From: "Phil Rembleski" <PHIl@rescuechurchofchrist.org>

To: "1111RESCUEMEMBERS"

Cc:

Sent: Thu, Dec 30, 2021 at 5:48 AM

Subject: 12-30-21 THOUGHTS

12-30-21   THOUGHTS

Our next post will be on Monday, January 3, 2022.  Between now and then, we usher out an old year and step into a new one.  While the sign-posts are rather arbitrary (Moses changed the Jewish New Year in Exodus 12:2) they do seem to be cause for some meditation, and reflection. It’s a great time for self-assessment if our desire is to “DO and BE BETTER?”   We want to grow, we need to grow!  It seems to be a part of our fundamental nature.  We are CHANGEABLE! Our birth implies our death, merely by observation and experience.  

"If a man dies, will he live [again?]  All the days of my struggle I will wait Until my change comes.”  Job 14:14       I can only get comfort from all this when I remember...
                           "For I, the LORD, do not change;”  Mal 3:6a  

Ps 102:25-27    "Of old You founded the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. 26  "Even they will perish, but You endure; And all of them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing You will change them and they will be changed.  27  But You are the same, And Your years will not come to an end.”

Isa 41:13  "For I am the LORD your God, who upholds your right hand, Who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.’
Isa 42:5-8      Thus says God the LORD, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread out the earth and its offspring, Who gives breath to the people on it And spirit to those who walk in it,  6  "I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness, I will also hold you by the hand and watch over you, And I will appoint you as a covenant to the people, As a light to the nations,  7  To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the dungeon And those who dwell in darkness from the prison.  8  "I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images.
Jer 32:27   "Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?"

Here’s a verse to live by!
Isa 43:11-12    "I, even I, am the LORD,  And  there is no savior besides Me.  12  "It is I who have declared and saved and proclaimed,   And there was no strange god among you; So you are My witnesses,"   declares the LORD,   "And I am God.”
Heb 13:8    Jesus Christ [is] the same yesterday and today and forever.

I am so grateful that some things don’t change!  The old song says “Hold to God’s Unchanging Hand.”

My Prayer:
O God, when we think about the temporary, and weigh it against the eternal, we are awed.  Our dependence and neediness overcome us.  Fill us with your awesome unchangeable nature. May our hearts be absorbed by the fact that there is no savior besides you!   Help us to be witnesses to that awesome eternal fact.   In the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus      Amen