The numbers enclosed in the brackets refer to the numbering system of Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance. Each number refers to a Hebrew or Greek word that has been translated into an English word related to this character quality.

• Mr 8:15 And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware <991> of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.
• Mr 12:38 And he said unto them in his doctrine, Beware <991> of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the marketplaces,
• Ac 13:40 Beware <991> therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets;
• Php 3:2 Beware <991> of dogs, beware <991> of evil workers, beware <991> of the concision.
• Col 2:8 Beware <991> lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
• Mt 19:20 The younf man saith unto him, All these things have I kept <5442> from my youth up: what lack I yet?
• Mr 10:20 And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed <5442> from my youth.
• Lu 2:8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping <5442> watch over their flock by night.
• Lu 8:29 (For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept <5442> bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.)
• Lu 11:21 When a strong man armed keepeth <5442> his palace, his goods are in peace:
• Lu 11:28 But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep <5442> it.
• Lu 12:15 And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware <5442> of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
• Lu 18:21 And he said, All these have I kept <5442> from my youth up.
• Joh 12:25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep <5442> it unto life eternal.
• Joh 17:12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept <5442>, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
• Ac 7:53 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have <5442> not kept <5442> it.
• Ac 12:4 And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep <5442> him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.
• Ac 16:4 And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep <5442>, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem.
• Ac 21:24 Them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest <5442> the law.
• Ac 21:25 As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep <5442> themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication.
• Ac 22:20 And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept <5442> the raiment of them that slew him.
• Ac 23:35 I will hear thee, said he, when thine accusers are also come. And he commanded him to be kept <5442> in Herod’s judgment hall.
• Ac 28:16 And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard: but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept <5442> him.
• Ro 2:26 Therefore if the uncircumcision keep <5442> the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?
• Ga 6:13 For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep <5442> the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.
• 2Th 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep <5442> you from evil.
• 1Ti 5:21 I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe <5442> these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality.
• 1Ti 6:20 O Timothy, keep <5442> that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:
• 2Ti 1:12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep <5442> that which I have committed unto him against that day.
• 2Ti 1:14 That good thing which was committed unto thee keep <5442> by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.
• 2Ti 4:15 Of whom be <5442> thou ware <5442> also; for he hath greatly withstood our words.
• 2Pe 2:5 And spared not the old world, but saved <5442> Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
• 2Pe 3:17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware <5442> lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.
• 1Jo 5:21 Little children, keep <5442> yourselves from idols. Amen.
• Jude 1:24 Now unto him that is able to keep <5442> you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
• Mt 6:1 Take heed <4337> that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
• Mt 7:15 Beware <4337> of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
• Mt 10:17 But beware <4337> of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;
• Mt 16:6 Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware <4337> of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
• Mt 16:11 How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware <4337> of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?
• Mt 16:12 Then understood they how that he bade them not beware <4337> of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
• Lu 12:1 In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware <4337> ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
• Lu 17:3 Take heed <4337> to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.
• Lu 20:46 Beware <4337> of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts;
• Lu 21:34 And take heed <4337> to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.
• Ac 5:35 And said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed <4337> to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching these men.
• Ac 8:6 And the people with one accord gave heed <4337> unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.
• Ac 8:10 To whom they all gave heed <4337>, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God.
• Ac 8:11 And to him they had regard <4337>, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries.
• Ac 16:14 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended <4337> unto the things which were spoken of Paul.
• Ac 20:28 Take heed <4337> therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
• 1Ti 1:4 Neither give heed <4337> to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.
• 1Ti 3:8 Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given <4337> to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre;
• 1Ti 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed <4337> to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
• 1Ti 4:13 Till I come, give attendance <4337> to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
• Tit 1:14 Not giving heed <4337> to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.
• Heb 2:1 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed <4337> to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.
• Heb 7:13 For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance <4337> at the altar.
• 2Pe 1:19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed <4337>, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:

