Multi-All! - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Multi-All!

Now Think On This

Steve Martin

  

“…and he made him a varicolored tunic.” (Genesis 37:3-4, NASU)

Talk about writing some good news! The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, North Carolina) finally did it this morning on their Sunday, October 22, 2017 front page. I personally rarely read that newspaper by the way, with its anti-bent slant on most of the many things which I stand for in this life. But thanks Tim Funk. You did good.

What was the article about, filling almost a full page? How Elevation Church (Steven Furtick) is becoming more and more multi-racial, multi-cultural, and multi-generational. Multi-ALL!

Being a light to the nations has to begin with how we join with each other - to be that which we have been called to be. Joining together black, white, Jew and Gentile, to be the Body of Messiah. Why else did the Creator choose to create all kinds that He has? And no wonder there are so many Chinese! The Lord Jesus loves them so much!

When it comes to doing the right thing, the churches in our nations better be taking the lead. You want racism dealt with? Better have a multi-racial gathering Sunday mornings in your church.

Want the Millennials to gain some wisdom, especially from the Golden Oldies (like me!)? Join together in church and small group gatherings.

Looking for a place that, wow! Even Jews, Gentiles, and anyone in between (is there such a one?) celebrate life? Use our synagogues and churches as a place that all can worship the Living God of Israel together. (And no, there is no other god above Him.)

I grew up in Waterloo, Iowa. Went to a parochial Catholic high school (Columbus High). Of the 1100 students from 9^th-12^th grade, there were many 15 black kids. Racial tension was often present, with the “West Side” and the “East Side”. But I was friends with at least half of them whom I personally knew. They were good kids.

And then I married a German Lutheran 18-year old girl! (Her father's name was Otto Unzicker. Loved him and still do. See you in heaven Otto!)

(Photo: Otto with his Bethlehem Bell painting after his trip to Israel in the late 1980's.)

If we are going to be the answer to the racial tension in our cities, our schools, and even within many churches, believers have to take the lead and do what the Lord Jesus, Yeshua, commanded us to do. Love our neighbors as ourselves. And yes, my neighborhood neighbor next door is black. Single mother Tracey, her son Diesel and mom are originally from Atlanta. I have mowed their yard occasionally being she works two jobs.

Do we practice what we so often preach? Check out this photo of our band in 2001.

Steve Martin & The Raiders 2001 – white, black, Native American, male and female! 

Old and bearded too!

How about this photo above from 2013? The Ahava Love Band with Jew (Gid Anthony - guitar) black man (Ron Bowen - drums), the Islands! (Wane Daroux - bass guitar), keyboard and singers (Patty Paquette and Laurie Martin - white females) and then me. The old man!

Wane Daroux (bass guitar) - Love the smile as he looks at Ron Bowen on drums.

In order to fight the ungodly spirit of racism, the anti-Semitic overtures in many countries, and the young versus old culture that is blasted out from almost every front, believers need to be the ones to show it right, get it right, and do it right.

If you haven’t got a friend who doesn’t look like you, talk like you, eat like you, or speak like you, then maybe it is about time you get one. That is the Plan He has set forth. Hear and obey what He knows and has desired since the day His family revealed themselves to us, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Got it?

Shalom and ahava (peace and love in Hebrew).

Now think on this,

Steve Martin
Founder/President
Love For His People, Inc.




Meet some of my other friends.

Steve, Jodie Goodman, Edgar & Indira Persad.

My boss: Greek lady Eleni Saunders, former co-worker Jovanna Mozeak and myself

My friend Louie from Jaffa Gate, Jerusalem Israel. - Gift shop owner (photo May 2017)

IDF soldiers at the Friends of Zion museum in Jerusalem, Israel May 2017

Be sure to sign up for our newsletter. Use the "Sign Up" button on our website, or go here: Sign Me Up!

If these messages have ministered to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $10-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families in Israel whom we consistently help monthly through our humanitarian work. Your tax-deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

Secure, conveniently contributions can be done online now. Click here: DONATE (or use the DONATEbuttons on the blog.)

Contribution checks can be sent to:

Love For His People, Inc.
P.O. Box 414
Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)

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Now Think On This - in the Year of our Lord 10.22.17 - #325 – “Multi-All”, Sunday, 8:30 am

Watch my video I recorded that in the day on this message.
Click here: Multi-ALL

Incredible - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Incredible

Now Think On This

Steve Martin

“Men shall speak of the power of Your awesome acts, and I will tell of Your greatness.” (Psalm 145:6, NASU)

When I look into the star-filled night sky, I know one thing. God did it. Incredible.

When a Monarch butterfly glides across the tips of the park flowers, I know this. God did it.

When I consider the heartbeat of a newborn babe, being lovingly held tightly by his young mother, I am amazed at the beautiful creation of the Lord. He is Incredible.

And when I see prophecy being fulfilled right before my eyes, having been written in the Bible over 2,000 years ago, that the Living God of Israel would return His chosen people the Jews, from all the nations, to their Promised Land after being exiled, I know I serve an incredible God. He is doing it as He promised. This too is most incredible.

