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Click on a number to see that issue. #64 #65 #66 #67 #68 #69 #70 #71 #72 #63 <><
FROM THE TEXT ><> Ephesians 1:11 Also we have obtained an inheritance, having been
predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of
His will. Exodus 4:11 The Lord said to him, “Who gave man his
mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is
it not I, the Lord? Isaiah 6:8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord
saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I.
Send me!” ~~~ =) THINK IT OVER =) The Lord picked out a life for us,
before anything was ever made! You know, life is really a pain in the neck
sometimes, and when it gets like that some people tend to blame God for it!
God predestined us to be his children before he even created the earth!! He
never told us that it would be easy, but he has promised us two things, is
that he will never leave us, and the affliction would end soon. Read Exodus 4:11. You may be thinking,
the ability to talk or hear or see isn’t really a talent, most of us are able
to do that. But that verse in Exodus is one of those verses where you have to
read in-between the lines to understand. God isn’t talking only about seeing
and hearing, he’s also talking about our abilities to play instruments, or
sing on key, or whatever! It’s really important to recognize who the one is
who gave us our talents and gifts! Some people don’t realize the purpose that God has
called us to in Christ Jesus. And we all need to realize that everything
happens for a reason, NO DOUBT ABOUT IT. In the good times, AND IN THE BAD
times, in all situations he uses us. In Isaiah 6:8 it is talking about being
willing to do whatever God asks us to do. Remember, he knows exactly what
each and every one of us is capable of. He won’t make us do something that we
are unable to. Once you can recognize that, it will be so much easier to use
your talents and gifts for the good of the Lord. We
need to realize that God has a divine plan for our lives and we need to live
it out like God has called us to. ~~~ *&*TAKE
ON THE CHALLENGE*&* Ever have a time where you feel like you are worthless?
Like you aren’t doing something huge for the Lord so therefore you aren’t
doing a good job of being a Christian?? GIVE ME A BREAK!!! You know that is
not true so stop thinking that! Everyone who is a Christian is making a
difference in SOMEBODY’S life. Whether you are a parent, a teacher, a
preacher, or a missionary, everyone is furthering the kingdom of God, which
is the most important thing. So I challenge you to say to yourself everyday
“I am making a difference in the lives of other people.” But when you say
that you need to realize that it is totally true! ~~~ &+PRAY ABOUT IT+& Dear Lord Jesus, I thank you that I
don’t need to be famous, or be a missionary to live out the divine plan that
you have for me. I realize that whatever it is that you have called me to be,
it will help to further your kingdom. I pray that you will be with me while I
go out and tell people about you, and what you have done for them. In Jesus’
name, amen. ~~~ *********************************** <><
FROM THE TEXT ><> Romans 1:29 They have become
filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are
full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips. ~~~ =) THINK IT OVER =) The verse
in Romans alone tells us that gossip is a really bad thing! It’s wicked even!
It’s placed in the same category along with evil, greed, depravity, envy,
murder (aaahhh!), strife, deceit and malice. That’s a LOT of bad stuff. I
mean, who knew that gossip was that bad! Lots of people just like to think of
it as information being spread between friends. But how exactly do we know
that the information is true. And even if we do know that it is, how do we
know that the person would want us spreading it around? Most of the time
gossip is used to hurt people! I can’t think of the last time I heard GOOD
gossip! Can you? Why are we so eager to hurt each other? Maybe because of
what they said about you a few weeks ago, or because of the dirty look they
shot at you during English! Yeah, because that’s worth ruining someone’s
reputation over! All I’m trying to say here is this: There’s usually no good
that can come from gossip. It’s a very bad thing it’s placed under the same
category as murder. And we all know how bad murder is! So staying away from
gossip might be the best idea! ~~~ *&*TAKE ON THE CHALLENGE*&* Gossip is everywhere, and I can think of many times where
people have gotten expelled from school, fired from their job, lost friends
etc. all because of a rumor that was started. And we all know that rumors and
gossip are the same thing and are spread the same way, so I encourage you to
stop the gossip when it comes to you. Even when someone is simply talking
about someone wrongly behind their backs, you need to step in and say “hey,
we don’t need to be talking this way about people so stop.” I have done this
before and you shouldn’t be afraid to do it. It isn’t as hard as you think it
may be. And after you step in, you will feel really good that you did
something about it. ~~~ &+PRAY ABOUT IT+& Dear Lord, I know I can be convicted
of gossiping or spreading rumors. I pray that from now on when it come my way
that I will be able to step in and say “stop.” In Jesus’ name, amen. ~~~ ************************* <><
FROM THE TEXT ><> 1 Samuel 17:37 And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of
the lion and the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this
Philistine. “ And Saul said to David, “Go and may the Lord be with you.” ~~~ =) THINK IT OVER =) There was once this little boy named Robbie.
