His Grace Magazine

Grace His

July 2020

It's our nd 2 Anniversary!

Photo by Rob Wood

Cottrell's Cove, Newfoundland & Labrador

WOOD

"For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night." Ministries 1 Thessalonians 5:2

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Table of Contents Our 2nd Anniversary!

July 2020

"In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.

For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."

1 Corinthians 15:52

Comics................................................................................Page 3 Publisher's Corner............................................................Pages 4, 5, 6, 7 Book in Review..................................................................Page 8 Prayer Page........................................................................Page 9 Athletes for Christ.............................................................Page 10, 11 Walking with Jesus...........................................................Pages 12, 13 Racing with Christ............................................................Pages 14, 15 Recipe Page........................................................................Page 16 Poetry Page........................................................................Page 18, 19 Bible Study.........................................................................Page 20 Movie in Review................................................................Page 23

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Comics...

July 2020

Our 2nd Anniversary!

The Word According to Elijah

Hey Elijah, Where’s our Master?

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He is gone to prepare a place for us!

Lord, Have mercy!

John 14:3 “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.'”

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Our 2nd Anniversary!

Publisher's Corner...

The Rapture!

July 2020

the streets that a betrothal was both hands, he would pass it to his taking place, everyone who was bride.

When the groom presents the able would rush to the main cup, she now has the choice as to gate to witness it.

Owner/Publisher: Rob Wood

W

hen I was a kid, I can remember people talking about the rapture. It's been a hot topic for many years; of course this was before I knew Jesus. I remember hearing stories about pastors telling their congregation to sell everything they own and give their money away. They would then all go back to the church and wait for the sound of the trumpet for Jesus to call all home. There is only one problem with that... no one knows when Jesus is coming back to bring the church home, not even Jesus, but only the Father.

In biblical times,when Israel was under Roman control ruled

by Tiberius Caesar, life was harsh for many of the Jewish people. But there was hope for the future in the promise of a betrothal between a young groom and his bride. A wedding is so important in the Middle East culture today, as it was in the first century. A wedding was the most important event to take place in any town, for anyone. As word spread about

Everything took place at the gate, and this was really important because this is where you found the elders, who ratified legal agreements.

If you held the ceremonies near the gate, you would have many people gathered around who were not family members, or who were not even friends; what was important was that they were witnesses, because they couldn’t make a covenant without having witnesses to ratify it.

There is a written proposal of marriage that was presented that the bride needed to accept. The bride would be asked, ‘Do you agree on these terms?’, she would say, ‘I do’, which means she could not go back on it. After the agreement outlining the union between the two families was publicly read, gifts were then exchanged, with the most extravagant going to the bride. A dowry, the price that was paid to the bride’s father in Galilee, was an insurance policy that would help take care of her if anything were to happen to her beloved.

But what comes next will set in motion a sequence of events that will shape the future for generations to come. The bridegroom is handed a pitcher of wine. The groom pours wine into a ceremonial cup to be offered to his desired bride-to-be. It was called the cup of joy and reverently, respectfully, and fearfully with

whether or not she will accept or reject this proposal of marriage.

The moment the cup is handed to the bride, she is given all power to stop the wedding by pushing the cup back and rejecting the bridegroom. The betrothal could not be completed without her willing acceptance to drink from the cup of wine.

Once the bride accepts, the groom will also take and drink from the cup, solidifying the new covenant, but then he says publically something truly profound, “You are now consecrated to me by the laws of Moses and I will not drink of this cup again until I drink it anew with you in my father’s house.”

This act is so important because in the scriptures, during the Last Supper, Jesus offered a cup of wine to His disciples to signify a new covenant with them. After His disciples drank from the cup, Jesus said, “But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom. “ It is a promise that we will be together with Christ again and we are going to mark it by drinking the wine. The breaking of bread and offering of wine formed a new promise, which deliberately set in motion events of unimaginable importance. It is a common union; a communion, no longer two, but one. When Jesus says at the Last

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Publisher's Corner...

Supper, “This is My body, broken for you”, He is talking as a bridegroom to his bride.

