text:
Businesr. Notices. p * I N T I N G, Of Every Description, NEATLY AND CHEAPLY EXECUTED, AT . rjTHE Q QFFIOE, UARDIAN SAUNDERS' BUILDINGS, East street, ASHBU R T O N. GRATEFUL COMFORTING EPPS'S COCOA.; BREAKFAST. BY a thorough knowledge of the natural . laws which govern the operations of digestion and nutrition, and by a careful application of the fine properties of well selected cocoa, Mr. Epps has provided our breakfast tables with a delicately flavoured beverage which may saveus many heavy doctor's • bills. It-is by'the judicious use of such articles of diet that a constitution may be gradually built up until strong enough to resist every ten-,' pency to disease. Hundreds of subtle maladies are floating around us, ready to attack wherever there is a weak point. We may escape many a fatal shaft by keeping ourselves well fortified with pure blood and a properly nourished frame.— See article in the Civil Service Gazette. Made simply with boiling water or milk. Sold only in packets or tins, labelled ; DAMES EPPS AND CO., HOMOEOPATHIC CHEMIST, LONDON. 1)1 °c Medical. jgLINDNESS, DEAFNESS, ~&c; DR. GRANT, Member of Royal College of Surgeons, England, and of the Medical Boards of Victoria and New South Wales; also registered in New Zealand, ; OCULIST, AURIST, & SPECIALIST, (From Europe), may be consulted upon all Diseases of the Eye, Ear, and Throat, Deafness, Noises in the. Head, Defective Sight, Squinting, Cataract, Amaurosis, Ophthalmia, Gutta Serena, Loss of Eyelashes, Inflammation, and all Diseases of the Eye, Ear, and Throat treated upon new and scientific principles. DR. GRANT has arrived in Christchurch, and may be CONSULTED at his Consulting Rooms, 4 HEREFORD TERRACE, Hereford Street East, Christchurch, Near 1 St. John's Church. Hours of attendance: Morning, 10 till 1; afternoon, 2 till 5. Saturdays, morning only..- .. ' : ; i ' Dr Grant's consultation rooms, during the four months : of his. successful practice in Auckland, were crowded to excess, and attention is confidently and particidarly requested to the 1 following cases'of the Eye, Ear, Throat, and other special affections ; 211 Queen street, Auckland, : July 23, 1880. ; Dr. Grant.—Dear sir,—-I have to give you thanks for the great benefit to my hearing since I have been under your care. —I am, <6c., Robert Campbell . Ponsonby, July 23J Under Dr. Grant's treatment I am very much improved in. my hearing, arid should recommend any one to try the same. l — M; A. Parker. Tamaki West, near St. John's College, Auckland, July 23, 1880. Dr Grant has greatly improved my hearing during the time I have .been under his care. — Thos. ' Brookside, Pakakura, Valley;; July 23, 1880. I was under Dr. Grant's treatment for squinting, and was completely cured in ten days. I would earnestly recommend any persons suffering from diseases of the eyes to make a trial of Dr Grant, feeling sure that he would benefit them as he has done me.— John Sinulaike, Jun. Ponsonby road, Hope Town, Auckland, June 10, 1880. I have been under. Dr. Grant's care since May 26, for great deafness, for more than twelve years, arid am about seventy (70) years of age. Dr.> Grant has removed a large and small polypus from my years, and I can hear, much better, having greatly improved under his care, for which I am very thankful. — Charles Lowe. Horne's Estate, New North road, Auckland, June 16, 1880. I Have been suffering from a severe local disease. Dr. Grant operated upon me on Saturday last, and I am now quite well, although I had been in an ill state of health for four years. Charles Muller. Cross street, Newton, Auckland, June 17, 1880. I have been nearly blind for over seven years, and unable to work at my trade (a confectioner). On the first day of this month I ivent under Dr. Grant's care, and already see very much better in this short space of time.— John Whittle. Parnell, June 14, 1880, Dr, Grant has just bured me of a long-standing deafness of more than ten years, for which I am very thankful,having tried many other doctors without success.— Maria J. Treeman. Aucklarid, August 6, 1880. I have been deaf in the left; ear for four years and in the right also. On August 2 I was treated by Dr. Grant, arid ani now quite 'well, being able to hear as well as dyer I did. Arthur Parkinson, Farmer, Opotiki. Maugere, Onelumga, Auckland, August. 26/ 1880. r For thirty-five years I have been suffering with diseased eyes. Since August 5 I have been under Dr. Grant's care, and ? am, rapidly /fecoyering. —J. Nicuolls.'. Symonds street,; Auckland, August 27, 1880. I have' been deaf for eighteen years (since I was four years old) the drums of both years having ulcerated away. lam still improving unddr 1 Dr. 11 Grant's care, and can hear much' better now, sometimes very well. — Margaret Sanderson. ~ Auckland Lunatic Asyluin, Whan, AAig., 28 18,80. This is to certify that I have been" under DA Grant's care for hardness of hearing fronithe 13tly instant, 'and find I aril so far imprpved as to hear the ticking of A watch, 'which I could riot do before \
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Bibliographic details
Ashburton Guardian, Ashburton Guardian, Volume 2, Issue 198, 23 November 1880
Word Count852
Page 4 Advertisements Column 3 Ashburton Guardian, Volume 2, Issue 198, 23 November 1880
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text:
Style # 226555
As if this sexy strapless didn't have enough. Also featuring side cutouts and a printed flow that styles well with our Buckle Sandal. Relax by the pool and don't forget your statement necklace!
- 100% Polyester
- Hand wash
- Imported
- Center back to hem: 43" (109 cm)
- Model is 5'10" and wears a US size S
Strapless Cutout Maxi Dress is rated out of 5 by 3.
Rated 4 out of 5 by Jflower from Love This Dress So I originally tried this dress on in the store. I saw it on the rack and thought it might be cute on. The store only had a large which was too big so I ordered the medium from the store and when it finally arrived and I tried it on, it was also a little big. I was bummed because the dress is truly gorgeous! A really cute summer maxi with an edge. I was able to return it and order a samll. I belive the samll will work i'm usuaally a medium or a large but I think because of the cut outs you may want to order in a size down from what you are. I'm 5'2'' a 36D and weight 156lbs. The length of the dress was decent even without heals on so I know once i put on 4 inch heals i'll be good lol
Date published: 2014-07-11
Rated 5 out of 5 by bebeg from Looooove I love this maxi! Its super sexy and without being over the top. Hope they make some more similar to this or to the space dye maxi they use to have.
Date published: 2014-07-07
Rated 5 out of 5 by TNGirl from Sexy Maxi Bought this dress to wear on an upcoming trip to Costa Rica. Love the cut outs on it. Usually wear an X-Small in Bebe dresses but ordered and XX-Smal because I knew the cut outs would be baggy in the X-Smal. The XX-Small fir perfectly.
Date published: 2014-03-29


text:
Find us on:
Though its keyword-searchable online database, national helpline and Sourcebook, the American Self-Help Group Clearinghouse puts people in touch with any of over 1,200 national, international, model, and online self-help groups covering a wide range of illnesses, disabilities, addictions, bereavement, and stressful life situations. They also provide referrals to local self-help clearinghouses that exist in some states. The Clearinghouse provides information and consultation nationally to help people start new types of national self-help groups when none currently exist. Telephone services are available on weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., EST.
Review Date: Thursday, September 15, 2011
List reviewed web resources
Co-Dependents Anonymous (CoDA®) was established in 1986 as a self-help recovery program for individuals coping with co-dependency. Co-dependency is a compulsive, self-destructive behavior, characterized by an inability to maintain functional relationships, and may include a history of addiction. CoDA® is a non-professional organization, and is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution. Its group activities are patterned after twelve-step recovery programs. Group meetings have been established in 49 states and 10 countries.
Review Date: Wednesday, October 14, 2015
The Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa Research Association of America (DEBRA) was formed in 1979 as a self-help group for persons suffering from epidermolysis bullosa (EB), a group of inherited skin disorders characterized by the formation of blisters after mild trauma. Staff provide professional and emotional guidance, raise funds for research, and help administer public and professional education. DEBRA of America and its sister organizations in Australia, England, New Zealand, and Israel are dedicated to improving public and professional understanding and awareness of EB.
Review Date: Monday, August 25, 2008
The Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) is a non-profit, patient-directed organization founded to provide personal support and direct services to patients with depression or manic depression and their families. DBSA offers a toll-free information and referral line, has more than 1,000 patient-run support groups throughout th U.S. and Canada, and reaches nearly five million people through educational materials and programs, exhibit materials, and media activities. An annual conference is held to provide for communication between local chapters, general members, and the DBSA.
Review Date: Monday, October 05, 2015
Emotions Anonymous (EA) offers a group approach to the achievement of emotional health patterned after the 12-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous. Group meetings are conducted in which participants share their experiences, strength, and hope with each other while practicing the 12 steps to this new way of life, one day at a time. Groups are open to anyone seeking help for their emotional or living problems. EA publishes a magazine, promotional literature, and guidelines for conducting EA groups.
Review Date: Thursday, December 11, 2008
Families Anonymous (FA) was founded in 1971 as a mutual support group for families of people involved in drug abuse and related behavioral problems. Group meetings and discussions are modeled on the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and focus on providing emotional support for the member rather than changing the behavior of the substance abuser. There are no fees or dues for group membership. Assistance is offered to people forming new FA groups.
Review Date: Wednesday, March 30, 2011
The Foundation for Ichthyosis and Related Skin Types, Inc. (FIRST) is a nonprofit organization supported by public contributions and membership fees. FIRST raises funds to promote research on ichthyosis, a rare genetic skin disease, provide advice, guidance, and support among those affected; and distribute educational material to the public and medical professionals. The Foundation uses its national network of volunteers to bring self-help and educational support to individual members and their families. FIRST sponsors national and regional meetings and conferences, which feature leading researchers and clinicians and allow individuals with Ichthyosis to meet each other.
