Month: October 2020
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Living
Deuteronomy 5:26–27; Ezekiel 33:11; Luke 20:34–40; John 5:39–40; John 8:56–58 A living God? To many people today, God is just a fairy tale who belongs amongst the pages of Grimm’s fairy tales and folklore. For them, God is no different than the ancient Roman and Greek gods, and of no greater value (perhaps even less)…
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Can God Get A Witness?
Deuteronomy 9:25–9:29; Titus 2:1–15 wit·ness: One who can give a firsthand account of something seen, heard, or experienced. Deuteronomy is, in effect, the “Last Will and Testament of Moses”. Moses provides a contrasting snapshot of the Israelite witness and the Mosaic witness. The Israelite witness was unimpressive at best, worth destroying(?) at worse. What was…
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You’re MINE
Luke 9:49–56 Family feuds can be long and painful. Some people are relieved that they won’t be traveling for the annual family gathering during Thanksgiving. The Jews and the Samaritans were family. They were at one point, at least. Over the generations, things continued to get worse, until they became enemies. Peculiarly, the Samaritans still…
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Good Gone Bad
Mark 12:1–17; Matthew 10:5–7; Matthew 17:24–27 Within the context of Jesus’ earthly ministry, the primacy of the remnants of the Israelites cannot be denied. Jesus calls them the “lost sheep”. Their place is significant to God, for they are even called by God’s name (2 Chronicles 7:14). The tragedy of it all is that while…
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Win Some; Lose Some
Matthew 16:21–28; Mark 8:27–38; Luke 9:18–27 You are probably the most familiar with the translation in Mark saying, “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” It has been made famous in a number of songs. It has been used in many sermons. What if, however, we lost…
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Pounding the Pavement
Luke 12:16–34 We often use the words of Jesus out of context. When we do so, we often lose their original meaning. “Don’t worry about what you eat…or what you will wear” is often used to say don’t worry about “worldly” things, except…it isn’t. When we look at the rich man’s productive harvest, we get…
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Force or Choice
Matthew 20:20–28; Matthew 22:15–22 The author Robert Heinlein once wrote, “When you vote, you are exercising political authority, you’re using force. And force, my friends, is violence. The supreme authority from which all other authorities are derived.” There has been a transformation in our society where this seems to be truer now than when Heinlein…
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Salvation Balance
Matthew 16:13–17; Romans 10:6–14 In the US, individuality is all the rage, and it has been since at least 4 July 1776. Individuality is not a bad thing, automatically. While there are many aspects to our faith that are indeed communal (and must remain that way), there are others that are certainly individual. The most…