When He says, “This is the cup of My blood of the New Covenant”, this is how they would seal the betrothal in the ancient wedding. To the disciples, this meant only one thing: Wedding.

Interestingly, the first miracle that Jesus ever performed was in the town of Canaan at a Galilean wedding, when He turned water into wine. It had the same cultural dynamic that Jesus was describing to His disciples about His soon return.

Now that the betrothal ceremony was finished, families rejoicing in their streets went back to their houses, but this is just the beginning of an entire year of preparations that goes into making the way for the wedding. The groom must leave his betrothed, where they will live apart until the day of their wedding feast. The groom is now responsible for all the preparations for the day he will be reunited with his bride.

Over the following months, he will acquire materials to build a new room onto his father’s house.

This period of preparation for the wedding held profound importance regarding the coming of Christ. Before Jesus’ crucifixion, He warned His disciples that, He too, would have to leave them, to go to prepare a place for them; that if He goes to prepare a place for them, that He will come again and receive them to Himself, that where He is,

The Rapture!

there they may be also. Jesus is speaking as a bridegroom to His bride. Jesus is gone to prepare a heavenly place for His bride, for those who are born again. When that time comes, Jesus tells us that there will be those on earth who will not taste death.

But until that time, when the groom can be reunited with his bride, there is much that needs to take place. And although the groom has left to prepare a new home, the bride’s job is not yet over either. She must prepare for the hour that her groom will return for her. The bride then takes the next year to put together fabrics and materials to weave together for her wedding dress. Even after the wedding gown was completed, she had to remain vigilant and pure as she waited for her groom, no matter how long it took. She had to be always ready until the bridegroom came.

Neither the groom, nor the bride, knew the day or hour the actual wedding ceremony would take place. No one in the entire town knew, except the father of the groom; the one who read the conditions on behalf of his son during the betrothal; the one who provided payment to obtain a bride of his son. He, and he alone, holds the secret to when the wedding takes place, the hour that the son can retrieve his bride.

This goes back to several accounts in the Bible where Jesus tells His disciples that no one knows the day or the hour when He will return, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father

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knows when He will come back for His bride. The only person that could send the bridegroom to get the bride was the father; the only person who could send Jesus to come back to the earth is His Father. However, the gospel makes it clear that we could know the approaching season in which the end of our age would take place.

Jesus is in heaven right now, loving His bride, excited and thrilled for the time to come back to take His bride to where He is.

And the bride is equally excited to be united with her beloved.

The church has suffered because of the obsession to want to set dates for Christ’s return, and yet the Bible teaches, both from Jesus Himself and from the apostles that no man knows the day or the hour.

When dates are set and it doesn’t happen, people begin to walk away from their faith, because it wasn’t proven right. The result is that Bible prophecy is being systematically erased from Christianity all over the world. Only God the Father knows. Even though Jesus said that no one knows the day or the hour except for the Father, why do we need to know? We’re supposed to deal, not with the date, but with the preparation of that date. Some pastors are ignorant and fearful of Bible prophecy, fearful that if they start teaching Bible prophecy, it will be too controversial.

Christians always want to be accepted by the world. They want to adopt and embrace worldly views in order for people to like them. They become a motivational

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Publisher's Corner...

speaker, rather than a pastor.

This growing trend of marginalizing Bible prophecy is not just a perception; it’s proven to be happening.

Several years ago, a survey was done on 450 sermons from different pastors and only two percent of preachers' sermons were preached from a passage of scripture from a prophetic book of the Bible. This poses a problem because prophetic events make up almost one third of the Bible. This goes to show that churches are intentionally marginalizing the topic of prophecy. If we are ignoring thirty percent of the Bible, the understanding of the other seventy percent of the Bible will be flawed. Even worse, you cannot remove prophecy from the Bible without also removing the return of Christ.

The rapture is a fundamental belief in Christianity. You cannot have the whole counsel of God without also having the prophetic word of God. It’s the Gospel… the Gospel is that Jesus came, He was crucified, buried, rose again on the third day, and is coming back again one day. If you take the return of Jesus Christ out of the Gospel, you cut the Gospel out.

