Archive for May, 2011

Let Your Light Shine On

1 Corinthi­ans 15:35 – 38 [show]1 Corinthi­ans 15:35 – 38 The Res­ur­rec­tion Body [35]But some­one will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” [36]You fool­ish per­son! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. [37]And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare ker­nel, per­haps of wheat or of some other grain. [38]But God gives it a body as he has cho­sen, and to each kind of seed its own body. (ESV)
is about the spir­i­tual body.
³⁵ But some­one might ask, “How are the dead raised? What kind of body will they have?” ³⁶ How fool­ish! What you plant doesn’t come to life unless it dies. ³⁷ When you plant some­thing, it isn’t a com­pletely grown plant that you put in the ground. You only plant a seed. Maybe it’s wheat or some­thing else. ³⁸ But God gives the seed a body just as he has planned. And to each kind of seed he gives its own body.

These verses can be used to under­stand the res­ur­rec­tion, empha­siz­ing that in the res­ur­rec­tion the phys­i­cal body is trans­formed into a spir­i­tual body. There­fore, the gift of organs and tis­sues does not affect the abil­ity of one to be resurrected.

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AME & AME Zion (African Methodist Epis­co­pal)
Organ and tis­sue dona­tion is viewed as an act of neigh­borly love and char­ity by these denom­i­na­tions. They encour­age all mem­bers to sup­port dona­tion as a way of help­ing others.

Amish
The Amish con­sent to dona­tion if they know it is for the health and wel­fare of the trans­plant recip­i­ent. They believe that since God cre­ated the human body, it is God who heals. How­ever, they are not for­bid­den from using mod­ern med­ical ser­vices, includ­ing surgery, hos­pi­tal­iza­tion, den­tal work, anes­the­sia, blood trans­fu­sions, or immunization.

Assem­bly of God
The Church has no offi­cial pol­icy regard­ing dona­tion. The deci­sion to donate is left up to the indi­vid­ual. Dona­tion is highly sup­ported by the denomination.

Bap­tist
Though Bap­tists gen­er­ally believe that organ and tis­sue dona­tion and trans­plan­ta­tion are ulti­mately mat­ters of per­sonal con­science, the nation’s largest Protes­tant denom­i­na­tion, the South­ern Bap­tist Con­ven­tion, adopted a res­o­lu­tion in 1988 encour­ag­ing physi­cians to request organ dona­tion in appro­pri­ate cir­cum­stances and to ‘…encour­age vol­un­tarism regard­ing organ dona­tions in the spirit of stew­ard­ship, com­pas­sion for the needs of oth­ers and alle­vi­at­ing suf­fer­ing.’ Other Bap­tist groups have sup­ported organ and tis­sue dona­tion as an act of char­ity and leave the deci­sion to donate up to the individual.

Bud­dhism
Bud­dhists believe organ dona­tion is a mat­ter that should be left to an individual’s con­science. Rev­erend Gyomay Masao Kubose, pres­i­dent and founder of The Bud­dhist Tem­ple of Chicago and a prac­tic­ing min­is­ter, says, “We honor those peo­ple who donate their bod­ies and organs to the advance­ment of med­ical sci­ence and to sav­ing lives.” The impor­tance of let­ting loved ones know your wishes is stressed.

By HIS Grace Church.
God gave us life, Jesus gave us eter­nal life, we should share of our­selves. To heal oth­ers with this ves­sel (body) when we no longer need it. God will make all things whole.

Catholi­cism
Catholics view organ dona­tion as an act of char­ity, fra­ter­nal love and self sac­ri­fice. Trans­plants are eth­i­cally and morally accept­able to the Vat­i­can. Pope John Paul II stated, “The Catholic Church would pro­mote the fact that there is a need for organ donors and that Chris­tians should accept this as a “chal­lenge to their gen­eros­ity and fra­ter­nal love” so long as eth­i­cal prin­ci­ples are followed.”

Chris­t­ian Church (Dis­ci­ples of Christ)
The Chris­t­ian Church encour­ages organ and tis­sue dona­tion, stat­ing that we were cre­ated for God’s glory and for shar­ing God’s love. A 1985 res­o­lu­tion, adopted by the Gen­eral Assem­bly, encour­ages “mem­bers of the Chris­t­ian Church (Dis­ci­ples of Christ) to enroll as organ donors and prayer­fully sup­port those who have received an organ transplant.”

