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THE TRUTH
A Newsletter of PURSUING THE TRUTH MINISTRIES
(Educate to Liberate!)
November 2003
Greetings
Greetings to you today. I pray all is well with you. How is your walk with the Lord? Are you regularly studying your Bible, spending time in prayer, and experiencing the presence of God? Well take the time to get to know the Lord. Read and study your Bible and learn the truths of His kingdom and of Him. Pray and spend quality time with the Lord and allow him to guide you.
Do You Know Jesus?
By Pastor William Cunningham
The Christian faith is centered on Jesus Christ. Jesus died for our sins and he rose from the dead. He is now making intercession for us to the Father. Your sins are forgiven. You are no longer bound by sin. And one day you will not even have to worry about battling sin because God will forever remove it from us. So the main question is, "Do you know Jesus Christ?"
Lot's of people can talk about their church and that's OK. However, what if you knew as much and more about Jesus Christ as you do about your church and its doctrines and protocols? What if you were as good with the teachings of Jesus Christ as you are with your church activities? What if you could talk about Jesus Christ the way you talk about your occupation or favorite hobby? Oh how different your life would be and probably those around you. Sure there would be some that call you a Jesus freak or the like. But you know that it is better to be a freak for Jesus then just a freak on his or her way to doom and destruction.
I implore you to know Jesus. Start by reading and studying your Bible. Read what the Bible has to say about Him and what He taught. Begin to fellowship with the Lord. Jesus is just as real as the computer that you are sitting at right now. Jesus is real and He is a person, to whom you can talk. Don't allow another day to go by and all you do is the same old things you do everyday. Spend some time to store up treasures that are eternal. Spend time investing in eternity by investing in your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Feel free to contact us if you want more information about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Click here to contact us via email.
Don't Bless Your Mess
By Latonia Ayscue, M. Ed.
Psalms: 51:10-13 - "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee." KJV
Today, I had a breakthrough. Not a break down. Trumpets didn't sound, there wasn't a flash of light from the microwave oven, there wasn't a mighty gush of wind, there wasn't a booming voice that said "THIS IS THE LORD GOD' - it was a quiet revelation in my spirit that touched my heart.
I was at home today watching TV. I was watching and listening to the men and women of God preach, when I felt a tug in my heart to shut off the television, go into the kitchen table, sit at the table, open my Bible and my Bible Dictionary and spend some fellowship time with the Lord. I started off with a prayer asking God to give me an understanding heart as I read His Word. My prayer took a different turn. I begin talking to Him about my past and confessing what felt like the issues that were preventing me from totally surrendering to His will for my life. It took me for a loop!
My house was quiet, except for fans running in the family room. The fans are on, in November, because we had heavy rain and my carpets were saturated so we are trying to dry them. Why I'm talking about my carpet will become clearer later on in this message.
I also want to add a footnote that God has blessed me with fewer distractions that many of you women face: small children, demanding spouse or job, illness, etc. When I talk about distractions, I'm not talking negatively because children are a blessing from God, so is a job and, in some cases, an illness. I'm talking about diversions or pre-occupations that prevent you from reaching a goal - be it daily, weekly or a lifetime. Don't get me wrong, I have distractions. However, at this time, there was nothing, no distractions, between the heavens (God) and me (the earth) to prevent me from really talking with Him. I'm alone, so I held nothing back. Ladies, I really began spilling out things that I was in my mind that I was holding back. Things started coming back to my remembrance - I started with my past, hurts in my childhood and ended with my present, my marriage.
Love Busters
By Pastor William Cunningham
There aren't many more things worse than a disappointing marriage. You get married to someone that you fell in love with only to find a short time after the wedding you are no longer in love. Sometimes this realization may take years but sooner than later you realize that you don't feel the same way about your spouse as you did when you first were married. You might even find that you have begun to loathe your spouse or even hate him or her. The relationship is destroyed and the marriage is going to hell very quickly. You might wonder how you could have made such a terrible mistake by marring this person.
Does the above scenario sound familiar? Is that the scenario of your marriage? If so then be encouraged that even such a bad relationship can be restored. First you must realize that you fell out of love because something negative in your marriage occurred and that began to grow while the love withered and died. It's like weeds. If you don't work at your lawn then it will soon be overrun by weeds and soon you won't have much of a lawn. You have to understand that both the husband and the wife have different needs in the marriage relationship. If one begins to feel that his or her needs are not being met then that will manifest in he or she not meeting the needs of his or her spouse. Separation, divorce, or a lifelong of misery is the next stage of such a marriage.
Love was gradually busted in such situations. Now I believe that a marriage is held together by commitment as opposed to love, though a marriage relationship should be a loving one. However, if the love fades then the marriage begins to erode and commitment is the only things keeping the two together. When the commitment fades then separation or even divorce is the next step. In some cases, infidelity arises as the spouse seeks to have his or her needs met somewhere else or by someone else.
I have spent over ten years studying and researching the topic of marriage and I was amazed to find that a good marriage isn't something that just happens. It is rather easy to fall out of love after disillusionment sets in (the second stage of the marriage relationship). I have learned a lot of things regarding marriage relationships and why they go awry and how to keep the fire burning. Let me recommend some resources to you right now that might help you in your quest to improve your marriage, establish a good marriage, or even to repair a very bad one.
- " Love Busters" by Willard F. Harley Jr.
- "5 Steps to Romantic Love" by Willard F. Harley, Jr.
- "His Needs, Her Needs" by Willard F. Harley, Jr.
- "Give & Take: The Secret to Marital Compatibility" by Willard F. Harley, Jr.
I truly recommend that you invest in some if not all of these resources. I think that the book "His Needs, Her Needs" and "Love Busters" is a good place to start. You might also read the information about marriage on this website.
What We Are Doing
We were blessed two Sundays in a row with Nellisa Lockley from California. She taught us on the topic of Praise, Worship, and God's Glory. She has written a book about it and it is a must read. You will be able to purchase it shortly as I set things up for it.
Pursuing the Truth Ministries is constantly evaluating ways to better serve our community and to serve you in ministry. We were recently asked by a pastor in Singapore, China to send ministry material to them once a month. We are very excited about that and will begin doing that this month.
We also had visitors from Maryland this past Sunday (11/02/03) who heard our radio broadcasts dealing with tithing and women in ministry. One gentleman said that he was driving to Maryland from Philadelphia, PA and heard the broadcast. He was so excited that he pulled the car to the side of the road to call others to tune in. It just so happened that normally the signal from the radio station wouldn't or shouldn't reach Maryland. However, it did that day and we were fortunate enough to be blessed by those people from Maryland. For your information. We are WNJC 1360 AM on Monday mornings from 11:00 - 11:30.
I praise God because he has been expanding and increasing my technology consulting business. My brother and I have been awarded the task of developing, managing, and using the computer lab at Grace Community Christian Center in Philadelphia, PA. I was laid off from my job as a programmer analyst back in January of 2003. Since then God has been providing for us and increasing my technology consulting business. I have many contracts that I am working on now. However, I would like to increase the business even more so that I would fulfill my dream of being full-time in ministry and working at my own business.
Well, God bless you always. Remember to eat, drink, and digest the word of God and know God for yourself. Be blessed and be free!
- Pastor William Cunningham