Easter Approaches      

111 Failures

We don't expect you to read all the sins we found in New Testament verses. 

Just scan the whole and remember that our Lord Jesus took all these failures of commission and omission upon himself, nailed them to the cross...
and rose again on the third day. Glory to God. 

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murder   false worship   self-centeredness   anger  lust

adultery  unfaithfulness   retaliation  hate   unforgiveness  worry

trust in treasure  love of money   judgmental  false prophecy 

ignoring commands    loving family more than Jesus 

disowning Jesus   careless words  callous heart  unbelief  doubt

theft   false testimony   dishonor   betrayal  pride

greed  self indulgence   unfruitful  injustice  hypocrisy   deception

failure to watch  failure to use talent   lying  blasphemy 

deceitfulness of wealth   reliance on traditions  immorality  malice

lewdness  envy  slander   arrogance  folly   mocking   insulting

false accusation   discontent  ungrateful  dishonesty 

self-righteous  betrayal  drunkenness   indecency   destruction

bearing no fruit  godlessness   wickedness  unnatural relations

depravity   strife   gossip  slander  insolence  arrogance

boasting  senselessness   faithless  heartless  ruthless

stubborness  self-seeking   cursing  idolatry

swindling   pagan revelry   grumbling  corruption  rash

treacherous  conceited   impatience   favoritism  deception

yoked with unbelievers   enslavement   obscenity  foolish talk 

coarse joking   disobedience  false humility  abusive

ungrateful  slanderous   brutal   idleness 

arrogance  godless chatter   false ideas   faithless

rebellious   worldly passion  divisive  grumbling   meddling

false prophecy  enticement   covetous   scoffing

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The righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe ... for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God ... and are justified freely by his grace ... God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.     Romans 3:21-25 

Tomorrow:  Hot Tempers; Cold Temperatures

 The Unbelievable Truth  

Isaiah 53. Comments by the late Dr. Warren Wiersby

Who has believed our message?
     Relying on human intellect, men refuse to believe an unbelievable person.

He grew up...like a root out of dry ground.
     Earth has no spiritual aspect. Its produce is visible, explainable.

He had nothing in appearance that we should desire him.
     Joining himself to our nature, he chose not to attract us by his looks.

He was despised and rejected by men.
     His brothers, many early disciples and the nation refused to believe him. 
     "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

Surely he took up our sorrows...he was pierced for our transgressions.
     He paid an unbelievable price...a crushing weight of our sins.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way. 
     It's our nature, our choice to go our own way.

Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer. 
     Justice was satisfied. 
         Holiness was satisfied. 
             Sinners were justified.
                 God was glorified. 

After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life. My servant will justify many and he will bear their iniquities. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. 
     He was unbelievable, but truth. 
          Human, but divine. 
               Humble, but exalted. 
                    Hated, but he loves. 

From China to Rattlers    
  
   Chinese leaders lied about initial virus cases and other matters. Round the clock incinerations tell another story. Slave labor to prop up the economy is another indicator that all is not well.  

   An Italian physician, an atheist, now says, "We have reached our limits. We begin to feel that God begins where man ends." 

   A man in Beirut, Lebanon: "I worry more for my family about hunger than corona." 

   Some infected people with no symptoms can transmit the virus as many as 48 hours before before symptoms appear.  - the CDC 

   Around the world, animals and birds are invading public places in greater numbers, being more comfortable without normal human presence. In St. Petersburg, FL a large Eastern Diamondback did likewise. 

   In Philadelphia, a 14-year-old is using 3D equipment to make face shields for healthcare workers.

   North Korea's claim that they have no virus cases (1) may be due to the fact that few outsiders care to go there, or (2) they just shoot those infected. 

   
       Jimmy



   
   

Palm Sunday   

Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a colt that never had been ridden.

That normally doesn't happen. 

The people, having seen or heard about miracles,

laid palm branches in his path and shouted Hosanna! 

Hebrew: hosh'ah-nna

meaning "save us." 

They joyfully praised God:

Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.

Psalm 118:26

They may have wanted him to save them from Roman control.

Jesus was not there to be praised.

He wept and said: 

If you had only known on this day what would bring you peace

 - but now it is hidden from your eyes. 

Luke 19:41

Jesus had to suffer our judgment before He could save us.

