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Josiah Revival
The story of King Josiah is nestled in the overlooked chronicles of Israel’s rulers. In the 18th year of Josiah’s reign the King decreed a simple rehabilitation project of the temple grounds that turned into a sweeping overhaul of Israel’s religious practices and worldview. During the construction, they happened upon a forgotten scroll. The law of the Lord. 2 Kings 22:8 tells us that the Israelites, “found the scroll of the law in the Lord’s temple.” The Law was the foundational word of God that connected the people to the God of the Covenant. It was held in such high esteem. Children would be instructed in the law, memorizing it…
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Moses, used by God to intervene on behalf of His apostate people
Title: Moses, used by God to intervene on behalf of His apostate people Aim: To assess how to respond to the temptations we face each day. Scripture: Exodus 32:1–14 Apostasy conceived and enacted, Exodus 32:1-6 Exodus has two principal sections. The first (chaps. 1–18) portrays God as the Savior and Provider of His people. The second (chaps. 19–40) depicts the Lord as being holy and righteous. Through God’s revelation of Himself, He instructed the Israelites in His sovereignty and majesty, goodness and holiness, grace and mercy. They discovered that the Creator is the one and only Lord of heaven and earth. Crucial to the narrative is…
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Rebellion and Exponential Evil
“For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but threw them into hell and locked them up in chains in utter darkness, to be kept until the judgment, and if he did not spare the ancient world, but did protect Noah, a herald of righteousness, along with seven others, when God brought a flood on an ungodly world, and if he turned to ashes the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah when he condemned them to destruction, having appointed them to serve as an example to future generations of the ungodly, and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man in anguish over the debauched lifestyle of lawless men, (for while…
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A Date Which Will Live in Infamy
“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people” (Proverbs 14:34). The word “infamy” is defined by Dictionary.com as “extremely bad reputation, public reproach, or strong condemnation as the result of a shameful, criminal, or outrageous act”. Thus one year ago today, June 26th, 2015, the day the Supreme Court of the United States declared that homosexuals had a Constitutional right to marry, is a date of infamy. The Court based their decision upon… well… upon philosophic talk that was devoid of wisdom. After all, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom” (Proverbs 1:7, NIV 1984). The word “fools” describes…
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The Guilt Game
My friend worked on the apples while I peeled and chopped bananas for the fruit salad. I admired Lauri’s ability to organize this missions breakfast for a large church: recruiting lots of people to bring food, providing some of the food herself, hosting me in her home, caring for three children, and all the while struggling with chronic pain and physical limitations. As I contemplated all she did, I began to feel inadequate. I could never do something like this,” I lamented in my head. “I must be hopelessly disorganized. My friend seems to do this effortlessly, in spite of all the other demands on her life and energy. How…
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23 Books Reviewed in 23 Minutes
“The love of learning, the sequestered nooks, And all the sweet serenity of books” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. “A book lying idle on a shelf is wasted ammunition” – Henry Miller. Here is my exhaustive review of all but one of the books I read in 2014. Skim the list to see if something piques your interest. Peruse as you please. Skip what does not interest you. For my reading list reviews for the past few years click on any of the following: 2011, 2012, or 2013. Now here we go, set your timer to 23 minutes. Go! 1. “Save Me From Myself” subtitled “How I found God, quit…
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The Tyranny of the Expected Response… What lies beneath?
A farmer sits on his front porch. Just inside the screen door the phone rings. And rings. His neighbor asks, “Aren’t you going to get that?” The farmer spits and leans back, “I bought that phone for my convenience. And right now…it’s not convenient.” Not so long ago…if someone phoned you and you didn’t answer…they just called you back. Then, If someone emailed you…you responded within a day or two. All was well. Then came instant messenger and Facebook messaging. We see you are logged in on Facebook so we kind of expect you to respond… Then came a river of tweets rushing by…I know you’re always checking…
