| 1. Open Your Child’s Eyes to God’s Word | |
| God’s Word was written and is relevant for every generation. His stories are filled with details that teach us eternal lessons. Grandma Smith presents God’s stories straight from Scripture at a child’s “eye-level.” Have you ever stopped to notice the lamb that Nathan talked to David about? Do you enjoy the sweetness of the lesson that we learn from Samson’s honey? Have you considered how Elisha was rich but became far richer in a different way? Grandma Smith’s simple language and keen eye for detail place many spiritual lessons within reach for a child. | |
2. Start Your Child Meditating on the Right Material | |
| Childlike curiosity can be channeled in the right direction. Each of these 42 stories comes with several questions designed to encourage your child’s meditation on God’s Word and places to help you discuss it with them. One is a simple question related to the facts of the story they’ve just read. A second gets at a question that requires reflection. The third might make a great project for a homeschooler or a family activity. | |
3. Strengthen Your Child’s Quiet Time | |
| No doubt you are encouraging your child to regularly read God’s Word. God’s Wonderful Stories would make a nice accompaniment since they are filled with simple teaching, insights at a child’s level, and hundreds of pictures. Every story begins with an attractive full-color illustration meant to draw in a child. |
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| Full Text of Saved in a War Zone | |
| We sat on the ground with our automatic rifles across our laps. | |
| It was constant danger in South Vietnam, and we didn’t go anywhere without our rifles, not even to a little outdoor church service in the middle of the battalion base camp. | |
| Captain Gunther was the chaplain, a dear Christian man who loved the Lord Jesus. He was one of God’s faithful servants during the Vietnam War who risked his own life by holding these little services for any soldiers who would come. He couldn’t hold the services on a regular basis, so an assistant would work around to our foxholes to tell us when he was planning to hold a service. | |
| I only had a chance to attend these services a couple of times, as the heavy fighting pressed in on us. However, I began to be deeply concerned that with the heavy fighting, my days could be numbered. Fighting in a war is brutal. We were losing men almost every day, and I knew I wasn’t ready to die. | |
| I was nineteen years old, as were most of my buddies fighting beside me in the war. | |
| I knew I was a sinner, and reality was sinking in that I probably would not come out of the war alive. I thought I’d never see my home again. Those fears made me decide I had better get the matter of my sins settled with God, so I attended the next church service when I was able to leave the foxhole for the thirty-minute service. | |
| This time I hung onto every word of the chaplain’s message. | |
| At the beginning of the services, Captain Gunther took an old cassette player out of a plastic bag and shook off the dust. He pushed the button, and scratchy organ music began to play. Then he passed out old, outdated programs from Bible talks that had been held back in the U.S. in various churches. | |
| These old programs told the wonderful story of God’s love for sinners. He read Romans 3:23 to us: “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” That I already knew. Then he read 1 Timothy 1:15: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” and he explained that the Lord Jesus suffered and died for sinners on Calvary’s cross so we could be saved from our sins. That was the answer I needed! | |
| After the service, Captain Gunther asked if anyone wanted to remain behind to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour. | |
| The three soldiers who didn’t were dismissed, and they picked up their rifles and returned to their positions just inside the barbed wire. | |
| I was one of two soldiers who stayed behind, and right then and there I accepted the Lord Jesus as my very own Saviour, believing that His suffering on the cross was for my sins. I left that little service with peace in my heart, knowing that if I died in the war, I would go to be with my Saviour in heaven. There were two of us saved that day. | |
| It wasn’t long after that that we were involved in heavy fighting. Our point man took a direct hit. The rest of us tried to reach him while still in close combat, but he died. Then my machine gunner got hit and was killed. I was beside him carrying the ammunition for the machine gun. Then I took a hit that paralyzed my leg but was able to roll into a ditch that was in front of us where I took cover from more incoming fire. Combat medics soon treated me. | |
| We lost a lot of brave soldiers that day, but God saved my life. After surgery, I was flown to an American hospital in Japan and then back to the U.S., bringing a “souvenir” with me — a bullet that couldn’t be removed because of its location. It is a reminder of how close I came to death. But of more importance, I also brought back something in my heart that is very special and precious to me — my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who loves me and died for me more than two thousand years ago. He has promised, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5). He was with me in the foxhole and He was with me in that ditch. | |
| Is He your Saviour too? I found Him in a war zone, but you can find Him and accept Him as your Saviour right where you are … right now. | |
| “What must I do to be saved? … Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:30‑31). | |
| “God [commends] His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). |
| Full text of Improving the Mona Lisa | |
| The Mona Lisa may not be your favorite work of art, but it would be hard to find a more famous or imitated piece. Painted in approximately 1504 by Leonardo da Vinci, the Mona Lisa has had a pretty unique journey. | |
| · She was stolen from her place in the Louvre and hidden in a small apartment for two years. | |
| · Pablo Picasso was picked up for questioning about her theft. | |
| · She has appeared in over 2,000 different advertisements. | |
| · Joconde, as she is also called, hung in the bedroom of Napolean Bonaparte. | |
| · She is guarded in a concrete and bulletproof glass viewing case. | |
| · The Mona Lisa has over 500,000 distinctive cracks in her protective varnish. | |
