Tag: love
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But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to…
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Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see (2 Kings 19:16). The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven; his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man (Psalm 11:4). The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the…
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Save, O LORD, for the godly one is gone; for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man. Everyone utters lies to his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak. May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boasts, those who say, “With our tongue…
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Loving My (Different) Neighbor, Part 3 But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed…
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Loving My (Different) Neighbor, Part 2 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And…
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In the last post (“Christian or American,” 1/12/20), we asked some hard questions about the church and believers. We suggested that many parts of the American church are losing their biblical identity. We further suggested that this is because many churches have bought into the world’s ways of thinking, and that they have tied themselves…
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Then certain of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me. And the word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them?…
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And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). Then he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and began to pray, saying, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup…
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Two years ago I posted a blog (We Interrupt This Program…., 11/5/18) “on the eve of one of the most watched elections in US history, at a time when the country is more divided than ever” On the eve of the US Presidential election, those words seem even more accurate–and more ominous. What is most…
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You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s (Exodus 20:17). If the first commandment God gave His people (“no other gods before Me”) set the tone for their relationship…
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You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor (Exodus 20:16). When Peter and John were arrested by the Jewish leaders for preaching the resurrection of Christ, they defended themselves by saying, “We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20). In this simple statement we find the definition and duty…
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You shall not steal (Exodus 20:15). Years ago, a Colorado woman sent in two eight-cent stamps to make up for having used one stamp twice (which, for some reason, had not been canceled). A former IRS employee mailed in one dollar for four ballpoint pens she had never returned to the office. In February 1974,…
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You shall not commit adultery (Exodus 20:14). Do not commit adultery. This command, like all the Commandments, seems so simple and straightforward. Yet, one look at the world around us–and even within the church–tells a different story. Like many of God’s commands, the church has often been guilty of treating only the symptoms without getting…
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You shall not murder (Exodus 20:13). Like many of the Ten Commandments, most people know (or think they know) what murder is and how it applies to their life. (And most would say it doesn’t, since they have never killed anyone.) However, like all the Commandments, Jesus has a different idea of what murder entails…
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Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you (Exodus 20:12). In an age where people are living longer, and society is more transient and fragmented than ever, many Christians wonder how this commandment should apply to their relationship with parents…
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Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock,…
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You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.s (Ex. 20:7). In this post, we will examine what it means to take the name of the Lord in vain. Many are confused about what this commandment does…
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You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God,…
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You shall have no other gods before me (Exodus 20:3). The first commandment that God gives to Israel (and thus to all) is the logical one: Have no other gods before Me. This may seem an obvious command to many, but we have to remember the context. Israel had just left Egypt with their many…
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And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above,…
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For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life? (Matthew 16:26) As we reflect on Christmas, perhaps the question comes up, “What’s this all about anyway?” Gifts? Family? Giving? All of those are good, but Christmas…
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To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. “‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call…
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It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son…
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Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (Rom. 12:2). We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive…
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I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:20-21). What is necessary for true biblical change to occur? In our last…