We must acknowledge our desperate need...

to receive his forgiveness and salvation, life and peace. 

Hosanna!

If You Missed WWII                                       < 👨 >
    
   You're getting a taste of national "all hands on deck."  

   Twenty NY City hotels now are hospitals for non-virus patients. 
The U.S. is close to 7 million unemployment claims. 

   Years ago, we were satisfied to disembark a cruise ship after five days. 
Nine ships are still at sea after about four weeks. 

   A trooper in Minnesota stopped a woman going 85 mph. When he learned she is a cardiologist rushing from Boston to Duluth to serve a need there, he gave her five N95 masks and sent her on her way.

   Dr. Anthony Fauci is becoming so famous he may need a security detail. He did get a bobblehead. Cities try to get the homeless off the streets. Taiwan is donating 10 million masks, 2 million of them coming to the U.S. 

   Assisted living facilities are coping. Some residents are confused. 

   Prisoners find it impossible to socially distance. Cook County prison (Chicago) went from two cases to 101 plus 12 employees in four days or so. Rikers Island freed 650, temporarily. Cuyahoga County (Cleveland) released half of their inmates. Federal prisons are not releasing. Inmates are confined to cells or quarters. (And we think we have it tough.) A women's prison in McLoud, OK has sewn more than 1,000 masks for the cause.

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                Okay, kids. It's census time. 
          Line up and stand still while I count you.
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        xxx  xxxx  xxx x x x x   xxx xxx x x   xxx    
            xx 👦 xxxx   👦 xx x xx x x  x  xxx  xx  xx
                 xxx xx  x x  x  x  x xx  👦 xx xx  xx 👧 xx
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            xx x  xxxx  xx 👧 xxx x xx x x 👧 xxx  xx x 
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A Lifestyle in Progress     

   To the young pastor, Timothy, Paul began by warning him about false teachers...those who taught false doctrines and myths, rather than the truth of God's Word...which is by faith. 1 Timothy 1:4.  NIV 

   Of those who rejected the gospel, he said they had shipwrecked their faith. v. 1:19. 

   In verse 5, Paul wrote, The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 

   At least two years earlier, the high priest and companions went before Felix accusing Paul of being "a troublemaker, stirring up riots all over the world." Paul told the governor...as a follower of the Way...I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man. Acts 24:14.

Our Bible commentary in 1 Timothy: 

   The supreme goal of all instruction from God's Word is not Bible knowledge in itself, but an inward moral transformation that expresses itself in love, purity of heart, a clear conscience and faith without hypocrisy.  

   (1) The Biblical concept of teaching and learning is not primarily to impart knowledge or to prepare oneself academically. It is to produce holiness and a righteous lifestyle, conforming to God's ways. 

   (2) The teacher must be someone whose life illustrates perseverance in truth, faith and holiness. 1 Timothy 3:1-13. 

We can press on toward the goal - God help us - 

while the corona virus runs its course.

Let there be no shipwrecks among us.

Jimmy

We Have it Bad       
Others Have it BAD!   
    
   Coronavirus has hit hard in Iran and other Middle Eastern states. While they battle the virus, aid workers also protect victims of war and displacement. 

   More than 12 million refugees and other displaced people live in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Turkey. These countries share borders and other ties to Iran, which itself hosts a million refugees.  

  New fighting between Turkey and Syria has forced another million or so from their homes, over half of them children. 
  

Report from Mindy Belz

WORLD magazine  

  

   People living in tents faced subzero temperatures this winter. Small aid groups deliver food to families without cook stoves or heat. Children wear flip-flops. 

   Then came COVID-19. Protections are next to impossible in substandard conditions, while humans are weakened to begin with.

   As if warfare, border closings and government upheaval aren't bad enough, street protests have limited banking in Lebanon and Iraq, two main areas for staging relief work in Syria. Aid workers backpack cash into the region to purchase supplies.

   Lebanon, in serious debt, could default and lose its banking system.

   A team in Syria is using a container-built mobile hospital where surgeons and other medical personnel treat trauma and diseases. Medics are available because their Syrian hospitals have been destroyed. 

   Heart for Lebanon, working among Syrian refugees, handles health, security and safety measures. Workers say they have "an unprecedented opportunity to show the love of Jesus Christ." 

     Jimmy