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When We’re Not Effective… We Argue
In Mark 9 Jesus comes down from the Mount of Transfiguration with Peter, James, and John. He finds the rest of his disciples in an argument with the legal experts. 14 When Jesus, Peter, James, and John approached the other disciples, they saw a large crowd surrounding them and legal experts arguing with them. 15 Suddenly the whole crowd caught…
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No Place for Timid Hearts
As I read Radical and think of missionary heroes, there is a stirring in my heart about THIS being the time to step out in faith. We can’t wait for others. We need to hear the voice of the Spirit. Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream Again in the Apocrypha, the CEB translated a verse in Sirach…
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The World Doesn’t Deserve Them
Our staff is finishing up the book Radical by David Platt. He ends the book with my favorite thing: missionary stories. Radical missionary stories. I fed on these stories when I was in high school and college. Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream C.T. Studd was a missionary who didn’t believe in retirement. Instead of hanging it…
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The Incredible Abundance of God
Whenever I take the time to read briefly in the Deuterocanonical Books (Apocrypha) I find such wonderful nuggets. Sirach, reading like Proverbs, continues to reveal the richness of pursuing God’s wisdom. 26 If you want to find Wisdom,then keep the commandments, and the Lord will supply her to you in vast quantities. (Sirach 1:26, CEB) God doesn’t sprinkle the richness…
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The Beautiful Wisdom
One of the reasons I like the Common English Bible is they translated the Deuterocanonical Books. While I am not a regular student of these books, I love having easy access to them, and in such a readable translation. Sirach is Proverbs all over again, with so much that is very familiar. This is great material for praying, meditation, and…
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Do We Quit Too Soon?
18 Then Elisha said, “Take the arrows!” so Joash took them. Elisha then said to Israel’s king, “Hit the ground with them!” Joash hit the ground three times and stopped. 19 The man of God became angry with him. He said, “If only you had struck five or six times, you would have finished the Arameans off. As it is,…
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How to Get Jesus to Say, “Good Answer!”
Mark 7 has Jesus exploding all over the religious leaders’ views of what is “in” and what is “out.” What is “proper” and what is “improper.” Then, it’s lived out in the story of Syrophoenician woman. She has come to beg Jesus to cast a demon out of her daughter. Jesus has never hesitated to cast out demons. Here, he…
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The Lazy Prophet
29 Elisha said to Gehazi, “Get ready, take my staff, and go! If you encounter anyone, don’t stop to greet them. If anyone greets you, don’t reply. Put my staff on the boy’s face.” 30 But the boy’s mother said, “I swear by your life and by the LORD’s life, I won’t leave you!” So Elisha got up and followed…
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Clean and Unclean
15 The voice spoke a second time, “Never consider unclean what God has made pure.” (Acts 10:15, CEB) One of the greatest challenges for the American Church in our day is to rise above the political rhetoric, quit drawing political lines in the sand, and hear the voice of God in our midst once again. It’s not a matter of…
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Horeb, the Mountain of God
In my study of Elijah I am inevitably drawn to Moses as well. Both of these men encountered God in powerful ways at Horeb. I think that is the tie between them and why they are the ones who visit Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. For all of my adult life I have been fascinated from time to time…
Category: Translations