Review Date: Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Gam-Anon is a 12 Step fellowship of men and women who are husbands, wives, relatives or close friends of compulsive gamblers who have been affected by the gambling problem. Gam-Anon's purpose is threefold: to learn acceptance and understanding of the gambling illness; and to use the program and its problem solving suggestions in rebuilding lives and to give appropriate aid to the gambler.
Review Date: Friday, December 10, 2010
The GBS/CIDP Foundation International, founded in 1980, provides support for patients and families confronted with Guillain-Barre Syndrome and chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy. Both are disorders involving peripheral nerves that present as severe muscle weakness, often paralysis.
The GBS/CIDP Foundation International seeks to improve the quality of life for individuals and families worldwide affected by GBS, CIDP and variants by 1) providing a network for all patients, their caregivers and families so that GBS or CIDP patients can depend on the Foundation for support, and reliable up-to-date information, 2) providing public and professional educational programs worldwide designed to heighten awareness and improve the understanding and treatment of GBS, CIDP and variants, 3) expanding the Foundation's role in sponsoring research and engaging in patient advocacy.
Review Date: Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Founded in 1951, the Mended Hearts is a nonprofit self-help group for people suffering from heart disease. It distributes information to members and other heart patients and families. The Mended Hearts operates through local chapters and is supported by local and national dues.
Narcotics Anonymous (NA) is a nonprofit, international organization founded in 1947; it was created to help people of all ages, races, religious perspectives, occupations, and lifestyles stop using drugs. There are more than 58,000 weekly meetings in 131 countries, including the U.S. and Canada, and meetings are also held in correctional and treatment facilities. The World Service Office of NA provides and distributes complimentary group starter kits and NA literature upon request. The material can also be obtained by professionals who refer their clients to existing NA meetings. NA approaches the 12-step recovery program by focusing on the disease of addiction itself, and not a particular drug. There are no dues of fees for NA services.
Review Date: Tuesday, May 24, 2011
The National Association for Children of Alcoholics (NACoA) is a non-profit organization founded in 1983 to support and serve as a resource about children of alcoholics (COAs) of all ages. The association's goals are to join with others of like concerns to create more effective services in communities, to increase public awareness, and to provide training for those who want to help children of alcoholics. NACoA operates a national children of alcoholics clearinghouse for information.
Review Date: Wednesday, June 08, 2011
The Pacific American Foundation (PAF) is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of Pacific Americans through self-help. In addition, PAF educates and informs decision-makers and leaders on public and private policies that affect Pacific Islander Americans including, American Samoans, Chamorros, Fijians, Maoris, Native Hawaiians, Tongans and Tahitians.
Review Date: Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Parents Anonymous (PA) is a self-help group for parents and children who are in need of treatment and/or prevention of child abuse. Local PA chapters meet regularly to discuss the problems of parenthood in order to improve their relationship with their children. Children's programs are also available in some areas.
Review Date: Thursday, April 03, 2014
Postpartum Support International (PSI) was formed June 26, 1987 to increase awareness in our communities about the emotional changes often experienced during pregnancy and after the arrival of the baby. Objectives of PSI are to meet and exchange information between members, encourage formation of new postpartum support groups, encourage health care professional participation, address legislative issues, encourage research, and collaboration with other related organizations; establish criteria for training; supervision and evaluation of volunteers; and address insurance coverage issues. The Mission is to promote international awareness, prevention and treatment of mental health issues to childbearing.
Review Date: Saturday, February 09, 2013
Note: Documents in PDF format require the Adobe Acrobat Reader®. If you experience problems with PDF documents, please download the latest version of the Reader®.
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text:
"Schmitt, Mike" wrote:
> We purchased a Sampo DVE-612 DVD player. This will play discs from multiple regions and can play NTSC and PAL format discs. This DVD player can automatically convert either format to your TV--typically NTSC in North America.
> So far so good with this unit. I can't say that I have huge faith in Sampo but so many DVD players are cheap in construction and design. This one works as well as others and is able to play multiple regions and formats on NTSC and PAL monitors. It also contains many of the standard features.
> We purchased it for $177 delivered from www.noexpress.com This is New Orleans Express. Overall it seems like a fairly decent unit with no problems for us or faculty that have them at home.
> --Mike Schmitt
> UW-Green Bay
> Audio/Video Services
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Sarah Andrews [mailto:firstname.lastname@example.com]
> Sent: Monday, December 09, 2002 1:37 PM
> To: Multiple recipients of list
> Subject: all region DVD players
> Our library also had the problem of faculty requesting DVDs which weren't
> coded Region 1.
> We purchased 2 all-codes/all-regions JVC DVD players from
> http://www.dvdshippers.com/ this summer. They ship to US addresses for
> free. So far, everything we have purchased from Europe has played in these.
> I inquired with some of our faculty about what to look for in a code-free
> player. They recommended getting a long warranty, as these are prone to
> breaking down, and to make sure your tv, etc. were also PAL compatible.
> Here is some additional information: http://www.dvdtalk.com/rce.html
> If you want to go the cheap, probably illegal route--many players can be
> hacked to get around the default region coding. You can find this
> information on the web. (I'm pretty sure that's what some of our faculty
> did to their home machines).
> Sarah Andrews
> University of Iowa Libraries
> Monographic Acquisitions
> --------------- Text of forwarded message ---------------
> Date: Mon, 9 Dec 2002 11:19:23 -0800 (PST)
> Reply-To: email@example.com
> From: "Gail Fedak" <email@example.com>
> To: Multiple recipients of list <email@example.com>
> Subject: Re: Ramon Sender films
> Status:
> In reference to this thread, and related to other titles as well, we have
> searched for multinorm players and have been told by vendors that they
> cannot be purchased in the U.S. Is this correct? If so, why? If not, can
> anyone make recommendations? Thanks in advance for any enlightenment.
> Gail B. Fedak
> Manager, Instructional Media Resources
> Middle Tennessee State University
> Murfreesboro, TN 37132
> phone 615-898-2740
> fax 615-898-2530
> email email@example.com


text:
I pay fuel taxes, income taxes, sales taxes, and property taxes. I support landlords and businesses and the taxes they pay. I pay for the streets and highways that I bicycle and drive on and that future generations will use.
Some people believe that bicyclists don't pay taxes. Typically this argument is used to justify banning bicycles. The logic goes:
Highways are paid for by taxes.
Bicyclists don't pay taxes.
Ergo, highways are not for bicycles.
Putting aside the validity of the premise that highways are only for people who pay for them, the truth is that bicyclists do pay taxes.
I suppose the idea gets started because bicycles don't use gas, and our highways—but not our streets—are partly paid for through fuel taxes. There are two reasons why it is incorrect to say that bicyclists are getting a free ride on our highways.
First, most bicyclists own cars, drive them, and pay fuel taxes. People will drive a long way and spend a lot of money to bicycle in a race or a charity ride. When my brother tried a car-free week, he had to cut his week short by a day so he could drive to the mountain bike trail!
Second, and more importantly, the fuel tax is not nearly large enough to support our highway system. Even after closing the Macon office and several others, MoDOT can't maintain Missouri highways on the fuel tax alone and has proposed a 1% sales tax which I enthusiastically support. Highways are heavily federally subsidized, and bicyclists contribute to the non-fuel tax revenue stream through income taxes, sales taxes, etc.
Kirksville city streets are not funded through fuel taxes at all. Bicyclists pay property taxes on their homes and vehicles. Bicyclists pay sales tax on the things they buy in town. Bicyclists support the landowners who pay property taxes, through rent and patronizing restaurants and local businesses.
The idea that bicyclists don't pay taxes may stem from a notion that bicyclists are predominantly poor people who can't afford cars or pay taxes (another fallacy). I can peg-hole (or stereotype) the bicyclists I see easily. Without doing proper research, my feeling is that in order of quantity, the bicyclists I see are: 1) students, 2) training for fitness, 3) recreational bicyclists, 4) homeless, and 5) green. By "green" I mean they choose to bicycle because it is environmentally friendly. Bicyclists are NOT predominantly impoverished, nor do most poor people bicycle. Like the rest of us, most poor people rely on motorized transportation.
Choosing to bicycle to work allows me to spend more time and money driving to visit family and friends. I pay fuel taxes, income taxes, sales taxes, and property taxes. I support landlords and businesses and the taxes they pay. I pay for the streets and highways that I bicycle and drive on and that future generations will use.


text:
Exclusive collection of high quality photos and videos featuring sexy mature women. Every one of these sexy ladies is aged at least 40 years. Watch these MILFs get stuffed with young cock and showing off their nasty tricks !
40 Something Mag
Its dedicated to the finest mature women on the web with thousands of pictures and hours and hours of HD video to enjoy. Exclusive great content and multiply updates. A must see for all fans of hot older women !


text:
In telling jurors of her role, Monica Washington also pointed the finger at LaFonse Dixon Jr, 34, of Canton, on trial in the death of Celeste Fronsman.
Monica Washington got defiant, her voice rising as she testified Friday that it was time for LaFonse Dixon Jr. to "man up" and admit his part in the death of Canton resident Celeste Fronsman.
In telling jurors of her role, Washington also pointed the finger at Dixon, the 34-year-old Canton resident on trial for Fronsman's slaying. She was found beaten and burned along a remote road in Muskingum County on Aug. 26, 2012.
With Dixon looking on stone-faced, Washington said: "LaFonse Dixon was there," she said.
"LaFonse Dixon had a part in what happened to (Fronsman). LaFonse Dixon is not innocent. It's just time to man up and own up to your part in what happened."
Moments later, she broke down, her voice shaking, her eyes tear-filled. Washington, after one year and 44 days of sobriety, said she now fully realizes the horrific nature of what she and the others did. Fronsman, 29, was burned over about 70 percent of her body before dying two days later in a hospital.
