12/01/25 DAY 3

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Supporting Scriptures: [John 1:1-36; John 8:24,58; John 10:30-33; John 20:28-29; Romans 9:5; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 2:9; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 1:8-9; 1 Peter 1:20-21; 2 Peter 1:1]

Jesus Christ always existed with God and he always was/is God, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But he wasn’t always the man Jesus who was fully God and fully man when he lived on the earth. But one day, over 2000 years ago, he left his throne in heaven, and he came to earth, and he was born as a human baby to a virgin mother, but he was conceived of the Holy Spirit, and not of man. So he was not born with a sin nature as we are, and he never once sinned his whole time on the earth.

And Jesus Christ is our creator God. All things came into being through him. And he is the one who formed us in the wombs of our mothers. And in his book were written all the days that were ordained for us, when as yet there was not one of them (see Psalm 139:13-16). And he was the spiritual rock from whom the Israelites drank when they were in the wilderness for 40 years (see 1 Corinthians 10:1-4). He was not with them in body, but he was with them in Spirit. For Jesus Christ always existed with God, and he is God.

And Jesus Christ is the Light which shines in the darkness. And the Light is truth, righteousness, holiness, and godliness. The Light is all that is pure, upright, godly, and moral. And the Light is opposed to the darkness, for the darkness is all that is evil, immoral, wicked, sinful, and of the devil. But the Light shines in the darkness to expose all that is evil, and to show the truth in contrast to what is evil, and in contrast to Satan’s lies. So the Light is also the gospel of our salvation which puts sin to death so we can live for Christ.

Jesus Christ lived on the earth about 33 years. And while he was on the earth, particularly in his last 3 years, he healed the sick and afflicted, raised the dead, delivered people from demons, fed the hungry, and he performed many miracles. He also spread the message of the gospel of our salvation. For he taught that we must deny self, die to sin daily, and follow him in obedience to his commands if we want to have eternal life in him and have salvation from our sins. For giving him lip service only will save no one.

But in his great love for us, he willingly gave his life up for us on that cross to put our sins to death with him, and to be raised from the dead by God, so that, by God-gifted and God-persuaded faith in him, which is not of our own doing, we will die to sin and live for God/Christ Jesus in walks of holiness and righteousness, in obedience to our Lord and to his New Covenant commands, empowered by God. For this purpose Jesus came to the earth to save sinners from their slavery to sin so they can serve God with their lives.

[Isaiah 53:1-12; Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Matthew 26:26-29; Luke 9:23-26; Luke 17:25; John 1:1-36; John 6:35-58; John 8:24,58; John 10:27-33; John 20:28-29; Acts 26:18; Romans 5:8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 9:5; 1 Corinthians 11:23-32; 1 Corinthians 15:1-8; Ephesians 2:8-10; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 2:9; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 1:8-9; Hebrews 2:14-15; Hebrews 4:15; 1 Peter 1:20-21; 2 Peter 1:1]

Our Eyes on Jesus

Based off Hebrews 12:2-13
An Original Work / April 23, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus.
Our faith starts and grows in Him,
Who for the joy set before Him
Endured all our sin.
Scorning the shame of the cross,
He sat down beside God above.
He was willing to die for us,
To save us, in love.

Think about the opposition
He endured from sinful men,
So when you go through life’s trials,
You stay strong within.
Knowing all He went through for us
Helps us not grow weak of heart;
Not grow weary; don’t give up;
And not from Him depart.

In your struggle against sin’s ways,
Resist not to shed your blood.
Have you forgotten the words
God spoke to us in love?
“My child, don’t ignore it when
The Lord corrects you; do faint not,
Because the Lord disciplines those
That He loves, of God.”

God rebukes us all for our good;
Share with Him in holiness.
It produces a harvest of
God’s own righteousness.
Therefore, strengthen all within you
That is weak and might give way.
Stand firm in the faith God gives you;
Trust Him and obey.

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The Deity of Christ Jesus
An Original Work / December 1, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

romansroad said:

Thank for your kinds words. I needed them.

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You are welcome. All of us as self-proclaimed children of the Lord and believers in Jesus Christ would do a lot better to both give and receive words of kindness and encouragement. I have prayed for you, Romansroad. I have been through the hellish days of suffering from scrupulosity, myself.

Hello @Jaedan, here are some things to consider, a two-part teaching series by Dr. R C Sproul (each lecture is around 20 min), which includes a lot about what NOT to do when seeking to know God's will.


Then second, a sermon about finding God's will for your life from Dr. John MacArthur.


All three are interesting, useful, and free

God bless you!!