“For on my holy mountain, the high mountain of Israel, I, God, the Master, tell you that the entire people of Israel will worship me. I'll receive them there with open arms. I'll demand your best gifts and offerings, all your holy sacrifices.

What's more, I'll receive you as the best kind of offerings when I bring you back from all the lands and countries in which you've been scattered. I'll demonstrate in the eyes of the world that I am The Holy.

When I return you to the land of Israel, the land that I solemnly promised with upraised arm to give to your parents, you'll realize that I am God.” (Ezekiel 20:40-42, THE MESSAGE)

The Jews are going home. They are making aliyah (immigrating) from each and every nation on this planet, just as their God and mine promised He would have them do in fulfillment of His eternal Word. 

Yes, He is an Incredible God!

Shalom and ahava (peace and love in Hebrew).

Now think on this,

  

Steve Martin

Founder/President

Love For His People, Inc.

Love For His People is doing our part to assist Jews in returning home. More to come later.

P.S. Be sure to sign up for our newsletter. Use the "Sign Up" button on our website, or go here: Sign Me Up!

If these messages have ministered to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $10-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families in Israel whom we consistently help monthly through our humanitarian work. Your tax-deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

  

Secure, conveniently contributions can be done online now. Click here: DONATE 

(or use the DONATE buttons on the side columns of the website.)

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

Love For His People, Inc. 

P.O. Box 414   

Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.) 

Please share Now Think On This with your friends on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and LinkedIn.  We appreciate your help.

Now Think On This - in the Year of our Lord 10.20.17 - #324  – “Incredible” Friday, 6:05 am

The Unexpected - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

The Unexpected

Now Think On This

Steve Martin

  

“Even if I pass through death-dark ravines, I will fear no disaster; for you are with me; your rod and staff reassure me.” (Psalm 23:4, Complete Jewish Bible)

Fear suddenly comes upon you. Your stomach churns as if you had just been punched in the gut. Panic wants to overtake you. Your head spins, looking for a quick solution to get you out of the mess you just found yourself in. What in the world are you going to do? Where can I run? Who can I call? What do you do?

You trust in the One whom you have trusted in thus far. You call on the Name of the Lord Jesus.

“For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. 'Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 'You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

'I will be found by you,' declares the Lord, 'and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,' declares the Lord, 'and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.' (Jeremiah 29:11-14, NASU)

You can believe that is true. God cannot lie.

When I woke up this morning I had just gotten a text message from a friend who is newlywed. (I keep my phone on silent when I go to bed. Smart thing to do. Derek Prince, the great Bible teacher whom I was honored to serve on his ministry staff for eight years, often said, “There are no emergencies in the kingdom of God.”) They got married in her country, went on a fantastic honeymoon in another country, but when they came back to cross over into his homeland to start their new life together, they were stopped at the border. The paperwork hadn’t been done as it was supposed to have been done. She couldn’t cross over. 

They were then told it was going to take much legal paperwork, several months, and could cost thousands of dollars. Dollars they didn’t have. Bills they never dreamed of having to be paid on the road ahead. The unexpected had just happened.

How many times have we faced challenges and circumstances when the impossible was facing us, and we didn’t know where to turn, who to call, or what to do next. We seemed frozen with fear, which itself wanted to keep us there. But that is when we need to stand on His Word – that He never leaves us, never forsakes us, never lets the enemy have the final victory.

All of us have faced these situations. A traumatic car accident; a tragic turn of events; an impossible place in our life when it looks as if we have been forsaken, forgotten about, and left standing alone. That is where and when we need to stand on His Word.

“Even if I pass through death-dark ravines, I will fear no disaster; for you are with me; your rod and staff reassure me.” (Psalm 23:4)

When these times come, we need to know in our heart, our soul, our very being that the Lord Jesus, Yeshua, is faithful to see us through whatever comes our way. Even if death itself stands at the door and says he has got us now, we must be firm in our belief, that even then, eternity with our Lord awaits us on the other side.

Whatever you face today, this week, or this month, know that He is on your side. You will not fail, you will not fall, you will not be left standing alone. The Living God of Israel has promised to never leave you nor forsake you. He will see you through.

I told my friend that on the phone. It may be a tough road ahead, but the Bible is full of examples which have been given to us to show His faithfulness towards those who believe.

Be reassured in your faith. Stand strong. He is a BIG God, and we are His.

“For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.

Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.” (2 Timothy 1:2-14, NASU)

Be at peace. For the Lord will always be your strong tower. You can run to Him and He will see you through.

Shalom and ahava (peace and love in Hebrew).

Now think on this,

Steve Martin

Founder/President

Love For His People, Inc.

P.S. Be sure to sign up for our newsletter. Use the "Sign Up" button on our website, or go here: Sign Me Up!

If these messages have ministered to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $10-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families in Israel whom we consistently help monthly through our humanitarian work. Your tax-deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

  

Secure, conveniently contributions can be done online now. Click here: DONATE 

(or use the DONATE buttons on the blog.)

