Tag: Mary
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Faith, Hope, And How They’re Connected
This week let’s think about walking in faith. There are times that it is easy and times that it is hard. It is easy to walk in faith in the areas that you don’t really feel threatened. For most of us, the call to come to church isn’t hard because we aren’t threatened. The same…
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Preparing for Christmas – A Struggle of Faith
But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. Luke 2:19 Sometimes we forget how much of 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 visited…
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Do We Have to Choose Between the Manger and the Cross?
During the Christmas season we think about Jesus coming as a baby. There is wonder here. There is a miracle. Yet, do we sometimes we get stuck in Bethlehem and the manger? He was born for a purpose. He was born not to simply be adored. He came to save. Let us never forget it. …
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When Faith Stretches our Life
The toughest time to walk by faith is when God asks you to walk by faith through something that is close to your heart. Even when we generally use our faith in spite of our feelings there are those times when something happens that hits close to home. Our faith is challenged in a place…
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Keeper of Promises
As we come upon the Christmas season, we look back at God’s declarations about Jesus. We talk about Mary and Joseph, the Wise Men, and even John the Baptist’s parents. However, God’s promise of Jesus wasn’t a new thing. Yes, we hear of the coming Messiah in the later prophets, but even King David speaks…
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God’s Love Shown
How do we know people love us? Sometimes we know because they tell us. However, most often we know that people love us because of what they do. These actions are pictures of love. One of the great surprises we experience in life is the love of others. We are surprised that others value us. …
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Christmas Shadows
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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Preparing for Christmas – A Struggle of Faith
Sometimes we forget how much of 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 visited by an angel. At each encounter, the angel had to say, “Do not…
Pastor John D Jakes 