--David
p.s. - finally, here's a short quote from theologian/pastor Dr. Sinclair Ferguson that has been very helpful to me (whenever I remember and/or decide to follow it, that is), especially when I have two or more possibilities/directions before me to choose from.

SarahsKnight said:

Hank, you should have realized this about @Aryeh Jay a long time ago.

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It's easier when that guy jay posts a lot from home or school. Now he's south of the Gulf of America on a Navy ship doing absolutely nothing, just sitting here watching the clouds. But he doesn't post a lot for some reason. Here's a cool picture of clouds from yesterday evening.

The Liturgist said:

Systemd: proudly encouraging migrations to FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, DragonFlyBSD and Illumos since 2010

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I have been seriously looking at the BSDs. If they had a ‘live’ USB installer I could find I’d have done it already. I’d probably find it more like the old old Red Hat than those systemd junk. Don’t get me started on Gnome. And my oldest grandson is fascinated by xscreensaver, which requires the X windowing system that Fedora is dumping for Wayland. So no xscreensaver for Fedora using Gnome any more. Mate still uses x windows but the writing is on the wall. Mate for now but Fedora is losing me.

Oh well. Linux was my second OS after starting with Finder 4.5 in the old Mac OS. OSX was my third OS and Windows my fourth. I only have a laptop running Windows because of work, often setting it up for remote access. The remote engineers mostly couldn’t figure out how to navigate a desktop that wasn’t Windows 10.

We had Vespers last night at church, something they are doing for the Sundays of Advent. I said I would be there next week. The deacon in charge said “God willing, He may return before then.” I think many of us are awaiting Elijah. It’s not solely an academic interest. Praying we can be faithful until that day.

As a Presbyterian pastor who had a ministry with street kids said to me once "There's a very strange psychic world out there".

just realized i forgot to add the word current before the word Assyrian

I am deeply sorry for triple posting as my pinky finger accidentally bumped the enter key & i am a slow typer

Meanwhile there are extremes in the West of Australia and the south east, which is having wintry conditions on the first day of summer.

I have found YouTube videos that appear real but are stating questionable things. Like bishop Barren giving a talk saying priests can be married and the celibacy rule is lifted
If we rely on AI or YouTube videos alone, we can be deceived. I always check the Vatican news to see what the magisterium is really teaching

I would say AI is dangerous in that it can be used to deceive by looking so offical yet be so wrong sometimes.

Bob8102 said:

I have been struggling with OCD and struggling with the gospel for decades. I ask the question because of what I read in a book on Christians with OCD. The book is called Strivings Within by Mitsy VanCleeve. The author talks about how the author of Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan, centuries ago, apparently had OCD. I have read about him and how he kept doubting his salvation and having other struggles. VanCLeeve said that he eventually gave up trying to seek assurance. He decided that come heaven, come hell, he was for ‘venturing all for the name of Christ.’ She said that only by making this decision was he able to continue ‘serving His Lord.’ This jives with other advice I’ve read which says that OCD people must learn to live with the OCD and its uncertainty.

If all of the above is true, then OCD people can never get assurance of salvation, right?. Yet one author I read said that your spiritual life will never really take off until you have assurance.

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The OCD people I have known in this life are very varied, though they have much in common, too. For the most part, I have found them very intelligent, able to reason well.

One thing I can suggest, is to pursue Christ with all your might, with all your will, with all your heart. Get to know him, spend hours praying, reading, without demanding he answer your questions. Get to know him and you may find, in his timing, that your life is about him, for better or for worse. And that for that, he is to be praised. You belong to him.

Vambram said:

This is not common place at all. Humans are not perfect so to expect perfection is a mistake.

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It's supposedly commonplace, but whenever it happens it makes hedline news.

Praying for the love of God to reach out and pierce the heart of those playing with dangerous things they think are some form of joke or rebellion against a person controlling them. Lord please help this member fight the spiritual war as You best know how to direct.

essentialsaltes said:

Miscarriages, infections, neglect: The pregnant women detained by ICE​

Until last year, Congress required reports on the pregnant, postpartum or nursing women in ICE custody, including ‘detailed justification’ for their detention. This requirement no longer exists, Kelly Rissman reports​

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[oversight is one of those words that mean its own opposite]​

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Despite an ICE directive generally prohibiting the detention of pregnant women, Alicia was held there for three months.​

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About a month after she was detained, Alicia began experiencing severe abdominal pain, vaginal discharge, cramping, and bleeding. She was taken to a nearby emergency room in shackles. There, she underwent an invasive medical procedure, without her consent, according to the letter. ​

