A Special Thanks To The Gideons

Each year hundreds of thousands of members of The Gideons International labor together in 196 countries with the goal of putting the word of God in people’s hands and hearts. Last year alone, 84,632,342 Bibles were handed out. That’s approximately 1.5 million Bibles every week. Currently, The Gideons are on the verge of passing out their two billionth Bible!

A good number of The Gideons are working this very moment on thousands of college campuses. One man they met as a college student was my father. He got a Bible but didn’t start reading it until the struggles came.

He started reading Matthew. He got to the passage in chapter 6 where Jesus says to look at the birds, so he did. He was comforted knowing that our heavenly Father takes care of them. How much more important are we? Don’t be anxious for tomorrow he read, but he still was. It was then that he handed his life over to Jesus Christ and felt an overwhelming sense of peace flood over him. He then went on to read

But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you – Matthew 6:33

Upon reading this passage he started seeking for others that he could seek God’s kingdom with. Just like Matthew says in the next chapter, seek and you will find, so he did. He found a group of Christian students on campus and the church.

http://www.christianstudentsoncampus.com/

http://www.churchinaustin.org/

Another man who was helping the Gideons pass out Bibles during those years was my Grandfather in law, Robert Pratt (Grand Daddy). I appreciate men like him and owe my life to them. If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be here. I aspire to be like him and share God’s word for the rest of my life.

My wife and I recently inherited a Bible with the Gideon cover on it from her grandparents (next to it are two of my Gideon Bibles). Inside were some notes that were taken by his wife, Ann Pratt.

 

 

The first note is the 7 A’s to being filled with the Holy Spirit:

Aspire – Comes to the Hungry
Acknowledge – That we’re empty and impotent
Abandon – Turn loose anything of which the Spirit convicts you
Abdicate – Get off the throne
Ask – John 16:34, Acts 4:31
Appropriate – God says, we believe
Act – Move on and out

Another note contains some C’s:

Clarify – Aspiration, Acknowledgement
Cleanse –
1. Must confess every sin w/ utter & absolute honesty to God
2. Must be clean with every person
Claim – Deut. 12:7

Lastly, my favorite note has some P’s:

Justification – I have been saved from the Penalty of sin
Sanctification – I am being saved from the Power of sin
Glorification – I will be saved from the Presence of sin

I really like this note because it goes further than most people’s definition of salvation – being saved from hell. If that was it then what’s the point of pursuing Christ today? Why not just pursue a career and family and the list goes on…This is the reason many people, especially young people, are off track to the final stage of salvation, glorification.

I got saved when I was 5. I’ve had many ups and downs since then. There was a lot (and still is) that I need to be saved from. I need to be saved right now! The constant presence of the internet provides us with a constant need to be saved, and a way! I can blog about Jesus!

Another great way to be saved is to call on the name of the Lord. If you need to be saved right now then call on the name of the Lord Jesus!

“Lord Jesus!”

For whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. – Romans 10:13

Related Links:

http://blog.gideons.org/2013/08/record-setting-year-moves-the-gideons-international-closer-to-two-billion-scriptures/