Psalm 8:3-5 tells us that we are superstars in God’s eyes: “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, . . . what is man that You are mindful of him? . . . You have crowned him with glory and honor.” Soak that in! God—who spoke into existence a universe so vast that the Hubble telescope hasn’t found the end of it—created you, and He cares deeply for you. He cared enough to ask Jesus to leave heaven to die for you.

Look up in wonder at God’s creation and praise Him that He crowned you with glory through His Son Jesus.

We praise You, Father, for Your creation which reaches
beyond our imagination, for the spellbinding night
sky with its vast array of lights, and for loving each of
us enough to send Jesus to be our personal Savior.

We see the power of God’s creation; we feel the power of His love.

Timber Lakes Newsletter Mar-Apr

Greetings from Timber Lakes! Spring has sprung and with it comes the anticipation of our 2012 summer camping season!

Praise:

As many of you may be aware, on March 4^th we were blessed with the opportunity to see God's hand move at Timber Lakes. This was the day that a major natural gas leak was discovered. Through God's provision, we were sitting on the back deck of the associate director's house and heard an odd rushing sound. Upon further investigation, it was the sound of thousands of cubic feet of natural gas rushing through the meter 50 yards away. Praise God He put us in the exact right place at the exact right time to discover the issue within hours of the leak starting! Now the daunting reality of not having heat or hot water in our facilities or a way to cook for any group was staring us in the face. We took this challenge to the Lord as well trusting and believing in God's provision!

After extensive trouble shooting we found that the gas leak was unfortunately underground. Due to the nature of the leak, the only option was to replace every foot of natural gas line...all 3,000 feet of it! Reluctantly, we were forced to call in a expert to bid fixing the leak, all the while prayerfully seeking the Lord asking for His guidance. The bid came in right at $26,000. This was a crushing blow and would really affect our maintenance budget. Yet, we kept praying and believing that God would not lead us where he can not keep us.

It was at this time that God prompted our hearts to call on Dave Parry, a close friend of the camp, for added counsel and prayer support. By the grace of God, Dave was prompted to call a professional acquaintance Shon, owner of Moore Plumbing. Without ever stepping foot on the camp before or hearing of the ministry, Shon was prompted by God to come alongside us. Shawn arrived March 9^th and within 4 hours God had stirred his heart to halt his other projects and out of his own pocket pay for 100% of the trencher & labor for his crew to lay the 3,000 feet of gas line! This left us with $8,000 (which we are still believing the Lord to provide) for the cost of the pipe and fittings. As of March 15^th 20 hours before the district Men's Retreat, all 3,000 feet had been laid and every building turned back on! NO PIPES FROZE!!!! Dave Perry then graciously donated 100% his time and equipment to back fill the trench. Along with the others mentioned, we would like to thank Gary Chadwell, who took 2 days off and came to help lay the pipe! Praise the Lord!

We are extremely excited to make everyone aware that the 2012 Family Retreat program is officially open for registration!

During this one week program you are invited to Pray, Play, and Provide! During your week there will be family prayer and spiritual growth opportunities. You will have the opportunity to build relationships and play through different activity sessions that will appeal to all age and physical ranges. As you grow together your family will have the chance to provide by engaging in two daily service opportunities (approximately 1 hour each). This has spurred our hearts in such a way that Timber Lakes is subsidizing this program so that no matter what your income level you can participate in the full six day program for just $40 a day for the whole family! This is all-inclusive: meals, lodging, activities, and supplies! Just bring yourself, bedding, and a heart that is wanting to engage your family!

For reservations or information contact us at:

Phone: (785) 242-3422
E-mail: timberlakesretreat@gmail.com

Prayer:

Please seek the Lord and ask if there is a way you could use your gifting to further the ministry here at Timber Lakes. As mentioned before, we are at this time $8,000 off our fiscal plan for 2012 due to the unexpected gas pipe replacement. Please seek the Lord concerning your involvement in this working at Timber Lakes.

We are also seeking donations of used paintball equipment. You might have dusty gear laying in the back of your closet that you would be willing to make a tax deductible gift of! We will be using this equipment as back up gear if there is an unexpected breakage.

As spring cleaning ensues, you may come across some gently used fishing equipment that you no longer have need of. Prayerfully consider making a tax deductible gift of your equipment! We will be using this equipment for ministry opportunities where a staff can take a youth, child, or adult fishing who many times has never have the thrill of catching their first fish!

Many of us have just done our taxes and realized that we could have invested some of our resources in kingdom ministries as opposed to paying into the government. We would ask you to prayerfully consider helping us fully support our missionary couple Skylar & Ashley Lipson. They are only $6,500 away from being fully supported for 2012! Praise the Lord for his provision! Please consider making a tax deductible gift to fully support their ministry efforts here.

Thank you to all who consistently keep us in your prayers. We feel you lifting us and this ministry up! Timber Lakes would not exist without every man, woman, and child's support. May God have all the Glory!