"I'm willing to accept the punishment that's given to me, because I was wrong," she said. "I let people do something to another human being, and I didn't do nothing to stop it."
"I pray that (my family) still loves me, and Celeste's family can forgive me for what I've done."
Co-defendants Washington, 25, and Katrina "KC" Culberson, 22, both have pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated murder, aggravated arson and kidnapping. Dixon faces the same charges and could be sentenced to death if convicted.
As part of Washington's plea deal, the state will recommend serve a life term with the possibility of parole after 25 years. Culberson's agreement allows her to avoid the death penalty. Both await sentencing.
Testimony will resume at 9 a.m. Monday in Muskingum County Common Pleas Court.
Dixon and Culberson wanted to kill Fronsman because they suspected she was a snitch for Canton police, Washington said. According to testimony earlier in the week, Dixon was enraged because he believed Fronsman leaked information that led to a police raid at a drug house. Fronsman denied the accusation while she was under attack, Washington said.
For her own part, Washington admitted to being infuriated at Fronsman because she thought she had been intimate with her boyfriend. Washington said she felt betrayed because she had been a loyal friend, giving her clothes, even helping her hide from Dixon and Culberson.
She chronicled what happened Aug. 26, 2012, during testimony that stretched more than two hours.
Washington was emotional, a stark contrast to Culberson, who maintained a mostly casual and disaffected demeanor earlier in the week while explaining her participation, which included lighting Fronsman on fire and walking away as she was engulfed in flames.
The defense has depicted Culberson as the central figure in Fronsman's death. That continued during cross examination of Washington. She said that Culberson was the driver and Washington followed her orders. And she admitted that she was scared of Culberson at times.
"I just did what I was told," Washington said of her role.
"Who told you? asked Isabella Dixon, a defense attorney who is not related to the man on trial.
"KC," Washington answered.
Washington said that Dixon was not innocent, beating Fronsman in the head while the foursome rode in a 1996 Chevy Tahoe from Canton to the Tri-Valley recreation area along Route 208 in Muskingum County. Culberson had picked out the spot, Washington said.
In past interviews with police, Washington said, she minimized her own involvement. Even in court Friday, Washington said that Dixon and Culberson played a larger part in Fronsman's murder.
Washington said she and Dixon carried Fronsman from the vehicle across the road. Then Dixon alone dragged Fronsman — whose hands were tied — into the tall grass and brush, according to Washington, who, like Culberson and Fronsman, worked the streets of Canton as a prostitute and smoked crack regularly.
Culberson soaked Fronsman with gasoline, then set her ablaze, Washington testified.
"Her body just went poof in flames," Washington said. "... You can hear her begging for help ... moaning (and) crying."
Earlier that morning, Washington had joined some of the beatings and helped to strangle the victim with a strap. "I pulled one end and LaFonse pulled the other," Washington said. "And we choked her with the strap until she was purple in the face."
Isabella Dixon hammered away at the falsehoods Washington admitted telling during police interviews as well as in her plea agreement.
Many times, the attorney emphasized the word, "lie," drawing it out. She highlighted how, in two police interviews, Washington failed to mention Dixon.
Particular importance was placed on the agreement reached with the state. The plea deal is "based on lies?" the attorney asked.
"Yes, ma'am," Washington replied.
"And they accepted it anyway? Isabella Dixon asked.
"Yes, ma'am," the witness said.
"Because they didn't know if you were lying or not?" the attorney said, raising her voice.
"Yes, ma'am."
Also Friday, the prosecution called on investigators with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
Blood was found in the back seat area of the Chevy Tahoe. The vehicle had been cleaned and wiped down, but Josh Durst, with the BCI's major crimes division, said he was able to find blood in the seams of the back seat and some other areas.
Robin Ladd, who specializes in fingerprint analysis, said that none of the prints found belonged to Dixon.
Jurors also heard from a prosecution witness who testified to seeing Monica Washington at a Circle K gas station in Dresden the morning of Aug. 26, 2012. The witness said that a broad-shouldered black man, with a hair style similar to Dixon's, was inside the SUV when Washington got back inside.
However, the witness did not identify the man he saw as Dixon. The prosecution did not ask him to do so.
Reach Ed at 330-580-8315 or firstname.lastname@example.com
On Twitter: @ebalintREP


text:
Madrid (New Mexico)
Madrid [1] is in New Mexico.
The town's name is stressed on the first syllable.
Madrid, New Mexico was founded as a coal-mining community in the 19th century, and was a major supplier of coal for the U.S. Government and for the Santa Fe Railroad. Madrid flourished into the 1930s, with a large Independence Day parade, a Christmas display which attracted visitors from all over the state, and the first lighted stadium in the Southwest. The town declined with the falloff in coal usage until the mines were closed in the 1950s; Madrid never became a true ghost town (it was never completely abandoned), but by 1970 its population had dropped to 30. However, starting in the 1970s, the area became a magnet for creative artists. Madrid is now a small but thriving art colony numbering 200 or more.
Get in
State Highway 14, from Santa Fe, passes through downtown Madrid. To reach town from Albuquerque, take I-40 eastbound, get off at the Tijeras exit, and proceed north on SR 14.
Get around
Madrid is a minor Mecca for creative artists, and shops line both sides of Main Street (S.R. 14 as it passes through the town). Contemporary art, jewelry, pottery, and "wearable art".
Get out


text:
Available To: Faculty, Staff
NAU is using the CMS400 all-in-one web content management platform for content, document, image, and site management of the NAU website. This Web-browser-based system permits distributed control of content within a system of centrally managed resources to ensure a common look, feel, and experience.
Please visit Marketing's website for more information.


text: Individuals and organizations from across the state came together for the 20th annual Victor Venturini telethon to benefit the Marine Corps Reserves Toys for Tots annual drive. Hosted by Bob Venturini in memory of his father, the telethon was held Tuesday night at the Warwick Mall Food Court. By early in the evening, more than 8,000 toys had been collected. Among those dropping off toys – in this case more than 800 of them – were David Gravino and Chris Ciscelli of Iggy's. Gravino said Iggy's restaurants would continue to offer a free bowl of chowder with three clamcakes and a small drink to those dropping off a new toy. The goal is collect 1,400 toys by Dec. 22. Joining Gravino and Ciselli on stage are MSgt. Zabo and Venturini. And lined up to make their gifts from left are: Korean War Association Chapter 3 members Norman Paiva, Frank Meo and Gilbert Botelho. (Warwick Beacon photos)


text:
April 10, 1932 - January 31, 2013
Brooklyn, NY
Barbara M. Quartuccio of Brooklyn, NY entered into rest on January 31, 2013 at Kaplan Family Hospice. She was 80.
Barbara was born in Brooklyn, NY on April 10, 1932 to William and Lillian Dalton Spade.
She was the wife of Peter R. Quartuccio.
Barbara was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, aunt and sister who will be dearly missed by her family.
She is survived by her husband, Peter R. Quartuccio Sr. of Brooklyn, NY; children Peter R. Quartuccio Jr. also of Brooklyn, NY, James and his wife, Debra Quartuccio of New Windsor, NY, Susan and her husband, Robert Durbin of Washingtonville, NY; a brother, John and his wife, Carol Minton of Rocky Point, NY; a sister, Noreen and her husband, Steve Middleton of Boynton Beach, FL; grandchildren, Christina and her husband, Jarrod Cone, Jennifer and her husband, Dan Olsen, Alyssa Quartuccio, Michelle, Kristin and Ashley Durbin and Peter Quartuccio; great grandchildren, Alex, James, Geri and Julia as well as many nieces and nephews.
Visitation will be on Sunday, February 3, 2013 from 12 to 2 p.m. and 4 to 6 p.m., at the David T. Ferguson Funeral Home, Washingtonville, NY.
A mass of Christian Burial will be on Monday, February 4, 2013, 10 a.m. at St Mary's Church with a Burial to follow at St. Mary's Cemetery both of Washingtonville, NY.
In lieu of flowers donation may be made to Hospice of Orange and Sullivan, 800 Stony Brook Court, Newburgh, NY 12550.
Arrangements under the care of Thomas A. Murray of David T. Ferguson Funeral Home, 20 North St, Washingtonville, NY 10992, 845-496-9106. For further info or to leave condolences or a fond memory of Barbara for the family please visit our website at www.davidtfergusonfh.com.


text:
Yo! Hangin' low, chiefin' high.
Time to make you haters cry
Circulatin' gossip 'bout the Lady you deserve to die
Memphis Queen will set it off
Never ever play me soft
Always 'bout my business, be a witness while I write you off
Please stop beepin' me, since I fuck you won't stop beepin' me
Is it cause you sippin' on that syrup or takin' ecstasy?
I don't wanna play wit you, Mrs. Villain Gangsta Boo
Got no time for you cause I be busy with my fuckin' crew
Out to get some paper and you know just how the ball bounce
Yellin' "Fuck a hater!" Blowin' hydro smoke up out my mouth
Ridin' with the limo tint, system bumpin' triple 6
Just a lovely lady independent tryin' to make it rich
Just to let you know I peep you out and how you look at me
Ballin' in yo' friends Mercedes, smiling like you foolin' me
Never are you foolin' me, Ladies represent with me
How you got the clout when, nigga, you be out here chasin' me?
[Chorus x2]
What these niggas want from a bitch?
(what you want)?
What these niggas want from a bitch?
