Change Can Be Good - #442 - JCSM's Weekly Devotions

Hello!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas.

I'm sorry that this devotional is a little late. Since Christmas was on Sunday and since I've had a bad cold, it has delayed it a little.

The end of the year is approaching. Have you made any New Year's resolutions, yet? Later this week, JCSM will be giving you a special challenge. Please check your email because it's an awesome opportunity and step of faith that you won't want to miss.

If you're in the Southern California area and need something safe and exciting to do for New Year's Eve, why not go to Knott's Berry Farm? Each year, they invite some talented Christian musicians and comedians to come and perform. With the price of admission, you can also ride the rides! It is from 7pm until 1am and you can see more about it here.

Yesterday, Delirious released their new album in the United States. It's called The Mission Bell. If it's anything like their other albums, it'll definitely be one to check out.

Our Christmas went very well. My parents came to Pasadena and my wife, daughter, and I had a great time with them. It was relaxing as we opened gifts and ate lunch.

Everyone at JCSM wishes you a very happy New Year! Please be safe and enjoy the time with your family and friends.

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

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

"Change Can Be Good"

Psalm 55:19 "God will hear, and afflict them, Even He who abides from of old.
Selah. Because they do not change, Therefore they do not fear God."

Psalm 139:23, 24 "Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting."

Colossians 3:9, 10 "Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him."

2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."

Insight: The Christian life is a changing life. Day by day, we should be repenting from our sins and becoming more Christ-like. Take every opportunity you can find to do this because it means you'll please God more and be blessed more.

Prayer: "Dear Lord, thank you for being good. Thank you for wanting people to change and become more like You. Give us courage and strength to repent from our sins. Praise You for being our awesome source of power and love. There is no other like You! Bless us and lift us up. Give us wisdom, love, mercy, kindness, and meekness. In Jesus' name, Amen."

America's Foundation

Jedediah Morse (1761-1826), was a pioneer American educator and
geographer, called the "Father of American Geography." He was also
the father of Samuel F.B. Morse, inventor of the telegraph and "Morse
Code."

Having taught in the New Haven schools for several years, Jedediah
Morse compiled his notes and published them in his highly successful
work in 1784, entitled Geography Made Easy.

In 1799, Jedediah Morse stated:

"To the kindly influence of Christianity we owe that degree of civil
freedom, and political and social happiness which mankind now enjoys.
In proportion as the genuine effects of Christianity are diminished in
any nation, either through unbelief, or the corruption of its
doctrines, or the neglect of its institutions; in the same proportion
will the people of that nation recede from the blessings of genuine
freedom, and approximate the miseries of complete despotism.

"All efforts to destroy the foundations of our holy religion,
ultimately tend to the subversion also of our political freedom and
happiness.

"Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown, our present
republican forms of government, and all the blessings which flow from
them, must fall with them." ¹

¹ April 25, 1799, in Jedediah Morse's Election Sermon given at
Charleston, Mass., taken from an original in the Evans collection
compiled by the American Antiquarian Society. David Barton, The Myth
of Separation (Aledo, TX: WallBuilder Press, 1991), p. 128. Verna M.
Hall, Christian History of the United States of America (San
Francisco, CA: Foundation for America Christian Education, 1975), pp.
v, 145. Peter Marshall and David Manuel, The Glory of America
(Bloomington, MN: Garborg's Heart 'N Home, Inc., 1991), 4.25, 8.5.

If you'd like to see more quotes from those that framed and founded America, please click here: http://jcsm.org/AmericasFounders/.

A Moment of Introspection

I've heard it said that the only person who likes change is a baby in dirty diapers. Unfortunately, this is also the attitude of some Christians. Don't be afraid of change when changing means coming into closer communion with Christ.

JCSM's Challenge

Begin praying now that you will take JCSM's challenge for 2006! You'll receive more details later this week.

God bless you as you pray about meeting our challenge!

Word of the Week

palaios (Greek, see Colossians 3:9): antique, that is, not recent, work out: old

The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained

"The Skeptic's Annotated Bible" claims:

Genesis 46:3-4 - God promises to bring Jacob safely back from Egypt, but Jacob dies in Egypt (Gen.47:28-29)

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

Genesis 46:3 and 4 read, "And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation: I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes." The English words "thee up again" could also be translated differently, making them refer to Jacob's descendants.

This was a promise to bring Jacob's lineage and descendants out of Egypt; which He does.

(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.)

Quotes of the Week

There are no new quotes this week, but we have thousands in our archive! Visit http://quotes.jcsm.org. Plus, if you'd like to read a new quote every day, please go to http://jcsm.org/Wisdom.htm and bookmark it!

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