Jul 16
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The God of peace will crush Satan. I never saw the irony in this verse until now. God is violent, yet full of peace. He is violent toward Satan and all darkness, but he gives us peace. God is not a pansy, he is out to FIGHT our battles. Sometimes it takes war to bring peace. The angels are at war for us so that we can have peace from evil. What an uncomfortable truth. Read more »
Jun 26
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krykyc9 added a text contribution Peek-a-BooThis verse is amazing...it takes me back to high school when God grabbed me by the shirt and said, "Okay, that's it, from now on you're coming with me." I wasn't looking to be a real Christian, I was just meeting new friends. I didn't ask to be changed, I just showed up to the first church service that my friend's dad was pastoring. All I wanted to do was make a little extra cash, I wasn't getting a ride from my future pastor to hear him tell me that Go… Read more »
Jun 18
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God has given our church an amazing revelation on his Grace. I know that most of us have taken more harm than good from this revelation. Even though we preach that God's grace doesn't give anyone a license to sin, our flesh naturally convinces us that it does. These verses are perfect in coming against this lie of the devil. Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? Our bodies should be used as instruments that bring glory to God, not as instruments of sin and… Read more »
Jun 16
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I have huge ambitions about my future, and I am torn between whether my professional career or a life of ministry is God's plan. Seeing myself as the guy who makes deep into the six figures is a fun thought and I want to be blessed like that so I can bless the church, but let's get serious...that's not the only reason. It is an ongoing struggle, and it's okay, but it's hard. These verses make things a lot more peaceful. As long as I commit my plans to the Lord, I am… Read more »
Jun 9
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Nobody would call himself self-righteous. It's a buzz word to Christians and we hear it all the time. Reality is that we very easily fall into this mindset. We get so stuck on telling others not to do this or that when we have junk in our own lives to deal with. A lot of the time we judge someone for being in the same sin that we are. Here we are receiving God's grace, and then we try and put someone under the law. This is why people don't like you and they are unattracted t… Read more »
Jun 6
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krykyc9 added a text contribution Double AND DiscipleWe get so caught up in growing the church. We want more and more people to experience God's power, his awesomeness, his life-changing ability, so we do whatever it takes to get people inside the walls of the sanctuary. Maybe it's games, maybe it's lights, maybe it's contests or shows...we all have good intentions about getting people there, but it doesn't stop with numbers. Our mission is to double, continue growing and expanding, but the second part is far more vita… Read more »
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krykyc9 added a text contribution He Died so you could LiveI'm pretty sure I skip over this verse every time I read it. Do you ever catch yourself flying through the crucifixion story because you have heard, read, even seen it (Passion) over and over. We know the story. This verse is almost never mentioned. This was God's version of Night of the Living Dead. Dead people walked into the holy city and appeared to people! That's kinda creepy...but I would imagine it was pretty awesome. This is the whole reason Jesus died. He wanted u… Read more »
Apr 26
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krykyc9 added a text contribution Little Faith?One time I went to Colorado with Austin and Justin. We were there to mountain climb, plain and simple. We got up around 7:00am and set out to summit Snowmass Mountain. It was a bit harder and way scarier than I anticipated. Eventually it got really cold and it started to rain. Cold and wet are not a good combination for hypothermia. We got about 13,500 feet up of the 14,000 foot mountain and I had enough...I stopped...I was scared...I didn't want to die. Have you ever had an experien… Read more »
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At first glance I didn't catch what the scripture was saying here. I thought it was pretty much the same story, just told in two different scenarios. Notice that the first says the TREASURE is like the kingdom of heaven. It's worth is more valuable than all of our possessions combined. I thought the next verse was saying the same thing about the PEARL. However, the kingdom of heaven is compared to the MERCHANT! When it noticed a pearl of great value he gave it all to get it. God… Read more »
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Are you serious? Because you can't be...these Pharisees are looking for every little thing to try and show that Jesus is not who he says he is. Have you ever been so stubborn in your opinion that you did everything you could to keep yourself from being or looking wrong? Sometimes the facts are undeniably against you, but you still seem to convince yourself otherwise. It's like the Chicago Cubs. I'm a huge fan of the Cubs, and if a Cards or Sox fan is dissing them, I feel it&#… Read more »
Apr 25
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krykyc9 added a text contribution Know it allEverybody knows somebody who will tell you the answer to any question you ask, even if they don't really know the answer. There always has to be a "know it all" in every group. We all have a little tendency to think ourselves wiser than we really are. Our pride tends to convince us that we have it all figured out. Jesus said that if we have this mindset that God's truth will be hidden from us. Children have no trust problems, no pride problems...they are still pure at he… Read more »
