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Circumcise Your Hearts
Jeremiah joined the other prophets in beseeching the Jews to turn from empty rituals that helped to empower their sin. It goes something like this: "Why cultivate a pure heart when I can simply follow…
Created about 1 month ago
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Isaiah Jesus
Jesus clearly leveraged much of the prophets' teaching in his own ministry and most notably, Isaiah's words. Reading through Isaiah is like reading through Jesus in the Gospels. Jesus' salvation material…
Created about 1 month ago
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Weeping For Our Sauls (2 Samuel 1)
2 Samuel begins the way 1 Samuel ended – with a tragedy of historic proportions. The first king of Israel had been mortally wounded in battle and proceeded to finish himself off with his own sword. The…
Created 9 months ago
2 Samuel 1:1 (ESV), 2 Samuel 1:2 (ESV), 2 Samuel 1:3 (ESV), 2 Samuel 1:4 (ESV), 2 Samuel 1:5 (ESV), 2 Samuel 1:6 (ESV), 2 Samuel 1:7 (ESV), 2 Samuel 1:8 (ESV), 2 Samuel 1:9 (ESV), 2 Samuel 1:10 (ESV), 2 Samuel 1:11 (ESV), 2 Samuel 1:12 (ESV), 2 Samuel 1:13 (ESV), 2 Samuel 1:14 (ESV), 2 Samuel 1:15 (ESV), 2 Samuel 1:16 (ESV), 2 Samuel 1:17 (ESV), 2 Samuel 1:18 (ESV), 2 Samuel 1:19 (ESV), 2 Samuel 1:27 (ESV)
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Echoes Of The Garden
Paul, here, exclaims his pleasure for the Colossian church's growth. Not numeric growth (though that would be a wonderful thing), but it's spiritualdeepening. Paul is thrilled to hear of their faith in…
Created 10 months ago
Colossians 1:3 (ESV), Colossians 1:4 (ESV), Colossians 1:5 (ESV), Colossians 1:6 (ESV)
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Gospel Metrics
"[the gospel] which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing--as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth" (Colossians…
Created 10 months ago
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Tom Wright on Hope
"The solid facts about the future hope of Christians are a powerful motivation for constant faith and costly love in the present." This hope is probably "the heavenly realm already in existence waiting…
Created 10 months ago
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Soiled Loincloths
God's people now, as they were in the days of Jeremiah, are called to cling to God, to be a praise (implication: A praise to God). Notice that we aren't called to merely be good boys and girls. Christianity…
Created 10 months ago
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God Is Faithful, From Age To Age
This is a powerful woe against Israel (actually Judah, but Isaiah viewed Judah as the legitimate Israel since its kings were in the line of David). Israel maintains its rites of worship, yet it knows…
Created 11 months ago
Isaiah 1:1 (ESV), Isaiah 1:2 (ESV), Isaiah 1:3 (ESV), Isaiah 1:4 (ESV), Isaiah 1:5 (ESV), Isaiah 1:6 (ESV), Isaiah 1:7 (ESV), Isaiah 1:8 (ESV), Isaiah 1:9 (ESV), Isaiah 1:10 (ESV), Isaiah 1:11 (ESV), Isaiah 1:12 (ESV), Isaiah 1:13 (ESV), Isaiah 1:14 (ESV), Isaiah 1:15 (ESV), Isaiah 1:16 (ESV), Isaiah 1:17 (ESV), Isaiah 1:18 (ESV), Isaiah 1:19 (ESV), Isaiah 1:20 (ESV), Isaiah 1:21 (ESV), Isaiah 1:22 (ESV), Isaiah 1:23 (ESV), Isaiah 1:24 (ESV), Isaiah 1:25 (ESV), Isaiah 1:26 (ESV), Isaiah 1:27 (ESV), Isaiah 1:28 (ESV), Isaiah 1:29 (ESV), Isaiah 1:30 (ESV), Isaiah 1:31 (ESV)
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Glimpses Into The New Covenant
The chief priests were guilty of perverting the sacrificial system, essentially turning it into a for-profit industry. The greedy money-changers were merely accessories to the crime. Jesus' response?…
Created 11 months ago
Matthew 21:12 (ESV), Matthew 21:13 (ESV), Matthew 21:14 (ESV), Matthew 21:15 (ESV)
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Love The Little Ones
Jesus says that rather than rolling out the red carpet of hospitality to "important" people that we should put a premium on receiving, serving, and building friendships with those who can contribute little…
Created 11 months ago
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Not Childish, But Childlike
Curiously, it is deep into Jesus' earthly ministry when he gives his disciples this much-needed lesson. Maybe it's because the disciples have witnessed so much and know they are a part of something special…
Created 11 months ago
Matthew 18:1 (ESV), Matthew 18:2 (ESV), Matthew 18:3 (ESV), Matthew 18:4 (ESV)
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Restore All Things
