1 Kings 5 ~ You know that because of the wars waged against my father David from all sides, he could not build a temple for the Name of the Lord his God until the Lord put his enemies under his feet.

1 Kings 5

When Hiram king of Tyre heard that Solomon had been anointed king to succeed his father David, he sent his envoys to Solomon, because he had always been on friendly terms with David. 2 Solomon sent back this message to Hiram:

3 “You know that because of the wars waged against my father David from all sides, he could not build a temple for the Name of the Lord his God until the Lord put his enemies under his feet. 4 But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side, and there is no adversary or disaster. 5 I intend, therefore, to build a temple for the Name of the Lord my God, as the Lord told my father David, when he said, ‘Your son whom I will put on the throne in your place will build the temple for my Name.’

6 “So give orders that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. My men will work with yours, and I will pay you for your men whatever wages you set. You know that we have no one so skilled in felling timber as the Sidonians.”

7 When Hiram heard Solomon’s message, he was greatly pleased and said, 
“Praise be to the Lord today, for he has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation.”

8 So Hiram sent word to Solomon:
“I have received the message you sent me and will do all you want in providing the cedar and juniper logs. 9 My men will haul them down from Lebanon to the Mediterranean Sea, and I will float them as rafts by sea to the place you specify. There I will separate them and you can take them away. And you are to grant my wish by providing food for my royal household.”

10 In this way Hiram kept Solomon supplied with all the cedar and juniper logs he wanted, 11 and Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat as food for his household, in addition to twenty thousand baths of pressed olive oil. Solomon continued to do this for Hiram year after year. 12 The Lord gave Solomon wisdom, just as he had promised him. There were peaceful relations between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.

13 King Solomon conscripted laborers from all Israel—thirty thousand men. 14 He sent them off to Lebanon in shifts of ten thousand a month, so that they spent one month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor. 15 Solomon had seventy thousand carriers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hills, 16 as well as thirty-three hundred foremen who supervised the project and directed the workers. 17 At the king’s command they removed from the quarry large blocks of high-grade stone to provide a foundation of dressed stone for the temple. 18 The craftsmen of Solomon and Hiram and workers from Byblos cut and prepared the timber and stone for the building of the temple.

Yesterday we looked at the variations in saint's lives. Today we see Solomon as a saint (he returned to God fully in the wisdom of his later years). Solomon could have debunked David's wishes quite easily and instead speaks and then displays his desire to smooth out part of his father's life.

The reaction for many, many years to this "unique" God of the Jews, drew interest from around the world. Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus or Pompeil the Great was a General leader of the Roman Empire. The son-in-law of Julius Caesar's only Roman child, General Pompeii decided to stride into the Temple in Jerusalem and into the Holy of Holies. He was stopped by the sheer horror on the faces. And was quelled quickly. The high priests then told him Biblical history of the Ark's events. They did fail to mention to the General that the Holy of Holies in the Second Temple never contained the Ark of the Covenant.

This Temple has been a Wonder to the World for Millenniums. Multitudes for Millenniums of this world have been intrigued by those who traveled the world to see the Temple in Jerusalem, truly built for the worship of God and His Son.


How unusual is this - a Temple destroyed. For a World Wonder - this is fairly unique.

1 Parthenon, Acropolis. The Parthenon, located atop the Acropolis is a monument dedicated to the goddess Athena, a goddess of wisdom. ...
2 Valley of the Temples. ...
3 Temple of Hephaestus. ...
4 Paestum. ...
5 Doric Temple of Segesta. ...
6 Temple of Apollo Epicurius. ...
7 Erechtheum. ...
8 Temple of Zeus at Cyrene.




Rarer still - Papyrus 46, the 300 chapters of the New Testament written during the Beloved Disciple John's life time - tell us Jesus predicted the fall of the Temple and the rise of His unformed Church. Not many such prophecies exist for these other Temples.


The Words of Jesus are still available for the centuries because of those who fought for God, to bring us His Good News today:

Mark 13:2
"Do you see all these great buildings?" replied Jesus. "Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."

All these stones are piled today the length of Mount Moriah

Tyre was prophetically lamented to be a perpetual ruin and IS - today. Yet the stones of Tyre exist partially on top of each other.

 
Alexander the Great went to Jerusalem when he found Ezekiel did prophesy of his making Tyre from an island to mainland. Alexander went an bowed deeply to the High Priest - assuring the very startled man he was really bowing to God and the Priest acted to Alexander as God's Ambassador on earth.

Matthew 13:16
16"But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. 17"For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.


