Jeremiah 49
Jeremiah 50

2 Thessalonians-
Lord, let us continue in this present age to spread your word rapidly! (vs 1) We thank you that you are faithful and will protect us from the evil one. (2)

God, help us take heed to the warning of idleness that's listed three times in this passage (vs 6, 7, and 13)! Help us to never tire of doing what is right. (vs 13) Let our church stay busy serving you!

Jeremiah-
You are so powerful and capable of mass destruction! "the earth will tremble, their cry will resound to the Red Sea." 21 "I will scatter to the winds those who are in distant places and will bring disaster on them from every side" declares the Lord (vs 32)

Lord let us be filled with sorrow for the sins we have committed. Sin grieves you, it angers you! "the people of Judah and the people of Judah together will go in tears to seek the LORD their God." (4-6). "They will ask the way to Zion and turn their faces toward it. They will come and bind themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten." (vs 5)

God, convict us of our sins and help us commit our lives fully to you!

"My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray and caused them to roam on the mountains. They wandered over mountain and hill and forgot their own resting place." (vs 6)

Thank you God for sending your son, the Good Shepherd to pay the penalty of our sin! I praise you that we are no longer lost sheep! Help us follow our leaders, give them wisdom to guide us Lord so we may never wander!

...defied the LORD, the Holy One of Israel (vs 29). "See, I am against you, O arrogant one," declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty, "for your day has come, the time for you to be punished. The arrogant one will stumble and fall and no one will help her up; I will kindle a fire in her towns that will consume all who are around her." (vs 31 & 32).

We see from this passage that the arrogant one will stumble and be punished! Keep us humble Lord, remembering that you sacrificed your son to save us from sin. Keep us from being arrogant and from defying you!

Friday, October 24, 2008

DBR

2 Thessalonians 2
Jeremiah 47
Jeremiah 48
* RED text indicates the passages read from the Daily Bible Reading passage 
2 Thess. 2:8- “And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.”
How powerful is our God that with the breath of his mouth he destroys evil???

This passage helps warn against false prophets and tells us that people are perishing
“because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.” vs 10
People who don’t believe in Christ and refuse Him as Savior
“will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.”  vs 12
Let us not exchange truth for lies and let us not delight in evil and wickedness so we won’t be condemned. Let us fix our eyes continually on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2) and stand firm (vs 15)!

Reading through this passage of Jeremiah just made me so sad, some of the verses brought me to tears.  God is angry at the Moabites for not obeying Him and has set out to destroy them. You picture your family…

Jeremiah 47:3 “Fathers will not turn to help their children; their hands will hang limp. Jeremiah 48:4. “little ones will cry out”. Death and destruction is all around and our children are crying out for help and we’re unable to save them. Vs. 46 your sons are taken into exile and your daughters into captivity.

How imperative it is for us to teach our children how to be saved!!! One day there will be a day of judgement and we want our children to stand with us in safety!

"vs7 Since you trust in your deeds and riches" My version (NASB) says verse 7, “because of your trust in your own achievements and treasures, even you yourself will be captured”.

May we never be cocky or arrogant or prideful, but instead be humble, desiring knowledge and wisdom from God!

29 “We have heard of Moab’s pride— her overweening pride and conceit, her pride and arrogance and the haughtiness of her heart.

30 I know her insolence but it is futile,” declares the LORD, “and her boasts accomplish nothing.

Let's respond correctly!
James 4:6 “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble”

Proverbs 16:18-19 “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling. It is better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.”

Vs 8. “The destroyer will come against every town, and not a town will escape. The valley will be ruined and the plateau destroyed, because the LORD has spoken.” 

Our God is a just God and there will be punishment for sins committed. Thank the Lord for Christ who’s our redeemer, who saves us from death, who paid for our sin!!

The day of judgement is coming! Christ will return! Are you ready???

Witnessing Opportunities- Part 2

We went to Target and passed out some more flyers!

There are three women Abby and I talked with! The first woman is new to the area and has twin 20 month olds! Her family has been looking for a church to attend and had heard of Compass when I gave her the flyer! She said they wanted to try out! Compass has so much to offer, we were able to chat about WBS, Thrive, Theology Proper and how we proclaim a Biblical Gospel through reading through the Bible and applying it to our life!

The second woman, we gave her a flyer and she said, "oh we have plans that night". As she went to hand it back (Abby had given it to her, much harder to say no to a two year old!) I said, well if you're not able to make it that night, maybe you'll check out our church, there's lots of info on our flyer! Thinking back to my earlier post this morning, I wrote that people who refuse flyers are the people who might need a flyer the most! I was hoping this would lead to further discussion.....it turns out she goes to Calvary Chapel. Anyhow, that got us to talking about how we're working on being BOLD for Christ :)

The third woman, we talked twice throughout the store. It turns out she and Abby were born on the SAME day! She said she was interested in the Fall Fest and, I gave her my # and email hoping to do a play date where we can talk more!!!

