Real Christian ministry is messy. It's awesome that Jesus is the ultimate cleaner and healer. I thank everyone for your prayers and concerns. Try not to curse when it snows tomorrow! - dr joe
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Links
Food for Thought...
I believe our nation is headed for very hard, even disastrous times. I do not believe politics will fix our economy - it's too far gone - too much debt to ever pay back. We depend completely on our fragile technological infrastructure for food, water, shelter, transportation, and entertainment. Any number of events could cause a sudden collapse of our system e.g., electric grid collapse from terrorism, natural event like solar flare, simple breakdown from lack of modernization, or Israel attacks Iran and the price of oil skyrockets, or China stops buying our treasury bonds. I am feeling called to prepare for such disaster by working to be less dependent and more self-sufficient. If you have interest in or questions about this line of thinking, please e-mail me by replying to this e-mail. Below are some of my favorite links:
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Ezekial 18:23
23 Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?
God is a God of love, but he is also a God of perfect justice. His perfect love causes him to be merciful to those who recognize their sin and turn back to him, but he cannot wink at those who willfully sin. Wicked people die both physically and spiritually. God takes no joy in their deaths; he would prefer that they turn to him and have eternal life. Likewise, we should not rejoice in the misfortunes of nonbelievers. Instead, we should do all in our power to bring them to faith.
Verse and commentary above is copied from the Life Application Study Bible Reading Plan on YouVersion. Check it out at: http://www.youversion.com/ .
Any Dr JOE comments will be in BLUE :0)
John 19:28-37
28 Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled,Jesus said, "I am thirsty." 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished."
With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. What was finished? He still had to rise from the dead. The work of Jesus taking all of our sin ( past, present, future) onto Himself was finished. His being limited by the confines of a human body was finished.
31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: "Not one of his bones will be broken,"[c] 37 and, as another scripture says, "They will look on the one they have pierced."
It still amazes me how the prophets predicted Jesus' life and death multiple hundred years before He lived. It reminds us how God's timing is not like ours and that we can not necessarily understand His purpose for us now. We are so impatient. It's a good thing for me that God is patient beyond measure - otherwise I'd have been incinerated by lightning bolt many years ago. I thank everyone for your prayers and concern. God has been working mightily with Becky and I and through us. Satan is in the business of disruption of God's work. Praise God that His power overwhelms all the schemes of the enemy!
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Questions?
Please email me with any questions about today's scripture message or anything related to the Bible or Christianity.
I might not know the answer but I'll try real hard to find it.
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