Tag: respect
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Happiness and Joy…or Not
Psalm 44; Isaiah 22:8b–14; James 4:4–10 🔎 Focus Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? James 4:4 NRSVue …you did not look at the One who did it, nor did you see the One who planned it… Isaiah 22:11 NRSVue We don’t like pain or suffering. We often do…
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Seeing Christ In The Lives of Others
Romans 12:16–21 As part of our college ministry many years ago, we asked our college students to come up with their mission statement. It was coached in a business/organization language; it should have been better phrased as a Rule of Life. Mine was: Seeing Christ in the Lives of Others. Yes, the title was my…
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Burning Call
Psalm 145:10–18; 1 Kings 19:19–21; Colossians 1:9–14 One of the issues that has come up in the last year in church-ish circles is the ordination of women. Saddleback took a bold step and ordained women which went against the predominant grain of their partner body (SBC). There was an unexpected explosion in certain circles against…
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Port Wise
Psalm 107:1–3, 23–32; Job 29:1–20; Acts 20:1–16 “Any port in a storm!” From a strictly practical standpoint, that sailor quip makes sense. Yet, the port may have dangers of its own that were unexpected. If, for example, naval ships from opposing sides set anchor in the same bay due to a storm, once the storm…
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Choosing the Fruit
Psalm 92:1–4, 12–15; Genesis 3:14–24; Hebrews 2:5–9 There is something odd about the story in the Garden of Eden, and it isn’t the Fall (though that is central to our faith). The story in the Garden of Eden revolves around loving obedience/respect of God (that was a failure) and two trees. The apple (usually red)…
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What’s In A Name?
Genesis 16:7–15; Mark 8:27–30 Relational abuse is not something we should tolerate. This is with the understanding that abuse is the regular, deliberate intent to harm or diminish another. It’s important to address this based on Hagar’s statement to the Lord’s messenger. Based upon the Scriptures, Hagar presumed too much. As the first (Sarah being…
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Wall Fall
While time flows, there is always time for redemption and reconciliation. However, at some point, time will end, and redemption and reconciliation are no more.
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Freely Abiding
Titus 3:1–11 The next wave is coming. All around the globe, the next wave of COVID is coming. Countries that thought they were done are back to a true lockdown state. In the US, certain states are returning to more limited engagements. It’s hard for those of us in the US. We really do not…