TIME IS SHORT

As I sit here, thinking about the need to write our end of year Anchor of Mercy Newsletter, my mind began to wonder towards several areas around the world that are presently experiencing upheaval. Everywhere you look...newspaper, television, and magazines...you see a struggle; whether it is between people or countries…whether it is through natural causes (earthquakes or other forms of environmental calamity); there is always something going on. No country seems to be exempt; no country is without turmoil; unfortunately some more than others. Each day it seems to worsen; children killing children, countries threatening to kill their neighbors with unspeakable technology, and it is growing at a mega-scale.

The Bible gives many signs that should warn us of the coming end of the age. Six such signs are given by Jesus, two characteristics are given by Paul, and eleven other occurrences are given by the prophets to occur prior to or soon after the end of the age. While we are also told we will not know the time of the End, God obviously wanted us to know His timing and how to prepare as it got closer.

Unfortunately, Christians read Scripture and ignore many of these warnings; yet others have fallen into the trap of not wanting to be labeled..."conspiracy theorist" or “the radical right”…should they display an interest in the Biblical Prophecies. My philosophy is simple. God included future events in the Bible for a reason and, since God is all knowing...we should trust that it is true and study it along with the rest of His words.

As we all look to 2007 and hopefully beyond (Lord willing), we all need to remember what is important. Family, friends, and other very unique relationships that you have developed through the year; all should be at the top your list. For only through personal connection can we feel that we have contributed to our world’s indifferences...one person at a time.

Several years ago there was a commercial that suggested “you tell someone…they tell someone…and some on.” We don’t all need to go to a foreign field to serve, but we are all called to visit the guy next store. That is what it is all about…sharing Christ to the nations, but not at the expense of not meeting the need of the guy next store.

Time is short and our world is not getting any better…so the question is…what are we doing about it? Each of us needs to answer that question; each of us needs to listen to His calling for where He wants us to spend our time, our efforts, our energy and our assets. Time is short and certainly each of us wants to make our life count for Him.

Remember -- New Year’s Resolutions are only as good as our ability to act upon them; Faith is an action word, because each of us needs to walk in and by faith. Make a resolution that makes a difference, for time is short. If you ask me about my resolution for 2007 and beyond...I just want to serve Him more as He gives me strength. I also want to be there for others and to meet their needs in a timely fashion. Being in full-time missions...all I can do is give of myself...thank God for all of you...and pray for each of you, as I know you are praying for us. May God richly bless you in 2007.

Anchor of Mercy

SEASONS GREETINGS

FROM THE HENSMANS AT

MERCY SHIPS

Christ Born of Mary

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they cam together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a jus man, an dnot wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us." Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus. Matthew 1:18-24

To truly understand the birth of Christ, you need to understand the culture of that day. In Jewish culture, a marriage covenant is typically arranged years before the consummation of the marriage. It was during the one-year period of betrothal that Mary was found to be pregnant. The fact that Mary was a virgin at this time is clearly implied by the phrase "before they came together;" therefore, Joseph was not the physical father of Jesus Christ. That means...there had to be another donor.

Conceived...of the Holy Spirit; Verses 1-17 establish Jesus as a legal son of Joseph; vv. 18-25 deny that Joseph was Jesus' physical father. The first was necessary to establish Jesus' lineage to David and His royal right to be King. The second was necessary to establish His qualifications to be the Savior of all people; Jesus was God's Son and not merely Joseph's. Matthew elaborated on Jesus' kingship while Luke detailed His miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:26-56).

Certainly most if not all facts about the birth of Christ is known by many, but what I want to express within this posting is -- what would have happen if Christ was not born into the culture and time frame that He was? For example - take His birth and move it forward in time to our century. Although still Jewish, the culture of today would certainly look at this pregnancy differently. Would Mary consider or be forced into an abortion and if that happen, what would it mean to us to not have a Savior?

Whether you are Pro-life or Pro-choice really comes into a new way of thinking when you consider Christ as the baby. Calling yourself a Christian also changes when you consider Christ is a possible abortion situation. Joseph certainly had the right to make an example of Mary back then, but how would he handle it today. How would Mary handle the situation, even after being told the baby she was carrying was the Son of God.

What about Aunt Meg or Uncle Bob...how would they handle it to know that their neice was pregnant and could only offer this a story of being visited by the Holy Spirit. First, Mary would have be placed in a rubber-room, not to mention quietly removed from society and place in a home somewhere. Thank God they where in the culture that didn't have the opion of ending life so easily.

