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The Weekly Devotion (click here to listen!)

"Bless the Poor"

Luke 3:10, 11  "So the people asked him, saying, 'What shall we do then?'  He answered and said to them, 'He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.'"

Luke 6:34, 35  "And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you?  For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back.  But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High.  For He is kind to the unthankful and evil."

Luke 12:33  "Sell your possessions and give to the poor.  Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys."

Luke 18:22, 23  "When Jesus heard this, he said to him, 'You still lack one thing.  Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.  Then come, follow me'."

Insight: Those that are blessed with things should be actively giving them to needy people.  The scriptures tell us to love the poor and give to them.  Most people in America have far more than they need.  We need to ask God for direction, so we can use His resources to bless the right people.  Jesus clearly tells us to give to the poor, so we should be obeying His command.

Prayer: "Thank you for wanting us to give to the poor.  Thank you for the many opportunities to give.  Thank you for the blessings and resources You have bestowed upon us.  Help us to see them as yours.  Help us to be good stewards of your blessings.  Forgive us for being selfish.  Forgive us for hording treasures on Earth.  Let us see things as You do.  Help us to see things in light of eternity.  Thank you for those that are in need.  Help us to pray for them and give to them.  Remind us of the joy of giving.  In Jesus' name, Amen."

America's Foundation

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), was renowned as the "Father of the Science of Hydrostatics."  He helped to found the principles of hydrodynamics and made invaluable contributions in the areas of the mathematical treatment of conic sections, the theory of probability and differential calculus, with the invention of Pascal's triangle for calculating the coefficients of a binomial expansion.  He also helped in developing the barometer through his discoveries in fluid mechanics, knows as "Pascal's Principle."  He wrote his Lettres provinciales in 1656-57, and in 1670, his highly influential religious work, entitled Pensees sur la religion, was published.  In it, Blaise Pascal wrote:

"Men blaspheme what they don't know."  - 1670, in Pensees, no. 556. John Bartlett, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855, 1980), p. 300.

Blaise Pascal was well-known for his famous "Wager of Pascal":

"How can anyone lose who chooses to become a Christian?  If, when he dies, there turns out to be no God and his faith was in vain, he has lost nothing - in fact, he has been happier in life than his non-believing friends.  If, however, there is a God and a heaven and hell, then he has gained heaven and his skeptical friends will have lost everything in hell!"  - Wager of Pascal. Henry M. Morris, Men of Science - Men of God (El Cajon, CA: Master Books, Creation Life Publishers, Inc., 1990), pp. 15-16.

In his work, Thoughts , Letters, and Opuscules, Blaise Pascal declared:

"We know God only through Jesus Christ.  Without this Mediator, is taken away all communication with God; through Jesus Christ we know God.  All those who have pretended to know God, and prove Him without Jesus Christ, have only had impotent proofs."

But, to prove Jesus Christ we have the prophecies which are good and valid proofs.  And those prophecies, being fulfilled and truly proved by the event, indicate the certainty of these truths, and therefore the truth of the divinity of Jesus Christ.  In Him, and by Him, then, we know God.  Otherwise, and without Scripture, without original sin, without a necessary Mediator, we can not absolutely prove God, nor teach a good doctrine and sound morals."

"But by Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ, we prove God and teach doctrine and morals.  Jesus Christ, then, is the true God of men.  Not only do we know God only through Jesus Christ, but we know ourselves only through Jesus Christ."

"We know life, death, only through Jesus Christ.  Except by Jesus Christ we know not what life is, what our death is, what God is, what we ourselves are.  Thus, without Scripture, which has only Jesus Christ for its object, we know nothing, and we see not only obscurity and confusion in the nature of God, but in nature herself.  Without Jesus Christ, man must be in sin and misery; with Jesus Christ, man is exempt from sin and misery.  In Him is all our virtue, and all our felicity.  Out of Him, there is nothing but sin, misery, error, darkness, death, and despair."  - O.W. Wight, translator from the French Language, Thoughts, Letters, and Opuscules, pp. 334-335.  Stephen Abbott Northrop, D.D., A Cloud of Witnesses (Portland, OR: American Heritage Ministries, 1987), p. 352-353.

After His death, Pascal left in his effects this writing:

"The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob," not of philosophers and scholars."  - 1662, in a writing of his found in his effects after his death. John Bartlett, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855, 1980), p. 300.

A Moment of Introspection

When is the last time you gave to a poor person?

Pray to God and ask for an opportunity to give to a person in need.  This week, keep your eyes open for that person and follow God's Spirit as He prompts you to give.

God bless you as you meet this week's challenge!

yo-bale (Hebrew): Jubilee - the blast from a horn, specifically the signal of silver trumpets, hence the instrument itself and the festival thus introduced

The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained

"The Skeptic's Annotated Bible" claims:

Genesis 7:1 - God calls Noah "righteous." but this contradicts several other verses that say there never has been such a person. And he just doesn't seem too darned righteous in 9:20-21. (Where he gets drunk and lies around naked in front of God and everybody.)

"The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained" responds:

Noah's righteousness was a state of being.  His righteousness was partial and temporary. 

(This explanation came from "The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained", by Jason Gastrich.  This book is on CD and explains over 3,000 difficulties regarding the entire Bible at http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.org.)

There aren't any new quotes this week, but we have thousands in our archives!  They are located here: http://quotes.jcsm.org.

These quotes can be used for sanctification and fun. Most of them are directly based on scripture and scriptural principles. Some of the quotes are humorous or rhetorical, others are written from sermons and Bible studies, and some are lyrics from songs. If you’d like me to go into more detail on any of them, please email me.

Like most verses in the Bible, they can be debated. To use what I’ve written in the most beneficial way, try and trace them back to the scriptures and apply the true principles to your life in a meaningful way! Please don’t sell my quotes or publish them for profit. If English is not your first language, you may not understand some of the quotes. I'm sorry, but some of them are English metaphors and deal with multiple word meanings. God bless you all!

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Jesus loves you!

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever should believe in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."