(really want)
[Verse 2:]
What you niggas want from a bitch
You niggas makin' me sick
Be actin' like you a baller just to get in my shit
Cause a lady (I) she don't want no scrubs
A scrub is a nigga that can get the fuck from me
And glistenin' in yo' white gold chains
Saw me ridin' in the Benz nigga doin' my thang
So I don't need you. I got my car keys plus a check book
Two way constantly jumpin' sendin' me messages "Boo, I love you"
Anyway playa I'ma say what's on my fuckin mind
I don't give a fuck what you write I ain't fantizin'
Ok got a car, ok got that ice, ok nigga cool shit ya life is aight
Now what ya wife be tellin me ya business my nigga
I don't care about your figures, I'm a playa my nigga
I'ma mack till I fall ya'll, keepin' it tight
So tell me why you wanna get with Mrs. Lady Aight?
[Chorus x 2]
What these niggas want from a bitch?
(what you want)?
What these niggas want from a bitch?
(really want)
[Verse 3:]
"G"- Is Gotta talk, I gotta let you niggas know tha bizz
"A"- Is Always on my P's and Q's you boys know what it is
"N"- This heater Nine is always by my side when I be cruisin'
"G"- Is Grabbin' at me when I'm buckin' plus I'm never losin'
"S"- Is Sorry man I gots no time I'm down hea platinum nine
"T"- This Triple six is sellin out it ain't no stoppin now
"A"- Is atl is where we represent this lady gangsta
"B"- Is Boomin' system in the caddy plus the navigation
"O"- Is On my dog, why you let her have the drought always
"O" cause it's my time Gangsta Boo just hit the charts
Number one that's off the top
Crazy lady blew the spot
Spotted me in nyc I'm blazin' people off the block
Niggas love me cause I'm thorough, bitches hate me cause they ain't
Niggas tell me that they love me when the really want my bank
But you playas know you can't get nothin from the Lady
You need to come and tell me what you want from me baby
[Chorus x 2]
What these niggas want from a bitch?
(what you want)?
What these niggas want from a bitch?
(really want)


text:
Working under the name Mr. Colson–and operating out of Smart Studios, birthplace of albums by Nirvana, The Smashing Pumpkins, Garbage, and many more–Doug Olson has produced a variety of big-sounding rock records by bands from Walt Mink and Paw to Dwarves. (The first two are among his favorites; he describes the latter's Thank Heaven For Little Girls as "probably the most bizarre, sinful record I've ever worked on.") Olson just wrapped up the herculean task of mixing hours upon hours of live performances for HBO's Reverb, a live-music series currently in the middle of a 13-week run. Through it all, Olson has still found the time to mix a few records (a Puller album here, a compilation track by The Urge there), and to talk to The Onion about Reverb, his production and mixing work, and the novelty of recording everyday live concerts.
The Onion: Reverb just goes around recording normal live shows, right? The shows aren't set up specifically to be recorded?
Doug Olson: Each show would happen regardless of whether HBO went to film it or not; people paid, and they're all there just to see the band. There's nothing really "set up" about it. These audio guys have a little bit of time to kind of get it all put together and make sure it's all happening. It's very seat-of-the-pants. So sometimes I have to deal with challenging things working on the mix, but that's also the source of what's cool about the show. It's not polished. It's pretty raw.
O: It seems like we've gotten to a point where just airing a regular live, plugged-in concert is something of a novelty.
DO: It's ironic, isn't it? It's probably due in part to MTV. The image people used to have of a band in their minds wasn't based on videos and stuff like that; it was from live shows and press and occasional promotional things. Now, it's a whole different ballgame. If you go back far enough, people actually had live music as their reference point. They would go home and listen to a record and compare it to something real, whereas now we compare records to other records, and we compare live performance to some hyper-produced video. So people's expectations get higher and higher, and the gap between reality and their expectations just gets wider. So [Reverb], to me, is a very good thing, because it's a reality check, you know?
O: You mentioned mixing-related challenges. Do you find yourself dealing with situations where the band just sucks?
DO: [Pauses.] Well, um, not really. There are times when you can tell people are having a bit of a loose night, and obviously, since the show spans the gamut of styles and levels of musicianship, some people… Well, Ben Harper, for example: Everyone in Ben's band, Ben included, can all really play, and they all obviously worked really hard for a long time to come up with something they can present to people. And then there are other bands where it's maybe more about, "What can the audience give to my ego?" rather than, "What can I give to the audience?" But on the other hand, everyone's trying, I suppose, on some level. Another thing is that there are shows we've done where the bands are out there giving their all, and the camera pans out to the crowd, and they're just standing there watching. Some people reach out and it works, and some people try real hard but need a hit record or something to get the crowd excited.
O: A lot of producers and mixers get to pick and choose their projects. How many bands do you have to mix for the 13-week run of this show?
DO: Around 40.
O: You've got to hate some of those bands. I'll bet that you sit in the studio late at night, getting the mix just right for a band that you just hate. What is that like?
DO: [Laughs.] Okay, well, here's the thing. For what I do, there's a zone you enter, and it's sort of like The Professional Zone, where there definitely are bands whose records I would never buy. If I walked into a room and their record was playing, I would probably at least tune it out if not leave. But when I'm working on something like that—even when I'm working on something I really like—I almost have to sort of detach from it so I can focus on minute aspects of the sound. I'm making all these subtle judgments, which means I have to go in and out of the music mode. Obviously, the mix has to serve the music, and so the music tells you, "This is what this is and what it's trying to be." So you have to sort of go the way it wants to go; you can't force something in a different direction. You have to pay attention to the big picture, but then you also have to dive in and go, "Are the cymbals loud enough? Are they too loud? Can I hear the vocal here?" And when you do that, it just turns into a sound. I might not even hear what the singer is saying. It's just a sound, and I'm going, "Is that sound loud enough?" [Laughs.] So it can be very abstract in a way. Another thing that's kind of funny is that when you do work on something where your initial impression is, "Oh, God"—which, you know, is gonna happen—after five or six hours, half the time you start kind of liking it. It's my job to find the cool bits and bring out those little bits of excitement. I spend probably half my time listening to the music coming out of this tiny speaker, because that's somewhat like a TV speaker. Now, some people have really nice home-theater set-ups, and I think people who have HBO are more likely to have good systems, but by no means do all people have that. The majority are going to have small TV speakers; they don't move a lot of air, and they're pretty much going to give you the mid-range of the mix. So I concentrate really hard on that aspect of it, and yet I have to also find the cool bits and get them in there, while still making it so you can hear everything. It's just a different perspective than I normally get.
O: This must be a great opportunity to showcase your versatility.
DO: I'm really hoping that people like the way it sounds. That's the bottom line for me. In fact, I want the bands to hear it and say, "Hey, we sound good." That's my ultimate hope. If everyone else in the world thinks it sounds great, but the bands don't, that's no good.


text:
Well, you know, in our little times together, we've talked about some very important things in terms of the Christian life. We've talked about prayer and the importance of prayer, the study of the Word of God, and we've talked about how important it is that we experience real fellowship. And that kind of thing works within the family of God. But there's one other thing we need to talk about, and that's witnessing to those who are outside the family of God. Now indirectly, if those other things are right, we're going to have an impact on other people. But we need to talk a little bit about the direct approach of communicating the saving gospel of Christ to other people.
Just a couple of verses to get us thinking along that line. In John 15 Jesus says this, verse 26, "When the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, He shall testify of Me." Now the first thing you learn from that verse is that the Holy Spirit is in the business of witnessing. The Holy Spirit has come to testify of the truth concerning Christ. And then it says in the next verse, verse 27, "And ye also shall bear witness,"and He says to the disciples, "because you've been with Me from the beginning." The Holy Spirit then was sent into the world and into our hearts to bear witness to Christ and He therefore bears witness through us, doesn't He? And we who have been with Christ are witnesses first hand to who He is and what He can do in a life and the ministry of witnessing is committed to us. Just a couple of verses to get us thinking along that line. In John 15 Jesus says this, verse 26, "When the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, He shall testify of Me." Now the first thing you learn from that verse is that the Holy Spirit is in the business of witnessing. The Holy Spirit has come to testify of the truth concerning Christ. And then it says in the next verse, verse 27, "And ye also shall bear witness,"and He says to the disciples, "because you've been with Me from the beginning." The Holy Spirit then was sent into the world and into our hearts to bear witness to Christ and He therefore bears witness through us, doesn't He? And we who have been with Christ are witnesses first hand to who He is and what He can do in a life and the ministry of witnessing is committed to us. Acts 1:8 says, "You shall be witnesses when the Spirit of God has come upon you," right? So we're all called then to communicate the saving gospel of Jesus Christ.
Now we want to talk about what that means and how to do that effectively as we share together in our session today. So who wants to start with a question?
QUESTION: John, do you have to be specially trained to witness, or can just anyone do it?
JOHN: I would say in answer to that question that it's good if you have some training. But anyone who knows Jesus Christ can do it. That's the condition. Let me give you an illustration.
When I was assistant pastor some years ago in a church where my father was a pastor, one day the secretary came running in the church door and she says, "There is a fight on the parking lot. There's a fight on the parking lot." It was kind of a boring day so I figured I go out and watch it, right? So I went out the door and here was a guy laying in the dirt...he was about 50 feet from where I came out the door of the church...and this fellow was kicking him, just pummeling his body, in fact there were two of them doing it. And I realized this was very serious. So I came out the door and I thought, "Boy, I've got to do something about this."
So I said, "Hey you guys, break this up." Nothing. I mean, they didn't even respond to me. And I thought, "Well, maybe they didn't hear me." So I yelled a little louder. "Break it up!" And nothing. So I started toward them and as I got there I heard him say, "Kill him...kill him." And I realized, this was not a fight, this is a murder and there I am saying, "Break it up, break it up," you know, and they're paying no attention to me.
Well I finally walked out there and they saw me and by that time the guy was a bloodied mess, you couldn't even distinguish his face and he had been kicked literally senseless. And so this big guy turned toward me, I mean, he was really big. It turned out that he was about six foot five, 250 pounds, he was a professional dock worker and played rugby, great big guy. And, you know, I'm not real small and I've always said, "I'd pick a fight with anybody smaller than me whose had a recent illness," you know. But I mean, I'm not going to...
