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Thanks . . . 

Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
(1 John 4:4 -- KJV)

Photo:  https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/cross-at-sunrise-gm1071016390-286600727

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.

Don’t be afraid, because I am with you.  Don’t be intimidated; I am your God.  I will strengthen you.  I will help you.  I will support you with my victorious right hand.

(Isaiah 41:10 -- GW)

Knock, knock jokes can be funny, even though the door is never "opened."  However, standing outside the door of heaven and finding that it will not be opened to us will not be amusing.  It will be hell. 
(Laura  L. Pickle in Portals of Prayer) 

Similar photos: https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/hot-fire-gm466031867-33426918
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/burning-trash-gm465191233-33086244

What do you think?  If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?  And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.  In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.

(Matthew 18:12-14 -- NIV)

You reject all who wander away from your laws, because their lies mislead them.
(Psalm 119:118 -- GW)

Then he took Paul and Silas outside and asked, “Sirs, what do I have to do to be saved?”  They answered, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you and your family will be saved.”  They spoke the Lord’s word to the jailer and everyone in his home.

(Acts 16:30-32 -- GW)

Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

(by Henry Francis Lyte)

Photo:  https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/fiery-sunset-gm1071798122-286824061

Please visit www.Steverts.com for CAREtoons and CAREpixx.

Happy Friday . . .

We can testify to everything Jesus did in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem.  People hung him on a cross and killed him, but God brought him back to life on the third day.
(Acts 10:39-40 -- GW)

Photo:  https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/egg-on-black-gm1097129622-294605436

We cannot stop talking about what we’ve seen and heard.

(Acts 4:20 – GW)

 

 

When the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?
(Psalm 11:3 -- CSB)

But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

(John 20:31 -- NIV)

Do not cast me away when I am old; do not forsake me when my strength is gone.
(Psalm 71:9 -- NIV)

Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness
My beauty are, my glorious dress;
Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed,
With joy shall I lift up my head.
(Ludwig von Zinzendorf, translated by John Wesley)

Similar photos: https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/hot-fire-gm465840479-33426598
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/in-the-fire-gm464933807-33085834

But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment.
(Matthew 22:11 -- ESV)

The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.
(Revelation 19:14 -- NIV)

"A lie told often enough becomes the truth." 
(Vladimir Lenin, famous Communist)

Photo:  https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/doggy-in-the-window-gm1054822060-281831758

Christ never committed any sin. He never spoke deceitfully.
(1 Peter 2:22 -- GW)


God had Christ, who was sinless, take our sin so that we might receive God’s approval through him.
(2 Corinthians 5:21 -- GW)





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You determined all the boundaries of the earth. You created summer and winter.

(Psalm 74:17 -- GW)

 

Photo:  https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/snow-drift-gm944893706-258096428

 

 

For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
(Hebrews 9:15 -- NIV)

Similar photo:  https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/ark-of-the-covenant-gm1082237796-290233603

O God, restore us and smile on us so that we may be saved.

(Psalm 80:3 -- GW)

“You shall have no other gods before me.

⁴ “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. ⁵ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶ but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

⁷ “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

⁸ “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

¹² “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

¹³ “You shall not murder.

¹⁴ “You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁵ “You shall not steal.

¹⁶ “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

¹⁷ “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

 

(Exodus 20:3-17 -- NIV)

 

 

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?


(Psalm 8:3-4 -- NIV)

My word, which comes from my mouth, is like the rain and snow.  It will not come back to me without results.  It will accomplish whatever I want and achieve whatever I send it to do.
(Isaiah 55:11 -- GWT)

Similar photos:    https://us.fotolia.com/id/195797505?lightbox_page=2
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/snowy-driveway-gm1079088062-289143957

You followed the ways of this present world and its spiritual ruler.  This ruler continues to work in people who refuse to obey God.

(Ephesians 2:2 -- GW)

You determined all the boundaries of the earth.  You created summer and winter.
(Psalm 74:17 -- GW)

Similar photo:  https://www.123rf.com/photo_30898258_walking-polar-bear.html

We have all strayed like sheep.  Each one of us has turned to go his own way, and the Lord has laid all our sins on him.

(Isaiah 53:6 -- GW)

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.  On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.  Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

(Matthew 2:9-11 -- NIV)

Happy Epiphany . . .

“Come on now, let’s discuss this!” says the Lord.  “Though your sins are bright red, they will become as white as snow.  Though they are dark red, they will become as white as wool."
(Isaiah 1:18 -- GW)

Photo:  https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/snowflake-ornament-gm1088121906-291915436

They were staring into the sky as he departed. Suddenly, two men in white clothes stood near them.  They asked, “Why are you men from Galilee standing here looking at the sky?  Jesus, who was taken from you to heaven, will come back in the same way that you saw him go to heaven.”

(Acts 1:10-11 -- GW)

The wise men were not at the manger.  They came later. 

1) In Luke 2:21, Jesus was circumcised at 8 days old. 

2) In Luke 2:22-24, Jesus was presented at the temple after Mary’s 40 days of “uncleanness” had passed.

3) In Matthew 2:2, the wise men said they came after they saw the star (“from the east” isn’t a short journey to Bethlehem).

4) In Matthew 2:11, the wise men visited the HOUSE where Jesus was. 

5) In Matthew 2:14, Joseph took Mary and Jesus to Egypt (had to be at least 41 days after he was born). 

6) In Matthew 2:16, Herod killed all the babies under 2, (“according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men”). 

Photo:  https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/wise-men-ornament-gm1088120480-291915217 

 

Then one of the leaders said to me, “Stop crying!  The Lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has won the victory.  He can open the scroll and the seven seals on it.”

(Revelation 5:5 -- GW)

You crown the year with your goodness, and richness overflows wherever you are.
(Psalm 65:11 -- GW)

Similar photo:  https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/exploding-fireworks-gm1005428234-271448854