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

Love For His People, Inc. 

P.O. Box 414   

Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.) 

Please share Now Think On This with your friends on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and LinkedIn.  We appreciate your help.

Now Think On This - in the Year of our Lord 10.08.17 - #323  – “The Unexpected”

Sunday, 7:07 am

Commitment - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Commitment

Now Think On This

Steve Martin

  

“Once the commitment is clear, you do what you can, not what you can't. The heart regulates the hands.” (2 Corinthians 8:12-13, THE MESSAGE)

Normally you don’t celebrate your 40^th marriage anniversary of covenant love by writing a blog post to speak of commitment. You save that for later as you speak words of cherished days, happy memories, and the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus for your good wife or husband, as the case may appropriately be. That is right and great to do!

But I want to take this very special occasion, on my good wife Laurie and my 40^th wedding anniversary this October 8, 2017, to write on that very appropriate word for such a time as this – commitment.

I believe the Lord uses people as examples. His heart is to show His committed love, grace, mercy, faithfulness, long-suffering (!) and so much more through His people. He above all is the perfect example that we must follow after, and demonstrates that through His creation!

In these days of the “anything goes” attitude, which has now become so prevalent in our American culture, and elsewhere around the world, which people have so gravely mistaken to believe, and which will prove to their own hurt - that giving one’s word and standing on it; holding fast to something that will cost you to stick to it; and living a life laid down for others and not just for yourself - are “old school” and can be cast aside.

“That was for then. This is now. We must live in an enlightened era of freedom with no restraints.” Or so many would proclaim and take to the streets to demonstrate.

Well I am here to say, “Not true!”

Without giving multitudes and multitudes of Scripture, which have stood the onslaught of lies, destruction, slashing of teeth over and utter falsehoods spoken by the proud ignorant and vastly deceived, I want to once again proclaim the eternal truths that need to be spoken loud and clear.

1.      Marriage is between a man and a woman. You can’t produce the next generation naturally any other way. That should be obvious to anyone and all.

      2.      Sex is for the committed marriage bed. Anything outside of committed love will bring sickness and the clear results that sin produces.

      3.      When you stand at the altar of marriage, you eliminate the “D” word from your vocabulary. I spoke to my good wife 40 years ago within that week of our commitment to each other that divorce would never be an option. By the Lord’s grace and mercy we have fulfilled that promised word to each other.

4.      It takes a real man and a real woman to make a promise to one another and then stick to it, come heaven or hell. A promise is to be a promise, not a “we shall see whatever will be will be” watered down attitude; nor just as “long as were are in love.”

5.      If you commit to do something, do it. If you give your word, then keep your word.

6.      The weather isn’t always to your best liking. Neither are you to one another moment of the day. But tomorrow will still come, so get through it and make it work.

7.      I am not perfect. You are not perfect. But the Lord is, and He will prove Himself faithful to keep us together for His plans and purposes to be fulfilled in our lives. He is the reason He created you and I. 
      For His good pleasure, and to share it with us and all who believe.

8.      Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. Put them on anything or anyone else and you will sink. That is Gospel truth.

I could give a hundred more, but eight reasons for holding solid onto commitment is a good number to finish with. After all, 5 x 8 = 40, which by the Lord’s numbers means much “grace” (5) and “new beginnings” (8) to get to 40, which is “tried and true”. He has tried us, and He has proven Himself TRUE!

Shalom and ahava (peace and love in Hebrew).

Now think on this,

Steve Martin

Founder/President

Love For His People, Inc.

P.S. I want to give special thanks to my Dad (Louis J. Martin, who is living in glory with His Lord and Savior), my Mom (Lila Martin Parker); Laurie's parents Otto and Lorraine Unzicker, also dancing on the streets of gold; our children Josh, Ben, Hannah, Christien and their families; and all of our extended family (especially Bob and Mary Smith of Charleston, SC (one of my five sisters) and Laurie's sister Linda and Dick Skaggs!); and the dear, good friends whom have been there along the way these 40 years of life thus far. We love you dearly!!! 

And to you Kevin Grafton, my Best Man and my best friend to this day! (Photo below...)

The Martin Family - June 2017

Kevin Grafton and Steve Martin - my Best Man and still best friend.
Photo from sometime in the past years. Maybe two decades. He would probably still beat me in tennis...

Be sure to sign up for our newsletter. 
Use the "Sign Up" button on our website, 
or go here: Sign Me Up!

If these messages have ministered to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $10-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families in Israel whom we consistently help monthly through our humanitarian work. Your tax-deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

  

Secure, conveniently contributions can be done online now. Click here: DONATE 

(or use the DONATE buttons on the blog.)

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

Love For His People, Inc. 

P.O. Box 414   

Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.) 

Please share Now Think On This with your friends on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and LinkedIn.  We appreciate your help.

Now Think On This - in the Year of our Lord 10.08.17 - #322  – “Commitment”