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Hello!

Welcome to our weekly devotional message! Please read it at your convenience and let us know if you need anything.

We had a great surprise at The Rock Church this week! Miles McPhearson was on a much-needed vacation, so Chuck Missler was our guest speaker! He gave us an awesome sermon and if you read the quotes below, you'll see the notes I took.

Last week, I led 8 kids to Jesus Christ! After doing our soccer camp, I had the chance to share the gospel with about 30 kids. All of them were either saved (by a showing of hands) or they accepted Christ on Thursday! Please pray for them and their spiritual growth.

The way we led kids to Christ was sharing the gospel with them and using the Evangecube. The Evangecube is a great visual aid and it helps to convey the gospel in a powerful way. You can see how it works and even order one here: http://www.evangecube.org.

Would you like to make a donation to JCSM? We rarely prioritize telling you about our financial need, but we always have one. You can easily send a donation via PayPal or we can give you our address. Our prayers, God's blessings and an enormous "Thank You" goes to all of our supporters! Here is the link for more information: http://donations.jcsm.org.

Yesterday, during some debates with a few atheists, I was reading Josh McDowell's "New Evidence That Demands A Verdict". I recommend getting this book! It has a ton of great, faith-building facts. I made a web site from an awesome chart that illustrates how several other ancient books are less substantiated (texts that were written well after the events, texts with very few manuscripts, etc.) than the New Testament, yet they are widely accepted as true. If you want the answer to the question, "Is The New Testament Historically Reliable?", then you'll want to go here: http://www.jcsm.org/BibleLessons/NTHistoricallyReliable.htm.

Do you or someone you know have a problem with gambling? If so, you'll want to see and/or share the following site. We've made a great list of hot links for people who need help with gambling addictions. You can see them here: http://www.jcsm.org/misc/StopGambling.htm.

I've invited a bunch of new atheists to post on our "Debate An Atheist" section of JCSM's Forum. We've had a bunch of new atheists sign up, too. Please pray that our ministry to them goes very well. We'd love to have you join our conversations. Today, I was quite overloaded with questions from them. Here is the link: http://forum.jcsm.org.

In case we ever lose our internet connection, please check our web site for the devotions. We are praying and hoping we continue to stay online with our cable ISP, but we don't know how long we will be. If we ever lose our account, we'll be using AOL and continuing the ministry with a dial-up modem until we find a better way.

Please email me if you have the time to be a Christian mentor. I'm looking for one or two men who are fathers and have some experience in ministry to be my personal and ministry mentors. You don't have to have a doctorate degree or anything, so please email me if you feel led.

In the first week of June, Psalm 23 broke into the top 200 on MP3.com's Christian Rock singles! I wrote the music and used the famous Psalm's lyrics to create a powerful song. You can freely stream it here: http://Psalm23.jcsm.org.

President Bush has qualified his desire to have an independent Palestinian state. Now, he has given many demands to the Israelis and Palestinians before a state should be made. Let's pray for this situation in the Middle East. Christians know that it's important because Israel is mentioned in the Bible more than any other country. Fortunately, it looks like President Bush has become a little less optimistic and obliging to give Israel's land to Palestine.

There have been many fires in the Southwestern United States. Thousands of people have left their homes because of the potential danger. Please pray for them. They need God's comfort and help.

Are you a baseball fan? If so, don't forget to vote for the All-Star Game (live on June 9^th). You can vote online by going to the following link http://www.padres.com and clicking on the "All-Star Ballot" link.

On June 28, Jeff Deyo and his band is performing in Tempe, Arizona! Jeff is the past lead singer of SonicFlood. If you're in the area, you can contact Grace Community Church (480.894.2201) for more details.

Phil Keaggy is performing, on June 29^th, in Carlsbad, California! I'll be at this show, so email me if you'll be there. Phil is one of the founders of Christian rock n roll. He is incredibly talented and has so many albums (including many acoustic albums) that I can't even count them. For more info, email me or call 219-269-3413!

My friend who had been considering suicide emailed me tonight and said she is doing much better! Thanks for praying for her. Please continue to keep her in prayer.

I pray God blesses your spiritual growth, so you can see Him clearly, love Him more dearly and follow Him more nearly.

Are you getting this message every week? Are you receiving about twelve pages with this message? If this message isn't reaching you consistently or if it's shortened, you can always find these weekly devotions on our web site! Devotional archive: http://www.jcsm.org/devos.htm. Plus, if http://www.jcsm.org isn't working, please try http://www.jcsm.net.

This is your ministry, so please feel free to link to JCSM and forward these devotions to your friends and family. On the JCSM website, there are over 5000 links (pictures, forums, midis, Bible lessons, humor, proverbial stories, links, devotions, poetry, prayer journals and much more!) and it has registered over 76,000 visits!