Robbie always took his dog for a walk on the leash. As the dog grew
bigger, the dog's strength ended up taking Robbie for a walk! One day, Robbie
got an idea. He would sit in his wagon, and hold the leash and let the dog
pull him in the wagon. It worked well, until one day the dog saw a cat. The
dog started chasing after the cat and went pretty much everywhere! Little
Robbie hung on to the leash with all his might while the dog ran through
yards, and they kept crashing through sticker bushes, and splashed through
mud puddles. But Robbie kept hanging on. Finally when Robbie walked into the
house, his father asked him what had happened. Robbie was in tears as he
explained. Robbie’s father was amused at Robbie's brilliant idea, but asked
him why he didn't let go of the leash once he saw trouble ahead. This story
is an example of how, sometimes in life when we have a good idea, we stick to
it. However when we see trouble ahead of us, we sometimes still run
into trouble because we hang on to our idea (the leash). Letting
go doesn't come to our mind because we are proud of our
"idea". When we see trouble ahead, we should let go and let
God take charge because the trouble we see ahead is too big to handle
alone. Our ideas are too big to handle alone. And we shouldn’t be
afraid to trust God with our ideas. He is a big God, and no job is too big
for him! We need to remember that though when things get too big for us to
handle! Just think of David and goliath! Saul had a huge problem until David
came to offer help! David was just a teenager, and yet with God, BIG things
happened! So the next time you feel like you have a Goliath on your hands,
and you can’t hold on any longer, just let go and let God! ~~~ *&*TAKE ON THE CHALLENGE*&* Sometimes life can be challenging and
there are some things that we can’t do alone. The next time you have
something you are faced with that is a “goliath” ask God to help you! He will. ~~~ &+PRAY ABOUT IT+& Dear Lord, I thank you that you are
always there when I need you. And you will never turn me down when I need
your help. I pray that the next time I am faced with something so big I can’t
handle it, that you will handle it for me. Thank you, in Jesus’ name, amen. ~~~ **************************
<><
FROM THE TEXT ><> Genesis 11:1-9 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and
settled there. They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake
them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with
a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves
and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that
the men were building. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language
they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible
for them. Come let us go down and confuse their language so they will
not understand each other.” So the Lord scattered them from there: over all the earth,
and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel: because there the Lord
confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them
over the face of the whole earth. ~~~ =) THINK IT OVER =) Why did the people build that tower? What do you think the meaning of the tower of Babel is? Why do you think God made everybody have different
languages? Here are my answers to these questions. The reason the
people built the tower was, so that they would have their “white house”,
command center or, their main gathering building, where it all started. Then the Lord came and saw the tower. That’s when he
split us up into all of our different languages. You see- we would be able to
do almost anything if we could all communicate. The meaning of the Tower of Babel is for us to realize
the reason why God separated us. Why he put that language barrier in front of
us. If we didn’t all have different languages, we would be invincible! (And
you know, some things would be rather boring if we all spoke the same
language.) The reason we picked this topic for this week is because
I thought it was one of the simpler stories. There isn’t that much to explain
I don’t think. In my own words this is how the story goes: People get bored they start talking. They say- “now
wouldn’t it be cool to be able to build a tower that reaches up to the sky?” Later the Lord comes down and visits this great tower.