The unintended result of prophecy being removed from churches and educational institutes is that the world is forgetting why prophecy exists in the first place… it’s so that God can prove to the world that He is God. If you remove prophecy from the Bible, you remove proof that the Bible

The Rapture!

is from a divine source. It would place the remaining scriptures of the Bible on par with other religious teachings of the world.

With all things perceived as equal, the Bible would be seen as no more relevant or divine than any other so-called ‘holy’ book. The only thing that can come from this is a falling away of those that believe that Christ will return, even in the validity of the Bible itself, a terrifying trend that has already begun.

Peter speaks of in the Bible where there is coming a day that people will mock and scoff any mention of the Lord’s return. It’s all part of the end-time Bible apostasy, the great fall from truth into apostasy.

Various organizations are seeing that only about fifteen percent are bought into evangelical teaching.

More than eighty percent of Americans no longer believe that the Bible is the complete word of God. A global trend of Humanism is exploding. This may lend some insight into the trends we’re beginning to see why most people no longer believe that Jesus is going to return and surprisingly, the scriptures foretold that this too, would happen. In the last days, there will be a diminishing of people believing.

Considering these trends, it’s not surprising that scriptures warn that Jesus will return as a thief in the night into a world that is unbelieving and unprepared.

Jesus is going to come as a thief in the night to those who are not ready, those who are weighted down with the cares of this life. In

July 2020

ancient Galilee, we know that only the father of the groom knew the day and the hour that the wedding would take place. The bride slept in her wedding dress; her bridesmaids were dressed in their white linen garments and they were ready to help her out should the bridegroom come unexpectantly in an hour she didn’t know.

It basically declares that it can happen when everybody else is not necessarily ready. Those who are not actively involved in the wedding are not ready; they are literally asleep. Christians should always looks for the signs that Jesus gave to His disciples.

Another warning was given in a parable of ten bridesmaids in the night, prepared with oil burning in their lamps, but at the time of the midnight cry, only five had enough oil left in their lamps to continue on. Symbolically, the oil represents the Holy Spirit in your life. You can be a believer, but you must be ready right to the very end. The remnant of those who are keeping watch is a little sliver of Christianity who are watching, waiting, looking at current events, but it’s a smaller and smaller portion of the church today.

As we head back to the time of Christ, the sun is now set, and just as Jesus warned that the world would fall asleep in the last days, tonight so have many of the Galileans. But tonight, the groom’s hour have finally come. The father makes the decision that now is the hour that the son will retrieve his bride.

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Publisher's Corner...

He wakes him and says, “Go get your bride!” The son leaps to his feet and lets go a blast to wake up the entire village, the bride and her family. It would have been in the early hours of the morning that the bride would hear that cry. She was to rise up, get her lamp and be ready. As the bride comes into the groom’s view, what a shockingly beautiful scene it must be! There in the middle of the night is the bride, dressed in her beautiful bridal gown.

After a year of waiting, the bride and groom are finally together again, united as one forever. The bride is lifted into the air back to the groom’s father’s house. It was referred to as flying the bride to the father’s house. It shouts all about God’s grace; it’s not the bride’s efforts; she was just to be ready because she loves her groom. It’s all about the grace of God, right to the end.

There are multiple similarities between this cultural practice and descriptions throughout the Bible regarding what theology has coined the ‘Rapture’, a moment that believers are ‘caught up’ in the air to be with the returning Messiah at the end of days. When the bride is lifted off the ground, it sounds like the Jesus collecting His bride off the earth to join Him in the air. Now the long awaited conclusion has begun… the beginning of a wedding feast, joined and witnessed by all of those who were prepared and heard the call during the darkness of the night. And Jesus made it

The Rapture!

clear to His disciples that this too, is a picture of what will happen at the end of days. Those that are ‘caught up’ to be with the returning Messiah will partake in what the Bible refers to as the Marriage Supper of the Lamb; the Lamb being a clear reference to Christ Himself, as the sacrificial Lamb crucified on the cross.

