🎹Early to rise, early to bed. Then in between I cooked and cleaned and went outta my head.  Going through life with blinders on, it’s tough to see.  So, I had to get out, get out from under, and look for me.  There’s a new girl in town and she’s looking GOOD.  There’s a fresh, freckled face in the neighborhood. 🎤For the old-heads in the room, that is the theme song to Alice, starring Linda Lavin.  She dead: ⁠Who was Linda Lavin? Tony-winning Broadway actress dies at 87.
 
 
And no less than NINETEEN soldiers and LEOs have died since we took note about a month ago.  
 
One thing is the same for all: time, as they knew it STOPPED.  Eternity began.
 
Beloved, it is axiomatic: when a person dies, that person has no more time. For that person, the End of the World has come. “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God; therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Behold, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” (1 John 3:1-3)  “The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” (Jer. 31:3)  “The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? Saith the Lord; yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.”  (Mal. 1:1-3)  “Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.”  (Psa. 73:24)  “Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail; because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets; or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” (Eccles. 12:5-7)  
 
POTUS Elect says he will vigorously pursue the death penalty: https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/24/politics/trump-death-penalty/index.html.
Possibly in response to this man being accused of setting a woman on fire in the NY Subway: https://abcnews.go.com/US/person-interest-custody-after-woman-set-fire-killed/story?id=117037567&cid=social_twitter_abcn&s=09.
Two have died, thus far, from the storms in the Southlands: 2 dead, others injured as storms roll through South.
 
The argument I draw from these scriptures is this: it is hardly to be supposed that our Saviour in this Gospel, and John in his First Epistle imitating Him, should speak such strong language concerning eternal life, actually given to and possessed by the believers of that day, if there must be an interruption of it by total death or sleep both of soul and body for almost two thousand years, that is, till the resurrection. Acts 7:59: “And they stoned Stephen calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Those who deny a separate state suppose that Stephen here commits his spirit, or principle of human life, into the hands or care of Christ (because the life of a saint is said to be hid with Christ in God, Col. 3;3,4) that he might restore it at the resurrection, and raise him to life again. But I think this is an unnatural force put upon these words, contrary to their most obvious meaning, if we consider the context; for Stephen here had a vision of the Son of Man, of Christ Jesus, standing on the right hand of God, and the glory of God near him. Whereupon Stephen being conscious of the existence of Christ in that glorious state, desired that He would receive his spirit and take it to dwell with Him in His Father’s house; not to lie and sleep in Heaven, for there is no night there, but to behold the glory of Christ according to the many promises that Christ had made to His disciples, that He would go and prepare a place for them in His Father’s house, and that they should be with Him there to behold His glory (John 14 and 17) which I shall have occasion to speak to afterward.  
 
North Korea has had mass casualties: https://www.reuters.com/world/north-korean-troops-experience-mass-casualties-ukraine-front-lines-white-house-2024-12-27/. Due to joining in that Russia/Ukraine conflict.
 
While the airplane crash, which Russia is sure sorry happened, but will not take responsibility for took 38 souls: Putin apologizes for ‘tragic incident’ but stops short of saying Azerbaijani plane was shot down.  Thankfully the ship that had the cable-cutting equipment (one might call spy gear) on it killed nobody: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14232327/Moment-police-boarded-Russian-linked-ship-crammed-spy-gear.html?ito=native_share_article-nativemenubutton.
 
Troy Masters, a proud and pushy sodomite, has died.  He reportedly killed himself: Troy Masters, publisher of LGBTQ+ paper Los Angeles Blade, has died at 63.  Begging the question (to paraphrase a certain recording artist), “If it makes you happy.  Why the H-e-double hockey sticks are you so mad?” 
 
GodSmack!
 
“I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell, God knoweth; how that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words.” (2 Cor. 12:2,3) I grant this ecstasy of the Apostle does not actually show the existence of a separate state after death till the resurrection; yet it plainly manifests Paul’s belief that there might be such a state, and that the soul might be separated, and might exist, and think, and know, and act, in paradise, in a state of separation, and hear, and perhaps converse in the unspeakable language of that world, while it was absent from the body. Phil. 1:21: “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” The apostle, while he was here upon earth, spent his life in the service of Christ, and enjoyed many glorious communications from Him. For him to live was Christ. And, on this account, he was contented to continue here in life longer; yet he is well satisfied that death would be an advantage or gain to him. Looking to join the great cloud of witnesses.  
 
2024 is coming to a close, and it is time to do a quick review of the records which have been broken, this year:
 
 
 
A-Listers who were alive, are not any longer: Hollywood Stars Who Passed Away In 2024 | GadgetReview. 
 
The CONFLICTS were like never seen before, in 2024: A Year of Turmoil: Conflicts, Crises and Displacement in 2024 | UNHCR US.
 
BOLO for 2025 pivot from sermon reviews to Psalms, Hymns & Spiritual Songs.
 
 
Some day the silver cord will break,
And I no more as now shall sing;
But, O the joy when I shall wake
Within the presence of the King!
And I shall see Him face to face,
And tell the story, saved by grace:
And I shall see Him face to face,
And tell the story, saved by grace.
Some day my earthly house will fall,
I cannot tell how soon ’twill be,
But this I know—my All in all
Has now a place with Him for me.
Or some day when my Lord will come,
And called to meet Him I’ll be blest,
He then will say to me, “Well done,”
And I shall enter into rest.
Some day, till then I’ll watch and wait,
My lamp all trimmed and burning bright,
That when my Savior I will greet,
My faith will then be changed to sight.
Revelation 6:9: “I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held.”