• De 6:12 Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
• De 8:11 Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:
• De 15:9 Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto the LORD against thee, and it be sin unto thee.
• Jud 13:4 Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing:
• 2Sa 18:12 And the man said unto Joab, Though I should receive a thousand shekels of silver in mine hand, yet would I not put forth mine hand against the king’s son: for in our hearing the king charged thee and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Beware that none touch the young man Absalom.
• Job 36:18 Because there is wrath, beware lest he take thee away with his stroke: then a great ransom cannot deliver thee.
• Pr 19:25 Smite a scorner, and the simple will beware: and reprove one that hath understanding, and he will understand knowledge.
• Isa 36:18 Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The LORD will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

Washington Times, Friday 19 April 1912 NEW YORK, April 19—C. H. Stengle, one of the first passengers off the vessel, said that the collision of the Titanic with the iceberg was the result of “criminal carelessness.” “The ship was going 22 knots an hour when she struck,” he exclaimed. Stengle said that the impact was so terrific that great blocks of ice were thrown on the deck and a number of people were killed when these blocks slid across the decks. The stern of the boat rose in the air. People ran shrieking from below. Women and children immediately rushed to the lifeboats. As fast as possible they were lowered away to the sea. Sailors took the women and hurled them bodily into the boats, tearing them away from their husbands to whom they were clinging. Stengle did not confirm the report that men were shot down because they tried to push women and children away from the boats. He said he was so far aft that he could not tell. One of the women told him that she heard a seaman threaten to shoot men who tried to get into the boats. She also told him, he said, that she heard two shots fired, but he did not know whether this was so. Stengle said that 1,500 men leaped into the sea when they saw there was no chance for them on board of the boats. “How they died, I do not know. I caught a lifeboat by the gunwale after I had jumped into the ocean. I was not dragged on board. There were not enough sailors in the lifeboats to operate them and the women were compelled to pull oars themselves. Some of these women, working at the oars, could be heard shrieking the names of their husbands.”

The Lafayette lay on her side like a dead whale, belly exposed, in the dirty ice mush of her slip in the Hudson River. Snow fell gently on the mammoth, fire-scarred hulk. Thousands of New Yorkers trooped to the waterfront to stare at her. She was a heartbreaking sight. Evidence grew that the catastrophe need never have occurred. While rumors of sabotage still persisted, evidence at hand showed something worse than sabotage: carelessness. The story was pretty clear: Workmen had been stripping the onetime Normandie of her peacetime elegance. She would have been ready for U.S. military service in about two weeks. Already aboard were 400 U.S. Naval officers, sailors, 300 Coast Guards. Working on her were 1,500 civilians. In the grand salon on the promenade deck, a workman with an acetylene torch cut through the last of four ornamental steel stanchions. So close to him that his back touched them as he worked were piled kapok life preservers, wrapped in tar paper and burlap. Sparks from his torch must have shot into the pile. Smoke puffed up. Flames spurted. Only two buckets of water were at hand. Workmen had to flee. From the deck outside they poked a hose through a window. A feeble stream had no effect. Fire licked along ceilings, cabin walls, panelings. All that afternoon the Lafayette burned. Held back by policemen, Army & Navy patrols, crowds choked the streets, jammed skyscraper windows. Among the watchers was a small, greying man with a heavy accent. With agonized eyes Vladimir Yourkevitch, naval architect, designer of the ship’s hull, watched the Lafayette burn. Suspicious policemen refused to let him through the lines. In the pier shed beside the ship, tall, urbane Rear Admiral Adolphus Andrews, Chief of the Third Naval District, watched too. Admiral Andrews was still watching at 2:35 in the morning, when the doomed liner, listing heavily now from the tons of water poured into her from fireboats, turned quietly over on her side. Who Was to Blame? Angry and shocked, the country scowled around for a scapegoat. The blistered decks were scarcely cool when New York’s tabloid PM released the story of a gumshoe investigation, made weeks before the fire by Reporter Edmund Scott, a story which PM had suppressed at the time because it was “a blueprint for sabotage.” Masquerading as a longshoreman, Scott had got a job with a crew hired to lug furniture ashore. Scott found that almost anyone could get aboard, longshoremen were hired by minor labor bosses who could be greased; Federal authorities made no checkups; there was no real surveillance; no fire drills; no fire stations had been assigned. In short, the Lafayette had been wide open to sabotage. PM said these facts had been reported to Captain Charles H. Zearfoss, the Maritime Commission’s anti-sabotage chief, who denied the findings (said PM), merely replied: “Get your reporter out of there before he gets shot.” FBI nosed around. District Attorney Frank S. Hogan questioned more than a hundred witnesses. Not until all the evidence was in could the question of sabotage be determined. But the story of carelessness looked worse & worse. The Navy maintained that responsibility for fire precautions was up to the Robins Dry Dock & Repair Co., conversion contractors This week a court of inquiry under Rear Admiral Lamar R. Leahy, retired, sat down to try to fix the blame. Did the Lafayette’s elaborate fire-detector system operate? What had happened to her fire-fighting equipment? Was a fire patrol on watch? Why allow men to operate acetylene torches so close to inflammable kapok? And why had the ship been allowed to capsize? The fire had been doused in some six hours. When she showed signs of overturning, she might have been scuttled (to settle securely in the mud, only eight or ten feet below her bottom), or tanks on her starboard side might have been correctly flooded to counteract the weight of the water on her portside. One attempt at flooding was made, but it was unsuccessful. Design and operating experts thought the primary negligence was in not having aboard a trained crew that really knew the ship. Said Designer Yourkevitch sadly: “She was helpless, like a sick man, unable to fight to save herself.” Engineers studied salvage plans. Designer Yourkevitch had one. After divers had sealed all openings, one after another of her compartments could be sealed and pumped out until she was buoyant. If water was then pumped into her double bottoms and deep tanks, Yourkevitch believes, the ship would finally right herself. At week’s end, as she must for many a coming week, the Lafayette lay, desolate and shameful, in the river’s grey ice. 

