Warmest Christmas greetings, to our precious friends & co-laborers in Christ!
What a blessed time of year—with two of our most cherished holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas, sandwiched within 32 glorious days of each other. Truly, these are days of much rejoicing as we become consumed with “praise” for Messiah’s coming to save sinners (ITim.1:15), and with “thanksgiving” for His bountiful goodness and in drawing us unto Himself to be His own (John 6:44a)!
These truths become even more overwhelming when we ponder where we have come from, for there was a time when we believers were dead in our trespasses (Eph. 2:1,5). Dead people have no inclination for God (Ro.3:10-18) nor can they make themselves alive. But God in His mercy (Ex.33:19) reached into our hearts when we were incapable of saving ourselves and drew us to Himself through repentance and faith in Christ alone. He has sealed us with His blessed Holy Spirit (Eph1:13) and has imputed us with His righteousness (IICor.5:21), thus making us new creatures in Christ our Redeemer! (IICor.5:17)
My friend, if these truths don’t turn your crank and cause you to shout to the Lord with exuberant praise, worship and thanksgiving, then you’re in desperate need of a heart transplant; you may be alive, but your heart is certainly a spiritual corpse!
For the rest of us, this is the Season for “sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving”—praising Him for who He is and thanking Him for what He has done. There are no more humbling verses in all of Scripture that promote heartfelt gratitude and unending adoration than these we have just mentioned. So, celebrate the Season by giving all glory to Jesus!
MINISTRY REVIEW
We have just finished our autumn conferences (seven in eight weeks) and continue to bask in the afterglow of extraordinary blessings upon our labor. To some modest degree we can identify with Paul when explaining how God’s energy worked so powerfully through him (Col. 1:29). This is not to say we did not encounter some challenging issues, quite the contrary. But God’s favor seemed to roll from one conference to the next throughout these weeks. For example, one had noted, “I feel as if I have had a rebirth again. [This conference] has lifted me to new spiritual heights…I have a new freedom…We are starting to see signs of revival within our body of believers…I cannot give enough thanks and praise to our Lord for what is happening….” This response is representative of many, while also, some came to faith in Christ Jesus. To Him be all glory!
“HOMEGOING” OF RALPH C. OSBORN (1910-2006)
We announce with mixed emotions the passing of our last original Board member of PTAM. After my receiving an extraordinary call from the Lord (February 1982), Ralph joint-ventured with me in launching this faith ministry. He was a talented and faithful layman: serving in WW II with the US Navy Dept. of R. & D. where he developed the proximity fuse; V.P. of Engineering for Eureka Vacuum Cleaner Co.; designed and developed the “wooden lung” (i.e. plywood w/ a tractor tire inner tube and washing machine motor) during the shortage of the “iron lung” in the polio epidemic of the 1940’s; founded his own company (Osborn Electric) that manufactured trolling motors under the label, “Electra-Pal”; accumulated 54 patents during his lifetime; raised tens of millions of dollars for world evangelization through Campus Crusade for Christ; and finally gave of his time, talent and treasure to help launch this ministry, PTAM. But above all else, he led many sinners to Christ! What a Christian legacy he leaves to his family and friends! He finished well and will be greatly missed!
Yours for the revival of the Church in our lifetime,
Richard A. Burr
Previous Newsletters
August 2006
March 2006
August 2005
February 2005
November 2004
August 2004
January 2004
October 2003
March 2003
December 2002
September 2002
June 2002
February 2002
November 2001
September 2001
July 2001