The Church of Christ, Sci­en­tist
Chris­t­ian Sci­en­tists do not take a spe­cific posi­tion on trans­plants or organ dona­tion. They nor­mally rely on spir­i­tual, rather than med­ical means for heal­ing. Organ and tis­sue dona­tion is an issue that is left to the indi­vid­ual church member.

Epis­co­pal
The Epis­co­pal Church rec­og­nizes the life-​giving ben­e­fits of organ, blood, and tis­sue dona­tion. All Chris­tians are encour­aged to become organ, blood, and tis­sue donors “as part of their min­istry to oth­ers in the name of Christ, who gave His life that we may have life in its fullness.”

Greek Ortho­dox
Accord­ing to Rev­erend Dr. Mil­ton Efthimiou, Direc­tor of the Depart­ment of Church and Soci­ety for the Greek Ortho­dox Church of North and South Amer­ica, “The Greek Ortho­dox Church is not opposed to organ dona­tion as long as the organs and tis­sue in ques­tion are used to bet­ter human life, i.e., for trans­plan­ta­tion or for research that will lead to improve­ments in the treat­ment and pre­ven­tion of disease.”

Gyp­sies
Gyp­sies tend to be against organ dona­tion. Although they have no for­mal res­o­lu­tion, their oppo­si­tion is asso­ci­ated with their belief in the after-​life. Gyp­sies believe that for one year after a per­son dies, the soul retraces its steps. All parts of the body must remain intact because the soul main­tains a phys­i­cal shape.

Hin­duism
Hin­dus are not pro­hib­ited by reli­gious law from donat­ing their organs, accord­ing to the Hindu Tem­ple Soci­ety of North Amer­ica. In fact, Hindu mythol­ogy includes sto­ries in which parts of the human body are used for the ben­e­fit of other humans and soci­ety. The act is an indi­vid­ual decision.

Inde­pen­dent Con­ser­v­a­tive Evan­gel­i­cal
Gen­er­ally, Evan­gel­i­cals have had no oppo­si­tion to organ and tis­sue dona­tion. Dona­tion is an indi­vid­ual decision.

Islam
Mus­lims believe in the prin­ci­ple of sav­ing human lives, and per­mit organ trans­plants as a means of achiev­ing that noble end.

Jehovah’s Wit­nesses
Jehovah’s Wit­nesses believe dona­tion is a mat­ter best left to an individual’s con­science. All organs and tis­sue, how­ever, must be com­pletely drained of blood before transplantation.

Judaism
All four branches of Judaism (Ortho­dox, Con­ser­v­a­tive, Reform, and Recon­struc­tion­ist) sup­port and encour­age dona­tion. Said Ortho­dox Rabbi Moses Tendier, “if one is in the posi­tion to donate an organ to save another’s life, it’s oblig­a­tory to do so, even if the donor never knows who the ben­e­fi­ciary will be. The basic prin­ci­ple of Jew­ish ethics — ‘the infi­nite worth of the human being’ — also includes dona­tion of corneas, since eye­sight restora­tion is con­sid­ered a life-​saving oper­a­tion.” In 1991, the Rab­bini­cal Coun­cil of Amer­ica (Ortho­dox) approved organ dona­tions as per­mis­si­ble, and even required, from brain-​dead patients. The reform move­ment looks upon the trans­plant pro­gram favor­ably. Rabbi Richard Address, Direc­tor of the Union of Amer­i­can Hebrew Con­gre­ga­tions Bio-​Ethics Com­mit­tee, stated that, “Judaic Responsa mate­ri­als pro­vide a pos­i­tive approach and by and large the North Amer­i­can Reform Jew­ish com­mu­nity approves of transplantation.”

Lutheran
In 1984, the Lutheran Church in Amer­ica passed a res­o­lu­tion stat­ing that dona­tion con­tributes to the well-​being of human­ity and can be “…an expres­sion of sac­ri­fi­cial love for a neigh­bor in need.” They call on mem­bers to con­sider donat­ing organs and to make any nec­es­sary fam­ily and legal arrange­ments, includ­ing the use of a signed donor card.

Men­non­ite
Men­non­ites have no for­mal posi­tion on dona­tion, but are not opposed to it. They leave the deci­sion to the indi­vid­ual or his/​her family.

