Dear Prayer Partners,
2 Corinthians 8: 9 “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though
he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through
his poverty might be rich.”
Philippians 2: 6-8 “Who, being in the
form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But
made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a
servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in
fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross.” First Timothy 3:
16 “...great is the mystery of
godliness: God was manifest in the flesh...” Praise
God for that DAY on which His
eternal Son came into the world as a man child!
Genesis 8:22
“While the earth
remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat,
and summer and winter, and day and night shall not
cease.” Our Aussie
summer began the first of December and runs through the end of
February. Unfortunately the forecast is for a long hot dry one.
The local paper recently said “Local residents have been warned
to be extremely vigilant after the unofficial start of what is
predicted to be an extremely dangerous fire season began with a
potentially devastating blaze on Dubbo's outskirts yesterday.”
The firefighters struggled to save four houses as they “were
threatened as the blustering hot wind spread the fire rapidly
across a number of very dry paddocks.” The local Fire
Superintendent was quoted saying “There is a very, very high
potential for more fires of this type to break out. There is no
moisture in the ground, plenty of vegetation and high
temperatures and high winds.” This photo is of a fire east
of us which lasted for several days. The bush land was pretty
much destroyed but the house was saved. We could smell the smoke
from our house, so welcome to a HOT and DRY Aussie Summer!
The
Christmas tracts arrived the last
day of November!
Praise the Lord. All we have to do now is stamp them and
distribute them. The city has a decorated Christmas tree at the
Rotunda on Macquarie Street (which is the main street in town)
and this is the location we plan to distribute the tracts. We
also had Easter tracts arrive with the Christmas tracts so we
are prepared for the Easter season 2007. It is probably our age
but Christmas 2007 will be here before we know it.
As you know
from our November letter Pam’s mother’s funeral was the 16th
October. Praise the
Lord Pam was able to spend some time with her brothers and
sisters in Ottumwa after the funeral plus spend time with our
three children and their families. She arrived back home in
Dubbo 16
th November, which was two days over a month
after flying out. We want to thank all those who emailed us
during this time. We do appreciate your thoughtfulness.
Jim Ogden
had a biopsy taken from his cheek and is waiting for the
results. He and his
wife are very faithful to the Gilgandra meeting and we would
appreciate your prayers for him. There is a young teen age
boy (Chris) that follows us now on our Sunday radio programme.
He has been coming into the studio and just sits in a corner
during the last half hour of the programme. Pray the Lord will
open Chris’ heart to the gospel as he hears it proclaimed on our
programme, The Gospel Hour. David recently had an opportunity to
give a THIS WAS YOUR LIFE Chick tract to a middle aged business
man here in Dubbo. We have known this man for a couple of years
now and he has done relatively well financially. However, each
time David speaks to him it clearly comes across he is still
looking for something. We know that the something he is
searching for is really someone, Christ!
We praise
the Lord for a healthy little baby boy born to Jonathan (our
eldest son) and his wife Lynne, 24th August, 2006.
Caleb Jonathan (CJ) is our only grandchild (we have nine of
them) living here in Australia. We thought we would do a little
bragging here by sending you his photo. Somewhere we obtained
this quote “Grandchildren are God's way of compensating us for
growing old” and of course Proverbs 17:6 “Children's children
are the crown of old men…”
As it is in
the states so it is here, prices of almost everything continue
to spiral upwards.
Petrol prices have declined some due to the barrel price of oil
falling but our price at the pump has not declined as much. As
one views the volatile nature of the economy, governments, and
society in general, one can only estimate how long the world has
before the time when
“no man might buy or sell, save he that
had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his
name” Revelation 13:17. Praise the Lord we will not be here!
We recently
received communication from a former missionary we served the
Lord with years ago,
concerning the death of his beloved wife. She was 65 when she
passed into the presence of her Saviour and Lord. Our hearts go
out to this dear missionary friend. Death of a friend or loved
one certainly makes us more aware of our own humanity. Genesis
3:19 “...for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” May
we say with John Newton “I am packed, sealed and waiting for the
post.”
As we
anticipate another New Year,
may we take time to reconsider the precious doctrine of the
grace of our dear God and Saviour Jesus Christ? Not only did He
save us by His grace but it is by His grace that we are able to
continue living and serving Him in this present evil world! The
Prince of Preachers said in his sermon MOAB IS MY WASHPOT
preached from Psalm 60 and verse 8 that “Need I quote to you the
speech of John Bradford, one of the godliest of men? When he saw
a wretch taken out to be hanged, the tears were in his eyes, and
when they asked him why, he said, ‘There goes John Bradford, but
for the grace of God.’”
Before we
close we want to thank each of our churches and individuals for
their continued support in prayers and finances this past year.
We also want to thank those who recently sent in special
financial gifts. It is worth quoting A. W. Tozer here, for he
said “We are convinced that God can send money to His believing
children-but it becomes a pretty cheap thing to get excited
about the money and fail to give the glory to Him who is the
Giver!”
In closing
may God’s richest “spiritual blessings
in heavenly places”
be realized as you meditate on Him and celebrate His birth on
the 25
th DAY of
December. Thank you again as your care for us hath flourished
again and again! To God be the glory, great things He hath done!
Serving
the risen and soon coming Saviour,
David and
Pam
David and Pam Bennett, Titus 2:13
