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Allegiance
I love July 4, fireworks, patriotic songs, movies about the Revolution… all of it. That cop that sings “God Bless America” at Yankees games gets me every time I hear his wonderful tenor voice. But my allegiance isn’t here. It is in another land. Another place. Another kingdom. The country of my birth is a place I love. The Kingdom…
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Taste the goodness of the kingdom
2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (1 Peter 2:2-3, NIV) If there is anything I could invite you to in understanding my deep passion for the King and his Kingdom it is this: just taste. Taste the incredible goodness of the Kingdom…
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Book of Joshua — The Call of Allegiance
6 “Be very strong; be careful to obey all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, without turning aside to the right or to the left. 7 Do not associate with these nations that remain among you; do not invoke the names of their gods or swear by them. You must not serve them or bow down to them. 8 But you are to hold…
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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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The Kingdom and the Power
We can seek KINGDOM power, or settle for this world’s power. People who know power think can tend to think it’s only a matter of money. You can negotiate a price, plug in a few things, and get a crowd. You may get a crowd, but you may sacrifice in the process is the Kingdom.
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Shouldn’t it be DIFFERENT?
N T Wright in Simply Jesus leaves me with all kinds of crazy questions. If Jesus IS King… why are in such a mess? What has gone wrong? Or, what IS going wrong? One of the tough questions he poses: What is the use of announcing love and peace if you make angry, violent war to achieve it? The message…
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The Journey to Obedience
I commented the other day about the move from success to significance to obedience and how there aren’t many leadership books on “obedience.” While that is true, and it’s probably true because generally we only want to read about “successful” people, I think there are some great examples. The problem is obedience has such a high cost, we have examples…
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Parables
“The parables, in fact, are told as kingdom explanations for Jesus’s kingdom actions. They are saying: ‘Don’t be surprised, but this is what it looks like when God’s in charge.’ They are not ‘abstract teaching,’ and indeed if we approach them like that, we won’t understand them at all.” — N T Wright, Simply Jesus
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The Utilitarian Jesus
N T Wright’s book Simply Jesus is filling my imagination right now. Surprised by Hope was a book that jarred me awake to the realities of the Kingdom of God in the present, and I still need to re-read that one! Wright continues to bring out what I feel about myself and about our culture in general: We want a…
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Crazy Thought of the Day — On Worship
We need to get the notion out of our heads that “worship” is the singing part of a church service. Worship is declaration. It’s not just singing something. It’s not just connecting with some emotion. Worship is the declaration that JESUS IS LORD. By implication that means we are saying, “JESUS is Lord, and no one else is.” It is…
Tag: Kingdom of God.
