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Praying the impossibilities into possibilities
A few days ago I was meditating on the Isaiah 2 text for the first Sunday of Advent. The challenge from the Spirit when I woke up that morning was this: pray differently. One of the texts for next Sunday is Isaiah 11:1-10. It seems I am still being stirred by the Spirit to pray differently. It is to pray the impossible prayers.…
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Preparation in Advent is more than individual effort
16 Wash! Be clean! Remove your ugly deeds from my sight. Put an end to such evil; 17 learn to do good. Seek justice: help the oppressed; defend the orphan; plead for the widow. 18 Come now, and let’s settle this, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be white as snow. If they are red as crimson, they will…
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Happy New Year!
It’s the first Sunday of Advent, so for the church… HAPPY NEW YEAR! The Church has been on a different calendar for centuries, but evangelicals and Pentecostals don’t always recognize it. It’s too much of a “dead ritual,” or some such thing. I’ve learned to appreciate these seasons, especially Advent and Lent, helping us prepare for Christmas and Easter then…
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Wake up from the turkey coma
Tomorrow in church, we begin a NEW YEAR! I serve an Assemblies of God church, so most reading this will probably go… “What? HUH? What?!?” But it’s a new year! We will be in the first Sunday of Advent, which is on the Church calendar. It’s the rhythm of the Kingdom, not this world. And… please be warned… God is…
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Black Friday, Good Friday, and Anticipation
Tons of deals to be had on Black Friday… which has successfully leaked (in the view of retailers, anyway) into Thanksgiving. I’m not here to mourn the loss of Thanksgiving. We’re a culture bent on compulsive actions and I’m not going to cure that in one season… or twenty. We want to shop for good deals and we are a…
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He’s Coming
The fourth Sunday of Advent. The longing for the Savior to come. I think of Simeon and his longing for God. God favored him with seeing Messiah before Simeon passed from this earth. Simeon longed for the Kingdom of God. Advent. Longing. He’s coming… How I long to see him whom my soul loves. He’s coming…
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The Great Reversal I Long For
Now that the world hasn’t ended (again), maybe we could continue on with the actions we might want to take as the people of God. We need to live out Advent in our world. Christ has come. He makes the difference. 19 The poor will again find joy in the Lord, and the neediest of people will rejoice in the holy…
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The Sure Thing
16 So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic. (Isaiah 28:16, NIV) What God lays down as a foundation is the sure thing. Israel had been dealing with any other way to…
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Breaking the Heart of God
John 3:16-21 was in our Advent reading for yesterday. What great HOPE… and what great disappointment… can be found in these few verses! There is the great hope of God’s love. He loved this world so much he gave his son. The hope of this world is LIFE in Christ. Jesus’ intention is not to condemn. These are incredible words. “God…
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Kingdom Expectation Demands Change
The pro-life ethic is possible. It is not something laid out by Jesus and just left in the text of Matthew’s gospel. Peter picks it up (as do the other New Testament writers) and calls on the reader to understand the need for change. We do NOT have to live in the grip of this world. We do not need…
Tag: Advent
