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SEPTEMBER, 2009
REFLECTION
Today let’s visit a few Scriptures
and identify an absolutely
glorious gift and reality in our
Christian lives. This is pretty
amazing stuff! First, we go to
the Book of Revelation, Chapter
1, in which John describes his
vision of Jesus. Here it is:
“I turned to see whose voice it
was that spoke to me, and on
turning I saw seven golden
lampstands, and in the midst of
the lampstands I saw one like the
Son of Man, clothed with a long
robe and with a golden sash
across his chest. His head and
his hair were white as white wool,
white as snow; his eyes were like
a flame of fire, his feet were like
burnished bronze, refined as in a
furnace, and his voice was like
the sound of many waters. In his
right hand he held seven stars,
and from his mouth came a sharp
two-edged sword, and his face
was like the sun shining with full
force. When I saw him, I fell at
his feet as though dead. But he
placed his right hand on me,
saying, ‘Do not be afraid; I am
the first and the last, and the
living one. I was dead, and see, I
am alive for ever and ever; and I
hold the keys of Death and of
Hades.’”
This, by God’s revelation, is an
accurate and perfect description
of Jesus Christ as He is right
now in heaven. He is not like the
Jesus we are used to imagining
as when He walked this earth, or
even after the Resurrection; and
it is even more glorious a
description than on the Mount of
the Transfiguration. When we
appear before the Throne of God
upon our death, this is the Jesus
we will behold, along with the
all-Glorious Father and Holy
Spirit. In other words, this is a
magnificent description of God
the Son, the Second Person of

the Trinity, the Great High
Priest at the right hand of the
Father.
Now, dwelling on that, it could
cause us some trepidation; who
are we before such an all-Holy
God? It could cause us some
hesitation in approaching Him,
because He is so awesome. As a
matter of fact, this is exactly one
of Satan’s strategies, to convince
us that we in no way can
approach God. So, keep this
description of Jesus Christ, the
King of Kings and Lord of
Lords, in mind as we turn to two
other Scriptures.
On the night before He died, in
John’s Gospel we find a long and
beautiful monologue, directed by
Jesus to the apostles, but also to
us, since the Word of God is
living and true. In Chapter 15,
after Jesus told them and us that
He is the vine and we are the
branches and that we cannot
bear fruit apart from him, He
has these incredible words:
“This is my commandment, that
you love one another as I have
loved you. No one has greater
love than this, to lay down one’s
life for one’s friends. You are my
friends if you do what I command
you. I do not call you servants
any longer, because the servant
does not know what the master is
doing; but I have called you
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friends, because I have made
known to you everything I have
heard from my Father. You did
not choose me but I chose you.”
In Matthew’s Gospel, Chapter
26, in the Garden of
Gethsemane, Judas led the
Roman soldiers to the place
where Jesus was praying. He
went up to Jesus and, as a pre-
arranged signal, said,
“Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed
him. Jesus replied, “Friend, do
what you are here to do.” Now
this tells me that Judas was
present when Jesus called His
apostles friends! Think about it:
The Lord Jesus, knowing what
was coming, called His closest
associates “friends,” even though
He knew that one would betray
Him, one would deny Him, and
all the others except John would
run away. Some friends! But
Jesus meant it, and, of course,
Judas was replaced and all the
apostles went out to spread the
Good News about Jesus after His
Ascension into heaven.
So, here is the key point in all of
this: Jesus knew that they were
sinners and that they would hurt
Him terribly; but He still called
them His friends. Jesus knows
that we are sinners and we have
all hurt Him terribly; but
because we have accepted Him
as Lord, become Christians and

