Worthy News
Thailand and Cambodia rushed reinforcements to their shared frontier Wednesday as artillery exchanges and air strikes shattered a fragile ceasefire, forcing thousands of residents on both sides of the border to flee. The crisis raised fears of a widening conflict in one of Southeast Asia’s most volatile regions and impacted churches.
The Czech Republic, regarded as one of Europe’s most atheist nations, was preparing for a new government Wednesday after a Trump-style billionaire was appointed as its new prime minister amid ongoing scrutiny from the European Union.
The United States has seized a large crude tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from both Venezuela and Iran, a dramatic enforcement action that immediately raised oil prices and heightened tensions with the Maduro regime.
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday approved its third consecutive interest rate cut, lowering the benchmark federal-funds rate by a quarter percentage point to a range of 3.5% to 3.75%, the lowest level since early 2022. But the decision—passed in a 9–3 vote, the most divided in six years—exposed unusually sharp disagreements over the path forward as policymakers wrestle with a slowing labor market and stubborn inflation.
South Africa’s authorities have released new details about a mass shooting that killed 12 people, including children, at an unlicensed bar near the administrative capital Pretoria.
Despite Christmas approaching, many Christians in Syria aren’t in a celebratory mood one year after the toppling of longtime autocratic President Bashar al-Assad, investigations reveal.
Evangelical Christian backing for Israel is “more vital than ever” as the Jewish state confronts a surge of antisemitism and anti-Israel activism worldwide, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar told a visiting delegation of Christian leaders this week.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet U.S. President Donald Trump on Dec. 29 to determine the next steps of the Gaza ceasefire plan, Israeli government spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian said Monday during an online briefing.
Some 100 students have been rescued, and about 50 others escaped following Nigeria’s largest Christian school kidnappings in recent years, several sources confirmed Wednesday.
Britain is facing calls for stronger safeguards on the planned use of facial recognition cameras across the country after the Home Office admitted the system is more likely to incorrectly identify black and Asian people than their white counterparts.
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The word for “restitution” in this passage is the Greek word – “apokatastasis”. This is the one and only place it is found in the New Testament. The word literally means to “restore again” or “to repair”. The plan of God in sending His Son Yeshua (Jesus) was to restore that which had been broken and ruined. The Lord’s saving work is a global repair job. Each one of us has come to Him already ruined by sin. But God’s will and His promise is to restore and renew us through His Son.
These past few days, writing about the will of God, has reminded me of the prophet Jeremiah, and how the Lord knew him – even before he was in his mother’s womb, and he was sanctified by God as a prophet to the nations. A similar foreknowledge and ordination of God belongs to us who are under the New Covenant. God’s foreknowledge of His people is clearly stated in scripture. We were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless, and created in Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus) unto good works which He foreordained that we walk in them.
Writing daily devotions throughout the years I’ve often been asked the question, “How do I find the will of God?” There are probably many good scriptural approaches to answering this question; but I want to offer something very basic as you think about understanding the will of God. That is, simply, that you’ll know His will when you come to know the heart of God.
For the past few days we’ve been delving into the multiple meanings of “Amen”. While “Amen” is most commonly found at the end of prayers, the Lord Yeshua (Jesus) often used it at the beginning of a statement: “Truly, truly, I say unto you …” more accurately translated, “Amen, Amen, I say unto you…”
Murmuring or complaining is one of those sins that are overlooked. Sometimes we get so focused on the “big sins” such as murder and adultery that we overlook this sin — but the Lord doesn’t give this sin a free pass — quite the opposite. It’s a hidden killer! This sin unleashed a plague that killed thousands of Israelites! [Numbers 16]
The city of Laodicea was founded nearly three centuries before the birth of Christ. Built on a trade route, Laodicea was quite prosperous. The wealth of the city was legendary, as Jews who lived there sent 9 kilograms (20 lbs) of gold to the Temple in Jerusalem on a yearly basis according to historical records.
Laodicea was an idyllic city except for its lack of a water supply. It depended on water from an external source, the city of Hierapolis was located six miles to the north, the site of mineral hot springs which were used for medicinal purposes. These steaming hot waters were piped to Laodicea, arriving there… lukewarm, hence the metaphor in Yeshua’s warning to the Laodicean church.
The church at Laodicea received a stern warning in chapter 3 of John’s Revelation. We would do well to reflect on it.
The word “Laodicea” is a compound in the Greek; “Laos” which principally means “people”, and “dike”, defined as “principle or decision”. One rendering might read, “rule of the people”, or, in modern terms, “Democracy”. In the western world, we have an affection and even a deep commitment to Democracy. Yet this form of government, “rule of the people” is fatally flawed… because we are fatally flawed by our sin nature…
As we continue to probe the lessons from the salt covenant, we now inquire into our part in the covenant.
Yeshua (Jesus) said He is the “bread of life”. It was His body that was broken on our behalf as the substitutionary sacrifice for our sins. Notice that He never once called us to be the “bread of life”! He is the ONLY “Bread of Life” – the true bread who came down from Heaven which anyone may eat and not die. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is His flesh, given for the life of the world.
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