Tag: Jesus
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Valley Walking
Mountains and valleys. We seem, as spiritual beings, to desire the mountain top experience with God. In Acts chapter 10, Peter has quite a mountain top experience with God. His vision of 3 sheets of animals shows him that all people can receive the gospel. This vision profoundly clarifies Peter’s understanding of the gospel message. …
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Love First
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. – 1 John 4:10 Think about that. This is love. It isn’t that we loved God and so He loved us. He loved us first! Of all the differences between…
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Trusting Peace
At this time of year we hear a lot of talk about peace. We have sung Silent Night. We have thought of the baby in the manger and the stillness of Christmas morning. Yet, even in these scenes there is the reminder that all is not still. The animals would have made noise. The visit…
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God Behind the Scenes
I was thinking last week about the dark things that we sometimes miss seeing when we talk about the first Christmas. We overlook that Joseph was about to abandon Mary. We tend to not talk about the babies that were killed by Harod. We gloss over Simeon’s blessing in the temple that includes declaring that…
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The Struggles of Faith
But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. Luke 2:19 Sometimes we forget how much of a struggle Christmas was for the first people who experienced it. I think of the struggle of Mary and Joseph as they made their way to Bethlehem. I think of the struggles of everyone who was…
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One Benefit of Living in Love
The Bible challenges us to love each other. However, God doesn’t just command us to go and love each other. He certainly could, but He doesn’t just command it. He also tells us specific blessings that come with living by that love by which He has directed us to live. I want to focus on…
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Just Adore God
When we talk about why we are on the earth, the answers are usually us centered. We speak of finding fulfillment and purpose. We speak of God having a wonderful plan for our lives. Can you imagine doing that with any other friend (and keeping them)? I can just imagine…Josh asks Kevin why he is friends with…
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Facing Sin – Fight!
Jesus has some strong words about removing sin in our lives. He says, “ If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. If…
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Wow – The Love of God!
I want to think long about how God has loved us. The goal? That we might respond the way the Bible writers respond when they are thinking about the love of God. I thought that it might help to illustrate those examples to help our thinking… Think of King David… 5 You have enclosed me behind…
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At Calvary – Episode 122 – Radical Generosity
We teach our children to share. Yet, at some point we embrace the idea that some sharing is too much. When we look at the New Testament Church we see a radical type of generosity. Which is right – radical generosity or careful sharing? Let’s think about that together At Calvary… Looking for more? You…
Pastor John D Jakes 