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opening If Satan had a barn for storing his weed seeds, the biggest vats would be filled with discouragement seeds, for he’s constantly sowing them in the hearts of faithful Christians.

Many pastors are utterly worn out. Missionaries, seeing little tangible progress, are disheartened and ready to give up their work. Lay workers sometimes ask themselves, “Am I doing any good or is this a waste of time?”

We don’t always see immediate and impressive results from our labor. But God promises that our work shall be rewarded.

2 Chronicles 15:7 says, ”But you, be strong and do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.” In 1 Corinthians 15:58, Paul told us to be always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing our labor in Him is not in vain.

We have barns, too, filled with Gospel seed. In Psalm 126:6, the Bible promises “He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”

So don’t give up or grow weary in well-doing, for in due season, we’ll reap a harvest if we do not lose heart! (Galatians 6:9)

Here is your copy of firstIMPRESSIONS, Volume 9.36. Live for God, on purpose, never losing heart, never giving up!

From Recession to Possession

Bailouts. Foreclosures. Cutting back. Downsizing. The news is all around us here in America, and actually around the world. The economy is said to be in the worst condition in many years. The government attempts to stimulate the economy as businesses across the nation struggle to hold on in these difficult times. Families are stressed as they face real concern of how they will be able to make ends meet. Bills go unpaid, creditors make unexpected and unwanted calls, and homeowners face losing their homes. Where will it all end?

The Bible tells us of a family in a situation just like that. They didn’t know how they could go on. They had come to the end of their resources, and only had just a day’s worth of food left. In their mind – like I’m sure in many people’s minds today – they had given up on everything – including life itself.

But, God had different plans for this family. And, He has different plans for you, too! Instead of running out of their food and supply, God intended their supply to be unending!

I want to share with you how you can have great possessions – even through a time of great recession! Be sure to join us this Sunday here at WFA as we look at 1 Kings 17:8-16 in our message “From Recession To Possession!” Don’t miss this message – it will change your life!

25-things 25 Things About to Become Extinct in America

Think that nothing ever changes? Think again! Here is a list of 25 things that are about to disappear from America –

25. U.S. Post Office
They are pricing themselves out of existence. With e-mail, and online services they are a relic of the past. (refer to #9) Packages are also sent faster and cheaper with UPS.

24. Yellow Pages
This year will be pivotal for the global Yellow Pages industry. Much like newspapers, print Yellow Pages will continue to bleed dollars to their various digital counterparts, from Internet Yellow Pages (Imps), to local search engines and combination search/listing services like Reach Local and Yodel Factors like 20 an acceleration of the print ‘fade rate‘ and the looming recession will contribute to the onslaught. One research firm predicts the falloff in usage of newspapers and print Yellow Pages could even reach 10% this year – much higher than the 2%-3% fade rate seen in past years.

23. Classified Ads
The Internet has made so many things obsolete that newspaper classified ads might sound like just another trivial item on a long list. But this is one of those harbingers of the future that could signal the end of civilization as we know it. The argument is that if newspaper classifieds are replaced by free online listings at sites like Craigslist.org and Google base, then newspapers are not far behind them.

22. Movie Rental Stores
While Netflix is looking up at the moment, Blockbuster keeps closing store locations by the hundreds. It still has about 6,000 left across the world, but those keep dwindling and the stock is down considerably in 2008, especially since the company gave up a quest of Circuit City. Movie Gallery, which owned the Hollywood Video brand, closed up shop earlier this year. Countless small video chains and mom-and-pop stores have given up the ghost already.

21. Dial-up Internet Access
Dial-up connections have fallen from 40% in 2001 to 10% in 2008. The combination of an infrastructure to accommodate affordable high speed Internet connections and the disappearing home phone have all but pounded the final nail in the coffin of dial-up Internet access.

20. Phone Land Lines
According to a survey from the National Center for Health Statistics, at the end of 2007, nearly one in six homes was cell-only and, of those homes that had land lines, one in eight only received calls on their cells.

19. Chesapeake Bay Blue Crabs
Maryland’s icon, the blue crab, has been fading away in Chesapeake Bay. Last year Maryland saw the lowest harvest (22 million pounds) since 1945. Just four decades ago the bay produced 96 million pounds. The population is down 70% since 1990, when they first did a formal count. There are only about 120 million crabs in the bay and they think they need 200 million for a sustainable population. Over-fishing, pollution, invasive species and global warming get the blame.