So I was kind of paralyzed for a minute, see, because he turned toward me. He says, "What do you want?"
And I said, "You better break it up and leave this guy alone." And he pulled back his fist and I...my instinctive reaction was to back up, right? And I backed up and he kept coming after me. And I figured I'd just keep moving cause it was drawing both of them away from this guy. And they kept moving and I kept moving. Finally got right back to the church door and I stepped in the door, I figured they're not going to come in the church and I'll get somebody to call the police. Came right in the door.
And my dad came out, he had been studying and he says, "What's going on here?" And this guy took a shot at my dad. So that kind of irritated me. So I called and said, "Call the police." Well they panicked and the other guy had picked up this guy that was just senseless and smashed his head on the wall and then dropped him behind a bush and they ran for a getaway car. And so I ran out to get the license and I'm running down the street, you know, with a pencil writing down a license. And the police got there. And I gave them all the information I could give them. The guy was alive but he said, "I don't want to press charges, I don't want to see them again, I don't want to testify, I don't want to do anything." He was literally scared to death.
And so they went ahead and got those guys. They found them because they went to their apartment and found bloodied shoes and all that kind of stuff. And they called me to court. And I'll never forget as long as I live what happened when I went to court. I walked in there, you know, and I put my hand up and they said, "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?" And I said I do. And the attorney walked up to me and he said this, "Reverend MacArthur, you tell us what you saw, what you heard and what you felt." That was exactly what he asked me. And on those terms, I became instantly a witness. What I saw and what I heard and what I felt made me a viable witness, right? I mean, I was there. And ever since that event, I've always thought of 1 John 1:1 where John says, "The things that we have seen with our eyes, and heard with our ears and handled with our hands declare we unto you concerning the Word of life."
So what is a witness? Somebody who has seen and heard and felt the power of Jesus Christ. So in answer to your question, who can be a witness...anybody who's been with Christ. And that's what we saw in John 15 didn't we? "You shall witness of Me because you have been with Me from the beginning."
So when you know Jesus Christ and when you have seen Him and heard Him and touched Him in your life, you become one who can speak concerning Jesus Christ, right? I mean, you may not know all the doctrines of the Bible and you may not know every in and out of theology, and you may not have all the little systems and all the little gimmicks and all the little methods and booklets and angles, but if you have walked with Jesus Christ, you've got something to say and you can be a firsthand living testimony to the power of Jesus Christ. Let me tell you something, that is far more important than knowing a formula...far more important than knowing a formula. You know, I knew a preacher who got up in front of his church one time and said, "I just want you to know that I've been the pastor of this church, I think it was ten years, and he said, 'Today I came to know Jesus Christ as my Savior.'" And from then on he became for the first time in his life a witness to the power of Jesus Christ. Before that he knew the facts and the methods, he didn't know Christ and that personal power wasn't there in the energy of the Spirit of God.
So who can be a witness? Everybody who is a Christian, everybody who knows Jesus Christ. And I think we're mandated. I mean, didn't Jesus say to the disciples, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel," right? Make disciples of everyone. And all of us are mandated to go out and communicate the Christ we have seen and heard and felt. And I mean, it's...it's obviously a terrible thing to defer from that. I mean, not to do that, to not tell the world what we have known of Jesus Christ is to withhold from them the greatest thing they'll ever hear, right? So everyone of us as Christians are a witness.
Now, let me tell you something else. Even if you don't say anything, if people know you're a Christian, you're a witness. You may not be a very good one, but you are one because they're reading the meaning of Christ in your life and the value of Christ in your life by your life. And if you don't say anything, then Christ isn't that valuable. Christ can't be that meaningful. I mean, if you're a Christian and you can hide it for years, it can't really be that big of a deal or else it's some secret society only for the initiated. So we are witnesses. I mean, He doesn't say we'd like you to be them, He says you are, just be sure you're an effective one. And only a Christian can really be an effective witness.
Having said that, let me say this. The gospel is so powerful that even in the mouth of that preacher I mentioned who wasn't a Christian, the gospel itself could transcend his lack of experience, you know, I mean God used Balaam's ass, right? I mean even a donkey. So there's a sense in which the gospel is so powerful that it transcends the vehicle. But in order to be a true and effective witness, you have to know Jesus Christ. And that's really all there is to it...at least to start.
How about another question.
QUESTION: John, I've heard a variety of different definitions concerning witnessing and what does the Bible actually define witnessing as?
JOHN: Well I think we've already got into that a little bit and witnessing would be defined as this. A person communicating testimony about something they have experienced. I mean, when you have a court case, they don't want second-hand witnesses. Right? They want...what's the term they use? Eyewitnesses, right? I mean, they want somebody who is there. They don't want information passed down through several sources.
Let me give you a perspective that will help, all right? The world is like the jury. Christ is on trial before the world, right? I mean, the world is trying to decide about Jesus Christ. And the Holy Spirit is the lawyer for the defense. The Holy Spirit has taken up Christ's case in the world and His task is to convince the world that Christ is who He says He is. And the Holy Spirit calls into the courtroom witnesses. That's us, see. So we become witnesses for the defense of Jesus Christ before the watching world. That's a great concept, isn't it? And we're called into the courtroom, as it were, and as we live in the world we exist in the courtroom and Jesus Christ is on trial. Now that's the seriousness of our witnessing role. I mean, this is a serious thing, right? If you, for example, were called into the Superior Court, or the State Court or the Supreme Court of the United States of America and somebody said, "Will you defend Jesus Christ?" Would you? Of course you would, if you were on trial actually there. I mean, I've often thought if I was only there when He was before Caiaphas, I would have said some things. If I was there when He was before Annas, I would have said some things. I wouldn't let those guys get away with false judgments on Christ. He deserved better than that. They lied about Him, etc.
Listen, the world is making a judgment and the whole environment that we exist in is a courtroom and the Spirit of God, the lawyer for defense, calls us to give our witness. And there are some people who are going to make their conclusions about Jesus Christ based upon our testimony, right? So as we begin to understand witnessing, we have to begin to understand that the Holy Spirit is calling us to be a witness for Christ.
Now let's ask this question, too. What is the element that makes a person willing to be that witness? And I've got to be honest with you right at the beginning, it's sacrifice. There is a price to pay because when you name the name of Jesus Christ and step out, there's going to be some flack, right? I mean, you can't...you can't confront a Godless Christless world and not expect to get some reaction.
You know, I had occasion to be on a college campus, a college of about 25- or 26- thousand students. And they asked me to come and to speak on Christianity and culture on the open forum. And several thousand students were gathered around and I was to speak on Christianity and culture. What am I going to say, right? So I could exhaust everything I know about Christianity and culture in about ten minutes. And then I decided since the predominant number of students didn't know Jesus Christ that I would speak on the deity of Jesus Christ and how to know God through Him. And so I went ten minutes on Christianity and culture, 40 minutes on the deity of Jesus Christ, and I just proclaimed salvation through Jesus Christ. You could have heard a pin drop. I know the Spirit of God controlled things because it was really just straight-on gospel. And there are those times, you know, when you preach and you feel like you're just pushing and it's hard and there's resistance. And then there are those times when you're just flying. And I felt like I was just soaring. I mean, I was freewheeling and stuff was coming and the power of God was there.
And I got all done and it was incredible what happened. One guy walked up to me, he said, "I need to know Jesus Christ." And I had the privilege of leading him to Christ. Another guy I had the privilege of seeing in my office a few days later, came to Christ and went to seminary. I mean, God really touched some lives. But the impact of it was, they banned all Christians from the campus. They closed down the free speech platform. They took the Christian book table off the campus. And the next time I spoke at a near campus, the whole group of students from the other campus that protested came over and ringed the podium where I was speaking and shouted the whole time. They called our home in the middle of the night with obscene phone calls, threatened the family, threatened my wife. And my first reaction was..I've got to quit doing this, you know, this is creating problems. My second reaction was, I think I made a wave. I mean, I think I made a dent in the kingdom of darkness. And I began to realize what Peter said that when you're persecuted for righteousness sake, the Spirit of grace and glory rests on you. And there was a tremendous sense of identification. I felt sort of quasi-apostolic, you know, I was knowing what some of those guys went through. So I really believe that when you approach this responsibility of standing before the world to testify for the sake of Jesus Christ, you've got to realize that it's a hostile world. And if the gospel is truly preached, they're going to react.
Now I can also say this. If you just talk about love and nice things and talk about God is a good guy and don't bring in sin and don't confront people with the fact that they live in violation of God, they may not react negatively. But that isn't the true gospel, either, is it? You've got to confront the truth of sin and righteousness and the truth about Jesus Christ. And when you do that, there's a sacrifice to be made. So you need to decide in your life whether you're going to close up your mouth and be as some people say like the Arctic River, frozen over at the mouth, you're just going to clam up and you're going to say, "My own personal reservation, reputation, whatever is worth more to me than testifying of Christ." You have to make that decision. Or whether you're going to say, "Hey, I don't care really what happens to me, I'm expendable," right? I mean, if I die, Paul says, getting the gospel to you, he says if I am offered on the sacrifice of your faith, I rejoice. I mean, if I die getting you saved, sweet death. And so that's the kind of sacrifice we're talking about.
I always think of John Patton who went to the New Hebrides Islands to be a missionary. They were inhabited by man-eating cannibals. I mean, you know, that's a tough assignment. I mean, you go to...you know what I would have said. I would have said, "Lord, look, don't send me there, they'll eat me, you know, and you'll waste a good one. I mean, I graduated from seminary, right? I mean, send a guy that dropped out, they'll eat him, who will know? Or maybe he never would have made it anyway. Why send a good one?" But Patton went and he took his wife and they dropped him off and he rode to the shore and they built a little lean-to on the shore and how do you reach natives like that? They're cannibals, they don't speak your language. I mean, what do you do? You don't put up a sign in the sand that says, "BBS starts Saturday, bring your children," you know. What do you do?
