Christmas Flash Mob

Philippians 2:5–12 (NKJV)

⁵Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 

⁶who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 

⁷but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 

⁸And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 

⁹Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 

¹⁰that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 

¹¹and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

¹²Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;

Isaiah 45:22–25 (NKJV)

²²“Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. 

²³I have sworn by Myself; The word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, And shall not return, That to Me every knee shall bow, Every tongue shall take an oath. 

²⁴He shall say, ‘Surely in the Lord I have righteousness and strength. To Him men shall come, And all shall be ashamed Who are incensed against Him. 

²⁵In the Lord all the descendants of Israel Shall be justified, and shall glory.’ ”

Revelation 17:14 (NKJV)

¹⁴These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.”

Revelation 19:11–16 (NKJV)

¹¹Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 

¹²His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 

¹³He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 

¹⁴And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. 

¹⁵Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 

¹⁶And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

Local Evangelism

I thought I should post some of the outreach events that we did this year.  I don't have pictures from some like the Kitsap Fair, the Cruz in Port Orchard or the Fathoms O' Fun Parade.  But, below are some of the events that do have pictures.

This is at the Chimes and Lights in Port Orchard.
These are some of my favorite kiddos that we ran into down there.

This is at one of the recent Mall Table Evangelism days.
We get basically one day a month to host a table at the mall and handout tracts.
As you may notice by my shirt, we have been "big dealing" the 180movie...
The goofy looking guy, um the one in red... Ok, the one with facial hair, is Jeremy (yes, he spells his name wrong, HA). He is one of my favorite brothers in the Lord.  He is an encouragement and a good leader, friend and co-laborer.

Also, there is Susan she is great as well.  Good with the kids at Sunday School.

These next few pix are from the Folklife Festival in Seattle.  Our church sponsored 2,000 bags to be handed out with New Testament and tracts in them.  We got about 1,500 handed out and that left some for other events through out the year.  Thank you again to all that participated and especially to the Lord for providing.

This is myself and my beautiful bride. 

These are some pictures of the great team that stuffed the bags in assembly line fashion.  Thanks team...

As you may notice we had the youthful to the youthful at heart  serving, it was a great time of fellowship as well.

Matthew 12:33 (NKJV)

³³“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.

Colossians 1:10 (NKJV)

¹⁰that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

Philippians 4:17 (NKJV)

¹⁷Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account.

Hebrews 13:15 (NKJV)

¹⁵Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

Seriously, think about it people...

James 4:17 (NKJV)

¹⁷Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Matthew 22:34–40 (NKJV)

³⁴But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 

³⁵Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, 

³⁶“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” 

³⁷Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 

³⁸This is the first and great commandment. 

³⁹And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 

⁴⁰On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Islamic Law: Rape Victim Forced To Marry Muslim Rapist

ISLAMIC LAW: RAPE VICTIM FORCED TO MARRY MUSLIM RAPIST

So they pardoned the rape victim, the jailed rape victim,  in Afghanistan was 'pardoned' after she agreed to marry her rapist. Pardoned",? No, she's  "condemned" to marry the animal who attacked her. I write about here.

Under Islamic law, the emphasis is not so much on the crime of rape but on the shame that the woman has brought upon her family by her sexual immorality, even if it was forced. So that shame can be washed away by her marrying the rapist.

Islam's emphasis is wholly and completely upon women as having the responsibility not to tempt men. If they do, and the man rapes, it's the woman's fault. So this ruling is of a piece with the wearing of hijabs, burqas, etc. Islam teaches that women are the possessions of men and places a high premium on virginity. This woman after the rape would be considered damaged goods. If the rapist had declined to marry her, her life would have been completely ruined, as no one else would marry her and she would be stigmatized.

The 4 witnesses rule comes from the Qur'an (24:4 and 24:13). It is based on an incident in which Muhammad's favorite wife, the child bride Aisha, was accused of adultery. Rather than see her stoned to death, Muhammad got a revelation that four witnesses were required (the accusers didn't have them). This exonerated Aisha, but Muslim women have suffered as a result of this law to this day.

Afghan president pardons woman serving time for being raped The Star (hat tip RV)

KABUL—Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday pardoned an Afghan woman serving a 12-year prison sentence for having sex out of wedlock after she was raped by a relative.