If you need to email me, please see the address below. Hitting "reply" to this message won't send an email to me. I'm sorry if this is an inconvenience to you, however, rest assured that I will answer all of the emails I receive.

Did you know that JCSM has it's very own forum? If you'd like to read some interesting posts and/or post some messages, please surf to http://forum.jcsm.org.

Welcome to the new recipients of this message! Here are the devotions, challenge, moment of introspection, the Greek Bible word of the week and the quotations for the week. Have a fantastic week and God bless you!

Love in Christ,

Jason J. Gastrich

http://jcsm.org/contact.php

ICQ#: 20731140

The Weekly Devotional Message

Day 1: "Watch Out For Deceit"

Matthew 24:4, 5 "And Jesus answered and said to them: Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, I am the Christ, and will deceive many."

Colossians 2:8, 9 "Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily."

2 John 1:7 "For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist."

Titus 1:10, 11 "For there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain."

1 John 3:7, 8 "Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil."

2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4 "Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God."

Insight: There are people in the world ready to deceive you. Some of them want to trick you into believing religious lies and others want you to believe other kinds of lies. Use God's Word to be the litmus test against all doctrines and "sales pitches".

Prayer: "Thank you for never deceiving us, Lord. Thank you for helping us see through lies. Expose the people who are deceiving us. Give us great wisdom, knowledge and insight. Forgive the ones who are simple and haven't researched the things they are believing, following and promoting. Let people keep your standard, Lord. Thank you for your Holy Spirit. Let us be sensitive to your prompting. Praise You for giving us answers when we diligently seek You with all of our heart. There's no other God like You. In Jesus' name, Amen."

Day 2: "God's Great Love For His Elect"

Matthew 24:21, 22 "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened."

Romans 8:33 "Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies."

Romans 11:7 "What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded."

Mark 13:27 "And then He will send His angels, and gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest part of earth to the farthest part of heaven."

Luke 18:7, 8a "And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily."

Insight: God loves everyone. His Word says that He is faithful and just. If you are one of His elect, don't forget that He has an awesome plan for you. Remember, Christ died for us all because He didn't want one of us to perish.

Prayer: "Thank you for dying for us, Lord. Thank you for paying the ultimate price for our sins. Help us to understand the awesome thing You have done. Thank you for coming out of Heaven and walking the Earth. Thank you for wanting to keep your elect safe and sanctified. Protect us, Lord. Lift us up. Help us to see You and be like You. Thank you for instructing us in righteousness. Thank you for being our avenger, Lord. Help us not to take revenge against other people. Give us patience, joy and meekness. Praise You for being our awesome example. Help us to give our pains and problems to You. Thank you for wanting them! You are our awesome God. In Jesus' name, Amen."

Day 3: "Until"

2 Peter 3:7 "But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men."

Philippians 1:6 "Be confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;"

Matthew 26:29 "But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom."

Insight: There will be an awesome day where we are with God, forever. A central topic in the Bible is our future in Heaven. Keep remembering that we are only passing through this Earth and it won't be long until we're in Heaven.

Prayer: "Thank you for preparing an awesome place for us, Lord. Thank you for promising to take us to Heaven when we die. Give us more faith and more love. Remove our worries, insecurities and fears. Help us to see all things like You do. Praise You for being such a good God! Thank you for promising to complete the work You began in us. Thank you for having a sense of time that is beyond our sense of time. Praise You for having ways that are higher than our ways. Help us to understand You and why You do things. Let us be accepting of the things You do and give. Thank you for knowing best. Thank you for having an awesome plan and letting us be part of it. In Jesus' name, Amen."

Day 4: "Right In His Whose Eyes?"

Deuteronomy 12:8, 9 "You shall not at all do as we are doing here today--every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes--for as yet you have not come to the rest and the inheritance which the LORD your God is giving you."

Judges 17:6 "In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes."

Proverb 12:15 "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But he who heeds counsel is wise."

Proverb 21:2 "Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, But the LORD weighs the hearts."

Insight: One of the phrases that characterized apostate Israel is "every man did what was right in his own eyes". Are you doing what is right in your eyes or God's eyes?

Prayer: "Thank you for giving us other people's bad examples as warnings for what not to do. Help us to abstain from foolishness. Help us to learn lessons quickly without having to fail over and over. Thank you for wanting us to stay pure. Thank you for teaching us awesome things when we give our ears, heart and mind to You. Praise You for being righteous and the benchmark for all righteousness. Give us more of your righteousness. Help us to see how humans tend to play games and without the Holy Spirit, they don't really understand or crave godly righteousness. Thank you that You have given us new life. Praise You for giving us a calling that is different than people who are not living for You. Let us touch You and set everything aside for your will. In Jesus' name, Amen."

