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Join Tony and I tomorrow LIVE at 2pm Sunday June 23rd

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ISAIAH 54 1 Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD. 2 Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; 3 For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. 4 Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. 5 For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. 6 For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. 7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. 8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer. 9 For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. 10 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee. 11 O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. 12 And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. 13 And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children. 14 In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee. 15 Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake. 16 Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy. 17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD. 🙌🕊✝️🙏💪💝

Jesus Calling: June 22nd Thank Me for the very things that are troubling you. You are on the brink of rebelling, precariously close to shaking your fist in My Face. You're tempted to indulge in just a little complaining about My treatment of you. But once you step over that line, torrents of rage and self-pity can sweep you away. The best protection against this indulgence is thanksgiving. It is impossible to thank Me and curse Me at the same time. Thanking Me for trials will feel awkward and contrived at first. But if you persist, your thankful words, prayed in faith, will eventually make a difference in your heart. Thankfulness awakens you to My Presence, which overshadows all your problems. RELATED SCRIPTURE: Psalm 116:17 (NLT) 17 I will offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. Philippians 4:4-6 (NLT) 4 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! 5 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. 6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Additional insight regarding Philippians 4:4: It seems strange that a man in prison would be telling a church to rejoice. But Paul's attitude teaches us an important lesson: Our inner attitudes do not have to reflect our outward circumstances. Paul was full of joy because he knew that no matter what happened to him, Jesus Christ was with him. Several times in this letter Paul urged the Philippians to be joyful, probably because they needed to hear this. It's easy to get discouraged about unpleasant circumstances or take unimportant events too seriously. If you haven't been joyful lately, you may not be looking at life from the right perspective. 🙌🕊✝️🙏💪💝

Mark 9:42–50 Temptations to Sin 42“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,7 it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. 43And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell,8 to the unquenchable fire.9 45And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. 47And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, 48‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ 49For everyone will be salted with fire.10 50Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.” 🙌🕊✝️🙏💪💝

June 22 No Neutrality Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Romans 12:9 Any patient who has undergone a bone marrow transplant knows the importance of being isolated from any possibility of infection. Because their immune system is so depleted, they are far more susceptible to disease than the average person. If a visitor arrives coughing and spluttering, excusing it as “no big deal” would be abhorrent to the patient and to their doctors. Any sickness is to be resisted like a plague because its consequences are potentially fatal. Christian love should reflect this kind of radical mentality when it comes to evil. We cannot say that we genuinely love others if we cherish, or even only tolerate, evil in our hearts and distance ourselves from good. We cannot toy with wickedness, seeking to establish some laissez-faire approach to particular sins. “Abhor” is as strong a word as it is possible for Paul to use. He has no notion of neutrality when it comes to purity. At the start of this verse, Paul has already instructed his readers to “let love be genuine.” Isn’t it interesting, then, that Paul immediately follows “love” with a word that essentially means “hate”? We often think that if we love, we shouldn’t hate anything or anyone—but that’s just sentimentality. Paul makes it clear that love “does not rejoice at wrongdoing” (1 Corinthians 13:6). If you love your spouse with a passionate purity, you hate everything which would rob you of that relationship; otherwise, your love is not love. The same applies to our love for the things of God. We cannot love holiness without hating its opposite. As Paul continues, he turns from the negative to the positive, using the same phrase, “hold fast,” that Jesus uses to describe a husband and wife’s relationship (see Matthew 19:5).Paul doesn’t use this phrase arbitrarily. Marriage is the closest human union possible—psychologically, intellectually, and spiritually. So Paul is saying here that Christian love should have a “superglue” commitment to goodness. We must be careful not to fall into the world’s trap of calling “evil good and good evil” or being those “who put darkness for light and light for darkness” (Isaiah 5:20). God’s people understand that there is a time for love and a time for hate (Ecclesiastes 3:8). So how would you describe your attitude to evil—especially those sins that are most attractive to you or most celebrated by those who live around you? What would change if you abhorred them? Today, rely on God’s Spirit to enable you to love properly by hating what God does, echoing the prayer of John Baillie: “O God, give me the power to follow after that which is good. Now as I pray, let there be no secret purpose of evil formed in our minds, that waits for an opportunity of fulfillment.”[1] Further Reading Mark 9:42–50 Happy Sabbath fam! Blessings and love!🙌🕊✝️🙏💪💝

The old adage that you need a 20% down payment to afford a home is a massive underestimation for the average buyer in 2024, according to analysts at Zillow.com. New data released from the real estate listing platform shows that an American family making the national median income would need closer to a 35% down payment to be able to afford their monthly mortgage bill. For Los Angeles residents, the outlook is even more bleak. According to Zillow, a median-income household in Los Angeles would need a "nearly impossible" down payment of 81.1% to afford the payments on a "typical home." That, Zillow says, is the highest in the nation. The median price of a typical home in L.A. is about $962,000, meaning that down payment would need to come in at around $780,000. Other Southern California cities don't fare much better either. Buyers would need $358,926 (61.4%) for a down payment on a home in Riverside and San Diego buyers would need $723,527 (75.5%). Things aren't much better in Silicon Valley where prospective San Jose buyers would need a down payment of 80.9% to afford their monthly payments. That would be around $1.3 million just for the down payment — higher than the "typical home" value of every other major market in the U.S. <a href="https://ktla.com/news/california/california-home-prices-just-reached-a-new-record-high-2/"> California home prices just reached another record high </a> Other large metro areas with similarly outrageous down payment requirements include New York City (75.3%), Miami (64.5%), Boston (61.7%) and Seattle (61.3%).  The old reliable 20% down payment advice remains applicable in 2024 in only 10 of the 50 top housing markets in the nation, Zillow says, most of which are in the Midwest. That's not to say that the average buyer absolutely needs to have a massive down payment if they want to be qualified for a home in a pricier market. But rather, a median-income family would significantly struggle to make their monthly payment, including principal and interest, property taxes and insurance, without one. <a href="https://ktla.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2023/10/GettyImages-1243437763.jpg">Los Angeles Homes Sales</a><em>'Open house' flags displayed outside a single family home on September 22, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Getty Images)</em> Higher interest rates than in previous years is one of the big contributors to soaring monthly mortgage bills, Zillow says. Historic home prices are another. “Down payments have always been important, but even more so today. With so few available, buyers may have to wait even longer for the right home to hit the market, especially now that buyers can afford less. Mortgage rate movements during that time could make the difference between affording that home and not,” said Skylar Olsen, chief economist at Zillow. If you're thinking about really committing to saving as much as possible, clipping coupons and making coffee at home, prepare for a long, long wait. Assuming that a median income household in Los Angeles set aside 10% of their income every month and put it into an account earning a guaranteed 4% return, it would still take more than 36 years, yes, 36, to obtain that 81% down payment figure. So, enjoy that avocado toast. <a href="https://ktla.com/news/california/these-california-cities-are-among-hottest-housing-markets-in-us-according-to-realtor-com/"> These California cities are among ‘hottest housing markets’ in US </a> The most likely pathway to home ownership? Gifts. The real estate experts say it'll be almost impossible for the average person in a pricey market to put down enough money to make their monthly bill manageable unless they are the recipient of gifts, inheritance, a stock windfall, or the like. Zillow says 43% of last year’s home buyers used a gift or partnership from family or friends for at least part of their down payment. Down payment assistance, usually provided by the government, can also help ease that burden. Unfortunately for the average American looking to buy, some programs…