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The Son’s Transfiguration
Title: The Son’s Transfiguration Aim: To assess how our devotion to the Savior can strengthen our understanding of His teachings. Scripture: Mark 9:2–13 The mountaintop experience, Mark 9:2–4 Sometime during the last year of Jesus’ earthly ministry, He told His disciples that He would be executed and then rise from the dead (Mark 8:31-32). Not even Peter, one of Jesus’ closest followers, could prevent this series of events from happening (v. 33). The Messiah stated that those who give Him complete control of their lives are His genuine followers and would be eternally blessed. In contrast, those who reject Him would experience eternal loss (vv. 34–38). Mark 9:1 records…
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Living in Obscurity: Am I Missing God’s Plan for Me?
Today I'm grateful to have guest blogger Seana Scott here to share her heart with you: Friends from college are abolishing slavery. Neighbors are fostering to adopt. A family’s church planting in Poland, and the mom with a van full of kids is launching a book. Meanwhile, am I missing God’s plan for me? Because I shuffle through my ordinary day—a grocery run, teaching my toddler shapes with a Melissa and Doug puzzle, ready-to-cook stir fry tossed in a pan, bedtime reading of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. And I try to push aside the feeling of missing out on “bigger” things for Jesus. The kids now lie asleep, and I settle…
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Teaching Children to Live Love
Obedience is one of the universal things that both parents and teachers seek to produce in children. As Christians obedience done with a wrong motive may look like obedience to us but it falls short. When it comes to obeying God, the heart attitude is as important as the action. A simple observation of their actions will not be enough to prove Biblical obedience. Sometimes a child gets it right by accident. They didn’t intentionally decide to obey but circumstances were such that without thinking about it they chose the right action. There are children who obey for fear of the punishment and with resentment in their heart. Other children…
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GOD’S KINGDOM OBJECT LESSON
God has a kingdom. Jesus came to herald the coming of that kingdom, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns too, for that is what I was sent to do.” Luke 4:43 Net Bible. When Jesus sends out the seventy, He tells them to say, “The kingdom of God has come upon you!” Luke 10:9b Net Bible. Interestingly in that same passage Jesus makes this comment as well, “The one who listens to you listens to me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects the one who sent me.” Luke 10:16 Net Bible. Do you…
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What A Friend We Have in Jesus!
In a recent blogpost titled, “Jesus will never unfriend you,” Pastor Patrick Thurmer explores the theme of the Son being the “friend of sinners” (see Matt 11:19; Luke 7:34). As the author notes, based on 1 Timothy 1:15, Jesus left the glories of heaven to offer Himself on the Cross as an atoning sacrifice. His intent was to make salvation freely available to eternally condemned “sinners.” Pastor Thurmer draws attention to Facebook, where individuals one barely knows can either be “friended” or “unfriended” with the click of an on-screen button. In sharp contrast to this languid and watered-down notion of “friendship” popularized on social media, Jesus’ commitment to redeem…
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Christian Parenting Mistakes: #2 We Settle for Obedience
As I began my adventure of parenting I thought that obedience was the goal. If they were in danger, obeying immediately could save their lives. Unlike animals that are trained to follow orders, people by God’s design were created to obey in the context of relationship. In the great commission, Jesus doesn’t just say, “go and teach them all that I have commanded you.” He tells us to go and make disciples. Then we are to baptize and teach them His commands. The word “make” means we will invest time and ourselves to build a relationship. Obedience is meant to come from a willing heart. Who better to disciple than…
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A Lesson From the Fall of a Pedestalled-Putter
Here we go. Again. Another mugshot plastered across the media. Tiger's scandal will likely birdie Nixon’s WaterGate, bogey Brady’s DeflateGate, and eagle Clinton’s EmailGate. While society scrutinizes the mental and emotional soundness of a god they once enthroned, I am reminded that earthly prominence is fleeting and must submit to divine providence. Creation Concurs From the onset of creation, God fixed the earth on immovable foundations and “covered it with the deep as with a garment," allowing water to saturate this sphere and hold a position of prominence “above the mountains” (Gen 1.2; Ps 104.6). Then, God commanded the waters to separate. In obedience, the lighter parts took to flight…
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A Mother’s Greatest Calling
Today I'm happy to welcome guest blogger, Seana Scott. She's a seminary student, a mom of three, wife to Jason, and blogger at seanascott.org. I sat on the edge of my bed and wept. My first-born son, now two months old, lay in the other room sleeping. “God, I’m tired of feeling so sad.” “To obey is better than sacrifice” popped into my mind. I Googled the passage on my smartphone, grabbed the leather-bound Bible off the nightstand and read 1 Samuel 15:22–23. It said, “…To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and…
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Fear of Consequences Motivates Obedience (2 Chronicles 29-31)
Fear is a normal human emotion designed by God to alert us to danger so we will take action against it. Most teaching about fear considers it bad and always sinful. But fear is a gift. Did you know that God uses a healthy fear of consequences to motivate us to obedience? The action we take to the threat of consequences can result in sinful behavior or to obedience and greater trust of our great God. In this article, we will see how God uses fear to motivate us to obedience and the unstoppable power of God’s forgiveness when we return to Him as Lord of our lives. Hezekiah is…
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Warm and Fuzzy Feelings do not Equal Faith
There I was walking that long path to the university yet again. I knew every crack in the side walk. I knew where the weeds had finally broken free and where the deep puddles would collect after a hard rain. I could gauge how late I was to class based on the faces I met scrambling along the way. Guys and gals who drank way too much the night before drug their inanimate bodies to their 7:45 classes. The skaters, which was still a thing then, weaved in and out of the crowd, I had to fake left and fake right to escape them. Every day I would walk that…