Karzai’s office said in a statement that the woman and her attacker have agreed to marry. That would reverse an earlier decision by the 19-year-old woman, who had previously refused a judge’s offer of freedom if she agreed to marry the rapist.

Her plight was highlighted in a documentary that the European Union blocked because it feared the women featured in the film would be in danger if it were shown.

More than 5,000 people recently signed a petition urging Karzai to release the woman. She had the man’s child while in prison and raised her daughter behind bars, which is common among women imprisoned in Afghanistan.

A statement released by Karzai’s office says that after hearing from judicial officials, the decision was made to forgive the rest of the sentence she received for having sex out of wedlock, a crime in Afghanistan. The presidential statement did not say when the woman was to be released or how much prison time had been pardoned.

The woman told The Associated Press in an interview last month that she had hoped that attention generated by the EU film might help her get released. With the film blocked, she said that she was losing hope and considering marrying her rapist as a way out. She said her attacker was pressuring her to stop giving interviews.

About half of the 300 to 400 women jailed in Afghanistan are imprisoned for so-called “moral crimes” such as sex outside marriage, or running away from their husbands, according to reports by the United Nations and research organizations. Fleeing husbands isn’t considered a crime in Afghanistan.

The EU welcomed the woman’s release.

“Her case has served to highlight the plight of Afghan women, who 10 years after the overthrow of the Taliban regime often continue to suffer in unimaginable conditions, deprived of even the most basic human rights,” the European Union’s Ambassador and Special Representative to Afghanistan, Vygaudas Usackas, said.

He said the EU hoped the same mercy would be extended to other women serving similar terms. Usackas said he planned to raise the issue of Afghan women’s rights at an international conference on Afghanistan Dec. 5 in Bonn, Germany.

Some of the most severe restrictions women faced under the Taliban, like a ban on attending schools and having to have a male escort to venture outside the home, were done away with when the radical Islamic movement was driven from power in 2001. But Afghanistan remains a deeply conservative and male-dominated society, meaning women are still sold to husbands and rights enshrined in law are often ignored in practice.

As posted here... 

As published by The Berean Call.

Sharia Vigilante Street Justice in America

EXCERPTS: Nonie Darwish, http://frontpagemag.com/2011/09/27/sharia-vigilante-street-justice-in-america/--About a year ago, I posted an Arabic language poem titled "Tears at the Heart of the Holocaust" on my website, ArabsForIsrael.com. The poem expressed its Arab author's love for the Jewish people and his mourning over what happened to them in the Holocaust. The brave poet, Mr. Alaa Alsaegh, is an immigrant to the U.S. from Iraq, who now lives in Missouri. Such poems did not sit well with the Muslim community, which caused Mr. Alsaegh to be alienated from it. He received threats because of his support for the Jewish people, was called an infidel and a traitor to Islam, but he continued with his writing of poems and did not take the threats too seriously....The mainstream media insist that there is no need to fear Sharia or its enforcers in America and that we are exaggerating our plight from Islam. We are told that what happens in the Arab streets can never happen in the streets of America.

Tell that to Alsaegh, after the unthinkable happened to him, when on August 14, 2011, and in broad daylight and heavy traffic, he was viciously attacked on the streets of St. Louis, Missouri. According to Mr. Alsaegh, as he was driving at 10:30 in the morning on Compton St. near Park Ave., a small white car cut him off and hit his car, while another car stopped behind him. The occupants of the cars, some of whom wore security guard-type uniforms, quickly entered Alsaegh's car, pointing a gun at him. They pushed his upper body down against the steering wheel, stabbed him and pulled off his shirt to expose his back. Then, with a knife, they carved the Star of David on his back while laughing as they recited his pro-Jewish poem. Mr. Alsaegh believes that the attackers could be Somalis, but he was not sure. After the attackers fled the scene, Mr. Alsaegh was surrounded by witnesses to the crime and was taken to the hospital. The photo representing this story was taken at the hospital.

After I learned of the attack on Mr. Alsaegh, I did not want to rush to judgment and waited until he told me that the FBI concluded that this was a hate crime. I believe that my article on this incident is the first to be reported in the media. This incident has been totally ignored by the mainstream media.

Why is it that attacks perpetrated by Muslims against Muslim infidels or honor crimes are ignored? Crimes done by Muslims against other Muslims who are considered apostates should alert the American public of what is coming to American streets if Muslims start increasing in numbers. The dirty little secret of Islamic hate and intolerance is clear from this story, and no one in the media cares to expose it and alert the American public.

