John 17 ~ That they also may be sanctified in truth.

Computer Photo taken from 3D Graphing of the Shroud of Turin by Ray Downing

John 17:6

“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.

 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 

9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 

11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 

12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

 13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 

14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.




To read the early histories of the men who knew John and his disciple Polycarp, is to read John approved of the Gospels. Bishop Papias of Hierapolis contacted as many people as he could who had seen Jesus or seen Him heal. Bishop Papias of Hierapolis then interwove the Chapters of the Gospels doing this.

We debate today if Paul wrote Hebrews suddenly after 2 millenniums, yet if you travel to the University of Michigan and pull out the Book of Hebrews owned by University of Michigan, you see the 1900 year old documents say Hebrews was written by Paul on each cataloged page.

Paul was known to converse with Peter. Loudly sometimes.

Let's see what Paul learned about Jesus from the men who walked, lived, ate and believed Jesus from Hebrews 5.

See in this Passage, so many biblical people raised their children harshly - Adam and Eve, Isaac, Hezekiah, Hannah - Samuel's mother, Eli, Samuel, Hezekiah - in the middle of questioning (in the middle of 2 Gospels in heated discussions) exactly whom Jesus is - his parents are praised for their parenting and their family. Jesus' Holy Father is at work here. Jesus brings us - His Goodness.

University of Michigan owns 300 pages of the New Testament that were possibly from the time the Disciple John was still alive.

Hebrews 5

For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. 3 Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people. 4 And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was.

5 So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him,

“You are my Son,
today I have begotten you”;


6 as he says also in another place,
“You are a priest forever,
after the order of Melchizedek.”

7 In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. 8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. 9 And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, 10 being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

11 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.


We see the disciples and Paul spoke of Jesus by saying the days of his flesh. A man. A Son of God. And this John 17 is the Chapter Hebrews 5 is describing from talking to the eye witnesses.

The eye witnesses tell us:

Jesus has deal gently with the ignorant and wayward.

Before He died for us, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to God who was able to save us from death. Jesus was making the Covenant with Father God on our behalf.

Jesus knew what was to happen next. The Chapters of Luke 1 and 2 are wonderful. God would sign on for us.

Jesus saves us from death, His victory is ours. The manner of this prayer is reverence. Obedient to God.

Jesus knew how to talk to His Father, Jesus has been part of creation since before Abraham. Jesus fully knew in addressing Father God what distinguishes good from evil.


Jesus was making one perfect sacrifice for us. To live with Father God always.

Jesus opened His arms for us.

Father God,
Help us to pray knowing You dwell within us. You've said as we pray, The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. You are here.

We will never ascend to be God. You alone are God. And in Your Goodness, for there to be relationship, You choose to dwell among mankind. You are the Light in all of mankind.

Keep us alert and help our days to please You. We lift up the real prayer concerns of the ones we love. Thanking You for listening and acting upon Your Word. You work all things for good, for those who Love the Lord. Thank You Father we entrust the ones we love to you, the people You have Given. Our Nation to be build up in You. 

We are glad for Your Good Will. Amen in Jesus.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves †

2 Thessalonians 1:1-4 ~ Because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.

Disala on this Journey in Jesus Christ. Heaven is at hand!

2 Thessalonians 1:1-4

1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,

To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

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

3 We ought always to give thanks to God for you,
brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.

4 Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring.



You just have to love someone who is the unappointed hugger and greeter of all his brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. No one has given them the exact job to go to all people and greet - they just know a call from the Lord Father God when they hear this Shepherd's voice.

Today I went to Church thinking about finally selling our car. We have tried for a while, but I decided today was the day to blitz all the sites. I walked into the Church was greeted by a chosen Shepherd of the Father. Disala greeted me by saying, "Don't sell that car by yourself, stay out of that, let the men." I had to frown a little. Having your thoughts read is disconcerting. I'm smiling now to remember our conversation. Plus I wanted to do that selling myself. Alas. Sometimes you give way to the voice of His Holy Spirit.

Father God, I give thanks to God for Disala.  Father God bless, strengthen and gladden all his days.

For the People You put in our lives and we know what we know what we know - this is a glimpse of what Jack says.

...No not James...of the Able Variety...Expecting his first child, a daughter on Valentines of 2016!
God bless James and his family! Always a greeter himself finding Joy in Expecting!

Jack says we will live together for Eternity. Father God, I tend to believe him seeing that we have all seen each other through many passages. Father please let the next passage be the sale of the car!

