Dobra Family Blog

Cry Out America! Peoria County Illinois - Sept. 11

Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.
Joel 1:14

'Every great movement of God can be traced to a kneeling figure' - D.L. Moody

Everywhere I look lately, God has been revealing His mighty power at work! From people overcoming religious barriers to find Jesus' grace (had a baptism this weekend, praise God!), to men overcoming the devil's trap of isolation and getting connected to other men to share in each others burdens and grow closer to Jesus, to local churches dealing with growth issues, and to God's people walking out in faith to leave everything that is comfortable and safe and start a new church! Praise God!

Please join me in prayer. Pray specifically for your church members, your small group, your ministry, and generally for the body of Christ to continue to wake up and become His shepherd servants where they are. No program this year, just sincere prayer from the heart and in the Spirit. Please join me.

Sept. 11, 2010

Last year was awesome! It was amazing that the Gospel was boldly proclaimed in the public square!

But this year I am taking a different approach. A very humble solemn assembly. Just God's people hand-in-hand in prayer crying out for a Christ Awakening.

When: September 11, 2010, Noon to 1pm
Where: The Peoria County Courthouse Plaza, corner of Adams and Hamilton.
Contact: Mick Dobra C: 309-231-4542
Or on the web: Cry Out America at ChaplainMick.com
Video Inivitation

On September 11 our nation will pause to remember the greatest "wake-up" call in our generation, the terrorist attacks on 9/11/01. As part of the Awakening America Alliance, a call is being issued for Christians across the nation to mark this significant day in our history with powerful prayer for America and the lost individuals of this country. In every one of the 3141 counties in the United States, during the noon lunch hour on September 11, Christians will unite around their county courthouse to cry out to God with focused prayer for their community, their lost friends and family, and for the spiritual condition of our nation.

Can you please help with the expenses of the event and outreach? If you feel moved to do so, please make checks payable to Richwoods Christian Church and make a note that it is for Cry Out America c/o Mick Dobra (mail to address below). We will need approximately $400 to offset 2009 and prepare for 2010 expenses, the largest of which are printing, sound system, and outreach materials. Any donations above and beyond our expenses will be donated to VOM (The Voice of the Martyrs www.persecution.com) to aid our brothers and sisters living for Christ in nations without religious freedom.

Mail checks to:
Mick Dobra, Cry Out America
Richwoods Christian Church
8115 N Knoxville Ave
Peoria IL 61615

Awakening America Alliance

The Bible Knights Quest! - Bible Challenge 2010 - Week 23 - 09/12/2010

Week 23 - Luke Chapter 23
 
* Special September 11 Koran and Bible burning issue!

Knights and Ladies,
 
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
Luke 21:33

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
John 1:1-2

Jesus is the living Word of God. Jesus is Truth. What he speaks will come to be.

“a Florida [church] plans to burn Qurans [in 2010]... the U.S. military incinerated Bibles that were sent to Afghanistan in May 2009.” (1) It is just a book. It physically has no power. Symbolically and spiritually (meta-physically) however, it is the revealed word of our Creator God! In Jesus' time, the written word was rare, God's revealed word was passed on verbally. The Truth of Jesus Christ will never be lost.

Luke 21:33 “It was sure; the sentence was irreversible; it was a consumption determined; the decree was gone forth (v. 33): 'Heaven and earth shall pass away sooner than any word of mine: nay, they certainly shall pass away, but my words shall not; whether they take hold or no, they will take effect, and not one of them fall to the ground,' 1 Sa. 3:19”
(“Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible” 1706)

John 1:1-2 “The evangelist here lays down the great truth he is to prove, that Jesus Christ is God, one with the Father... The Word —ho logos... There is the word conceived, that is, thought, which is the first and only immediate product and conception of the soul (all the operations of which are performed by thought ), and it is one with the soul. And thus the second person in the Trinity is fitly called the Word; for he is the first-begotten of the Father, that eternal essential Wisdom which the Lord possessed, as the soul does its thought, in the beginning of his way, Prov. 8:22... There is the word uttered, and this is speech, the chief and most natural indication of the mind. And thus Christ is the Word, for by him God has in these last days spoken to us (Heb. 1:2), and has directed us to hear him, Mt. 17:5. He has made known God’s mind to us, as a man’s word or speech makes known his thoughts, as far as he pleases, and no further. Christ is called that wonderful speaker (see notes on Dan. 8:13), the speaker of things hidden and strange. He is the Word speaking from God to us, and to God for us. John Baptist was the voice, but Christ the Word: being the Word, he is the Truth, the Amen, the faithful Witness of the mind of God”
(“Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible” 1706)

1) “Holy book burnings spark hypocrisy” by Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 9/9/2010 3:55:00 AM
www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=1160612

Commentaries:
www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries
 
Accept the challenge, take the quest!

