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SBM's End-of-Week
Encouragement:
"Hope"
Have a Blessed Weekend
All!
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| SBM's Weekly
Ministry Roundup |
 Dear ,
What a blessed week it has been as
two more individuals struggling with
homosexuality have reached out to SBM for help! The
Lord is mightily at work and we are so excited to see what the Lord
is doing!
I apologize for the delay of this week's
e-mail as yesterday Stephen, myself, our two children and our new
Chinese Exchange Student took a much needed family day/trip to
The Big E in Massachusetts. I thank God
that we spent the the entire day enjoying our family, food and fun
at a beautiful fall fair. Sometimes we all need a break like
that!
I pray you will be blessed by this week's
encouragement article titled "Hope." We
would appreciate your comments, input and participation on this
article over at my blog at SBM.
Please be sure to click on the link, read the article and share
your thoughts!
As always, your prayers and financial support of this very
unique ministry reaching the homosexual for Jesus Christ is greatly
needed and appreciated. Please click here to make a much
needed financial gift at this time.
Have a wonderful,
blessed and relaxing weekend in the goodness of our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ! Stephen, myself and the SBM Ministry team
love and appreciate you all!
Much love in
Christ,
Irene J.
Bennett
Co-Director and Founder,
SBM
P.O. Box 2095, Huntington, CT
06484-1095
Nationwide Toll-Free
1-800-832-3623
1 Corinthians 6:9-11, 2
Corinthians 5:17
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last 10 years! Watch Stephen and Irene on CNN, Fox News, The
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You may remember studying about
the German philosopher Frederick
Nietzsche sometime in your years in high school or
college. He is most known for devising the "Death of God"
philosophy.
Frederick believed that
society's interest in God was dead. He sought to persuade everyone
that we are the masters of our own future, not a distant God
somewhere. However, one thing Nietzsche did acknowledge was that in
removing God from our lives, people would be removing their source
of comfort and peace. Perhaps Nietzsche himself lacked that comfort
and peace in his own life, as he tragically went insane and spent
the last 12 years of his life in an asylum cared for by his
Christian mother.
This anti-God philosopher also
believed that after society embraced the idea that "God was dead" a
ruler would come to power in His place. Indeed, years after
Nietzsche's death, an admirer of his did in fact rise up to lead
the people. His name wasAdolf
Hitler.
Another
interesting figure in history is Edgar Allen
Poe. He is considered to be one of America's great
writers.
History does not show
evidence of him being a religious man. Poe's parents died when he
was very young and he was raised by a very wealthy family. He was
extremely talented. However his writings were very macabre and
melancholic.
When his wife died, Edgar Allen
Poe wrote one of his best known poems The Raven. Here is a bit of
the poem:
"And the raven, never flitting,
still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is
dreaming,
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the
floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the
floor.
Shall be lifted -
nevermore!"
The word nevermore is repeated
throughout the piece; in fact the whole poem shows evidence of a
writer whose heart is without hope.
Now let's contrast Poe's poem
with a poem by Virgil Brock - a Christian
man and hymn writer. He wrote this poem as he contemplated loved
ones who had passed on before him.
"Beyond the sunset, O glad
reunion,
With our dear loved ones who've gone before;
In that fair homeland we'll know no parting,
Beyond the sunset, forevermore!"
There is a great blessing and
promise that we as Christians have that the world doesn't have -
and that is hope. Lack of hope is why one poet ends his piece with
"nevermore," while hope compels the other writer to end his with
"forevermore."
Hope comes from the Lord and is
an assurance - not just wishful thinking. Hope is what separates
believers and none believers. We have an assurance that our sins
are forgiven and we have an eternal home in heaven. Once we become
sons and daughters of The King, we can rest assured that our
Heavenly Father is in control of our lives, watching over us and
guiding us as we daily submit to Him.
Hope is also what we have in every
situation and in every prayer.
The second part of 1
Corinthians 9:10 says "For our sakes, no doubt, this is
written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes
in hope should be partaker of his hope."
So the work we do for our
prodigals to come home, whether it is prayer, fasting, preparing a
meal for them, or giving them an encouraging word, should all be
done with hope. God wants us to live life in hopeful expectation,
because The Lord is able to do even what we deem impossible!
Remember:
NO situation, person, or prodigal
is beyond hope! When we hope in God, we demonstrate our faith and
God is pleased. The bible says "Without faith it is impossible
to please God." So we continually place our faith and hope in
Him!
Hope also calms the storms of
the heart and life, and blesses us with peace and rest. Hope
overcomes worry and fear and gives us something good to look
forward too.
Romans 15:13 says
"Now the God of hope fill you
with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope,
through the power of the Holy Ghost."
Hope is good and powerful and
the Holy Spirit living within you releases that power. The hope we
are blessed with is not of ourselves, it is supernatural because it
comes from God.
Cling to hope - in doing so we
grow in faith, grow closer to the Lord and grow closer to seeing
that beautiful day our prodigal comes home!
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SBM
would love for you to COMMENT and share your input on Irene's blog post "Hope."
Come on over to the SBM Blogs now and share your thoughts and
insight by clicking
here!
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SBM
is a evangelistic and educational Christian organization dedicated
to reaching the homosexual man and woman with the gospel of Jesus
Christ. SBM also provides biblical support for individuals
struggling with unwanted homosexuality, as well as provides support
for parents, spouses, family members and friends. SBM was
established in 2000 by Stephen Bennett, a former homosexual man who
is a Christian evangelist. For more information on SBM, please go
online to www.SBMinistries.org.
SBM
Worldwide
P.O. Box 2095
Huntington, Connecticut 06484-1095
Nationwide Toll-Free 1-800-832-3623 Tel. 203-926-6960
Your
generous financial support allows SBM to reach homosexual men and
women all across America and around the world with the life
changing, soul saving gospel of Jesus Christ! It also allows SBM to
provide support to broken-hearted parents, spouses, family members
and friends. Your gift today is greatly needed and
appreciated! Lord bless you!
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