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

"God's Cure For the Sin Virus"

Romans 3:23-26  "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."

Romans 5:12-21  "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—(For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.  Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.  But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.  And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned.  For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification.  For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)

Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.  For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.  Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound.  But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Insight: Sin is a serious condition and it's even like a virus.  Sin has been imputed into humankind through Adam and we all need salvation.  God offers us this cure through Jesus Christ.

Prayer: "Dear Lord, bless us and help us.  Thank you for giving us the cure for the sin virus.  Thank you for sending Jesus Christ to die for our sins on the cross.  Help people to trust in Him and in the sacrifice He made.  Praise You for your faithfulness.  There is no other like You.  In Jesus' name, Amen."

On January 10, 1946, the first radar signal was beamed upward toward the moon by the U.S. Army Signal Corps. This beam was reflected from the moon’s surface back to earth. The round-trip travel time for the signal, traveling at light speed, was about 2.6 seconds. This measurement accurately gave the earth-moon distance, which varies between 221,600 and 252,950 miles.

Similar radar signals were later used to accurately measure the distances to nearby planets. For the faraway stars, however, other distances methods are needed since a radar beam would be completely lost in the depths of space. The vast distance scale of space objects shows the unfathomable majesty of the creation.

This excerpt was taken from Donald DeYoung's book called, "365 Fascinating Facts From the World of Discovery."

(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.)

There are no new quotes this week.  However, if you'd like to read some quotes, you'll want a copy of Dr. Gastrich's book called, "10,000 Wise Quotes and Spiritual Sayings"!  It's the largest collection of Bible-based quotations in the world.