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Freedom ‘for’
Robert Youngs gives this illustration: I have on my table a violin string… it is free. I twist one end of it and it responds. It is free. But it is not free to do what a violin string is supposed to do–produce music. So I take it, fix it in my violin and tighten…
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Telling the Story: The ‘Do not be afraids’ of Christmas
It’s hard to let go of Christmas. The “Do not be afraids”are still on my mind. When the angel visited Mary in Nazareth, the words gushed from Gabriel’s mouth: “Do not be afraid…you have found favor with God.” Seeing an angel right in front of her would have been terrifying. Pondering it from this side,…
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Quit complicating the Grace of God Part 4
“And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked…
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God’s heartbeat in us
The great paradoxes of the Bible. To live you must die; to be free you must serve; to know the truth you must see the lie. God is not trying to confuse us but to show us that His ways are not our ways, nor are His thoughts our thoughts. Isaiah 55:8. Here is another…
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Telling the Story: Team Mary and Joseph
A middle schooler recently told his mother he didn’t like Sunday School because he knew all the Bible stories already. I got a little bit tickled but beg to differ with that young man. Even though I am 62, every single time I open God’s Word, He speaks to me. Unfortunately, I’ve been there as…
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Quit complicating the grace of God Part 3
“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that…
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Devils
Two 6-year-olds struggled with the problem of the existence of the devil. One boy said, “Oh, there isn’t any devil.” The other, rather upset, said, “What do you mean there isn’t any devil? It talks about him all the way through the Bible.” The first replied, “Oh that’s not true. You know, it’s just like…
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Telling the Story: Spending time with the Nativity
A decades-old nearly life-sized Nativity set needed to be repainted. I volunteered all the artsy people I knew to do it; I would help, too. I’m no artist, but I thought it would be like a humungous paint by number: not too difficult, it would just take some time. My first job was to prep…
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Quit complicating the grace of God Part 2
“Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and…
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The mind is like Silly Putty
“The peace of God which passes understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4.7) Our minds are wonderful creations of God. But did you know they need to be guarded? When I was a boy I used to play with Silly Putty. You could do a lot of neat things with…
Tag: Faith
