We had a wonderful June, one of the busiest Junes we’ve ever had. I was asked to speak to a large combined adult and teen Sunday School class at a church in NJ after a MAD Live Event the day before. I also spoke at a Father/Son Banquet in PA and completed 3 more MAD Live Events. According to the evaluation forms we received back, another 12 souls were added to the Kingdom at the MAD Live Events. Praise God! A brother in the Lord who had attended one of the MAD Live Events, was gracious to offer to do a professional MAD intro video for our website for free. We filmed it on the first Sunday in June and it’s available for viewing and sharing on our website. He and his daughter’s production company will also be recording a MAD Live Event this fall so we’ll have a DVD set available. Thanks so much to Rick and Brian for what you did for us and the Kingdom!
July has traditionally been a slow month for us and this year is no exception. However, we were blessed with some Pastoral referrals to two churches in Colorado and we have MAD Live Events booked for next month on our way to Utah for the Ultimate Adventure trip.
We continue to work to fill open dates this fall and beyond. If you can help, we would be appreciative! Our calendar is on our website.
A testimony for you:
“My husband and I went to an Italian restaurant for our anniversary, and as we were asking the waiter if he had any prayer requests before we prayed for our meal, he said he did...and then he asked if we were the couple who left a gospel of John on our table about 1 year before...we said it was likely us, and he shared that he received it, and was a believer who shared our practice with those at his church. He said he was encouraged to do the same, and encouraged those at his church to share the gospels of John in this way as well. Additionally, he didn't ask for prayer for himself, but wondered if we'd pray for the cook and other wait staff that night. We asked if he'd mind if we'd leave a gospel of John for the cook with a special message...and he said no, and that he would be sure he got it.
At a later visit to that restaurant, we discovered that the cook shared the gospel of John and our message to him on the inside front cover with the wait staff as well...we had never considered just how many people would be touched by a simple gift of God's Word...it just keeps multiplying! Isn't that just like God?? Thanks for such a helpful tool!”
JULY SCHEDULE
• July 12 - MAD Live Event - Grace Evangelical Free Church, Longmont, CO
• July 13 - MAD Live Event - Evangelical Free Church of Canon City, CO
• July 20-28 - Ultimate Adventure trip to Utah - In all, we have 14 people going on this trip of a lifetime.
PRAYER REQUESTS
• For safety as we travel and experience the planned adventures next month - driving across country and back plus the activities on our adventure trip. • There’s a possible breakthrough in regards to the opportunity to advertise in the national Christian motorcycle ministry’s monthly magazine. Please pray for victory in this opportunity. • “Fall bookings” - is a day-in and day-out struggle to get dates on the calendar. Please pray for open doors and the exposure we need so our phone begins to ring. In the meantime, I will continue to grind it out on the phone! • Please pray that we will get into larger churches and have more people attend the Live Events. We have no control over how many people attend our Events, but the average number of participants is way down this year, most likely because we have been ministering in smaller churches. Our desire is to have more of an impact for the Kingdom. • For God’s Spirit to move powerfully as we minister in the places where He opens doors
Love in Christ, Cathy and Don
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Look, it's a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it. And the bank does their part; they send you that photocopy of all the checks that you've written in the last month. And you get to compare those with what you've recorded in your checkbook. Don't you look forward to doing that? You get to participate in the necessary evil called balancing your checkbook.
Sometimes you can kick back and say, "Yep, it all adds up." But I remember a few times when it didn't. How about you? This is why I may not have as much hair as I used to. While you're pulling out your hair, you're thinking, "I'm spending an awful lot!" One college student said, "Hey, I must still have money, I still have checks!" Well, fortunately it's never been that bad for me, but I'll tell you this, "You dare not rest until your checkbook tells you exactly where you are and gives you the accurate picture." I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When Your Checkbook Doesn't Balance."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew chapter 6, and we'll begin at verse 19. "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy; where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
Let me give you kind of an up-to-date version of what I think Jesus is saying here. "Show Me your checkbook, and I'll show you your heart." See, your checkbook is a history of your life. Did you ever think of it that way? If you went back over all the checks you've ever written in your lifetime, it's kind of like there's your life. Maybe you wrote a check for your wedding expenses one day, or the funeral home when you lost a loved one, or to the doctor when you had a baby or an illness. There have been a lot of checks to the bank where you paid for that house that was your dream. Remember? Or for new clothes, or all those charges you built up-and most of that stuff is interest-new toys, your possessions, your vacations. You see, your checkbook is the history of your life. It's also a history of your heart. That's what Jesus was saying. He says your checkbook shows where your real love is; much more than saying your theology does.
So how does God say He finds out what's in our heart? Well, not by your vocabulary; not by your date book saying, "If you're really busy doing Christian things." Not by your reputation or asking all the other Christian folks. No, He says, "Show Me your checkbook." See where you're spending the biggest share of what you have. It tells you where your heart is. And for the most part, we're spending it on earth stuff. That's like putting your valuables on the Titanic. This planet, this world system is going down. Would you put your valuables on the Titanic?
See, some look at the unarguable evidence of their checkbook and finally they go, "You know what? This is out-of-balance. Not mathematically, but eternally. I'm spending way too much on earth stuff." What we spend on interest, what we spend on luxuries alone could probably pay for most of the ministry needs you've heard of in the world today.
The fact is, most of our checkbook entries point to ourselves; spending on me, spending on earth stuff. Isn't it time we balanced our checkbook in line with what will last; steadily decreasing the percentage we spend on our kingdom, and steadily increasing the amount we spend on Christ's forever kingdom?
Jesus is saying, "If I don't have your treasures, I don't have your heart." Your life could be so much more significant and so much more satisfying if you would just balance your checkbook with heaven in mind.
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