Well you pray a lot, right? And night after night they stayed in that little lean-to and prayed and after he had been there a couple of months, his wife gave birth to a baby and the baby died and a few days later his wife died. And Patton said he buried their bodies and slept on the graves to keep the natives from digging them up and eating them. Now he's all alone. That's really coming to the end, isn't it? I mean, that's when the bottom line is drawn..do you stay or do you go?
Well he stayed. And the miracle of his life is that he stayed 35 years. And he said at the end of those 35 years, "I do not know of one single native on these islands who has not made at least a profession of faith in Jesus Christ." And he said, "When I came here I heard the cry of cannibals. As I leave, I hear the ringing of church bells." Is that incredible? But see, that's what can happen if you're willing to make the sacrifice. Not everybody will be a John Patton, but everybody can do the thing that God's called him to do if they're willing to pay the price. So being a testimony in the world, anybody can be a testimony, and you have to realize that there's a price to pay. If you're a Christian and you're really sold out to Christ, you're willing to pay that price. And it's not necessarily a one-time deal though, from now on I'll do it. You fight that battle all along, don't you? Whether you're willing to speak for Christ.
Another question. Yeah, Dan.
QUESTION: John, with all the sacrifice and commitment that you talk about and witnessing, and even the frustration when people don't respond, isn't it...or why wouldn't someone just desire to pursue God and read His Word rather than witness when God promises to bring men to Himself anyway?
JOHN: Yeah, in other words there's so much heartache involved in doing it, wouldn't it be better to just retreat and commune with God and let God take care of the saving on His sovereignty? Well again we're back to something we talked about in one of our other discussions together. It's not for you to figure out those kinds of things. You're not going to say, "You know, God, You've got a good plan. But I've been thinking about it and I think I've got a better one. I'd like to suggest it to You." You know, because what you're doing is you're doing the thing that man always wants to do and that is to assume his mind is ultimate. And if I can't figure it out, it certainly can't be reasonable. But the Bible says here's why you witness. I told you so. I told you to. That's enough. I mean, sometimes you've got a little child and you say, "Now I want you to do this," and you get this standard answer, "Why? Why, Daddy?" And you know you can't explain why because they don't understand why. So you just say, "Because...what?...I told you to," end of discussion. And that's the way we are. We are little children in terms of comparing ourselves with God's infinite mind. And so God says do this. And we say, "Hey, I took in all the data available, why?" And He says, "That's not for you to ask, get on it, do it." And so we're commanded. You know, our Lord says as we mentioned earlier in Matthew 28, "Go into all the world and make disciples." And that's enough for me. I mean, somebody said to Spurgeon one time, they said, "You know, Mr. Spurgeon, you believe in the election doctrine. You believe that certain people are elect for salvation. Why don't you just preach to the elect?" He said, "Well, if you'll go around and pull up their shirttails so I can see if they have an "E" stamped on their backs, I will." And the point was, he doesn't know that. And so what his responsibility is, is to preach to everybody. God will take care of what His part of it is. It's our responsibility to preach the gospel to every creature.
You know, if you follow that kind of logic, Dan, you could say this, "If...if people who don't hear the gospel," and you hear this sometimes, people say, "If they don't hear the gospel, they're not lost," right? Because they haven't had an opportunity. The best thing is not to ever tell them. But that's contrary to the command, too, isn't it? The fact that we're told to go preach to every creature means that even the ones who haven't heard are lost. So our responsibility is to go out there and be obedient and preach the gospel and not try to get into all kinds of rational arguments about it.
Now let me talk about another element of this. I believe we're commanded to go out there right now and do it and we're responsible to do it because it isn't a matter of theological knowledge. In other words, I think we all are responsible. Somebody could say, "Well, I mean, I'm not trained. I can't witness. I've got to wait until I get my training. I've got to be built up so that I can answer all these arguments and all these questions," and so forth. But I think we are all witnesses because we're commanded to be and because it isn't a matter of theological knowledge. It is first and foremost a matter of what we've seen and heard and felt. And our witness begins at that point. And I may know very little, right? I may only know that Jesus saved me, but that's enough. You know, we have baptismal services in our church all the time. And you've been there. I mean, the power of those testimonies is overwhelming. And nobody is in there giving this big discussion of the doctrine of ousia, you know, the being of God, or distinguishing sublapsarianism, infralapsarianism, and a Labrador Retriever. You know, nobody is giving big theological treatises in seminary language. What they're doing is saying I used to be a drug addict, or I used to be...I'll never forget the guy that came in here one night and he was really rough, you know, his vocabulary wasn't very polished and I'm sure a few of the older saints were having a little problem with the way he was talking. And he said, "I was the head of the Hell's Angels in Houston." And he said, "The last time I was in a church, I want you to know we rode our motorcycles up the front aisle and up the middle aisle and we threw a rope around the pastor in the middle of his sermon and we dragged him down the middle aisle, down the steps, down the street, and down the block." And he wound up in prison for I think a murder charge. It wasn't first degree so he was out of prison. But he said, "I'm here to tell you that during the last few weeks of my time in prison I came to know Jesus Christ and I'm here now because I want to worship the Lord Jesus Christ." Now that kind of testimony...I mean, you don't have to have a whole lot of theology to handle that. I mean, that's powerful and people are just sitting out there saying, "Wow, can Jesus Christ transform somebody like that?" Or you have somebody come in and say, "You know, for years and years I've been a homosexual, or whatever, and Christ has changed my life." Or "For years and years I've been just your average good guy without fulfillment and meaning and Christ has given me peace and joy." So, you see, that's where the witness begins and you don't need to back off from that. You need to realize that we witness because we're commanded to and because we're fit to. We really are fit to if Christ has changed our life. And it will get better and we'll be better able to answer questions later on, but still we have the power of a transformed life. And that's so very, very important.
Another question.
QUESTION: Well it's obvious we're supposed to witness but what are the elements that make a witness effective?
JOHN: Well that's an important question, Paul, because some of us have tried to witness and we walk back from that occasion and we say, "There must have been a better way, right? I mean, there must have been another approach. I got turned off when I was only on step one."
What do we really need to understand about witnessing? All right, let me give you a broad picture, first of all. Basically, the corporate testimony of the church is foundational. For example, you attend a church, right? And the reputation of that church in the community really sets the foundation for whether anybody is going to listen to what you have to say. For example, let's say you attend a church where they are having a fight, the church is split, the pastor ran off with the secretary, it's chaotic, it hits the newspaper, everybody knows and you go down and you're from that church and the people at your school or your work or your neighborhood and you say, "I just want to tell you the Lord is wonderful and we all live for the Lord and I want you to know Jesus Christ." And he says, "You go to that church down there where the pastor just embezzled all the money...you know?" End of testimony, right? I mean it's the corporate community that sets the foundation to make individual witness meaningful and believable.
I remember one of the attorneys came to me one Sunday and said, "I just had a terrible experience." I said, "Well what was it?" He said, "Well, I was in court this week and I was working with this other attorney and I invited him to church. And he said to me, what church do you go to?" And he said, "I told him, I said I go to Grace Community Church and John MacArthur's the pastor." He says, "You go to that church?" He says, "Yeah, I'd like you to come." He says, "Are you kidding? I'd never come to that church." He says, "The most crooked attorney in this city goes to that church."
Well this lawyer came and he said, "Well that just broke my heart."
So I got up in the service that morning and I told that story. And I said, "I don't know which of you attorneys that goes here is that crooked attorney, but I wish you'd get your life cleaned up because you're making it very hard for the others to witness." You understand the point? I mean, you know, you're out there and you're going to have to defend the Christianity you belong to. It's tough some times, isn't it? Newspapers like to play up, you know, the bad things that happen to Christian people and the media loves that kind of thing. So we have to live that life, we have to be that salt and that light that consistent thing.
So, Paul, in answer to your question. Some of your effectiveness in witnessing is dependent on other people. It is. And the foundation of believability that they have laid. Have you ever gone in to witness to somebody, to share Jesus Christ with somebody and they've already met so many dear, good, solid Christians that you're just...the slide is greased. I mean, you just go sailing on through. And that's very important, that corporate testimony. And again we're back to John 13 where Jesus said, "By this shall all men know that you're My disciples when you have love for one another and when you see the purity of the church." Now Peter exhorts, "Have your behavior honest among the pagans," right?
And when you come, you come into the Pauline letters to Timothy and he's telling how the church ought to be organized, and then to Titus. And he says, "Boy, when you start picking leaders, pick leaders whose lives are blameless in the world because if they can shoot down your leaders, they'll wipe out your whole movement and you lose your testimony." So in a very real sense, we're dependent on each other. And what you do in your life may affect my testimony. You meet somebody, you try to share Christ. "Ah, I met a Christian and they were such-and-such and such-and-such and I'm not interested." So that's a very important element of it.
Now let me talk a little bit about another thing. You go from the corporate testimony to the individual testimony. And this is essential, too, that your life be right. The place you're going to have the most impact in your witnessing is the environment you live in all the time. I mean, that's where you sink or swim, right? We say, "Oh, it's so hard to win my family to Christ." That's right because unless they see day in, day out the virtue of Jesus Christ coming through you, it's going to make it tough. And we're talking from the human viewpoint. We know that God is at work, but nonetheless, from our side there's a pure life that lays a foundation. First Peter 2:15 says, "By doing right, you silence...remember that verse?...the ignorance of foolish men." You know, people want to slander Christianity, they want to put it down, they want to knock it, but it's your right living, your virtuous life that shuts the mouths of the critics. I mean, we all long for a Christianity that's blameless, don't we? I mean, wouldn't we love to be demonstrating to the world the blamelessness of a Christian's life? Not perfection, but just that honest, upright integrity that says, "Sure I fail, but I go to the Lord and He helps me with those." That's really what we want as a foundation...very, very important.