www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,884442,00.html
 

Born in Ireland, Kate Shelley in 1881 almost overnight became an internationally-known railroad heroine whose story is still being told more than 100 years later. On July 6, 1881, 15-year-old Kate was living with her widowed mother and three younger children in a farmhouse near the east bank of the Des Moines River in Boone County, Iowa. The North Western Railroad’s single-track line, which Kate’s late father helped to build, passed in front of the Shelley home and then went over the river to the town of Moingona. Honey Creek, a normally-placid stream, flowed past the Shelley home, then passed beneath a railroad trestle before entering the river. Late that afternoon, a storm generally described as one of the worst of the century struck Boone County; cloudbursts turned Honey Creek into a raging torrent and washed out timbers supporting the trestle. A locomotive sent out from Moingona to check the condition of the track was able to cross the Des Moines River bridge safely, but disaster struck when it moved out over the Honey Creek span just to the east. The locomotive with its four crew members plunged into the flood waters below; two men drowned, while the remaining two saved themselves by grabbing onto tree branches, but were trapped in the surging water. By now it was about 11 p. m.; the storm continued to rage, but despite continuous lightning and thunder, Kate heard the engine crash. She knew that a passenger train from the west was due to stop at Moingona in about an hour, then head east over the now-ruined trestle. She told her mother she must go to the crash scene, see what had happened to the engine crew, and then go to Moingona and warn that the passenger train must be stopped. With only a hastily-repaired lantern to light her way, Kate took a circuitous route through the hills behind her home to reach the tracks between the ruined trestle and the Des Moines River bridge. She shouted to the surviving crewmen that she would get help, then turned to start across the river span — 673 feet long. Her lantern had snuffed out, and lightning flashes provided her only illumination as she crawled across on her hands and knees. When she reached the other end she ran more than another half-mile to the Moingona depot and sounded the alarm. Then, in spite of exhaustion that would make her desperately ill for weeks later, she led a rescue party back to the other side of the river and helped rescue the two engine crew survivors. The 15-year-old girl almost immediately became the object of nationwide praise. Hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles, poems, songs and other tributes have been written about her. At least four children’s books telling the story have been published in the latter part of the 20th Century. The state of Iowa gave her a handsome gold medal, crafted by the famous New York jewelry firm, Tiffany’s. Philanthropists sent her to Simpson College. The combined management and labor unions of the railroad industry placed a bronze plaque, affixed to a granite marker, on Kate’s grave 75 years after the deed. The Boone County Historical Society maintains a depot museum in the now-tiny village of Moingona, on the exact site where the railroad station stood that stormy night in 1881. Kate died in January, 1912, at the age of 46. Her name deserves a place in this “Plaza of Heroines.” As the plaque on her grave in Boone’s Sacred Heart Cemetery says: “Hers is a deed bound for legend … a story to be told until the last order fades and the last rail rusts.”