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krykyc9 added a text contribution You sayin' I don't love my mama?“If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine.” Seriously, this doesn’t go over well with my mom. She started to cry when I told her that God should be more important to her than I am. My mom’s love for me is insane, and I’m sure others can give me an ‘amen.’ She can’t comprehend loving anyone more than she loves me. I’ve got news for ya…God loves her more than she loves me (I don’t know how that’s possible, but it’s true). Our everything shou… Read more »
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krykyc9 added a text contribution Don't hate the playerKYC is booming…BOOMING I tell you. God has absolutely blown up in our midst with his spirit pouring out on you, me, and the rest of the crew. God has been increasing us every week and we are excited about what’s going on. One thing is inevitable though….haters. Everywhere Jesus went there were people who loved him and there were people who were Haters! When Jesus was healing people some ignorant fools were like, “That’s because he’s evil!” Give me a break. There will always be people tryi… Read more »
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krykyc9 added a text contribution ImpressiveCan you imagine telling Jesus that you have a better way? “No Jesus, trust me, I have a much better idea.” You’re telling God how to do his job, are you serious? This man had so much faith that Jesus was even taken back by it. Straight up, Jesus was impressed! “I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel.” What a compliment! So what does it take, can I drink some faith juice or something to boost my electrolytes? No…just know. “Because you believed, it has happened.” Believe God today… Read more »
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Hiiiiiighway ta Hell! (AC/DC is) on a Hiiiiighway ta Hell! Yeah…you know it…this song is probably on the mix tape for the football team during warm-ups. It was on mine at least. Jesus tells us here that the road to hell is, well, wide. Sorry to break it to you, but a lot of people will go to hell. “But that’s not fair! Why would a loving God ever send anyone to eternal torment?!” Valid question. He wouldn’t…but people choose it. Jesus said, “…for many choose that way.” We all have a cho… Read more »
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“Oh God, please bless me God. God please let me be blessed God, and just bless me to do your work God. Oh Lord, Father God let me be blessed in the city, blessed in the field, blessed when I come and when I go, Jesus. I just want to be blessed, Father.” You get the point. Now there is nothing wrong with asking God to bless us, in fact, God wants to bless YOU. Jesus said not to babble on and on, repeating our words again and again. God knows what we want and he knows what we need! Listen… Read more »
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krykyc9 added a text contribution Him cuz of YouLong ago the good ole’ US of A was founded to be a city on a hill that cannot be hidden. God loves to exalt the humble when they want to influence those around them for the good. But that’s just it…God exalts the HUMBLE. We are told by Jesus to let our good deeds shine out for all to see. Why? So we can be respected and influential and popular and just the best person we could ever possibly be? Um…no. It’s not for us to be proud of ourselves for not cussing, it’s so everyone will PRAISE o… Read more »
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Temptation…sounds tempting doesn’t it? Even the word gets under your skin. Satan tempted Jesus three times, and three times Jesus punked him out. How did he do it? The spoken word of God…we’ve got that right? But why did it take three times? Sometimes the devil just pushes his luck and doesn’t quit until he is straight up embarrassed. Why don’t we see it like that? We seem to think that we get hit once, we speak a little scripture, and then it all goes back to good. Jesus was tempted ag… Read more »
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John the Baptist was one bold fellow. This ‘nobody’ crazy was rebuking religious authority and he didn’t care who he was offending. John says a few things that speak to me even today though: “Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God.” Ouch…if we are honest with ourselves we can see that we sometimes have too much in common with the Pharisees and the Sadducees. How easy is it to tell someone how wrongly they are living, and how hard is it to actually pra… Read more »
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krykyc9 added a text contribution CelebritiesWe all know the birth story has three wise men, right? Matthew actually calls the men Magi in his gospel. What are Magi? Magi were the rock stars of the biblical times. Talk about celebrities, these dudes new everything (hence wise men) and were envied by all. They were rarely spotted, and when they were people went nuts! The paparazzi must have been hoppin out of sand dunes to catch them in action. So what’s the significance? Well can you imagine LeBron James bowing down to a baby in wo… Read more »
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krykyc9 added a text contribution King of ALL KingsOften the most boring part of this entire book is the most overlooked. Matthew uses a very symbolic approach to pointing out Jesus’ lineage. What we do not realize is that there are three groups of names, all of which have twelve names. The number twelve was a royal number used to point out kingship. Jesus, the King of Kings, is shown to have come from the royal line of David. The combination of the number three (trinity) and twelve (royalty) show just how much Jesus fulfilled in his birth… Read more »