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The Righteousness of the Pharisees
20 “But I warn you- unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven! (Matt. 5:20, NLT) The righteousness of the Pharisees was a behavioral based righteousness. It’s a “disease” any of us can be afflicted with in our culture. It’s just too fun to pick…
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Go, and be an irritant
13 “You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. 14” You are the light of the world- like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and…
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Statements of Jesus We Get Hung Up On
The big “hang up” statement we’ll be dealing with this week in our ministry time will be Matt. 5:48 — “So then, be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” We carry a lot of baggage with that word, perfect, and that is what hangs us up from understanding what Jesus is really asking of us… and what is possible.
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How am I seeing people?
2Co 5:16 16 So then from now on we acknowledge a no one from an outward human point of view. Even though we have known Christ from such a human point of view, now we do not know him in that way any longer. (NET Bible) How am I looking at people? Can I see their heart? I can see…
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Not All Valleys are “of the Devil”
Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. (Matt. 4:1) Not every trial, not every test, can be blamed on the devil. The Lord can put us in tough situations to bring testing, to put fire to our faith… to forge the steel of faith in our lives. It is never comfortable, but when the Lord…
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Great Translation on the Proclamation of Jesus
“Change your hearts and lives. Here comes the kingdom of heaven!” (Matt. 4:17, Common English Bible) Get ready… the King has entered his realm and when he acts, there is a response called for. The best response? Change your hearts and lives. The power of the Kingdom of God is unleashed. It is time to pay attention.
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We are created to be idols of God
This dangerous thought comes via Jason Hood in a book I am working through right now called Imitating God in Christ: Recapturing a Biblical Pattern. Some quick thoughts: When God created humanity, he made us to e his image-bearing idols. (Elsewhere in the Old Testament the word that is here translated “image” (Ex. 20) usually refers to idols that represent gods…
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It’s easy to have faith when the building is full
Who dares despise the day of small things, since the seven eyes of the LORD that range throughout the earth will rejoice when they see the chosen capstone in the hand of Zerubbabel? The New International Version. (2011). (Zec 4:10). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. In a day of mega everything, people find it easy to jump on board the train…
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A Love for the Word of God
Loving the Bible seems a bit out of vogue these days, even among evangelicals. The word that is used to kind of slam that idea of loving the Bible so much, i believe, is biblicist. So be it. I LOVE the Word of God found in the Bible. I love the written Word because it leads me to the living Word, but I…
Category: Bible Study
