Month: June 2020
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Who Makes You
…even when God hardens hearts…, it’s not that the hearts weren’t already hardened. It is that God firms their already stubborn and ungodly hearts so that their immediate action will result in the display of God’s glory.
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Dividing Rightly
Luke 12:49–56; John 17:20–26 (read online ⧉) Jesus’ words are definitely uncomfortable. They are intended to be. The image of warm cuddly Jesus is great in pictures and in our hearts. It also true. However, there is a hardness to Jesus that we try to ignore, for when we see it we often become afraid.…
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Seashell Summer
Matthew 3:1–13; Mark 10:35–40; John 13:1–11; 1 Peter 3:18–22 (read online ⧉) What is one thing you think of when it comes to Summer? How about a Summer trip or vacation? Today is the first day of Summer. Today is also National Seashell Day, in honor of trips to the ocean being the summer trip…
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Domination
Ecclesiastes 3:16–4:3; Psalm 148; Revelation 5:13 (read online ⧉) Long has human pride (and bad interpretation) taught humanity that we were to dominate Creation. Even when this interpretation came to the forefront in thinking, Creation was pretty brutal: typhoons, hurricanes, floods, droughts, pestilence, insect swarms, disease, and so on. Humanity has, for far too long,…
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On the Other Side of This
Matthew 18:15–20; 1 Peter 1:13–24 (read online ⧉) Once, an old warrior told a young man that the young man’s father was killed by a certain individual. The young man later confronted the certain individual and learned that the certain individual was actually his father. The young man then confronted the old warrior said that…
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Ready! Set!
Luke 5:1–11; Luke 6:12–16; Luke 9:1–6; Luke 9:28–36; Luke 24:44-49; Acts 2:14 (read online ⧉) What’s your 6-month plan? What’s your 12-month plan? What’s your 3-year plan? What’s your 10-year plan? Some variation of this question is often asked of high school students, college students, recent graduates, job interviewees. In this particular time of COVID-19,…
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Rescuers & Yachts
Ezekiel 33:1–16; Matthew 14:22–34; Colossians 4:2–6 (read online ⧉) When sailing ships were still the primary transportation across the oceans, John was lost overboard during a storm. Before his friends (the crew) could rescue him, they lost sight of him in the storm. By providence, there was another ship nearby that did see him and…
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How We Live
Galatians 3:1–9; Galatians 5:16–18; James 2:18–26 (read online ⧉) Is it faith or works? What saves you? That’s a pretty important question. From a historical Jewish perspective, it was works. The entire sacrificial system seemed to be about works. This meant that from their perspective, salvation (and the Messiah) would only come through perfectly performing…