Super Star Cluster – Westerlund 1
JWST – October 4, 2024
Check out this short video On YouTube (45 Sec)
“Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”
Revelation 4:11
Hi Men:
I hope you had a great week and are spending time “in” the Word and on your knees. Time is short — ask God to direct your steps. With everything going on, let’s not forget to meditate on verses like this:
“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.” (1 Peter 4:12-13)
PHOTO ABOVE
I purposely picked this amazing photo for this week to help keep our mind where it needs to be —–> looking up to the heavens – longing for eternity with Jesus! Otherwise, you might get sidetracked with our bizarre attraction to the LA fires, the hostages in Gaza or this upcoming Monday that hosts not only Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but the Presidential Inauguration and the NCAA Championship Football Game.
Question: Since January 7th, how many hours do you think you have spent on social media watching the fires in LA? How often did it cross your mind that God is orchestrating all those fires by His perfect and sovereign will?
Back to the photo…… Let me start off by saying if Westerlund 1 were at the heart of our Solar System, the night sky would glow with hundreds of stars as bright as the full Moon. That is hard to get your mind around. This breathtaking super star cluster is located 12,000 light-years away in the constellation Ara [“The Altar”]. It is a stellar masterpiece and is Milky Way’s most massive young cluster, containing between 50,000 and 100,000 times the mass of the Sun, all packed into a space less than six light-years across. Westerlund 1 is a laboratory for astronomers offering invaluable insights into the life cycle of stars in one of the universe’s most extreme environments. You can Google Westerlund 1 and get tons of information if interested.
IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD OR LIVING ROOM
On Wednesday, my wife invited a few of her church ladies over for coffee and her homemade blueberry muffins. No agenda, just to get together and encourage one another. Before they left, Jane asked me take their photo. This gave me the opportunity to put together packets of evangelistic materials (you all know by now: The Million Dollar Gospel of John, Steps To Peace, Are You a Good Person, Million Dollar Bills, etc). I took a few minutes and showed how I use them…… They were very excited and grateful. Later that day, Jane was getting a few text messages on how they were already giving the $1,000,000 bills out to waiters and even leaving them folded in the toilet seat protector containers 🤠
All of us have so many opportunities, it’s ridiculous. On that same day after a dental appointment, I grabbed a quick bite. My busboy and I had a great conversation. He is from Ecuador and is a Christian. I gave him what tracts I had and even a $1,000,000 bill in Spanish. You would think I gave him a new car. He was so happy.
But for the grace of God……..
Dan
(Gal 2:20)
“God wrote a book on suffering, and its name is Jesus.”
Joni Eareckson Tada
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” (Romans 8:18)
🔷 READ THIS HONESTLY & THOUGHTFULLY 🔷
Question: “Since your conversion, how many of you have lost your deep affection toward Christ and what He has done for you? Remember in those early days, you wanted to tell everyone! Now how many have you been telling about this great salvation?”
Losing Your Sense of Gratitude – Day 16 Red Book
The purpose of these devotionals is to help you think Biblically.
Solomon said, “As a man thinks, so is he”
Download And/Or Send this devotional to a buddy to discuss.
Upcoming Men’s Retreats – Please Pray
Jan 31 – Feb 2 – Men’s Winter Retreat 2025 (Pennsylvania)
Feb 8 – 1/2 Day Tune Up and Breakfast with Bill McCurine – Scottsdale, AZ
Feb 28 – Mar 2 – Lost Valley Men’s Retreat (Colorado) “By the way, registration opened last Friday and it is already over 70%.”
May 1 – 3 Great Lakes Men’s Retreat (Ohio)
AND YOU THOUGHT CATHOLIC INDULGENCES WERE A THING OF THE PAST!
