Christmas Greeting~ ACTS INTERNATIONAL

Joy to the World , the Lord is come! / Let earth receive

her King; / Let every heart prepare Him room, / And Heaven

and nature sing, / And Heaven and nature sing, /And Heaven,

and Heaven, and nature sing.

-- Isaac Watts, 1719

Dear Daily Encounter Subscriber,

Joy and I, along with the ACTS board, wish you a most joyous and meaningful Christmas and God's richest blessing for the New Year. It has been a real privilege to share with you our Weekend Encounter messages every weekend this past year. We sincerely trust that they have been a help and a blessing to you.

It's that time of the year when we remember with thanksgiving, not only the greatest Christmas gift of all time--the birth of the Savior-but also all of our many prayer and support partners, for you have made it possible for ACTS to reach multiplied thousands of people worldwide 24-7-365 with God's message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ this past year via Daily Encounter and the ACTS web pages. Many of these people would not have been able to experience Christ's "Joy to the world" at this holy-day season without your help.

Christmas reminds me of the story that Dr. Leighton Ford, brother-in-law of Dr. Billy Graham, tells of the time when his young daughter was lost. "I was minding the children while my wife was shopping," Ford said. "Debbie Jean had returned from school and was playing with her four-year-old brother in the back yard. When I called them to come in, Debbie Jean was missing.

"I walked up and down the street calling her name-fearing the silence.

"Later I reflected on the incident. During the nearly two hours that Debbie Jean was missing, nothing else mattered. In my study were books to be read, letters to be answered, articles to be written, planning to be done--but it was all forgotten. I could think of only one thing: my little girl was lost.

"I had only one prayer and I prayed it a thousand times: 'O God, help me to find Debbie Jean.'"

Ford also said, "How often, I ask myself, had I felt that same terrible urgency about people who were lost from God?"

I know how Leighton Ford felt as I had a similar experience when I thought one of my boys was lost when he was very young. It was terrifying. And, as with Dr. Ford, "How often," I ask myself, "have I felt that same terrible urgency about people who were lost from God?"

The reality is that people without Jesus are lost--eternally--without hope.

Had Jesus not come to earth at that first Christmas 2,000 years ago to pay the sacrifice for your sins and mine, you and I, too, would be lost--eternally--without hope.

Because of what Jesus did for you and me, let us remind ourselves that he also commissioned you and me "to go into all the world and preach [communicate] the Good News [of the gospel] to everyone, everywhere" (Mark 16:15, TLB).

It is reported that "every single day more than two million people around the world search the Internet for spiritual hope, meaning, and purpose." What an incredible opportunity this provides for today's Christians to reach out to these people with the saving gospel message of Jesus Christ--the only hope for our sin-sick world!

Actually, Daily Encounter (with well over a third-of-a-million worldwide subscribers) has become ACTS most effective means to reach many of these searching people with the gospel. To do so, however, we have to advertise aggressively via the secular media which is costly. For the past ten+ years we have averaged spending over $2,000 every month just on advertising for Daily Encounter which totals close to a quarter-million-dollars. True, the gospel is free, but reaching the lost for Christ worldwide takes a tremendous amount of commitment, work, advertising, and cost.

We do this because ACTS is totally committed to reaching the lost for Christ.

This past year we have sent out 100 million Daily Encounter messages--every issue of which had a link to the gospel message, "How to Be Sure You're a Real Christian." Plus many thousands more people received the gospel via our web pages, our main home page being: www.actsweb.org. Last month alone we had 60,000 visitors to ACTS websites from 197 countries and territories. An amazing God-given gospel outreach opportunity.

Most encouraging of all is that to date this year we have received 3,013 salvation and re-commitment to Jesus Christ responses from 115 countries that we know about. These decisions for Christ have come from Afghanistan to Argentina to Australia ... Bahrain to Brazil ... Cambodia to Cuba ... Germany to Guatemala ... Iran and Iraq to Italy ... Jamaica to Jordan ... Netherlands to New Zealand ... United Arab Emirates to U.S.A.
... Venezuela to Vietnam ... Zambia to Zimbabwe!

On the challenging side, however, we have lost a considerable number of more supporters over the past year owing to the state of the U.S. economy. Consequently, this month we need a total of $38,000 to finish this year with all expenses paid, and be able to make an excellent start in the New Year.

In thanksgiving to God for his unspeakable Christmas gift to the world at the first Christmas 2,000 years ago, will you prayerfully consider giving a special sacrificial gift this month for the publishing of the gospel via ACTS International--a gift that will help make a difference for eternity in the lives of thousands of people? As another has said, "Our greatest legacy will be those who live eternally in heaven because of our efforts." Your support is also needed to keep Weekend Encounter without cost to so many subscribers worldwide who are not in a position to be able to help.

A special word of thanks for every donation--be it large or small--as every dollar is critical for keeping ACTS on the front line of worldwide gospel outreach.

May we please hear from you today? And as you stand with us at this critical

time, may God greatly bless and reward you in his own abundant way.

Gratefully in Christ,

Richard and Joy Innes

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