Cal Cook
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Cal's Blogs |
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| Hearing the Word When I think of how many times I have read a passage and discovered something new it boggles my mind! It"s almost as if I have never read it before, yet I can remember reading it and receiving insight from it before Read More |
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| From Flesh to Spirit I just spent the last weekend at Cuyahoga Hills Juvenile Correctional Facility for a three day Spiritual Weekend called Epiphany. The 3 days are filled with talks and tes Read More |
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| The Way Two simple words filled with potential! It could describe an actual path to follow, it could describe a process, it could describe a state of mind or means of thinking, Read More |
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| Lift Up Your Heads I went to see the movie 2012 recently with my wife. After having written about it a couple of weeks ago I felt a strange kind of need to see it Read More |
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| Faithful Servants Plan This week's readings are filled with apocalyptic imagery and prophecy yet to be fulfilled! As we head into Advent this is normally the case, every year we are reminded of the promises throughout scripture that the end will come…and the Messiah will return. Read More |
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| The Widow's Mite? So here I set in Panara trying to ignore the business meeting going on right next to me and think about the widow’s mite. My ignorance and simplicity sometimes astounds me…what the heck is a mite? The KJV is where that word comes from yet the Greek that is translated is leptos so again I ask, what is a mite? Read More |
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| Who's in Control? We start our series on “The Road to Financial Freedom” this week and I love the way God has worked this out for us. You’d think since I planned when to start this series I would have based it on the scripture readings for this week yet, it had more to do with fitting the series in before the holidays than anything else! The title of the first week’s sermon is “Who’s in Control” and it of course is the perfect question to start the conversation about finances…go figure. Read More |
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| What's in a Name The Hebrew language has fascinated me for years…one of these days I’m going to have to quit fumbling around with it word by word and learn the whole language! Until then I’ll glean what I can from the resources available, all the while praising God for the abundance and availability of them. This week’s passage once again comes from the book of Hebrews as the Lectionary proceeds through. Hebrews 5:1-10 continues on from last week’s reading speaking of the Priesthood of Christ Read More |
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| Dividing Soul and Spirit Hebrews 4:12-16 is taken from within the context of arguing that Jesus Christ is greater than Joshua. Joshua is one of my favorites from the O.T.! He, not Moses was deemed worthy to bring the Israelites into the Promised Land yet as the writer argues he did not bring them into the promised rest. Till this day Israel still struggles to exist in a world that hates them…they are constantly being threatened and attacked, by cowards sending children with bombs and hiding in schools while they shoot rockets over the border. Read More |
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| Creator, Sustainer, Perfecter and Savior Divinity came to earth and took humanity back to heaven. That’s how Dr. J. Vernon McGee put it…for some reason I kind of like that. Hebrews 1:1-4 gives us these various attributes of the Divinity of Christ: Hebrews 1:2b-3 through the Son he created the universe. The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. Read More |
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| Salted With Fire... As I read the scriptures for this week, that simple little statement jumped out at me for some reason. Jesus goes from talking about the fires of Hell to speaking of fire and salt? The Ceremonial Laws given to Moses required salt. Leviticus 2:13 Read More |
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| Jealousy is it Good or is it Bad? The book of James is filled with good practical advice. Straightforward sometimes in your face applications of God’s Word. This week’s passage in the New Living Translation seems to be filled with the word ‘jealous’ James 3:14, 15, 16, 4:2, all use jealous or jealousy as a negative attribute of someone who is not wise, of someone who places themselves and their desires over others. Yet depending on your translation jealous is also used in James 4:5 as an attribute of God? Read More |
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| Conditional Praise Words of encouragement or words of Abaddon (destruction) seem to be based on the condition of our current situation. If we’re doing all right then words of encouragement and even praise come pretty easily. But when we’re down, when we’re discouraged ourselves, somehow encouragement for others and praise for God seems to be in short supply. It’s as if our hope is dependant of our current situation…yet conditional hope is no hope at all! Read More |
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| More From the Middle Jesus came and did what was prophesied about him, yet many missed it. They were looking for the full fulfillment of the prophesy. Even John the Baptist who was the first one to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah doubted from prison. Matthew 11:4-5 Read More |
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| Just Right A few years ago at a previous church the Superintendent of the local school dressed up like a bum one Sunday and walked into the sanctuary for the service. There were lots of whispers but he was greeted by those around him and told they were glad he was there…pretty good response I would say! I wonder how that would work in our church? My hope is for similar results…yet I’m not so certain. Read More |