⚡ THINK AGAIN ⚡
How To Obtain a Plenary Indulgence in 2025
by Tim Challies
Excerpt from his article:
One of the reasons a Year of Jubilee is especially noteworthy is that it highlights so many of the differences between Catholicism and Protestantism. A Year of Jubilee shows that according to the Roman Catholic Church:
Christ’s suffering was sufficient to remove the guilt of sin but not its punishment;
The Church has the power to forgive sins through confession, yet in such a way that their punishment is not removed;
The Church has the authority to issue indulgences;
The Church has access to a Treasury of Merit that it can dispense as it sees fit;
Baptism is an act of regeneration in which original sin is forgiven and the soul is objectively purified;
An indulgence can return the soul to the state of being objectively purified as if the one receiving it had just been baptized;
Christians (unless they are saints) do not go to heaven when they die, but first to purgatory to be punished for sin until they have attained sufficient holiness;
Christians can effect not only their own future punishment in purgatory but also the present or future punishment of others.
THIS ARTICLE IS A MUST READ (7 MIN)
Copycat Bird
The Lyrebird
You guys may have seen this bird’s crazy courting ritual on PBS, but its real talent is its ability to mimic just about anything. Found in the rainforests of Australia, this extraordinary bird can replicate nearly any sound it hears, from other bird songs to human-made noises like chainsaws, car alarms, and even camera clicks. Its mimicry is so accurate that experts struggle to distinguish the Lyrebird’s imitations from the real thing.
During courtship, the male Lyrebird uses its remarkable talents to serenade potential mates with a medley of over 20 different bird calls, all while spreading its magnificent tail feathers into a striking lyre shape. To witness a Lyrebird in action is to marvel at another of God’s astonishing wonders.
Watch the Lyrebird’s mimic abilities (YouTube 1 min)
Ten Reasons Why Christians Should Share the Gospel
1. We have been commanded to do so.
We have been commanded to preach the gospel to all creation. Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). We need no other reason.
2. Hell exists.
Jesus said, “But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:5). If Hell didn’t exist, we would have a legitimate excuse for passivity. But we have God’s Word (and reason) to tell us what awaits guilty sinners. How coldhearted would we be to not warn of its reality!
3. We strive to love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves.
A firefighter rescuing people from a burning building may be fearful and prefer to be home with his family, but he ignores his fears and denies himself. Like him, our thoughts are not on ourselves but on the fate of the perishing. “And on some have compassion, making a distinction; but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh” (Jude 22,23).
“A firefighter rescuing people from a burning building may be fearful and prefer to be home with his family, but he ignores his fears and denies himself. Like him, our thoughts are not on ourselves but on the fate of the perishing.
4. Obedience is evidence of salvation.
The Bible says that Jesus is the author of eternal salvation to those who obey Him (see Hebrews 5:9). We are not saved by our obedience; we are obedient because we are saved. Jesus said, “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
5. To remain in silence is a sin.
As soon as the Holy Spirit was given, the apostles began to preach the gospel. God had granted everlasting life to dying humanity! They could not stay in the Upper Room because God’s love provoked them to reach out to the lost. “To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin” (James 4:17).
“As soon as the Holy Spirit was given, the apostles began to preach the gospel. God had granted everlasting life to dying humanity! They could not stay in the Upper Room because God’s love provoked them to reach out to the lost.”
6. Evangelism deepens our walk with God.
Nothing teaches a fisherman like fishing. Interacting with the lost results in greater confidence and faith in God. “…hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints, that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus” (Philemon 5–6).
7. It causes us to search the Scriptures.
Wanting to know how to answer every man will send us to God’s Word. “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).
8. It deepens our gratitude for the cross.
As we continually preach the cross, it will deepen our understanding of what God did for us in Christ. We will find ourselves practicing what we preach, so we will be frequently thinking about the cross. “I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).
9. It deepens our prayer life.
“Our fears and sense of inadequacy will also drive us to our knees—the safest place for a Christian.”
We reveal our love for the lost by pondering their fate, and as a result we cannot help but cry out to God for them. “My heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved” (Romans 10:1).
Our fears and sense of inadequacy will also drive us to our knees—the safest place for a Christian. “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).
10. We have been commanded to imitate Paul.
Paul showed his love for God and for sinners by his obedience to the Great Commission. “I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved. Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:33—11:1).
Copy this link and send it to your buddies:
LivingWaters.com/Ten-Reasons-To-Share-The-Gospel
“When we took the Boy Scouts down this river, it changed all of us!”