I want to speak to you about a new ministry, we at AFWIS have connected with, We are now working withthe BUGIRI CHILDREN'S CENTER in UGANDA AFRICA.
We are looking to get bibles (in the Lusoga language) in the hands of the 27 Children and 15 Widows, none of them have a bible. Do you remember when you first got your own copy of the bible, it's a big deal, to have your very own copy of the bible, in your own language. I think we can fix this for this Orphans and Widows, that is, with your help. BUGIRI CHILDREN'S CENTER can get them in Uganda for 12 dollars each that way there is no shipping charge. How many Bibles will you want your name on? Email me at afreshwordinseason@gmail.com and we will get this done for Jesus. Note: We would need to get 2 cases of 30each to cover everyone.
1 What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? 2 Much in every way! First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God. 3 What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God's faithfulness? 4 Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: "So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge."[a]
5 But if our unrighteousness brings out God's righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) 6 Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? 7 Someone might argue, "If my falsehood enhances God's truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?" 8 Why not say—as some slanderously claim that we say—"Let us do evil that good may result"? Their condemnation is just!
No One Is Righteous
9 What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. 10 As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one."[b] 13 "Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit."[c] "The poison of vipers is on their lips."[d] 14 "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness."[e] 15 "Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 ruin and misery mark their ways, 17 and the way of peace they do not know."[f] 18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes."[g]
19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
Righteousness Through Faith
21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in[h] Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement,[i] through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. 27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. 28 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30 since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. 31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.
Area: 796,095 sq km
796,095 sq km, which includes 83,700 sq km of UN-divided Kashmir controlled by Pakistan. Arid mountains in the north and west. Desert in the east and southeast. Vast irrigation schemes in the fertile Indus River valley. Population: 184,753,300 Annual Growth: 2.19% Capital: Islamabad Urbanites: 37% HDI Rank: 141 of 182 (UN Human Development Reports 2009)
Peoples
Peoples: 463 (97% unreached) All peoples Unreached Peoples Prayer Card Official language: English is the official government language, Urdu is the national language and becoming widely understood by most Pakistanis Languages: 77 All languages
Pakistan’s government alternatesbetween inept civilian parties crippled by infighting and corruption, and autocratic military dictatorships. Economic and social development is then hindered, while too much power and wealth lies in the hands of a few elite. The country is under stress from fundamentalist forces in Pakistan’s west and neighbouring Afghanistan as well as in the Punjab. Tensions with India and long-standing troubles in Kashmir, a region driven by religious and political divisions, also threaten stability. Pray that Pakistan would be freed from spirits of lawlessness and violence that continue to bleed the nation. Pray for the raising of leaders of integrity and a government that will be effective in moving the nation forward and uplifting those who most need their protection and assistance. That Pakistan persists as a nation at all is a testament to the amazing resilience and flexibility of its people. Pakistan’s regions are widely diverse,and each presents unique challenges. Pakistani history and culture, the centralized government and the pervasive influence of Islam make for a national identity, but a few regionally specific comments are warranted. Pray for each of these regions, that Jesus might be made known more widely, more deeply and more quickly. a)Punjab,the densely populated fertile plains of the Indus and tributaries. Although the location of the majority of Pakistan’s Christians (primarily nominal), this region has a higher number of unreached individuals per Christian worker than any place in the world. A conservative, but more Sufi-influenced than fundamentalist, brand of Islam predominates. Lahore, Pakistan’s most culturally influential city, is in this region. With nine million people in the Lahore area, this city is 95% Muslim and contains communities of all major people groups in Pakistan. b)Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa(formerly North-West Frontier Province) and FATA (Federally Administrated Tribal Areas) are the mountainous regions bordering Afghanistan. Fundamentalist Islam and the Taliban are strong here, and shari’a is implemented in much of this area dominated by Pashtun tribal groups. It remains chaotic and dangerous, for Christians and Christian workers in particular. c)Azad Kashmir,the Pakistani-administered part of the highly contested Kashmir region. Apart from the strained relations with India as a result of contentious claims over this region, Kashmir is a place of great need. Earthquakes in 2005 and 2007 took over 150,000 lives and rendered millions homeless. The aid and relief given by Christian groups had a very positive impact among the Muslims of this mountainous area. Some continue to minister here. d)Balochistanis an arid and unfertile region that is very poor and underdeveloped with a sparse population. It is dominated by the staunchly Muslim Baloch. There are very few Christian workers in this region, but the smallest beginnings of some people movements exist. e)Sindhis the very arid, even desertified, and very poor region of the south. Sufism saturates the area. The Sindh is where most Hindu tribal groups (and most Hindu-background believers) are, and home to a young, indigenous church. The Muslim population is much less resistant here than in other areas; a growing number of Muslim-background believers exists among them. It is also home to Karachi, Pakistan’s largest, most dynamic and ethnically diverse city, which could be considered a region unto itself. For an additional 12 Challenges for Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.
