Reading – In the Country

Road Map to Heaven

Please consider what God, in the Holy Bible, is saying to You about Your Eternal Destination.

Who is Good Enough For Heaven?

Romans 3:10 As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous–not even one.”

Who Has Sinned?

Romans 3:23 For everyone has sinned, we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

Where Did Sin Come From?

Romans 5:12 When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.

What Penalty and Hope Is There?

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Who Paid My Sin Debt?

Romans 5:8-9 But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, He will certainly save us from God’s condemnation.

What Must I Do To Be Saved?

Romans 10:9-11,13 If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved. As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in Him will never be disgraced.” For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

World’s Most Important Prayer

If you sincerely want to have your sins forgiven and receive the gift of eternal life you can be saved by praying this prayer. However, just saying the words will not save you unless you really mean it in your heart.

Dear God, I admit I am a sinner and need your forgiveness. Please forgive me of all my sins. I believe Jesus died for me and rose from the dead. I accept Christ’s blood as payment for my sins. Save me right now and give me eternal life, writing my name in the Book of Life. Fill me with the Holy Spirit, so I can serve and obey You. I trust You and You alone to take me to Heaven when I die. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

How Can I Be Sure God Has Heard Me?

Jesus Christ (God the Son) promised:

John 5:24 “I tell you the truth, those who listen to My message and believe in God Who sent Me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.”

Your Eternal Destiny rests on God’s ability to keep His Word!

Scripture verses taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, Copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Printed by His Print Media Ministries, http://www.tracts4u.com

Many thanks to tracts4u.com!

The Automatic Millionaire

This is one of our favourite finance books! It’s not only about how to invest, but, more importantly, how to find the money to invest.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said,

You’d like to buy on Alibaba, but don’t know how?

You’ve seen how cheap things are, but don’t know how to cope with shipping, customs, etc.?

You’re in good company, because we were the same! But we learned a few things which we’ll share with you.

There are only 3 steps you need. It isn’t hard!

1. Setup an account with Alibaba. (it’s a good idea to use a separate email)

2. Post a ‘Request for Quotation’

3. Reply to the sellers’ messages.

In your ‘Request for Quotation’ (RFQ) you ask for:

a. The item you want to buy and how many

b. The size of the item

c. Your target price per item delivered to your door (most sellers quote USD)

Make sure all shipping, customs and tax are included. Very important!

d. Anything else you can think of!

We decided to buy diamond paintings as they are light, roll up small, and not super expensive per item.

Our RFQ asked for 20 items per seller, a size of 30×40 cm, and our price of under $5 each.

What a thrill! We had 10 replies!!

We chose 3 sellers who bid against each other to $4.90 (per item including shipping, tax and customs).

This was a good price for reselling, so we ordered from all of them!

The sellers had sent us lists of their available patterns, and we chose our favourite 20 designs from each of them. That was a really fun part!

!!!WARNING!!!

Don’t buy from a seller unless they:

1. Have Trade Assurance (Alibaba holds the money until your order arrives)

2. Are a Gold Supplier at least, preferably a Verified Supplier

3. Have been selling for 3 years or more

Now things get interesting…

Sometimes there’s a challenge with shipping, or some designs aren’t in stock and you have to choose others.

But persevere, and soon the exciting day will come when a big box (or more) appears at your door!

Now it’s time to check that everything is there and in good order.

We opened all our kits, made sure no colours or tools were missing, ironed the canvases flat, and repackaged for sale.

We also did one diamond painting ourselves from each seller. Necessary, because one seller’s products were very inferior and we decided not to sell them.

It was a great learning experience, and we found all the sellers pleasant to deal with.

Just 2 more things to remember:

1. If you’re in a remote area, shipping can be expensive. A lot of our items were shipped to the nearest town and we had to pick them up.

2. For a lot of sellers, English is a 2nd language, so it’s good to keep your messages very simple and always be pleasant.

We hope you’ll have lots of fun and profit using Alibaba!

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men. Colossians 3:23

Downloading Free Ebooks

We love reading old books and there are quite a few websites that allow us to download their ebook files for free.

Project Gutenberg and Fadedpage are great places to find the older books we enjoy. And they don’t require any sign-up info!

1. Be aware of copyright laws.

The books need to be out of copyright for your country. In Australia, a book is out of copyright 70 years after the author’s death. These books can be legally downloaded and kept on your ereader forever!

Other countries’ laws can be quite different so do check.

2. What files does your ereader use?

Our Kindles read Mobi ebook files.

