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Powerful Love, Life Changing Love
In John 17:26 Jesus prays, “I made known your name to them, and I will continue to make it known, so that the love you have loved me with may be in them, and I may be in them.” What an amazing prayer He prayed for us in this priestly prayer. To those who have believed in Jesus, He has made known His name to us. Yet He promises the Father that He will continue to make it known. And, why will He do that? So that the very love that the Father loves the only begotten Son with might be in us and that He might be in us.…
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Memorial Day, A Powerful Teaching Moment
Memorial Day is coming! How many homes and Sunday school classes will make the most of this teaching moment? History is full of memorials. This is a cultural teaching moment opportunity to train our children in the importance of remembering. If we don’t intentionally plan to remember, we won’t. If we don’t preserve what we remember, we forget the most important details, the meaning of the event, the lessons learned, the victories won. The Bible is full of memorials. From Jacob to the calling of Moses in Exodus, to set His people free and continuing throughout the Bible, God sets up memorials. In Genesis 31:45 we see Jacob setting up…
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Living the Resurrection Life
How does one get past the tendency to just celebrate the date and instead, learn how to live a life of resurrection celebration?
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Forgiving as God has Forgiven You
Forgiveness is something we all need, something we all are happy to receive, yet it is at times something that seems impossible to do. God has a lot to say in His word about His great gift of forgiveness and about our need to forgive others.
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What Does Loving God Look Like?
As parents and teachers, we invest a lot of time into the lives of our children. As Christian parents and teachers our hearts desire is to see our children walk in truth even as John tells us was his delight, 2 John 1:4 “I rejoiced greatly because I have found some of your children living according to the truth, just as the Father commanded us.” One of our goals in the classroom and at home is to have our children learn obedience. The question we must ask ourselves is how the two intersect. If we really want out children to walk in the truth of the commands God has given us,…
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Beware Lest You Teach Another Gospel
Of course, there is only one true Gospel message but to misconstrue it in any form is to turn it into something that it is not.
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Need Change? Resolve to Run to Jesus!
In Galatians3:1-3 Paul admonishes: “You foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell on you? Before your eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed as crucified! The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? Although you began with the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by human effort?” Net Bible If it didn’t work last year, then it most likely won’t work this year either. Last year I resolved to overcome at least this one weakness. I failed. Every year I have worked on the same old bad habits hoping this…
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A Cross at Christmas
Christmas, for many, is a magical time of twinkling lights, singing, brightly colored packages, cookies, candy, parties, and laughter. However, for others, Christmas is shrouded with the stark reality of a cross they have to bear. Some will face things like roaring fires that ravage neighborhoods, hospital rooms, funeral homes, broken relationships, drunken relatives, or deep sorrow as they look in vain for the faces of those who are missing from their lives.
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Giving Thanks With a Whole Heart
When it comes to freedom of worship the worst prison is the prison of the ungrateful heart. True thankfulness can’t cohabitate with greed. It will not grow beside the feelings that we may have what we need but there is so much more we want and we can’t really be happy till we get it. We have a whole generation that believes Thanksgiving is more about overeating and shopping than giving thanks.
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Boundaries That Protect
A child doesn’t have to be burned to learn that fire is dangerous. It’s not necessary to be hit by a car to learn that a street is not a safe place to play. Children need consistent reinforcement of truth to learn it. For most children, this will be enough to shape their thinking and influence their actions. While they are very young, we take them by the hand moving them out of danger while reinforcing with our words, “It’s hot, don’t touch it or it will burn you. It is dangerous to go into the street. That is a no! This is a yes.” Our actions and words influence…