Colossians 1:16-17
For by Him all things were created. ... All things have been created by Him and for Him.
...In Him all things hold together.
Jesus is here said to be the Creator Who made everything.
This is an all-inclusive statement. If "everything" was created by Him, then He cannot be a created Person because He could not have created Himself.
And He is the One Who holds it all together.
In 2012 scientists confirmed the existence of a boson particle named after Peter Higgs, who first proposed its possibility back in 1964.
Two fundamental attributes of a Higgs boson are that it has even parity and zero spin. This means it is the first elementary scalar particle discovered in nature. (From Wikipedia.)
It is ubiquitous among all matter as a field that would explain why other fundamental constituents of matter have mass. It is the first principle that "holds it all together."
And initial illustrations of this particle had it in the shape of a cross!
However, this configuration upset those who refuse to acknowledge Jesus, so they have taken this idea into other shapes, in order to delete the Cross from Science!
These are the closest illustrations to a cross I've been able to find online, all the more obvious ones have been scrubbed.
They have complicated the illustration from the simple picture I saw several years ago, which had the paths of the pieces winding around each other in beautiful symmetry.
So Jesus is the force that gives existence to everything. He is our Lord God Almighty. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end (Revelation 1:8).
Now in the preface to a new collection of essays and lectures called "Starmus," Stephen Hawking is warning that the particle could one day be responsible for the destruction of the known universe.
Hawking is not the only scientist who thinks so. The theory of a Higgs boson doomsday,
where a quantum fluctuation creates a vacuum "bubble" that expands
through space and wipes out the universe, has existed for a while.
However, scientists don't think it could happen anytime soon.
"Most likely it will take 10 to the 100 years [a 1 followed by 100
zeroes] for this to happen, so probably you shouldn't sell your house
and you should continue to pay your taxes," Joseph Lykken, a theoretical
physicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia,
Illinois, said during his lecture at the SETI Institute on Sept. 2. "On
the other hand it may already happened, and the bubble might be on its
way here now. And you won't know because it's going at the speed of
light so there's not going to be any warning." (https://www.livescience.com/47737-stephen-hawking-higgs-boson-universe-doomsday.html)
When scientists are honest, and not trying to take God out of their thinking, they come up with how God actually did things, and how He says He will complete His Plan.
Jesus, God's Son, the Second Person in the Trinity that is our One God, is the One who has taken responsibility for the Universe.
That is why He is our Lord God Almighty and our Messiah, Savior, and Redeemer. He is our Omnipotent King and the Bridegroom of the bride, which is His Church.
He gave Moses the Law and the Prophets their predictions, to tell us what He would do when He came to Earth the first time, to be our Lamb of God; and the second time, to be our King.
And He told John how everything would come about at the end of the Last Days, so we could be prepared for what we will be facing.
And even how He would reign over this World for a thousand years, then how the whole Universe will end, with a glimpse of the New Universe that will follow it.
This is all so wondrous and amazing! I love Science and I love God's Word, and I especially love when Science explains a little of God's Plan! True Science has always supported Scripture, and in the past many Christian Scientists used it to lead them to their scientific discoveries.
O my Father, I am amazed with Your ways! You have thought of everything, nothing escapes Your notice, not the least tiny particle or wave or field of energy. Not one little drop or hair or sparrow. No detail is too small for Your scrutiny, and no planet or system or Universe is larger than You. You fill all and are in all. And all is in You.
We are Your imagination. If You weren't thinking about us, we would not be.
O Father, Your intent for Mankind was for us to be Your own family, to be Your sons and daughters, Your princes and princesses, to assist You in Your daily ministrations to Your Creations, all the Universes You have in mind.
We will sit with You on Your Throne, ruling with You as kings and queens, enjoying Your Presence and rejoicing in You and everything You do.
Father, until that Day, continue to prepare us for all You know is in our future. Strengthen us to learn the lessons of this school we are in, and to pass the tests of our faith and trust in You.
Teach us how to love our neighbors as You have Loved us, to exude that lovely fragrance of Life to draw others to You. And to not waver in our positivity in loving even our enemies who work against us.
Father, I expect that The End will be coming soon. And I want to remain strong in Your strength, as my flesh is weak. Hold my hand firmly, Father, so I won't pull away, or wander off, or turn off to the right or to the left, or to run ahead of You, or lag behind.
Help me to step each step in Your footsteps, and to do all the works You have planned ahead of Time for me to do to accomplish my part of Your great Plan of the Ages.
And when Your great Tapestry of Time is completed, we will rejoice in its beauty and symmetry and colors and shades and music.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Romans 12: 18
If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.
Well, here it is. As far as it depends on you and me, we need to be at peace with everyone.
But it doesn't all depend on us. Sometimes when we do what is right, others still find fault and refuse to get along.