3. How to store ebooks.

We use a free computer program called ‘Calibre.’ It keeps a library of all our ebooks, and also converts other book formats to Mobi. It requires no sign-in information either.

We hope you are able to find books you’ll enjoy to read!

But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. Romans 5:8

Buying On Ebay

A friend asked us how we buy on eBay… here’s our tips!

Tip Number 1

Use secure payment so no one can access your details. We’ve found PayPal works well.

Tip Number 2

Check out the seller’s rating. We don’t buy from a company if their rating is below 98.6%. If it’s an Australian seller, we prefer a minimum of 99%. (see Tip 4)

Here’s a seller we’ve bought from. They’ve sold 366,603 items and their rating is over 99%.

Tip Number 3

Check the seller’s negative reviews.

There are 3 things we look for:

A. Are most of the negatives ‘item didn’t arrive?’ You’ve guessed it, we don’t buy from them!

B. Are the reviews ‘item arrived broken?’ Then we only buy non-breakable things from them.

C. Are most of the negative reviews recent? A good seller’s store can be bought by someone who wants the money and won’t send the goods. (we found this out by experience!)

Tip Number 4

It’s also good to check how many items they’ve sold. The big Chinese companies can sell thousands of items a month, whereas some Australian sellers only sell a few things a year. Of course, the more items sold, the more negative reviews there’ll be.

Tip Number 5

Send a message asking a question about the article you’d like to buy. If the reply answers your question and isn’t just an automated response, it’s more likely they’ll send your item.

Tip Number 6

If you’re wanting to buy an expensive item, first try something cheap from that seller and see if it all goes well.

Tip Number 7

Be patient. Shipping delays are usual and unavoidable.

Tip Number 8

Leave a 5 star review whenever possible. Don’t forget it’s someone’s livelihood, and negative reviews can ruin their business and their life.

One extra hint: Look out for postage costs!

Wishing you happy eBay shopping!

Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding. Proverbs 23:23

Book on Investing

This book started us investing in shares.

It shows how to invest like Warren Buffet, one of the richest men in the world!

The book goes through a company’s financials step by step.

The Income Statement

The Balance Sheet

And the Cashflow Statement

Without it, we wouldn’t have dared to invest in shares.

Now we have confidence to check a company out and know exactly how it’s doing!

Our online broker, Selfwealth, sets out the financial statement for each company just like the book.

Selfwealth also has a great graph.

We put up the Total Revenue,

Total Expenses,

Net Income and

Total Debt on the graph.

If the debt is really low and everything else is on a gradual upwards slope, then the company is doing well. (as above)

If the debt is high and the net income below zero, (as below) we keep well away!

With the graph, we can easily see how a company is doing before printing out the financials and checking them through with the book.

This book has been a great investment for us!

Buffet and the Interpretation of Financial Statements.

The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and He addeth no sorrow with it. Proverbs 10:22

Disclaimer: We are not financial advisers. Please do your own research and contact a professional if necessary.

Ticket to Heaven

AM I ABLE TO ENTER HEAVEN WITHOUT A TICKET? NO.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23

IS JESUS THE ONLY TICKET? YES.

Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under Heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Acts 4:12

HOW CAN I HAVE THIS TICKET?

RECOGNIZE you are a sinner and can not save yourself.

But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags. We all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. Isaiah 64:6

REPENT and turn from your sins.

The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel. Mark 1:15

BELIEVE that Jesus is God in human flesh, and that He died on the cross for your sins, and that He was resurrected by the power of God.

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. 1 Corinthians 15:3-4

RECEIVE Jesus into your heart.

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name. John 1:12

Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. 2 Corinthians 6:2

You can receive God’s love and forgiveness by praying this World’s Most Important Prayer with your voice and heart:

“Dear Heavenly Father, I confess my sins to You and ask You to forgive me. I ask Jesus to come into my heart and be my Lord and Saviour. I thank You, Jesus, for the sacrifice You made for me on the cross so I could have eternal life. Help me to live for You. Amen.”

For whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Romans 10:13

He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. John 3:36

The just shall live by faith. Galatians 3:11

NOW WHAT?

1. Read your Bible daily and obey God’s Word.

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15

He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. John 14:21

2. Seek God through prayer with praise and thanksgiving.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6

3. Ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit.

Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Ephesians 5:17-19

4. Go to church and fellowship with other Christians.

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:25

5. Tell others about Jesus with your words and life.

Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 2 Corinthians 5:20

JESUS LOVES YOU!

Scriptures taken from the NKJV

Thank you to tracts4u.com!

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