As part of these passages, we pray for this season - we need rains. We ask for the red tides to leave for the fish, fishermen, and good health. We ask You for the Prayer Concerns known to us and to You. For the cares of the ones we love. Thanksgiving for the People You give us and this Nation. You Shine as the Light in all mankind.

We give thanks for the people who reach out to make life meaningful - Gifts of God.

For this reason I bow my knees before You, Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of Your glory You may grant us to be strengthened with power through Your Spirit in our inner being, so that Your Son Jesus Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith—that we, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Your Son Jesus Christ that surpasses knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fullness of You, Father God.

Now, to You, Father God, who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work You fill within us, to You, Father God, be Great Glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus in us throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen in Jesus the Lord.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves †

Psalm 78:1-39 ~ His works and the wonders that He had shown them

The Ipuwer was displayed for many years in Holland in the Leden Museum in this frame.

Today:

Psalm 78:1-39

1 Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
2 I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings from of old,
3 things that we have heard and known,
that our fathers have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children,
but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
and the wonders that he has done.

5 He established a testimony in Jacob
and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
6 that the next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,

7 so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
but keep his commandments;
8 and that they should not be like their fathers,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
whose spirit was not faithful to God.

9 The Ephraimites, armed with the bow,
turned back on the day of battle.
10 They did not keep God's covenant,
but refused to walk according to his law.
11 They forgot his works
and the wonders that he had shown them.
12 In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders
in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.
13 He divided the sea and let them pass through it,
and made the waters stand like a heap.
14 In the daytime he led them with a cloud,
and all the night with a fiery light.
15 He split rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
16 He made streams come out of the rock
and caused waters to flow down like rivers.

17 Yet they sinned still more against him,
rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18 They tested God in their heart
by demanding the food they craved.
19 They spoke against God, saying,
“Can God spread a table in the wilderness?
20 He struck the rock so that water gushed out
and streams overflowed.
Can he also give bread
or provide meat for his people?”

21 Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of wrath;
a fire was kindled against Jacob;
his anger rose against Israel,
22 because they did not believe in God
and did not trust his saving power.
23 Yet he commanded the skies above
and opened the doors of heaven,
24 and he rained down on them manna to eat
and gave them the grain of heaven.
25 Man ate of the bread of the angels;
he sent them food in abundance.
26 He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens,
and by his power he led out the south wind;
27 he rained meat on them like dust,
winged birds like the sand of the seas;
28 he let them fall in the midst of their camp,
all around their dwellings.
29 And they ate and were well filled,
for he gave them what they craved.
30 But before they had satisfied their craving,
while the food was still in their mouths,
31 the anger of God rose against them,
and he killed the strongest of them
and laid low the young men of Israel.

32 In spite of all this, they still sinned;
despite his wonders, they did not believe.
33 So he made their days vanish like a breath,
and their years in terror.


34 When he killed them, they sought him;
they repented and sought God earnestly.
35 They remembered that God was their rock,
the Most High God their redeemer.
36 But they flattered him with their mouths;
they lied to him with their tongues.
37 Their heart was not steadfast toward him;
they were not faithful to his covenant.

38 Yet he, being compassionate,
atoned for their iniquity
and did not destroy them;

he restrained his anger often
and did not stir up all his wrath.
39 He remembered that they were but flesh,
a wind that passes and comes not again.

James Tissot - The Egyptians were left to care for their wounded.

 Numbers 1:46 How many people in the Exodus
all those listed were 603,550.







Jeremiah 33:3
Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and will show thee great things, and difficult, which thou knowest not.

Genesis 15:6
Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

Galatians 3:6,7
Consider Abraham: "He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham.

 


~ 11 They forgot his works and the wonders that he had shown them.



According to the Exodus, the people of faith grumbled during the 10 plagues and doubted Moses, but believed much sooner than the Pharaoh. The Ipuwer Papyrus, the papyrus in the Leiden Museum in Holland, an eyewitness Egyptian angrily saw the 10 plagues as a human failure of government to control the environment.

The Egyptian writing Ipuwer was angry enough to catalog the disasters, perhaps to insure future disasters should be better regulated, and the response more sure. In typical dynastic empowerment, the Pharaoh’s name is obliterated in the Ipuwer, but the events were terrible enough to keep the reminder. Egyptians wanted to remember.

