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Blessed are the Bankrupt
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken Blessed are the poor in spirit . . . (Mt. 5:3) What stunning, shocking words! What king announces his rule by calling the poor in spirit to him, the bankrupt, those with no resources who bring nothing to him? Only one. The King who is lowly in heart, who offers a light burden because He is not bent down by the weight of pride. Amazingly these are the first recorded words of discipleship Jesus uttered. Jesus requires bankruptcy to enter His kingdom… That’s what it means to be poor in spirit: spiritual bankruptcy, a total lack of resources to do what ultimately…
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Last Things First
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken The Great Commission was the last words Jesus said, but it was among the first thoughts in His mind as He began His ministry. Why was it that one of the first actions He took was to choose disciples (Mt. 4:18-22) if He did not have a purpose in mind for them? He certainly did not intend to spend the better part of three years preparing followers for nothing… And why did He persevere so relentlessly with them when they rejected His message and thought like Satan (Mark 8:33) or created more confusion than clarity when a father sought their help for…
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Start With the End in View
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken Jesus started with the end in view. From the first day of His earthly ministry to the last, He had His two-fold purpose before Him: redemption and preparation, the cross and the commission. He came to provide redemption for dying men and women. But what good would His redemptive death be if there were no one to tell others what it means? How could He establish a redemptive movement if He had no one to start it? That’s why He declared to His Father before the cross that He had accomplished His will by making the Father known to those He had…
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The Beatitudes Attitude: Introduction
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken Today we start a new series drawn from the Beatitudes which describe the abounding blessings of Christ in us. We start with the introduction this week, go to a preview with our next entry, and then we will look at each of the Beatitudes to see what these blessings mean to us as we seek to grow in the Beatitudes Attitude. Blessed are . . . (Matthew 5:1-12) The first recorded words of Jesus to His future disciples were words of blessing, and what blessings they are! These blessings are the essence of life that have endured through the ages and define…
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God Continually Looks for You
A long time ago there lived a king in the southern kingdom of Judah. His name? King Asa. He took the throne after his father Abijah died. Like most people facing a great challenge, he pursued his moment in history with great zeal. His outstanding achievements proved him successful. Look at what he did! He got rid of the things that got in the way of true worship for himself and his kingdom. When things got tough—surrounded by a million enemy soldiers—he turned to God and prayed, “…O Lord, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O Lord our God, for…
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Silenced Anger
The family culture I grew up in allowed anger. We were allowed to feel frustration and anger and even express it in both healthy and unhealthy ways. Our anger was more often than not a self-righteous anger rather than a righteous but nonetheless, the emotion was allowed. Some might look into our home and think we needed to be more self-controlled and less passionate. Some might think we hated each other because of how vocal or expressive we were. We were actually just the opposite – we loved each other and still do. We are even incredibly vocal and expressive to this day. Whether our anger was then acted on,…
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A Work in Progress
I love feeling finished. Don’t you? Crossing the finish line at the end of a race relieves the burning tension in our legs. Hitting “send” on a big work project releases the weight pressing down on our shoulders. Folding the last towel in our mound of laundry lets us breathe a sigh of relief. It feels good to finish things. Yet life is seldom so simple and tidy. Relationships require continual effort. Spiritual growth sprouts slowly. Personal change feels like an endless cycle, repeating itself in every new season. The deeper, richer parts of us are never finished—at least they won’t be completed in this life. So we sift through…
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Spiritually Bipolar
Here’s another confession. I’m bi-polar when it comes to my spiritual life. On the one hand I can be very self-condemning: I’m a rotten worthless sinner who can’t do anything right. I wrote a song once called Failure the lyrics to which expressed how I often feel: I confess that I’m a failure This sober truth, it haunts my life Decisions made that were unwise I’ve messed up my own, and others’ lives Too many times… Yes, I beat myself up a lot. And, yes, I know Jesus loves me, but I have often asked, “But does He like me?” I fail time and time and time and time and…
