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Convinced of the Power of God
2 Timothy 1:12 — I know whom I have believed. Paul knew he was suffering for the gospel. Simply recanting what he was preaching would set him free. His personal freedom wasn’t the issue, though. It was about the power of the gospel. It was about freedom in Christ. Paul trusted what Christ had done in him. Do we trust…
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Our Cues Need to Come from the Living Word
There are passages of Scripture I could just “camp on” like anyone else. Two of those passages are in this week’s reading for our church. One of the books we’re reading this week is Ephesians. That letter restored so much in my life several years ago. Then, we are reading Romans and Romans 8 is one of the finest chapters…
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Truly Loving
1 Corinthians 13 was the most over-read Scripture at weddings for years and years. What a shock to find out it had nothing to do with weddings. It does deal with the spiritual arrogance of a group of people who were using manifestation gifts to beat up on other believers. In the middle of a discussion on manifestation gifts Paul gives…
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Use It or Lose It
I do the vast majority of my work on computer now, but I am a fan of pens. Good pens. I love fountain pens. If I take the time to journal, I try to have a fountain pen nearby. The ink on my hands is just fun for me. My “better” fountain pen has a cartridge where I draw ink…
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Freedom in Christ and Freedom from Arrogance
As I read through 1-2 Corinthians and Galatians, I am constantly struck by our impulses. As humans, we seem to strive for being “one up” on someone else… anyone else. Even in the Church, Paul battled these kinds of attitudes. With the Corinthians, it was being “one up” with spiritual gifts… or being “one up” by being able to sin…
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Scary Verse to Wake Me Up
5 Examine yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Don’t you understand that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless, of course, you fail the test. (2 Cor. 13:5, CEB) We really need to understand our faith and our walk with Christ. We have a precious faith and it is worth examining our lives! Christ is worth it.
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The Liturgy of Abundance
I ran across this article by Walter Brueggemann, one of my favorite Old Testament scholars. I love this quote: The profane is the opposite of the sacramental. “Profane” means flat, empty, one-dimensional, exhausted. The market ideology wants us to believe that the world is profane–life consists of buying and selling, weighing, measuring and trading, and then finally sinking down into…
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Journal the Journey
Tip for our journey through the New Testament: have a pencil and notebook handy. Or, have your digital notebook ready. Always be ready to jot down thoughts. Ask questions. Write them down. You can always come back to those notes. Jot down your thoughts for the journey!
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The Incredible Love of the Church
8 We were glad to share not only God’s good news with you but also our very lives because we cared for you so much. (1 Thess. 2:8, CEB) Before we moved to Minneapolis we lived for a few years in Colorado. I was working outside the church at the time. The church we attended was fairly large and after…
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Jesus Invites Change… Without Asking
Making my way through the Gospel of Luke this week, and reflecting on other passages in other gospels, I find something interesting. In Luke 19 Zacchaeus is a tax collector wanting to see Jesus. He pays to get the skybox view (which are the better seats at a baseball field, I’m told) and looks for Jesus. As Jesus passes by,…
Category: Bible Study