And, of course, we are not always in full control of our words and behavior, letting stuff slip out without thinking. That's our fault.
So we need to be aware of this failing, and endeavor to pay attention to what we're thinking, for that's where our words and actions come from.
O my Father, please help us as Your children to keep a rein on our mouths by submitting our wills and thoughts to Your scrutiny.
Teach us to pause and consider how our words may be received by the hearers. And keep us from disparaging Your Name in how we present ourselves to the World.
Father, work Your works through our endeavors; say Your words with our tongues; fulfill Your great Plan of the Ages using each of our stories, lived out day by day and moment by moment.
O Father, don't let me get in Your way in working in the lives and minds of those in my little world. Don't let my flesh hinder Your message to others in my path.
And may Your Name be glorified in me, not myself.
For every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, to the honor and glory of the Father.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Acts 19: 8-10
And [Paul] entered the synagogue [in Ephesus] and continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the Kingdom of God.
This was Paul's mode of operation, to find the synagogue in whatever area he was in and preach to the Jews first.
But when some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the people,
Not everyone wants to be saved, so these were hardening their own hearts, refusing to submit themselves to God. So they began to slander the believers.
he withdrew from them and took away the disciples,
So Paul left the synagogue and his students went with him.
reasoning daily in the School of Tyrennus.
So he begins teaching classes in an actual school.
This took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.
For two years he taught his students, the disciples. This shows that the more we know who God is and what He is doing, the more we will share with others so they can know God, too.
It only took two years for everyone in that whole area of the World to be exposed to God's Plan to love us. So they all had the opportunity to make an informed decision whether to accept Christ or reject Him.
Yesterday we read about Demetrius the silversmith who put his finances over his eternal future. All the people who were becoming Christians stopped buying his idols, cutting into his bottom line.
And, since Paul was also performing miracles that God used to verify his teachings, these seven sons of a chief priest named Sceva who were exorcists tried to ply their trade by riding on his coattails,
saying, I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches. ... And the evil spirit answered and said to them, I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you? And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. (19:13-16).
This story got around, in both Jewish and Greek circles, so the fear of God was known by all, and the Lord Jesus was magnified (v. 17).
And many of those who put their faith in Christ were coming and confessing their demonic practices, and brought their books together to destroy them, burning them in a public bonfire. When they figured the cost of these materials, it came to "fifty thousand pieces of silver," or several million dollars today. (19:18-19)
So all these things together resulted in the message of the Gospel to be proclaimed to and understood by everyone who lived in Asia at that time.
This is incredible! This is the extent to which God wants His message to go out into the whole World. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (II Peter 3:9).
Jesus said that,
This Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the World for a witness unto all Nations; and then shall the end come (Matthew 24:14).
So we who know the Lord as our Savior are to learn in this school of life that we are living in, being in the World but not of it, to share our own testimonies of what God has done for us through His Son with everyone in our little worlds.
That is what Paul's students did, and his world was saturated with God's message. We need to do the same. It only took him two years. How long could it take us?
We have so many more Nations of peoples to reach, but we also have the transportation and technology to reach far beyond our own arms' length.
We can hop on a airplane and be anywhere in the World in just hours!
O my Father, please send all Your workers into Your fields that are fully ripe and ready for harvest! Father, Your little lambs that are still lost and searching for You need to hear Your voice spoken through Your children.
So many of those who are hurting and lashing out in their pain need to experience Your Love poured out upon them as Your children love their enemies. As we, Your sons and daughters, live our lives according to Your royal standards and have Your regal attitudes of humility and compassion and persistence.
Help us, Father, in our weaknesses and the worldliness that still clings to us, to be strong in Your strength, to gain the victory by the Blood of the Lamb and the by the word of [our] testimony (Revelation 12:11).
Lead us in Your straight way on that narrow path that leads to Light and Life. Hold fast to our hands, as the Good Father You are, so we will not pull away, or wander off, or veer to the right or to the left, or run ahead or fall behind.
Keep us always and continually sharing with those in each of our worlds, so that our boundaries will constantly be enlarged, and our worlds will overlap, covering the whole Earth with Your message of Love!
So that all Your children will be gathered together, and no one else will have any excuse.
And every eye will see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess in every language, Your glory and honor and wisdom and authority and strength and power in Your Son Christ Jesus, to the lifting up of the Father as the Highest.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Acts 19: 23-27
About that time there occurred no small disturbance concerning the Way.
Here's the intro to an almost-riot over financial danger.
For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines to Artemis, was bringing no little business to the craftsmen;
This Demetrius was a leader among the craftsmen in the area, with influence.
these he gathered together with the workmen of similar trades, and said, "Men, you know that our prosperity depends upon this business.
His speech begins on a financial footing, as a businessman talking to other business owners.
"You see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people, saying that gods made with hands are no gods at all.