Day 5: "Holy Spirit"

John 14:26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you."
Acts 2:38 "Then Peter said to them, 'Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'"
Romans 14:17 "For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."
1 Corinthians 6:19 "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?"
1 Corinthians 12:3 "Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit."
Ephesians 4:30 "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."
1 John 5:7 "For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one."

Insight: God's Holy Spirit is the third person in the trinity. The first reference to the Holy Spirit is in the 2^nd chapter of Genesis. It has a function and a purpose as it lives in each believer.

Prayer: "Thank you for giving us your Holy Spirit, Lord. Thank you for giving us the very best Spirit anyone could have in this world. Help us to be discerning and see the other spirits. Praise You for being more powerful than anything else. Thank you for giving us a spiritual world where angels and demons inhabit the places we cannot see. Let us trust You for strength and deliverance. Thank you for giving us something that we could not get on our own. Thank you for giving us salvation through Jesus Christ! Praise you for blessing us more than we can understand. Let us always be thankful for your awesome gifts and blessings. In Jesus' name, Amen."

Day 6: "The Importance of Children"

Psalm 127:3 "Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward."
Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."
Proverbs 29:15 "The rod and rebuke give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother."
Matthew 10:42 "And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward."
Matthew 18:4,5 "Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me."
Matthew 18:10 "Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven."
Matthew 18:14 "Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish."
Luke 17:2 "It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones."

Insight: Children are important to God. They are mentioned all throughout the Bible. Further, Jesus made His disciples allow the little ones to approach Him.

Prayer: "Thank you for all the children in the world. Help them to stay safe and blessed. Praise You for being a great father for them, despite the earthly father that they have. Let young people learn to trust You and thank You. Praise You for working through various ways to bless people. Help people to learn how to treat children and love them deeply. Thank you for the joy and energy that children possess! Help them to keep that in their heart. Thank you for the people that work with children. Give them lots of patience. Help parents to trust youth workers and bless all Christians that are in ministry. Expose the ones that are evil and reward the ones that are good. In Jesus' name, Amen."

Day 7: "Our Jealous God"

Exodus 20:4-6 "You shall not make for yourself a carved image - any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments."
Exodus 34:14 "For you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God."
Deuteronomy 4:24 "For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God."
Joshua 24:19, 20 "But Joshua said to the people, You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good.'"
Nahum 1:2, 3 "God is jealous, and the Lord avenges; The Lord avenges and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries, And He reserves wrath for His enemies; the Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked."

Insight: God is our jealous God. This isn't a bad thing. If God were not jealous of our attention and allegiance, we would give it to someone or something else and suffer. God knows that it is in our best interest to choose Him over all other things.

Prayer: "Thank you for being such a great God, Lord. Thank you for being jealous and wanting our attention. Help us to neglect other gods and other influences. Show us how evil tries to guide us. Let us deny other powers and forces. Thank you for touching us and giving us much more than we need. Let us use your resources for You, Lord. Thank you for being our almighty Savior. Let us lift your name, daily. Thank you for being so worthy of our time and devotion. Thank you for wanting to bless our efforts to love You and spread the good news. Nobody has ever received a blessing greater than one that You can give. Let us have open hands, so You can have what You will and give us what You will. Thank you for taking things from us that would be detrimental to our health. Help us to fully submit to You. You are the one who made us and You love us more than we know. In Jesus' name, Amen."

Challenge

Do your own devotional! Use a Bible and find several scriptures that teach you about a biblical topic. You can use a great, online Bible here: http://bible.jcsm.org.

Once you start reading and researching the Bible, you'll see how it isn't that difficult. Don't forget to seek God for the subject and pray about what He shows you! God bless you as you meet this week's challenge.

A Moment of Introspection

Have you ever studied biblical prophecy? Did you know that when the Bible was written, over 1/2 of the scriptures were prophetic?

God has given us an incredible book that goes beyond our time-space continuum. The study of prophecy is imperative. Prophecy doesn't simply include end times events. There are Messianic prophecies, prophecies about Israel and many other types of prophecies. If you haven't begun studying prophecy, I recommend getting started now! Here are some authors that I also recommend: Chuck Missler, Dave Hunt, Tim LaHaye, Tony Evans, Ed Hindson and Hal Lindsay.

The Greek Bible Word of the Week

harpazo: caught up, seize, pluck (rapture) - 1 Thessalonians 4:17

The Quotations of the Week

Your eschatology is derived from your hermeneutics.

Understand prophecy lets you stand in awe of God.

The U.S. has become the primary exporters of everything God abhors.

The first casualty in any cultural war is truth.

The sin of the pagan left isn't keeping God from doing great things; it's the sin of the believers in Christ.

For every prophecy of Christ, there are 8 prophecies about His second coming.