Now, just another thought along this line. As you witness now on that individual pure life, we've talked about the corporate foundation, the pure life, as you move into witnessing with those as the basis, I think it's essential that you articulate your testimony. In other words, that people be hearing about how Christ has changed your life. Because most people that come to the gospel, that come to Christ, come from the standpoint of feeling a need. They feel incomplete. They feel lonely. They feel depressed. They feel unfulfilled. That's basically where men are. They're looking for pleasure, and they're not finding it. They're looking for love, and they're not finding it. You always think about Roquentin, the main character in the Sartre book. Sartre wrote a book on life, he called it Nausea, that was the title of it. Really bad approach to life, right? And the main character says, "I thought I could find life in pleasure, in thrills, so I tried all the thrills...all the thrills. And I found that if I was meaningless then I could only bring my meaningless to my pleasure. So I decided that pleasure must be in serving mankind." He said, "I found it easy to love humanity, it was people I couldn't stand, right? In the broad terms he could be very philosophically condescending, but in terms of real relationships, couldn't cut it. So I decided that it must be in intimate love with a person of the opposite sex." And he said, "Everyone that I touched, I turned into lust and destroyed." And so at the end he says, "I decided to take my life to remove one more superfluous life."
Well everybody isn't quite as philosophical as Sartre about life. But basically people are looking for fulfillment...they're looking for a lot of things that are within the category of fulfillment. They're looking for freedom from guilt, believe me, guilt is very difficult to deal with. You wonder why the mental institutions are packed with people, I think it's primarily it's due to guilt. They can't throw off anxiety built upon them by guilt. Then there's this whole thing of purposelessness, Edna St. Vincent Malay, you know, says, "Life must go on, I just don't know why." And Arthur Miller says, "Life has deteriorated to the miles we get on our Volkswagen." I mean, there's nothing there, no purpose. And then there are those people who are literally victims of their own passion and they can't rise above it. They just can't rise above it. And here's this meaninglessness of life. And so when you witness to somebody and you come at them and you say, "Hey, peace in life, purpose in life, this is in Jesus Christ," right? And that's the initial, but you can't stop there. I mean, that's not enough. I think the rich young ruler came to Jesus because he had a felt need. He comes to Jesus and he runs. And if a guy's running, he's got some problems, he's hurting. And he slides in on his knees and looks up and says, Ah, ah, ah, you know, panting, "What do I have to do to obtain eternal life?" That was a felt need, wasn't it? But the Lord didn't say, "Hey, sign on the dotted line, guy, and you're in." "Hey, believe," you know. The Lord hit him with something that was absolutely unbelievable. He said, "Keep all the commandments." Keep all the commandments, which commandments? God's commandments. Remember he listed some of them there in Matthew. What was the Lord doing? The Lord was taking him to the next step in evangelism. It's got to be beyond a felt need, they have to realize that they're living in sin and rebellion against God. And sometimes that is the hardest thing to tell someone. You can find a person searching for purpose and they can get all excited about that. "Oh man, meaning and purpose and value in life, fulfillment, potential." And then you say, "But wait, you see the real issue with you is...the reason you don't know those things is because you're living in rebellion to the God who give those things and you'll never know them until you come to grips with that rebellion. You're living in violation of God's law, you're a sinner. You have broken God's commandments." And then you can name those commandments. And you need to bring them to the point where they admit it.
Now Jesus gave all those commandments to the rich young ruler, and what did he say? "All those things have I kept. What am I lacking?" It's impossible to bring that guy to conversion because he didn't admit that he was...what?...a sinner. I mean, he wouldn't admit that he was out of sync with God. Therefore all he was looking for was a placebo. All he was looking for was a panacea, a temporary relief from the symptoms and he wouldn't admit there was a deeper problem. And so you have to take people to the point where they really affirm the fact that they are sinful. And that sometimes is hard to do.
And then you take them one step further, I think, and that is you take them to the point where they will acknowledge that they need to submit their life to the control of God. Remember the rich young ruler, "Then Jesus said to him, I want you to do something. Sell everything you have, give it all to the poor, come follow Me." And the Bible says he split. He was going to be the lord of his life. Sure he wanted eternal life, he wanted peace, he wanted freedom from anxiety, he wanted all that stuff, but he wasn't willing to do it on the terms that he had to admit he was a sinner because he desperately needed to preserve his own sense of self-esteem. And secondly, there was no way he was going to subject his life to the lordship of somebody else. And those are conditions we have to bring people to.
So the knowledge of your testimony as it's blended in with the Scripture, and that means you confront people with the Word of God. And the Word of God says you're going to have to deal with sin and the lordship of Jesus Christ.
Now there's another thing you need to do, too, in the elements of effective witnessing, and that is this. You need to recognize that you're dependent on the power of the Spirit of God. You say, "Well why is this important?" Because it keeps you from manipulating people. It's very easy sometimes to get somebody who is emotionally agitated and really in desperate need to sort of manipulate them into doing something. And so you want to be sure you're not doing that. And so you depend upon the Spirit of God. Hey, nobody ever got saved by your cleverness, or mine, or anybody else's. You don't con people into being Christians. That's a miracle, isn't it? And that miracle is a supernatural miracle. And so we are dependent on the Spirit of God.
You know, I love that story in Acts 16 about Lydia...I call her Lydia the liberated lady. The Bible says that Paul came and preached the gospel...and I love this...and the Lord opened her heart. Boy, isn't that good? The Lord opened her heart. You know, somebody said to me one time years ago, "Do you get distressed when people don't respond to the gospel? When they don't come to receive Jesus Christ?" And I say, "Well there's a sense in which my heart is sad, but God never called me to save people, He only called me to preach the gospel to them. The saving is his business. So I don't have a lot of anxiety about that. If I've been faithful to clearly discharge the presentation of the gospel, that's all I can do. That's all I can do. I'm not going to manipulate them to do something that they're doing emotionally that isn't genuine. And I'm not going to assume that I'm the guy that gets people saved.
You know, I was sitting in a church and I was getting ready to preach back in Wisconsin, and the pastor is a dear guy. He leaned over to me and said, "You see that guy in the front row?" And I said yeah. He says, "One of my converts." I said, "Really." He says, "Yeah, mine not the Lord's." I said, "Your's, not the Lord's." He really had a point, didn't he? "This was a guy that I wormed into getting involved with Christ and the Lord never changed his heart." Sometimes that will happen to us, it really will. It's good when you can recognize that because then you know you have to be dependent on the Spirit of God.
Who is it that convicts of sin, righteousness and judgment? John 16:7 to 11, it's the Spirit. Jesus says, "When I send the Spirit, He will convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment." So from the start, you're dependent on the Word of God to come through your life, dependent on the Spirit of God to come through the Word, dependent on the Spirit of God to convict. So all of that is the Spirit. And then it says, "We're born...John 3...born of the Spirit." The second chapter of 1 Corinthians really brings this home. Let me just mention it to you. First Corinthians chapter 2, and draw your attention to what is a very familiar passage, but it says to us in verse 9, "As it is written, eye has not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for them that love Him." You know what that's saying? Men on their own terms can't understand what God has for them. So the unsaved person can't understand salvation in all its blessing and benefit. He can't. It says, "Eye hasn't seen it and ear hasn't heard it." That means it's not available objectively. You know, it's not empirically available. It's not out there where you can grab it. And then it says, "Neither has it entered into the heart." It's not available subjectively or rationally. So he can't know it outside himself. He can't know it inside himself. How's he going to know it? "But God...verse 10...has revealed them unto us by His Spirit."
So when you're witnessing to someone, you really have to watch the Spirit of God do His work. And that is such a wonderful confidence, isn't it? It's also a wonderful thing to be a part of that, to know that the Spirit of God will use us as we're involved. And that brings us to our responsibility. We're talking about the responsibility of the Holy Spirit, what is our responsibility? Now let's get right in to talking about the actual method. How do we go about it? Let me see if I can sort of crystalize some of the things we've said.
First of all, I like to suggest that you start with your personal testimony. How did Christ come into your life. So that they don't see it as some very bizarre kind of far out thing, you know, you went into some very clandestine corner of a cathedral and God did something to you mysterious. You know, so that...you know, you hear people give their testimony all the time, they say, "Well the other day I was driving on the freeway and I was saved." You know, or, "I was sitting in my living room and the Lord convicted me. I was by my bed, I was talking to my friend, or I was in a restaurant, or I happened to be in a church service." And it's diverse, isn't it? I mean, all of you, probably different places, different circumstances...so people aren't looking for some very mystical thing, share your testimony.
I was raised in a Christian family. I mean, we've got preachers in our family, five...I'm the fifth generation preacher. If you're a boy in our family and not a preacher, you've got to duck, you know, they expect that. So...so I was raised in the church. But, you know, you could be raised in the church and not know the Lord. I mean, you can have it all around you and you just sort of never personally make it your own. And I was a little guy and I...my dad was doing an evangelistic meeting and I was there, our whole family was there. We were in this little town in Indiana where you're from, Barbara. We were in Indiana. And my dad was preaching every night in this church and we were having a great time. And one of the guys in the church, one of the...had some kids and the kids said, "Come on, we're going to do something today." I was just a little guy about eight or nine years old. And they took us out and they vandalized the school, see, and turned over sand boxes and desks and ink wells. And I...I mean, I was with them. And I...you know, you want to be one of the guys, right? When you're nine and it's the thing to do. So later on I went back to the...we were staying with the pastor, see, so we were staying in the pastor's home and this guy came to the door and banged on the door and said, "Some kids vandalized the school and we're just checking the neighborhood." Small little town, right? "And we wondered if your son could have been involved," they said to my dad, the visiting... "Oh no, my little Johnny," and he gives a big speech, you know, on the wonderful little kid. And I'm in the background and I'm just feeling my ears are getting redder and redder. And I never told my dad about that till I was eighteen. I mean, I just couldn't get up the courage to tell him, I wanted to wait a long time, right? Till I was bigger than he was, anyway.
