"Light Opposed to Darkness" - #386

The JCSM Study Center

America's Christian Foundation

Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained

NKJV Web Hosting and Services

JCSM's Sermons, Debates and the Bible on MP3

The Online Christ-Centered Ministries

The JCSM Chat Room

Seminary Notes and Papers

The Picturesque Photo Albums

Hello!

I pray that you had a good week and weekend.

Are you interested in spending some time each week in Christian ministry?  Do you like Christian music?  If you answered yes to those questions, then we have a very special ministry for you.

About a year ago, JCSM set up Indie Gospel Radio with a web site and helped launch its music ministry.  In the past year, IGR has received hundreds of CDs from independent musicians and we have broadcasted them on the internet.  We've also been able to promote their music and offer a great, free service for those that wish to serve the Lord and for those that wish to hear their music!

The director of IGR has recently stepped down due to some problems beyond his control.  Therefore, we are currently interviewing some potential directors for this ministry.  You can see our web site at http://indiegospelradio.org.  Right now, this isn't a paid position.  However, we do have over 100 CDs that you may have as you convert them to MP3s and broadcast them.  They will be shipped to the new director and I will work closely with him or her as the transition takes place.

If you are interested in applying for the position of IGR Director, please contact us and email us a brief bio.  Here is our contact link: http://jcsm.org/contact.php.

Last week, I mentioned having a laptop for sale on eBay.  Unfortunately, at the last minute, a bidder bought it with Buy It Now and turned out to be a scam artist.  He forged a Bidpay payment email and wanted me to send the laptop to Ghana before I had received payment!  I've reported him to eBay and the other companies involved.  Please pray that this situation gets ironed out, that I'm able to sell the Toshiba laptop soon, and that eBay becomes less fraud-ridden.

We hope and pray that God blesses you this Christmas season.

Have you gotten a Christmas tree?  We are getting ours, tomorrow.  We are looking forward to picking it out and putting lights and ornaments on it.  It will be my 2 year old daughter's first tree.

Would you like a daily dose of godly wisdom?  Click http://jcsm.org/Wisdom.htm for JCSM's Quote of the Day!

Do you need a free email account?  JCSM offers free and inexpensive accounts through our BelieveandRepent.com domain name.  We give more space than Yahoo and Hotmail, plus you can use our service and evangelize without saying a word!  See http://believeandrepent.com for details.

This is your ministry, so please feel free to link to JCSM and forward these devotions to your friends and family.  On JCSM, there are over 70,000 web pages of pictures, forums, midis, Bible lessons, humor, proverbial stories, links, devotions, poetry, prayer journals, and much more!

JCSM has encouraging sermons, exciting debates, and the Bible on MP3 online and you can freely stream and download them!  Come and listen at http://sa.jcsm.org.

Visit the JCSM Study Center!  We have over 1GB of resources like English and foreign Bibles, thousands of sermons, maps, ancient literature, commentaries, Greek and Hebrew dictionaries, and concordances and much more!  Plus, it's all free.  Link: http://study.jcsm.org.

Welcome to the new readers of this message!  Here is your Devotion, A Moment of Introspection, JCSM's Challenge, the Word of the Week, a faith-builder from "The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained," and the Quotes of the Week.  Have a fantastic week and God bless you!

Love in Christ,

Jason Gastrich

Contact Us: http://jcsm.org/contact.php

JCSM's Weekly Devotions (click here to listen!)

"Light Opposed to Darkness"

Romans 13:12-14  "The night is far spent, the day is at hand.  Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.  Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy.  But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts."

2 Corinthians 6:14  "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.  For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness?  And what communion has light with darkness?"

1 John 1:5-7  "This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.  If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.  But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."

1 Peter 2:9  "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;"

John 8:12  "Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, 'I am the light of the world.  He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.'"

Insight: Are you walking in the light?  Or are you walking with people in darkness?  Recognize the difference between the light of the world and the people in darkness.  Stay near the Son who give us light and help reflect His light into this dying world.  Children of the light obey the Son who is the light.

Prayer: "Thank you for being our bright light, Lord.  Thank you for lighting our way, so we see clearly and do not fall in the darkness.  Help us to stay on the right path, Lord.  Reveal to us which path is in the light and which way is dark.  Thank you for our experiences.  Please help us to learn from them.  Let us also listen to wise counsel and to the prompting of your Holy Spirit.  Protect us from evil.  Lift us up and give us strength to obey You and overcome temptation.  To You be all the glory, honor, and praise.  In Jesus' name, Amen."