The father’s house in a Galilean wedding is the perfect picture of heaven, together as a married couple, bride and bridegroom, united forever, living in the bridegroom’s father’s house. This is so important because this is our destination. We are chosen as the bride of Jesus Christ and to dwell with Him for all eternity.

Jesus promised that He would return for His bride, to all that have and will accept His promise until the day He returns, to save His bride from the wrath that is to come upon the world in the last days. Jesus warns that many will not accept His offer to attend His wedding feast, that there will be many that choose to be separated from Him for all of eternity.

Those that will be left behind will never get in. The righteous will be removed from the earth because the Lord says in Isaiah 26 that He will shut the doors behind them in the inner chambers while He pours out His indignation upon those who dwell on the earth.

The Galileans are the key to understanding the why and what of the rapture. The bridegroom is going to go away and when they don’t know, he’s going to come back to take her to be with him

where he is.

Those who are looking for the return of Christ are diminishing steadily and it’s never been never more important to speak up about why the Messiah is coming back.

People need to know that Jesus loves the church, Jesus died for His church, and He’s coming back for His church. We all need to tell the ones we love this. If they choose to ignore it, it’s their fault.

But if we never warn them, it’s our fault. Jesus is not forced on anyone. It is our choice to accept or reject Christ's proposal to be our bridegroom. Satan hates the Christian marriage because of what it represents; it is a picture of that which is yet to be fulfilled.

WOOD Ministries Publisher/Sales Graphic Designer/Writer: Rob Wood wood.ministries.2020@gmail.com

Editor/Writer: Donna Wood

wood.ministries.2020@gmail.com

Writer: Lynne Wood

wood.ministries.2020@gmail.com Owned and published by Rob Wood of Wood Ministries. Contact us at 905-380-4489, or email us at wood.ministries.2020@gmail.com

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Book in Review...

Miracle for Jen

July 2020

A tragic accident, A mother's desperate prayer, and heaven's extraordinary answer

Book by: Linda Barrick with John Perry Written by: Lynne Wood

M

iracle for Jen is a remarkable true story of faith, hope and love. Linda and Andy Barrick and their two children are a Christian family.

Jen was 15 and Josh was 11 when their lives were changed forever.

They were attending the Liberty Christian Academy concert where Jen was singing in the choir that night. A a very young age, Jen had a great love for Jesus. Jesus was her friend; she was always writing Him letters and prayer requests in her journals.

After the concert, they were meeting with family and friends at their home. They were on their way back from picking up some KFC for supper when tragedy struck.

They were very close to home when a drunk driver slammed head-on into their van at 80 mph.

There was nothing left of the van and a long road to recovery lay ahead of them. Josh wasn't seriously hurt, although he spent a couple of days in the hospital.

Linda and Andy had very serious injuries which would take months of treatments and rehabilitation.

Jen's injuries were so severe they did not think she would survive.

Doctors told the family that every part of her brain was injured and

that her chances of survival were extremely poor. Jen had multiple skull fractures and severe brain damage, but God was working miracles for Jen. The family was told to prepare, for as people wake after brain injuries, they're violent, swearing and cursing because they're confused; they're not the same. When Jen came out of the coma after five weeks, she didn't know her family, but she woke up praying and praising God, quoting scripture, singing songs and praising Jesus for healing her. Once during speech therapy, she was in pain and became very upset. Her family started singing Silent Night. Jen finished the song

and at the end, shouted "Amen!" with a giggle, staring up to her right. Her mom asked her if she saw Jesus; Jen said, "Yes, don't you? He is standing right beside me!" That moment changed her mom completely because Jen was blind at the time, yet she said that Jesus walks beside her and holds her hand.

When Jen began rehab, she spent three months learning to walk, talk and eat again. Her mom tried to fix Jen to get her back to normal high school activities, but she would never drive, cheerlead or play sports again. One day Jen simply said, "Mom, why do you want me to be normal? I never wanted to blend in; I begged God to make me different and give me boldness and He did." Her new quote is, 'I don't know how to worry, I only know how to trust God.' Although Jen's vision and short term memory is limited and she suffers daily from headaches and fatigue, she has become a powerful witness for Jesus.

Jen and her mom, Linda have since started Outloud Ministry and have seen over 11,000 souls give their lives to Christ.

