From Billy Graham's Decision Magazine

A Servant Heart

by Paul Rader

Before Jesus went to the cross, He gave His disciples an unforgettable lesson in love's humility. The Lord of glory, Maker of worlds, the Firstborn over all creation, bent low before ordinary men, knowing full well that within hours they would desert Him, deny Him or betray Him outright. Without fanfare He washed their feet. It was only when He had finished and had resumed His seat that He made a point of what He had done: "Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you" (John 13:14-15, NIV).

When the hatred of others bound Jesus' loving hands so that He could no longer touch the pain of the few, He stretched His bleeding form upon redemption's tree and died a ransom for the many: "Just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28, NIV). In that act of love's supreme service He called us all to a life of costly caring, "just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God" (Ephesians 5:2, NIV).

Thanks!!

Thanks to our latest July/August donors!!!

Edward and Laurie Push
Jeff and Cara Norby

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

Remember, please feel free to send our info and this blog site to others! We need all the exposure we can get! Also...can you think of ways we can further our ministry? Does your church allow speakers of ministries? Brainstorm with us if you will. We are willing to go to speaking engagements, fundraisers, etc. But, we can't do it all ourselves. We have 4 little ones that require a lot of time and attention, so your help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for all you do!!!

Trusting...a gentle reminder for all of us...

"Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10

Trust is the antidote to anxiety; it's the resolution of worry and the destruction of fear. Trust is the act of my will to give my burdens to God. It's like a muscle--as you exercise it, trust gets stronger.

Trust is walking forward moment by moment, having rolled your burden onto God. You've no doubt said, "I gave it to God once, but here it is again in my grip." When you sense that you've taken it back again, get back on your knees, get the burden back on God, get on your feet again, and continue to trust.

When you off-load your burden on God, you can pick up a promise from His Word. Second Peter 1:4 tells us that "he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world." There are literally hundreds of promises that apply to your specific burden. God's Word is filled with treasure.

I'm claiming Isaiah 41:10 right now for a burden I leaving at God's feet. "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." There it is! God is doing this whole thing with one hand tied behind His back. He's not stressed or strained. He's not worried about what to do. He has absolutely no capacity limits!

Isaiah continues, "Behold, all who are incensed against you shall be put to shame and confounded; those who strive against you shall be as nothing and shall perish. You shall seek those who contend with you, but you shall not find them; those who war against you shall be as nothing at all. For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, ‘Fear not, I am the one who helps you'" (vv. 11-13).

Take a moment to read that awesome promise again. Trust means you anchor your heart in the reality of God's awareness of your situation. He sees more than you can ever see. God, who loves you and is committed to you, will not disappoint you now or in the future if you put your weight fully on Him.

Passionately Christian

I am part of MOPs International...Mothers Of Preschoolers. We have a group at our church where I am the finance leader. I get Leader e-mails from them every week, and this one just really hit me differently and I thought you all might like to read it too. My prayer is that we can ALL be passionately Christian.

Passionately Christian
By Liz Selzer, Director of Leadership Development and Events for MOPS International

“What do you love about Jesus?” Simple words really. Margaret Feinberg, (author of The Organic God) says that this is her favorite question to ask people … whether they are Christians or not. Most people we come in contact with regardless of their religious beliefs can and usually will answer this question, and their replies might surprise you.

“He was good … powerful … peaceful … inspiring … interesting … caring … accepting … loving …”
An amazing list—surprising in that these descriptors came from people who are not Christians. What is it about Jesus that is so compelling? Why is it that so many are drawn to him, even if they reject Christians and the Christian church? Why is it that most world religions acknowledge Christ’s existence, his wisdom and impact? And why do we as Christians often dilute him into a glorified friend, a God that can be ignored if inconvenient or an impersonal deity? We are called to be passionately Christian, to show those who come in contact with us what we love about Jesus.

So what does being passionately Christian look like?
It's pushing past fatigue to make that phone call to a troubled friend.
It's telling the story of how Jesus touches our lives with such passion and joy that it literally overflows onto those around us.
It's doing what we imagine Jesus would do for those around us if he were here in the flesh.
It's rejoicing in his deep love for us, and resting in that peace. It's trusting him with all we have.
It's being loving, patient, kind, not being envious, not boasting, not being proud, not being rude, not selfish, not easily angered, keeping no record of wrongs. It is rejoicing with the truth, and always protecting, trusting, hoping, and persevering (1 Cor 13:4-7). It's showing Christ to others by loving them in all the ways we can.