Mora­vian
The Mora­vian Church has made no state­ment address­ing organ and tis­sue dona­tion or trans­plan­ta­tion. Robert E. Sawyer, Pres­i­dent, Provin­cial Elders Con­fer­ence, Mora­vian Church of Amer­ica, South­ern Province, states, “There is noth­ing in our doc­trine or pol­icy that would pre­vent a Mora­vian pas­tor from assist­ing a fam­ily in mak­ing a deci­sion to donate or not to donate an organ.” It is, there­fore, a mat­ter of indi­vid­ual choice.

Mor­mons
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-​Day Saints con­sid­ers the deci­sion to donate organs a self­less act that often results in great ben­e­fit and the deci­sion to donate for med­ical pur­poses, or the deci­sion to autho­rize dona­tion from a deceased fam­ily mem­ber is made by the indi­vid­ual or deceased member’s fam­ily. The Church states that the deci­sion should be made after receiv­ing com­pe­tent med­ical coun­sel and con­fir­ma­tion through prayer.

Pen­te­costal
Pen­te­costals leave the deci­sion to donate up to the individual.

Pres­by­ter­ian
Pres­by­te­ri­ans encour­age and endorse dona­tion. It’s an individual’s right to make deci­sions regard­ing his or her own body.

Seventh-​Day Adven­tist
Dona­tion and trans­plan­ta­tion are strongly encour­aged. Seventh-​Day Adven­tists have many trans­plant hos­pi­tals, includ­ing Loma Linda in Cal­i­for­nia, which spe­cial­izes in pedi­atric heart transplantation.

Shinto
In Shinto, the dead body is con­sid­ered impure and dan­ger­ous, and thus quite pow­er­ful. Injur­ing a dead body is a seri­ous crime. It is dif­fi­cult to obtain con­sent from bereaved fam­i­lies for organ dona­tion or dis­sec­tion for med­ical edu­ca­tion or patho­log­i­cal anatomy because Shin­tos relate dona­tion to injur­ing a dead body. Fam­i­lies are con­cerned that they not injure the itai, the rela­tion­ship between the dead per­son and the bereaved people.

Soci­ety of Friends (Quak­ers)
Quak­ers do not have an offi­cial posi­tion. They believe that organ and tis­sue dona­tion is an indi­vid­ual decision.

Uni­tar­ian Uni­ver­sal­ist
Organ and tis­sue dona­tion is widely sup­ported by Uni­tar­ian Uni­ver­sal­ists. They view it as an act of love and self­less giving.

United Church of Christ
Rev­erend Jay Lint­ner stated, “United Church of Christ peo­ple, churches and agen­cies are extremely and over­whelm­ingly sup­port­ive of organ shar­ing. The Gen­eral Synod has never spo­ken to this issue because, in gen­eral, the Synod speaks on more con­tro­ver­sial issues, and there is no con­tro­versy about organ shar­ing, just as there is no con­tro­versy about blood dona­tion in the denom­i­na­tion. While the Gen­eral Synod has never spo­ken about blood dona­tion, blood dona­tion rooms have been set up at sev­eral Gen­eral Syn­ods. Sim­i­larly, any orga­nized effort to get the Gen­eral Synod del­e­gates or indi­vid­ual churches to sign organ dona­tion cards would meet with gen­er­ally pos­i­tive responses.”

United Methodist
The United Methodist Church issued a pol­icy state­ment regard­ing organ and tis­sue dona­tion. In it, they state that, “The United Methodist Church rec­og­nizes the life-​giving ben­e­fits of organ and tis­sue dona­tion, and thereby encour­ages all Chris­tians to become organ and tis­sue donors by sign­ing and car­ry­ing cards or driver’s licenses, attest­ing to their com­mit­ment of such organs upon their death, to those in need, as a part of their min­istry to oth­ers in the name of Christ, who gave his life that we might have life in its full­ness.” A 1992 res­o­lu­tion states, “Dona­tion is to be encour­aged, assum­ing appro­pri­ate safe­guards against has­ten­ing death and deter­mi­na­tion of death by reli­able cri­te­ria.” The res­o­lu­tion fur­ther states, “Pastoral-​care per­sons should be will­ing to explore these options as a nor­mal part of con­ver­sa­tion with patients and their families.”

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A Fel­low­ship of Cel­e­bra­tion
Sun­day, May 15^th, 2011
This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. – Psalm 118:24 [show]Psalm 118:24 [24]This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

We wel­come ALL God’s Chil­dren to come as they are and join in the cel­e­bra­tion of Jesus’ teach­ing no mat­ter where they are in their jour­ney of faith.