When you get past the accident that changed this family forever, it is a powerful uplifting story that will change you.

Prayer Page...

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The Rapture

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Dear Heavenly Father, We believe we are living in the last days.

We believe that Jesus is coming back to establish His Kingdom on earth.

We see what the enemy is doing.

Help us Lord; strengthen us with Your Word.

Let it meditate in our hearts all the day long; May we become bolder in our faith.

Help us to become more committed as we learn what it means to live as believers in these critical days.

This we ask in Jesus’ precious name,

Amen

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

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July 2020

uring the 1996 NBA draft, Jerome "Junk Yard Dog" Williams was selected 26th overall by the Detroit Pistons. Jerome, in his nine-year playing career, had an average of 6.6 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. He played in 500 games. Jerome's playing career took him from Detroit to the Toronto Raptors where Jerome would become a big fan favorite. He also went on to play for the Chicago Bulls and the New York Knicks.

Jerome's nickname is "Junk Yard Dog"; he earned the nickname by being a powerful, unshakable player on the basketball court. He was often called a great leader and he had a strong commitment for community service. Jerome has played in many different positions on the court. He has been a starter and cheerleader on the bench for his teams, wanting to help in any way he could.

Jerome has also been a community advocate, an NBA Players U n i o n Representative.

Back in 2000, he was chosen by NBA players to serve in an executive role as Union Vice

President of the players. Jerome put himself in an important position to have a strong role inside the NBA. He also made important and planned decisions that gave him a chance to take a look at how the NBA operated. This also gave Jerome an opportunity of being in the NBA office and still playing the game of basketball.

Jerome prepared for his part as Ambassador for NBA Cares, NBA TV correspondent, NBA Fit Spokesman and NBA Goodwill Ambassador to South Africa, Israel, South America, Philippines, Shanghai, Bahrain and Beijing. Jerome's hard work in his community endeavors had obtained him National Media disclosure, also many community service awards.

He received two special invitations to have dinner with President George W. Bush and his administration at the White House. Jerome then joined "Basketball Without Borders", a program of the NBA that went out to teach basketball and bring assets to Africa, Asia and other nations.

Jerome also prepared high school and college students with the skills of independent living. The Fannie Mae Foundation gave him the honor of the National "Home Team" Award, which they presented to him.

Jerome then was given the opportunity to ring the bell at the stock markets at both New York and Toronto Stock Exchanges.

Jerome is now retired, although he is busy working with JYD P.R.O.J.E.C.T. whose mission is to "Unify people of all nationalities in a collective effort to save our kids."

Athletes for Christ...

Jerome Williams Jerome's first job was in a Church...

D

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Athletes for Christ...

Jerome has been blessed through God over the years. His very first job was in his church as an altar server, as he was serving God at an early age. When Jerome was older he use the power of prayer to overcome his many challenges in life, he started to build a good work ethic because of his love of God, as he did all sorts of different jobs. Jerome is well known for being bold in his faith for Jesus and he talks with and inspires the young people to take a strong stand with our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jerome Williams

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Jesus...Psalm

Our 2nd Anniversary!

Walking With

July 2020

22 One Thousand Years before Jesus' birth...

T he Walking with Jesus journey continues every month as we learn more about Him. Although Psalm 22 speaks of David’s own distress and the Lord’s deliverance of him, it also prophetically describes Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. It was written under the supervision of the Holy Spirit who saw to it that it could apply to David’s immediate circumstances of facing these enemies who were causing him to despair – and at the same time, it could apply to Jesus Christ down to the very detail. In this psalm, we get surprising glimpses of our Lord Jesus Christ. We get to consider both his death and his resurrection.

Psalm 22:24 says: “For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; Nor has He hidden His face from Him; But when He cried to Him, He heard.” David suffered; David prayed; God answered David.

This is also true of Jesus. Jesus suffered when He died for us. But God raised Jesus from the dead. God answered when Jesus prayed. Jesus died for us so that God would save us!

