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The Triumph of the Church
42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at…
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How’s your forehead look?
Translation fun. The literal use of a word, which the ESV uses in Jeremiah 3:3 is, um, not helpful. Here is a comparison at Biblegateway. Strengths and weaknesses of translations are a key reason I like having so much available either online (like Biblegateway) or digitally (like Olive Tree or Logos). Just watch out for your forehead!
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Jeremiah and the broken heart
I grew up with the phrase describing Jeremiah as “the weeping prophet.” As I read through this powerful book once again, I find myself in a place of feeling that heart break. “Long ago I broke the yoke that oppressed you and tore away the chains of your slavery, but still you said, ‘I will not serve you.’ On every…
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The Dragon and the Beast
4 They worshipped the dragon because it had given the beast its authority. They worshipped the beast and said, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?” (Rev. 13:4) Every culture and every age has its “beast” and “dragon.” Every culture does not see the thing they worship as a “beast.” Spiritual strongholds are strongholds because we do not…
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Are you finished being God?
Matthew 7:1-6 gives us the ultimate excuse to tell people to back off. We usually don’t like others prying into our messes, so we say something like, “Don’t judge me.” The Kingdom ethic is, of course, a bit more involved than us just trying to get people to back off. Scot McKnight’s new commentary, The Sermon on the Mount, gives some…
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Why I am not a universalist
Blame John: 20 But the people who did not die in these plagues still refused to repent of their evil deeds and turn to God. They continued to worship demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—idols that can neither see nor hear nor walk! 21 And they did not repent of their murders or their witchcraft or their sexual…
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What happens when we pray?
What do we EXPECT to happen? One of my favorite prayer heroes was always in a spiritual fight. The Lord invited him to pray and stuff happened. The Lord would ask him to pray for places he had never heard of, so he would fast and pray until breakthrough came, often resulting in spiritual warfare that would sometimes feel like…
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Culture Wars
I grew up in a great political era. Honestly. My family was very aware of the news and it was discussed at the dinner table. I was a political geek, knowing the names of the Supreme Court justices, the leaders of the Congress, and many key cabinet leaders in the sitting president’s cabinet. I knew key world leaders. Key events…
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The gift of the Kingdom
The gift of the Kingdom of God is that when we treasure Jesus we will find the power to overcome this world.
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No place for worry
When we really take in what Jesus is saying about the power of the Kingdom, we come to his amazing “guarantee:” you won’t worry. No matter how many times I read this passage in Matthew 6, I still choke on this passage. Worry. Anxiety. Things that keep me up. Things that wake me up. Things that give me nightmares. Worry. Anxiety.…
Category: Bible Study