Scrip­ture Les­son:
Gen­e­sis 2 [show]Gen­e­sis 2 The Sev­enth Day, God Rests [2:1]Thus the heav­ens and the earth were fin­ished, and all the host of them. [2]And on the sev­enth day God fin­ished his work that he had done, and he rested on the sev­enth day from all his work that he had done. [3]So God blessed the sev­enth day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in cre­ation. The Cre­ation of Man and Woman [4]These are the gen­er­a­tions of the heav­ens and the earth when they were cre­ated, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heav­ens. [5]When no bush of the field(1) was yet in the land(2) and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up – for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, [6]and a mist(3) was going up from the land and was water­ing the whole face of the ground– [7]then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nos­trils the breath of life, and the man became a liv­ing crea­ture. [8]And the LORD God planted a gar­den in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. [9]And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleas­ant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the gar­den, and the tree of the knowl­edge of good and evil. [10]A river flowed out of Eden to water the gar­den, and there it divided and became four rivers. [11]The name of the first is the Pis­hon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Hav­i­lah, where there is gold. [12]And the gold of that land is good; bdel­lium and onyx stone are there. [13]The name of the sec­ond river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. [14]And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. [15]The LORD God took the man and put him in the gar­den of Eden to work it and keep it. [16]And the LORD God com­manded the man, say­ing, “You may surely eat of every tree of the gar­den, [17]but of the tree of the knowl­edge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat(4) of it you shall surely die.“ [18]Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for(5) him.” [19]Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed(6) every beast of the field and every bird of the heav­ens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And what­ever the man called every liv­ing crea­ture, that was its name. [20]The man gave names to all live­stock and to the birds of the heav­ens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam(7) there was not found a helper fit for him. [21]So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. [22]And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made(8) into a woman and brought her to the man. [23]Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”(9) [24]Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. [25]And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. (ESV) Foot­notes 1. [2:5] Or ‘open coun­try’ 2. [2:5] Or ‘earth’; also verse 6 3. [2:6] Or ‘spring’ 4. [2:17] Or ‘when you eat’ 5. [2:18] Or ‘cor­re­spond­ing to’; also verse 20 6. [2:19] Or ‘And out of the ground the LORD God formed’ 7. [2:20] Or ‘the man’ 8. [2:22] Hebrew ‘built’ 9. [2:23] The Hebrew words for ‘woman’ (‘ishshah’) and ‘man’ (‘ish’) sound alike
: 20 – 30 Bone trans­plant: A rib taken from Adam to give life to Eve.
Leviti­cus 1:7 [show]Leviti­cus 1:7 [7]and the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. (ESV)
“Thou shalt love thy neigh­bor as thy­self.”
Deuteron­omy 30:15 – 20 [show]Deuteron­omy 30:15 – 20 [15]“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. [16]If you obey the com­mand­ments of the LORD your God(1) that I com­mand you today, by lov­ing the LORD your God, by walk­ing in his ways, and by keep­ing his com­mand­ments and his statutes and his rules,(2) then you shall live and mul­ti­ply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are enter­ing to take pos­ses­sion of it. [17]But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to wor­ship other gods and serve them, [18]I declare to you today, that you shall surely per­ish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jor­dan to enter and pos­sess. [19]I call heaven and earth to wit­ness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, bless­ing and curse. There­fore choose life, that you and your off­spring may live, [20]loving the LORD your God, obey­ing his voice and hold­ing fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abra­ham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” (ESV) Foot­notes 1. [30:16] Sep­tu­agint; Hebrew lacks ‘If you obey the com­mand­ments of the LORD your God’ 2. [30:16] Or ‘his just decrees’
“Choose life so that you and your descen­dants may live.”
Psalm 41 [show]Psalm 41 O LORD, Be Gra­cious to Me To the choir­mas­ter. A Psalm of David. [41:1]Blessed is the one who con­sid­ers the poor!(1) In the day of trou­ble the LORD deliv­ers him; [2]the LORD pro­tects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land; you do not give him up to the will of his ene­mies. [3]The LORD sus­tains him on his sickbed; in his ill­ness you restore him to full health.(2) [4]As for me, I said, “O LORD, be gra­cious to me; heal me,(3) for I have sinned against you!“ [5]My ene­mies say of me in mal­ice, “When will he die, and his name per­ish?“ [6]And when one comes to see me, he utters empty words, while his heart gath­ers iniq­uity; when he goes out, he tells it abroad. [7]All who hate me whis­per together about me; they imag­ine the worst for me.(4) [8]They say, “A deadly thing is poured out(5) on him; he will not rise again from where he lies.“ [9]Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me. [10]But you, O LORD, be gra­cious to me, and raise me up, that I may repay them! [11]By this I know that you delight in me: my enemy will not shout in tri­umph over me. [12]But you have upheld me because of my integrity, and set me in your pres­ence for­ever. [13]Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from ever­last­ing to ever­last­ing! Amen and Amen. Foot­notes 1. [41:1] Or ‘weak’ 2. [41:3] Hebrew ‘you turn all his bed’ 3. [41:4] Hebrew ‘my soul’ 4. [41:7] Or ‘they devise evil against me’ 5. [41:8] Or ‘has fas­tened’