Discover the integrity of God's design.

Don't be a casual admirer of the Word of God.

People get into the Word in small, home groups.

It is becoming more politically incorrect to be a Christian in the United States.

For many reasons, the U.S. is moving into a police state.

Pray for our leadership and pay attention to what is going on.

If Clinton was the Jezebel and Bush is the Nehemiah, then the next president will be the Manasseh.

Matthew took shorthand because it was part of his job, therefore he recorded things in verbatim.

Jesus authenticates Daniel as the author of the book of Daniel in Matthew 24:15.

If you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything.

Every detail is in the Bible by design.

The Feast of Dedication is the celebration of Hanukkah (the rededication of the temple after the defilement by Antiochus IV (Epiphanes) and the first one was on the 25^th of Kislev, 165 B.C. (John 10:22).

The Anti-Christ will be a pseudo-Christ and possibly not adamantly and obviously against Jesus Christ.

Israel and the church are distinct and different.

The church starts with a miracle (Pentecost) and ends with a miracle (rapture).

It's astonishing to see the rise in Anti-Semitism.

The fall of Babylon and the destruction of Babylon are two very different events.

These quotes came from God, me, the Inspirational Study Bible (with Max Lucado) and Chuck Missler.

These quotes can be used for sanctification and fun. Most of them are directly based on scripture and scriptural principles. Some of my quotes are humorous or rhetorical. Some are written from sermons and Bible studies. Others are lyrics from songs. If you'd like me to go into more detail on any of them, please email me.

Like most verses in the Bible, they can be debated. To use what I've written in the most beneficial way, try and trace them back to the scriptures and apply the true principles to your life in a meaningful way! Please don't sell my quotes or publish them for profit. If English is not your first language, you may not understand some of the quotes. I'm sorry, but some of them are English metaphors and deal with multiple word meanings. God bless you all!

Please make a commitment to pray for this ministry. As every believer is tempted and tried, this ministry faces trials also. God has blessed me, JCSM and the people who have been reached! Unfortunately, the enemy knows this and spiritual warfare is the result. Please at least pray that the devotions continue to be sent religiously, the web pages stay on the www and the subscribers are blessed, sanctified and protected from evil. Thank you very much in advance!

Do you want to help people receive the good news? We share the gospel over 2.5 million times each year! Please join us in the great commission. We're reaching new people every day with God's awesome Word! If God has blessed you and you wish to send a love offering to me and my ministry, please email me and I'll give you our mailing address.

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Along with getting support, we also give support! JCSM regularly gives to churches and needy people. Another function of this ministry is to do counseling. We are always answering questions about life, the Lord and everything in between. Lastly, we do a lot of research on religious topics on the internet and library. You will definitely see the results of our hard work and your loving support, in the web pages, and in the weekly devotions!

For more about me and my service history, go to http://www.jcsm.org/misc/Resume.htm. For what I do, my ministries and giving, go to http://www.jcsm.org/Give2.htm.

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If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, please email me! I would love to share the gospel with you. The Bible is very straightforward when it speaks about Heaven, Hell and eternal life. If there is any doubt that you are going to Heaven when you die, please let me know today! If you'd like to discover the biblical doctrine of salvation through Jesus Christ, please go here: Audio Gospel Message - http://www.jcsm.org/godsplan/TheGospel.mp3. or the Textual Gospel Message - http://www.jcsm.org/GodsPlan/TheGospel.htm.

Would you like to feed starving people by simply clicking a button and paying absolutely nothing? Sponsors pay to donate food to hungry people all over the world. I click these nearly every day. It takes about 10 seconds and it donates food to needy people! Go here: http://www.stopthehunger.com and here http://www.thehungersite.com.

Go here to donate free Bibles to people: www.TheBibleSite.org. If you want to join a Christian organization that helps feed and clothe poor people, check into World Vision. You can see their site here: http://www.worldvision.com. Compassion International is another, great Christian organization that rivals World Vision. You can visit them here: http://www.ci.org.

Do you believe in evolution? If you can prove that the evolution of species has happened, Dr. Dino will give you $250,000. I know Kent Hovind and this is a legitimate offer. For more information, please see his web site: http://www.drdino.com.

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JCSM operates in Oceanside, California, United States. This ministry has been certified by the Evangelical Ministries to New Religions. EMNR is an accrediting body for sound, Christian ministries that preach the true gospel of God to people in other religions and cults. Their web site is located here: http://www.emnr.org.

Since April of 1997, the weekly devotional message has been sent on the internet. This message currently reaches over 39,000 people in 99 countries. To read a list of these countries, go here: http://www.jcsm.org/misc/countries.htm. To read the archived devotions online, go here: http://www.jcsm.org/devos.htm.

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