Following, Psalm 22:25 says: "My praise shall be of You in the great assembly; I will pay My vows before those who fear Him." David addressed the Lord with promised praise, which would go beyond the great congregation of Israel. It would go to the ends of the world, according to Psalm 22:27-

28: "All the ends of the world Shall remember and turn to the Lord, And all the families of the nations Shall worship before You. For the kingdom is the Lord's, And He rules over the nations."

This psalm points to Jesus’ death.

What would be so powerful that could cause the whole world to praise the Lord if it’s not the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ? The Lord, to whom this kingdom belongs, came and died for our sins and rose from the dead for our justification!

The end of this Psalm in verses 2931 says, "All the prosperous of the earth Shall eat and worship; All those who go down to the dust Shall bow before Him, Even he who cannot keep himself alive. A posterity shall serve Him. It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation, They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, That He has done this." This declares that both the living and the dead will praise the Lord, who rules over all.

May the Lord help us to serve Him in our generation and to tell the next generation about His righteous saving deeds.

Next month, we will move on and take a look at the book of Isaiah where we will read chapter 53:1-12.

Isaiah talks about the earthly ministry of Christ and about His death on the cross that is to come. Interestingly, when Isaiah wrote this chapter about Jesus, it was written 700 years before the birth of Jesus Christ.

Walking With Jesus...

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Our 2nd Anniversary!

The book of Luke Christ as the Son of God...

T

his month, we will learn that Jesus teaches His followers that they should not worry about any common concerns in life that they may have, whether it is what they will eat or what they will wear, as Jesus tells them that life is more than just clothing. Jesus teaches them that they should always follow and trust in God, because our heavenly Father knows of our needs long before we even come to Him to ask.

Jesus tells His followers not to worry about common concerns in life, but to trust God. Luke 12:22-34 says, "Then He said to His disciples, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you eat; nor about the body, what you will put on. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? And which of you by worring can add one cubit to his stature? If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith? And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind.

For all these things the nations of

the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things.

But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.

"Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

He gives people a stern warning that we must repent, or we will perish from our sins. Luke 13:15 says, "There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said to them, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things?

I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish."

Jesus is simply saying that everyone stands at the edge of spiritual death until repentance occurs.

Next month, we will be look at how Jesus tells His followers that there many final instructions about how to live and rely on God and to trust Him through all that we go through in our lives.

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Racing with Christ...

July 2020

Joe Gibbs A mentor changed Joe's life!

J

oe Jackson Gibbs was born on November 25, 1040 in Mocksville, North Carolina. Joe is an auto racing team owner with NASCAR and a former professional football coach. He was the 20th and 26th head coach in team history with Washington of the NFL from 19811992 and 2004-2007.

During Joe's first time as head coach of Washington, he guided them to eight playoff appearances; he won four NFC Championship titles and three Super Bowl Championships over a period of 12 seasons. Joe is the only head coach to win three Super Bowls with three different starting quarterbacks.

Joe then retired at the end of the 1992 season, when he decided to switch to a car owner in NASCAR, where he started Joe Gibbs Racing.

Joe has won five NASCAR Cup Series

Championships. In 2004 Joe decided to get back into coaching football with Washington as their head coach, where he coached until 2007. He then retired from football for the last time. Joe was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1996; he was also honored by being named in the NFL 100 All Time Team. Joe was also inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2020; this makes him the only one to be named into both sports Hall of Fames.

As Joe grew older, he found that the world had other beliefs that differed from God's and it wanted him to know them. For instance, you only have this life to live, then you die and that's it. They say you should do whatever you have to do to have a successful and great life. When Joe's career at coaching started to roll, he also began to think this way. At this point in his life, he really wanted to be a football head coach more than anything. In Joe's mind, this would give him all he ever wanted and needed...stuff like lots of money, a house, cars, power and importance; it became his obsession to be a head coach.

Joe went from one assistant coaching job to another, but in 1972 when he was coaching at the University of Arkansas, God started to work in his life. God brought him and a Sunday School teacher from Fayetteville together.

The teacher's name was George Tharel. Joe was fascinated by him, the way he lived his life and his

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Our 2nd Anniversary!

Racing with Christ...

