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Today is Tuesday, April 22nd, 2025; Karen's Korner #5352
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"Hallelujah!
Thank you,
Lord!
How good you are!
Your love for us continues on
forever.
Who can ever list the glorious miracles of God!
Who can ever praise Him
half enough!
~ Psalm 106: 1 & 2 LAB
*
Bible Commentary: 'If we ever stopped to list all the miracles in the Bible, we would be astounded. They cover every subject of life. The more we think about what God has done, the more we can appreciate the miracles he has done in our lives---birth, personality development, loving friends and family, specific guidance, healing, salvation, the list goes on and on. If we think we have never had a miracle, look closer---we will see God's power and loving intervention on our behalf. God still performs great miracles!!!"
***
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Today is Monday, April 21st, 2025; Karen's Korner #5351
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The Good News of Easter. Jesus raises from the dead!!
Mary Magdalene and the 'other Mary' went out to the tomb: "Then the angel spoke to the women: 'Don't be frightened!' he said. 'I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified, but He isn't here! For He has come back to life again, just as He said He would. Come in and see where His body was lying.......And now, go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead, and that He is going to Galilee to meet them there. That is my message to them.'" ~ Matthew 28:5 - 7 LAB
*
Bible Commentary: "Jesus resurrection is the key to the Christian faith. Why? 1) 'Just as He said.' Jesus rose from the dead. We can be confident, therefore, that He will accomplish all He has promised. 2) Jesus' bodily resurrection shows that the living Christ is ruler of God's eternal kingdom, not a false prophet or imposter. 3) We can be certain of our resurrection because He was resurrected. Death is not the end--there is future life. 4) The power that brought Jesus back to life is available to us to bring our spiritually dead selves back to life. 5) The resurrection is the basis for the church's witness to the world.
"The angel who announced the Good News of the resurrection to the women gave them four messages: 1) Don't be frightened. The reality of the resurrection brings joy, not fear. When we are afraid, remember the empty tomb. 2) He isn't here. Jesus is not dead and is not to be looked for among the dead. He is alive, with His people. 3) Come in and see. The women could check the evidence themselves. The tomb was empty then, and it is empty today. The resurrection is a historical fact. 4) Go quickly and tell. They were to spread the joy of the resurrection. We too are to spread the Good News about Jesus' resurrection." ***
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Today is Friday, April 18th, 2025; Karen's Korner #5350
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It's Good Friday!
Talk about something GOOD coming out of something so terrible!! Jesus' crucifixion is told in all four gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
"That afternoon, the whole earth was covered with darkness for three hours, from noon until three o'clock.
"About three o'clock, Jesus shouted, 'Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?' which means, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'
"Then Jesus shouted out again, dismissed his spirit, and died."
~ Matthew 27:45 - 48; 50 LAB
*
Commentary: "We do not know how this darkness occurred, but it is clear that God caused it. Nature testified to the gravity of Jesus' death, while Jesus' friends and enemies alike fell silent in the encircling gloom. The darkness on that Friday afternoon was both physical and spiritual.
"Jesus was not questioning God; he was quoting the first line of Psalm22--a deep expression of the anguish he felt when he took on the sins of the world and thus was separated from his Father. THIS was what Jesus dreaded as he prayed to God in the garden to take the cup from him. The physical agony was horrible, but even worse was the period of spiritual separation from God. Jesus suffered this double death so that we would never have to experience eternal separation from God."
**
All we can say, God,
is Thank You!
And that doesn't seem to be enough!
Amen.
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Today is Thursday, April 17th, 2025; Karen's Korner #5349
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Yesterday's Max Lucado in my computer inbox.
JOY AND ABUNDANCE
"Jesus was accused of much, but of being a grump, sourpuss, or self-centered jerk? Nope! People didn’t groan when he appeared. They didn’t duck for cover when he entered the room. He called them by name, he listened to their stories, he answered their questions. He visited their sick relatives and helped their sick friends. He fished with fishermen and ate lunch with the little guy and spoke words of resounding affirmation. He went to enough parties that he was criticized for hanging out with rowdy people and questionable crowds.
"People were drawn to Jesus. Thousands came to hear him. Hundreds chose to follow him. They shut down their businesses and walked away from careers to be with him. His purpose statement read: 'I came to give life with joy and abundance' (John 10:10 VOICE).
"Jesus was happy, and I think he wants us to be the same."
**
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Today is Wednesday, April 16th, 2025; Karen's Korner #5348
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Taken from "Jesus Lives!" by Jack Graham in the April edition of Decision magazine (in part):
"Jesus tells us in John 11:25, 'I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live." Because of that, the cross is transformed from an ignominious symbol of death and torture to a triumphant sybmb ol of glory.....and Calvary comes through again and again of the risen Christ.
"For the believer, there is an expected end that we will be with Christ forever. Because of Easter....because Jesus is alive...we don't expect a hopeless end. Because we place our trust and future in the nail-scarred hands of the risen Redeemer, we expect an endless hope.!"
