"A Pure Heart and Mind" - #413

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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

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

"A Pure Heart and Mind"

Psalm 51:10-12  "Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.  Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit."

Proverb 22:11  "He who loves purity of heart and has grace on his lips, the king will be his friend."

Matthew 5:8  "Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God."

Romans 12:1, 2  "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

Hebrews 10:22, 23  "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.  Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful."

Insight: God wants us to have a pure mind and heart.  If you don't, then repent and seek Him.  He will help you and you can renew your heart and mind.  God will take you from where you are and bring you where He wants you to be.

Prayer: "Dear Lord, bless us.  Thank you for loving us more than we know and understand.  Purify our hearts and minds.  Turn them to You.  Praise You for being worthy of our devotion and praise.  Lift us up and give us joy.  Remove our worries and fears.  Reveal our sins to us, so we can repent to You.  Thank you for your lovingkindness and patience toward us.  There is no other like You.  Increase our faith in You and our love for You and for others.  In Jesus' name, Amen."

America's Foundation

Robert Boyle (1626-1691), who was known as the "Father of Modern Chemistry," was one of the founders of the Royal Society of London.  His contributions in physics and chemistry are significant, including the discovery of the basic law of gas dynamics, relating gas pressures to temperature and volume.  Devoting much of his time to propagating the gospel, he wrote the Boyle Lectures in the field of apologetics for proving the Christian religion.  Robert Boyle stated:

"Our Savior would love at no less than death; and from the supereminent height of glory, stooped and debased Himself to the sufferance of the extremest of indignities, and sunk himself to the bottom of abjectness, to exalt our condition to the contrary extreme."

In his work entitled "Some Considerations Touching the Style of the Holy Scriptures," Robert Boyle wrote:

The Books of Scripture illustrate and expound each other; as in the mariner's compass, the needle's extremity, though it seems to point purposely to the north, doth yet at the same time discover both east and west, as distant as they are from it and each other, so do some texts of Scripture guide us to the intelligence of others, for which they are widely distant in the Bible."

A Moment of Introspection

The last time you were shaken, what came out?

Ask God to give you a pure heart.  Listen to His reply.  Do what He says.

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

katharos (Greek, see Hebrews 10:22): clean (literally or figuratively), clear, pure

The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained

"The Skeptic's Annotated Bible" claims:

Genesis 26:7 - Isaac uses the same "she's my sister" lie that his father used so effectively (see Gen.12:13, 20:2).

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

Lying is never condoned.  It is only recorded in the Bible.

(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.)

Be wary of any movement that is opposed to the church.

Inconsistency in the lives of churchgoers hurts the chances of the unchurched coming to church.

What's inside comes out when the pressure is great enough.

The depth of your walk with Christ isn't just revealed by your actions.  It's revealed by your reactions.

I cannot trace the hand of God, but I can trust the heart of God.

When you hit bottom, the world wants to know if your faith is real and beneficial.

Many churches are trying to have revival by feasting and playing, but revival only comes by fasting and praying.

Revival doesn't come where people are unhappy about the thing sof God.

People are attracted to excitement.

If your relationship with Christ is real, then you'll be excited about it and your Savior.

These quotes came from God, me, and Phil Waldrep.

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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.

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