18. VCRs
For the better part of three decades, the VCR was a best-seller and staple in every American household until being completely decimated by the DVD, and now the Digital Video Recorder (DVR). In fact, the only remnants of the VHS age at your local Wal-Mart or Radio Shack are blank VHS tapes these days. Pre-recorded VHS tapes are largely gone and VHS decks are practically nowhere to be found. They served us so well.

17. Ash Trees
In the late 1990’s, a pretty, iridescent green species of beetle, now known as the emerald ash borer, hitched a ride to North America with ash wood products imported from eastern Asia. In less than a decade, its larvae have killed millions of trees in the Midwest, and continue to spread. They’ve killed more than 30 million ash trees in southeastern Michigan alone, with tens of millions more lost in Ohio and Indiana. More than 7.5 billion ash trees are currently at risk.

16. Ham Radio
Amateur radio operators enjoy personal (and often worldwide) wireless communications with each other and are able to support their communities with emergency and disaster communications if necessary, while increasing their personal knowledge of electronics and radio theory. However, proliferation of the Internet and its popularity among youth has caused the decline of amateur radio. In the past five years alone, the number of people holding active ham radio licenses has dropped by 50,000, even though Morse Code is no longer a requirement.

15. The Swimming Hole
Thanks to our litigious society, swimming holes are becoming a thing of the past. ‘20/20‘ reports that swimming hole owners, like Robert Every in High Falls, NY, are shutting them down out of worry that if someone gets hurt they’ll sue. And that’s exactly what happened in Seattle. The city of Bellingham was sued by Katie Hofstetter who was paralyzed in a fall at a popular swimming hole in Whatcom Falls Park. As injuries occur and lawsuits follow, expect more swimming holes to post ‘Keep out!‘ signs.

14. Answering Machines
The increasing disappearance of answering machines is directly tied to No 20 our list — the decline of landlines. According to USA Today, the number of homes that only use cell phones jumped 159% between 2004 and 2007. It has been particularly bad in New York; since 2000, landline usage has dropped 55%. It’s logical that as cell phones rise, many of them replacing traditional landlines, that there will be fewer answering machines.

13. Cameras That Use Film
It doesn’t require a statistician to prove the rapid disappearance of the film camera in America. Just look to companies like Nikon, the professional‘ s choice for quality camera equipment. In 2006, it announced that it would stop making film cameras, pointing to the shrinking market – only 3% of its sales in 2005, compared to 75% of sales from digital cameras and equipment.

12. Incandescent Bulbs
Before a few years ago, the standard 60-watt (or, yikes, 100-watt) bulb was the mainstay of every U.S. home. With the green movement and all-things-sustainable-energy crowd, the Compact Fluorescent Light bulb (CFL) is largely replacing the older, Edison-era incandescent bulb. The EPA reports that 2007 sales for Energy Star CFLs nearly doubled from 2006, and these sales accounted for approximately 20 percent of the U.S. light bulb market. And according to USA Today, a new energy bill plans to phase out incandescent bulbs in the next four to 12 years.

11. Stand-Alone Bowling Alleys
Bowling Balls. US claims there are still 60 million Americans who bowl at least once a year, but many are not bowling in stand-alone bowling alleys. Today most new bowling alleys are part of facilities for all types or recreation including laser tag, go-karts, bumper cars, video game arcades, climbing walls and glow miniature golf. Bowling lanes also have been added to many non-traditional venues such as adult communities, hotels and resorts, and gambling casinos.

10. The Milkman
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in 1950, over half of the milk delivered was to the home in quart bottles, by 1963, it was about a third and by 2001, it represented only 0.4% percent. Nowadays most milk is sold through supermarkets in gallon jugs. The steady decline in home-delivered milk is blamed, of course, on the rise of the supermarket, better home refrigeration and longer-lasting milk. Although some milkmen still make the rounds in pockets of the U.S., they are certainly a dying breed.

