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Teaching Truth While Transversing Change
A child’s body, world, and language is in a constant mode of change
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The Hope in Our Scars, part 2
This week we continue a two-part series talking with Aimee Byrd about her new book, The Hope in Our Scars: Finding the Bride of Christ in the Underground of Disillusionment. Got some church hurt? Or friends with church wounds. Aimee’s work is for you…. SG: What do you want to see as the outcome of your work? Jesus gives us a powerful metaphor in his warning, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you don’t go in, and you don’t allow those entering to go in” (Matt. 23:13). This sticks with me. I want to be a…
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The Upward Call of God
“Not that I have already obtained this—that is, I have not already been perfected—but I strive to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have attained this. Instead I am single-minded: Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead, with this goal in mind, I strive toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12-14). I started the year 2024 with new goals and plans. That was six months ago. The thing is, I also began the year bringing along everything from the…
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Responding to the Lack of Statesmen
Fourth of July commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. The men who led the independence of the United States were men of courage and valor. They knew that separation from Great Britain would be for the good of the country. Lately, I have been contemplating the type of men who founded our country and those that lead our country now. The term statesman comes to my mind. I researched statesman and found some interesting things. A definition is a good place to start. A statesman is: a respected, skilled and experienced political leader or figure. In most respects a statesman is the opposite of a politician. Politicians are thought…
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Does Truth Matter Anymore?
Recently, I discussed with friends how much we observe that the truth doesn’t seem to matter anymore. We witness this in almost every aspect of life: politics, society, even the church, and sadly sometimes among our friends. Lying has never been so popular, it seems. All of us find our lives affected by the lack of truth. But the question is, how much do we care? Integrity and honesty used to be character qualities we looked for among our leadership and those we admire. Now, even if we’re still looking, it’s become much harder to find. Last month, number one golfer, Scottie Scheffler, had all charges dropped against him from…
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The Beautiful Attitudes – Part VII: Blessed are the Peacemakers
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God. (Matthew 5:9 NET)
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Living Out of the Heart Jesus Won for Us
The guests are gone, the good dishes are stored, the decorations are removed, and the Easter story is put away. Wait a minute! The Easter story is not meant to be put away but to be lived year-round! It is so easy to celebrate Easter according to the calendar but neglect to live by the transformational truths every day of our lives. We each have a debt of death to pay to God for our sins, but Christ’s death on the cross cancelled our debt (Rom 6:23; Col 2:13-14). Christ intensely suffered physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually in His excruciating death on the cross (in our place). He became sin…
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RESURRECTION, BELIEVE IN IT AND LIVE IT!
Resurrection! It is one of the most important and powerful events in the world. Easter can mean bunnies, chicks, baskets of candy, colored eggs; but to Christians it is a day to celebrate how Christ came back to life securing salvation for those who believe. Paul put it like this: “For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received—that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures,” 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 The truth of the Resurrection makes all the difference to those who believe. But what does it all…
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He Regrets Us
“But the Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind had become great on the earth. Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil all the time. The Lord REGRETTED that he had made humankind on the earth…. So the Lord said, ‘I will wipe humankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth – everything from humankind to animals, including creatures that move on the ground and birds of the air, for I REGRET that I have made them” (Genesis 6:5-7). “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so too it will be in the days of the Son of Man. People were…
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Bible Memory? A Must!
Memorizing the Bible has been a challenge in every generation. It is a challenge for every age group. The enemy does not like it when we hide God’s Word in our hearts.