: Images of a heal­ing Lord.
Ecclisi­astes 3:1 – 17 “For every­thing there is a sea­son…”
Isa­iah 35 [show]Isa­iah 35 The Ran­somed Shall Return [35:1]The wilder­ness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blos­som like the cro­cus; [2]it shall blos­som abun­dantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God. [3]Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the fee­ble knees. [4]Say to those who have an anx­ious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the rec­om­pense of God. He will come and save you.“ [5]Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; [6]then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilder­ness, and streams in the desert; [7]the burn­ing sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; in the haunt of jack­als, where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. [8]And a high­way shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holi­ness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.(1) [9]No lion shall be there, nor shall any rav­en­ous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. [10]And the ran­somed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; ever­last­ing joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain glad­ness and joy, and sor­row and sigh­ing shall flee away. Foot­notes 1. [35:8] Or ‘if they are fools, they shall not wan­der in it’
: 1 – 6 “Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the fee­ble knees”…”the eyes of the blind shall be opened…”
Ezekiel 37 [show]Ezekiel 37 The Val­ley of Dry Bones [37:1]The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the mid­dle of the valley;(1) it was full of bones. [2]And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the sur­face of the val­ley, and behold, they were very dry. [3]And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord GOD, you know.” [4]Then he said to me, “Proph­esy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. [5]Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath(2) to enter you, and you shall live. [6]And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the LORD.“ [7]So I proph­e­sied as I was com­manded. And as I proph­e­sied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling,(3) and the bones came together, bone to its bone. [8]And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had cov­ered them. But there was no breath in them. [9]Then he said to me, “Proph­esy to the breath; proph­esy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” [10]So I proph­e­sied as he com­manded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceed­ingly great army. [11]Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ [12]Therefore proph­esy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my peo­ple. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. [13]And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my peo­ple. [14]And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the LORD; I have spo­ken, and I will do it, declares the LORD.“ I Will Be Their God, They Shall Be My Peo­ple [15]The word of the LORD came to me: [16]“Son of man, take a stick(4) and write on it, ‘For Judah, and the peo­ple of Israel asso­ci­ated with him’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel asso­ci­ated with him.’ [17]And join them one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. [18]And when your peo­ple say to you, ‘Will you not tell us what you mean by these?’ [19]say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am about to take the stick of Joseph (that is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel asso­ci­ated with him. And I will join with it the stick of Judah,(5) and make them one stick, that they may be one in my hand. [20]When the sticks on which you write are in your hand before their eyes, [21]then say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will take the peo­ple of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land. [22]And I will make them one nation in the land, on the moun­tains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two king­doms. [23]They shall not defile them­selves any­more with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their trans­gres­sions. But I will save them from all the backslidings(6) in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my peo­ple, and I will be their God. [24]“My ser­vant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shep­herd. They shall walk in my rules and be care­ful to obey my statutes. [25]They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my ser­vant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their chil­dren and their children’s chil­dren shall dwell there for­ever, and David my ser­vant shall be their prince for­ever. [26]I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an ever­last­ing covenant with them. And I will set them in their land(7) and mul­ti­ply them, and will set my sanc­tu­ary in their midst forever­more. [27]My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my peo­ple. [28]Then the nations will know that I am the LORD who sanc­ti­fies Israel, when my sanc­tu­ary is in their midst forever­more.” (ESV) Foot­notes 1. [37:1] Or ‘plain’; also verse 2 2. [37:5] Or ‘spirit’; also verses 6, 9, 10 3. [37:7] Or ‘an earth­quake’ (com­pare 3:12, 13) 4. [37:16] Or ‘one piece of wood’; also verses 17, 19, 20 5. [37:19] Hebrew ‘And I will place them on it, the stick of Judah’ 6. [37:23] Many Hebrew man­u­scripts; other Hebrew man­u­scripts ‘dwellings’ 7. [37:26] Hebrew lacks ‘in their land’
The val­ley of dry bones: “These bones shall live.”
Isa­iah 40:31 [show]Isa­iah 40:31 [31]but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
“But those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength…they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”
ONE: These are the Words of the Lord
ALL: Thanks be to God

