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

To: "1111RESCUEMEMBERS"

Cc:

Sent: Fri, Dec 30, 2022 at 6:06 AM

Subject: 12-30-22 THOUGHTS

12-30-22   THOUGHTS

One of the only recordings of actual public praise to our Lord is below.  There is a crowd, but it seems to be the children who are most vocal.   The praise of the Messiah is set over against indignance.  The greed of profit, even inside the temple area, is contrasted with healing.  Once more, the issue of bearing fruit is brought to light.  Things right, and things wrong are mixed in the process of life.  So it is today.  Our JUST GOD will one day bring it all to an end and make things right in His sight!  I want my name written in God’s book of life.  Php 4:3.

Matt 21:7-20    and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their coats on them; and He sat on the coats.  8  Most of the crowd spread their coats in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road. 9  The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David; BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Hosanna in the highest!" 10  When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, "Who is this?"  11  And the crowds were saying, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee."  12  And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. 13  And He said to them, "It is written, ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER’; but you are making it a ROBBERS’ DEN."  14  And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.  15  But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they became indignant 16  and said to Him, "Do You hear what these children are saying?"  And Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read, ‘OUT OF THE MOUTH OF INFANTS AND NURSING BABIES YOU HAVE PREPARED PRAISE FOR YOURSELF’?"  17  And He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.      18  Now in the morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry. 19  Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He said to it, "No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you." And at once the burst tree withered.  20  Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and asked, "How did the fig tree wither all at once?"

My Prayer:
O Father,  may our presence before you be as a house of prayer.  From the deepest parts of our heart, may praise burst forth.  Help us to see You, and not the world.  Help us to love rather than lust.  Teach us to give as we defeat the self.  Write our names in your book of life, O God.  No withering,  dear God,  help us to be fruitful in every way.   In Jesus' dear name,   Amen.