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The Devil is a Homewrecker
This is a deep-dive on what divine jealousy—which is righteous—looks like and is not to be mistaken for human jealousy that’s often used synonymously with envy—which is not righteous—because it is sinful. The devil corrupts what is good. (This was originally written for a class at Phoenix Seminary) James 4:4–7 (ESV): ⁴ You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell…
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Lead by Serving
Then he said, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You address me as ‘Teacher’ and ‘Master,’ and rightly so. That is what I am. So if I, the Master and Teacher, washed your feet, you must now wash each other’s feet. I’ve laid down a pattern for you. What I’ve done, you do. I’m only pointing out the obvious. A servant is not ranked above his master; an employee doesn’t give orders to the employer. If you understand what I’m telling you, act like it—and live a blessed life.(John’s Gospel Account 13:12b-17 MSG) In this case, I like the Message Bible translation because it correctly uses the…
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We come to know God
How do we come to know God? We come to know God by the questions we ask and the answers we come up with. But just as every student needs a teacher, we meditate on His Word—called Scripture—and seek to find answers to things we don’t understand. There are those that might be content with answers that are incomplete or answers that simply don’t make sense. For me, I have a strong desire to be able to make sense of the fundamentals of Salvation and discipleship—key tenets of the mandate to multiply disciples—while remaining unconcerned about what size sandal Jesus wore or if there really are pearls on the gates…
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Was Jesus a tax collector?
A friend sent me an article to read, and this is my reaction to it. Anyone wanting additional context on my reaction should reference that article here. Does Matthew 22:18-22 morally obligate us to pay taxes? What does Jesus mean when he says, “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s?” Jeff Barr analyzes this and believes this passage is one of the most misunderstood passages in the New Testament. Let’s look at the passage in question: “But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them,…
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[s]indwelling or sin-indwelling
If we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit…. Here is an interesting verse to look at because there is so much packed inside of it—and I would like to unpack some of it: “Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.”Romans 7:20 ESV Paul wrote this letter to the Romans as a follower of Christ. Paul, like all Christ followers, has the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. So, the sin that dwells within each Christian must be sharing a dwelling with the Holy Spirit. That sounds like they could be roommates—except that they are…
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How can we resist the passionate call of sin?
In order to help any Christian develop practices that will aid in the resistance of sin, we need to start with studying scripture. The entire Bible is trying to redress the presence of sin and the story of the Bible leads us to its crescendo in the gospels where Jesus is the one that ultimately pays the price for our sins because we are unable to. Basically, the Bible itself is presented as an authority on sin and how to respond to it. The passion of sin For example, in Romans 6:11-14, it talks about the passion of sin: “So you must also consider yourselves dead to sin and alive…
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The words we use
Recently, someone I know shared an e-newsletter from The Atlantic with me. It was titled The War Inside the Evangelical Church and referenced another more complete article that can be found HERE. Below is some of my response: Discernment for thee, but not for me Thank you so much for sharing. That was an interesting perspective. I feel sometimes that those who have discernment point their finger at those who apparently have no discernment at all—all the while not being aware that the ones they just pointed at feel the same way about them. It is a dilemma, but one I am sure has a reasonable solution with sufficient discourse…
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Working for God
Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.Proverbs 16:3 ESV Moonlighting is frowned upon Committing sounds a lot like dedicating. Doing one thing for the sake of something else—for the cause of something else. Why does the Lord want us to commit our work to him? It seems important enough to get its own proverb—so “commit[ting] your work” can’t be an empty platitude or something that has no great significance outside of its symbolism. I think it has to mean something—it has to matter—when you commit something to the Lord. And not just anything—your work.“I am doing this for you God.” As opposed to what?“I am…
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World’s largest frying pan? This means war!
Let’s take a look at the following Bible verse: I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”Psalm 91:2 ESV Trusting in God means making his plan my plan. It doesn’t mean just handing him the steering wheel and reclining the seat as if it were in auto-drive mode. It doesn’t even mean, “Give it a little gas and let God steer.” God did not design us to be passengers. He designed us to be the driver—and every good driver knows that how you get to the destination matters just as much as arriving there. “How you get to the destination matters…
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Fruit bombs, secondhand kindness, and the fruitcake of the Spirit
Have you ever seen a healthy apple tree or lemon tree or an orange tree produce so much more fruit than its branches can handle? I’m talking about a tree that will actually stunt its own growth by unintentionally harming itself simply because its own branches will break under the sheer weight of all the fruit it is producing. If a person doesn’t come in there and harvest the fruit, then that’s exactly what will happen. At least eventually. “The fruit tree with no one to eat from its branches becomes the image of a dying tree” That’s also what can happen to any Christian who is deep in the…