Joe Gibbs

teachings. George was a man who found peace in his life with God, which gave him strength. One of Joe's strengths is being driven, but at the same time he was jealous of how people could find peace and relax to enjoy their lives. Joe started to take a look at his own life and he saw something happening; a bigger plan was starting to show other than the world's plan. It was God's plan that mattered to him.

God is not concerned with money or winning football games, but only with Joe having a personal relationship with Him. Joe had become a Christian at the age of nine, but he never really had a relationship with Jesus; he didn't put God first. George helped Joe see that he needed that relationship with God. That is when the following Sunday, Joe went up to the altar and confessed to God from his heart and accepted Jesus in his heart and life. As Joe went on with his life he noticed changes right away, and other changes have been happening for him as time went on.

There has been a few hardships as well, like for instance, on January 12, 2019, Joe's son J.D. Gibbs passed away at the age of 49 after a long battle with a degenerative neurological disease. J.D. was Joe Gibbs Racing Team President.

With Jesus in our lives, He gives us the strength to overcome such trials. One thing is for sure, life is so much better when we have a relationship with Jesus, because He lifts us up, comforts us, and He gives us hope.

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Recipe...

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Anything Goes Muffins

July 2020

• 1 c Flour • 2 tsp B. Powder • 1 ½ c trail mix • 40 ml Brown Sugar/Splenda Mix • 1/2 c Milk • 1 Egg • 1 tsp Vanilla • 2 tbsp Apple Sauce • 2 tbsp Canola Oil • 1/4 c cold Coffee • Mix dry ingredients in large bowl • Mix wet ingredients in medium bowl • Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients • Lightly mix • Bake @ 350 deg. for 25 min

Exodus 23:25 “So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you.”

July 2020

Our 2nd Anniversary!

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And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12:2

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Our 2nd Anniversary! July 2020

Poetry Page...

Prophesy or Coincidence?

If you ever look to find That which you've never had, Then you must become open To what you've never believed.

There is a mystery so vast That it spans o'er all the ages; It directs world events And the paths of many leaders; It determines the future of nations Right to their appointed end; A guiding truth that has meaning For this entire modern land.

Whether you believe it or not, Prophesy does exist.

Your belief doesn't make it more real; Your doubt makes it no less.

There is a purpose to life; More than a series of events.

There is significance and meaning; Not chance meetings or accidents.

Even if you wonder about the fate of the road you've trod, One cannot deny The fingerprints of God.

Poetry Page...

July 2020

Our 2nd Anniversary!

Prophesy or Coincidence?

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Existence is not a twist of fate; There is a reason and a rhyme; The Bible is filled with messengers Who bring revelations of the times.

Let us go on a journey Some two thousand years ago; When Moses read the prophesy Of the exiled returning home.

For a nation to be destroyed, For the people to be scattered, Then return to their Jewish homeland...

This would seem unprecedented.

But three thousand years later, In May of nineteen forty-eight, God's promise was fulfilled And Israel was declared a State.

Events woven by the hands of God Have truth in every thread.

We now see only the underside; Yet one day a revelation will be had.

(Ezekiel 36:24)

“For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land.�

Our 2nd Anniversary!

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Bible Study...

H

July 2020

1 Thessalonians 4:17

The Rapture...

ow do we understand 1 Thessalonians 4:17: ‘Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.’?

What does ‘caught up together’ mean? The ‘catching up’ is associated with the meaning of being snatched away with no way to resist.

The preceding verses (13-16) leading up to this reads: “But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who a r e asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.”

Paul was keen to explain what will happen to Christians at the end of the Church age as well as instructing us on how to live godly lives during this present age.

He did not want believers to remain uninformed about our future destiny, or to grieve like those who have no hope (after

death), but believing in Jesus’ death and resurrection gives us the blessed hope we have in Christ of that glorious expectation of meeting our Master and Savior.

When the Church age closes and the Lord’s shout/trumpet blasts out as he returns, the bodies of Christians who have died will be raised first. Then, the living Christians will be caught up with them – raptured into heaven, to meet the Lord Jesus in the air.

