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God’s Amazing Ability to Answer Prayer
When we pray with more shameless audacity (Luke 11:8, NIV), it is amazing how many more coincidences happen in our lives.
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Shameless Prayer
5 Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story:”Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, 6 ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ 7 And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother…
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The Nature of the Kingdom
What I tell my church constantly (which is what I learned from Dallas Willard) is this: The nature of the Kingdom is to ASK. What is it you need? What is it you lack? ASK. I love the New Living Translation on Matthew 7:7-8 7 “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and…
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Kingdom Focus — Treasure
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22…
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Kingdom Come — The Freedom of Discipline
When we walk with purpose in the spiritual disciplines, a hunger for the Kingdom is created and cultivated. We begin to see that the command to “be perfect like your heavenly Father” is a serious command and has serious resources to follow that command. We begin to truly align our allegiances with the kingdom of God. As our spirits are…
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Kingdom Freedom
The power of the Kingdom, the offer of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, is found in true freedom. It is about freedom from the things that bind us up. It is about being complete in God. The Kingdom already provides that power. We need to recognize it, then walk in it. That is the rub. Being “anger-free” or “lust-free” or…
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The “Radical” We Must Be
Life in the Kingdom is meant to be life at its fullest. Our problem is we settle for “good enough” when the Kingdom calls us to “God’s best.” The demand of the Kingdom is this: God’s perfection. We don’t understand that, so we settle for “good enough.” The moment we settle for “good enough,” we become Pharisees. That’s not just…
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The “Radical” We Avoid
In the Sermon on the Mount, there are a couple of places (at least) where we find great hesitation, at least for us as readers. Matt. 5:17-20, where Jesus tells his hearers their righteousness needs to surpass that of the Pharisees. Then, Matt. 5:48 where the demand is “to be perfect.” This is the call we just cannot get around.…
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We get torn apart by our terminology
Richard Stearns, head of World Vision, wrote a response on a perceived attack on the term “radical Christians.” This was in response to a Christianity Today piece on the “new radicals.” Stearns’s response is basic: “Yep, we’re radical, and we’re not radical enough!” It’s gone back and forth in a way that reminds me of the days when my “tribe” (Pentecostals) were…
