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Advent Set Aside
Zechariah 14:1–9; 1 Thessalonians 4:1–18 So often, it takes destruction for transformation. Far too many stories, whether Alcoholics Anonymous, Celebrate Recovery, Narcotics Anonymous, or others involve someone hitting rock bottom before a turn-around occurs. The opening words from this passage from Zechariah are brutal. The cruelty that the Israelites would receive went from financial, to
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Power to…
Jeremiah 31:10–14; John 5:19–40 If you had the power to change anything and everything, would you? If you could eliminate war, disease, hatred, bigotry, misogyny…would you? If you could judge people perfectly…would you? The structure of the Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) is a conundrum. The Father is God; the Son (Jesus) is God; the
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Kingdom Justice
Psalm 7; Revelation 19:1–9 “They got what they deserved.” We long for justice. In fact, much of the separation between political parties and people, in general, is defined by justice. When we look at emotionally charged issues such as racism, justice is often the biggest piece. The person negatively affected want to feel heard and,
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Purple Vision
Numbers 27:15–23; 2 Timothy 2:8–13 Having worked for family-owned and -run businesses, I know that one of the business’ concerns is, who’s next? Perhaps it might be better to say that the success of a family-owned and -run business is who will successfully lead it with vision and tenacity once the current leadership steps down.
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Whose King
Psalm 95:1–7a; Ezekiel 34:11–24; Matthew 25:31–46; Ephesians 1:15–23 Christ is King. We often say that to ourselves and to others. The real question that we need to ask is, do we believe it? As the 2020 US political season wraps up, the victors and the losers each have their speeches to give, and much to
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A Promise
Isaiah 44:21–28; Ezekiel 34:25–31; Mark 14:22–26 Remember. We are called on to remember things every day. Some have become so ingrained (putting undergarments, I hope) that we don’t actually remember them; we just do them. Like many things that are ingrained, relationships aren’t. We might take them for granted, but that doesn’t make them ingrained.
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Facial Cliff
Exodus 28:36–38; Deuteronomy 6:4–9; Revelation 13:11–18; Revelation 22:1–9 Since I was a child, I’ve been described as having a large forehead. Due to its apparent size, I was often told that I had a receding hairline, and that I would be bald by 30 if not 40. My hair has certainly turned gray, but I
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Moneyed Futures
2 Samuel 7:12–21; Matthew 6:33–34; James 4:13–5:6 If you’ve ever listened to Dave Ramsey, you’ve probably heard of the “emergency” fund. When you start his Financial Peace University program, this is the first thing to be done. His point being that credit cards and payday loan “emergencies” become less so when you actually plan for
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Thankfulness as Discipleship
2 Timothy 1:1–9 Thankfulness is often for that which benefits us. We are thankful for homes, jobs, food, family, Jesus. Paul is thankful for Timothy. Paul’s simple gratefulness for Timothy’s enduring faith is plain to see. Paul does view Timothy as a son, but not as the biological son of a father, but more of