This message of being raptured harmonized with Jesus’ statements about His

about His second coming in Matthew 24:36-42: “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be

in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming."

Mark 13:32-33 also states: “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is.“ The message to the Thessalonians was delivered by the Word of the Lord. To deny the Rapture is to deny the Scripture and the content of 1 Thessalonians 4:17.

The bodies of believers who are still alive will, in the twinkling of an eye, be united with their new, eternal, resurrected bodies, which will be freed from the ravages of death.

They will be taken to be with the Lord forever.

This is the most astonishing promise which is given to ALL who have been saved by grace through faith in Christ.

Let us continue in the work that God has prepared for us to do, and encourage one another as we see the day getting closer.

We are to put our trust in Christ.

Let us remain alert and ready for that wonderful day when the trump of God sounds and we are taken, as He promised, to be with the Lord – forever.

July 2020

Our 2nd Anniversary!

Grace His

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New stories every month!

Interesting Christian topics, Great Movie, CD and Book reviews!

Get your FREE copy of His Grace magazine today!

Call 905-380-4489 wood.ministries.2020@gmail.com or check out our magazine on-line @ Ministries www.issuu.com/His-Grace

WOOD

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Our 2nd Anniversary!

July 2020

Our 2nd Anniversary!

Movie in Review...

July 2020

T

I Still Believe “True Love Won't Fail�

he movie, I Still Believe, is a touching and moving true story of Jeremy Camp, a Christian singer and his marriage to Melissa, who has cancer. I Still Believe movingly shows us what true love is and that it won't fail us. This movie is beautifully made; the acting is very good and the story is an inspiring one.

I Still Believe starts with Jeremy getting ready to leave for college and he is explaining this to his younger brother who has Down Syndrome and who adores him.

Jeremy's other younger brother and his parents are at the bus stop.

Jeremy's dad, who is a pastor, gives him a beautiful gift ... a new guitar, something that they really

couldn't afford but Jeremy's dad says, "For me, music is a hobby, but for you, it is a gift."

Jeremy then takes the bus to California to the college campus.

He picked that college because a well-known Gospel singer went there and he still lives in that neighborhood.

When Jeremy was checking into college, he noticed a flyer for a concert featuring Jean-Luc. He makes his way backstage. and then sees Jean-Luc and introduces himself, where he begins to tell him he loves his music and asks Jean-Luc for some help to start his music career. JeanLuc gives Jeremy a job handing him his guitar on stage during a performance. While Jeremy is backstage, he looks out into the audience where he spots a beautiful young woman named Melissa and falls in love. Melissa noticed Jeremy also, but there is one problem - she is Jean-Luc's girlfriend. She invites Jeremy to a Christian party on the beach; Jean-Luc is also there, Melissa asks Jeremy to play and sing and that's when Jean-Luc finds out that Jeremy is really good.

As the movie moves on, JeanLuc decides to help Jeremy with

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his music career. Melissa is also at the music studio; they kiss, fall in love and are caught by Jean-Luc. He is very upset, and leaves the studio.

Jeremy leaves to go home for Christmas. While he is home, he receives a call from Jean-Luc telling him that he should come back right away as Melissa has stage three cancer. Jeremy then leaves and heads back to California to see her.

Jeremy then marries Melissa; his family flies in to marry them.

When Jeremy sings at concerts, he asks all the people in the audience to pray for Melissa. When Jeremy is at the chapel in the hospital talking with Melissa's sister, he gets tons of prayer letters from all of his fans. At one part, the doctor says Melissa is cancer free, but after a short while the cancer returns. This movie is well done; it is sad at times but it will make you laugh and cry all at the same time.

Starring: K.J. Apa, Britt Robertson, Gary Sinise, Abigail Cowan, Shania Twain, Cameron Arnett, Reuben Dodd, Nathan Parsons.

Director: Andrew Erwin, Jon Erwin.

Producers: Andrew Erwin, Kevin Downes.

Executive Producers: D. Scott Lumpkin.

I Still Believe: is available on Blue ray and DVD.

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Our 2nd Anniversary!

G GOD O D IS

PLEASE SHARE GOD'S LOVE

July 2020