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He is KING Jesus
Jesus isn’t someone we “elected” and now we present him with a list of our expectations. It is HIS Kingdom. He sets the priorities and our greatest joys aren’t found in him fulfilling our expectations, but in us fulfilling his expectations.
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One thing you lack
Mark 10:17-22 gives us the story of the rich man asking about eternal life. One big thing that continually stands out to me from Mark and Matthew on this story: When asked point blank what was needed to inherit eternal life, Jesus did NOT point to himself in a way we would think. He did NOT say, “Well, believe in me! DUH!” He…
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Save us from the “Rah Rah” Resurrection
Every year there is some comment, post, article, etc., out there that will wonder why Christians go through the “morbidity” of Lent or “dwell” on the crucifixion. It’s a braggadocious claim about how they live in the resurrection power. Jesus is alive! Jesus IS alive. And the resurrection IS where we dwell. We live in the power of the same Spirit that raised Christ…
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Jesus is coming after YOU
I am preparing for Palm Sunday and part of that is reading the text in Matthew 21:1-11. I couldn’t stop there. What did he do AFTER making that triumphal entry? He ransacked the Temple. He healed IN the Temple, drawing the weak in… and he blessed children. This is a powerful statement. He is NOT going after Rome, like everyone…
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The obligation of the Kingdom
Reflecting on society, laws, cultural wars… and having a lot of time to think while I was driving across Iowa… I began to think on what I practice but do not articulate very well. I am not sure I can still articulate it well, but this is my attempt. No matter what laws are passed or are not passed in…
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Thinking on the obligation of the Kingdom of God
A thought I want to develop: My obligation to the kingdom of God calls me to treat any human being with far more respect than any culture here on earth could possibly demand of me.
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The extraordinary in the ordinary
Whenever I get tempted to think about a “significant” life in a way that means more “notoriety,” I will remember by grandmother. We laid her to rest today. She was 98 when she passed from this life to the next. She invented nothing. She wrote no books. She starred in no movies. She was born when radio, TV, automobile travel,…
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The beauty of communion
Author of life divine, Who hast a table spread, Furnished with mystic wine And everlasting bread, Preserve the life Thyself has given, And feed and train us up for Heav’n. Our needy souls sustain With fresh supplies of love, Till all Thy life we gain, And all Thy fullness prove, And, strengthened by Thy perfect grace, Behold without a veil…
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When the shoe is on the other foot…
Now, the call from the “left” is that it’s time to stop calling “fundamentalists” Christians. Which is okay, I suppose, because “fundamentalists” have thought “liberals” weren’t saved a long time ago. So… no one is the Kingdom now. Do we feel better now? There is no amount of pleading right now I could do… or anyone… to keep the shouting down. We’re…
