Author: Jessica

Interesting Bible Verses of the Day

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“What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a whip, or in love and with a gentle spirit”
That was said by Paul to the people of Corinth (1 Cor. 4:21). I certainly hope as far is it goes between God and me that I’m going after the latter ;-). But how much in the world could be made better by love and a gentle spirit rather than force and anger? Just about everything.

Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets (Luke 5:5)
That’s the essence of faith, and they are great examples of the kind of faith we should place in Jesus Christ. Trust him, even when you don’t have reason to. And then, just as it does in the following paragraph, if you do, you may just find yourself rewarded with even more than you asked for. “When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break”. Just because you haven’t seen the results yet, doesn’t mean you should stop believing. Faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains.

“…crowds of people came to hear him and be healed of their sickness. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed” (Luke 5:15)
Okay, now that verse, that was just for me today. You NEED time to yourself [for prayers, journal writing] to stay strong and able to do your work–its being like Jesus, wow! And I’ve certainly never seen anything in there that gives any hint to say emulating Jesus would be a bad thing.

“When Jesus saw their faith he said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven'” (Luke 5:20) All you need is a little faith…and perhaps persistent *encouragement* (which is different from harassment btw) from friends and family who want so badly for you to experience in your life the kind of joy and happiness and strength against their problems that they feel in their own.

“Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’, or to say ‘Get up and walk'” (Luke 5:23) Heh, so much easier to say do something than to forgive in any case even more general than just sins)

“Jesus answered to them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” Luke 5:31-32–that’s just one of my general favorite verses. Not a call to perfection, but a call to healing. And why churches are not full of perfect people. They’re full of the “sick” who need the medicine of Jesus. But don’t we all need that medicine so badly–the cure for all our emotional crises…I just hope I’m willing to take the medicine so I don’t have to suffer unnecessary pain 🙂

More Memory Verses

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James 1:12 – Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him

James 1:2-3 – Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.”

Matthew 26:41 – “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.  The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

Ephesians 6:13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

Ephesians 6:16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Sometimes Truth is Stranger than fiction…or at least more entertaining

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From the San Diego Union Tribune:

Call it a case of a thief with very bad timing. Last Wednesday, officials at a Baptist Church in Clairemont discovered that a thief had stolen the choir’s electric piano and soundboard during the night. Without them, the choir couldn’t perform its Sunday Christmas music program. The theft was immediately reported to its insurance company, which authorized replacement of the items, worth about $5,000.

Shortly after music director Nathan Robinson arrived at the Guitar Center in Grossmont Center mall to buy new equipment, in walked a man in his 20s carrying the church’s Yamaha keyboard. Robinson recognized the fellow as someone who’d stopped by the church about three months earlier to inquire about its program.

“It was Twilight Zoney,” says Robinson. “A guy walked through the door holding our equipment.” As the fellow negotiated with a clerk to sell the keyboard, Robinson alerted the store’s management to the theft.

While awaiting police, an employee tested the keyboard and detained the seller. As soon as the La Mesa police arrived, the man bolted out of the store and blended into a sea of holiday shoppers – but he conveniently left behind his driver’s license and thumb print.

Was the church missing anything else, the Guitar Center manager asked Robinson. Yes, a soundboard. It was there in a corner where the fellow had left it while he returned to his car for the keyboard.

When the choir arrived for rehearsal that evening, the equipment was back in its place and ready for service. The thief, no doubt, was wishing he’d gone to a different music store.

—http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20041214/news_1m14bell.html

Upgraded Proverbs (humor)

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from today’s Off the Mark cartoon from my page a day calendar

-A watched progress bar never loads
(time remaining 2 1/2 hrs)

-A cell phone is worth a thousand words
(girl looking angrily at her date at a restaurant)

-Too many clicks spoil the plot
(couple on couch, guy channel surfing)

-Don’t count your files before you save
(guy wigging out cuz his work was lost)

Genesis Sermon

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I was listening to one of Mike Macintosh’s old sermons and he took this long detour through talking about Joseph going to Egypt with his wife Sarai. It was interesting to listen to a “different perspective” than the one I got from hearing Miles sermon on it–it just had a different emphasis. Mike pointed out (which apparently this never hit me before) that when Abraham is saying his wife is all hot and the king’s going to want her, you’re talking about a 60 or 70 year old lady being called such an attractive babe that the king’s gonna want to meet her. Wow. Flattering yes, but something about putting it that way makes it almost seem like an unfounded fear of what might happen. The rest of it was interesting too, emphasizing the duties of a christian husband as a model of Christ, and how Abraham was just not living up to that and not encouraging his wife’s faith (eg. they’re both laughing at god’s promises) like his asking his wife to lie to protect his back rather than what he should have been doing, warning her and opening up some honest conversation and encouraging her to be strong against temptation such as the king or whoever else

The Nephilim (Genesis)

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“The Nephilim were on the earth in those days–and also afterward–when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were heroes of old, men of renown.”

Do you know what a Nephilim is? In Hebrew, it literally means “the fallen ones” (or equivalently “those who have fallen”), but is translated into greek from “gigantes” to either giants or “earth born”, doesn’t make another reappearance until the book of numbers:

“We saw the Nephilim there (the descendents of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

In context there, this is when Moses and his people have just scouted out the promised land and basically are like “Yeah, the land’s great, its abundant with food–its the land of milk and honey–but umm, one small problem there’s giants there, lets just forget it, this whole promised land thing just isn’t worth if it if we have to deal with giants”

And there’s other references of Anak’s descendants and stuff, but the Nephilim are only directly mentioned twice in the entire bible, elusive like Melchizedek.

Thoughts from “Start Where You Are”

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Paul’s Shipwreck at Sea

“Forgive me if I sound uncaring, but it took a shipwreck to jolt Paul’s perspective back into focus. The disaster at sea, followed by the forced change of pace on Malta was precisely what he needed to begin the process of recuperation and repair.” -Charles Swindoll (Start Where You Are)

Roots & Wind

“the roots grow deep when the winds are strong. Working through is always–always–more painful than walking out. But in the end, ah, what confident honesty, what calm assurance, what character depth result!” -Charles Swindoll (Start Where You Are)