I wrote to our Facebook friend asking for tips too! :) I shared this last night with our group...my friend who's such a great witness and shared with the fed ex man. Our fed ex man came to the door and I couldn't think of a way to converse with him about the Gospel! My mind went BLANK, searching forever to try and come up with a sentence! Usually it's "sign here?. thank you!" How do I work God into conversation? Same thing with the checkers at the stores!!!

Well, I'm off to clean house after a fun morning of trying to be BOLD!

Witnessing opportunities

Our study in Thrive last night had us discussing what hinders us from sharing about God. We were encouraged to write down why we don't proclaim God everywhere we go and to write scripture verses to refute it!

I wrote two answers:

First, I make up an excuse that I really don't know any non-Christians :) And, the non-Christians that I do know, I'm afraid of how they'd react! I also said that there aren't really any opportunities for me to share the gospel!

A few verses that came to mind to refute my excuses were-
John 12:43  "for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God"

Psalm 56:4b "In God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid.  What can mere man do to me?"
I need to make sure I care more about what GOD thinks than what others may think of me for proclaiming Him.

Matthew 10:33  "Whoever shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven."

Even living in conservative Orange County, there are families here who are unchurched and need God in their lives!  

Matthew 9:37  "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few"
 
This morning, we were COMPLETELY out of milk. Before exiting the car, the kids and I prayed for witnessing opportunities. Abby just so happened to be wearing her Compass shirt too ;) We brought Fall Fest flyers and 2 out of 3 people were very excited about it! In fact, one lady said she'd attended the Eggstravaganza (our Easter outreach) hosted by Compass Bible Church.

The last woman I approached said she had plans the evening of the event. I started to say, oh, it's hosted by Compass Bible Church...and she said well, thanks for the info and walked away. My mind started thinking, this woman probably needs to hear the gospel! She walked away when I brought up church...aren't the people who refuse our flyers probably the people we need to speak with the most???

I have one friend who, whenever I read her facebook status, it always says something like "just shared Christ with the Fed Ex guy" just "invited the grocery store worker to church Sunday". I want to be BOLD for Christ like that and equipped with the words to help lead others to repentance and faith! I'm going to write that friend later today for advice to see what words to speak to help lead in to conversation about God! I'm just at such a loss for words!

Three years ago, I couldn't picture myself even handing out a flyer to a church event. I then started going with groups of other women to pass out flyers and now, the kids and I go out on our own to find families we can invite to church!

I want to look back at this present time in my life in a few years and say, back then, I didn't know how to talk to people about Christ, I only invited them to church! I want my goal to be that I'm able to talk to everyone I meet about God, His love for us and how He sent His son to pay the penalty for my sin.

I've got my Umbrella method bracelet on and the kids and I are going out to pass out more flyers this AM! Praying for boldness!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

A New Site!

Hi friends and family!
I've decided to start blogging about the the things I'm learning and reading about! This blog will not replace my family blog with photos and updates of the children. I don't write in a journal but thought what a great thing an online blog would be! It saves them for me too so I can go back and reference them anytime! Thanks Chiara for suggesting it in WBS!

As I read through the Bible, do our Thrive homework and messages, as I go through Partners again, attend Sundays message or find something in our Women's Bible study or from a book I'm reading that really jumps out at me, I hope to write about it on my blog so I can remind myself again and again and again!

I named this site Millsap Marvel because, the definition of Marvel is "to be filled with wonder, admiration, or astonishment, as at something surprising or extraordinary
a wonderful thing; to wonder or be curious about :) Psalm 86:10 "For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God." These are just my own personal thoughts and notes on different topics :) Feel free to read and comment!

Psalm 9 talks about the greatness of God, how we should be in constant awe and astonishment of who He is and what He has done for us! May we never forget! Psalm 8: 3 and 9When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Our first message at WBS, our teacher spoke about keeping a "WOW" book, things in the Bible that just make you say WOW God, and what a great thing it would be to write them down and then pass along to our children!

So, here we begin....

DBR

Daily Bible Reading- 2 Thessalonians 1 Jeremiah 45 Jeremiah 46

I try to daily go to www.compassbiblechurch.org where they post the "Daily Bible Reading" for the day. Here are my comments on the passage.

Rebecca Millsap Says:

God, help our church to model the Thessalonian church. Your faith is growing more and more and love for each other is increasing. We want to be able to persevere DURING persecutions and trails. What a great introductory chapter. May we be counted worthy of the kingdom of God. (5) We thank you God for being a just God (6), knowing that those who wrong you, or wrong us, will be punished in your timing (8).

Jeremiah 45:4-
Help us Lord not to disobey your commands. Verse 7 shows that despite God’s warning, they entered Egypt in disobedience to the Lord. God said in chapter 42:13-18 He commanded them not to enter Egypt or He would destroy them, by fire, by pestilence, by famine.

Help us God to take heed to your warnings, to stop, listen and obey! 46:4-5 says, that prophets told them not to do these detestable things but they did not listen, pay attention or turn from their wickedness.

It angers God when we make anything an idol over Him and worship things created instead of our creator! Let’s continually remind ourselves again and again and again to check our lives for anything we may be placing in front of God!

What defiance in verse 15, the Jews said to Jeremiah the profit “we will not listen to the message you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD.” Woa.