More Information
The Operation World book, CD-ROM, and DVD-ROM provide far more information and fuel for prayer for the people of Pakistan.
36 In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord:2 “Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah and all the other nations from the time I began speaking to you in the reign of Josiah till now.3 Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, they will each turn from their wicked ways; then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin.”
4 So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and while Jeremiah dictated all the words the Lord had spoken to him, Baruch wrote them on the scroll.5 Then Jeremiah told Baruch, “I am restricted; I am not allowed to go to the Lord’s temple.6 So you go to the house of the Lord on a day of fasting and read to the people from the scroll the words of the Lord that you wrote as I dictated. Read them to all the people of Judah who come in from their towns.7 Perhaps they will bring their petition before the Lord and will each turn from their wicked ways, for the anger and wrath pronounced against this people by the Lord are great.” 8 Baruch son of Neriah did everything Jeremiah the prophet told him to do; at the Lord’s temple he read the words of the Lord from the scroll.9 In the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, a time of fasting before the Lord was proclaimed for all the people in Jerusalem and those who had come from the towns of Judah.10 From the room of Gemariah son of Shaphan the secretary, which was in the upper courtyard at the entrance of the New Gate of the temple, Baruch read to all the people at the Lord’s temple the words of Jeremiah from the scroll. 11 When Micaiah son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the Lord from the scroll,12 he went down to the secretary’s room in the royal palace, where all the officials were sitting: Elishama the secretary, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Akbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials.13 After Micaiah told them everything he had heard Baruch read to the people from the scroll,14 all the officials sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to say to Baruch, “Bring the scroll from which you have read to the people and come.” So Baruch son of Neriah went to them with the scroll in his hand.15 They said to him, “Sit down, please, and read it to us.” So Baruch read it to them.16 When they heard all these words, they looked at each other in fear and said to Baruch, “We must report all these words to the king.”17 Then they asked Baruch, “Tell us, how did you come to write all this? Did Jeremiah dictate it?” 18 “Yes,” Baruch replied, “he dictated all these words to me, and I wrote them in ink on the scroll.” 19 Then the officials said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah, go and hide. Don’t let anyone know where you are.” 20 After they put the scroll in the room of Elishama the secretary, they went to the king in the courtyard and reported everything to him.21 The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and Jehudi brought it from the room of Elishama the secretary and read it to the king and all the officials standing beside him.22 It was the ninth month and the king was sitting in the winter apartment, with a fire burning in the firepot in front of him.23 Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe’s knife and threw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire.24 The king and all his attendants who heard all these words showed no fear, nor did they tear their clothes.25 Even though Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them.26 Instead, the king commanded Jerahmeel, a son of the king, Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the Lord had hidden them. 27 After the king burned the scroll containing the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah:28 “Take another scroll and write on it all the words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah burned up.29 Also tell Jehoiakim king of Judah, ‘This is what the Lord says: You burned that scroll and said, “Why did you write on it that the king of Babylon would certainly come and destroy this land and wipe from it both man and beast?”30 Therefore this is what the Lord says about Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on the throne of David; his body will be thrown out and exposed to the heat by day and the frost by night.31 I will punish him and his children and his attendants for their wickedness; I will bring on them and those living in Jerusalem and the people of Judah every disaster I pronounced against them, because they have not listened.’” 32 So Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch son of Neriah, and as Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote on it all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.
