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Ready,
Willing, & Able, Inc.
Reading,
Writing, & Announcing: The Journal of Ready, Willing, &
Able, Inc.
March 1, 1997 Issue
Copyright ©1997. Ready, Willing, & Able, Inc.
All rights reserved.
News For You To Use!!!
Each article will focus on an organizational
objective from now on and additional contributors will be
included whenever their time and our printing schedule permits.
Our first issue was very well received and read throughout the
world. Every issue is read not only on the internet, but in print
as well.
We are looking forward to bringing you more and
more pleasant surprises with each issue. We will have each issue
and back issues available on the new RW & A fax-on-demand
service within the coming weeks.
Audio and video Tapes of the first public
sermon of Roney Smith entitled “Construction by
Destruction” can be obtained from RW &A. All proceeds
will be used to accomplish the objectives of Ready, Willing,
& Able, Inc. such as the publication of the newsletter.
Cassette tapes are $5 and videotapes are $10. Our address is 5936
Brookside Drive, Suite 203, Mableton, GA 30059 USA. The currency
is U.S. dollars.
Table
of Contents
Heavenly Opportunities: The Benefits are worth the
Costs
Your Mission is Your Ministry
Loose Lips Still Sink Ships
Talented Entrepreneurs in Christ (TEC)
Heavenly Opportunities: The Benefits are
worth the Costs
How do you recognize an opportunity when it is
present? Have you taken the time to realize the various
ingredients that make up an opportunity?
Many times it seems that a worldly method of
living life does not provide an opportunity to get closer to God,
His word, and His will for us. Telephones ring, television
programs appear, guests suddenly arrive, and mechanical
breakdowns with cars, appliances, and even relationships can take
their toils on our lives whenever we truly desire to understand
what God desires for us and the blessings He has already prepared
for us individually and collectively. But we must become more and
more aware of when opportunity exists for us to hear God's word
in many different forms and whenever there is an opportunity to
be a witness for Him.
Recently in the first meeting of Talented
Entrepreneurs in Christ, an opportunity arose that the Holy
Spirit easily identified. Before the meeting began, my wife
Wyteria and I were checking out the facilities and watching out
for anyone that may arrive for the meeting but did not know
either of us personally. I noticed a gentleman sitting in the
atrium of the hotel as if he was waiting for either a certain
time to arrive or someone to appear. When the time arrived for us
to begin the meeting, I noticed that the gentleman was leaving
the hotel alone. Even though it meant leaving the room quickly
and walking outside of the hotel into the cold, wintry winds, the
only thoughts that were in my head was "What if he was here
for the meeting?" Surely a person would not return for
another event if the organizers were not present themselves the
first time around.
The gentleman responding to my inquiry about why
he was there with the statement that he was supposed to have met
with a group about financing a movie to be made. Being that the
venture was entrepreneurial in nature, I asked the gentleman
whose name is Mike to attend our meeting regardless because
"there may be a reason that you may never know about".
Mike agreed, did not get into his car as he was doing, and while
the meeting was taking place, he recognized the voices of the
people he was supposed to have met. Mike left the room and
returned with the group and one of the members of the group was a
person whose face I recognized. It turned out that the familiar
face was a fraternity brother of mine and Mike himself was a
fraternity brother also. He had mentioned to Wyteria that he had
prayed to God to send someone who knew God as well since he was
new to the area. Later after the meeting, Mike mentioned to us
that he was tempted to write Jesus as the reason he attended the
meeting. At that time, we let him know the Jesus is correct
answer.
If you carefully review the above incident, you
will realize that there are indeed certain ingredients that make
up an opportunity. First of all, you must hear about something
(reach a level of understanding regarding an event, person,
place, or thing). Romans 10:17 (NIV) tells us "...faith
comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through
the word of Christ". Whenever we hear of the chance to be
somebody better than we are today, go someplace where we never
have been before, do something we have not done before, or have
something we have not held or possessed before, there is clearly
an opportunity for God's will to be done in our lives. Mike was
there because of the agreement (understanding) made to be at the
hotel at a certain time and date. The Holy Spirit gave me a level
of understanding that I should approach Mike about our meeting.