The children of Israel forgot Father God’s power every time trouble came to them. But God tells them He has not forgotten them, many future generations will hear of His help and His love

The Ipuwer Papyrus in Dutch National Museum of Antiquities, the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden, Netherlands was written by someone very upset when the government couldn’t control or maintain Egypt during a set of tragedies. The writer of the papyrus (it is dated from 1850 BC to 1300 BC depending on the source of age determiner) doesn’t see God of the Universe, but unbelievable change, social upheaval, loss of the Pharaoh as never before, loss of livestock & food, then former slaves were given gold from their former masters. And another plague is also identified, convincing many of the validity of this document as an Egyptian eyewitness account of the Exodus. The water of the Nile became blood.

History of the Exodus isn’t readily acknowledged, leaving people of faith confused. But just as statistics can be quoted to prove any point, people of faith should understand what evidence is available the Exodus did occur.

EXODUS 7:21 ... there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt

PAPYRUS 2:5-6 Plague is throughout the land. Blood is everywhere.

~
EXODUS 7:20 ... all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.

PAPYRUS 2:10 The river is blood.
~
EXODUS 7:24 And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river.

PAPYRUS 2:10 Men shrink from tasting -- human beings, and thirst after water.
~
EXODUS 7:21 ... and the river stank.

PAPYRUS 3:10-13 That is our water! That is our happiness! What shall we do in respect thereof? All is ruin!

For more of the comparisons to the 10 plagues, here is the translation of the Ipuwer Papyrus:
http://xenohistorian.faithweb.com/africa/Ipuwer.html












The name of the city Jacob-El was recorded for the first time in Thutmose’s III era.

Thutmose III actually created Egypt’s wealth. Thutmose III possessed the archetypal qualities of a great ruler. A brilliant general who never lost a battle, he also excelled as an administrator and statesman. 1479 – 1425 BC

 
Yahweh was also recorded for the first time during Thutmose III.
Ramses II spent Egypt’s wealth on massive building projects where as Thutmose III actually created Egypt’s wealth.
During this time period, according to Egyptian historical documentation, Israel was not a recorded as a name, the people were recorded as hyksos.
On a statue of Amenhotep III (monotheistic Pharoah) at Kom el Hetan is Amenhotep’s funeral statue and on the base of the statue is Joseph-el.












God wants to save the world.

Our Living God - Jesus Christ
Archaeology reveals  

Daniel 2:22

He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him.

Mark 16:15
And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation."


Father God, You said more blessed are the eyes seeing with faith. 

Father God, we lift up Your Good News. Jesus Christ wants to save the world. Equip us and the ones we Love with everything good to do Your Will, working in us to be pleasing in Your sight, through Jesus Christ, Father God to You be glory forever and ever.

Bless those in all circumstances to be led by You. Give us Your help, we look to You for healing and mercy.

Father God, we thank You for cooler temperatures and breezes. We ask You all of Texas and the South needing rain - will be soaked generously and again - in Mercy for our needs. Thank You, Father. We lift up Red Tides to be Gone. 



 Amen in Jesus Christ. Thank You, Jesus Christ Our LORD!

♔ Lord Jesus Saves †

Ezekiel 20:30-44 ~ I deal with you for my name’s sake

Rembrandt painted a small old house by a river, like Emperor Nebuchadnezzar gave to the slave he had, A High Priest named Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 20:30-44

30 “Therefore say to the Israelites: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Will you defile yourselves the way your ancestors did and lust after their vile images? 31 When you offer your gifts—the sacrifice of your children in the fire—you continue to defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. Am I to let you inquire of me, you Israelites? As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I will not let you inquire of me.

32 “‘You say, “We want to be like the nations, like the peoples of the world, who serve wood and stone.” But what you have in mind will never happen. 33 As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I will reign over you with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with outpoured wrath. 34 I will bring you from the nations and gather you from the countries where you have been scattered—with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with outpoured wrath. 35 I will bring you into the wilderness of the nations and there, face to face, I will execute judgment upon you.

 36 As I judged your ancestors in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will judge you, declares the Sovereign Lord. 37 I will take note of you as you pass under my rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. 38 I will purge you of those who revolt and rebel against me. Although I will bring them out of the land where they are living, yet they will not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

39 “‘As for you, people of Israel, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Go and serve your idols, every one of you!

But afterward you will surely listen to me and no longer profane my holy name with your gifts and idols.

40 For on my holy mountain, the high mountain of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord, there in the land all the people of Israel will serve me, and there I will accept them. There I will require your offerings and your choice gifts, along with all your holy sacrifices.

41 I will accept you as fragrant incense when I bring you out from the nations and gather you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will be proved holy through you in the sight of the nations. 42 Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I bring you into the land of Israel, the land I had sworn with uplifted hand to give to your ancestors.

