"Worship and Experience God" - #388

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Hello!

I hope you had a great week.

Thank you to all who have applied to be IGR's next Director.  We have received a number of emails from interested and qualified people, but we are still conducting interviews.  If you are interested, please see http://indiegospelradio.org and let us know.  We'd be happy to learn more about you and how you can take this music ministry to the next level!

Famous atheist and philosopher Antony Flew has decided that there is a God!  He has been one of the most influential, British atheists in the past 50 years as he has written many books, taught, and debated theists.  We have his interview with Gary Habermas regarding his new faith in God.  See http://jcsm.org/1on1/AntonyFlew.pdf.

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

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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!)

"Worship and Experience God"

Luke 10:38-42  "Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.  And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word.  But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, 'Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.'  And Jesus answered and said to her, 'Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.  But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.'"

Philippians 2:10, 11  "At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

1 Chronicles 29:20  "Then David said to all the assembly, 'Now bless the LORD your God.'  So all the assembly blessed the LORD God of their fathers, and bowed their heads and prostrated themselves before the LORD and the king."

Psalm 47:1, 2  "Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples!  Shout to God with the voice of triumph!  For the LORD Most High is awesome; He is a great King over all the earth."

Psalm 22:3  "You are Holy; You inhabit the praises of Israel."

Philippians 3:3  "For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh."

Bible Lessons: Praise and Worship Part 1 - http://www.jcsm.org/biblelessons/worship1.htm, Praise and Worship Part 2 - http://www.jcsm.org/biblelessons/worship2.htm.

Excerpt and Insight: Raising hands is a real struggle for many Christians, yet there is significant support for it in Scripture.  The great Bible scholar William Hendrickson once carefully analyzed all the occasions in the Old Testament when bodily praise was used.  He found 4 instances of bowing heads, 6 references to standing with reverence, 9 examples of lifting eyes toward God who is the source of blessing, 12 instances of kneeling in adoration, 14 descriptions of hands lifted toward God, and 28 references to people laying prostrate before the Lord.

Prayer: "Dear Lord, help us to worship You as we should.  Thank you for giving us instructions and guidelines in the scriptures.  Praise You for being worthy of our praise and devotion.  Help us to worship and experience You!  Thank you for wanting our praise and thank you for giving our praise a therapeutic value to us.  Let us understand You and your ways.  Praise you for being perfect and righteous.  There is no other God like You.  Bless us and lift us up, Lord.  In Jesus' name, Amen."

America's Foundation

Horace Greeley (1811-1872), was a tremendously influential American journalist, newspaper editor and politician.  He made famous the phrase, "Go West, Young Man!"  Horace Greeley founded and edited the New York Tribune daily paper and The New Yorker magazine.

Called by the poet John Greenleaf Whittier, "our later Franklin," Greeley's strong anti-slavery editorials helped to stir the north to oppose slavery.  He was one of the founders of the Republican Party and used his influence to secure the nomination of Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency.

In his Autobiography, Horace Greeley wrote:

"It is impossible to mentally or socially enslave a Bible-reading people.  The principles of the Bible are the groundwork of human freedom."  - Autobiography of Horace Greeley, p. 70.  Stephen Abbott Northrop, D.D., A Cloud of Witnesses (Portland, OR: American Heritage Ministries, 1987, p. 197.  Tyron Edwards, D.D., The New Dictionary of Thoughts - A Cyclopedia of Quotations (Garden City, NY: Hanover House, 1852, The Standard Book Company, 1963), p. 48.  also Henry H. Halley, Halley's Bible Handbook (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1927, 1965), p. 19.  David Barton, The Myth of Separation (Aledo, TX: WallBuilder Press, 1991), p. 260.

"Your reference to the 'blameless Christian wife' - and what is 'more pleasing in the sight of God'? - impels me to say that I must consider Jesus of Nazareth a better authority as to what is Christian and what pleases God than you are.

His testimony on the subject is expressed and unequivocal (Matt. xix. 9) that a marriage can be ruthfully dissolved because of adultery alone.  You well know that was not the law either of the Jews or Romans in His day, so that He can not have been misled by custom or tradition, even were it possible for Him to have been mistaken.  I believe He was wholly right."  - Autobiography of Horace Greeley, p. 71.  Stephen Abbott Northrop, D.D., A Cloud of Witnesses (Portland, OR: American Heritage Ministries, 1987, p. 197.

"I am not, therefore, to be classed with those who claim to have been converted from one creed to another by studying the Bible alone.

"Certainly, upon re-reading that Book in the light of my new convictions, I found therein abundant proofs to their correctness in the averments of patriarchs, Genesis iii. 15, xii. 3; Prophets, Isaiah xxv. 8; Apostles, Romans v. 12-21; viii. 19-21; I. Cor. xv. 42-54; Eph. i. 8-10; Col. i. 19-21; I. Tim. 2, 3-6; and of the Messiah Himself, Matthew xv. 13; John xii. 32....

"In the light of this faith the dark problem is evil is irradiated, and virtually solved.  'Perfect through suffering' was the way traced out by the great Captain of our Salvation."  - Autobiography of Horace Greeley, p. 559.  Stephen Abbott Northrop, D.D., A Cloud of Witnesses (Portland, OR: American Heritage Ministries, 1987, p. 197.

A Moment of Introspection

Is your daily goal to worship and experience God?

Next time you go shopping, ask God if you should buy what you want to buy.  God bless you as you meet this week's challenge!

lat-ryoo-o (Greek, see Philippians 3:3): to minister (to God), that is, render religious homage, serve, do the service, worship

The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained

"The Skeptic's Annotated Bible" claims:

Genesis 18:23-25 - Abraham begs God not to kill everyone in Sodom and Gomorrah. [Which is odd, since later (Gen.22:2-10) Abraham doesn't even question God's request that he kill his own son.] asks God two good questions: "Wilt thou destroy the righteous with the wicked?" and "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"

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

Yes, Abraham was trying to convince God to use His perfect mercy instead of His perfect justice.  Christians pray for these kinds of things all the time - even in America.

(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.)

Focus on being a blessing this Christmas.

Don't miss Jesus this Christmas.

The persecuted Christians have more faith and endurance than we understand.

Do you come to church to learn and to experience God?

Worship God by yourself and with others.

Do you think you're successful because of your own good looks, intelligence, education, and abilities?

God wants you to lay your life down because it's not about you.

God's love is what gives you worth.

You become fulfilled as you lay your life down before God.

If you horde blessings without giving them away, you'll be like the Dead Sea inside; which takes water, but does not give any, making everything in it die.

Make a commitment to surrender to God in every area of your life and you'll avoid many problems.

Something is only painful when you want it and don't get it.

Next time you want to say something, ask God if you should say it.

God wants you to willingly give.

If you want your finances to be blessed, then give.  Your things are God's, anyway.

God has given you gifts, resources, education, and blessings so you could use them for Him.

If everybody would do their part, much more would get done.

What are you doing for God?

Your body shouldn't be addicted to anything.

When you're walking with God and doing exactly what He wants you to do, you'll be happier than ever.

These quotes came from God, me, and Miles McPhearson.

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!

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Jesus Christ Saves Ministries

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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.

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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."