Are we going to call Mr. Alsaegh and those of us who have had similar threats "Islamophobes"? Are American media outlets covering up Islamic atrocities not only in the Middle East, but also in America? We former Muslims are putting our lives on the line to tell America that we are all in danger from the Islamic doctrines of jihad and Sharia, but few are listening, and our own media and politicians are calling us Islamophobes. Is that the America I love?

Conversation with Kevin...

Saturday I went to Seattle, well I took the ferry over and right back again, to handout tracts and copies of the 180 movie. This young man was willing to do an interview with me.

Alicia...

180movie.com

Watch this video...RIGHT NOW!!!

This is a comparison of the Holocaust with Hitler to the Holocaust that is happing in America and around the world today.

180movie.com

180movie.com

Check out this link. I will add more later.

Matthew 19:14 (NKJV)

But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”

Psalm 139:13–14 (NKJV)

For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.

I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.

Will you be one of the FEW...?

Luke 13:24–28 (NKJV)

²⁴“Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

²⁵When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’

²⁶then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’

²⁷But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’

²⁸There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out.

Folklife Festival 2011

Hello all...

So, our churches Taste & See Ministry sponsored a free bag give away at Seattle's Folklife Festival this weekend. The bags were stuffed with a New Testament in half and or a Why Christianity tract in the other half and they all had: an Are You Ready for Eternity flyer and an additional IQ tract or two.

Here are a few pics from the bag stuffing "committee" and the one picture from the actual event. We had at least one more pic from the event but it was taken on a phone (like the rest of these) but didn't get saved right.

Praise God for the inspiration, the command and the resources to make this possible.

Matthew 9:35–38 (NKJV)

³⁵Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.

³⁶But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.

³⁷Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

³⁸Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

Luke 19:11–27 (NKJV)

¹¹Now as they heard these things, He spoke another parable, because He was near Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately.

¹²Therefore He said: “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.

¹³So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business till I come.’

¹⁴But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We will not have this man to reign over us.’

¹⁵“And so it was that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.

¹⁶Then came the first, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned ten minas.’

¹⁷And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.’

¹⁸And the second came, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned five minas.’

¹⁹Likewise he said to him, ‘You also be over five cities.’

²⁰“Then another came, saying, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief.

²¹For I feared you, because you are an austere man. You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’

²²And he said to him, ‘Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant. You knew that I was an austere man, collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow.

²³Why then did you not put my money in the bank, that at my coming I might have collected it with interest?’

²⁴“And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to him who has ten minas.’

²⁵(But they said to him, ‘Master, he has ten minas.’)

²⁶‘For I say to you, that to everyone who has will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.

²⁷But bring here those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me.’ ”

The Other Holocaust...

I would like to encourage you to read a recent post done by Tony Miano with Living Waters at the onthebox.us blog. I found it to be very well done and a sobering reminder of the state of not only this country but the world today...

The Article can be found here...

Run, run as if your very soul depended upon the running...

Here are a few of the 121 verses that contain the word "flee"...

1 Corinthians 6:18 (NKJV)

¹⁸Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.

1 Corinthians 10:14 (NKJV)

¹⁴Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

1 Timothy 6:11 (NKJV)

¹¹But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.

2 Timothy 2:22 (NKJV)

²²Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

James 4:7 (NKJV)

⁷Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Revelation 9:6 (NKJV)

⁶In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them.

Here are a few of the 110 verses that contain the word "run"...

Philippians 2:16 (NKJV)

¹⁶holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.

Hebrews 12:1–2 (NKJV)

¹Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

²looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

1 Corinthians 9:24–27 (NKJV)

²⁴Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.

²⁵And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.

²⁶Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air.

²⁷But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

As, so often pointed out these are actions... So, get up and RUN ! Flee from the oppression of the Devil and the world he has deceived and run to God.

Priase Modesty

Proverbs 31:10–31 (NKJV)

¹⁰ Who can find a virtuous wife?

For her worth is far above rubies.

¹¹ The heart of her husband safely trusts her;

So he will have no lack of gain.

¹² She does him good and not evil

All the days of her life.

¹³ She seeks wool and flax,

And willingly works with her hands.