Children’s les­son One Soli­tary Life by James A. Fran­cis

Scrip­ture:
Matthew 5:7 [show]Matthew 5:7 [7]“Blessed are the mer­ci­ful, for they shall receive mercy. (ESV)
“Blessed are the mer­ci­ful”
Matthew 7:12 [show]Matthew 7:12 The Golden Rule [12]“So what­ever you wish that oth­ers would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. (ESV)
“In every­thing do to oth­ers as you would have them do to You…”
Matthew 25:31 – 46 [show]Matthew 25:31 – 46 The Final Judg­ment [31]“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glo­ri­ous throne. [32]Before him will be gath­ered all the nations, and he will sep­a­rate peo­ple one from another as a shep­herd sep­a­rates the sheep from the goats. [33]And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. [34]Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the king­dom pre­pared for you from the foun­da­tion of the world. [35]For I was hun­gry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you wel­comed me, [36]I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you vis­ited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ [37]Then the right­eous will answer him, say­ing, ‘Lord, when did we see you hun­gry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? [38]And when did we see you a stranger and wel­come you, or naked and clothe you? [39]And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ [40]And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,(1) you did it to me.‘ [41]“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eter­nal fire pre­pared for the devil and his angels. [42]For I was hun­gry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, [43]I was a stranger and you did not wel­come me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ [44]Then they also will answer, say­ing, ‘Lord, when did we see you hun­gry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not min­is­ter to you?’ [45]Then he will answer them, say­ing, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ [46]And these will go away into eter­nal pun­ish­ment, but the right­eous into eter­nal life.” (ESV) Foot­notes 1. [25:40] Or ‘broth­ers and sis­ters’
, Car­ing for the stranger.
Luke 6:37 – 38 [show]Luke 6:37 – 38 Judg­ing Oth­ers [37]“Judge not, and you will not be judged; con­demn not, and you will not be con­demned; for­give, and you will be for­given; [38]give, and it will be given to you. Good mea­sure, pressed down, shaken together, run­ning over, will be put into your lap. For with the mea­sure you use it will be mea­sured back to you.” (ESV)
“…recov­ery of sight to the blind”
Luke 6:37 – 38 [show]Luke 6:37 – 38 Judg­ing Oth­ers [37]“Judge not, and you will not be judged; con­demn not, and you will not be con­demned; for­give, and you will be for­given; [38]give, and it will be given to you. Good mea­sure, pressed down, shaken together, run­ning over, will be put into your lap. For with the mea­sure you use it will be mea­sured back to you.” (ESV)
“Give and it will be given to you.”
John 3:16 – 17 [show]John 3:16 – 17 For God So Loved the World [16]“For God so loved the world,(1) that he gave his only Son, that who­ever believes in him should not per­ish but have eter­nal life. [17]For God did not send his Son into the world to con­demn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (ESV) Foot­notes 1. [3:16] Or ‘For this is how God loved the world’
“God so loved the world that He gave…”
John 10:10 [show]John 10:10 [10]The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abun­dantly. (ESV)
“I came that they may have life, and have it abun­dantly.”
Mark 9:47 [show]Mark 9:47 [47]And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is bet­ter for you to enter the king­dom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, (ESV)
, We can enter heaven with­out hav­ing every part of our bod­ies present.
John 15:12 – 17 [show]John 15:12 – 17 [12]“This is my com­mand­ment, that you love one another as I have loved you. [13]Greater love has no one than this, that some­one lay down his life for his friends. [14]You are my friends if you do what I com­mand you. [15]No longer do I call you servants,(1) for the servant(2) does not know what his mas­ter is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. [16]You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that what­ever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. [17]These things I com­mand you, so that you will love one another. (ESV) Foot­notes 1. [15:15] Greek ‘bond­ser­vants’ 2. [15:15] Greek ‘bond­ser­vant’; also verse 20
“This is my com­mand­ment, that you love one anther as I have loved you.”
II Corinthi­ans 9:6 – 8 [show]2 Corinthi­ans 9:6 – 8 The Cheer­ful Giver [6]The point is this: who­ever sows spar­ingly will also reap spar­ingly, and who­ever sows bountifully(1) will also reap boun­ti­fully. [7]Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluc­tantly or under com­pul­sion, for God loves a cheer­ful giver. [8]And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that hav­ing all sufficiency(2) in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. (ESV) Foot­notes 1. [9:6] Greek ‘with bless­ings’; twice in this verse 2. [9:8] Or ‘all con­tent­ment’
“Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluc­tantly or under com­pul­sion, for God loves a cheer­ful giver.”
Rev­e­la­tions 21:4 – 5 [show]Rev­e­la­tion 21:4 – 5 [4]He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, nei­ther shall there be mourn­ing, nor cry­ing, nor pain any­more, for the for­mer things have passed away.“ [5]And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am mak­ing all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trust­wor­thy and true.” (ESV)
“For­mer things will pass away, all things will be made new.” In eter­nity we will not need our earthly bod­ies.
This is the gospel of our Risen Lord
ALL: Praise be to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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BEST POEM IN THE WORLD

