Christianity Oasis Forum

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~~~~~OUR DAILY BREAD~~~~~~NEWSROOM MIX-UP~~~~~~~~~~~~ READ: 1KINGS 22:1-8 ~~A Congolese man went to the BBC's News 24 for a job interview. But a time-conscious producer mistook the man for a scheduled guest authority. He led the baffled but compliant applicant into the newsroom studio and fitted him with a microphone. When the "on air" signal was given, the interviewer missed the look of panic on the man's face, and the flustered job-seeker awkwardly bluffed his way through the questions. When the mistake itself became news, the network apologized for the error. That hapless man wasn't pretending to be an authority-he was mistaken for one. In contrast, Ahab, the king of Israel, chose to ignore the truth by seeking answers from false prophets who were posing as religious authorities. Ahab didn't want to inquire of the Lord through the godly prophet Micaiah "because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil" (1 Kings 22:8). The king had an aversion to the truth. Sometimes we would rather hear the comfort of a lie than words of truth. But we need to get our counsel from advisers who believe that "all Scripture...is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (2 Tim. 3:16). We can't afford to let our desires cause us to exchange God's truth for a lie. --Mart De Haan~~~~~When sin entices and allures Its lies must be ignored; The strength to gain the victory Comes when we trust the Lord. --Sper~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BETTER TO HEAR THE HARD TRUTH THAN A SOFT LIE.

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~~~~~OUR DAILY BREAD~~~~~SPACE JUNK~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ READ: 2 Samuel 12:1-13 ~~~~Oribiting our planet at speeds more than 4.5 miles per second is a growing collection of space junk. Nuts, bolts, and other discarded debris from space flights are presenting a real hazard to future spacecraft. Their sheer speed makes the tiniest object strike with the impact of a bullet. During one of the shuttle missions, a speck of paint created a pit a quarter-inch wide in a window of the craft. One study revealed that there are 110,000 objects larger than 1 centimeter in orbit. Their combined weight is 4 million pounds! To avoid a space junk disaster, the US Space Command monitors orbiting debris for NASA. Sinful choices create their own kind of junk--unintended consequences. When Achan stole and hid forbidden booty, it cost him his life (Josh. 7). After King David committed adultery and murder, family discord followed (2 Sam. 15-18). Do you have any "junk" in your life? Sin's consequences have a way of accumlating. When we confess our sins to God, He promises to forgive and cleanse us (1 John 1:9). For those we have hurt, we can seek ways of righting wrongs through restitution (Luke 19:1-8). The God of grace will give us wisdom in dealing with bad decisions from our past and help us to make good ones in the future. --Dennis Fisher ~~~~~~~~~~~What shame can overwhelm the soul Because we've chosen paths of sin? But if we humbly call on God, He'll grant anew His peace within. --D. De Haan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE LAW OF SOWING AND REAPING HAS NEVER BEEN REPEALED.

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~~~~~~~OUR DAILY BREAD ~~~~ARRIVING LATE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ READ: Matthew 20:1-16 ~~ Eddie, an outspoken atheist, spent his entire life of 50 years denying the existence of God. Then he contracted a debilitating disease, and his health slowly deteriorated. As he lay in a hospice house awaiting death, Eddie was visited almost every day by some Christian friends he had known in high school. They told him again of Christ's love. But the closer Eddie came to dying, the more it appeared he was not interested in God. One Sunday, a pastor stopped by to visit. To everyone's surprise, Eddie prayed with him and asked Jesus for forgiveness and salvation. A few weeks later, he died. Eddie denied Christ for 50 years and spent just 2 weeks loving and trusting Him. But because of his faith, he will experience forever God's presence, glory, love, majesty, and perfection. Some may argue that this isn't fair, But according to Jesus' parable in Mattherw 20, it's not about fairness. It's about God's goodness and grace (vv.11-15). Have you waited such a long time to trust Jesus for salvation that you think it might be too late? Consider the thief on the cross, who put his faith in Jesus just before he died (Luke 23:39-43). Trust Jesus now, and recieve HIs gift of eternal life. It's not too late! --Dave Branon~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If God is calling you today, Then trust in Christ without delay; Tomorrow it will be too late if death occurs and seals your fate. --Sper~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ IT IS A DANGEROUS PRESUMPTION TO SAY, "TOMORROW," WHEN GOD SAYS, "TODAY!"

