WHY NOT THE BEST?
As you may be aware, Jimmy Carter, one of our former presidents has been a very religious man and he has exemplified his religious views in thoughts, words and deeds. In his autobiography, ‘WHY NOT THE BEST?’ he shares an incident that opened his eyes to work harder for the Lord. Each year the congregation of Plains Baptist Church holds a one-week revival service. In preparation for the week, the leaders of the congregation would go into the community inviting non-churched members to come to their revival worship services. As a deacon, Carter always participated in this exercise by visiting a few homes, reading the Scripture, praying with the family, sharing some religious beliefs, and then he would talk about the weather and crops and depart. Carter writes in his book: "I was always proud enough of this effort to retain a clear conscience throughout the remainder of the year."
One day Carter was asked to speak at a church in Preston, Georgia. The topic he was assigned was "Christian Witnessing." As Carter sat in his study writing the speech, he decided he would make a great impression upon the audience by sharing with them how many home visits he made for God. He figured in the fourteen years since returning from the Navy he had conducted 140 visits. Carter proudly wrote the number in his script. As Carter sat there, he began to reflect on the 1966 governor's election. As he campaigned for the state's highest office, he spent sixteen to eighteen hours a day trying to reach as many voters as possible. At the conclusion of the campaign Carter calculated that he met more than 300,000 Georgians. Sitting in his study the truth hit him. Carter wrote in his autobiography, "The comparison struck me - 300,000 visits for myself in three months and 140 visits for God in fourteen years!"
On May 27th we celebrate the Day of Pentecost, the day when the Holy Spirit descended on all those disciples of Jesus who were hiding in a room in Jerusalem, afraid to come out and speak openly about their resurrected and ascended Lord in public. But something strange, shocking and explosive, happened. The Holy Spirit descended upon each of those shy disciples in the form of a fiery tongue and transformed their lives beyond belief. Filled with the Spirit, they came out of their hiding and facing a large crowd gathered on the street, they communicated the good news of Jesus Christ in different languages which the disciples did not even know. Because of their witnessing, that day alone about 3,000 people accepted Jesus as their savior and were baptized.
People of God, how about you? President Carter says he has made 140 visits in fourteen years. The disciples of Jesus touched and changed the lives of 3,000 people in one day. As a disciple of Jesus, how many lives have you touched and changed since you became a Christian? You know that the same Holy Spirit that descended on those first disciples also resides in you since the time you were baptized. During this month of May, as we celebrate the Day of Pentecost and trusting in the gift of the Holy Spirit, how about each one of us reach out to one person whom we care about and bring them to the Lord either by inviting them to come to worship service or faithfully praying for them every day? If each one of us brought one, then all our empty pews would be filled with live bodies on Sundays. Can you imagine that picture in your mind? You think you can take this challenge – go ahead, I dare you!
Sincerely,
Pastor Esther Rajashekar
MOTHERS’ DAY
May 13th is celebrated as Mothers’ Day here at Redeemer. We will have one worship service at 9:30am and it will be led by the children of Redeemer. All women will receive a gift from the Evangelism Committee after each worship service. There will be a Social hour after the worship service to celebrate Mothers’ Day. Bring your mothers and grandmothers to worship service on May 13th!