Author: Jim

Mothers Day

Mother’s Day … A day, once a year, set aside to honor Mom!
Some Great Mother’s in Scripture:
EVE ………….… 1st Mom and called the Mother of All
Noah’ Wife ……Mother of Shem, Ham and Japhet
Sarah ……………Mother of Isaac
Hanna …………..Mother of Samuel
Elisabeth ……….Mother of John the Baptist
Mary ……………..Mother of the Lord Jesus
But let’s consider a mother who was paid to raise her own child.
Exodus 2:1-10 Her name is Jochebed … Mother of Moses.
Exodus 2:2-4 The love of a mother …not to be confused with what is happening today, where some women don’t want families … abortion runs rampant. Babies are discarded in rubbish piles, abandoned.
The key to this mother’s love is found in verse 1 .. a man took to wife, marriage .. a family (the old fashioned way).
What were this mother’s wages … a gold piece .. a few pieces of silver …food…?
Her wages were far greater … her wages were in the life of her son and in what he would become.
That’s the REAL wages of a mother.
We all are familiar of the story of MOSES:
Used by God in freeing the children of Israel from Bondage.
From Egypt, through the Red Sea, to Mount Sinai.
Deliverer of the LAW, Through 40 years of wilderness wanderings and to the promise land.
But have you ever considered:
Who taught him to love his people? Pharaoh’s daughter? …. NAY!
Who taught him to believe in God? Pharaoh? …. NAY!
Who gave him value of fellow humans, of life itself? The Egyptians? …. NAY!
It was his mother’s love…. His family.
How long did she have to teach him?
Exodus 2:10 … About 5-6 years …until he was weaned. 1 Samuel 1:23-24
How did she teach him … by loving him .. by example … by songs of love

A Mother’s Wages … Dollars … Cents?
Only time and eternity will reveal the true value of a mother.
Proverbs 31:28 Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.


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Bruising the Devil

And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.” (Romans 16:20)

This is an intriguing promise, suggesting that believers can somehow inflict bruises on the devil, who is perpetually seeking to “devour” them (1 Peter 5:8). This promise is a clear allusion to the primeval assurance of Genesis 3:15, when God promised that the unique “seed” of “the woman” would eventually “bruise” (actually “crush”) the head of the old serpent, the devil. This prophecy will finally be fulfilled in Christ’s ultimate victory, when Satan first will be bound for a thousand years in the bottomless pit and then confined forever in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:2, 10).

In the meantime believers, who also in a sense are the woman’s spiritual “seed” (Revelation 12:17), can repeatedly achieve local and temporary victories over Satan and his wiles by resisting him “steadfast in the faith” (1 Peter 5:9).
If we resist him as Jesus did with relevant Scripture, then God promises that he will “flee from you” (James 4:7). Such local victories can be obtained over these dangerous teachers whom Satan is using (note Romans 16:17-19, just preceding today’s text) “shortly” in this manner, but we need to be continually alert against his recurrent attacks. The ultimate victory over Satan, of course, will be won only by the Lord Jesus when He returns, and we must “be sober, be vigilant” (1 Peter 5:8) until that time.

Ephesians 6:11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

Whether we are aware of it or not, we must perpetually “wrestle…against the rulers of the darkness of this world” (Ephesians 6:12), who will be casting “fiery darts” (v. 16) against each believer. Finally, with the sword of the Spirit that is the Word of God (v. 17), we can even by God’s grace inflict spiritual wounds on Satan himself!

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Soul Sleep

Soul Sleep is a belief that when we die, the soul ceases to exist and believers are not conscious of anything until the resurrection. It is taught by Jehovah’s Witnesses and Seventh-day Adventists, who also claim that the redeemed will be recreated at the resurrection.
The Bible puts to rest Soul Sleep.
The Lord Jesus shared a story of the Rich man and Lazarus. Luke 16:19-31
Both died and their bodies were buried. The rich man lifted his eyes in Hell.
Lazarus was in the bosom of Abraham (Paradise).
Both were well aware of their surroundings.
On the Cross, the Lord promised the thief
“Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:43
When the Lord Jesus died, his body went to the tomb, He went to paradise Ephesians 4:8-10 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)
Also read 1 Peter 3:18-19 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
And to you who are saved (Romans 10:9-13)
The apostle Paul says it best:
2 Corinthians 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

Soul Sleep? NOT according to Scripture!

For more:
⇛ also see What Happens to us when We Die?
⇛ also see DEATH – What Saith the Scripture?
⇛ also see Death Appointed

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Earth Day

Earth Day is an annual celebration that honors the achievements of the environmental movement and raises awareness of the need to protect Earth’s natural resources for future generations. Earth Day is celebrated on April 22 in the United States and on either April 22 or the day the spring equinox occurs throughout the rest of the world.

 Read the Bible.

God created earth and named it.
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
God gave dominion over it.
Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
God flooded it because of man’s evilness.
Genesis 6:17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.
God promised not to flood it again.
Genesis 7:21 And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.
But earth and heaven will be destroyed, because of man’s sin.
2 Peter 3:9-10 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
God will give us a new heaven and earth.
2 Peter 3:13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
Revelation 21:1 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.

When we know these things WHY does man think he can control the climate?