As we all move into yet another year...we as a society need to consider some things about where we are going as a society.

Why blame God for your present situation?

Did you ever take time to think about what God feels when He looks down from Heaven at the mess we have created?

We question His presents, His involvement, based on how we view His involvement in our lives, but at the same time express a true desire to want to do our own thing; believing we are fully in control of ever situational outcome. We only ask Him for help when we physically run into a brick wall and have no solution to our dilemma. We blame Him if the answer doesn’t meet with our time frame or what we thing the answer should reveal.

What would or should God do to correct the world’s situation and not jeopardize His present direction, hope, and love to us? Would He include the desires of our heart or simple do His own things and not consider our input? How would He handle it and would we be pleased with the outcome?

• God could let things drift on as they are with the present mixture of pain and pleasure we all experience. He could adopt the pose of the absentee, disinterested God. In doing so he would, of course, deny his love. He would publicly, as it were, give up on his creation - giving up on loving it, give up on desiring its healing. The cry of the martyrs How long, how long O Lord would go unanswered except with a shrug of the shoulders from the almighty indicating that they - and we - are just going to have to live without hope. That's not an encouraging scenario.
• The second possibility would be for God to re-engineer us so that we became those automatons that we prefer not to be. That too would be a denial of the love principle embedded in creation. Just as we cannot have meaningful relationships with a bunch of robots on the factory floor, neither could God have meaningful relationships with a rewired humanity.
• The third option would be to wipe it all out and start again - wipe the slate clean - re-visit the Flood - but do it more thoroughly. But that too is to admit defeat and, moreover, it is the path he said he would not go down.
• That leaves the fourth option which is to judge the world as he finds it. Respecting our freedom and the choices we make, he could nevertheless decide to preserve what is good and to purge what is bad - in other words to judge - to discriminate - and to separate.

Certainly based on the compassion of God, He would only want to pursue the fourth option, and that is exactly what He is doing. So the next time you blame God, understand the problem is not with Him…it is with us. Just something to think about!

Mission Support

"Mission is the very lifeblood of the church. As the body cannot survive without blood, so the church cannot survive without mission. Without blood the body dies; without mission the church dies. As the physical body becomes weak without sufficient oxygen-carrying red blood cells, so the church becomes anemic if it does not express its faith. The church . . . establishes its rationale for being—its purpose for existing—while articulating its faith. An unexpressed faith withers. A Christian fellowship without mission loses its vitality. Missions are the force that gives the body of Christ vibrancy, purpose, and direction. When the church neglects its role as God’s agent for mission, it is actually neglecting its own lifeblood.

Gailyn Van Rheenen, Missions
Biblical Foundations and Contemporary Strategies 1996:31

So how should a mission, wherever he or she serves, handle the concept of raising support? There are really only two ways to look at it. First, as a business that would require networking to conduct several campaigns to seek out and/or convince others that their mission efforts are worthy of support over other missionaries. This attitude is no different then corporate America where persons are hired based on skills/performance…the rat race is alive and well in this arena and/or competition between missionaries is at the forfront of any church decision. You would think that the primary thrust in any church is to support missions. “Mission is the very lifeblood of the church. As the body cannot survive without blood, so the church cannot survive without mission.”

Most churches believe that the mission field is to fill a building just to pass the plate so they can administer support to field logically. Unfortunately, based on a poor definition of what missions are true offering, most budgets are being cut to the point where mission efforts are being critically injured as to allow bigger and better facilities to be built. Thus, missions around the world and this includes missionaries right here at home, have to seek other means for income.

The second methodology for support comes from a well known person…George Mueller, which doesn’t use the services of any group to get the job done. Mueller had only two shillings to his name when he began the orphanage work, but over the next sixty years God sent more than $7,500,000 to supply their needs. New buildings were built or purchased, staff was hired, and the hundreds of children never missed a meal. In addition, during his life time, he started 117 schools, which educated over 120,000 young people and orphans. He became pastor of Bethesda Chapel in Bristol. The church had some 2,000 members at his death. Mueller resolved never to tell anyone what his needs were. He told them to God and confidently expected them to be met.

Now, of these two methodologies, which one is better? Certainly Mueller’s attitude of depending on God for everything proves beyond a shadow of doubt he was a man of God who truly walked by faith, but without church intervention, only Mueller saw God’s blessings. The church or other individuals could have certainly had a piece of the action, but they declined to build bigger and better buildings to their own glory.

