For "Scripture Sunday":
Stop Cheating!
"Cheating is increasingly becoming the normal way of doing things. What are the reasons people cheat, and why should cheating not be a part of your life?
It seems like cheating has become a commonly accepted way to get ahead in today’s world. Consider some high-profile cases involving cheating that have recently made headlines:
Six global financial institutions were fined a total of $9 billion for fixing exchange rates. One trader wrote to others, “If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying.”
Scandal has surrounded the FIFA organization for allegedly accepting bribes in World Cup venue bids.
American and British schools are rife with students learning to cheat instead of learning. One university student said, “A lot of people think it’s like you’re not really there to learn anything. You’re just learning to learn
the system.” There are also online services offering “contract cheating,” where students can purchase completed papers and assignments.
Marriage infidelity continues to increase among those aged 20 to 30. Oddly, though, David Popenoe of the Marriage Project (Rutgers University) noted that in one recent survey 90 percent believed that cheating on one’s spouse is always wrong. Sadly, those beliefs don’t always translate into behavior. The recent hack of the infidelity website Ashley Madison exposed the account information and emails of 37 million people worldwide who used this website to facilitate cheating on their spouses.
Though cheating is so widespread in society, it is interesting that when a celebrity is caught in some kind of cheating scandal, there is still widespread negative coverage and self-righteous shock.
Yet in general, people find excuses for their own cheating. What does God think of the common justifications for cheating?
Everyone else is doing it….."
Rest of article at: http://lifehopeandtruth.com/change/blog/stop-cheating/
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Prove It Yourself
Acts 17:11
These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.
After Paul’s vision of a man from Macedonia pleading, “Come over to Macedonia and help us” (Acts 16:9), Paul and his companions began their memorable journey into Europe. After being jailed in Philippi and escaping from a riot in Thessalonica, they came to Berea.
Not much is said about Berea, but what is said is a tribute to the people who heard Paul. The King James Version uses the word “noble” where the New King James has “fair-minded.” The nobility was probably not of birth, but of character. Adam Clarke says, “It was a maxim among the Jews that ‘none was of a noble spirit who did not employ himself in the study of the law.’”
The Jews who heard Paul in the synagogue were ready to listen and prove what they heard to themselves. They didn’t allow preconceived ideas of what the Bible says to keep them from examining what it really says. As the New Living Translation puts it, “They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth.”
God is pleased when we search the Scriptures and make sure what we believe is what He is revealing to us from the Holy Bible.
For more about the importance of the Bible, see “Why Study the Bible?”
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"Mark 12:24
Jesus answered and said to them, “Are you not therefore mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God?”
The Sadducees were known for their devotion to the first five books of the Bible, the only part they accepted as Scripture. They were sure they were experts on these books and experts about God.
So they tried to trap Jesus to either make Him agree with their conclusion that there was no resurrection or make Him look foolish. Their story of a woman marrying seven brothers who each died after she married him was quite elaborate. If there was such a thing as a resurrection, “whose wife will she be?” they asked (verse 23).
Jesus didn’t pull any punches. He used a passage from the book of Exodus—one of their approved books—to demonstrate that God would not call Himself the God of Abraham if Abraham would remain dead forever. He is the God of the living—and thus God has the power to bring back to life Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the others called by His name.
Before God’s power “a thousand such difficulties vanish” (Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary on Mark 12:24). And the difficulty of their question was eliminated by the fact Jesus presented, that “when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven” (verse 25).
God wants us to know the Bible and His power.
Learn more about God’s power and the resurrections in “Resurrections: What Are They?”
________Update:
Writing this late again. I was busy clearing out some of Ray's stuff that he left in the guest house bedroom, and then I groomed Maddie the Yorkie in the afternoon.
Repairs to the guest house are going very slowly. Nobody wants to get up and go to work any more!! I had to buy five 2"x 8" boards for floor joists because when we removed the water damaged bathroom floor we found that they were rotten, too. Now the new joists sit in a pile, because I can't do it by myself.
I don't know if it was the nicer weather or if many folks were sick, but hardly anyone showed up at church. Just a few of us old regulars, but we still had a great time.
The Bible readings were Deut.16:18-21:9, Isa. 51:12-53:12, and Heb. 10:28-31. The teaching was about a Larger Life, with God in the pilot seat.
The potluck was great as usual. The big crockpot of leg of lamb was delicious, and there were plenty of salads, potato salad, veggies, mashed potatoes, beans, chicken enchiladas, roasted chicken, garlic bread with cookies and pies for dessert.
Another great Sabbath day.
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