are His followers, He still calls us
His friends with His outpouring
of love and mercy – whenever we
repent. This glorious Jesus, God
in Resurrected Flesh, in and of
Himself unapproachable by any
creature, invites us to be His
friends, to share His own life and
that of the Father and the Holy
Spirit, now and for all eternity.
There is no life greater and more
fulfilling than the committed
Christian life!
ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
A man visited his dear Chinese friend
in the hospital. “Li kai yang qi guan,”
the sick man said feebly. The man
wanted to help him, but he did not
understand Mandarin. “Li kai yang
qi guan!” the patient said, as he
breathed his last. Later that year, the
man was in Shangai when he finally
learned the meaning of “Li kai yang qi
guan:” “Get off my oxygen tube!”…
Some Native Americans asked their
new chief whether the winter would be
cold or mild. Since the young chief
never learned the ways of his
ancestors, he told them to go and
collect firewood, and he called the
National Weather Service. “Will the
winter be bad?” he asked. “Looks like
it,” was the answer. So the chief told
his people to gather more firewood. A
week later, he called again. “Are you
positive the winter will be cold?”
“Absolutely.” The chief told his
people to gather even more firewood,
and then he called the National
Weather Service again. “Are you
sure?” “I’m telling you, it’s going to
be the coldest winter on record.”
“How do you know?” “Because the
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Native Americans are gathering wood
like crazy.”…Joe, Mike, Mary and
Tom were talking about their dream
jobs. “I want to be a lawyer,” Joe
began, so that I can defend my
countrymen.” “I want to be a
congressman,” Mike said, “so I can
draft laws to benefit my countrymen.”
“I want to be a doctor,” said Mary,
“so that I can cure my countrymen.”
“How about you, Tom? What would
you like to be?” Tom thought for a
moment and replied, “I’d like to be a
countryman.”
PRAYER MOBILIZATION
Please pray for: Joey, as he
begins a new treatment for
ulcerative colitis…Mike
Leidecker, as he seeks work in
the concrete and construction
field…KLFC Radio…The SDC
Foundation and Love, INC…
Share It Forward needs among
Herschend Family
Entertainment employees…All
churches and ministries…All
businesses, medical facilities and
needs and educational
facilities…All Social and Civic
Services groups and
individuals…Families suffering
from drug or alcohol abuse and
domestic violence…A Great
Awakening in the region, the
USA and around the world, with
people finding the Lordship of
Jesus Christ…All other needs,
spoken and unspoken.

CARE FOR KIDS
School superintendents,
Principals, Counselors and
Coordinators, Pastors,
Volunteer Coordinators and
Mentors: You are invited to the
2009-2010 launch of Care for
Kids, a project of the SDC
Foundation. The event will take
place on Monday, September 14,
from 8:30 to 10 a.m on the
Showboat Branson Belle.
Breakfast will be provided, plus
Care for Kids updates and the
next steps for the ministry. To
reserve a place, contact Cally
Ross at
cross@silverdollarcity.com or at
(417) 336-7058.
PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS
The following is the editorial from the
Director of “The Voice of the
Martyrs”, the September 2009 issue:
“As we were out distributing help to
persecuted Christians in Pakistan, a
young man came up to me. He was an
evangelist to whom we supplied
Bibles. ‘Sometimes I go to the park
and give out New Testaments,’ he
excitedly told me. ‘Many Muslims are
curious about Jesus and they take
them, but others chase me a lot.
Sometimes they catch me and beat me.
But lots of times I escape.’ I asked
him, ‘How many times do they chase
you?’ He stopped and counted on his
fingers doing some mental math. I
then asked, ‘Now, how many times do
they catch you and beat you?’ He
began counting again. Then he looked
at me and smiled, ‘They only beat me
half of the time!’ Why did this young
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man go back again and again? People
of the world, and some Christians,
might view him as a little crazy or a
glutton for punishment. But his
repeated encounters with persecutors
remind me of the apostle Paul. Paul’s
godly passion for the lost carried him
many times. Often he escaped
persecution only to be led to a place
more dangerous than the one he left.
Paul just followed in the footsteps of
Jesus. That night after we left this
particular village, a Christian
rickshaw drive was taking some of the
Christians home from our meeting.
His rickshaw was stopped and his
teeth were knocked out by Muslim
attackers. His mother, hearing the
news, died of a heart attack. The next
day during devotions, I shared
Revelation 6: 9-11 with our Pakistani
staff. All of them eagerly began
turning the pages of their Bibles to
find these promises of God. These are
the verses about the martyrs in heaven
asking God, ‘How long, O Lord, holy
and true, until You judge and avenge
our blood on those who dwell on earth?
Then a white robe was given to each of
them, and it was said to them that they
should rest a little while longer, until
bother the number of their fellow
servants and their brethren, who would
be killed as they were, was completed.’
These young Pakistani men and
women were encouraged to know that
their tribulations are part of the
master plan and God is counting. He
observes and honors those who are
going out to share the gospel in hostile
situations. As long as they remain in
Christ, they never lose. If Christians
do not represent the one who holds the
future in his hands, then who does?
Someone once said, ‘Live your life in
such a way that when you lose you still

