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Hello! I hope you had an excellent weekend. JCSM's deepest thanks go to the generous donator who recently gave $1000 to our ministry. I'm sure he'd want to remain anonymous, so I won't mention his name. Please know that you've helped us immeasurably and you will always be in our thoughts and prayers. JCSM is officially re-launching its podcasting ministry! One of our directors was helping to podcast through his organization (thanks Michael!), but we have recently taken over this responsibility. Our podcasting XML/RSS feed url is http://jcsm.org/podcast.xml. Please add us to your podcast receiver! Are you on MySpace? JCSM is! In fact, in the past week, we gained over 75 new friends! If you're on MySpace, please add JCSM as a friend and leave us a message. We'd be happy to know you. On the night of July 30th, Christian musician Vicky Beeching will be playing a concert at Calvary Chapel Pasadena. She has played some big venues and I've enjoyed her music at MySpace. If you're nearby, come and hear her praise the Lord! On the same night, author and evangelist Tim LaHaye will be speaking at Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon. He is always a blessing, so you won't want to miss him! Please continue to pray for Israel and the war on terror. Our prayers are also with the families of the civilians who have been injured or have lost a loved one. My wife's aunt and uncle who were in Beirut, Lebanon are about to be escorted to Cypress. Please continue to pray for their safety as well. Much of the world is experiencing a severe heatwave. For instance, many cities in Southern California have had record heat. JCSM operates in Pasadena and it was 104 degrees here, today! Please pray that the heat doesn't hurt or kill anyone. Being inconvenienced a little isn't a big deal, but some people are suffering greatly and even dying due to heat exposure, so please keep the heatwave in your prayers. This is the second devotional in a four part series on Satan. The next two will focus Satan's activity on Earth and his ultimate demise. You won't want to miss either of these exciting devotions, as we examine the truth of God's Word! 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, Ph.D. Contact Us: http://jcsm.org/contact.php
JCSM's Weekly Devotions (click here to listen!) "Know Your Enemy: Satan's Limitations" Job 1:6-12 "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. And the LORD said to Satan, 'From where do you come?' So Satan answered the LORD and said, 'From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.' Then the LORD said to Satan, 'Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?' So Satan answered the LORD and said, 'Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!' And the LORD said to Satan, 'Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.' So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD." Insight: Satan is real and active on earth, but he is accountable to God and his thoughts are open to God. He can only be at one place at a time. Satan cannot see into our minds or foretell the future. Because Satan can do nothing without God's permission, God's people can overcome his attacks through God's power. God always puts limits on what Satan can do. Prayer: "Dear Lord, thank you for revealing Satan's limitations to us. Help us not to worry or fear. Help us to put our trust in You. Increase our faith and increase our spiritual power. Teach us when to fight and when to run. Thank you for overcoming the world. Thank you for giving us the Holy Spirit, so we can do great things in Jesus' name. Bless us and lift us up. In Jesus' name, Amen."
There is no new quote this week, but we have nearly 100 of them on our web site! If you'd like to see quotes from those that framed and founded America, please click here: http://jcsm.org/AmericasFounders/.
When God implemented His plan of salvation, He didn't contract it to the lowest bidder. He gave His very best.
Analyze your life and your behavior. Find where Satan or his fallen angels are beating you and get determined to win. Develop a strategy to overcome temptation by either fighting or removing yourself from the situation. God bless you as you meet this week's challenge!
Satan (Hebrew, see Job 1:6): an opponent, Satan, the arch enemy of good, adversary
The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained "The Skeptic's Annotated Bible" claims: Exodus 9:9-12 - The sixth plague: boils and blains upon man and beast. After this plague "the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh" again, contradicting 1 Samuel 6:6, which says that the Pharaoh hardened his own heart. "The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained" responds: The Egyptians were unrepentant sinners. They had foreign gods and enslaved the Israelites. God hardened Pharaoh's heart, but he had hardened his own heart, too. (This explanation came from "The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained", by Dr. Jason Gastrich. This book is on CD and gives over 4,000 answers to alleged Bible errors, regarding the entire Bible at http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.org. There is also a 300 question workbook that accompanies the CD-ROM.)
Some things that are obvious to some are not to others. There are 31,173 verses in the Bible. The main thing is keeping the main thing the main thing. John 3:16 is the Bible in miniature. God never left it up to humans to discover Him without help. The Holy Spirit is the hound of Heaven. Everyone is born DOA (Dead On Arrival). No other truth in the world should effect us as much as the fact that God loves us. Human love is based on the object while God's love is based on the subject (His character). We were all born SIN positive. Just as the same cure for a physical disease works for people all over the world, the same cure for man's spiritual disease works for everyone. What if God was having a bad day (e.g. a "bad halo day")? True love can't be hidden. It must be demonstrated. Coldness between people develops when love demonstrated by giving stops. God isn't picky. He'll take anyone. Jesus picks people that nobody else would pick. It's easier to get into Heaven than a Christian university. The biggest surprise in Heaven may be who's there. The second biggest surprise might be who isn't there. Jesus isn't my crutch. He's my stretcher. It's one thing to believe in parachutes, but it's another thing to put it on and jump. The perishing will be as eternal as the life He would have given. No man sins only to their self. Accountability to the Creator is not allowable to the natural man, today. Today's society doesn't want to be responsible for anything, but feels entitled to everything. When my spirit is dead, my soul is in bondage to my intellect and myself. God holds you and me responsible for our actions. Nobody is forced to sin. When the Bible contradicts your theology, change it to come in line with the scriptures. Are you embracing the full counsel of God? You have to work to get to Hell, by constantly avoiding the Holy Spirit's pursuit. You don't have to work at all to get into Heaven. When people do wrong to you, your theology will be tested. The Book of Lamentations refers to God's (not Jeremiah's) lamentations over those who were rejecting Him and suffering. Israel's land is theirs and nobody else's. The height of God's spiritual kingdom on Earth was with David's rule. The height of Israel's physical kingdom was with Solomon. These quotes came from Skip Heitzig, Xavier Ries, me, and the Holy Spirit's inspiration. If you'd like to read more quotes, we have thousands in our archive! Visit http://quotes.jcsm.org.
Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
Jason Gastrich, Ph.D. JCSM's Director ______________________________________________________ JCSM is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization. Copyright © 1997-present.
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