Aches and Praise Three Hundred & Ninety Eight

 
April 25, 2019
 
 
Dear friends, Last Tuesday, there was an article in “USA Today” with the headline “Heart 3D-printed using human cells.” The article begins as follows: “A team of Israeli scientists ‘printed’ a heart with a patient’s own cells in a world-first, researchers say. Past researchers had been able to print simple tissues without blood vessels, the team said. The new development is the first time ‘anyone anywhere has successfully engineered and printed an entire heart replete with cells, blood vessels, ventricles and chambers,’ Tal Dvir of Tel Aviv University told the Jerusalem Post.” The article goes on to say: “The heart, about the size of a rabbit’s, is too small for a human, but the process used to create it shows the potential for one day being able to 3D-print patches and maybe full transplants, the team said.”
 
Since the country of Israel was established in 1948, there has been a transformation of desert areas to farmland and many other tremendous developments, including medical breakthroughs. I remember the buzz that I heard while riding buses in Montreal during the Six-Day War in 1967. How could such a small nation overpower enemies in neighbouring countries?
 
Last week, the Jewish Passover coincided with Easter weekend. A few days before, Karen and I met a couple from New York who were driving their teen-age son to a number of colleges to see which one was best for him. The father wore a necklace that had the Hebrew characters for life. As I looked at this reminder of how God created the universe and Mankind, I thought about how wonderful it would be if this couple, and all Jewish people, would recognize that Jesus is the Messiah.
 
Yesterday, I prepared the weekly broadcasts of “La Voix de l’Évangile” for the coming month. On Sunday, May 5, the program will feature Alan and Yvonne MacGregor singing “L’agneau sacrifié” (the French version of “The Sacrifice Lamb”). This song and Pastor Michel Martel’s message entitled “Jean 3:16” will be available on our ministry website: www.lavoixdelevangile.ca. The song begins with a question: “Have you ever heard, Messiah has come?”  You can listen to the original version of this song by Lamb (a duo that began recording Messianic music in the 1970s) at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2AmZC4P_WY. Considering the commercialization of Easter, the following saying, which a friend sent me, is apropos: “It’s not about the rabbit, it’s about the LAMB.”
 
Scripture for the weekend: “For Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed.” 1 Corinthians 5:7b (NIV)
 
Thought for the weekend: “Digging for the facts is better exercise than jumping to conclusions.” – from the February 2019 edition of Have a Good Day” (Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, IL)
 
By His grace,
 
Steve

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