win.’ The young man in the park
would be regarded by many as a loser.
We should understand, as terrible as
it sounds, that evil launched against
the believer only serves to fulfill God’s
master plan. This foresight should not
stop us from opposing evil. Still, if
every believer who is killed for
Christ’s sake hastens Jesus’ return,
shouldn’t this be an encouragement to
us when we only suffer a little
rejection in the world? God is
observing our reaction to evil. Simply
using desperate sounding language
about the state of society is not
enough. It is more important to him
what we choose to do about it, what
we teach our children and how we
triumphantly witness to all around us.
Here at home perhaps the media’s
increasingly antagonistic stance
against Christianity is God’s shock
therapy to refine our faith. Perhaps
he pulls us back from seeking the
prizes that we purchase with our
credit cards and refocuses us on the
prize that awaits us because of his
eternal purchase. The early
persecuted Church did not have a
sense they were losing ground. They
possessed eternal real estate. With
their presentation of the gospel in
homes, streets and courtrooms, these
‘losers’ changed the Roman Empire.
Christians thriving under heavy
persecution teach us the value of being
a loser. The message of the cross is
that losing is winning. Are we willing
to suffer rejection for Christ’s sake, to
lose our public dignity even one time
in one hallway or classroom at school,
by a boyfriend or girlfriend, on a job
site, in in a courtroom? If not rejected
every time, how about only ‘half the
time?’”
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STORY
“Jack took a long look at his
speedometer before slowing
down: 73 in a 55 zone. Fourth
time in as many months. How
could a guy get caught so often?
When his car had slowed to 10
miles an hour, Jack pulled over,
but only partially. Let the cop
worry about the potential traffic
hazard. Maybe some other car
will tweak his backside with a
mirror. The cop was stepping
out of his car, the big pad in
hand. Bob? Bob from church?
Jack sank further into his trench
coat. This was worse than the
coming ticket, a cop catching a
guy from his own church, a guy
who happened to be a little eager
to get home after a long day at
the office. Jumping out of the
car, he approached a man he
saw every Sunday, a man he’d
never seen in uniform. ‘Hi, Bob.
Fancy meeting you like this.’
‘Hello, Jack.’ No smile. ‘Guess
you caught me red-handed in a
rush to see my wife and kids.’
‘Yeah, I guess.’ Bob seemed
uncertain. Good. ‘I’ve seen
some long days at the office
lately. I’m afraid I bent the
rules a bit – just this once.’ Jack
toed at a pebble on the
pavement. ‘Diane said
something about beef and
potatoes tonight; know what I
mean?’ ‘I know what you mean.
I also know that you have a

reputation in our precinct.’
Ouch. This was not going in the
right direction; time to change
tactics. ‘What’d you clock me
at?’ ‘Seventy; would you sit
back in your car, please?’ ‘Now
wait a minute here, Bob. I
checked as soon as I saw you. I
was nudging 65.’ The lie seemed
to come easier with every ticket.
‘Please, Jack, in the car.’
Flustered, Jacked hunched
himself through the still-open
door. Slamming it shut, he
stared at the dashboard. The
minutes ticked by. Bob
scribbled away on the pad. Why
hadn’t he asked for his driver’s
license? Whatever the reason, it
would be a month of Sundays
before Jack ever sat near this
cop again. A tap on the door
jerked his head to the left.
There was Bob, a folded paper in
his hand. Jack rolled down the
window just enough for Bob to
pass him the paper. ‘Thanks.’
Jack could not quite keep the
sneer out of his voice. Bob
returned to his police car
without a word as Jack watched
his retreat in the mirror. Jack
unfolded the sheet of paper; how
much was this one going to cost?
Wait a minute! What was this?
Some kind of joke? Certainly
not a ticket. Jack began to read:
‘Dear Jack, once upon a time I
had a daughter She was six
when killed by a car – you
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guessed it, a speeding driver. A
fine and three months in jail,
and the man was free; free to
hug his daughters, all three of
them, I only had one, and I’m
going to have to wait until
Heaven before I can ever hug
her again. A thousand times I’ve
tried to forgive that man; a
thousand times I thought I had.
Maybe I did, but I need to do it
again. Even now. Pray for me.
And be careful, Jack; my son is
all I have left. Bob.’ Jack
turned around in time to see
Bob’s car pull away and head
down the road. A full 15
minutes later, he, too, pulled
away and drove slowly home,
praying for forgiveness and then
hugging a surprised wife and
kids when he arrived. Life is
precious. Handle it with care.
Drive safely and carefully.
Remember, cars are not the only
thing recalled by their maker.”
I deeply appreciate your
faithfulness and your prayer. It
is absolutely within the realm of
spiritual possibility for a Great
Awakening to break out here
and around the world. Keep
praying. Peace!
Bob Burton: bburt98@aol.com;
(417) 331-1028