"Let us see that we keep God before our eyes; that we walk in His ways and seek to please and glorify Him in everything, great and small. Depend upon it, God's work, done in God's way, will never lack God's supplies." (Hudson Taylor)

It certainly would make life easier if churches and other individuals would get involved as partners, but the work will continue, with or without their intervention.

Henry Blackaby’s Experiencing God states, “Christians need to find out where God is working and get there.” All any missionary could ask…be apart of our team and see how God blesses.

Old Sailors

The old sailor looked at the skies and saw a dark storm coming. As the sea became rough and choppy, the old salt calmly lowered the heavy-chained anchor link by link, battened down the hatches and went to bed for the night. He knew the storm would be rough. But he had faith in the grasp of the anchor. He knew his boat would be there in the morning.

Like that sailor, we have an "Anchor" for our lives that can help us stand fast through the storms of life. It's called hope.

Liberia 2006

Liberian President Sirleaf thanks U.S. Congress

Speaking before a joint meeting of the United States Congress on Wednesday (3/16/06), Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf asked for American support to help her country "become a brilliant beacon, an example to Africa and the world of what love of liberty can achieve."

Mercy Ships M/V Anastasis will be completing her second outreach into Liberia this year. Over the past several months the Anastasis has been physically right there to see the rebirth of Liberia; assisting her people in Healthcare Services and Sharing the love of Christ. We stand firm, as a ministry, to pray and support Liberia in the days, weeks, and years to come.

Although the Anastasis will be decommissioned at the end of this outreach, her sister ship -- The Africa Mercy -- will surely be visiting Liberia in the near future. The Africa Mercy, comes into service Apri 6, 2006. Her first field assignment will be to serve 10 months in Ghana. Please continue to pray that her launch is not delayed and she will be able to prove herself worthy of the name Mercy Ship M/V Africa Mercy...servicing the poor and needy of West Africa.

If you would like to view President Sirleaf speach, please open the following link:

http://allafrica.com/stories/200603150786.html

Be a blessing to others

It has been said that God’s people possess God’s provisions to accomplish and fulfill God’s purposes in the world. Indeed, according to Christian financial advisor Ron Blue, “Eighty percent of the world’s evangelical wealth is in North America – and the total represents way more than enough to fund the fulfillment of the Great Commission.”

A majority of people alive today do not know the Savior. This includes 1.19 billion Muslims, 811 million Hindus, 360 million Buddhists, 228 million ethno- religionists, 23 million Sikhs, 14 million Jews, 768 million agnostics, and 150 million atheists. Of all the people who have ever lived, it is believed that half of them are living today. More than 1 billion people live in absolute poverty. This includes 700 million people living in slums, 500 million people on the verge of starvation, 93 million beggars, and 200 million children exploited for labor.

If you think that is unbelievable…try this on for size. The church has grown more in the 20^th century than in all the previous 19 centuries since the time of Christ combined, with almost 12 billion adherents worldwide. Every day 166,000 people hear the good news of Jesus Christ for the first time. Every year, 27 million people profess faith in Christ as Savior for the first time. The current ranks of 81 million believers in China are expected to swell to 135 million by 2025. The 50 million faithful in India could mushroom to 125 million by 2050. And today’s census of 90 million Christians in Africa is likely to explode to 1 billion by 2050.

The total Christian income in the United States is 5.2 trillion annually, nearly half the world’s total Christian income. The average donation by adults who attend U.S. churches is about $17.00 per week. Certainly the need is great, but the giving is not! Among evangelical churches, 90 cent of every donated dollar goes to cover operational functions within the local church. Of the remaining 10 cent of every donated dollar, less than 2½ percent goes to support full time missionaries serving abroad and 1 percent to those serving within the boarders of The United States.

Rick Warren states, “One of the most misunderstood areas of life is the area of giving, particularly the question of how God wants us to handle our money.”

“Tell people to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and should give happily to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them. By doing this they will be storing up real treasure for themselves in heaven – it is the only safe investment for eternity! And they will be living a fruitful Christian life down here as well” (1 Timothy (6:18-19).

These verses make it clear that money is to be used, not loved. You are to use money, and you are to love people. If you get that reversed, you are in trouble because if you start loving money (and what it offers), you will start using people to get more money. Money has a tremendous potential for good if you use it as God intended. It is a tool that the Bible tells us to use for good in order to fulfill God’s purposes for our lives.

Think about this concept the next time a missionary asks you to become a partner in his or her mission. Become a partner today and see what God has in store for you as you bless others.