This chapter unites those who love Father God! We cheer for the building of God's Temple. And our hearts are warmed seeing the love Solomon displays to our David. We are grateful Solomon could see David's qualities we all love to see.

Hiram king of Tyre could have had a multitude of reactions to the news of God's Temple and we see joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness.

Because the Scriptures are true - we see self-control is missing. The builders are conscripted. We will Always Need God's Grace to reach Righteousness; even as all the Good News collides to Honor God so wonderfully.


Father God, You must say Finally seeing the peace of Jesus Christ rule hearts, we are called to be the Body of Christ. This is a very thankful passage.

Father God, we will rejoice as we strive for full restoration, encouraging one another, being of one mind, living in peace. You are a God of love and peace and will be with us.

We pray for the equipping of all saints for work building up of the body of Christ! A unity of faith, Jesus' Joy  in His Healing, helping us mature  to the fullness of Christ.

We say God Bless the Lord for the Joy in This Your Work. Amen in Jesus. 

♔ Lord Jesus Saves †

Psalm 27:13 ~ I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living

Hopefully the dog didn't eat your Christmas. We had a green Sharpie and arrived home to find the Puppies thinking candy cane. No damage!!! Thank Jesus. Thank Jesus. Thank Jesus.

Sometimes Christmas looks like Peru, like the Mountains of Peru photoed above. Something just very unexpected.

Revelation 21:19

The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. 
The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald.

Revelation 4:3
The one sitting on the throne was as brilliant as gemstones—like jasper and carnelian. 
And the glow of an emerald circled his throne like a rainbow.

Red and Green, we are told are God's favorite colors.

So some Christmases start out like this...

And then do the Chinese thing and look like This:

And things go very Chinese... like these mountains.

God is Interesting. He is Yesterday, Today and, Thank God, Tomorrow. Father God has a Talent...


Romans 8:28
For God interweaves all things to work together for good.

Isaiah 66:9
I will not cause pain without allowing something new to be born.

Philippians 1:6
He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.

Deuteronomy 7:9
He is a faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations.

Psalm 27:13
I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.



I seriously remember a day, 2011, I was about to cry for the Changes and Seasonality Life brings to all of our lives in different times. And I was about to check out at Sam's. The Clerk reached over the counter, patted my arm, and she spoke so very compassionately and said - as if she was filled with the Holy Spirit of Jesus, "Do not cry. God has given you everything you need for this day. He has built your life to find what He blesses you with today. Truly examine today and see God has blessed you!"

This woman has changed my Life. I'm pretty well assured, twice and back, she was speaking as the voice of Jesus Christ. Only Jesus can change your emotional temperature permanently.

Today, my family was running what is known to us all as the dog path, well worn, worn out, same ol thing disagreement, complete with the potholes of a dog path - and I just felt - Pray. Shut your mouth and Pray. And they got out of the car and I said I will be in a moment. The doors all closed and KSBJ was playing and the announcer said, "Remember to Thank God. Sure it's not easy - life is difficult. Remember to Thank God for all the blessings - bringing you to the Blessed place to even have the complaint."

Same Jesus.

God is working tirelessly Jesus tells us. And Jesus is working too. How are They Working? To "Interweave" All Things for God for those who Love the Lord and Work according to His Purpose.

If our Father interweaves, why shouldn't we learn to have a different godly opinion? Why not take what is dark in all our lives and push it like a needlepoint - up and back to the surface? And ask, why Thank God? And find a reason. A new opportunity every day. Give us the Day. A new opportunity to see God's Mercies Renew.

Since Genesis 2, Father God gave us fulfillment in our lives. We were told to work the Garden of Eden. Revelations tells us Heaven consists of "Nations" and when the Nations fall into disagreement, God will solve the problems with His Word. We are learning this in our lives - to recognize the Good and Amazing Gifts of God we will all see the Wonders of God daily.

The colors in the fingers, the variations of the light - look like the mountains.

The Lord God Almighty tells us to renew our minds. Our days have seasons that run together - yet God is Building. We want to assist God to work our lives to become Living Stones. Helping each other to Climb Up.

We are going from earth's worn and tired - to the Kingdom, Power and Glory of God our Father.

God is going to give us glimpses. We have to look through the darkened mirror and find what God is bringing us.



It's so easy to complain. We are encouraged to be critical thinkers to drag ourselves to improvement. We are encouraged to be cynically funny.


Philippians 4:8
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.

Homer Simpson's neighbor has never been our goal. "Ned" Flanders - the Simpson family's extremely religious next "diddly-door." For a really good purpose, reason and fear - we want to have our good reason when we approach God and the Light of Jesus in all of mankind. God calls this 'wisdom'.

