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Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” ³⁹ But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. ⁴⁰ For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

(Matthew 12:38-40 -- ESV) 

All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
(John 1:3 -- KJV)
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The acceptance of homosexual marriage reminds me of the acceptance of the theory of evolution . . . it gradually pushed aside the Biblical teaching of creation until it became “fact” in our society and schools.  The intention of the homosexual "rights" promoters seems the same . . . eliminate the teachings of the Bible from our society.

 

 

 

"If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. ¹⁹ If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you."
(John 15:18-19 -- ESV)

"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."
(John 16:33 -- ESV)

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. ¹⁴ For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁵ For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another with these words.

(1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 -- ESV) 

 

Sir Isaac Newton, was asked, “Sir Isaac, I do not understand. You seem to be able to believe the Bible like a little child.  I have tried but I cannot.  So many of its statements mean nothing to me.  I cannot believe; I cannot understand.”  Sir Isaac replied, “Sometimes I come into my study and in my absentmindedness I attempt to light my candle when the extinguisher is over it, and I fumble about trying to light and cannot; but when I remove the extinguisher then I am able to light the candle.  I am afraid the extinguisher in your case is the love of your sins; it is deliberate unbelief that is in you.  Turn to God in repentance; be prepared to let the Spirit of God reveal His truth to you, and it will be His joy to show the glory of the grace of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ.”

 

 

We've surrendered to a group that comprises about 2% of our population. 

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.  
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth.

(Psalm 127:3-4 -- ESV) 

For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God.  But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

(Hebrews 6:7-8 -- ESV) 

Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” ²⁵ When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” ²⁶ But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

(Matthew 19:24-26 -- ESV)

But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. ⁷ Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him.  See, I have told you.”


(Matthew 28:5-7 -- ESV) 

Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.

(Matthew 24:42 -- NIV)

 



I lift up my eyes to the hills.
    From where does my help come?
² My help comes from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth.

³ He will not let your foot be moved;
    he who keeps you will not slumber.
⁴ Behold, he who keeps Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The Lord is your keeper;
    the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
⁶ The sun shall not strike you by day,
    nor the moon by night.

⁷ The Lord will keep you from all evil;
    he will keep your life.
⁸ The Lord will keep
    your going out and your coming in
    from this time forth and forevermore.

 

(Psalm 121:1-8 -- ESV)

 

 

But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord.  Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  But do this with gentleness and respect, ¹⁶ keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

(1 Peter 3:15-16 -- NIV) 

For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, ² and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, ³ and all ate the same spiritual food, ⁴ and all drank the same spiritual drink.  For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.

(1 Corinthians 10:1-4 -- ESV)

Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent.

(Psalm 71:9 -- ESV) 

Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
³⁶ “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”
³⁷ Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
³⁸ Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
³⁹ Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

(John 9:35-39 -- NIV)

But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. ²² This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. ²⁵ God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— ²⁶ he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. 

(Romans 3:21-26 -- NIV)

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Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

(John 8:12 -- ESV) 

How do they change their chromosomes? 

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Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.  And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

²⁷ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.  ²⁸ And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

 

(Genesis 1:26-28 -- ESV) 

 

 

When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us.  As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
² Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” ³ So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. ⁴ He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool.  Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”

(Exodus 32:1-4 -- NIV)

The giraffe needs an extremely powerful heart pump to get blood through its long neck and into the brain to counter gravity's pull down.  But what happens when the giraffe bends down to drink water?  Its heart should blast blood down the neck so fast that it would destroy the brain.  Instead, when the giraffe bends down, separate blood vessels let the blood down slowly where it hits a soft sponge that protects the brain.  How could this complex system have evolved slowly? 

He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.” ²⁶ Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out!  Come here!”  So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire, ²⁷ and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers crowded around them.  They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them. ²⁸ Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants!  They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.

(Daniel 3:25-28 -- NIV)

I miss my grandma whose name was Minnie.  It’s nice to see reminders of her everywhere these days -- 

1. Mini Marathon

2. Mini Me
3. Mini Skirt
4. iPad Mini
5. Mini Mart
6. M&M Minis
7. Mini Computer
8. Mini Golf
9. Mini Cooper
10. Oreo Mini

 

Happy Friday . . .

 

 

The butterfly escaping from its cocoon is a symbol of Jesus rising from the tomb. 

 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
²³ It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴ For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. ²⁵ Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. ²⁶ Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world.  But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. ²⁷ Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, ²⁸ so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

(Hebrews 9:22-28 -- NIV)

Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him.
⁴ Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth.
⁵ Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.  They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court. 

(Psalm 127:3-5 -- NIV)

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

(The Pledge of Allegiance)