"Not only is there danger that this trade of ours fall into disrepute,
He contends that this Paul is convincing too many people to give up their idols, and is cutting into their business; they are in danger of losing money!
"but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis be regarded as worthless and that she whom all of Asia and the World worship will even be dethroned from her magnificence."
Then he goes from money to religion. He doesn't want the goddess they worship to lose her worshipers; he thinks her honor depends on them.
And he is a convincing speaker, as these idol-makers start to chant, and they gather a crowd that gets so worked up that they keep up the chanting for two hours! (See Acts 19: 28-34.)
Then the town clerk steps up to talk reason into the crowd (Vs. 35-41), because many of them didn't even know why they were there (v. 32).
So this whole brouhaha came about because these guys who were making money off of idol worship got upset that their income was going to decline. Follow the money.
So much persecution comes when people are afraid of losing money.
Or they're afraid they won't be able to sufficiently protect and defend their deity, as though it depends on them.
There are so many who are just chasing money. They don't realize that money is just a tool, and if they make it an end, they will never be satisfied, no matter how much they amass. Money cannot fill that God-shaped void each person has in himself.
People try to fill that emptiness with all kinds of things of this World, but they will never be satisfied until they come to know the Father through the Son.
Many of God's own children are confused about this issue. Some disdain having much money at all, thinking it is "filthy lucre," and mis-quote the verse, thinking that money is the root of evil, when it is a tool. It is the love of money that is the root of all kinds of evil.
I Tim 6:10 says that the love of money seduces people from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Those who make amassing money a goal, will never reach that goal, never have enough money. So they "pierce themselves through with many sorrows." They do it to themselves. They think that money will bring happiness. But the joy of the Lord is so much better than mere happiness.
O my Father, please show Your children the proper place of this tool in their attitudes and lives. With more tools, we can do more work toward the Kingdom, and You are the one who gives us the ability to earn a living.
Father, help us all to recognize You as Provider, and not depend on how much money we have, but depend on You as our Source. And show us how to enjoy the bounty You grant us as we use the resources we have for the promotion of Your Kingdom, Father.
May we use our means to finance Your Kingdom, Father. To send and to go to the fields ripe for harvest, in all the World, every Nation and people group, where Your lost lambs are searching.
That Your house will be full, and every place will be occupied at Your grand banquet table.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Romans 9: 4-5
God gave every advantage to the Israelites.
Who are Israelites, to whom belong the adoption as sons,
The adult children who will help run the Family business, the Kingdom;
and the glory
The honor of being God's sons.
And the covenants
The agreements, the contracts with God.
And the giving of the Law
All the rules for prosperity and peace.
And the Temple service
The means of having a relationship with God as His children.
And the promises,
All God said He would do, His revealing of the future.
Whose are the fathers,
Descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
And from whom is the Christ according to the flesh,
Jesus' human genealogy was through David, of the Tribe of Judah, the son of Jacob, or Israel.
The Israelites were given all the advantages over all the other Nations.
Romans 10: 20-21
Isaiah is very bold and says, "I was found by those who did not seek Me, I became manifest to those who did not ask for Me."
But as for Israel He says, "All day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people."
God said that He was found by people who didn't even realize they were looking for Him, but He held His hands out all day for Israel, who He had given all the advantages, but they were disobedient and obstinate.
Isn't that the way it goes. The child in the family who is favored, even spoiled, is the rebellious one, while the ignored child turns out to be the most responsive.
O my Father, I didn't know that it was You I was seeking, when I was searching for the Truth. But You are Truth, and You honored my search by coming to me and revealing to me that Jesus took my place in death. That's when You rescued me from the addictive sin that had trapped me, and caused me to be born into Your own family.
You had wanted Your chosen Nation, Israel, to be Your examples to show the World what a good God You are, by obeying Your laws and rules so they could enjoy Your blessings, then the other peoples would also want to worship You instead of their idols.
But the Israelite Nation had a real problem consistently focusing on You and Your ways, and strayed so far that they failed to do what You intended.
But You knew this would happen, and You told Isaiah and other Prophets how You would call people of other Nations to yourself, also.
And You called me, Father--one who has no discernible genetic descent from Abraham--to be Your daughter in Your own Family.
O Father, I pray for all Your children, and all those who will be Your children. You know, since before You created anything, who would be Yours; and You call us to Yourself in Your time and in Your way, in every Time and every age.
O my Father, I pray for Your wayward son Israel. I pray that the veil over their eyes would be removed, and they would recognize who You are and how You Love them. I pray that Your hand of Peace would be over Jerusalem, the Capital of Your Nation at the Center of the Earth.
And I pray for Your children who are being persecuted. Father, my brothers and sisters who are living in areas of the World where the political climate is taken over by evil and hates all those who abide by Your Book.