The Peace of God is work. A hard won fight of reality. The Disciples stood with Jesus a few times thinking, "And here we die." The first to announce this was Thomas. Thomas knew Lazarus raised was going to cause decisions to be made -and he looked at the other Disciples and said, "Hey man, they are coming after us and they are going to kill Jesus and I sign up to die with Him." Thomas is pretty smart.

Fight the Good Fight. A real peace is hard won. And well worth the controversy. Pope Francis was asked how he dealt with all the death surrounding his nation in the 1970s. It was a bloodbath. Pope Francis replied we must all be ourselves. And he works to be Living Stones to lift one another up to God and Heaven. This is the real version of Philippians 4:8.


What we work to find is how to needlepoint with what is depressing and not as wonderful as our Father would hope for our lives. We find what brings us up to the Light of Christ - what brings us to Jesus. We learn with practice to do the real life given and find what is good and noble and lifts our hearts. The Road to Emmaus. Is Philippians 4:8. When our hearts warm and we Love well - we have found what brings us into God's Good Creation He calls Good yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Fight the Good Fight. Walk the Road to Emmaus where your heart finds warmth. And in the Strength of Love we will be warm.


Abba,

You are the God of Love. God of encouragement. You give us Jesus who teaches us, "Do not let your hearts be troubled."

May the Lord God Almighty Bless and Keep You.
May our God of Love make His face to Shine upon You.
May our eyes be enlightened with the Light of Jesus Christ to see He is Gracious to us.

May our God of Encouragement lift His Countenance
and Smile upon you.

To Give you peace. His very own Peace of Steadfast God and God of Love.
To surround and enfold and warm you in the Name of Jesus.

To Bless You. Amen and Amen and Amen.

And we lift up Elliott and his Stem Cell Transplant. To be the Success of Jesus in Heaven and on earth. His Glory is His Love to us.

We lift up Wayne who waited patiently in the Hospital all week to have his pacemaker put back in his chest. We pray all his medications are settled down patiently and Wayne has No Bleeding from the operation. Bless their family for their long trips to the hospital in Christmas and Christmas Traffic.

For Dan and Edward's group. They stand in a line - silently in the woods - austere as monks - in this perfect line - mimicking each other throwing Discs. Blissfully unaware. With this much Humor, God Himself must roll on the Floor of gold Heaven trying not to laugh too loudly. The event is legendary in the Disc Golf community. God Bless Dan and his good heart this week. God bless them all healing and causing hilarity.

God is in His Heaven and He has made all things rightly interweave in the world. Amen in Jesus. Amen. Walk in faith. Amen.



Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †  

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John 3:31-35 ~ in His Hands

John 3:31-35

The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth.

The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.

The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.

Edwin Long

1 Corinthians 12:4
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.

We will carry Jesus and Christmas in our hearts every day.

Abba,
The Joy of the Lord is our Strength. Alleluia Jesus Christ.

We will give Justice with Mercy and walk humbly with our Lord.

Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †  

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Romans 10:9 ~ Jesus is Lord!!!

Luke 2:13-20

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God 

and saying,

 “Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, 

“Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, 

which the Lord has made known to us.” 

And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.

 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them

concerning this child. 

And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 

Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.

And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, 

as it had been told them.

The Kingdom of Heaven given to us from Jesus Christ, by purchase of His Life is our greatest gift. Love without ceasing, eternity never ending. Today.

James the Brother of Jesus recorded this:

James 1:17
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Jesus Christ in all of the Scriptures is the same. Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. Every dot and iota is always Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 9:15
Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!

1 John 3:1
Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God.
And that is what we are!


God has Given - to the world.

1 John 4:9

This is how God's love was revealed among us:

God sent His one and only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.

Proverbs 8 records Jesus delights in finding God's master workmanship. Jesus found all of God the Father, His exact nature, loving, healing, touching, guiding, walking along side - what Father God has He gives to Jesus to do the same.

Peter wanted us to know every 'give us the day' - God gives us all. Gives all the world - Jesus. Gives to you.

1 Peter 4:10
God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.

Jesus gave us Abundant Life.

In Christmas we have a glimpse of God's Lavish Abundant Life. Abundance.

Luke 6:38
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

Ephesians 1:2-10

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,

Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, 
that we should be holy and blameless before him.

In love

he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ,
 according to the purpose of his will,

to the praise of his glorious grace,

with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

In him we have redemption through his blood,

the forgiveness of our trespasses,

According to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us,

in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will,

according to his purpose,

which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time,

to unite all things in him,

things in heaven and things on earth.

