THE ROYAL WEDDING

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⁶And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
   ⁷Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
   ⁸And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
   ⁹And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

Revelation:19:6-9

Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant. Enter into the Joy of the Lord



THE WRONG DAY

Jay: "Man! I can't BELIEVE we showed up for church on the WRONG DAY."
Emilio: "It's funny when you think about it." 

With not even a choir to preach to, the two pastors of Sovereign Joy Community Church in Keller Texas, sit in an empty church on Monday morning and try to figure out how both of their calendars got so mixed up. It is not known whether this incident is related to a previous story where an entire congregation showed up for church and no pastors were there.
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The Olive Press - humor

I Declare Unto You The Gospel

   ¹Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
   ²By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
   ³For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
   ⁴And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures

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 ²⁰But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
   ²¹For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
   ²²For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

1 Corinthians 15:1-4, 20-22

EARTH DAY

Luke 23:44-47:

   ⁴⁴And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.
   ⁴⁵And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.
   ⁴⁶And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.
   ⁴⁷Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man.

HIS SUFFERING AND DEATH

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HE SUFFERED

All the time He lived on earth, but especially at the end of His life, He bore, in body and soul, the wrath of God against the sin of the whole human race; in order that by His suffering, as the only atoning sacrifice, He might redeem our body and soul from everlasting damnation, and obtain for us the grace of God, righteousness, and eternal life.   (John 3:16; Romans 3:24-26)

SUFFERED UNDER PONTIUS PILATE AS JUDGE

He, being innocent, was condemned by a temporal judge, and thereby delivered us from the severe judgment of God, to which we were exposed. (Acts 4:27-28)

HE WAS CRUCIFIED

Thereby I am assured that He took upon Himself the curse which lay upon me, because the death of the cross was cursed of God. (Galatians 3:13-14)

IT WAS NECESSARY FOR CHRIST TO SUFFER DEATH

It was necessary for Christ to suffer death because the justice and truth of God required that satisfaction for our sins could be made in no other way than by the death of the Son of God. (Gen. 2:17; Heb. 2:14-15)

HE WAS BURIED

He was buried to show thereby that He was really dead. (Acts 13:29)

HE DESCENDED INTO HELL

In my greatest temptations I may be assured that Christ my Lord, by His inexpressible anguish, pains, and terrors, which He suffered in His soul on the cross and before, has redeemed me from the anguish and torment of hell.   (Psalms 116:3; Isaiah 53:1-12; Matthew 27:45-46)

(Adapted from the Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 15 & 16)

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"Congratulations, Doctor Boyd"

Readers of this blog know my son Joseph by his photographs of the natural beauty of Arizona, but he has been busy doing other things, as well. Joseph has been enrolled in the Graduate Program in Biochemistry and Molecular & Cellular Biology for the last 4.7 years at the University of Arizona. My wife Sheila and I drove to Tucson last weekend to attend Joseph's defense of his doctoral dissertation. His subject was "Eyespot Assembly and Positioning in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii." The room was packed out, with Joseph's friends, members of his church, and people from the department in attendance. After the public presentation, the audience left the room and Joseph remained with the professors for the Doctoral Final Oral Examination. When the questioning was completed, Joseph was excused from the room as the committee deliberated. Shortly afterward, he was called back in and his advisor, Dr. Carol Dieckmann, shook Joseph's hand and said, "Congratulations, Doctor Boyd." Then we all went upstairs and had a party.

Joseph giving his public presentation.

Photos by Philip Alderink

PASSION WEEK

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ISAIAH 53

Who has believed what he has heard from us? 
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected  by men;
a man of sorrows,  and acquainted with  grief; 
and as one from whom men hide their faces 
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,

and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,

because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.

(ESV)

PREVIEW OF COMING ATTRACTION

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Our Daughter Rebekah, and her husband, Don visited the doctor's office last week and had this picture taken of our grandson, who is due to arrive in August. Cute little guy, isn't he?



The Ultimate Question Regarding Christ

Everyone who believes on the Son of God, and trusts their soul to Him, is at once pardoned, forgiven, justified, counted righteous, reckoned innocent, and freed from all liability to condemnation. Their sins, however many, are at once cleansed away by Christ’s precious blood. Their soul, however guilty, is at once clothed with Christ’s perfect righteousness. It matters not what they may have been in time past. Their sins may have been of the worst kind. Their former character may be of the blackest description.

But do they believe on the Son of God? This is the one question. If they do believe, they are justified from all things in the sight of God. It matters not, that they can bring to Christ nothing to recommend them—no good works, no long-proved amendments, no unmistakable repentance and change of life.

But do they this day believe in Jesus Christ? This is the grand question. If they do, they are at once accepted. They are accounted righteous for Christ’s sake.

~ J.C. Ryle

More Floral Beauty After Yesterday's Rain In Tucson

Photographs by Joseph Boyd

CHARGES LEVELED AGAINST BLOGGER "STRANGER"

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Yesterday, I submitted a comment on Ray Comfort's blog in which I noted that some atheists deny the existence of God, yet apparently acknowledge God's existence for the purpose of taking him to task for things like allowing genocide, slavery, rape and other immoral acts.

I received this reply from someone who calls himself (or herself) Godless Panther:

I am not leveling charges against [God]. I am leveling charges against you for doing immoral things. Like trying to destroy science and sex education, encouraging violence against gay people and doctors, encouraging hatred and bigotry.

Now I do sometimes forget where I left my keys, or my notebook. But it sure seems to me that I would have some recollection of doing all those important things. I must be getting old.

More photos from Tucson by Joseph Boyd



Luminous Rose



A Moth Drinking It's Lunch

On Joseph's Patio

A Beautiful Flower Bed in the Winterhaven Neighborhood

Mistakes atheists make when dialoguing with Christians: article by Matt Slick

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Thanks to my friend Bob Sorensen for bringing this article to my attention via f acebook. I have sometimes been disappointed at the direction a conversation has taken, when the atheist with whom I thought I was having an honest discussion decided to use some of these tactics.

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by Matt Slick

The following are examples of mistakes I've seen atheists make when dialoguing with Christians. They are important to know for both sides so better dialogue might take place. First of all, the atheist must realize that making these mistakes lessens his credibility with a Christian and does not help his cause. Second, the Christian should know these errors so he can identify them during a conversation and, hopefully, not commit them himself.

1.     Condescension and insults

A.     This is the most common of all mistakes made by atheists. They are often condescending as they mock Christianity. They insult God, call him a tyrant, refer to Christianity as mythology, baseless, a fairytale, compare God to invisible pink unicorns ... (read the entire article)