Tag: enemy

  • Forging Character

    Forging Character

    Developing character and faith isn’t always easy. It often hurts.

  • Mixing It Up

    Mixing It Up

    The church is called to cross enemy lines not to defeat the enemy, but to reconcile the enemy, so that there are no more enemies.

  • Prophetic Testing

    Prophetic Testing

    How’s this for a test? Does the person seek to make the “other” the enemy? Not their struggles, their opinion, even their sins…the person themselves.

  • Funny Smelling

    Funny Smelling

    Exodus 30:22–38; Acts 22:2–16 Have you ever had the experience of a particular smell, either good or bad, that triggers memories? There are a number of smells that will trigger memories of my grandparents’ house. My daughter has also shared experiences where certain smells trigger her memories, and they are often of her grandma’s house…

  • You Want Me to do What?

    You Want Me to do What?

    Ananias chose to face reality. Ananias chose to walk ahead in faith, trust, and love. He made this decision while knowing the past.

  • Monuments to What

    Monuments to What

    Ecclesiastes 1:10–11; Matthew 23:25–32; Luke 11:47–54; Acts 7:44–58 You have probably heard George Santayana’s famous quip, “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Perhaps the writer of Ecclesiastes phrased it differently. The reality is that human behavior (especially, selfishness, greed, and hatred) has a tendency to repeat itself. Jewish history…

  • Kinda Stuck

    Kinda Stuck

    Leviticus 4:27–31; Leviticus 5:14–16; 1 John 1:6–10 When we talk about sin, we often operate with the presumption of commission of sin. In other words, we did something. There is also the sin of omission. In other words, what we didn’t do. The morning confession in the Book of Common Prayer reads Most merciful God,…

  • I Hate You

    I Hate You

    Luke 14:25–35; 1 John 3:14–18 So, who do YOU hate? Your mom, dad, husband, wife, significant other, son, daughter, brother, sister, cousin, aunt, uncle…Really, who do you hate? Trump, Clinton, Bin Laden, and many others have been (or are) hated. It could be because of politics. It could be because they murdered people. It might…