The second ingredient of an opportunity is
vision. Through your sight, you are able to recognize the things
that God has spoken to your heart which is your spirit.
"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of
things not seen" is the spiritual vision God deals with and
expects us to work to increase. As we grow older, our physical
vision will grow weaker and the prescription of eyeglasses will
not be an effective substitute for having eternity-eternity
vision that God provides for His children. Even though my
physical eyes were telling me that Mike was leaving the premises,
faith in God enabled me to go up to a complete stranger and
mention why we were there at the hotel.
A desire for the well being of others is the
third ingredient of opportunity. Having compassion for others
even though it may mean a disregard of self is what enables God's
children to seize opportunity whenever it is present. Christ
Jesus had compassion on the crowd that numbered five thousand
when he saw them without someone serving them. The little boy
whose mother had enough vision and compassion to prepare her son
a lunch had to have compassion himself that allowed him to give
what he had so that the Savior could do the rest. The event
occurs in Matthew 14:14-21, Mark 6:34-44, and Luke 9:10-17.
Even though Mike was leaving the hotel alone and
I had to go out into the cold without my coat, I knew that the
word of God was a friend to the people who sometimes feel that
they are in this world by themselves and warmth to my soul. The
news that was being shared had a greater benefit than the cost of
leaving or staying. A cost-benefit analysis is always performed
on the conscious or unconscious level in determining whether to
grab an opportunity.
The fourth and final ingredient of opportunity is
confirmation. The confirmation that was received and felt was the
fact that Mike and I had more in common after taking the time to
get to know one another. Our membership in the same fraternity,
shared interests in Christ Jesus, and the warm friendly nature of
the atmosphere surrounding us all proved to be a confirmation
that God was in control. Matthew 10:40-42 informs us that when
you welcome and accept a Child of God, then you are welcoming and
accepting the God that sent that person into your life. God will
undoubtedly let you know when you have properly seized an
opportunity for Him and His righteousness to be revealed. God's
glory will shine round about you when it occurs.
Even though there will be times when it seems
that the world and its inhabitants may desire to come face to
face with the Word of God, you should recognize this opportunity
whenever it occurs. Have cassette tapes and CDs in your car that
have either uplifting messages or songs recorded on them, take
the time to ask your unexpected guests what has Jesus done for
them lately and what they have done for Him, and ask the people
that you know and come into contact with if they have a testimony
and the reasons for the testimony or lack of one.
God has provided you with a special ministry in
your life to be a witness unto His glory and majesty. You have a
mission each day that you live and your life has a mission. Do
not fail to seize an opportunity for Christ Jesus when you
recognize the four ingredients of opportunity.
Return to the Table of Contents
Your Mission is Your Ministry
In the popular television series and movie of the
same name "Mission: Impossible", there was a mission
that was to the natural mind too overwhelming to achieve. Many
times it is very easy for us to feel that if we have a mission
here on earth, then why is it so hard to find out what it is and
simply why is it so hard? But the answers to fulfilling our
mission are so much easier to understand when we have the faith
to believe that our mission is indeed a ministry and that God
would not have given us a ministry if He were not able to give us
the power to fulfill it.
Matthew 10:1 states "And when he had called
unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean
spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and
all manner of disease" and this verse alone holds the future
for such diseases that are plaguing the world. A scientist who
believes in God is more powerful than his or her counterparts
without faith, a Child of God who recognizes the gift of healing
is more equipped to work within God's will than the deacon or
pastor who does not believe that God can heal today as His power
and might were able to do years ago, and you
yourself are more powerful today than you
were yesterday when you know and understand that God the Father
has a special mission for you to accomplish while you live each
day.
Matthew 11:25-30 will tell your spirit why it is
so hard to find out what your mission is and why life itself can
appear to be too difficult to bear. Verse 25 has Christ Jesus
thanking and praising God because God has hidden the power and
force to truly rule the world from those who are wise and careful
in their own eyes and in the eyes of man. You must come before
God humbly like unto a child if you are to be empowered to bear
witness of Him and His ways.