9. Hand-Written Letters
In 2006, the Radicati Group estimated that, worldwide, 183 billion e-mails were sent each day... two million each second. By November of 2007, an estimated 3.3 billion Earthlings owned cell phones, and 80% of the world’s population had access to cell phone coverage. In 2004, half-a-trillion text messages were sent, and the number has no doubt increased exponentially since then. So where amongst this gorge of gabble is there room for the elegant, polite hand-written letter?

8. Wild Horses
It is estimated that 100 years ago, as many as two million horses were roaming free within the United States. In 2001, National Geographic News estimated that the wild horse population has decreased to about 50,000 head. Currently, the National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory board states that there are 32,000 free roaming horses in ten Western states, with half of them residing in Nevada. The Bureau of Land Management is seeking to reduce the total number of free range horses to 27,000, possibly by selective euthanasia.

7. Personal Checks
According to an American Bankers Assoc. report, a net 23% of consumers plan to decrease their use of checks over the next two years, while a net 14% plan to increase their use of PIN debit. Bill payment remains the last stronghold of paper-based payments — for the time being. Checks continue to be the most commonly used bill payment method, with 71% of consumers paying at least one recurring bill per month by writing a check. However, a bill-by-bill basis, checks account for only 49% of consumers‘ recurring bill payments (down from 72% in 2001 and 60% in 2003).

6. Drive-in Theaters
During the peak in 1958, there were more than 4,000 drive-in theaters in this country, but in 2007 only 405 drive-ins were still operating. Exactly zero new drive-ins have been built since 2005. Only one reopened in 2005 and five reopened in 2006, so there isn’t much of a movement toward reviving the closed ones.

5. Mumps and Measles
Despite what’s been in the news lately, the measles and mumps actually, truly are disappearing from the United States. In 1964, 212,000 cases of mumps were reported in the U.S. By 1983, this figure had dropped to 3,000, thanks to a vigorous vaccination program. Prior to the introduction of the measles vaccine, approximately half a million cases of measles were reported in the U.S. annually, resulting in 450 deaths. In 2005, only 66 cases were recorded.

4. Honey Bees
Perhaps nothing on our list of disappearing America is so dire; plummeting so enormously; and so necessary to the survival of our food supply as the honeybee. Very scary. ‘Colony Collapse Disorder,‘ or CCD, has spread throughout the U.S. and Europe over the past few years, wiping out 50% to 90% of the colonies of many beekeepers – and along with it, their livelihood.

3. News Magazines and TV News
While the TV evening newscasts haven’t gone anywhere over the last several decades, their audiences have. In 1984, in a story about the diminishing returns of the evening news, the New York Times reported that all three network evening-news programs combined had only 40.9 million viewers. Fast forward to 2008, and what they have today is half that.

2. Analog TV
According to the Consumer Electronics Association, 85% of homes in the U.S. get their television programming through cable or satellite providers. For the remaining 15% – or 13 million individuals – who are using rabbit ears or a large outdoor antenna to get their local stations, you now need to get a new TV or a converter box in order to get the new stations which are only broadcast in digital.

1. The Family Farm
Since the 1930’s, the number of family farms has been declining rapidly. According to the USDA, 5.3 million farms dotted the nation in 1950, but this number had declined to 2.1 million by the 2003 farm census (data from the 2007 census is just now being published). Ninety-one percent of the U.S. FARMS are small family farms.

Both interesting and saddening, isn’t it?

as seen in Kim Quiggle’s “Cup O’Cheer.” To subscribe, send an e-mail with SUBSCRIBE CUP O’CHEER in the subject line to cheer316@sc.rr.com

being Being a Vessel to Bless Others

“One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.” – Proverbs 11:24-25

One of the reasons God entrusts money to us is to bless other Christians by meeting their needs. God uses the transfer of money within the Body of Christ to build unity among Christians. Sometimes we withhold money that God has designated for someone else. He wants to bless through us, but His will cannot be accomplished through us if we are disobedient.

This was the case for a business owner who tells of the time when God told him to forego a company bonus one year. God directed him to share his year-end bonus with an employee to show his appreciation for him. He wrestled with God for three full days before obeying the Lord on the matter. When he finally met with the employee to give him his check, the man said he had been praying about a financial need he had three days earlier. He had decided to borrow the money to meet his need. The amount of money he borrowed was the exact amount the business owner gave him.