In His Service,

Randall Lipson [Director Timber Lakes]

Tozier Devotional

TOZER DEVOTIONAL
Friday, April 06, 2012 "Tension Between the Old Nature and the New"

Christ in a believer's heart will act the same as He acted in Galilee and Judea. His disposition is the same now as then. He was holy, righteous, compassionate, meek and humble then, and He has not changed. He is the same wherever He is found, whether it be at the right hand of God or in the nature of a true disciple. He was friendly, loving, prayerful, kindly, worshipful, self-sacrificing while walking among men; is it not reasonable to expect Him to be the same when walking in men? Why then do true Christians sometimes act in an un-Christlike manner? Some would assume that when a professed Christian fails to show forth the moral beauty of Christ in his life it is a proof that he has been deceived and is actually not a real Christian at all. But the explanation is not so simple as that. The truth is that while Christ dwells in the believer's new nature, He has strong competition from the believer's old nature. The warfare between the old and the new goes on continually in most believers. This is accepted as inevitable, but the New Testament does not so teach.

A prayerful study of Romans 6 to 8 points the way to victory. If Christ is allowed complete sway He will live in us as He lived in Galilee.

Verse:  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Galatians 5:24-25

Thought:  Christ in us does not mean that we no longer are. Our old nature is not ripped out. Christ will change us and live out through us as we daily live under His control.

Prayer:  Thank You, Lord, for Your patience with me. I sometimes stumble and miserably fail. But You convict me and forgive me. Live through me!

After salvation...then what?

TOZER DEVOTIONAL Devotions » Tozer Devotional Monday, March 19, 2012 Growing Up into Christ By "instant Christianity" I mean the kind found almost everywhere in gospel circles and which is born of the notion that we may discharge our total obligation to our own souls by one act of faith, or at most by two, and be relieved thereafter of all anxiety about our spiritual condition. We are saints by calling, our teachers keep telling us, and we are permitted to infer from this that there is no reason to seek to be saints by character. An automatic, once-for-all quality is present here that is completely out of mode with the faith of the New Testament. In this error, as in most others, there lies a certain amount of truth imperfectly understood. It is true that conversion to Christ may be and often is sudden. Where the burden of sin has been heavy the sense of forgiveness is usually clear and joyful. The delight experienced in forgiveness is equal to the degree of moral repugnance felt in repentance. The true Christian has met God. He knows he has eternal life and he is likely to know where and when he received it. And those also who have been filled with the Holy Spirit subsequent to their regeneration have a clear-cut experience of being filled. The Spirit is self-announcing, and the renewed heart has no difficulty identifying His presence as He floods in over the soul. But the trouble is that we tend to put our trust in our experiences and as a consequence misread the entire New Testament. We are constantly being exhorted to make the decision, to settle the matter now, to get the whole thing taken care of at once--and those who exhort us are right in doing so. There are decisions that can be and should be made once and for all. There are personal matters that can be settled instantaneously by a determined act of the will in response to Bible-grounded faith. No one would want to deny this; certainly not I. The question before us is, Just how much can be accomplished in that one act of faith? How much yet remains to be done and how far can a single decision take us? Verse Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. Ephesians 4:15 Thought Growing up into Christ calls for tremendous growing. It does not occur at one point in time or by means of one decision. Oh, how much growing we have yet to experience! Prayer Lord, plant my feet on higher ground! I want to grow up into Christ. May Your Spirit fill me and change me day by day, month by month, year by year.

The Cross...Foolishness or Power?

TOZER DEVOTIONAL Devotions » Tozer Devotional Monday, March 05, 2012 The Cross Message: Foolishness or the Power of God? The cross stands in bold opposition to the natural man. Its philosophy runs contrary to the processes of the unregenerate mind, so that Paul could say bluntly that the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. To try to find a common ground between the message of the cross and man's fallen reason is to try the impossible, and if persisted in must result in an impaired reason, a meaningless cross and a powerless Christianity. But let us bring the whole matter down from the uplands of theory and simply observe the true Christian as he puts into practice the teachings of Christ and His apostles. Note the contradictions: The Christian believes that in Christ he has died, yet he is more alive than before and he fully expects to live forever. He walks on earth while seated in heaven and though born on earth he finds that after his conversion he is not at home here. Like the nighthawk, which in the air is the essence of grace and beauty but on the ground is awkward and ugly, so the Christian appears at his best in the heavenly places but does not fit well into the ways of the very society into which he was born. Verse For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18 Thought The message of the Cross--Christ dying for sinners--is perceived so differently. It is foolishness to those who are perishing. It is the power of God to those who are being saved. Faith makes the difference; faith that recognizes personal sin and God's i Prayer You are the crucified, risen Christ. I thankfully receive Your forgiveness of my sin and Your life for my daily living. Praise Your name!

Randall the "pancake man" for Wildmen of KS Retreat this last weekend

His mercies never fail!

Psalm 77:8-14

New King James Version (NKJV)

⁸ Has His mercy ceased forever?
Has His promise failed forevermore?
⁹ Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies? Selah

¹⁰ And I said, “This is my anguish;
But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.”
¹¹ I will remember the works of the Lord;
Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.
¹² I will also meditate on all Your work,
And talk of Your deeds.
¹³ Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary;
Who is so great a God as our God?
¹⁴ You are the God who does wonders;
You have declared Your strength among the peoples.