March 2014 Crier

Prayers & News:
News

• Summer Training is July 17-23rd, 2014 at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Midwest City, OK.
• Our Business Manager and Treasurer (Nathan and Dorothy Ruppert), after blessed years of service, are stepping down. OAFC is looking for dedicated volunteers to fill their shoes by July 2014.
• We've purchased a new van for our Travel teams to more confidently go out and share the Gospel. And we've sold the old OAFC van.
• We're partnering with Pastor Kirby of Lutheran Hour Ministries to send a small team of youth to Kazakhstan as a mission trip.
• The new 5th edition of the OAFC Songbook has finished production. We're planning to distribute them to local groups at Summer Training. (Everyone who comes to Training gets a songbook).
• We're making room in our archives by digitizing our files. We're purchasing a commercial document scanner and will be working on this project for the next few months.

Prayers of Supplication

• That God would provide our next Business and Financial Manager before July, 2014.
• That God would guide and bless our Summer Training preparations and conference.
• That God would bless our efforts to send a mission team to Kazakhstan with Pastor Kirby of Lutheran Hour Ministries.
• That God would bless our local groups with weekends, youth, and leaders.

Prayers of Thanksgiving

• That God continues to provide for OAFC's needs with generous memorial donations from those like Reverand and Joyce Grieves and Karen Ruhlig.
• That God blessed the production of the new OAFC Songbook and we give thanks to the CID LWML for their grant which provided the funding for this project.
• That God has given us many great leaders and volunteers to serve OAFC.

2014 Objectives

1. Sustain and grow our current groups
2. Add more local groups across the country
3. Equip youth and adults for witnessing in a cyber-based culture
4. Recruit a new Business and Financial Manager

The Truthful Life


The Christian life is founded on Truth. As we continue through 10 aspects of the Christian life, we've looked at the Abundant Life, the Peaceful Life, and the Thankful Life, and this month we turn to the Truthful Life. Jesus says,

John 17:17, "Thy Word is Truth." John 14: "I am the Truth"

                There are two parts to the truthful life: 1) Jesus, the Word of God, is the absolute Truth, and 2) The Christian faith is based on truth and not myth.

Jesus says in John 14, "I am the truth." He doesn't say, "I am a truth," or, "I am a valid truth," or "one of many." But he is THE truth. In an age of relativism and anything-goes morality, Jesus declares that there is an absolute Truth and He IS it. Now, the opposite of truth is falsehood; a lie. Anything other than Jesus is therefore a lie, false, and misleading. So you're left with this: either there really is an absolute truth, an absolute right and wrong, and that's Jesus, or Jesus is lying about who he is – and if he's lying about who he is, how can we ever believe his own claim that he died and rose to forgive our sins, and give us life and salvation? I believe Christ died for me; I believe he is the absolute Truth. I believe that means that I should seek to make my life conform with his words in everything. And what's more, since I believe that his truth is absolute – not just for me, but for everyone, regardless of their believes or worldviews. That's what absolute truth means.

Secondly, the truthful life not only believes that Jesus is truth but also that the story of Jesus is True. What we have in the Bible isn't just one person's interpretation. It isn't a theory. It isn't a desire or a myth or a mass hallucination. But what the Bible says happened is what actually happened in time and history with eyewitnesses giving their testimonies about what they really and truthfully saw. Our faith doesn't depend on our believing but on what really happened. That's the danger of the phrases, "Just believe it," or "blind faith." Our faith doesn't make Jesus real. Jesus is real – therefore we have faith. We don't have a blind faith but a faith that clings to the truth of the God-made-Man crucified for us and risen from the dead.

These two foundations of the Truthful Life therefore lead the Christian to be, himself, truthful. Paul said, "I believe and so I speak." We believe the truth; so we speak truth. We believe what is true; we speak that which is true. So a world rampant with lies, misdirection, cheating, and every manner of false witnesses, is overwhelmed by the Christian who knows Truth and speaks Truth; and so we're given ever more opportunity to share Christ – the Way, the Truth, and the Life. May God so give us these opportunities as we live the Truthful Life.

The Mission of OAFC is to equip youth and adults to witness more effectively of Jesus Christ through Singing, Bible Studies, Personal Witnesses, Dramas, Puppet Shows, and Neighborhood Canvassing.