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Receive the Holy Spirit
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” (Jn. 20:21-23, NIV) The resurrection is not about apologetics. It is not about superior reasoning skills…
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Prayer for the Day as We Head into Pentecost Sunday
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your people and kindle in us the fire of your love. All who are led by the Spirit are children of God and fellow-heirs with Christ. Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your people. Renew the face of your creation, Lord, pouring on us the gifts of your Spirit. and kindle in…
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A Pro-Life Ethic: Finding the place God wants you
When I first moved to the Twin Cities and began ministry, I plunged into as many community activities as possible. I served on neighborhood boards, school committees, park committees, etc., looking for what was going on in my part of the city. What was God doing and how could I join him? The shotgun approach worked for a time, but…
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A Pro-Life Ethic Revisited
I want to return to my theme of a pro-life ethic. By this I don’t an ethic only anchored in abortion or right to life. It’s an ethic I want to build for ALL of life. But I return to it because of the horrifying case of Kermit Gosnell. He was convicted of killing three babies after they were born.…
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What is it we fear?
Maybe we don’t think it’s fear. Yet, when it comes to talking about truly following Christ, I am really hear people being passionate… about not being passionate. “Relax, dude!” What is it we fear? We are not looking carefully into Scripture anymore and we call those who really love the Word “biblicists,” like it’s a dirty label. We are not praying…
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Ritual
For those who make the claim, “I’m not ‘religious,’ I’m ‘spiritual,’” this word is like death. For Pentecostals, this word is like death. I grew up hearing about “dead rituals.” What I have come to realize is that rituals are not “dead.” As believers, it is often US who are dead. We’re just blaming something else. Ritual belongs in life.…
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The Gosnell Debacle
While the media has been incredibly late to the story, at least the New York Times broke the headline just now that Kermit Gosnell has been found guilty of first degree murder. He is the abortion doctor accused of killing babies after they have been taken from the womb. How “pro-abortion” people have kept silent on this and have not…
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The Absence of God
“Any understanding of God that doesn’t take into account God’s silence is a half truth — in effect, a cruel distortion — and leaves us vulnerable to manipulation and exploitation by leaders who are quite willing to fill in the biblical blanks with what the Holy Spirit never tells us.” — Eugene Peterson, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places
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When Things Go Wrong — Constructing a Moralism
I have picked up Eugene Peterson’s work Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places again. I have picked at it for the past several years and find myself drawn to his words again. In the chapter “Christ Plays in History” Peterson deals with the threat of “moralism” in our lives. His contention is we have a tough time dealing with Christ in history,…
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We now join God already in progress
When I’ve watched some live sporting event and the game is over and they are ready to send you back to the regular schedule, or it’s a news flash and they are ready to leave the reporting, they will say, “We now return you to the program already in progress.” This is the activity of God. God is active. He…
