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Foundations
In my hometown, a local man has been charged with first degree arson in the alleged torching of his own business, a fire that occurred in July of 2022. I don’t know how that case is progressing, but what I do know is that the business location has been cleared and that there has been…
Read MoreNo Mediocrity in Christ!
Some conversations just stick with you. I recall a very brief conversation I had as a teenager, a conversation with a man who was probably in his late thirties. I asked the gentleman, in some way or other, how his day was going. To this day, I can hear his response, “Oh, you know ……
Read MoreRain, Snow, and the Word of God
Far too frequently we are presented with a false dichotomy, pressed to choose between two ostensibly opposing concepts. We can choose God or we can choose science, but we cannot choose both because they are said to be at odds and, as such, cannot coexist. No folly could possibly be further from the truth. God…
Read MoreIn God’s Presence – Fear & Delight
Does the reality of the presence of the LORD frighten you? Thrill you? Maybe both, as though, “Yes, I have reverence, but also some fear?” And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the…
Read MoreShunning: Is It Biblical?
When I get questions from readers, I usually respond privately. I received an interesting question this week and rather than respond privately, I decided to turn the response into a blog-posting, as the question is likely to be of interest to others. In a nutshell, the question is, “When, if ever, is shunning of a…
Read MoreIn Christ, Unity is Not Uniformity
The Twilight Zone As a youth, one of my favorite television programs was The Twilight Zone, a programming concept created and hosted by Rod Serling. It was an exceptionally well-written anthology series that ran from 1959 to 1964. The stories told were designed to toy with the viewers’ minds through use of psychological manipulation, suspense, strange…
Read MoreJesus and Violence
As a child of the sixties, I grew up during the Vietnam War, a twenty-year conflict fought primarily in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. It was a conflict between nationalist forces in the North, attempting to unify the divided country of Vietnam, and forces in the South attempting to arrest the spread of Communism. Though very…
Read MoreWhen You Pray . . . (Part 7)
This is our final look at the prayer Jesus taught his disciples. Next week, we will look at how Jesus expanded on the teaching, but not look at the prayer itself. Lead Us Not Into Temptation This instruction from Jesus is difficult because we know that God tempts no man, and he cannot be tempted…
Read MoreWhen You Pray . . . (Part 5)
Thus far in our “When You Pray…” series, we have focused on honoring God, establishing that he is the Father of us all, he is holy, he owns the kingdom, and it is his will that is to be carried out. God-centered, rather than me-centered. Father, hallowed, kingdom, will. Now we shift our focus just…
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