www.las.iastate.edu/kiosk/1066.shtml
 

I.  Alertness in Christ’s Return

When I first looked at this title, I asked myself, “what does this have to do with Christian character?” The dictionary indicates that this word means “awareness, watchfulness, careful attention.” In the light of the definition, the topic does reflect clear Scriptural teaching. For example, in Matthew 24, our Lord teaches about his return and urges His followers to be alert.  In fact, in verse 42, He says, “therefore keep watch….” He continues in Matthew 25 and after telling a remarkable story about a sudden return, He again says, “Therefore keep watch”(v. 13).  Paul writes on the same theme and urges his readers to not be surprised by the day of the Lord, saying, “let us be alert…” (I Thess. 5:6).  Peter issues the same warning in his letter (II Peter 3:11-13).  These verses all relate to the return of our Lord and indicate the need for careful and watchful attitudes.  He indeed is coming back and we are to be ready; we prepare ourselves for readiness by being alert.

II. Alertness in Everyday Life

However, in addition to the pleas for attention to Jesus’ return, other places advise us on the need for alertness.  When Paul writes to the Colossians he states, “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving” (4:2).  Back in the Old Testament, the Psalmist issues this plea: “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom” (90:12).  Ah, now we are getting to some real day-by-day practical application.  We are called upon to daily be alert and watchful. We have an adversary and we need to walk carefully.  We need to be aware of our enemy, of temptations, snares and traps—be alert. We are encouraged to carefully prepare, by putting on the whole armor of God, so that we can take our stand—stand our ground, so we may stand firm, and with this in mind, we are to be alert and keep on praying…(c.f. Eph 6:10-18).

III. Alertness as a Duty

“After their long and weary exile in Babylon the people of Israel were set free to return to their own land.  Spurred on by Nehemiah, they began to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. This aroused the hostility of the pagans around them, who threatened to undo their work. The people of Israel took two essential steps: they prayed to God, and they posted a guard day and night.  Even as they prayed for God’s protection and help, they did what they could. They knew that prayer is not a way to avoid responsibility, it’s not a shortcut to success without effort” (Ron Klug, “Bible Readings on Prayer,” Christianity Today: 30:6) We are challenged again and again: “Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord, and work” (Haggai 2:4). Watch and Pray!! Be on your guard and trust God!! Our world is dangerous and filled with temptation.  We have a duty. I recall reading sometime ago a story about the early days of our country.  (The story is attributed, by way of source, to many people, including President Kennedy.)  In 1789, in Hartford, Connecticut, the House of Representatives was meeting, under the leadership of Col. Davenport.  Suddenly the sky darkened ominously and some of the representatives feared it might be the end of the world, and they called for immediate adjournment.  Davenport rose and stated, “The Day of Judgement is either approaching or it is not.  If not, there is no cause for adjournment.  If it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. Bring in the candles.”

IV. Conclusion

So alertness leads to duty and service for our Lord. He is returning and we need to be watchful—and stay busy and alert. The last words of Paul to his friends, the Ephesian elders, are significant: “So be on your guard” (Acts 20:31).

Dr. Paul E. Toms, Senior Pastor (Retired), Park Street Church, Boston, MA