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Weekly Prayer Points,
26 July 2010. G'Day from Steve
Failure, Favour and Faith
Hebrew 11: 6 says "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."
I love that verse.. It challenges me to live life like so many of our Bible heroes. When we read of Abraham and Sarah, of Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, Ruth and many others we are inspired by the faith that these people put into action, many times after a crisis of great failure. But the truth is "favour follows failure" if we are willing to believe and keep our faith. Even during the violent and turbulent era of the early church and the writing of the New Testament there are so many miracle stories of failure and favour. If it was good enough for the men and women of the Bible it needs to be real to you and me... today.
As we prepare for a major tour of Australia I remember back to my first ever concert tour vehicle, a 1966 F100 I had restored from a wreck.. "Betsy". This old rig took me and the band everywhere we needed to go back in the late 70's and early 80's. For 12 years this faithful old truck transported the guitars and gear to every concert and church booking. Sadly in January 1992 Betsy was stolen, never to be seen again. But we will always appreciate the blessing of good reliable transport.
We apologise for a late Prayer Points this week. To be honest we are completely exhausted with the pressure of preparations for the tour. These verses from Hebrew's need to be alive in our hearts at the moment as we believe the Lord for miracles as we step out into a season of touring and evangelism. Australia needs to hear the simple, profound, amazing message of Jesus more than ever. Politically our nation is in turmoil as we head towards a general election in a few weeks. There is a sense of uncertainty and fear in the atmosphere. Yet God calls us to live by faith... even in failure there is favour on the other side if we live in faith.
Thanks again for praying with us and standing with us at this time. The Heritage Tour is all about honouring the past to inspire the future. Let us be found honouring Jesus and the Word of God. Let us be inspired by the stories of faith, failure and favour that are alive in the pages of this ancient book.
Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for."
Godspeed,
Pictured: February, 1991 Steve with Betsy our beloved Ford F100.
The Big Blue Shed
Pictured: The Tour truck being unloaded at the Big Blue Shed.
This week is all about getting prepared for the concerts on tour. We want to thank our good friends Steve and Felicity Turner for their offer of the big blue shed. The perfect place to make some loud noise and get the songs and concert program arranged. The guys are all excited about putting some great songs together. More importantly... we are praying the Holy Spirit prepares our hearts for the ministry and the messages that will go out in every location on the tour. Thanks for praying with us.
Thanks to Don & Annette Telford
Pictured: Annette and Don
We are so grateful to Don and Annette Telford for their commitment to our ministry to Australia. They will be joining us over the coming months to serve the Heritage Tour.
The Telford's have taken a major step of faith to embark on the mission and we invite you to partner with them in prayer and practical support. This is a big venture. But we are believing with the Telford's for some amazing miracles as we trust in the Lord for His provision every week of the tour.
Welcome Digby
Pictured: Digby, Trent, Jordan and Steve
Digby Ho Leong from Papua New Guinea has taken a big step of faith to join us on the Heritage National Tour. He will be doing all the sound production for the concerts.
We are so honoured to have our precious brother from PNG joining us as we believe this is an important step forward in the vision to work in partnership with friends from South Pacific nations.
Digby arrives on Wednesday and will be getting straight to work in preparing for the tour. Thanks for your prayers for Digby and his family who will be staying home in Port Moresby as he serves in Australia.
The Old 1964 EH, Finally up for sale
Pictured: The EH
We have had to make a decision to sell the EH as it is. We recently did all the panel work and a complete respray but there is still some rust issues in the radiator support panels and front end that we just don't have time to fix. So.... out she goes as is for $2.500. Ryan Grace is looking to sell the car before we depart on tour. It has been a great car with a good genuine 186 Holden engine and a 4 speed gearbox. But it does need some extra work to get it fully roadworthy. Contact us if you are interested.
Thanks to Goodlife Church
Pictured: Trent and Jordan @Goodlife
Last Sunday night Trent Kruger and Jordan Grace had the opportunity to share a song from their new CD release.
Steve was also invited to share about the vision of the Heritage Tour. We greatly appreciate the encouragement and support of the local church as we head out on the road.
As you know evangelism is a hard road to travel and we greatly appreciate the prayers of many good friends as we reach people for Christ across the country.
Heritage Tour - Outback Skies TV Vision
Pictured: Outback Skies website.
This weeks update from Richard:
The planning and pre-production is going well. We are seeing God open doors for us, and close the ones that he does not want us to walk through. We have had some good interest from Christian television stations, and need continual prayer for:
- direction and guidance from God for this entire production
- the provision and safety of the entire production team throughout this project
- the favour of God and the favour of man throughout this entire project
- Sponsors who will benefit from being involved in this project who can lower the air travel and car travel costs
- Broadcasters and distributors who have expressed interest in ‘Outback Skies’ and ‘Hymns in the Outback’ to move forward with us on pre-sales and acquisition deals
We want to thank Richard for his enthusiasm and professional approach to this venture. He flies up from Sydney tomorrow to meet with our team and begin the journey.
Go to www.outbackskies.com
Transport prayers
Pictured: The bus
Firstly... thanks to all who have been praying with us for transport needs for the tour. Unfortunately our good friend Brian Graffin has suffered a medical condition and is unable to begin the tour with us. But that is OK. We are trusting the Lord for the best and most practical way to accomplish the 4 month mission and will be with the Graffin family in Townsville in late August. Till then we will use the vehicles and equipment we have in our hands. We are very grateful to Brian and Rhonda for their desire to support the tour. Please pray with us for Brian's health and recovery at this time. Thanks.
Heritage Promo Video
Watch the New promo video online:
http://www.theheritagetour.com/media/downloads/video/
Heritage Tour 2010
Official Website: www.theheritagetour.com
Can you pray with us as we continue planning this tour, that later in the year, will be traveling to every State in Australia. We have been encouraged to pursue this venture through last years concerts in the country towns. The Heritage Hymns CD seems to be establishing a wonderful foundation on which to grow this vision. Many church leaders are responding to the vision of "honouring the past to inspire the future". What an honour to see and hear God being praised through these hymns once again.
Three simple ways you can be involved:
- Pray - Stand with us in prayer weekly as we seek to serve Christ and proclaim the Gospel.
- Give - There will be many financial needs small and large as we develop the tour and team.
- Go - Pray about being involved and serving on the tour for some of the schedule. More details on this soon.
We are still finalising sponsorships with various organizations so appreciate your prayers on this as well.
Testimonies
We are constantly encouraged by some amazing letters in the mail from people who have been blessed by the ministry. As many of you pray regularly for our work we wanted you to also partner in the blessing of these letters. Thank you to each of you who take the time to communicate with us about what God is doing in your life. We really are encouraged by your words.
You can check out the new testimonies page by Clicking Here
Prayer Requests
- Ongoing financial support for all the projects and missions planned for this year.
- National Heritage Tour, and all that needs to be done before we leave on the 4th August.
- For 'grace' magazine as it is being put together at the moment.
- For Steve's Devotional book as it is in the stages of design.
- For the team serving in the Steve Grace Office as they continue co-ordinating and communicating with Churches across Australia.
- For Ryan who goes for his Light Rigid driving test on the 3rd August for the tour.
- For Chase Merrell and Steven Kent coming from California to serve on the Heritage Tour.
- For Digby who flies from PNG on Wednesday
Until next week,
Steve & Kerrie Grace
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