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Growing Knowledge
Isaiah 5:18–24, Luke 11:37–44, 2 Corinthians 11:1–11 Much of today’s passages revolve around religious leaders, religious know-it-alls, and egotistical maniacs using religious language. It is really easy to point out the flaw of our and of course everybody else’s religious leaders. Oddly enough, they’re human too. The easy thing to point out is when their
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Growing Foundations
Romans 1:19–23, Isaiah 2:1-5, Nehemiah 8:1–12, 2 Corinthians 1:12–14 From the foundations of the world, God’s hands are at work. We often are blind to our own ignorance, sometimes willingly so. God doesn’t want us to remain ignorant of Creation, its ways, and certainly not his ways. The high ways of God are often easy
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How Do We Look?
Psalm 120, Mark 13:9-13, 2 Peter 1:20-2:9 Psalm 120 is a lament. The psalmist is among those who live a life of lies. These same people are warmongers, seeking strife and conflict. The psalmist is living in foreign lands that seek no peace, but the cry of the psalmist’s heart is for peace. The psalm
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Trusting God’s Way
Psalm 1, Jeremiah 17:5-10, 1 Corinthians 6:1-11 Has someone ever said to you, “I don’t trust anyone?” First, imagine living life like that. Someone who lives such a paranoid life could never be happy. You cannot love if you cannot trust. Second, anyone who says that hasn’t walked down the road of thinking that through
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Engraving Hearts
Jeremiah 17:1-4, 2 Timothy 3:1–9, 1 Peter 2:4–10, Luke 3:7-8 Imagine having a heart so hard that you need an iron needle or a diamond point to put a mark in it. That is the hardness of the human heart, not just toward God, toward their fellow man as well. The Israelites were completely
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Working It
Ecclesiastes 2:18–3:8, Matthew 20:1–16, 1 Peter 1:17–2:1 There is a movement afoot for people to enjoy their work. Younger people are throwing off the chains of previous generations that did work they did not enjoy so that they could support their families. This is not to say that previous generations were wrong, but that many
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Confessional Life
Psalm 51, 1 John 1:8-2:6, Mark 13:31-14:2 Honesty is the best policy. Or is it? Some people will take advantage of our honesty. Some people will look down on the honest. Think about politicians. Most people don’t trust them. Many of their campaign promises are false, or impossible whether due to finances, political will, and
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Heart of Food
Psalm 141, Daniel 1:1-16, Mark 7:14-23 With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, chocolate and sweets often come to mind. Food is often a significant part of gatherings whether they be gatherings of family, friends, or church. Barring royalty or the blessings of developed nations (mostly), food scarcity is a real thing. In the days
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Changing To Embody
Psalm 37:1-12, Jeremiah 12:1–17, 2 Peter 1:2–10 We can look around, and wonder what’s wrong with the world. Those who are corrupt or greedy seem to be doing so much better than good people. When we look around, we can either be discouraged or we can look up. This really is nothing new. The psalmist
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For Glory!
Psalm 115, Judges 5:1-11, 1 Corinthians 10:23-11:1 Much of the modern world is obsessed with the self. Individualism (rugged or otherwise) is a key feature of (U.S.) American culture. It then becomes ironic when non-believers question why everything should be for God’s glory. They attribute to God a selfish conceit that has no consideration for