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~~~~~~OUR DAILY BREAD ~~~~~~THE WORLD WIDE WEB~~~~~~~~ READ: PROVERBS 4:5-13~~Brewster Kahle has a vision for the Intenet. He dreams of universal access to all human knowledge. As Digital Librarian and Director and cofounder of Internet Archive, kahle believes we have only begun to tap the vast potential of the Internet to change and improve our world. "My interest," he says, "is to build the great library...It is now technically possible to live up to the dream of the Library of Alexandria." He's referring to a huge vault of writings in ancient Egypt that was said to house all the world's knowledge. But knowledge is not the same as wisdom. King Solomon was a man of vast knowledge (1 Kings 4:29-34). In his better moments, he used his God-given capacity to collect information and insight from every corner of life. In unguarded moments, however, he showed that all the knowledge in the world does not keep a person from missing the purpose of life (Eccl. 1:16-18). In spite of his knowledge, Solomon married many women, and when he was old he built altars to their gods (1 Kings 11:1-11). His foolishness eventually led to his downfall. Wisdom is the application of knowledge. Don't get caught in a web of knowledge without true wisdom that comes from the fear of the Lord (Prov. 1:7; 9:10). --Mart De Haan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ True wisdom is in living Near Jesus every day; True wisdom is in walking Where He shall lead the way. --Anon.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WISDOM GIVE WINGS TO KNOWLEDGE.

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~~~~~~OUR DAILY BREAD~~~~~A BOOST OF COURAGE~~~~~~~~~ READ: Hebrews 12:1-11 ~~~When my son Joe was a child, I took him to the local YMCA for swimming lessons. I could almost see an Olympic gold medal swinging around his neck. To my chagrin, Joe didn't "wow" the class. Instead, he took one look at the water, one look at the instructor, and started bawling. I thought, Oh, no, I've fathered a coward! To make matters worse, the instructor motoined for me to take Joe back to the locker room. In the midst of his sobs and pleas to go home, I gave him a little pep talk: "You can do it, Joe! I'll come to all your lessons, and we'll have a signal. When you get scared you can look up at me, and when i hold my thumb up you'll know it's going to be okay because i'm here cheering you on." Joe finally agreed, and today he can swim circles around me. How often we too face situations that seem overwhelming and impossible. It's in those times that we need to find our confidence in Jesus. Our first instinct may be to back away in fear. But that's exactly when we need to look to Jesus, "the author and finisher of our faith" (Heb. 12:2), who will raise His nail-scarred hand and say, "Stay with it. Run the race. I've run it before you, and in My power you can win. You can do it!" --Jow Stowell~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hold fast to Christ and He will give The will to see you through; And if you keep on keeping on, Your strength He wiill renew. --D. De Haan~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CHRIST'S VICTORY IN THE PAST GIVES COURAGE FOR THE PRESENT AND HOPE FOR THE FUTURE.

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~~~~~~~~~~~OUR DAILY BREAD~~~~~~~FAKE FAMILY~~~~~~~~~~ READ: MATTHEW 15:1-9 ~~A builder in California has come up with an innovative idea to sell houses. He thinks that a good way to make a house more appealing is to have a family there when showing the house. So he hires actors to play happy families in his company's model homes. Would-be-buyers can ask them questions about the house. Each fake family cooks, wathces television, and plays games while house-hunters wander through. That type of faking may not do any harm, but think about the sham of the religious leaders in Jesus' day (Matt. 15:1-9). They pretended to love God and piously made up a long list of rules that they and others were to obey. But this was only to make thenselves look good. They even considered their rules just as important as the Law that came directly from the Lord (vv.5-6). Jesus called them "hypocrites" (v.7). He said their words sounded as if they honored God, but their hearts told another story--they were far from Him (.8). That kind of pretending goes on in people today as well. We look like good Christians on the outside because we go to church faithfully, follow some rules legalistically, and use the right words. We say we love Jesus, but our hearts may be far from Him. God wants us to be real. --Anne Cetas________God sees our ways and knows our hearts, From Him we cannot hide; External righteousness can't save, For He knows what's inside. --Sper____ A FALSE FRONT BELIES A TRUE FAITH.

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~~~~~~~~~~~OUR DAILY BREAD~~~~~~~FAKE FAMILY~~~~~~~~~~
READ: MATTHEW 15:1-9 ~~A builder in California has come up with an innovative idea to sell houses. He thinks that a good way to make a house more appealing is to have a family there when showing the house. So he hires actors to play happy families in his company's model homes. Would-be-buyers can ask them questions about the house. Each fake family cooks, wathces television, and plays games while house-hunters wander through. That type of faking may not do any harm, but think about the sham of the religious leaders in Jesus' day (Matt. 15:1-9). They pretended to love God and piously made up a long list of rules that they and others were to obey. But this was only to make thenselves look good. They even considered their rules just as important as the Law that came directly from the Lord (vv.5-6). Jesus called them "hypocrites" (v.7). He said their words sounded as if they honored God, but their hearts told another story--they were far from Him (.8). That kind of pretending goes on in people today as well. We look like good Christians on the outside because we go to church faithfully, follow some rules legalistically, and use the right words. We say we love Jesus, but our hearts may be far from Him. God wants us to be real. --Anne Cetas________God sees our ways and knows our hearts, From Him we cannot hide; External righteousness can't save, For He knows what's inside. --Sper____
A FALSE FRONT BELIES A TRUE FAITH.