Sarah and Claes Ljungemyr! 

Sarah became Mrs. Claes Ljungemyr on August 19th, 2006 in Sweden!  Click this link for WEDDING PICTURES

To visit their website, click this link: Claes and Sarah

We have pictures online from her time in Scotland, India, and the Himalayas! Just click on the left side of this website or this link: Sarah's DTS

You can take a virtual tour of her school in Scotland by clicking here: SEAMILL CENTRE

Disciple All Nations - Pt. 3 
Part 3, continued from yesterday.

By Jim Stier

In his book The Rise of Christianity, sociologist Rodney Stark, writing as a neutral social scientist, attributes a large part of the triumph of the Christian faith in the Roman Empire to the different moral and ethical level that the Christians lived out in that culture. During the great plagues in 165 A.D. and again in 251 A.D., the responses of the pagan Romans and the Christians were stunningly different. Dionysius, a church father and bishop of Alexandria, relates how the Christians flocked to the city to minister to those in need, even though many of them died as a result. Meanwhile, the pagans fled, leaving their sick relatives and loved ones behind to die. This sacrificial service by Christians was so powerful that what had been seen as a tiny Jewish sect grew to become the official religion of the greatest empire on earth. Christianity also became the primary molder of ethics and moral ideals for the West. Who says we can’t change things?

Please notice that western civilization wasn’t changed because Christians took over the institutions of power, but because they awakened the conscience of an Empire. They offered a better way to live and lived out what they were offering in a graphic way.

It takes a lot of effort and money to change things in a whole nation. Does this mean that we think in terms of competing programs, where one must win and the other must lose in our allocation of manpower and resources? Our enduring tendency to polarize has also gotten into the debate on discipling nations. We hear things like, “We need to quit putting so much emphasis on the unreached and focus our limited resources more on discipling nations.” This is another false dichotomy.

In Matthew 28:18-20, we are specifically commanded to make disciples of “all nations.” How could it be otherwise? Could God want relatively good, just, and prosperous societies in the West, and ignore the needs of the rest of the world? Could God play favorites? Is this consistent with His character? No! His character demands that He show the same concern and love to all nations, without favoritism.

(Come back tomorrow for the conclusion of this thought-provoking article about discipling nations.)

Information... 

E-mail for Joe and Sandy Boburka,  boburkafam@yahoo.com

For Sarah (Boburka) Ljungemyr,  swedican@googlemail.com

Claes and Sarah's Website:  http://www.claesandsarah.com

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Battle for the marketplace 

 
Ezekiel 28:18


The marketplace is a spiritual battleground. God intends it to serve the purposes of his kingdom to bless the nations. On the other side, Satan is competing to control it for his evil purposes. Through unrighteous trade he seeks to dominate not only individuals and businesses, but also politics, the media, education, and even churches and families.

One way Satan controls people is through their lust for money. When we think of greed, we may think of rich, miserly people or the directors of an exploitive, multinational corporation. However, greed can be as prevalent among the poor. Lust for possessions can also be found among the ones who have the least. In Asia, this lust for money leads parents to break their -infants’ legs so that they can use these children as beggars. In America, it drives inner-city kids to kill other youths just to get their expensive athletic shoes.

The best way to break this spirit of greed is by responding in the opposite spiritèthrough acts of generosity.

How can you respond in generosity against the spirit of greed?

Other reading: Prov. 15:27; Luke 12:15; Eph. 5:3; 2 Peter 2:14.