From the Blog
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The Guest List
God invited total strangers (the shepherds) to his son’s first birthday party. But did you know you were on the guest list too? The Christ was born for all of us, “unto you” is for me and you. Have you accepted His invitation? You’re on the guest list. In the gospel of Luke, he recorded…
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The Naughty or Nice List
Parents have been using the lines from this song ever since to help make their children behave. “You better be good. You better go to bed. You don’t want to be on Santa’s “naughty list. You won’t get any presents…” So, every American child born since 1934 has been taught about this so-called “Naughty or…
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The Wish List
Our wishes, our longings, are really a kind of worship. Because that’s what worship is. Worship is seeing something or someone that we count worthy of our affection and longing, our love, and then, recognizing that worthiness, we seek to give them what they’re worth. In the book of Matthew the story of the birth…
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Be a Disciple
Our flesh, our sin nature, constantly desires the easy way, the short cut, it wants its own way. But the way of discipleship, the way of following Jesus begins with a decision to “deny ourselves.” In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus described what it meant to answer the call to come after Him and be…
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Resting in God’s Love
Is your life is filled with anxiety and trouble? Do you often wonder whether anyone loves you, much less God? Are you surrounded by hurt and broken relationships? Some of it you blame on others, but if you’ll admit it, you blame yourself for most of it. Where’s the love? That’s the question that Paul…
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Hoping in God’s Glorification
Our future glorification of ultimately becoming like Christ will make the difficult journey worth it all. In Romans 8:18-30, the apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Rome that in spite of the suffering in this present world they could be encouraged by hope in God’s ultimate purpose for their future glorification of becoming like…
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Living as God’s Children
How do you view God? Does He seem distant and far away? Do you see Him as a Judge? Or do you see Him as near and close? How many of you see Him as your Father, your ever present Abba? That’s where Paul is taking us today. As he continues to talk about how…
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Overcoming the Flesh by God’s Spirit
Do continue to do what you hate? You’ve received Christ, but you have feelings of guilt and shame because you want to do what pleases God, but you continue to give in to your old sin nature? Or maybe you’ve never received Christ, but you’re sick and tired of living life on your own. You’re…
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Wrestling With God’s Law
Who’s winning the wrestling match inside of you? The truth is, no matter how long you’ve been a Christ- follower, in this world we will never be so mature in Christ as to no longer see sin in ourselves. The accusation that the church is full of hypocrites is only true if we claim to…
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Living By God’s Spirit
Law-keeping doesn’t set us free from slavery to sin, nor does it empower us to keep from sinning after being set free. This brings us to Chapter 7 where Paul shows the necessity of being released from under the law in order to overcome our “sin problem.” Because as it turns out, law-keeping does not…