Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to once again take in a video clip of a trailer for one of the old movie trailers which would be shown on screens to keep people coming back to see the serial play out in the theater. In this case the serial was one of my favorites, Flash Gordon where the end always reported “TO BE CONTINUED,” which was the theme of the ODB devotional for this date. … And THEN ON TO THIS LINK to hear Steve Green sing Find Us Faithful, with our resounding charge to follow Christ no matter where He leads.
Highlight Passage: 1st Corinthians 15: 54 [NKJV] …
54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”[Is. 25: 8] … Death is never THE END … there’s always a “TO BE CONTINUED” in our relationship with Christ.
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Highlight Context – 1st Corinthians 15: 50-58 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Paul declares God’s truth, once declared by Isaiah (25:8) that death is not ever the end … there is always a “TO BE CONTINUED” when it comes to God’s handling of what most would call The End.
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Reference Passage #1 - Luke 9: 23 [NKJV] …
23 If any one would come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
… And the Apostle Paul took Jesus’ charge to discipleship very seriously … following Him wherever the Lord led him - no matter what the circumstances.
Reference Passage #2 - 2nd Corinthians 11: 22-29 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK
… Thru one life-threatening episode in his life after another, the Apostle Paul kept the faith of going on spread the Gospel to all He could encounter.
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread author, David C McCasland, used a teaching illustration which took me back to my youth. When I was a kid, on Saturday mornings, our parents used to take us to the local movie theater; and for 14 cents they could deposit us there to watch several cartoons, an exciting movie serial with Superman or Flash Gordon, and then perhaps a double or triple feature, showing of some of our favorite cowboy stars like Lash Larue, Roy Rogers, or my favorite, … Hopalong Cassidy. It was three hours which occupied our minds and allow our parents to go and do something they needed to do.
And the movie serials on those Saturdays, were like those depicted in the YouTube sequence linked above with Flash Gordon; and as the ODB author pointed out, they always ended by saying “TO BE CONTINUED …,” which were promos to bring us back to see the next installment of the serial the following week … and which allowed for another few hours of freedom for our parents. Those were good days for my friends at the movies.
But the Apostle Paul, as the ODB entry pointed out today, was no stranger to life-threatening “To Be Continued” situations. He described some of them in the passages above from 2nd Cor. 11; and Paul never worried about such dilemmas; … because he merely saw them as “TO BE CONTINUED” episodes in his life. Because even if one of them meant his death, there would be the ultimate “to be continued,” allowing him to be with the Savior he had served so faithfully forever, … as Steve Green sings, linked above.
Today is another “TO BE CONTINUED” episode in our lives; and I’ll pray that it will be just that … as we serve God faithfully.
My Prayer Today: Oh, my Lord, … help all those who read here today to see life as Your “TO BE CONTINUED” journey of service. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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