God had already planned to provide for the employee through the business owner, but because he was hesitant, he almost missed the opportunity to be an instrument of God in this man’s life. Even so, he could have prevented the man from having to borrow money. It was an important lesson for the business owner.

How many people do we let down because we feel the “harvest” God provides is all ours? In America, the pressure is always on to move up the ladder of material accumulation. Jesus warned us about this. If our focus is on accumulation, we will not look for opportunities to be God’s vessels of financial blessing to others. Ask the Lord if you have an open hand when it comes to finances.

as seen in Os Hillman’s daily email devotional, “TGIF Today God Is First”

having Having It All

If anyone ever ‘had it all‘ Solomon did. Knowledge, power, and the biggest bank account ever! On top of that his house was full of 100’s of beautiful women, plus he was a famous writer, a connoisseur of fine wines and his dinner parties resembled “lifestyles of the rich and famous.” In his spare time he built magnificent palaces, gardens and parks!

But here’s the amazing thing: Solomon never found fulfillment in his unlimited possessions, power or pleasure – and he really did try... read Ecclesiastes and see for yourself! That’s why he made this statement near the end of his life – “Here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13)

There you have it. Solomon, one of the most powerful and people who ever lived, saying, “Take it from a guy who’s tried it all: This world, despite all its glitz and glamour, cannot fill the empty place in your soul. Only a relationship with God will satisfy your deepest longings.”

So, what about you? Have you found the ultimate fulfillment that only Jesus Christ can bring? Open your heart to Him. Ask Him to forgive your sins and fill you with His life and love. Then spend your days getting to know Him. That’s the smartest move you can ever make. And that’s the way to true riches.

tax Tax Assessor

A tax assessor came one day to a poor pastor to determine the amount of taxes the pastor would have to pay. The following conversation took place.

“What property do you possess?” asked the assessor.

“I am a very wealthy man,” replied the minister.

“List your possessions, please,” the assessor instructed.

“First, I have everlasting life (John 3:16). Second, I have a mansion in heaven (John 14:2). Third, I have peace that passeth understanding (Philippians 4:7). Fourth, I have joy unspeakable (1 Peter 1:8). Fifth, I have divine love which never faileth (1 Corinthians 13:8). Sixth, I have a faithful precious wife (Proverbs 31:10). Seventh, I have healthy, happy obedient children (Exodus 20:12). Eighth, I have true, loyal friend (Proverbs 18:24). Ninth, I have songs in the night (Psalms 42:8). Tenth, I have a crown of life (James 1:12).”

The tax assessor closed his book, and said, “Truly you are a very rich man, but your wealth is not subject to taxation.

Investing in the Most Important

by David Jeremiah

“But God said to him, “Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?” So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” – Luke 12:20-21

In recent years, lots of people have been forced to decide what is most valuable to them. There have been hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav, and Ike that battered the American Gulf Coast states. Then there were the massive 2008 floods in the Midwest, and the unusually severe 2007 Southern California wildfires. In each case, hundreds of thousands of people were forced to abandon their homes, taking their most valuable possessions with them.

What would you take if you were given two hours to evacuate your home and flee an impending disaster? Most people take things they don’t use every day: family pictures, personal and family records and legal documents, heirlooms and items of value. Many things that we think we can’t live without (TV, music, sports equipment) would be left behind. It behooves us not to decide what’s most important just in times of crisis, but every day. And we need to invest God’s resources in that which is most important, as well.

Only two things will last for eternity: the souls of people and the Word of God. Investing in both now is the best way to lay up treasures in heaven.

from Dr. David Jeremiah’s “Today’s Turning Point” daily devotional. www.TurningPointOnline.org

last The Last Impression

Visiting the psych ward, a man asked how doctors decide to institutionalize a patient.

“Well,” the director said, “we fill a bathtub, then offer a teaspoon, a teacup, and a bucket to the patient, and ask him to empty the tub.”

“I get it,” the visitor said. “A normal person would use the bucket because it’s the biggest.”

“No,” the director said. “A normal person would pull the plug.”

It’s the Labor Day weekend in America, the traditional “end of the summer” holiday. Kids are back in school, vacations are over, and everyone’s schedule gets back to normal. I love summer when it comes, and I’m thankful when the calendar says September! Looking forward to worshiping together with you this Sunday, and every week, here at WFA!