Then he starts thinking, “Well, if these people, who all speak the same
language, are able to make something This good, I bet they can do just about
anything else!” So then God decides to split us up a little, to keep us
from doing something stupid. I’m not sure exactly what God knew would happen
if we could all speak the same language. But it must have been something bad.
So in stories like these, we just have to remember God knows best! ~~~ *&*TAKE ON THE CHALLENGE*&* You know in just reading this story, it
seems simple, but then again it doesn’t! I really don’t have a challenge for
you this week. Other than just read this story over again during the week to
remind you of it. You may learn something you never knew! ~~~ &+PRAY ABOUT IT+& Dear Lord, there are a lot of things
in the Bible that we can’t explain. I just pray that even though we can’t
understand some things perfectly, that you wouldn’t let me dwell on it, but
you would help me to dwell on the more important things in life. In Jesus’
name, amen. ~~~ ************************** <>< FROM THE TEXT ><> Proverbs 29:23 A man's pride brings him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honor. Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 21:24 "Proud," "Haughty," "Scoffer," are his names, who acts with insolent pride. ~~~ =) THINK IT OVER =)
~~~ *&*TAKE ON THE CHALLENGE*&* Do you know someone who is like the person we just explained? Sometimes doesn't it just make you sick? But before you pick out the splinter in the eye of your brother make sure you don't have a log in your own. Examine yourself... have you been TOO prideful lately? ~~~ &+PRAY ABOUT IT+& Dear Lord, I pray that you would help me with pride. Don't let me be too prideful because I know it can happen to anyone. I also pray that I will be able to have confidence in myself this week. As I go about what ever I do. Don't let me think negatively about myself. In Jesus' name, amen. ~~~ ************************** <><
FROM THE TEXT ><> Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your
own understandings. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your
paths straight. Matthew 14:28 - 31 And Peter answered and said; "Lord if it is you,
command me to come to you on the water" and He (Jesus) said to Peter
"Come!" And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and
came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind he became afraid, and beginning to sink
he said "Lord save me!" And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold
of Him saying "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" Psalm 56:11 In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me? Hebrews 2:13a And again “I will put my trust in Him.” Psalm 118:8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in
Man. ~~~ =) THINK IT OVER =) Trusting in the Lord is definitely the most important
thing I can think of to do! And for some people it’s harder than for others,
but it really shouldn’t be! Think about this: the reasons I usually don’t
trust people are if they have lied to me or deceived me. A lot of people are
like that, I think, (meaning they don’t trust people if they have been lied
to by them). But here’s my point- Jesus has NEVER EVER lied to or deceived
us! Therefore we have no reason not to trust Him. Sometimes we just feel like if only we could see the
whole picture we would understand. Since we can’t, we have to trust the Lord
to do it for us! Proverbs 3:5 tells us that we need to trust in God with
every inch of our heart, and we can’t lean on our own understandings -
because we really can not see the whole big picture. Life was once described to me as a parade. We are the
people standing on the sides watching. We can only see small sections of the
big parade. God, however, is in the blimp in the sky. He is able to see
everything from beginning to end, from side to side! So whom exactly do you think has a better picture of
what’s really going on: us Or God? I choose God! How about you? Because if we trust in the Lord with all of our hearts,
and we don’t lean on our own understandings, and if in all of our ways we
acknowledge him, then he promises to direct our paths. Since God has never lied to us before I think that we
can believe that this is a promise w ~~~ *&*TAKE ON THE CHALLENGE*&* Can you ever think of a time where God
has “let you down” or “stabbed you in the back”? I can’t think of any! I know
that sometimes when we pray for something and it isn’t answered the way we
want, we can feel like we have been let down. But in reality it was for the
better! So trust in God that he knows what is going on, and what is going to
happen. He will take care of everything for you! ~~~ &+PRAY ABOUT IT+& Dear Lord, I thank you that I can trust
in you, and that you will never betray me. I know that sometimes in life
there have been people who weren’t very nice to me, and I just couldn’t trust
them! But you have always been there for me and always been there holding my
hand, and you have never let go and I know you never will. Thank you so much!