America's Foundation

Richard Henry Lee (1732-1794), a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was also a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, a delegate to the First Continental Congress and a U.S. Senator.  On November 1, 1777, as recorded in the Journals of Congress, Richard Henry Lee along with the committee of Samuel Adams and General Daniel Roberdeau, recommended a resolution setting apart:

"Thursday, the 18th of December next, for solemn thanksgiving and praise, that with one heart and one voice the good people may express the grateful feelings of their hearts, and consecrate themselves to the service of their Divine Benefactor; and that, together with their sincere acknowledgments and offerings, they may join the penitent confession of their manifold sins, whereby they had forfeited every favor, and their humble and earnest supplication that it may please God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of remembrance."  - Journals of Congress, Volume III, pp. 467-468.  Stephen Abbott Northrop, D.D., A Cloud of Witnesses (Portland, Oregon: American Heritage Ministries, 1987), p. 279-280.

A Moment of Introspection

What is God hearing from you?

Watch The Passion of the Christ movie!  If you haven't seen it, then you're missing out on a very detailed depiction of the last hours of Jesus' life.  If you have seen it, then watch it again and look for things you may have missed.  God will speak to you through it.

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

foce (Greek, see John 8:12): to shine or make manifest, especially by rays, luminousness (in the widest application, natural or artificial, abstract or concrete, literal or figurative), fire, light

The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained

"The Skeptic's Annotated Bible" claims:

Genesis 18:17 - God, who is planning another mass murder, is worried that Abraham might try to stop him. so he asks himself if he should hide his intentions from Abraham.

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

God was considering invoking righteous judgment on the unrepentant sinners of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Abraham cared for those people and knew he had relatives there.

(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 is also a 300 question workbook that accompanies the CD-ROM.)

Some of us don't understand God's will because we don't know the Word.

Christians who know the scriptures do not tell us that there are many ways to God.

There's more to prayer than just asking for things.

Jesus' death provides access to God.

Jesus is the cleansing Word.

Constant cleansing is required for fellowship with God.

God is not a cosmic Santa Claus.

These quotes came from God, me, and Dan Stolebarger.

Do you need more quotes?  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!

Please make a commitment to pray for this ministry.  As every believer is tempted and tried, this ministry faces trials also.  God has blessed me, JCSM and the people who have been reached!  Unfortunately, the enemy knows this and spiritual warfare is the result.  Please at least pray that the devotions continue to be written religiously, the web pages stay on the www and the readers are blessed, sanctified and protected from evil.  Thank you very much in advance!

Do you want to help people receive the good news?  We’re reaching new people every day with God’s awesome Word!  If God has blessed you and you wish to send a love offering to JCSM, please send your gift to the address below.

You can join our vision and help this ministry!  Your donations will keep these ministries running and further our visions for evangelism.  We host tens of thousands of web pages to lead people to the Lord.  Frequently, we make new ones and they are used to bring more and more people into a closer relationship with Jesus Christ.

Would you like to support God’s work on the web?  If this ministry has touched you in a special way, please pray and consider sending a gift to JCSM.  You can join us in our vision to reach people on the web with the good news!  Either email me for more information or simply go here: http://vision.jcsm.org.

JCSM is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization.  If you wish to send support, please make checks payable to Jesus Christ Saves Ministries.  If you are sending support or simply want to contact us through the regular mail, here is our mailing address:

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries

3219 Clairemont Mesa Blvd. #212

San Diego, CA 92117

Along with getting support, we also give support!  JCSM regularly gives to churches, Christian ministries, and needy people.  Another function of this ministry is to do counseling.  We are always answering questions about life, the Lord and everything in between.  Lastly, we do a lot of research on religious topics on the internet and library.  You will definitely see the results of our hard work and your loving support, in the web pages, and in the weekly devotions!

For more about me and my service history, go to http://jcsm.org/misc/JasonGastrich.htm.

If you have never repented from your sins and believed, trusted, and accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, please email me!  I would love to share the gospel with you.  The Bible is very straightforward when it speaks about Heaven, Hell and eternal life.  If there is any doubt that you are going to Heaven when you die, please let me know today!  If you’d like to discover the biblical doctrine of salvation through Jesus Christ, please go here: Audio Gospel Message - http://www.jcsm.org/godsplan/TheGospel.mp3. or the Textual Gospel Message - http://gospel.jcsm.org.

Fishes and Loaves (FALO) is a great, missions organization.  They have helped many people embark on missions trips to the uttermost parts of the world.  If you are interested in missions, please visit http://www.gofalo.net.

Do you need to find a solid, Christian church?  I've attended numerous, Calvary Chapel churches and I've been very blessed by their Bible-based sermons, inspiring worship, and kind members.  If you don't have a home church, if you're traveling, or if you need to find a new church, I recommend visiting the following site and locating a Calvary Chapel near you: http://www.calvarychapel.org.

OCCM (Online Christ-Centered Ministries) has certified JCSM as a ministry that preaches the true, biblical gospel of Jesus Christ.  OCCM is a professional membership association for Christian ministries and people that reside on and off the internet.  Are you OCCM certified?  For more information, go here: http://www.occm.org.

Over 70,000 web pages!

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."