Being passionately Christian is being the hands and feet of Jesus to those we are uniquely in a position to touch. So I’ll ask again now … what do you love about Jesus?

I mean the right hand side...

Ugh...it is still early for me.... :-)

Subscribe via e-mail

Hey all!! I put a new icon over to the left. It says, "Subscribe via e-mail." If you click on that, you will receive e-mail updates everytime I update the website!! Have a GREAT day!!

Tonya

New Beginning

Ugh! For a VERY long time...if you look at the dates you will see exactly HOW long...I couldn't get this blog to work...miraculously it is working again!! YEE HAW!! Praise God!! So...I need to clear a few things up. I am also going to be sending out an e-mail to explain myself. In fact, the e-mail will probably be this post verbatim! But...be checking this blog in the future for updates on a regular basis. This is our new website! Okay...I need to come before you know with honesty and let you know what has been going on and why we made the decision that we made, and how things are going into a new norm. Let's see...I guess I will start at the beginning. We decided to not continue with Youth of Ukraine due to family issues, lack of funds, etc. It wasn’t that we were giving up on the ministry…we just didn’t feel that we could give it 100% of our attention. We spoke with an organization called Shepherds Purse about 6 months ago. They thought about taking over. Nothing would change except they would take over the newsletter and helping us find funds. Jeff and I would still be on the board as well as Julia and Sergey…it just wouldn’t be JUST Youth of Ukraine anymore…instead it would be Youth of Ukraine as part of Shepherds Purse. Anyway, Shepherds Purse decided they didn’t want to take the ministry due to lack of sponsors. So, after praying and grieving, we decided we just couldn’t do it alone anymore…hence…the last newsletter we sent out. However, since then, God has truly convicted me to keep “running the race.” So, this is where everything stands now. We are still Youth of Ukraine. Shepherds Purse is rethinking their acceptance of us! We still have Julia and Sergey’s account so no change there…keep making the checks out to Youth of Ukraine and sending them to us. No website anymore, HOWEVER I FINALLY got the blog working…as I said above, so THAT will have all of the updates and news on it now. That web address is: http://youthofukraine.blogspot.com/. I will no longer be doing newsletters, I will just keep updating the blog. You can register at the side of the blog to receive e-mails everytime I update it. I will continue to raise funds as I can, please continue supporting our ministry so that Julia and Sergey can spread the Good News of Jesus to these teenagers. Just to clarify…we are not and never did STOP Youth of Ukraine…we simply took a step back, and now I see things more clearly. That is where the changes will come in. So, stop in at the blog…e-mail me if you have any questions…keep sending me your donations, and I will keep depositing for them. As a young ministry, it is having troubles taking off. I often times will tell people that the thing they are waiting for will happen in God’s timing. I simply need to take my own advice. God wasn’t saying “no”, God was simply saying, “simplify.” With everything that is happening in the world…poverty…prostitution…hunger, etc…how are people supposed to believe that God is good? WE ARE God’s plan to show people that God is good and to help them believe. When we help them, they will see the body of Christ show up and they will believe that God is good. We need to refocus our eyes on WHO God is and WHAT He wants to do. If God is passionate about getting it done, then HE is responsible for getting it done. Look at His feeding of 5,000 people!! Jesus tells us, “Give it to me.” Jesus asks us to follow Him beyond what we think we can do and we will experience Him. Recently I was able to attend the Leadership Summit through Willow Creek Church in Chicago at our church through satellite. It was truly an experience and a wake up call to me. One of the speakers said that failure is a necessity. Failure is often the first step to success. I am not saying that we failed Youth of Ukraine, but we didn’t feel we were doing what we should be doing. I have learned…been reminded…that we don’t learn things unless we fail. So, here I am…in front of you all, opening my heart. I pray that you understand our anxiousness and accept our failures, for we are only human. God has set my heart afire once again though! So lets go!! Remember…no more newsletters so check the blog for updates and news. Continue sending your donations to Jeff and Tonya Filleman, Youth of Ukraine at 6012 S. 149th St., Omaha, NE 68137. If you have questions e-mail jtfilleman@cox.net, or call us at 402-733-2369.