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Who Can See Jesus

Hebrews 2:1-13 Read vs 9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
Of course, the reference in Hebrews is not speaking of actually seeing the Lord in person, but, several people have claimed to have seen Jesus. Some in near death experiences and others just in a vision. One question all should ask themselves “What does Jesus look like?” How would you identify Him?
By the painting (ART WORK) we see? Which one? They all look different and were painted long after the Lord Jesus ascended back into Heaven.
But there are 5 ways WE CAN see the Lord Jesus:
In the Scripture
Hebrews 10:7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.
Acts 8:35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.
In Creation
John 1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
Romans 9:20-21 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
Colossians 2:15-16 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
In The Church
Ephesians 3:21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
In the Saints (Believers)
Romans 8:9-11 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
Colossians 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Christian means Christ Like! ARE YOU?
In Heaven
Hebrews 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:
Acts 7:55-56 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
Revelation 1:13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.

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Is Your Name

written in the Lamb’s Book of Life?
WHO IS THE LAMB?
John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
John 1:36 And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!
Isaiah 53:4-7 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
WHAT IS THE BOOK?
 Revelation 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Revelation 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Psalm 69:28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.
WHERE IS THE LAMB?
Hebrews 10:12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
Ephesians 1:20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
WHERE IS THE BOOK?
Luke 10:20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.
Revelation 20:11-12 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
WHAT HAPPENS IF YOUR NAME IS NOT IN THE BOOK?
Revelation 12:1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
Revelation 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Revelation 21:27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
WHAT HAPPENS IF YOUR NAME IS IN THE BOOK?
Daniel 12:1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

⇛ continue reading Is Your Name Part 2

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Names for Christians

Believers
Acts 5:14 And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.)
1 Timothy 4:12 Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
Brethren / Brother (Brethren in not in Scripture). Brother = A blood relative of the same mother. One of the same tribe, Of the same people, or even of a cognate people. An ally.
Occurs 109 times in the New Testament.
Christian
Acts 11:26 And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.
Acts 26:28 Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.
1 Peter 4:16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
Disciple
255 times in Matthew thru Acts. During Jesus’ earthly ministry, and during the days of the early church, the term that was used most frequently to designate one of Jesus’ followers was “disciple”. Hence, discipleship is a central theological theme of the Gospels and Acts.
But not in Paul’s letters.

Saints ⇛ also see Saints

Today, if you believe the Gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) and Confess that Jesus is LORD (Romans 10:9-13)
You are a Believer, Brother, Christian, Saint……….. Mostly Saint.

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Jewels Part 2

Job elaborates on the riches of earth:
Job 28:17 The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold.
From Proverbs:
Proverbs 11:22 As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion.
Proverbs 20:15 There is gold, and a multitude of rubies: but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel.
Solomon compares his love’s beauty to Jewels:
Song of Solomon 1:10 Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold.
Song of Solomon 7:1 How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince’s daughter! the joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning workman.
Isaiah describes the dress of the day: Read the whole chapter
Isaiah 3:21 The rings, and nose jewels,
Isaiah symbolizes how one feels when saved:
Isaiah 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
God’s love for Jerusalem: Read the whole chapter
Ezekiel 16:12 And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head.
Ezekiel 16:17 Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,
Ezekiel 16:39 And I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thine eminent place, and shall break down thy high places: they shall strip thee also of thy clothes, and shall take thy fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare.
When Israel forgets God’s blessings:
Ezekiel 23:26 They shall also strip thee out of thy clothes, and take away thy fair jewels.
Hosea 2:13 And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD.
Prophecy:
Malachi 3:17 And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.

Interesting that Jewels are not mentioned in the New Testament

Also see Jewelry and GEMS

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His Cross

What do you know about the Cross? The Cross that the Lord died upon.
It’s interesting that it was made of wood AND that God chose NOT to save it …
What did it look like> A “T” or “t” or “X” or “I” .The word Cross only appears in the New Testament.
28 times. 17 times in the Gospels and 11 times in the epistles.
Jesus mentioned the cross 6 times BUT not to His cross.
Matthew 10:38, 16:24, Mark 8:34, 10:21, Luke 9:23, 14:27 As a burden.
The cross has been immortalized in song: “The Old Rugged Cross”.

What was THIS Cross?
To the Mob … it was an instrument of punishment and death. One of the cruelest forms of execution devised by man. It wasn’t around very long, used by the Romans. Yet 1000 years before the Psalmist wrote Psalm 22.
To the Jew … His cross was a curse! On the way to Calvary, the Lord stumbles and Simon the Cyrene was compelled to take up the cross.
Why compelled? Matthew 27:32
Simon was a Jew, on a pilgrimage to the Holy City, Jerusalem.
He knew Hebrew Law,
Deuteronomy 21:23, And the cross was a tree.
YES, to the mob, an instrument of death, to the Jew a curse.
But to God, it was an altar. Since the days of Adam, innocent blood has been shed to cover the sins of man. Now, the final sacrifice was to be given to forgive the sins of man.
The Lamb of God would offer His blood for the Sin of all.
1 Peter 3:18, Hebrews 9:28, 10:12,14

To the mob, an instrument of death, to the Jew a curse, to God an altar.

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Good News Part 2

Galatians 1:6-9 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
Is it any wonder that the Apostle Paul is upset with anyone who would distort it? It’s Good news because God made it happen in spirt of what we are or what we have done.
Galatians 1:12-20 For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it: And profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother. Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not.
Good News that can and will change your life, and this Good News is not limited; It’s for all.
Most Good News is limited to where, when and who it involves.
A Game Victory in the winners locker vs the locker room of the loser.
Elections have Good News for the winner .. not so for the looser
The Gospel, Good News of God is for all who believe.
When is it Good News?
When you need it most…
When you first believe …
When you slip into sin …
When you are at your lowest …
When death comes stalking…
When we will hear the trumpet…
When we enter into Glory …
TODAY ==Good News … Christ died for me… If I believe …
I’m saved for all eternity
THAT’S WONDERFUL, EXTRA GOOD NEWS

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