This is Word of God made manifest. 

And as the Shepherds could not observe all of the Heavenly Host intimately,
we could be found letting the blessings Pour Past us!

If we do not, with deliberation

and with intent -

- catch hold of God's Blessings and Press them into our soul to nurture, nourish and feed us daily.

Let us Hold firmly and Stand ready to obtain the Blessings God Lavishly Pours out to us.

Grace and Peace from God.

Blessed with every spiritual Gift.

Gifts we will see in Heaven.

The wisdom and insight we will see in God's Plan.

His Love.

In Jesus, we are found in His very own plan and we are chosen long, long, long ago.

In His Will we are adopted as His own.

Our lives will give Praise of His Glorious Grace.

The Riches of His Grace.

We are Blessed in the Beloved.

We are told God has given us all Gifts.

Romans 10:9

If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord,"

and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, 

you will be saved.

Suppose this year, you had a King Solomon avalanche of gifts. Job guessed at this..

Job 38:28
Has the rain a father,
or who has begotten the drops of dew?

And if we refused to open the gifts or hold them to us. We would forsake the Love behind the Gifts. We would not see the Kingdom ...

Jesus might try to coax us. Jesus would hold us like He held the Beloved Children. Jesus might touch our blind eyes. He might place His Hands on the spots of our lives that feel leperous. Jesus would come impudently with us to pray for our children when we are told - they are dead. Jesus would hear us calling late at night and sit with us as He did with Nicodemus. Jesus would coax. He might say this to us to Open the Gifts He has Lavishly Given.

Jesus would say this to you:
"Let not your hearts be troubled.
Believe in God; believe also in me.

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?

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.
And you know the way to where I am going.”


Jesus has Peace for you. Jesus says come to me you who are weary and heavily burdened, Jesus does not want your heart to be so troubled.

Believe. And if we should cry out like the father with the son in such affliction, Jesus would tell us, "Yes, you believe, I will help you to believe some more." "Believe in God, believe also in Me."

Jesus promises His gifts make a place for us. For you and for me. Jesus gives the gift to believe Him. Jesus gives us the gift of being trustworthy. We can trust Jesus.

Jesus gives us the gift to know Jesus is coming with us. Jesus is coming back. Jesus is the Way and He will guide you. Jesus prepares you.

The Gifts are Lavish and Abundant. True Life.

Abba,

You have Given. Help me to receive Your Gifts. Let the Gift of Your Son Jesus live in me daily. Guide me, lead me in the ways of Your Beloved. Let my soul be a Home for You, Jesus.

Jesus, You pray Impudently for me. I would pray impudently for those I love to be comforted with Your Holy Spirit, Your Comforter. Let Your Gifts flow in and into those I Love. Prepare us and never forsake us.

Let us be in that number when the Saints go marching to You.
To be with the angels and a multitude of the heavenly host praising God
and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!"

Beloved of God, Rejoice Jesus Christ came into the world to save the lost.
Beloved of God, Rejoice Jesus Christ came into the world to save the world.
The Joy of the Lord is our Strength.

Jesus Christ is our Salvation. Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia. Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †  

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Acts 7:30-34 ~ in the flame of the burning bush

Acts 7:30-34

New Revised Standard Version

"Now when forty years had passed,

An angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush. When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight; and as he approached to look,

there came the voice of the Lord: 'I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.'

The Day God Gave His Name.

Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look. Then the Lord said to him, 'Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I have surely seen the mistreatment of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. Come now, I will send you to Egypt.'"

A burning bush unconsumed. Changes can happen so slowly. The first Christmas trees were in German in the 1500s. Not until the middle of the 1800's did most people celebrate with tree.

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow we celebrate God's Steadfast Character. The Burning Bush celebrating the Birth of the Messiah.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.


Abba,
This week. Lifting our Expectation in Blessing to You - Today.

Because of Your great love for us, rich in Your mercy,
You made us alive with Christ - by grace we have been saved.

Our God raised us up with Christ and seated us with You in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

In the coming ages, You might show the incomparable riches of Your grace
expressed in Your kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

For it is by grace of Jesus Christ we have been saved, through faith
—and this is not from ourselves,
This is the gift of God —
not by works, so that no o
ne can boast. Only Jesus Christ as God for us.

We are God’s handiwork,
created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which You prepared in advance for us to do.

Covered and sealed we pray Your Name Jesus
Lifting up our loved ones.

The Grace of Jesus cover our nation and all believers in all ages and places.

We pray asking in the Name of Jesus.
Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †  

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