Dear Friend, In today's edition of InfoQuest*, we'll look at a fantastic sermonette that appeared in my local newspaper last week on the true meaning of Jesus' last words on the cross. We'll also uncover some shocking news about what is happening to our jobs right in our own hometowns! CONTENTS: (1) All Things Work Together for Good - Sermonette (2) Will You Keep Your Job? ==================== ==================== (1) All Things Work Together for Good - Sermonette followed by Psalm 22 All Things Work Together for Good by Pastor John C. Niederhaus Immanuel Leidy's Church, Souderton, Pa. This is Wednesday of Holy Week on the Christian calendar. Also called Passion Week, it began with the high excitement of Palm Sunday as crowds of Passover pilgrims greeted with excited jubilation Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. On Sunday morning, the week will culminate with the physical resurrection of Jesus from the dead "never to die again" (Rom. 6:9). Between those high points, there is much turmoil and confusion and pain and failure and questioning. Always bubbling under the surface that week is the hostility of the religious leaders, finally bursting forth with Jesus' arrest at the Garden of Gethsemane. We ache as we think of His tortured walk, carrying the cross on the Via Dolorosa. At other times, we shudder with shame as Peter and the other disciples fail and fall by the wayside, unwilling to be identified with the One whom they have followed for some three years. Perhaps the most agonizing point is reached as Jesus hangs on the cross and cries out, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Matt. 27:46). Abandoned by His closest disciples, condemned as a treasonous heretic by the highest court of the land, suffering cruelly at the hands of the Roman authorities, Jesus turns to God and is seemingly rebuffed. But I would like to suggest that even in this darkest of hours, Jesus is not giving way to despair, nor does He abandon home in God. When crying out about God forsaking Him, Jesus is doing more than giving expression to the anguish of His soul; He is expressing His absolute trust and confidence in God's care of Him. On Jesus' lips and in His heart at that dark hour are the words of Psalm 22. It is a messianic Psalm that describes the crucifixion. Guess what the opening words are? Yes, the very words that Jesus utters on the cross. This means that He is thinking of Psalm 22 as He lives out the reality of the crucifixion that follows amazingly close to the details contained in Psalm 22. But how does Psalm 22 end? We must know this if we are to understand completely the heart and mind of Jesus. It ends with praise; with the affirmation that God rules over the nations. By His blood and suffering the debt of sin that no man can pay is being paid. It was the joy of Jesus to know that God was making the way for the reconciliation of God and man, a way that only He could affect. We read in the book of Hebrews that Jesus "for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Heb. 12:2). Yes, Jesus suffered. But He suffered in faith, not in despair. During this Holy Week, it would be good for each of us to read again Psalm 22. We, like Jesus, ought not to give way to despair, but ought to go forward in faith, confident that God will cause all things to work together for good as we follow Him. May we fix our eyes on Jesus and follow Him. --- Psalm 22 1 For the Chief Musician; set to Aijaleth hash-Shahar. A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning? 2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou answerest not; And in the night season, and am not silent. 3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. 4 Our fathers trusted in thee: They trusted, and thou didst deliver them. 5 They cried unto thee, and were delivered: They trusted in thee, and were not put to shame. 6 But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised of the people. 7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn: They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, 8 Commit thyself unto Jehovah; Let him deliver him: Let him rescue him, seeing he delighteth in him. 9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb; Thou didst make me trust when I was upon my mother's breasts. 10 I was cast upon thee from the womb; Thou art my God since my mother bare me. 11 Be not far from me; for trouble is near; For there is none to help. 12 Many bulls have compassed me; Strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. 13 They gape upon me with their mouth, As a ravening and a roaring lion. 14 I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint: My heart is like wax; It is melted within me. 15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd; And my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; And thou hast brought me into the dust of death. 16 For dogs have compassed me: A company of evil-doers have inclosed me; They pierced my hands and my feet. 17 I may count all my bones; They look and stare upon me. 18 They part my garments among them, And upon my vesture do they cast lots. 19 But be not thou far off, O Jehovah: O thou my succor, haste thee to help me. 20 Deliver my soul from the sword, My darling from the power of the dog. 21 Save me from the lion's mouth; Yea, from the horns of the wild-oxen thou hast answered me. 22 I will declare thy name unto my brethren: In the midst of the assembly will I praise thee. 23 Ye that fear Jehovah, praise him; All ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; And stand in awe of him, all ye the seed of Israel. 24 For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; Neither hath he hid his face from him; But when he cried unto him, he heard. 25 Of thee cometh my praise in the great assembly: I will pay my vows before them that fear him. 26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied; They shall praise Jehovah that seek after him: Let your heart live for ever. 27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn unto Jehovah; And all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. 28 For the kingdom is Jehovah's; And he is the ruler over the nations. 29 All the fat ones of the earth shall eat and worship: All they that go down to the dust shall bow before him, Even he that cannot keep his soul alive. 30 A seed shall serve him; It shall be told of the Lord unto the next generation. 31 They shall come and shall declare his righteousness Unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done it. ==================== ==================== (2) Will You Keep Your Job? +++ IQ* Note: Thanks to InfoQuest* family member Chuck Baker for providing this great synopsis via his letter to the editor. A URL follows this synopsis for you to learn more! +++ Keep Americans' Jobs by Chuck Baker Most Americans have never heard of the H-1B visa program. But a growing number of hi-tech engineers, programmers, and electronics specialists have found out about it the hard way. In 1990, Congress and President Bush (the elder) created the program, which allows variously-skilled foreigners to enter the United States. In the year 2000 alone, 355,605 arrived and accepted lower pay for jobs that were taken away from Americans. Since the program began, between 800,000 and ONE MILLION jobs have been lost to foreign workers. As someone who has been replaced by a foreigner with a "temporary" H-1B visa, and you'll discover that it's not so temporary. H-1B isn't the only program some firms are using to reduce their payroll with foreign workers. Companies possessing an oversees division can funnel workers hired outside our country into jobs here in the United States with L1 visas, another program favoring outsiders over Americans. There were 294,658 L1 visas granted in the year 2000. Congress should be told to abolish both the H1-B and L1 visa programs, not only to keep the jobs of Americans from being taken by non-citizens, to also to maintain America's leadership as a First World power. +++ Learn More about this here: http://thenewamerican.com/tna/2003/03-10-2003/vo19no05_jobs_print.htm +++ ACTION: Copy/paste Chuck's letter and send it to your federal and state representatives! Find their contact information here: http://users.netreach.net/InfoQuest/government.htm#CONGRESS