In Jesus’ name, amen. ~~~ ************************** =) THINK IT OVER (= The history of Christmas dates back
over 4000 years. Many of our Christmas traditions were celebrated centuries
before the Christ child was born. The 12 days of Christmas, the bright fires,
the Yule log, the giving of gifts, carnivals (parades) with floats, carolers
who sing while going from house to house, the holiday feasts, and the church
processions can all be traced back to the early Mesopotamians.
************************** <>< FROM THE TEXT ><> Matthew 1:18-25 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His
mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came
together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not
want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, angel of the Lord
appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid
to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the
Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the
name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said
through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to son,
and they will call him Immanuel” – which means,
“God with us.” When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had
commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son.
And he gave him the name Jesus. ~~~ =) THINK IT OVER =) The story goes on to tell about where Christ was born and
stuff like that but this is the story that the Christians stuck with
Christmas. Also: next week starting on Tuesday we will do a series of 9
devotionals: one on each day up until Christmas day. On Christmas day we will
have a regular styled devotional like this one. But all the others will be
short: only the main parts. So it may be a little discomforting for some of
you but bear with us please!!! These will all be good devotions and we are
really looking forward to doing this, and we hope that you will be looking
forward to reading them as well! ~~~ *&* TAKE ON THE CHALLENGE *&* Did you know that Christ’s birth is only
mentioned in two of the four gospels? We challenge you to find the two that
DO NOT have it in them. Why do you think they left that part out? (The four
gospels are: Matthew Mark Luke and John) ~~~ (-.-) PRAY ABOUT IT (-.-) Dear Lord I thank you for sending Christ on earth to
save us from our sins. And thank you that you put him into this earth, just like
we have been put here. It makes it just so much more comforting to know that
he lived out life just like we have.
In Jesus’ name, amen. ************************** <>< FROM THE TEXT ><> John 20:29 Then Jesus told
him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have
not seen and yet have believed.” Revelation 22:13 "I am the
Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end
~~~ =) THINK IT OVER =) I really, really like those verses above, especially
John 20:29. Jesus is saying to Thomas, aka: Doubting Thomas, that because he has
seen Jesus, he has believed. Then Jesus says, “blessed are those who have not
seen and yet have believed.” Jesus is happy, because even though his
believers have never literally seen Him, they have believed in Him anyway.
We’ve read His Book, and we have kept our minds open to possibilities. And in
return we got to know of Him. God has been around forever! And he will ALWAYS
be around! It may seem a little weird and hard to imagine that he was never
born, and he will never die. He is there... he was always there and will
always be there! And that's one of the things I like about Him, since He is
always there, I can go to Him anytime I want to, and with anything that is
bothering me! *&* TAKE ON THE CHALLENGE *&* Try to answer the following questions: 1)
How many of each animal did Moses take into the ark? 2) What is the name of
the raised print that deaf people use? 3) Is it possible to end a sentence
with the word “the”? 4) Spell the word “shop” out loud. What do you do when
you come to a green light? 5) It is noon. You look at the clock. The big hand
is on three. The little hand is on five. What time is it? 6) Spell the word
“silk”. What do cows drink? 7) Read carefully and only once: You are the
driver of a train. There are 30 people on board. At the first stop ten people
get off. At the next stop five people get on. What is the name of the train
driver? Scroll down to the very end of the newsletter if you want the answers
the point is: The Bible warns us not to trust our own hearts (Proverbs 28:26)
The tests are an excellent way to humble an unsaved person and show them that
they can’t trust their own judgments. This may be followed with, “If you make
a mistake with something as simple as this, could you be wrong in you beliefs
about God’s existence, Judgment Day, the existence of hell, etc…? Taken from
The Evidence Bible Endorsed By: Josh McDowell and Franklin Graham Compiled
By: Ray Comfort This week we challenge you to give this test to a
non-believer (it works a lot better if you read the questions out loud!) then
to read the part at the end of the test! Just see what happens! ~~~ (-.-) PRAY ABOUT IT (-.-) Dear God, This week I want to pray that you will be with
the people who are having trouble believing in your existence. Please help them
