Tag: discipleship
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Can You Relate?
1 Corinthians 3:5–9; Philippians 1:12–21 “It can never happen here.” “No one respects God here.” “How could God move in this [horrible] place?” You can probably think of a number of questions or statements that give an excuse or justification for why you can’t be a missionary where you are. Let’s not devalue those statements.…
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What’s The Matter?
Numbers 3:44–48; Numbers 18:20; Deuteronomy 10:8–9; 1 Peter 2:3–10 Inheritance wars have long been a genre of popular fiction. Whether the fights were over business or titles of nobility or who will take over the family criminal enterprise. Sometimes, battles are fought over who gets what, or who got the most. That last one may…
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Cross Section
Psalm 78; Zechariah 8:1–6; Acts 2:14–21 Ever had an itch. One of those itches you just can quite reach. Maybe you’ve used a pen (or pencil). Maybe you’ve used one of those bamboo scratchers shaped like a hand. Or perhaps you’ve used a wall corner. Or, if push comes to shove, you ask for help.…
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Discipl…
Psalm 94; Proverbs 13:18; Matthew 18:15–17; 2 Corinthians 13:1–4 Discipleship is a buzzword these days. In church circles, digital and physical, there are regular (and worthwhile) conversations about discipleship. There are fancy names such as “discipleship pathway” or “growth tracks” or any number of others. All of them are one of many ways to think…
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Disciple, Baptize, Teach
Matthew 28:16–20; 1 Corinthians 1:14–25 One of the measurements of a church’s growth is the annual number of baptisms. If we were to review the church’s (and, by this, generally all American churches), the percentage is not particularly great. It certainly does not meet the so-called New Testament numbers. A lot has changed over the…
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For and/or In and/or Of
Matthew 13:44–52 Translating the Scriptures is hard work. Whether it be the 1611 King James Bible, The Amplified, the New International Version, the Christian Standard Bible, the nuances of multiple languages (Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic) along with cultural overlays, makes it incredibly difficult. Then you have the literal translations, the “thought” translations, the “concept” translations,…
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Money Change
Luke 7:36–8:3; Luke 24:1–12 (read online ⧉) In Jesus’ day, women held a “lesser” societal role. It’s not that they held no role. In Roman culture, women’s roles were actually in somewhat of a cultural disarray as “free” marriage was opposed by Augustus Caesar who wanted a “traditional” male-dominant marriage. Marriage differed between “noble” and…
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Kneel
Matthew 16:21–28; Mark 14:32–42 (read online ⧉) Peter was concerned about the kingdom here on earth, not the kingdom that Jesus was ushering in. Jesus would have nothing to do with that thinking. Jesus chose the will of God the Father over his earthly will. It’s not as if the human side of Jesus wasn’t…