Father, You have torn the veil that separates us from intimacy with You, and You have broken down the wall between Hebrews and Gentiles. We are all to have the same faith, believing the same Scriptures, and we are all sisters and brothers in Your own Family.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
II Thessalonians 2: 1-12
Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him,
Here Paul puts Jesus' return and the Rapture of the church together.
That you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the Day of the Lord has come.
Some of their teachers were saying that the Lord had already returned. Paul is telling them not to worry, it hasn't happened yet, they didn't miss Him.
Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,
We are to look at what is going on around us to see when some powerful ruler acts as though he is above the law.
Okay, almost every government official of every Nation acts like they are not subject to the same laws we are.
So let's see what this particular one does:
Who opposes and exalts himself above every god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the Temple of God, displaying himself as being God.
This person will promote himself as the only one to be worshiped, in the middle of Daniel's seventieth week (Daniel 9:27), persecuting everyone who will not bow down to him.
Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things?
Paul had taught these believers as much as he understood would happen according to God's plan, but he wasn't in Thessalonica very long, being run out by the Jews who didn't believe him (Acts 17:5-10).
And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed.
For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.
Okay, Paul told them, but he didn't tell us who this is who is restraining; and now we have several theories propounded by theologians, but no proof of any of them.
I will leave that to God to reveal or not what this is that restrains the evil and lawlessness to prevent the "man of sin" from being revealed. I suppose we will know after the fact.
When this person compels everyone to worship him by preventing anyone to buy or sell anything without giving him fealty, he will use the World's economic system to enforce his theology (see Revelation 13:15-18).
Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the Appearance of His Coming;
That is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders,
This person is in direct opposition to God, wanting to be God, and trying to act like a god with miracles and deceptive wonders. So he also is in opposition to the people of God, both Jews and Christians.
Be watching who is anti-Semitic, for one indication. And for who doesn't approve of Christians proclaiming only One Way to God, through the Blood of Christ. This is the spirit of lawlessness at work today.
And with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the Truth so as to be saved.
For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false,
Paul is talking about the people now, who follow the World instead of following Christ. Since they refused to accept the Truth that we all deserve to die (The wages of sin is death; Romans 6:23), and will not accept Jesus as the Savior.
So God will let the man of sin make it impossible for these people to be saved, so they will elevate him instead of God.
What could be such a strong "deluding influence" but the new technology out of the Far East that puts emotion and thought control into implantable chips, along with medical and financial information. So don't get any chips implanted!
In order that they all may be judged who did not believe the Truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.
God's judgment is absolutely righteous, and these people will show themselves deserving of God's wrath, that King Jesus will dispense with His Word--the sword that proceeds out of His mouth (Revelation 19:15).
O my Father, please prepare all of Your people, both Your children and the Israelites You have chosen, to survive the wrath You will be pouring out on the World, and to reach all of the rest of Your sheep who are still searching.
Thank you so much, my Father, for putting the wrath I deserve on Your own Son as He suffered as Lamb of God. Strengthen me to stand firm in the face of the enemy's minions when they confront, and protect me, to live to see and take part in the Glorious Appearing of my King.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
II Thessalonians 1: 3
... Your faith is greatly enlarged, and the love of each one of you toward one another grows ever greater.
Our faith and our love are mentioned together here. Is there a connection? I think so.
Our faith is how much we are trusting God. God is Love, and the better we get to know Him, the more we will realize how much He loves us. Then the more trust we can put in Him, becoming more comfortable in His care, knowing that He has only good planned for us.
And as we become more aware of God's absolute power over all Creation, and every moment through Time; then we will naturally (supernaturally?) lean more on Him and His wisdom and knowledge to guide our steps each day.
And we will find that we also love what He loves, other people. Especially our brothers and sisters in Christ. And also His lost sheep.
So when Paul noticed how the believers in Thessalonica had "greatly enlarged" their faith, they were also growing in their love for one another.
O my Father, may all of us, Your children, greatly enlarge our faith, getting to know You better every day. And may our trusting You grow our hearts in love for one another.
May our love for one another show the World how good You are, Father; and that You Loved us so much that You sent Your own Son to be our Lord and our Savior.
O Father, teach me how to love my sisters and brothers, help me to do what shows love; as love is an active verb, not a fleeting feeling. Show me what I can do to love my neighbor, and show Your Love to the World.
Show me, Father, how to love those especially close to me, and I to them. Help us to love one another with the active Love that You Love us with. Open my eyes to see their needs, and how I can meet them.
Father, You have given me everything I need. You have always been so generous with me, help me to also be generous with others, as Your hands and feet.
And send me, Father, to your lost sheep. Allow me to contribute the abilities and resources You have granted me, for the advancement of Your great Kingdom, to hasten the Glorious Appearing of my Lord and Savior.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
