November 26, 2000

Thanksgiving Day is over but our giving of thanks continues because we need to be "always and for everything giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father"(Eph. 5:20 RSV). For those of you who have email, you should have received our "Sabbath Thoughts" on this subject by now. If you have email and would like to receive our emails entitled "SABBATH THOUGHTS FOR YOUR WEEK" please send in your email address.

A DILEMNA

Numerous Bible subjects are so profound that they require extensive study, presentation and more than one or two sermons/lectures to do them justice. For instance, some years ago I completed a 12-sermon series on prophecy from a Biblical and historical point of view. It becomes difficult to offer these series all at one time. The entire series would overwhelm our finances.

It has been suggested that we place a charge on the series as other churches/ministries do to make them available. We have asked some of you recently what you thought of this idea. Thank you for responding. The comments ranged from "go ahead and charge" to "do not charge for anything but rely on God to fulfil the need." Perhaps, the most often stated comments went something like this:

"We don’t think there would be anything wrong in charging. We know others who charge for the additional tapes that they send out. But we would rather see Guardian Ministries rely solely on faith and we will be willing to help so that all may have what is sent out. If there are large series, send them out in stages as you can afford to do so. Let us know the need and we will do our best to help so that others can also have these messages."

We have given this a great deal of thought. When we started Guardian Ministries I told my wife and our board that I did not want to charge for anything. I believed that if people were benefited by what we had to offer they would support it. If not, then it deserved to end.

It is true that by charging for these series of sermons, we can make them available more readily. However, only those who could afford them would get them. Perhaps those who need them most would not receive them. Is it right to make Biblical truths available only to those who can afford it? Is it God’s way that spiritual growth should be dependent on a person’s financial ability?

OUR DECISION

We have decided that we will NOT charge for anything sent out by Guardian Ministries! Everything offered will be sent FREE of charge or commercialism. We are interested in one thing – providing Biblical truth and spiritual renewal to all who desire to "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Pet. 3:18).

If we cannot afford to offer the entire series at one time, we will offer it "in stages" as we can afford. Do you know that we have never, so far, asked for money? We haven’t even put in our letters strong suggestions like: "These sermon tapes are sent free to you, but if you would like to donate so that others can receive them, please use the enclosed envelope to do so." Or, "This is the end of the year and you can obtain a tax deduction by giving now as we are a bona fide nonprofit 501C3 corporation." We have not made claims for "gun laps" or "home stretch." We haven’t hit our audience with any money emergency letters.

Please don’t think that we condemn any of those fundraising tactics. We don’t. We all understand that it takes money to pay for postage, paper, envelopes, cassette duplication, labor and various costs. We have those needs as well. But we have chosen a different way -- to rely on God as He works through His people. We believe people are intelligent enough to understand these needs and we rely on their good will and generosity. .

The fact that we have never asked for money is a tribute to so many who have given WITHOUT EVER BEING ASKED. That is how Guardian Ministries has been funded since it began. We hope we can continue exactly that way!

A SPECIAL SERMON OFFER

Guardian Ministries co-sponsored the Feast of Tabernacles 2000 called "Festival-by-the-Sea" in Ventura, California. We have had so many wonderful comments about the feast. Check them out on our web site at: www.guardian-ministries.org and click Feast 2000. The sermons were powerful and uplifting. We are offering the best of these messages to our entire mailing list. They are: C. Wayne Cole (Take Time to Be Holy), David Antion (Somewhere a Place for Us), Ray Wooten (The Genesis of the Annual Festivals), Brian Knowles (How to Imitate God and His Character), and David Antion (Have We Neglected the 8^th Day?). A big plus!! Along with the 5 sermons you will receive a tape of the musical presentations at the feast. They were specially recorded after the feast by the wonderfully talented and dedicated singers who made our worship services so special.

You will hear the kind of superb music presented at the Festival-by-the-Sea as well as the messages. I believe you will be uplifted and encouraged throughout the year. At first, we were going to offer the music and the sermons only to those who attended the festival. But we decided that so many others could benefit from them as well. This is more costly than what we usually offer but we feel the spiritual benefit outweighs everything else.

All you have to do is to return the enclosed "Free Response Form" and we will put your name on the list to receive the messages and the music as soon as they are ready to be sent out.

Thank you for allowing us to be of service to you. May you discover just how much you have to be thankful for!

Free Offer Response Form:

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