Category: From the Heart!
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One of the 9?
In Luke 17:11-17 the writer talks of 10 lepers who meet Jesus on the way to Jerusalem. They asked Jesus to heal them. Jesus told them to, “Show themselves to the priests.” (vv.14) They immediately ran off, healed. One of the 10 stopped, turned around, ran back and threw himself at Jesus’ feet to thank him. Jesus…
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Remember…
My son recently had the opportunity to visit the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. He said it was an incredibly moving experience. Over the entrance to the camp a plaque reads, ‘The one who does not remember history is bound to live through it again’ (George Santayana). The word ‘remember’ occurs over 250 times in the Bible.…
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Not Horizontal, Vertical…
We all desperately need wisdom. In the Old Testament there are several books of ‘Wisdom’: Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs. In addition, sprinkled throughout the Bible are various writings which might loosely be described as ‘Wisdom Literature’, dealing with such diverse areas as the power of the tongue, the blessings of faithfulness, the…
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Are you, ’That Guy’?
Have there been times when you have been labeled, “that guy” to others because of your faith? Have you faced ‘scorn and derision’ from those around you as it reads in Psalm 44:13? We all face difficulties in life, but not always because (as Christians) we are doing something wrong. We may, in fact, be…
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Your right hand…
As we see in Psalm 44:1-12, It is vital that we put our trust in the right place. Your trust should not ultimately be in your own strength…’It was not by their sword that they won… I do not trust in my bow’ (vv.3,6). Rather, we are to trust the Lord: ‘It’s you, you who…
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Suffering…
So much death and suffering in the world today (and throughout history) is caused by human sin, and we are all guilty. Yet Jesus makes it very clear that there is no automatic link between sin and suffering. In Luke 13 we see Jesus pointing out that, ‘…they were not suffering because they were worse…
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Make today count…
Over the last few weeks I’ve lost three people. The first was one of my wife’s daycare kids from years ago. He was only 18 when he passed without warning. Then one of my college tennis teammates passed suddenly of a heart attack. And finally, my wife’s aunt passed after an 18 month battle with…
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Boots…
An 18 year old young man who had just joined the army came up to the podium to give a brief talk to a group of teenagers. As he spoke he produced his army boots as a visual aid. He called one of the boots ‘trust’ and the other one ‘obey’. He described them as…
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Satisfying your deepest need…
Did you know that we can know God’s presence and his pleasure in the midst of all the challenges of life? David had his worries and distractions, like all of us do. He had his enemies too and, like Jesus, he says in Psalm 41:9, ‘Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared…
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Worship always brings hope…
Are you going through difficult times at the moment? Do you feel like you are in a wilderness period of your life? Sometimes there seems to be a long delay between the promise of God and the fulfilment of that promise. What do we do while we are waiting for God to do what he…
Living Life by Design 