Peter, James, and John inquire as to why Elijah must first come in response to Jesus' command that they are to tell no one about their experience witnessing his transfiguration until after his resurrection.…
Created 11 months ago
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A Harsh Reminder
In the previous chapter, Rahab indicated to the spies that everyone knew how God had delivered Israel by dividing the Red Sea. She said the general consensus was that people feared the God of Israel (not…
Created 11 months ago
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Scarlet Cord
What a beautiful and timeless portrait of the redemptive work of Christ in the Old Testament. Rahab, a Canaanite, but a prostitute to boot, was about as close to the bottom of the social and theological…
Created 11 months ago
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Guilt-Free Sabbath
What a hermeneutical bombshell Jesus tosses at the religious leaders! After being criticized for eating grain from the field on the Sabbath with his disciples, Jesus levies a defense that is both radical…
Created 11 months ago
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The Focus Of Kingdom Ministry
John the Baptist began to struggle with whether or not his belief that his cousin, Jesus, was actually the Messiah. He expected, as did all Jews, that the Messiah would lead national Israel into a golden…
Created 11 months ago
Matthew 11:1 (ESV), Matthew 11:2 (ESV), Matthew 11:3 (ESV), Matthew 11:4 (ESV), Matthew 11:5 (ESV), Matthew 11:6 (ESV)
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It's All In The Routine
The contrast that Jesus makes in his sermon here is conspicuous. Miraculous and mystical works don't necessarily signal a transformed person who is devoted to God. On the other hand, Jesus is looking…
Created 11 months ago
Matthew 7:21 (ESV), Matthew 7:22 (ESV), Matthew 7:23 (ESV), Matthew 7:24 (ESV)
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Intercession And Evangelism
What a beautiful picture of intercessory prayer! Notice that Jesus wasn't necessarily inclined to heal e paralyzed man because of his faith, but the faith of his friends. They are the ones who loved him…
Created 11 months ago
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Few Words
The Gentiles, Jesus said, heap up empty phrases that are full of many words. We shouldn't foolishly think that we will be heard by God if we do the same. Conversely, I submit that we will be ignored by…
Created 12 months ago
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Our Reward
This text has the aroma of the New Covenant all over it. Jesus, as he taught in the previous chapter, expects his followers' righteousness to exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees. And perhaps the…
Created 12 months ago
Matthew 6:1 (ESV), Matthew 6:2 (ESV), Matthew 6:3 (ESV), Matthew 6:4 (ESV), Matthew 6:5 (ESV), Matthew 6:6 (ESV), Romans 5:1 (ESV)
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The First Martyrs
I'm afraid this story is victimized by our modernistic need for resolution or closure. It is easy to run through it, only to wipe our brows in relief as we arrive at the end of this account to discover…
Created 12 months ago
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Righteous Or Religious Jonah?
The more I read about Jonah the more he reminds me of myself. He clearly has a heart for YHWH, yet he is compromised in his obedience to God because of his biases. So often I badly want to be used by…
Created about 1 year ago
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True Worship
We are faced to examine ourselves by reading this brief passage of scripture. This story begins with Jonah receiving a command from the Lord followed by Jonah's immediate response to run away, to disobey…
Created about 1 year ago
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Babylonian Locusts
Joel's poetry is both beautiful and devastating. The locusts have stripped vineyards and fields, threatening the Jews' ability to bring offerings before the Lord. This problem reflects the great swarm…
Created about 1 year ago
Joel 1:4 (ESV), Joel 1:6 (ESV), Joel 1:7 (ESV), Joel 1:10 (ESV)
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Unsanctioned
This is a prime verse some scholars point to in order to date the Book of Obadiah. This verse is talking about the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586 BC. And what this verse could mean is that…
Created about 1 year ago
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