43 There you will remember your conduct and all the actions by which you have defiled yourselves, and you will loathe yourselves for all the evil you have done. 44 You will know that I am the Lord, when I deal with you for my name’s sake and not according to your evil ways and your corrupt practices, you people of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”

Our Lord Father God has seen all of us in different situations of life. Ezekiel dealt with a repentant people.  They had given God gifts certainly, in His Temple, yet Mark 7 lists God as saying these gifts were given as necessity and not as a gift from a longing heart.

David had lived life beautifully as a shepherd sitting and learning and thinking of God. And had been brave in his anointed state moving to care for his nation for Saul. Earning the disfavor of Saul as he grew. That is a huge step to go from rural young boy to the favor of the king.

David remained God's child. In his mercenary years. In his war years. In his war and hoping years. And on the throne, he was taught to do better and did. To the grief and poor parenthood he displayed. And God saw all of David's changes and expectations of His Father God's goodness - And God wanted His Son to be David's Son. Interesting how lovingly Father God judges. David certainly built Jerusalem - and Father God never faulted David for doing his job or thinking David had turned from Father God.

Only God knows hearts as well as God does.

Psalm 138

1 I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;
before the gods I sing your praise;
2 I bow down toward your holy temple
and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness,
for you have exalted above all things
your name and your word.a
3 On the day I called, you answered me;
my strength of soul you increased.b

4 All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O Lord,
for they have heard the words of your mouth,
5 and they shall sing of the ways of the Lord,
for great is the glory of the Lord.
6 For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly,
but the haughty he knows from afar.

7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
you preserve my life;
you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies,
and your right hand delivers me.
8The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;
your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.
Do not forsake the work of your hands.



Father God, We give You thanks for hearing our prayers. We thank You for not only knowing our name, for planning our lives in the last phrase of the Bible - The Book of Life.

Thank You Father God, You delight in Good and we live our days knowing Your plans for us are a hope and a future. We live up the people we Love and we lift up the people You have given us. And our Nation. In Jesus. Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves †

John 17:1-11 ~ For I have given them the words that You gave me

John 17:1-11

When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.

7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.

9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.

11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.


This Scripture is telling us we've believed and we are sealed with the Holy Spirit and not just soak in it this. Which we should rejoice in our Salvation. We are sealed with Jesus and Father God's own Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 1:13
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit

Because we can believe, permanently, we are sealed in the Holy Spirit; we can say this when the world is all we hope it can be and when the wild winds of life howl:

Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through him who strengthens me!

Which neatly brings us back to this passage Jesus told us about.

Luke 6:12-13
In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles



John 6:68-69
Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”


In Matthew 13 and in Matthew 3, Jesus gave us wheat analogies. It is God's plan the wheat and the chaff grow up together. And he gave us seed analogies about some people hear the word of God, some fall away, some let the seed wither.

Matthew 3:12
His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.

Now, importantly, Matthew 3:12 is Jesus. Not us. He is the only one who is good. We sometimes spend a lot of time in Christian circles figuring out who is the wheat or the weed or the chaff. We shouldn't. Proverbs says only that person and God knows the heart. Because we are not Jesus' head - He is. Alone. He is God.

This passage calls us to remember. We are like Jesus, our people in our lives are not always specifically chosen by us. Just given by Father God. Neither did Jesus change Himself for Pharisees or Disciples. Jesus spoke truth with mercy, day after day, at cost to Himself. 

Jesus is the LORD and Salvation.Jesus speaks God's words. Jesus lives God's promises. Jesus prays. Because we are not Jesus, we will not decide anyone's fate. We will do like Jesus, we will hold the people in our lives and lift them to God. Jesus told us He is the Prince of Peace. He decides. 

We pray.  Father God, I am grateful to be the chick under Your Wings. I abide in You. Willingly and with gratitude.

We are praying for rain all over Texas and the south. Not on the upcoming weddings!

Blessed are You, Jesus. I abide in You, Father God. I give You praise for giving me the tools to live the life You want me to have. Thank You for the Holy Spirit. I give You my gratitude You are at work and hear our prayers. I thank You, endlessly, You told us to pray and always have hope. Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves †

Psalm 134 ~ Thank You Father God!

Psalm 134

1 Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord,
who stand by night in the house of the Lord!
2 Lift up your hands to the holy place
and bless the Lord!

3 May the Lord bless you from Zion,
he who made heaven and earth!

 Recall with me... Stephen.

