April 2000 Newsletter






		April 2000 Newsletter

Hello and God bless! We pray that this fnds you happy and healthy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ ~ Table of Contents: ~ ~ Message from Michael ~ ~ Bible Study ~ ~ Website of the Month ~ ~ Inspirational Story ~ ~ April's Occasions ~ ~ Memory Verse ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ ~ MESSAGE FROM MICHAEL ~ ~ As spring seems to have returned it reminds me of the gift of life we have from God. For me Easter is the ultimate example of what spring means. Christ died to give us eternal life with Him. Just as winter fades and some animals come out of hibernation, Jesus Christ brought us out of our own "hibernation." We are now free from sin and we can be full of joy forever. I plan to celebrate on Easter Sunday. Not because of anything I did. Not because I deserve it. I plan to celebrate because I (and everyone) have been given the greatest gift of all, life! Your brother in Christ, Michael Sundberg ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ ~BIBLE STUDY~ ~ ~ ~ Faith or Works? ~ ~ First of all, I know everyone was expecting an Easter study. However! I felt lead to do a different study instead. Why? Only God knows. For those of us who have been lead by the Holy Spirit to do something, we know that we must follow His leading, no matter what it takes us (and us have been lead to some fairly strange situations/carreers/duties!). For those of you who feel you have never been led, you have been. (You wouldn't be reading this right now if you weren't!). Remember there is a time and a place for everything [Please see Ecclesiastes 3:1-8] Anyway, on to the Study. The other day, I was reading from Ephesians, and the following verse just jumped right our at me: "For it is by grace you have been saved through faith it is not from ourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9) Further study revealed the follow verses (and more!): Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God - the gospel he promised beforehand through his phropets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. Through him and for his name's sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. (Romans 1:1-5) But now a righteaousness from God, apart from law, has been make known, to which the Law and the Prohets testify. This righteaousness from God come through faith, Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ. (Romans 3:21-24) However, people will argue that they can get to heaven by being "a good person" or by doing good works.(I can't tell you how many times I've heard my family say that! I hear it so often that I cringe! If that was the case, why would Jesus have needed to come to earth, die a horrible death, and then raise to life again? There are some Scriptures that say we are judged by our works: Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed - not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence - continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling... (Philippians 2:12) God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. (Hebrews 6:10) "...Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. (Revelation 20:12) Here is a verse that, I fell, combines the two: But someone will say, "you have faith;I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. (James 2:18) What are your thoughts and feeling on this matter? Please e-mail us at icuhome@hotmail.com and let us know. We'll publish the response in May's Newsletter. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ PRAYER REQUESTS AND PRAISE REPORTS ~ No prayer requests came in this month. However, we do have one praise report. My cousin, Devyn, gave birth to a 7.9 pound baby boy named Vincent Lucas on Monday, March 13th. What's so special abouth this birth is that the Doctor had diagnosed him as being hydrocephalic (He had fluid surrounding his brain) The doctor said that at best, he would be moderately to severly retarded as a result. DOCTORS DON'T KNOW EVERYTHING! :) When Vincent was born, the doctors didn't have to take him to the children's hospital right away. When they took him the next day to put a stent in his brain stem to help drain the fluid, they made the incision and lo and behold! He didn't need it! The tube in teh brain stem opened on it's own.. He had people all around the world praying for him. For those of you who had known about this, thank you for all your prayers! The doctors have no idea as to why his condition cleared up. But we do! :) Praise God! ~ ~ Traci ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ ~ Website of the Month ~ ~ This month's website of the month belongs to a former Latter Day Saints member. Rita had to overcome a great deal when she became a born-again Christian. You can read here testimony at God's Love and Mercy- http://www.ichthus-fast-track.net/ex_lds_testimony.html Enjoy! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ ~ INSPIRATIONAL STORY ~ ~ Since this is the Easter season, I thought that maybe if we REALLY know what Jesus went through on the cross when he died, we'd have a deeper understanding to remind us of God's great love. What is crucifixion? A medical doctor provides a physical description: The cross is placed on the groudn and the exhausted man is quickley thrown backwards with his shoulders against the wood, The legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy square wrought-iron nail through the wrist deep into the wood. Quickly he moves to the other side and repeats the action, being carful not to ull the arms too tightly, but to allow some flex and movement. the cross is then liftedd into place. The left foot is pressed backward against the right foot with both feet extended, toes down, a anil is driven thrugh the arch of each, leaving the knees flexed. The vicitm is now crucified. As he slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrists, excruciating fiery pain shoots along the fingers and up thte arms to explode in the brain - the nails in the wrists are putting pressure on the median nerves. As he pushes himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, he plces the full weight on the nail through his feet. Again he feels the searing agony of the nail tearing throught he nerves between the bones of his feet. As the arems fatigue, cramps sweep through his muscles, knotting them with deep relentless and throbbing pain With these cramps comes the inability to push himself upward to breathe. Air can be drawn into the lungs but not exhaled. He fights to raise himself in order to get even one small breath. Finally, carbon dioxide build up in the lungs and in the blodd stream, and the cramps paritally subsided. Spasmodically, he is able to push himself upward to exhale and bring in life-giving oxygen. Hours of limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-renching cramps, intermittent parital aspyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from his lacerated back as he moves up and down against rough timber. Then another agony begins: a deep, crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serium and begins to compress the heart. It is now almost over. The loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical level. The compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissues. The tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air. He can feel the chill of death creeping through his tissues. Finally, he allows his body to die. All this the Bible records with the simple words, "and they crucified Him" (Mark 15:24). What a wondrous love is this? "Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid." (Isaiah 12:2) He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. (Romans 4:25) Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1-2) "Everyone who call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Romans 10:13) Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it coms from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." (John 3:5-8) ...I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation. (2 Corinthians 6:2b) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ ~ SPECIAL OCCASIONS ~ ~ ~ ~ BIRTHDAYS ~ ~ April 1 - Matthijs Reis (m.reis@student.hro.nl) April 14 - Nancy Clark (Shelby596@aol.com) (Belated) March 14 - Kelly Stull (eternalwords@hotmail.com) Website: Eternal Words ~~~Anniversaries~~~ April 28 - Randy Atkin (randy@milepost7.com) Website: Milepost7 ~~~Special Occasions~~~ April 9 - Matthijs Reis - Baptism! March 13 - The birth of Vincent Lucas Schingeldecker (see above in the praise reports) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ ~ MEMORY VERSE ~ ~ Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1-2) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ EVERYONE HAVE A BLESSED EASTER AND GOD BLESS!