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
(2 Timothy 3:16-17)
 
A prayer for the use of Holy Scripture:
 
O Gracious God and most merciful Father, who has granted us the rich and precious jewel of Your holy word, assist us with Your Spirit, that it may be written in our hearts to our everlasting comfort, to reform us, to renew us according to Your own Image, to build us up, and to instruct us into the perfect building of Christlikeness, sanctifying and increasing in us all heavenly virtues. Grant this, O heavenly Father, for Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.
(adapted from the “1599 Geneva Bible” Tolle Lege Press, 2006-2007)

Baptism at Lake Evans - 09-04-2010

Congrats and welcome to the eternal family, Jona!

The Bible Knights Quest! - Bible Challenge 2010 - Week 22 - 09/05/2010

Week 22 - Luke Chapter 22
 
Knights and Ladies,
 
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
Luke 22:20

Jesus is the final passover lamb. His sacrifice and blood make the final atonement for our sins. Praise God!

Jesus and the disciples just finished the Passover or paschal meal established at the time of the exodus. The lamb was sacrificed and the blood used to identify those that placed their faith in God. By the sacrifice and blood of the lamb, God's judgment would passover His people. This was the prophetic symbolism of God's final sacrificial lamb, Jesus Christ.

Jesus laid down his life sacrificially, and if we believe and place our faith in Him, by His blood, we are forgiven!

“For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:40

“The Lord's supper is a sign or memorial of Christ already come, who by dying delivered us; his death is in special manner set before us in that ordinance, by which we are reminded of it. The breaking of Christ's body as a sacrifice for us, is therein brought to our remembrance by the breaking of bread. Nothing can be more nourishing and satisfying to the soul, than the doctrine of Christ's making atonement for sin, and the assurance of an interest in that atonement. Therefore we do this in rememberance of what He did for us, when he died for us; and for a memorial of what we do, in joining ourselves to him in an everlasting covenant. The shedding of Christ's blood, by which the atonement was made, is represented by the wine in the cup.”
(“Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise)” 1706)

“He then took the cup, and gave thanks. The cup was provided for the celebration of the paschal feast, and was at hand as well as the bread. Drink ye all of it. Observe that he simply said of the bread, 'Take, eat;' but of the wine, 'Drink ye all,' as if he intended to uproot the Catholic innovation of denying the cup to the laity... the new covenant is contrasted with 'the covenant which God made with our fathers' ( Acts 3:25 ). Shed for many. Shed, in one sense, for all, for the benefits of the blood are offered to all; but 'many' accept it and are saved.”
(“The People's New Testament” 1891)

Commentaries:
www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries
 
Accept the challenge, take the quest!

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
(2 Timothy 3:16-17)
 
A prayer for the use of Holy Scripture:
 
O Gracious God and most merciful Father, who has granted us the rich and precious jewel of Your holy word, assist us with Your Spirit, that it may be written in our hearts to our everlasting comfort, to reform us, to renew us according to Your own Image, to build us up, and to instruct us into the perfect building of Christlikeness, sanctifying and increasing in us all heavenly virtues. Grant this, O heavenly Father, for Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.
(adapted from the “1599 Geneva Bible” Tolle Lege Press, 2006-2007)
 

TOMS Shoes!

I just have to share this. We saved enough to buy our first pair of TOMS for our family! We will continue to save and hope to buy a pair for all four of us before Christmas. That's four pairs of shoes for someone that may never have had a pair otherwise. Awesome!

TOMS: One for One, with every pair purchased, one is given to a child in need!

ParentalRights.org
ParentalRights.org envisions a nation where the vital child-parent relationship is protected and preserved.

Parental Rights and Duty

Our primary duty to our Savior God is to love Him with all of our heart,mind, and strength; to keep his commands in our hearts, and to pass them on to our children!

When asked which of the commandments was greatest, Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy (6:5-7) "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.” (Matthew 22:36-40)

The command continues , “Impress ...[God's commandments] on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” (Deuteronomy 6:5-7, Matthew 22:36-40)

Acts 2 Church Model, Small Groups or Home to Home Groups

Acts 2:42-47 (New International Version)

The Fellowship of the Believers

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.