Living Out Christmas Every Day

“As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.” (Colossians 3:12) One of the most interesting stories about Christian witness comes from a discussion Mahatma Gandhi had with a Christian missionary, Stanley Jones. Gandhi would often quote Jesus in his teaching and Jones ...
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A Story Worth Telling

This week Christmas is getting close enough to feel close. For people who have been preparing, the preparations seem to be done and mostly they are waiting. For others, the urgency of needing to prepare is now high enough to be a source of anxiety – “time to paint or ...
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More Than Meets the Eye

When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was only a youth… (1 Samuel 17:42) We often underestimate people based on assumptions we make about them. Perhaps you have also received that treatment, being underestimated by someone else because they looked at you and assumed they ...
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The Power of Faithfulness

Ruth said, “Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. 17 Where you die, I will die— there will I be buried. ...
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Faithful, Courageous and Bold

God said, “This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it.”  (Joshua 1:8) Joshua was selected by God to take over after Moses’ ...
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A God Who Guides

So they set out from the mount of the Lord three days’ journey with the ark of the covenant of the going before them three days’ journey, to seek out a resting place for them…(Numbers 10:33) The covenant with the people was established in the giving of the Torah (the Law) when Moses ...
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Called for a Purpose

Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. (Exodus 19:5-6) Almost everyone would like to be special, at ...
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God Works – Even When We Hurt

Once Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. (Genesis 37:2) Almost nothing rivals a really bad fight between two people who have a lot of history together. They may even have a good history, but if something drives a wedge ...
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The Promise to Abraham – The Faithfulness of God

And he (Abraham) believed the Lord; and the Lord[b] reckoned it to him as righteousness. Genesis 15:6 One of the basic tenets of the faith is that we are saved by grace through faith. Our faith does not save us, but only by faith does grace become real. So, faith is an essential ...
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God’s Partners from the Start

And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed.  (Genesis 2:8) We often think of Eden as this amazingly beautiful paradise that was formed as part of creation and was pristine and in some people’s imaginations, even perfect. Ask ...
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Connected by Faith

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:12) In our culture, it has been more and more fashionable to have a “do it yourself” religion. People pick ...
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Be Transformed

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may ...
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