Verse 28 lets us know why life seems so hard at
times. It is only because the person is not close enough to God.
Give it all over to Him!!! Do not take anything upon yourself,
but to turn everything that you own, possess, or owed to (money,
cars, clothes, well wishes, problems, turmoil, worries, and
guilt) over to God!!! By going to Christ Jesus and giving Him
everything, you will find the peace that surpasses all
understanding and the sweetest rest that your physical body has
never felt before anyplace or through any other means. Anything
else is counterfeit is does not have the full value!!
God's special ministry for you is to take His
yoke (His will) upon yourself. Whenever you feel that you are
ultimately responsible for your daily existence, then surely you
will have insurmountable problems! Are you able to determine when
the sun shall rise and when the rain shall fall? Can you
determine when your employer is going to announce a downsizing
and who may be affected? NO, you can't do any of these
things, but through God you know that Greater is He that is in
you than He that is in the world!!!
Whenever you are living according to God's will
and plan for you, then you have access to His power, His kingdom,
His righteousness, and His angels!!! God's yoke is easy, your
ministry becomes easy, your days and life becomes more enriched,
and the burdens that you shall face will become as light as a
feather because you now have the authority to say "Peace, Be
still" and "Move Mountain, Get Out of My Way!"
according to Matthew 17:20-21 and Matthew 21:21. Say it with me
now---"For with God, nothing shall be impossible"!!!
Return to the Table of Contents
Loose Lips Still Sink Ships
In the last issue of this newsletter, the article "I Am
That I Am is A God of Increase" detailed how important it is
to watch the words that you say. It is just important to watch
the words you hear as well because those words will sink into
your heart (spirit) and come out of your mouth eventually. You
allow others to plant seeds into your spirit through your hearing
and you plant seeds yourself whenever you speak. Are you planting
flowers or weeds? Are you making it possible for your ship to
come in while still floating or are you trying to sink your ship
while it is in deep waters?
Mark 7:14-23 reveals where Jesus Christ, the Son of the living
God was informing the Pharisees that the words that they spoke
from within their hearts and from their mouths has the potential
to do more damage than the meats that were consumed into their
bodies. Verse 20 tells "...that which cometh out of the man,
that defileth the man".
Verse 21-23 contains "For from within, out of the heart
of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil
eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come
from within, and defile the man".
The bottom line is that you should be watching your
lips because they could be sinking your ship!!
Return to the Table of Contents
Talented
Entrepreneurs in Christ (TEC)
February 11, 1997 marked the first meeting of the Christian
economic development cooperative entitled Talented Entrepreneurs
in Christ. As the name indicates, there are two conditions that
must be met: you must have an interest in Christ Jesus and
getting to know Him better; and there must be an interest in
entrepreneurship.
TEC is a Christian economic development
cooperative with 3 objectives:
- Matthew 6:33 "But seek ye first
the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all
these things shall be added unto you";
- Develop local communities by promoting
entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs within those
communities; and
- Strengthen and support the Body of
Christ (churches and believers) within impacted
areas.
There was a wide variety of businesses and
industries represented at the first meeting. However, your
presence, your praise, and business interests are welcomed.
The meetings are open to the public and will be
held at the French Quarter Suites Hotel which is 1/2 mile north
of Cobb Galleria Centre and Cumberland Mall on Hwy 41.
You may join TEC regardless of where you live.
The memberships structure is:
- $50 per year for an Individual
membership;
- $60 per 6 months for an Entrepreneur
membership; or
- $100 per year for an Entrepreneur
membership.
There will be a newsletter and web page for TEC
in the coming weeks as well. Memberships can be made payable to
TNL Communications Corporation and in US funds.
For more information, call 404-699-2125 or send
an e-mail to TEC@tnlis.com.
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Copyright ©1997. TNL Communications Corporation
All rights reserved.
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