But, you know, that night I went to the meeting and I sat in the back of the meeting and I was so overwhelmed with the guilt of what I had done that when that thing was over and he was leaving the church, I said to him, "Hey, Dad, could I talk to you?" He said, "Sure, Johnny." And so they shut the door, I'll never forget, we sat on the steps in the dark outside that church and I said, "I think I need Jesus Christ in my life." And it was because of the sense of sin. And so on the steps there we prayed together and I think I was about eight or nine years old. And that was kind of the start of really a personal knowledge of Christ.
Later on in my life I had a car accident, I got thrown out and slid along the highway and got all torn up. And that's when I really came to grips with giving the Lord everything in my life in obedience. But I think that's a good way to start a testimony because that puts Christ in a real life situation. So when you witness to somebody, start with what Christ has done in your own life. And I think that's a good starting point. And you might even bring into it, if you were old enough to know that, your former dissatisfaction and how Christ has transformed you.
I'll never forget a little five-year-old kid praying a prayer one time in a prayer room, he says, "O God, save me from being a miserable sinner." You know, how miserable can you be at five? But basically you've got to start there, I think, because that puts it into life with real people. And then as you explain your conversion, make a transition to the Scripture and let the Scripture speak. Hey, the Word of God is alive and...what?...powerful and living and powerful. So you want to use the Word of God. Get the verses in the right order, you need to show people that they're sinful, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and as many as received Him...John 1:12...to them gave ye the right or the authority to become His children." You know, do it with the Word of God. Use the Scripture. You might even want to take them to John 3 and just take...go through the account of Nicodemus. Or you maybe want to go to Matthew 19 and talk about the rich young ruler and why he didn't come to Christ, why he didn't become a believer. Use the Scripture.
And then emphasize the Law. Emphasize the Law of God, the broken Law of God, so people see themselves as sinners in need of salvation, having violated infinitely holy God. You know, you can't preach the good news until you tell the bad news, right? You can't preach grace unless they understand Law. And they'll never understand mercy unless they understand judgment. So you have to talk about the Law of God. When Romans begins, and Romans is the gospel, isn't it? The book of Romans, you've got chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3 and it's nothing but an indictment of the human race. And then when you're sufficiently indicted so that it says in Romans 3, "Every mouth is...what?...stopped or shut." I mean, nobody's got anything to say. You can't defend yourself against your violation of the Law of God. Into that comes the gospel of Jesus Christ. So you have to talk about the Law, then you talk about the grace of God.
Now you affirm then, having talked about that, the need that they should repent of their sin. Jesus came and His message was repent, for the Kingdom is at hand. Turn...the prophet said...turn ye, turn ye. And so we want to talk about that and submission to obedience to Jesus Christ. What you're saying is, I received Jesus Christ, Romans 10:9 and 10, "If thou shalt confess with they mouth Jesus as...what?...as Lord and believe in thine heart that God has raised Him from the dead." You've got to believe the right stuff, but you also have to confess His lordship.
Now I don't believe that you may understand all that. You know, when a person comes to Christ, I don't think they understand the full implications of His lordship. I don't think they understand the full implications of what it means to turn from sin. But I think there is a willingness there and I really want to tell you, I believe that that's worked by God. I don't think that a normal person by himself is going to turn from his sin. I think that's part of the saving work. And I don't think a person apart from Christ is going to affirm Christ's lordship, I think that's part of the saving work also. And that's why Jesus said, "With men it's impossible, but with God....what?...all things are possible." You see, men aren't going to turn and men aren't going to affirm the lordship of Christ. But God can work the heart around to do that and that's necessary.
Well, we have time for one more question and maybe you have another one. Yes.
QUESTION: After you've been allowed the privilege of leading someone to the Lord, what responsibilities do you have in that person's life?
JOHN: That's really important, isn't it? Now you're talking about follow up. What do you do afterwards? We've all had that opportunity maybe to lead someone to Christ and they disappeared, we can't find them, we don't know where they are and we thought they were so genuine. Well that reminds us that we can't always tell the wheat from the tares, can we? But how do you follow up? Let me just give you some...just some basic simple things. Okay?
Some basic elements, and I think they're found in one passage, and it might be good to look at that. It's 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and it just kind of flows out of...of Paul's relationship to the Corinthians. Now he says in 1 Corinthians 4 verse 15 this, he says, "In Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel," right? Okay, he says I led you to Christ, you're my spiritual children. So he's led them to Christ. Now what's his responsibility? He's writing them back as the one who led them to Christ and what does he do? Watch, first of all, verse 14, "I write not these things to shame you but as my beloved sons I warn you." There's the first thing. I think you need to love somebody. I think you need to demonstrate a genuine concern for that person. And that's the key to follow up. They need to know you love them. And what does it mean to love somebody? Feel emotional about them? Get spiritual goose bumps? No. God so loved the world that He...what?...He gave. And if you love your brother, 1 John 3 says, if you say you love your brother and close up your compassion, you don't love him at all. And Jesus said in John 13 that He wanted His disciples to love as He had loved and He had just loved by washing their dirty feet, meeting their need, giving service, sacrificial service...that's love. And I believe the best way to follow somebody up is just to demonstrate that you really do love them, that you really love them by giving up some of your own time, your own priorities, your own enterprises to invest in their life. And that's where it starts. Hey, Paul continually said to the churches where he evangelized, "I long to see you," right? "I long to come back and perfect that which is lacking in your faith." And he says, "Though I love you more and you love me less for it, I'll keep loving you." See, he gave himself to those people. He offered himself to them. I mean, he was sick, he was nigh unto death was Epaphroditus who was with him in his relationship to another church, it's just part of abandoning yourself and love is the key to follow up. I think what I'm saying is, don't hand them eight books of follow up and not give them your life and your heart.
There's a couple of other things we need to talk about and it's in this passage, too. Verse 14, "I warn you," I think that's part of it, too, don't you? You can't raise a child with just affirming love. You also have to warn them, don't you? Keep doing that and you're going to have a problem. That's what the Bible calls admonishing. That's warning with a view toward judgment. In other words, you keep going down that track, you're going to get into problems. So if you really want to follow somebody up, you've got to warn them about the way they're going. Warning is a key element.
Now there are some other elements in this passage we need to talk about. Let me show you this one. We need to be an example. He says in verse 17, "I'm going to send Timothy to you who is my beloved son, faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which are in Christ." I'm going to send a guy to you that's just like me, you can follow him. Now Paul said many times, in case of the Corinthians he said it to them in the eleventh chapter, "Be ye followers of me as I am of Christ." I think it's critical to be an example. So what is an example? You get your life alongside theirs, right? And you just keep walking the Christian walk and let them see how it's done. And that is the most powerful followup there is. You're literally one on one teaching them biblical living...teaching them a sanctified life style. And that's how you followup.
There's some other things...teaching. He talks about at the end of verse 17 his teaching everywhere in every church. I think followup involves input. It involves telling them the truth of God they need to hear. And then in verses 18 and 19 he goes on to talk about the fact that if they don't shape up when he gets there, he's going to come with a rod. And that means discipline...that means discipline. There are times when we have to discipline folks. How do you discipline somebody you're following up? I think verbally you confront them, you say, "Hey, you've got to stop doing that. I want to help you change that pattern in your life." There has to be a willingness to confront somebody. You say, "Well I don't want to say anything about that. Those people just...who am I to say...I've got problems of my own." Okay, you get the beam out of your own eye and then work on the one in their eye, but you can't leave them alone. You're not going to help them if you don't say what ought to be said.
Well, I hope those things kind of give you a basic start. We've talked about who can witness and we've said basically that anybody who is a Christian can witness, and must witness and does witness because you have had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We've said witnessing is simply giving testimony to the watching world of Jesus Christ being who He is who can do what He says He can do. We talked about the fact that witnessing is essential and there's a price to pay, right? There's a sacrificial price to pay. We've said it's necessary because we're commanded to do it and we're equipped to do it. After all, we know the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we talked about some of the features that make it effective and we've talked about methods, how to put our testimony into it and work through the Word. And we've talked about followup.
That kind of gets it into one little package. And if we can work on these things and internalize these things, and maybe a little at a time put them into practice as we communicate Christ, I believe God will be honored in the way we witness. Let's share in a word of prayer.
Thank You, our Father, for the great privilege of being ambassadors for Jesus Christ and being given the task of calling men to Him, giving testimony to Him. Father, we can't understand why You would want to have us be Your witnesses who are so frail and failing and yet we know that by the power of the Spirit of God You can use us. We thank You for that privilege. For the glory of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
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FFAS is supported by the NIH grant R01-GM087218-01
Selected papers from Godzik Lab
Ying Zhang, Ines Thiele, Dana Weekes, Zhanwen Li, Lukasz Jaroszewski, Krzysztof Ginalski, Ashley Deacon, John Wooley, Scott Lesley, Ian Wilson, Bernhard Palsson, Andrei Osterman, Adam Godzik. Three-Dimensional Structural View of the Central Metabolic Network of Thermotoga maritima. Science. 2009 Sep 18;325(5947):1544-9.
Alexey M. Eroshkin, Andrew LeBlanc, Dana Weekes, Kai Post, Zhanwen Li, Akhil Rajput, Sal T. Butera, Dennis R. Burton, Adam Godzik. bNAber: database of broadly neutralizing HIV antibodies. Nucl. Acids Res. 2013; published on November 7, 2013.
Li W, Godzik A. cd-hit: a fast program for clustering and comparing large sets of protein or nucleotide sequences. Bioinformatics. 2006 May 26;