And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹⁴ he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. ¹⁵ And he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full. ¹⁶ Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them; ¹⁷ then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land that the Lord is giving you.

(Deuteronomy 11:13-17 -- ESV) 

Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God”?  ²⁸ Have you not known?  Have you not heard?  The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. 

He does not faint or grow weary;
    his understanding is unsearchable.
²⁹ He gives power to the faint,
    and to him who has no might he increases strength.
³⁰ Even youths shall faint and be weary,
    and young men shall fall exhausted;
³¹ but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint.

(Isaiah 40:27-31 -- ESV)

As the deer panteth for the water
    So my soul longeth after Thee.
You alone are my heart's desire
    And I long to worship You.

    Chorus
You alone are my strength, my shield  
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship you.

I want You more than gold or silver
    Only You can satisfy.
You alone are the real joy Giver
    And the apple of my eye.

You're my friend and You are my brother
    Even though You are a king.
I love You more than any other,
    So much more than anything. 

(by Martin Nystrom)

Based on Psalm 42:1 . . . "As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God."

. . . as it is written:

“None is righteous, no, not one;
¹¹ no one understands;  no one seeks for God.
¹² All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;  no one does good, not even one.”
¹³ “Their throat is an open grave;  they use their tongues to deceive.”  “The venom of asps is under their lips.”  ¹⁴ “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”  ¹⁵ “Their feet are swift to shed blood;  ¹⁶ in their paths are ruin and misery, ¹⁷ and the way of peace they have not known.”  ¹⁸ “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

 

(Romans 3:10-18 -- ESV) 

 

 

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Just wearing a cross necklace doesn't make you a Christian. 

One day, while taking questions at the end of a lecture, Alexander Papaderous was asked, “What’s the meaning of life?”  There was nervous laughter in the room.  It was such a weighty question.  But Papaderous answered it.

He opened his wallet, took out a small, round mirror and held it up for everyone to see.  During the war he was just a small boy when he came across a motorcycle wreck.  The motorcycle had belonged to German soldiers.  Alexander saw pieces of broken mirrors from the motorcycle lying on the ground.  He tried to put them together but couldn’t, so he took the largest piece and scratched it against a stone until its edges were smooth and it was round.  He used it as a toy, fascinated by the way he could use it to shine light into holes and crevices.

He kept that mirror with him as he grew up, and over time it came to symbolise something very important.  It became a metaphor for what he might do with his life.

He said, “I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not know.  Nevertheless, with what I have I can reflect light into the dark places of this world–into the black places in the hearts of men–and change some things in some people.  Perhaps others may see and do likewise.  This is what I am about.  This is the meaning of my life.”

 

Heidelberg Catechism, 1563 . . .
 

Q1. What is your only comfort in life and in death?
A. That I am not my own,1 but belong—body and soul, in life and in death2—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.3

He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,4 and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.5 He also watches over me in such a way6 that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven;7 in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.8

Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life9 and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.10

1 1 Cor. 6:19-20
2 Rom. 14:7-9
3 1 Cor. 3:23; Titus 2:14
4 1 Pet. 1:18-19; 1 John 1:7-9; 2:2
5 John 8:34-36; Heb. 2:14-15; 1 John 3:1-11
6 John 6:39-40; 10:27-30; 2 Thess. 3:3; 1 Pet. 1:5
7 Matt. 10:29-31; Luke 21:16-18
8 Rom. 8:28
9 Rom. 8:15-16; 2 Cor. 1:21-22; 5:5; Eph. 1:13-14
10 Rom. 8:1-17

 

For there are three that testify: ⁸ the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. ⁹ If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. ¹⁰ Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. ¹¹ And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ¹² Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
(1 John 5:7-12 -- ESV) 


"If you could have dinner with any three people living or dead, who would they be?" 

The politically correct answer would be three celebrities, or sports heroes, or three dead U.S. presidents.  Otherwise, the obvious first person to choose would be Jesus.  The second and third persons could be the Father and the Holy Spirit, but we'll see them in heaven.  Same for my dad and my grandma.  How about Adolph Hitler and Judas Iscariot, since we won't see them in heaven?  Or Amelia Earhart and Jimmie Hoffa so I could ask them what happened.  Wait, it's a trick question -- nothing is said in the question about how often I can have this imagined dinner, or if I can eat with all three at the same time.  So, I could have dinner over and over again with Jesus and a different two of my friends or relatives (and then strangers) who don't believe in Him as their savior.  If they could see Him and talk with Him, they would believe in Him.  That's my answer . . .  

Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
(James 4:7 -- ESV)

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
(Proverbs 3:6 -- KJV)

 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.
(Romans 6:13 -- NIV) 

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

(Matthew 6:19-21 -- NIV)

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God.  For all things are possible with God.”

(Mark 10:27 -- ESV)

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.²
In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?³  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.⁴  And you know the way to where I am going.”⁵  Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”⁶  Jesus said to him,
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. 
No one comes to the Father except through me." 

(John 14:1-6 -- ESV) 

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(Romans 8:37=39 -- ESV)

Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox come abundant harvests.

(Proverbs 14:4 -- NIV)

The light shines in the darkness. But the darkness has not understood it.

(John 1:5 -- NIRV)

Ronald Reagan quotes . . .

 

“If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be one nation gone under.”

 

“I've noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born.”

 

“Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face.”

 

“Christmas can be celebrated in the school room with pine trees, tinsel and reindeers, but there must be no mention of the man whose birthday is being celebrated. One wonders how a teacher would answer if a student asked why it was called Christmas.”

 

“Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.”

 

"We are never defeated unless we give up on God."

 

 

Cake that I want my Muslim baker to make for me ...

 

 

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Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 

(1 John 2:15 -- ESV) 

Happy Friday . . . www.StevertS.com

"For out of the heart come evil thoughts—
murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander."

(Matthew 15:19 -- ESV)

Kids don't want to grow up to be Christians because adult Christians have been made fun of, criticized, and belittled by Hollywood and the entertainment industry for years.  Maybe that's why church attendance overall is down . . .

P.S. Is this also what has happened to the "normal" dad and intact families? 

Homosexuals say we shouldn’t criticize them for whom they love, so why do they have a problem with us loving Jesus? 

P.S. Muslim countries like Iran execute homosexuals. 

 

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The sun rises in the EAST. 
The SON rose on EASTer Sunday . . .
 






______________________

By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.   (1 Corinthians 6:14 -- ESV)

News report, April 1 . . . "Militants slaughter 147 Christians in Kenya college massacre." 

But we're worried about whether Christians can sell pizza in Walkerton, Indiana.  WAKE UP, AMERICA! 


Don't you see that these two stories are related?  How long will it be before Christians are shot in America, just for being Christians?

 

All we like sheep have gone astray;  we have turned—every one—to his own way;  and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 

(Isaiah 53:6 -- ESV)

. . . that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, ²⁴ and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁵ In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.  Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

(1 Corinthians 11:23-25 -- ESV) 

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”  They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good.

² The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.  ³ They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one. 
 

(Psalm 14:1-3 -- ESV)