The Lord’s Prayer – What We Need
What we need and what God wants for us are one and the same. When life is right, we pray for what God wants us to have and find our lives filled with enough and with meaning.
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Wanting What God Wants
“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done.” When we pray the Lord’s Prayer there is a move from addressing and praising God at the beginning to asking for things throughout the rest of the prayer. This week we begin to look at what we ask God for and why we ...
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The Spirit is at work
In spite of the fact that much of American Christianity has descended into a transactional way of thinking – you believe and God will give you the goodies -Martin Luther believed that faith and the Christian life started as gifts. We don’t decide to believe and get what God offers. God offers freely and the Spirit opens us up to receive. It is not about our “decision” to believe. It is about God’s decision to love us and Christ’s work to demonstrate that love, no matter what the cost to God.
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Talking About Jesus
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord… The Creeds go back centuries. In fact, the Nicene and the Apostles Creeds both go back well over a thousand years. They were written in a different time and place to settle some of the biggest questions the church was ...
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God created the world…
In the beginning when God began to create the heavens and the earth, the earth was complete chaos, and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the ...
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Love Like Jesus
Jesus said, “Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:36-37) The above verses come at the end of the Parable of ...
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God Goes First (Always)
Then Moses went up to God; the Lord called to him from the mountain, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the Israelites: 4 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself… (Exodus 19:3-4) “I am ...
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Taking Hold of Eternal Life
“Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (1 Timothy 6:15) We often think of faith as a source of peace and comfort (and it is). But faith ...
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We All Need a Little Mercy
“The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…” (1 Timothy 1:15 NRSVUE) There is a misconception that Christians are “good people.” As attractive as that idea is, it is a bit misleading. Christians are people who trust that their relationship ...
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Working out our salvation
Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence but much more now in my absence, work on your own salvation with fear and trembling,for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his ...
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Witnessing with curiosity
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply distressed to see that the city was full of idols… Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely spiritual you are in every way…” (Acts 17) We often wonder how to witness to the ...
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Witnessing, even when it’s tough
When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” (Acts 16:27-28) If you are like ...
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