I was shocked, con­fused, bewil­dered
As I entered Heaven’s door,
Not by the beauty of it all,
Nor the lights or its décor.

But it was the folks in Heaven
Who made me sput­ter and gasp–
The thieves, the liars, the sin­ners,
The alco­holics and the trash.

There stood the kid from sev­enth grade
Who swiped my lunch money twice.
Next to him was my old neigh­bor
Who never said any­thing nice.

Bob, who I always thought
Was rot­ting away in hell,
Was sit­ting pretty on cloud­nine,
Look­ing incred­i­bly well.

I nudged Jesus, ‘What’s the deal?
I would love to hear Your take.
How’d all these sin­ners get up here?
God must’ve made a mis­take.

‘And why is every­one so quiet,
So somber — give me a clue.‘
’Hush, child,’ He said,
’they’re all in shock.
No one thought they’d be see­ing you.’

JUDGE NOT!!

Remember…Just going to church doesn’t make you a
Chris­t­ian any more than stand­ing in your garage makes you a car.

Every saint has a PAST…
Every sin­ner has a FUTURE!

Author is unknown. I had been asked to use this at a funeral. Would like to know who the author is.
Have a Blessed Day.

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Great Spirit Prayer

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For Children’s Time.
Objects needed: 6 mints or hard can­dies, 2 Bible Cards, 6 suck­ers, a large piece of rec­tan­gle paper that has “God’s Love” writ­ten in the cen­ter and a pair of scissors.

Start by ask­ing some sim­ple math ques­tions.
I have 6 of these hard can­dies. Who would like one? OK, you two may have a candy. I had 6 and I gve 2 away, how many do I have left? Only 4.
I have two nice Bible Cards, who would like one? So I had 2 and I gave one away how many do I have left? Only 1 and if I give it away.…now how many? None.
I have 6 suck­ers, they are called DumDum’s, who would like one? I think I will give you..TWO> How many do I now have? 4 and if you give one away? I still have 4 but now you only have one.
Look at this paper. It rep­re­sents God’s Love. God’s love is some­thing that we all have. You can see this paper has 4 cor­ners on it.
Now let me show you some of God’s magic. Unlike the math we have been doing with stuff from man. I am going to cut a cor­ner off this sheet.
Now this tri­an­gle of God’s Love I will give to YOU.
How many cor­ners do I now have. I had 4 and gave away one. so I should have 3…lets counts…1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Wow I now have more than what I started with.
Let’s see what hap­pens when I cut away more of God’s love and give that cor­ner to some­one else. Now I have !, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 corners.

Ask one of the chil­dren to hold up her tri­an­gle. Look! count the cor­ners. 1, 2, Three. I have 6 cor­ners and you have 3 that means the 4 cor­ners of God’s Love that I started with are now 9 Corners.

How does this hap­pen? When I gave away the suck­ers and candy and things I always had less than what I started with. Now with the cor­ners of God’s love I get More.
It must be that the more of God’s love that you give away, the big­ger it gets.

If you con­tinue to cut you will end up with a circle.…God’s love encir­cling us!

Found this on the net. Do not know who wrote it first. When I used this at Church the adults and grand­par­ents asked for a copy.
So do enjoy.
Pas­tor Grace

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