Andrew Murray
And God Created Woman
Difference between Anabaptists and Evangelicals
Mysteries of the Kingdom of God
Anabaptist
Voice
Newsletters
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Sermons by Eli Hofer
03/14/01
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The Writings of Ulrich Stadler
Volume 1
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The Anabaptist Voice
10/29/2008
Dear
friend,
How are you? We pray you are well by looking to our wonderful Father up
above. The weather in Tucson is wonderful. At 10:50 am this morning the
temperature was 75 degrees.
Our family is doing well. Last night, we talked with our oldest son
Mike. Don told him that he has the best wife in the world and Mike replied,
“No, I have the best wife in the world.” It was wonderful to hear that.
Our second son Patrick and his family are schedule to come to visit us at
the end of December. They are a happy family and we cannot wait to see them.
Our third son David is going to school on Saturdays to improve his
computer programming skills, and our fourth son Jim is working hard on writing
his new book to be titled “Inner Excellence” to be published by McGraw Hill.
Thank you, Lord for all the blessings You are pouring over us.
Don and Michi are doing well. God made them one and they need each
other, especially for the Anabaptist songbook that Michi is working on. She is
so glad that Don can do so many things she cannot do.
Our daughter Naomi 
went
to the Gastroenterologist last Monday, and she is scheduled to have EGD (Esophago
– Gastro – Duodenoscopy) test on November 5 to see if her ulcer is healed.
Tuesday, Naomi went to visit her dear friends Mary Matchin and Donna
Davis. Michi took her, and while she was there, Donna said, “I feel the end of
the world is getting near.” Michi
told her
about her urgent concern for her brothers. Donna and Michi prayed for her loved
ones that the Lord would open their eyes to see the truth and accept His love.
Even though Jesus died for our sins, if we
do not accept and receive his love, His death would be wasted.
Donna told Michi
that
she
had received a word from the Lord, and it was from Acts 16:31 “Believe
in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” This is
amazing as Don also received that same word from the Lord when he was
born again. Praise God.
We learned that our dear friend Dawn Rita Morris fell and broke her leg.
We pray for her quick healing. God has done many miracles in her life. She was
healed of the cancer and more.
Missionary in India
At the Special Touch camp last summer for disabled people that Naomi
attended one of the speakers was a disabled missionary named Kerry Mauldin. He
sends us almost daily reports of his traveling through the villages of India,
praying for people, helping the poor villagers financially and leading people to
Christ. Above is a picture of Kerry giving Bibles to people in India. On
October 24 his report says “Meanwhile at another house, a girl was brought who
has been deaf-mute since birth... Prayer given and this girl fell back with
such shock and joy as she could now hear. The joy on her face speaking so
ecstatic. God shows His love and power in a way so the whole village will
respond!!!”
Cancer
Awareness Walk
On Sunday, October 26, as we drove down 1st Avenue in Tucson
about 9:45 am on our way to the Vineyard church meeting we encountered a huge
crowd of people walking together along the street. We learned that these
people, thousands of them, were on a three mile walk to help the American Cancer
Society raise money to fight cancer. It was an amazing sight to see such a
large number of people striding down the street. The walk began at 8 am at the
Rillito Downs Park and made a three mile circle back to the park. Above is a
picture of this walk.
Last week we attended the Vineyard Wednesday evening meeting at the home
of Elizabeth Willott, a biology teacher at the University of Arizona. They are
going through the Sermon on the Mount and were on Matthew 5:9 “Blessed
are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.”
For that they had a test written by a Mennonite teacher from the Fresno Pacific
University titled “How Do I Respond to Conflict?” which we all took. It was
very informative about handling personal conflicts.
This week on Wednesday evening we were on Matthew 5:10-12 about handling
persecution. This is of special interest to Don because of his recent conflicts
with the leaders of the CDO church and their persecution of him for not
accepting their view of salvation.
Honor Your Father and Your Mother
Our daily Bible study for Wednesday had a teaching by the Lord Jesus
(Matthew 15:1-9) on honoring your father and your mother, one of the Ten
Commandments. Here Jesus is teaching us that honoring your father and mother
includes helping them with their needs. And in Matthew 19:19 the Lord says that
honoring your father and mother is one of the requirements for salvation.
Eternal Life
It appears that we all are due to live eternally, either in heaven or in
hell, after our brief life here on earth. Jesus taught that the righteous will
live in eternal joy in the kingdom of God while the unrighteous will be in the
lake of fire where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Mt 8:12,
13:42, 13:50, 22:13, 24:51, 25:30, Luke 13:28)
Who are the righteous that will live in eternal joy? We would all like
to be that, wouldn’t we? So let’s look at that a bit. The Greek word in the
Bible that is translated righteous is “dikaios” which means a person who lives
according to the commands and teachings of Jesus and His apostles as given in
the New Testament. Such a person is right with God. Only such people are
accepted into the kingdom of God as we can see in Matthew 7:21 and many other
verses through the whole Bible. On Wednesday after our noon meal we read a
chapter from the Book of Psalms, as is our custom. We read Psalm 119 which is
quite appropriate:
1.
Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the
Lord.
2. Blessed are they who keep His statutes and seek Him with all their heart.
3. They do nothing wrong; they walk in His ways.
4. The Lord has laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed.
Three Requirements for Eternal Life Given by Jesus
In the gospel of Luke 14:25, 26, 33 we read of three requirements for
eternal life given by Jesus:
1.“If anyone comes to me and loves his father,
mother, wife, children, brothers and sisters,- yes, even his own life - more
than Me, he cannot be My disciple.”
2. “Anyone who does not carry his cross
and follow Me cannot be My disciple.”
3. “Anyone who does not give up all of his
possessions cannot be My disciple.”
Jim and Don are reading a book titled “Renovation Of The Heart” by
Dallas Willard. He writes on page 68: “The self-denial of Matthew 16:24 and
elsewhere in the Gospels is always the surrender of a lesser, dying self for a
greater eternal one – the person God intended in creating you. Confidence in
this is the occasion of “greatly rejoicing, with joy unspeakable and full of
glory” (1 Peter 1:8)… To take Him [Jesus] as our master means that we trust His
way is right and, as He himself did, always look to the larger good under God.
Like Him we keep on entrusting ourselves to the One who judges righteously. (1
Peter 2:23).”
Jesus said, “Why do you call Me, Lord, Lord,
and not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46, Mt 7:21) It seems that many
teachers now and in the past, try to lead people astray by telling them that we
are not under the law, that we are saved by grace. So by implication, obedience
to the commands of Jesus is not required. To see how common this belief is,
just notice how many people disregard the command of Jesus not to store up
wealth on earth. (Mt 6:19)
We pray that out of His glorious riches the
Lord God may strengthen you, dear friend, with power through his Spirit in your
inner being, with Christ dwelling in your hearts through faith. (Eph. 3:16-17)
Your brother and sisters in Christ,
Don, Michi and Naomi Murphy
Tucson, AZ
phone 520-297-1639
www.AnabaptistChurch.org
"This is how we love God - by obeying His commands. And His commands are not
burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory
that has overcome the world - our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world?
He who honors Jesus as the Son of God." (1 John 5:3-5)
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