****
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Today is Tuesday, April 15th, 2025; Karen's Korner #5347
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We are 'knee deep' in things surrounding Easter. Our Sunday School class has been looking at days leading up to the crucifixion, his death, and resurrection.
Last Sunday's topic was "The Resurrection of Jesus" Among other things, the 'Answers in Genesis' study book talked about 'the apparent contradiction' in the timing of 'three days'.
Ever stopped to question Jesus 'three days' in the grave?
Here is what it said: "It would seem that Jesus was only in the grave about 36 hours, not three full days and full nights. In Jewish reckoning, the phrase 'on the third day' could be part of one day, a full day, and part of the next. The timing of the resurrection is a common objection raised by skeptics about the truthfulness of Scripture, but the Bible timetable is consistent with the Hebrew reckoning of time. Assuming a burial around 5 p.m. on Friday and sunrise around 6 a.m. on Sunday, Jesus was in the earth for a portion of three separate days, fulfilling his own prophecy about his burial and resurrection." *****
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Today is Monday, April 14th, 2025; Karen's Korner #5346
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What an exciting week as we celebrate Easter! It begins with Jesus riding on a donkey into Jerusalem and the spreading and waving of branches by the people. Palm Sunday! And ends with His resurrection back to life. On Easter Sunday! What a week!!
"Long ago, before He made the world, God chose us to be His very own, through what Christ would do for us; He decided then to make us holy in His Eyes, without a single fault--- we who stand before Him covered with His Love. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into Him own family by sending Jesus Christ to die for us. And He did this because He wanted to!" ~ Ephesians 1:3 - 5 LAB * Bible Commentary on these verses: "Paul (writer) said, 'God chose us,' to emphasize that salvation depends totally on God. We are not saved because we deserve it, but because God is gracious and freely gives it. We did not influence God's decision to save us; He did it according to His plan. Thus there is no way to take credit for our salvation, or to find room for pride. The mystery of salvation originated in the timeless mind of God long before we existed. It is hard to understand how God could accept us, but because of Christ we are holy and blameless in His eyes. God chose you and me, and when we belong to Him through Jesus Christ, He looks at us as if we have never sinned.
"God has adopted us as his own children. Through Jesus' sacrifice, he has brought us into his family and made us heirs along with Jesus. In Roman law, adopted children had the same rights and privileges as natural children. Paul uses this term to show how strong our relationship to God is."
******
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Today is Friday, April 11th, 2025; Karen's Korner #5345
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This is Palm Sunday weekend and will be celebrated in various ways in our churches on Sunday! It is recorded in the first four gospels: Matthew 21; Mark 21, and John 12. And also in these verses of Luke:
"Then the crowds spread out their robes along the road ahead of Him, and as they reached the place where the road started down from the Mount of Olives, the whole procession began to shout and sing, as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles Jesus had done."
~ Luke 12:36 & 37 LAB
* Bible Commentary: "The people who were praising God for giving them a king had the wrong idea about Jesus. They were sure he would be a national leader who would restore their nation to its former glory, and thus they were deaf to the words of their prophets and blind to Jesus' real mission. When it became apparent that Jesus was not going to fulfill their hopes, many people turned against him."
****
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Today is Thursday, April 10th, 2025; Karen's Korner #5344
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The opening paragraph in this month's copy of Decision magazine, by Will Graham, Billy Graham's grandson. The article is titled "The Perfect Sacrifice of Christ":
"In this world, it is very rare --- impossible even ----to find something without blemish. The same can be said of the Old Testament sacrifices --- they were not perfect. They did not purify anything and never truly dealt with sin and judgment. But when we look at the sacrifice of Jesus, the most pivotal moment in History, we witness some thing that is faultless."
HEBREWS 9:24, 26, 28 LAB (in part):
""For Christ has entered into heaven itself,
to appear now before God as our Friend.
He came once for all, at the end of the age,
to put away the power of sin forever by dying for us.
Christ died only once as an offering for the sins of
many people, and He will come again,
but not to deal again with our sins.
This time He will come bringing salvation to all
those who are eagerly and patiently waiting for Him."
***
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Today is Wednesday, April 9th, 2025; Karen's Korner #5343
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Today's entry in the little book by Max Lucado titled "Everyday Blessings". Good one as we march toward Easter:
"Surely this was a righteous man."
~ Luke 23:47 NIV
"All the Roman centurion did was see Jesus suffer. He never heard him preach or saw him heal or followed him through the crowds. He never witnessed him still the wind; he only witnessed they way he died. But that was all it took to cause this weather-worn soldier to take a great step in faith. 'Surely this was a righteous man'.
"Anybody can preach a sermon on a mount surrounded by daises. But only one with a gut full of faith can LIVE a sermon on a mountain of pain."
*****
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