Tag: sin
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God’s Love Seen in How He Responds to Sin
Even sin reveals God’s glory. That is quite a statement. Did I say sin? Yes, sin. It isn’t exactly a word we think of when we think of God’s glory, is it? When we talk about God’s glory, we usually focus on the parts that also encourage us. We usually focus on how great His…
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We Need Mercy
I am thinking about mercy this week. Mercy is unique. Mercy given must be received by the one who needs it. If we don’t receive it, we stay under condemnation. We stay in our guilt. And yet, many who need mercy refuse to admit that they do. Why do we need mercy? We need mercy…
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Redemption, Grace, and Our Mistakes
Today I want to think a little deeper about our struggle with grace. In fact, I think that this part of grace is something with which we all struggle. I know that some people struggle with the fact that God’s grace is for them. However, that isn’t the root of our struggle. I know that…
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Rebel Against the Evil King
How do you usually approach improving yourself? Do you do it piecemeal? Do you use motivational phrases? We know that God urges us to be like Jesus. Yet, have we considered how He speaks of getting there? The reason I ask these questions is that I was reacquainted with an interesting encouragement from Paul’s letter…
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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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At Calvary – Episode 97 – God Gives Good Gifts
“The Devil made me do it”. This punchline from late comedian Flip Wilson was intended to be funny, but in reality we often try to find someone to blame when we fail. Sometimes, we even try to blame God. In his book, James reminds us that God is not responsible for our sin. We are.…
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At Calvary – Episode 96 – The Devil Made Me Do It
“The Devil made me do it”. This punchline from late comedian Flip Wilson was intended to be funny, but in reality we often try to find someone to blame when we fail. God urges us to do something completely different when trials come. He also promises both reward and help for those who endure. Our…
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At Calvary – Episode 84 – Becoming People Who Can’t Be Trusted
We’re better than lost people, aren’t we? Such is the attitude of self-righteousness and hypocrisy that we so often critiqued by the apostle Paul and our Lord Jesus. They didn’t just say that we shouldn’t think like that. They said that thinking such thoughts condemns us! We learn why this week during our time in…
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At Calvary – Episode 83 – Becoming People Who Can’t Be Trusted
We talk about sin as a wrong thing we do. Have we ever thought about what repeated sin does to our thinking? As we finish Romans chapter 1 this week, Pastors Jeff, Ed, and John share how humanity’s repeated choosing of selfishness and our consistent rejection of God’s way of thinking has made our own…
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Consider the Cost of the Life You are Living
We have been talking a lot about living for Christ on Sunday mornings. Sometimes I think that as we emphasize living for Christ we can come under the false impression that such living is easy and has no cost to us. So, we are surprised when God asks something of us that has unexpected cost.…
Pastor John D Jakes 