¹⁴ She is like the merchant ships,

She brings her food from afar.

¹⁵ She also rises while it is yet night,

And provides food for her household,

And a portion for her maidservants.

¹⁶ She considers a field and buys it;

From her profits she plants a vineyard.

¹⁷ She girds herself with strength,

And strengthens her arms.

¹⁸ She perceives that her merchandise is good,

And her lamp does not go out by night.

¹⁹ She stretches out her hands to the distaff,

And her hand holds the spindle.

²⁰ She extends her hand to the poor,

Yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy.

²¹ She is not afraid of snow for her household,

For all her household is clothed with scarlet.

²² She makes tapestry for herself;

Her clothing is fine linen and purple.

²³ Her husband is known in the gates,

When he sits among the elders of the land.

²⁴ She makes linen garments and sells them,

And supplies sashes for the merchants.

²⁵ Strength and honor are her clothing;

She shall rejoice in time to come.

²⁶ She opens her mouth with wisdom,

And on her tongue is the law of kindness.

²⁷ She watches over the ways of her household,

And does not eat the bread of idleness.

²⁸ Her children rise up and call her blessed;

Her husband also, and he praises her:

²⁹ “Many daughters have done well,

But you excel them all.”

³⁰ Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing,

But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.

³¹ Give her of the fruit of her hands,

And let her own works praise her in the gates.

Luke 13:22–30

²² And He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. ²³ Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?” And He said to them, ²⁴ “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. ²⁵ When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’ ²⁶ then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’ ²⁷ But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’ ²⁸ There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out. ²⁹ They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God. ³⁰ And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last.”

Matthew 7:13–14

¹³ “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. ¹⁴ Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Trinity...

Hello, all I am posting the link to the Calvary Church's handouts on the Trinity. I may do a more extensive study/post at a later date...

Joseph Smith is his testimony true?

Please, visit MRM.tv for more information like this...

Deuteronomy 13:1–5

¹ “If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, ² and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ ³ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴ You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. ⁵ But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst.

Deuteronomy 18:17–22

¹⁷ “And the Lord said to me: ‘What they have spoken is good. ¹⁸ I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. ¹⁹ And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him. ²⁰ But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ ²¹ And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’— ²² when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

Christology and a letter from hell...

I know I haven't posted in a while. But here are some videos to hold you over until I am able to post again.

Luke 10:2

Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few;

therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.

John 11:35 says, "Jesus Wept." This was in reference to the disbelieve of those around Him. However, do we really know whose disbelief He was weeping for? Would it not be to our horror if He was to weep at our disbelief or disobedience in that we did not do all that we could to save as many as we could. We should be the ones weeping!

Do you agree or disagree?

Matthew 5:32

³² But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.

Matthew 19:9

⁹ And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”

Mark 10:10–12

¹⁰ In the house His disciples also asked Him again about the same matter. ¹¹ So He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. ¹² And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

Luke 16:18

¹⁸ “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery.

Romans 7:1–6

¹ Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? ² For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. ³ So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. ⁴ Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. ⁵ For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. ⁶ But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

1 Corinthians 7:10–16

¹⁰ Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband. ¹¹ But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife. ¹² But to the rest I, not the Lord, say: If any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her. ¹³ And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. ¹⁴ For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. ¹⁵ But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases. But God has called us to peace. ¹⁶ For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?

1 Corinthians 7:39–40

³⁹ A wife is bound by law as long as her husband lives; but if her husband dies, she is at liberty to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord. ⁴⁰ But she is happier if she remains as she is, according to my judgment—and I think I also have the Spirit of God.

Luke 14:27

²⁷ And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

FRUITS OF FELLOWSHIP WITH AND SERVING THE LORD...

Matthew 13:1–23

¹ On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea. ² And great multitudes were gathered together to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. ³ Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. ⁴ And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. ⁵ Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. ⁶ But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. ⁷ And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. ⁸ But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. ⁹ He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” ¹⁰ And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” ¹¹ He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. ¹² For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. ¹³ Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. ¹⁴ And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; ¹⁵ For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.’ ¹⁶ But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; ¹⁷ for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. ¹⁸ “Therefore hear the parable of the sower: ¹⁹ When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. ²⁰ But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; ²¹ yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. ²² Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. ²³ But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

John 15:1–8

¹ “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³ You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. ⁵ “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. ⁷ If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. ⁸ By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.