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she remained at the facility for two more months. Unrelenting symptoms - bleeding, swelling, foul-smelling vaginal discharge and excruciating pain — persisted. The pain became so severe that she struggled to sleep.​

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It wasn’t until Alicia was deported in July that she was able to obtain antibiotics to treat the vaginal infection she’d developed from the miscarriage that had gone untreated while in ICE custody.​

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Data, available from a patchwork of media, lawsuits and Congressionalreports, suggests dozens of pregnant, postpartum and nursing women have been detained so far this year. [But we don't know since Congress did not renew that required reporting.]​

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Good Lord, why are we holding people for 3 months? If they are illegal, it shouldn't take three months to ship them out. And we absolutely are responsible to see they get the medical care they need. It's unconscionable that they don't.

### Traditional Jewish Assignments (most common version)
Based on Midrash (e.g., Numbers Rabbah 2:7) and later sources like Rashi and the Zohar:

- Judah (East) → Lion (because Judah is called a "lion’s whelp" in Genesis 49:9)
- Reuben (South) → Man (because Reuben was the firstborn of a human mother, or because of the mandrakes story in Genesis 30 showing human-like behavior)
- Ephraim (West) → Ox (because of Joseph’s blessing in Deuteronomy 33:17, which speaks of oxen horns; Ephraim and Manasseh were sons of Joseph)
- Dan (North) → Eagle (or sometimes a serpent/eagle hybrid, based on Genesis 49:17 and the idea of swiftness)

HARK! said:

Another record?

View attachment 373841

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What is important about inflation in the price of silver? Not many people buy it. Do people buy silver with their CC?

“Life happens.” Okay, but how much life can happen to one person or family?!

1. I would have moved out of my parents’ house earlier than I did. At the time though, I don’t think I could have ever known how much that would have impacted my life.

2. I would have not gotten a bachelor’s degree and went straight to tech college. Though I think my bachelor’s degree helped me in a lot of ways. Maybe I would have still gotten it, it just didn’t help my career at all.

3. I would have avoided a guy I met at Bible study 15+ years ago. Mostly because he had a certain way of thinking that shaped me, at a time in my life when I was more impressionable.

Reluctant Theologian said:

More detailed quote:

The same holds true for the maidservant who is under the yoke of slavery; she too is in another's power, that is, her master's. But if she is a believer, let her regard herself as belonging to God, not to her master, and let her keep her body pure for the Lord who bought her with his own blood. [...] But if her master is an unbeliever, let the believing maidservant bear up, knowing that she is serving the Lord Christ. Let her not maltreat her flesh but rather adorn it chastely, keeping it pure and undefiled for the Lord. For it is not permitted her to fornicate or to surrender her body to anyone but her own husband. But if she is forced by her master, let her pray to be given strength to endure and not to sin against the Lord. For the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit and must be kept in holiness.

Upon reading better I agree it's more likely he was referring with 'endure' to persist in refusal than to let her master have his way with a sinful plan. Under Torah law though the master could have married her still himself but any believing master would never be allowed to force his slaves to commit sin - including prostitution.

PS: later theologians do seem to provide this exoneration in case of force/coercion - e.g Augustine (The city of God - +/- 420 AD):

And this seems a rhetorical question.

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While slaves did not enjoy the rights of a trial, it doesn’t stop anyone from viewing this as a shameful act.

DaisyDay said:

I wonder if we as a culture should reconsider allowing mentally ill folk such easy access to deadly weapons.

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True, liberals, especially of the transgender type, should probably be banned from owning guns

peaceful-forest said:

Has anyone else been struggling with the "aging" part of their 30s?

For example, on the Oldies station now, they're playing 90s music. That makes me feel old.

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It’s been so crazy getting closer and closer to 40! I think what I struggle with most is watching my parents age and getting closer to that point where their age makes you question how much longer you have left with them. My parents are older and had kids not much younger than I did. It’s hard to imagine them not being here someday.

BobRyan said:

g908
βάπτισμα βάπτισμα baptisma
The text then says "NOT the washing away of dirt from the flesh" (the waters of baptism) but rather the appeal to God for a clean conscience )such as is the case with a believing adult.

The fact that it is contrasting the washing with water and the appeal to God, shows the image being used is literal baptism

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And just where does the Greek WASHING appear. in 1 Peter 3:21 as I cad see the Greek with less than 2 minutes !!

And where do you see ( the waters of bap[tism ). in. the Greek text. ?????

And you JUST ADDED LITERAL BAPTISM , WHY. ??

dan p