“When good men die, it is not death, but sleep.” —Callimachus

Matthew Henry says this about Stephen's death:
He fell asleep; he died; his death being thus expressed, in that,

1. He died quietly, as one fallen into a sleep.

2. Because of his certain hope of the resurrection.

3. As easily to be raised again by Christ, as one that sleeps is to be awaked by us.

4. It is an ordinary Hebraism to express death by sleep; which made St. Luke use it amongst them, with whom it was frequently thus expressed.





Acts 7

54 Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 55 

But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 

57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. 58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 

59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.


1 Thessalonians 4:13-16
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. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus,
God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

 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. 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.




Paul says in the Holy Spirit -  some go directly to Jesus.

 1 Corinthians 15:51-52
Behold! I tell you a mystery. 

We shall not all sleep,
but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.
For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.


How will we know if we sleep or rise immediately -
Zechariah was told:

Luke 1:19
And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news."

And Mary was never told Gabriel was Gabriel. And yet - she knew.

26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth


How will we know if we sleep or rise immediately - we will know what we know we know.


Acts 20:32
Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

Psalms 5:11
Let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.

Isaiah 27:5
Let them come to me for refuge; let them make peace with me, yes, let them make peace with me.

Psalms 97:11
Light shines on the righteous and joy on the upright in heart.



Father God, we open our being to You. Flood us with the warmth of Your Love. And in that Love we are led to better ourselves to please You. And Bless those around us. 

We ask for this blessing for ourselves, the ones we Love, the people You give us, spreading out to the Nation to Trust in You. In Jesus The Lord. Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves †

Matthew 12:1-8 ~ read what David did

Matthew 12:1-8

At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. ² But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” ³ He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: ⁴ how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? ⁵ Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? ⁶ I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. ⁷ And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. ⁸ For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Wonders and symbols. Like the shape of heart. For many years people thought, maybe until Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simon's dissections this was the shape of a human heart. And now we know it is the shape of a pig heart? Nope, not evan that. And we've known it collectively for about 700 years. And yet it has Such Appeal. What if we are responding in wonder to the shape of our souls? We cannot know this. But our soul is all we have that we carry into eternity. And even to believe in eternity we have to Believe in Jesus Christ.

God tells us something in Matthew 12 about the Grace of God. David built Israel up. Yet God placed David in Bethlehem to grow up - quietly. The youngest of 8 sons, not even called when Samuel showed up to and asked to see all of the children. David relied upon the LORD to be merciful to him and he relied upon HIM best in need. 

Ephesians 6:4
“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” 

David trusted God when trouble arrived. He trusted the LORD was not merely provoking him, making provision instead.  Aaron's sons died when they did not sacrifice to the Lord correctly. The difference,  David trusted God, David expected God - delights - in doing Good. David knew God would push good forward in all ways possible. And God gave him leeway.  Why? It was Love. 

Yet when God did punish David, it was for acting without Love. 

Micah 7

Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
and passing over transgression
for the remnant of his inheritance?
He does not retain his anger forever,
because he delights in steadfast love.
19 He will again have compassion on us;
he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
You will cast all our sins
into the depths of the sea.
20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob
and steadfast love to Abraham,
as you have sworn to our fathers
from the days of old.

What was David - the builder of his relationship with God.  He built with so much trust. He built himself. His father's family. His city. His nation. And sacrificed his family. Because he was flawed. Yet God redeemed that.

Titus 1:1-15
To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.

Titus 1:7-9
For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, 8 but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. 9 He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

Romans 3:22-29
the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

And how shall we know.

Micah 6:8

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
    and to walk humbly with your God. 

John 15:22
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you

One of my favorite portions in the Bible is the one leper who turned back to give thanks to Jesus. Deciding there was a reason to go back and thank this MAN who had healed him. His life was amazingly changed. His name is not recorded - yet for 2 millenniums Christians have rejoiced with this healed man. Today I was so touched to wonder why we know Mark 10:46-52 - Blind Bartimaeus Receives His Sight - How we know the name of Bartimaeus. Because he put his life on hold and he followed Jesus. He just started to follow Jesus the minute he could see. I was thrilled for our Jesus. The Lord! The Lord! The Lord! Jesus.


Father God, help this Nation, our loved ones, the people you give us - to delight in Bartimaeus. Who knew where all his goodness sprang from and knew without doubt - Father God delights in doing good. Help us to keep the Joy of You ever present and in our times of doubt and despair - trust in You in what is unseen - to receive Your blessings in endurance of Hope, Faith and Love. We give our cares up to You. In Jesus. Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves †