The Anabaptist Voice 06

     Grace and peace to you from God the Father and Christ Jesus, our Savior. We pray you are well under the love of our wonderful Almighty God the Father.
     We are having beautiful sunny days. Flowers are so beautiful and there are no clouds in the sky and it is such a beautiful blue color showing us the love and the power of our Heavenly Father. We have had no rain for months. Consequently in eastern Arizona there are huge forest fires.
     It is getting rather hot here, in the 90s, but we stay in the house, and enjoy the beautiful flowers.     We are all fine. Don is busy writing a book these days, and Michi is working with the songbooks.Naomi has been writing poems for Michi to put to music. God gave her a special gift. Her first song was in 1995 titled “Speak to me, Lord”. Naomi has been writing more and we are blessed. She just gave Michi another song to put to music.
     We had a wonderful three hour meeting yesterday with BJ and Anita Hauri. They are licensed in Arizona to have an Adult Developmental Home which is a state supported family home that provides support to up to three adults who have a developmental disability and need some level of support. They currently have three disabled people in their home and one is moving out on Monday so they are open to accept Naomi to live with them. We expect Naomi to move there as soon as the state agrees that she can, which may be next week. BJ and Anita are wonderful Christians and we were very happy to meet them. Naomi will be happy and blessed there. They were members of the Jesus People movement in the 1970s and spent five years as missionaries in Sweden. We hope to spend more time with them as they are very close to us spiritually. They were a surprising joy to meet!
     Don experienced God’s love yesterday. The Internet was not working on his computer, but it was on Michi’s and so Don spent much of the morning trying to fix it, without result. Then after our guests left yesterday he went back to the computer and the Internet was working normally! Praise God!
     Don has decided to slowly close our medical billing software business and as of the first of this month, no longer accepting annual support fees or selling to new users. This means that we will have to drastically reduce our expenses, such as monthly charity donations and feeding the hundreds of birds in our back yard. Many of our users have been using our software for 15, 20 years so we will continue to support them without charge as long as we can.

a brother and sisters in Christ,

Don, Michi, Naomi Murphy
Tucson, AZ
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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How Beautiful Heaven Must Be
by Don Murphy 06/08/2011

     How beautiful Heaven must be, Sweet home of the happy and free; Fair haven of rest for the weary, How beautiful Heaven must be.
     The beauty of Heaven became real for me when I was born again in 1975 while in a hospital in Seattle with an injured back. When I opened my heart to Jesus, I was overwhelmed with the sense of joy, the wonders of His love and power.
     It is written: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man, the things that God has prepared for them that love Him. (1 Corinthians 2:9)
     The Kingdom of Heaven is such a wonderful, beautiful place, full of peace, joy and love, more than we have ever experienced before. It is such an attractive place that a person will give up everything to be there.
     Jesus described it like this: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” (Matthew 13:44)
     As I became more aware of the Kingdom of God, I began to truly realize that it really was a wonderful place of “peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 14:17)

Heaven On Earth

     In order to be in Heaven eternally, we must first be in Heaven, the Kingdom of Heaven, while here on earth. We must see and experience that wonderful place of peace, joy and love that has been prepared for us and is available right now for those who are willing to exchange their worldly life for a heavenly life while here on earth.
     Look what the Psalms say about the Heaven on earth:
     You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. (Psalm 16:11)
     You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy. (Psalm 30:11)
     Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. (Psalm 95:1)

Joy

     The word joy (Greek chara) is in the Bible 242 times. Jesus mentioned it many times.
     “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” (John 15:11)
     “your grief will be turned into joy.” (John 16:20)
     “your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.” (John 16:22)
     “ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.” (John 16:24)
     “that they may have My joy made full.” (John 17:13)

Grace

     A Greek word derived from chara (translated as joy) is charis which is in the Bible 121 times and is usually translated as ‘grace’ and means ‘kindness, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness’. Here are some of the verses:
     We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved. (Acts 15:11)
     All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:15-18)
     It is by grace you have been saved. (Ephesians 2:5, 8)
     Some people take ‘grace’ to mean ‘unmerited favor’ but it would be more understandable if we translate Acts 15:11 as ‘We believe it is because of the kindness, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, and loveliness of our Lord Jesus that we are saved.’ Jesus is our joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm and lovely.

The Joy Of The Lord Is Our Strength

     When I have the joy of the Lord within me then all of my worldly problems grow dim. I may have tribulations while in this world but I can be full of joy when immersed in the Kingdom of God.
     This message of the joy of the Lord is throughout the Bible. A wonderful teaching on this subject by the Lord Jesus is in His parable of the Vine and the Branches in John 15:1-17.
     When we are abiding in Christ, we have His joy within us and we can rest in His love and care. Jesus said, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” (John 15:11)
     In order to abide in Christ, in order to have His joy within us, we must deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow the teachings and commands of Christ. (Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23)
     The apostle John puts it this way: “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.   For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.” (1 John 2:15-17)
     When we have stress or depression, we know that we have separated ourselves from the Kingdom of God, from the love and care of our wonderful friend, the Lord Jesus. Go back! Go back to Him!
     Jesus teaches His followers to remain in Him. We are to take up permanent residence in Him, remaining attached to Him at all times, like the branch is attached to the vine. He is to be our source of Life. We must look to Jesus, be aware of His presence in our lives, be awake to His love for us. When we do this continually, we are immersed in His Spirit, lost in His love.
     If God is present in all places at all times, which is what the Bible teaches, then God is part of our surroundings each and every moment – or as the apostle Paul says, “In Him we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:28) The question is, Are we aware of God surrounding us? Are we awake or asleep to God’s presence?
     We are to stay awake to God’s presence and discover for ourselves why this is the most important discipline we could ever practice. We must learn that the only thing that is real is this present moment, and the only thing that matters is waking up to God’s presence – now. Be aware that God is closer to you than the air you breathe. As we practice becoming awake to God’s presence, we grow closer to Him and experience more of the joy of Heaven while here on earth, even in times of trials.
     How beautiful Heaven must be, Sweet home of the happy and free; Fair haven of rest for the weary, How beautiful Heaven must be.

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