to see the truth. And help us all to realize that you always have been
around, and always will be around. Thanks so much, and in God and Jesus’ name
we pray, amen ************************** <>< FROM THE TEXT ><> 1 John 3:1 How great is
the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of
God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that
it did not know him. 1 Corinthians
13:4-8 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not
envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not
self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love
does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects,
always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where
there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be
stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. Romans 8:35-39 Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or
danger or sword? As it is written: “for your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am the convinced that
neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor
the future, nor any powers, Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in
all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in
Christ Jesus our Lord. =) THINK IT OVER =) Do you want to hear something kind of interesting? The
way Danie and Kelly do the newsletter each week is like this: we each write a
couple of paragraphs in the =) Think it over =) section and we each pick out a
few verses. Well this week, it turns out we picked one of the same verses. I
just thought that was funny. We both picked Romans 8:35-39. What they are
talking about in those verses is that nothing, oh and believe me, I mean
nothing, can ever separate us from the love of the Lord! Trouble, hardship,
persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, swords, death, life, angels, demons,
present, future, any powers, height, depth, not anything else in all creation
will EVER be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Jesus! Amen
to that! So that means, that nothing we’ve done, and nothing we will ever do
will ever make God stop loving us. Do you still need more proof that God
loves us? Well okay then get out your good ol’ bible and turn to the
following verses: Matthew 27:32-56 Mark 15:21-41 Luke 23:26-49 John 19:28-37
All of those places in the Bible talk about the Crucifixion. For those of you
who don’t already know- the Crucifixion was when Jesus died on the cross for
our sins, so that we would not die and have to go to Hell. You see, not a
single one of us, except Jesus, that has walked the earth deserves to go to
Heaven. Not even one of us! But thanks to Jesus, we can! Go ahead and read
John 3:16. It says: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only
Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Now
that’s the biggest piece of evidence we have that God loves us!!! He was
willing to send his one and only Son to die for us, so that we wouldn’t have
to suffer! That’s pretty big sacrifice! He must love us a lot! *&* TAKE ON THE CHALLENGE *&* Do you want to
hear something kind of interesting? The way Danie and Kelly do the newsletter
each week is like this: we each write a couple of paragraphs in the =) Think
it over =) section and we each pick out a few verses. Well this week, it
turns out we picked one of the same verses. I just thought that was funny. We
both picked Romans 8:35-39. What they are talking about in those verses is
that nothing, oh and believe me, I mean nothing, can ever separate us from
the love of the Lord! Trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness,
danger, swords, death, life, angels, demons, present, future, any powers,
height, depth, not anything else in all creation will EVER be able to separate
us from the love of God that is in Jesus! Amen to that! So that means, that
nothing we’ve done, and nothing we will ever do will ever make God stop
loving us. Do you still need more proof that God loves us? Well okay then get
out your good ol’ bible and turn to the following verses: Matthew 27:32-56
Mark 15:21-41 Luke 23:26-49 John 19:28-37 All of those places in the Bible
talk about the Crucifixion. For those of you who don’t already know- the
Crucifixion was when Jesus died on the cross for our sins, so that we would
not die and have to go to Hell. You see, not a single one of us, except
Jesus, that has walked the earth deserves to go to Heaven. Not even one of
us! But thanks to Jesus, we can! Go ahead and read John 3:16. It says: “For
God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever
believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Now that’s the
biggest piece of evidence we have that God loves us!!! He was willing to send
his one and only Son to die for us, so that we wouldn’t have to suffer!
That’s pretty big sacrifice! He must love us a lot! (-.-) PRAY ABOUT IT (-.-) Dear Lord, I just wanted to thank you for giving us all
of this love. Thank you for loving us enough that you were willing to send your
one and only Son down to Earth for us, to save us. Without Him we would all
be lost forever. So thank you so much for doing that for us. Praise Your
name! In God and Jesus’ name we pray, amen! |
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