SUPREME COURT DECISION ON PROP 8

California's Supreme Court upheld the state's gay-marriage ban today (TUES) but said the 18,000 same-sex weddings that took place before the prohibition passed are still valid — a ruling decried by gay-rights activists as a hollow victory.

Praise the Lord! We prayed about this this morning at the Men's Prayer Meeting. God is so good!

2 Corinthians 2:14 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.

Keep praying for California and for the gay community to come to Jesus!

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

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EYE OF GOD

A new spectacular image has been taken of the Helix nebula - one of the most beautiful objects in the night sky.

The photo was taken at the European La Silla Observatory in Chile using a special camera attached to a telescope.

The Helix is a sun-like star and is in its final explosion stage before it retires into a white dwarf.
Shells of gas are blown off the star's surface often in intricate patterns that are lit up by the ultra-violet radiation.

The nebula is often called the 'Eye of God' due to its strong resemblance to a giant eye peering out of space.

Helix nebula is about 700 light years away in the constellation of Aquarius.

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2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him...

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PLACE OF PRAYER

Does it really matter where you pray? Last night we learned that Jonah prayed from the belly of the whale! (Jon 2:1). Jesus said this: (Matthew 6:6) But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. Pray at church...in the car...before a test...it doesn't matter! God hears you everywhere!!

ANOTHER MAN

SHEPHERD TO SHEEP

ANOTHER MAN

(1 Samuel 10:6) Then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man.

Some people say you can't change. That once you develop certain traits and habits they are indelible in your character and are irreversible. In fact I heard a psychologist on the TV the other day unabashedly proclaim this conviction. Of course he wanted you to feel hopeless so you could order his materials to help you cope with your dilemma! I thought how sad to tell hopeless people there is no hope. That once you are the way you are that's it.

Sometimes we even tell ourselves this idea. I'm so stupid...I'll never be smart like my brother. I'm so poor...I'll never have the money that I need. I'm so forgetful...I don't even know why I came to the store. I'm not mechanical so I can't fix anything. I'll never be able to go back to school. I'm so weak to temptation so I'll always be an addict. And so we give up and buy the myth that we'll always be the way we are. You can't teach an old dog new tricks. Oh well, I'll just learn to compensate for my flaws.

When Israel wanted a king the Lord led Samuel the prophet to anoint Saul. Outside his physical features he wasn't much to choose from. He had no experience and he was frightfully shy. He avoided any responsibility because he didn't believe in himself. But when Samuel anointed Saul he said that on the way home he would encounter the prophets and he would prophesy with them. Samuel predicted that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon him and he would be turned into another man. Sure enough that is exactly what happened. And the people who observed this were blown away. (1 Samuel 10:11) And it happened, when all who knew him formerly saw that he indeed prophesied among the prophets, that the people said to one another, “What is this that has come upon the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?”

When the Spirit of God comes into your life you are going to change! (Titus 3:5) not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. Then as the Spirit continues to work in your life you will shed the old you and be turned into another you. (2 Corinthians 3:18) But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Are there things in your life you would like to change? They can be by the Lord's power! It's not too late. Fight against that tendency to be oldie and moldy! Need a spiritual makeover? Let the Lord so work in your life that people will see what the Lord can do. Think how they will be encouraged for that change in their own lives! Like Saul you can become another man!

Louie

CCNORCO BASEBALL TEAM

Here's a pic of last Sunday's softball game. They just finished praying an after-game prayer with the other team. Our team plays in a city coed league. We haven't won yet but the team has a great attitude, is being a witness for Christ, and is winning in other ways!

2 Corinthians 2:14 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.

WHALE OF AN EVENING

Last night at midweek study we studied at length about if Jonah was swallowed by a whale or a shark. One commentator sums it up with:

The “great fish” was possibly a mammal, a sperm whale (Catodon Macrocephalus). Sperm whales are known to have swallowed unusually large objects including even a 15-foot shark (Frank T. Bullen, Cruise of the Cachalot Round the World after Sperm Whales. London: Smith, 1898). Others have written that whale sharks (the Rhineodon Typicus) have swallowed men who later were found alive in the sharks’ stomachs.

Well, whatever it was it was "prepared by God" to be there at the right place at the right time. He was hungry and he had a prophet for breakfast! Truly it was supernatural. "If the presence of the supernatural be once admitted, the form of a miracle is a mere matter of detail."

Jesus even validated the Old Testament story: Matthew 12:40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Well, we ended by telling Jonah and the whale jokes. The best was:

A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales.

The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though they were a very large mammal their throat was very small.

The little girl stated Jonah was swallowed by a whale.

The teacher reiterated a whale could not
swallow a human; it was impossible.

The little girl said, "When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah."

The teacher asked, "What if Jonah went to hell?"

The little girl replied, "Then you ask him."

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And you want to know what? When I got home there was a PBS program on about whales! It truly was a "whale of an evening!"

SOUND OF MANY WATERS

The voice of the Lord is over the waters; The God of glory thunders; The Lord is over many waters.

(Psalms 29:3)