When Jesus calls his disciples, he isn’t simply blessing their lives with his presence. He’s calling them to a life that looks, feels, and acts radically different than the life they’ve always lived. Often that calling will result in confusion, disagreement, and frustration. In Jesus’s calling of Peter, all of these things are present, but…
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Christianity is full of too many rules- rules that are outdated and don’t make sense. At least that’s the narrative. When Jesus deals with Satan in the wilderness, what we learn is that it’s not about the rules. It was never about the rules. It’s about understanding, knowing, and worshipping God. In order for that…
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Jesus became a human, just like us. This tenant of Christianity is essential to understanding the life, mission, and accomplishment of Jesus. However, the fact that he took on flesh and dwelt among us is not the most important of what Jesus did- as though becoming like us was the high point of Jesus’s work….
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Be baptized. Repent. Be generous. Don’t rely on your heritage. John the Baptist was a lot of things- but scared isn’t one of them. He didn’t hesitate and didn’t mince his words. His job was to prepare the people to hear the message of Jesus and he did that by proclaiming a message of repentance….
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As you begin to age, things that seemed to be so normal can oftentimes feel elusive. Things that were commonplace become immensely valuable as they become increasingly rare. As Luke opens his gospel, he writes to help us to find one of those things that is increasingly rare- certainty. At times, life can feel like…
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As a new year begins, we take a few moments to reflect back on the year that was and the goals for 2023. As we look toward the new year, we let Anna and Simeon be our guides as to what a worthy, life-long pursuit really looks like. And we rejoice with them when their…
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Sometimes you hear a story so much, you think it’s the only way that story could’ve ever happened. The people, places, and events are so familiar you can’t imagine it happening any other way. It’s only when we consider all the different ways things could’ve happened that we start to realize how amazing the true…
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For many of us, we’ve heard the Christmas story so many times that it can be hard to remember just how unexpected and, frankly, unbelievable it all is. From the choice of an anonymous girl in a disrespected town, to the virgin birth of a Messiah, the story requires faith from those that believe. Yet…
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There are few things that run against our cultural moment than having to wait. Waiting is seen as the epitome of waste and at times, suffering. However, the Bible often shows us that waiting is exactly God’s strategy for teaching us a whole host of lessons- about Him, about us, and about what really matters….
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The right perspective is essential to right doctrine. If we get our view of God right, then our lives will flow from that truth. That’s Paul’s message in the final chapter of 1 Timothy. If you want to know how to live in the world, then set your mind on things above and the Glory…
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What do you do when the world has you surrounded? When people that are all around you and in your life do not share your values, faith, or way of living? How do you respond when the surrounding culture would rather you not even be there? These are questions that Christians in America are increasingly…
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The brokenness of this world is all around us in every sphere of our lives. We are constantly living in tension, if not all-out war with this reality. Paul recognizes the fight that we’re in and wants us to understand that while that fight rages here on earth, what happens here on earth is just…
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John Maxwell states, “Everything rises and falls on leadership.” It’s a simple maxim with a host of questions and implications that follow. What criteria do we use to choose our leader? Or is it Leaders? Is a Pastor the default leader or someone else? What is the nature of that leadership? What is the makeup…
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Sometimes we read things in the Bible that can sound pretty shocking. They make us stop and kind of scratch our heads and wonder what we just read. 1 Timothy 2 ends in a passage just like that. The initial reading of this passage sounds like a way to put women in their place and…
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How are we meant to live in a world that does not share our values, convictions, and beliefs? This is not a new question. In fact, most of the New Testament epistles are centered around the answer to that question. Consistently, Paul’s answer to this question does not look or sound like the answers many…
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In Paul’s first letter to Timothy, Paul claims to be the foremost of sinners. While this quote might not grab our attention nowadays, it would have been a remarkable thing for Paul to say, a Pharisee among Pharisees. In this quote, Paul shows us the amazing truth that Christ opened his eyes to – that…
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What do you do when you look up and it seems like you’re surrounded by a world that doesn’t want you here? What happens when you try to build a gospel foundation and everyone tries to knock it down? How do you live, work, and minister in a culture that just wants you to go…
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God is at work. Seems like a simple enough statement, but given the right circumstances over a long enough time- it’s a statement even the most devout follower may begin to doubt. Or perhaps if we believe he’s at work, we may believe that His work is far from something we actually desire- but instead…
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Sometimes we understand words and concepts even without being able to define them. They are simply things that we engage in or see every day, but don’t give much thought to. The idea of redemption is one of those things that we all instinctively know but probably can’t put words to. The idea of redemption…
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It’s rare that you come across someone in scripture that seems to really have it all together. The Bible is full of flawed heroes. However, the book of Ruth gives us a picture of two people, one woman and one man, that really seem to get it all right. They provide us a road map…
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