| · The information desk at the Louvre answers the question “Where is Joconde?” far more than any other. | |
| · She is estimated to be worth in excess of $700,000,000. | |
| What Could You Do to Make It More Valuable? | |
| Suppose you or I were to touch up the painting just a bit. Salvador Dali, the famous painter, created a version with some special flourishes that isn’t worth anywhere near as much as the original. Suppose we just make the background a touch more interesting and then sign our names to the bottom. All we would succeed in doing is to reduce its value. Suppose the lady who sprayed red paint at it in April 1974 had succeeded in coating more than its protective casing, would she have improved it or its value? | |
| An Even More Famous Masterpiece | |
| There’s an even more important work that cannot be made more valuable by the extra touches you or I could add. Each one of us has made what we call “little mistakes” in our lives. Most of us are willing to admit that we aren’t perfect, have “messed up” or have occasionally acted in a way that we now regret. God, the holy God we must answer to, says a very uncompromising “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). He had a masterpiece planned for our lives that would have been for His credit and our joy. We have defaced it with our self-will, lust, anger, jealousy and selfishness. No amount of touch-up is going to make it any better. | |
| But, amazingly, God loves us deeply in spite of our rebellion against Him and spoiling of His treasures. So that God could express His love in a perfect way that would let Him have a right to receive us into His presence, Jesus Christ came to pay the ultimate penalty for sin — death. He came to fully and completely wipe out the guilt of any who would trust Him as their Saviour. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). After He completed His work on the cross of suffering for the sin He hadn’t committed, Jesus announced, “It is finished” (John 19:30). God’s ultimate masterpiece — His fair and righteous work to take away sin so that the undeserving could be saved — was completely finished. Nobody would ever need to come along and improve it. | |
| Trying to Improve the Masterpiece | |
| Sadly, there are many people who think God’s beautiful and perfect plan of salvation needs a few of their finishing touches to make it complete. Many religions offer people activities like prayers, penance, pilgrimages and acts of charity that are supposed to make God a touch more favorable toward the pious person. But Jesus’ work was perfect, complete and finished. “After He had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down on the right hand of God” (Hebrews 10:12). Most of us would be appalled if someone grabbed a can of spray paint and started to “improve” the Mona Lisa’s smile. How could we possibly think that we can improve on God’s smile of love toward us? It’s really an all-or-nothing gift. Either we gratefully receive God’s gift or we not so subtly deny its value by saying we can add to it, improve its worth or pay for it with our own good works. “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). What will you do with that masterpiece? |
| Full Text of What’s Missing | |
| Answer: A U-turn and U. | |
| God requires U-turns. We have headed in whatever direction seems right to us. The Bible says, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 16:25). Our way leads us to do and to think unkind things. That’s why God not only permits but requires U-turns. He tells us, “Repent ye, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15). Repent means we are to change our thoughts of how right our direction is and to accept His. | |
| It is then we discover His deep, personal love for each one of us. It’s as though He loved you and U only. His Word says, “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). You will only personally know that love if you follow His command to repent (U-turn). | |
| Find out much more at JoyfulNews.org |
| Full Message on Back of Card | |
| Unlimited Free Minutes for Life: I’d be delighted with a cell phone offer like that, but this offer is far better. You have a guarantee of unlimited time in eternity. Where will it be? God invites us to spend it with Him in heaven at a huge cost to Him but none to us. “Our Lord Jesus Christ . . . though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). Jesus Christ died on the cross of Calvary and suffered for sin—disobedience to God—He didn’t commit. He doesn’t ask us to earn His love but to accept the good work He has done for us. In Titus 3:5 we are told, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He” saves us. The other option is the plan we all opted into when we sinned: “The blackness of darkness forever” (Jude 13). Which will it be? | |
| Find more at JoyfulNews.org |
 
Publishers' note: | |||||||||||
| Why such a simple card? | |||||||||||
| Certainly this card isn’t appropriate for everyone. Someone who has never heard the gospel would need to go to JoyfulNews.org marked on the card or another source and hear the complete way of salvation. But think about this. A major modern/ancient lie is that everyone gets to heaven or passes out of existence. Hand this out and watch the recipient flip it back and forth, back and forth and respond with “That’s it?” The rest of the day they may well keep thinking Heaven-Hell, Heaven-Hell, Heaven-Hell. What if it’s true? What if it’s true? What if it’s true? May the Lord use it to wake up a careless soul to the seriousness of eternity. We know a brother now with the Lord who had strong responses to a very similar tract card. Sometimes the truth is stark and simple. Even when many don’t read much they’re likely to get all the way through this card and ponder the message. Laminated tract card. Pages: 2 Size: 90 x 63mm Bible Truth Publishers Bible Version: KJV |
| Full Message on Back of Card | |
| 1 You Need to be Saved! All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.1 There is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.2 | |
| 2 You Cannot Save Yourself ! Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us.3 Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.4 | |
| 3 Jesus Can Save You! God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.5 | |
| 4 Trust Jesus Now! Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.6 Behold, now is the day of salvation.7 | |
| 1Romans 3:23 2Eccl. 7:20 3Titus 3:5 4Luke 13:3 5John 3:16 6Acts 16:31 72 Cor. 6:2 |
