| August 15, 2005 - (Best viewed in 800 X 600 resolution) |
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Hello! I hope you had a great weekend. Thanks to everyone who has been praying for JCSM. We have successfully relocated in Pasadena and we have caught up with our emails. We've also been able to continue developing the ministry and the web pages, encouraging the believers in Christ, and sharing the gospel with the unbelievers. I just made my final post in my debate with atheist author and professor Doug Krueger. We debated faith in God and whether it was reasonable or not. I gave a number of convincing proofs of God's existence; proofs that make faith reasonable. If you'd like to read our debate (and please don't forget to pray for the atheists that are reading), you can click http://iidebate5.jcsm.org. This particular, formal debate has already been read over 11,000 times because it's located on the most popular atheist discussion board in the world; not to mention, besides rejecting God, atheists seem to have another thing in common: disliking Christians like me. The open commentary for the debate is the only thread more popular than the debate thread. It has been read over 28,000 times to date. Each week, I record an audio devotional message on Monday and upload it to the web. It's available for streaming and downloading on Monday evening (some parts of the world won't be able to download it until Tuesday morning or afternoon). It has the same topic as the text devotions, but I offer insight and application for each passage of scripture. You can hear our archive and our new mp3s if you click "Audio Devos" on the left or if you click http://ada.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!) John 3:30 "He must increase, but I must decrease." Matthew 19:21 "Jesus said to him, 'If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.'" Exodus 20:3 "You shall have no other gods before Me." Luke 14:26, 27 "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple." Insight: Following Jesus isn't optional. Making him the foremost in importance isn't optional either. Some of us only follow Him when it's easy or convenient, but we need to make and keep Jesus #1. Prayer: "Dear Lord, help us to put and keep You first. Thank you for being worthy of our praise and devotion. There is no other God like You. Let us see You as You really are and worship You. Thank you for your patience, mercy, and grace. You have given us more than we deserve. Forgive us for the times when You haven't been on the throne of our life. Help us to remove whatever is, before You do, and restore You to your rightful position. In Jesus' name, Amen."
Charles Anderson Dana (1819-1897), was an American newspaper
journalist and the editor-in-chief of the New York Sun, under whose management
it grew to become one of the largest newspapers in the country. He also served
as Assistant Secretary of War during the Civil War. Charles Dana wrote: “There are some books that are absolutely indispensable to the kind of education that we are contemplating, and to the profession that we are now considering; and of all these, the most indispensable, the most useful, the one whose knowledge is most effective, is the Bible. “There is no Book from which more valuable lessons cans be learned. I am considering it now as a manual of utility, or professional preparation, and professional use for a journalist. “There is no Book whose style is more suggestive and more instructive, from which you learn more directly that sublime simplicity which never exaggerates, which recounts the greatest event with solemnity, of course, but without sentimentality or affection, none which you open with such confidence and lay down with such reverence; there is no Book like the Bible. “When you get into a controversy and want exactly the
right answer, when you are looking for an expression, what is there that
closes a dispute like a verse from the Bible? What is it that sets up
the right principle for you, which pleads for a policy, for a cause, so
much as the right passage of the Holy Scripture?” Stephen Abbott Northrop, D.D., A Cloud of Witnesses (Portland, Oregon: American Heritage Ministries, 1987), p. 112-113.
If your faith hasn't defied logic yet, you haven't had a lot of faith.
Make and keep Jesus #1 in your life. Analyze what you say and do and see where you need to make a change. Prayerfully consider it and do what God leads you to do. Making a positive change to put and keep Jesus #1 in your life will only benefit you. May God richly bless you as you meet this week's challenge!
miseo (Greek, see Luke 14:26): to detest, by extension, to love less
The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained "The Skeptic's Annotated Bible" claims: Genesis 30:1 - "Give me children or else I die." Rachel considers herself worthless if she cannot produce children for her husband. "The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained" responds: Rachel's statement was likely an exaggeration. People make exaggerated and emotional statements all the time. However, she could have been talking about her offspring and lineage. If she didn't have a child, then her lineage would end (or die). (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.)
First, lay your problems and burdens on God. Your friends and family will thank you for it. Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." If you'd like more quotes, then please see our archive. We have thousands in it! Link: http://quotes.jcsm.org
Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
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