Dear Subscribers,
I hope you had a wonderful weekend.
What kind of gas mileage does your car get? Click here to find out. This U.S. government site has detailed gas information about every vehicle.
Welcome to the new readers of this message! Here is your Devotion, some Cool Facts, 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.
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JCSM's Weekly Devotions
Romans 8:38, 39 "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
1 John 4:7-11 "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."
Insight: Love is the most important quality because it encompasses or impacts all of life. Love God and others more. Pray for more love because loving others will please God and bring blessings to everyone.
Prayer: "Dear Lord, thanks for loving us so much. Thank you for loving us more than we realize or understand. Bless us and make us like You. Thank you for loving us despite our sins! Help us to love You unconditionally and to love others too. Forgive us for offering conditional love and forgive us for hating. In Jesus' name, Amen."
On March 24, 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez struck Bligh Reef in Alaska's Prince William Sound. The resulting oil spill totaled 240,000 barrels, which coated 45 miles of pristine coastline. A multi-billion dollar cleanup effort soon followed. Researchers also noticed that the land and water worked to purify themselves by dilution and dispersion of the oil. Oil-eating bacteria were also active participants in restoring the area. The Creator has placed many built-in safety mechanisms in nature to restore and maintain its health.
This excerpt was taken from Donald DeYoung's book called, "365 Fascinating Facts From the World of Discovery."
"If my Father shaped the universe, then why do I still insist on playing God when I'm a fraud? I'm a certified narcissist." - "Break Me Down", by Guardian
Pray to love more.
God bless you as you meet this week's challenge!
agapao (Greek, see 1 John 4:7): to love (in a social or moral sense)
The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained
"The Skeptic's Annotated Bible" claims:
Matthew 2:23 - "He shall be called a Nazarene." Matthew claims this was a fulfillment of prophecy, yet such a prophecy is not found anywhere in the Old Testament.
"The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained" responds:
First, this may be another argument from silence. The Bible doesn't include every word spoken by every prophet of God. When Matthew wrote his gospel, he may have had access to more sources than we do today.
This verse is possibly referring to Isaiah 11:1 and 2. These verses say, "There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD." This Hebrew word for "Branch" is the Hebrew word "netser." It is indicating that the Messiah would be set apart and special. This word gave birth to the Hellenistic word for Nazarene, which is "notsri." Among Jews, even today, Jesus has been known as Yeshu haNotsri (Jesus the Nazarene).
(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 like to read wise quotes, you can either visit our Quotations Archive or get 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.
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San Diego, CA 92169
Jason Gastrich, Ph.D.
Executive Director
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