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| Shifting Shadows Something happens to us between the age of two and three. Before two we are sweet and innocent and seek to please. Somewhere between two and three we like to see what we can get away with! I can clearly remember both of my boys saying no and reaching for something at the same time…watching me, just to see what I was going to do. Now when I ask my 18 year old son to do something he likes to wait until I freak out and make a big deal of it before he does it! I ask him nicely three, four, sometimes even more times…why does he do that to me? Read More |
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| Doers of the Word Moses says be careful, Deuteronomy 4:2 Do not add to or subtract from these commands I am giving you. Just obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you. He warns them by reminding them of what happened the last time they turned away from God. In fact the O.T. is filled with the history of a people continually turning away from God and His Commands. Read More |
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| Be Strong Be strong and courageous are the words Moses uses to Joshua…those are the words Joshua uses to the Israelites and those are essentially the final words that Paul uses to the church in Ephesus as he writes from prison in Rome. In fact the words used in both the Hebrew (Joshua & Deut) and in the Greek (Ephesians) speak of gaining or receiving this strength and courage. Read More |
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| Choose This Day Joshua has always been one my favorites from all of the men of the Bible. He is Moses’ mighty right hand, He and Caleb are the only ones who spy the Land of Israel and aren’t afraid. Time after time he does the right thing, even now in his old age he encourages all to be string and courageous. He tells all of Israel in simple times that anyone could understand…here is what the Lord has done for you! Read More |
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| Awake O'Sleeper Rise up I came to Christ at the age of 25; I had been witnessed to by a group of men in the weld shop at Davis-Besse for some time. I had shown interest and had read through most of the N.T. when one day one of the men asked me if I wanted to pray and receive Jesus Christ as my Savior…without even thinking about it I blurted out yes. Read More |
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| Wisdom and Folly Our readings through 1Kings bring us to the end of David’s life, a passing of the mantel of King from David to Solomon. Solomon’s elder half brother Adonijah however claims the kingdom for himself without the knowledge of King David, but with the blessings of the Chief Priest and the General of the armies. Seems like a perfectly acceptable thing to do for most everyone so they join in the coronation celebration. Might makes right…isn’t that the way of the world? Read More |
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| What is Our Battle? The O.T. Reading is from 1 Kings 19:4-8 where Elijah had just been a participant in this amazing miracle of God. Having defeated 450 prophets of Baal by calling down fire from Heaven and then slaying them all with a sword…and yet Jezebel scares him? He runs and hides when he hears that she is after him…saying to God: “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.” 1 Kings 19:4b Read More |
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| Strength for the Journey August 9, 2009 Passage is from Ephesians 4:17-5:2 This week we move from the Gospel of John to what has been the subtext for the last several weeks. John continues on with some further discussion on the Bread of Life, yet this subtext of unity within the body is reaching a crescendo with practical real world applications that we need to address. Read More |
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| Doing the Works of God A few years ago while a good friend of mine was on a four month mission trip to Sweden we had a lengthy discussion / debate through e-mail about what is required for salvation. Of course the concept of works was ever present in that discussion. Paul writes in Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. Faith, believing is that work? Read More |
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| The Bread of Life There is something about the idea of the bread of life…and living water. Jesus says, “I am the bread of life” in John 6:35 and at the end of the verse Jesus also adds “Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” He told the ‘Woman at the Well’ in John chapter four that He would give her ‘Living Water‘ and later while at the Passover Feast in Jerusalem He tells the crowd “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” John 7:37b-38. Read More |
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| Day By Day John 6:24-35 Jesus cuts right to the chase with these people, v 26 “I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs.” He say’s your missing the big picture, don’t worry about your bellies being full; seek greater things…eternal life. Isn’t that still the way it is with us today? Read More |
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| I AM Here The disciples get in the boat to cross over the sea to Capernaum and a storm whips up. The waves are crashing against them, the wind is tossing them about, and it seems as if they will drown! Yet Jesus is there…in the midst of the storm He is walking on the water, He calls to them “Don’t be afraid I am here!” Isn’t Jesus always here? Read More |
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| Abundance or Scarcity Even though Philip had been there for the turning of water into wine, he was still unable to see beyond the physical limitations before him. The Gospel of Matthew has this event happening after the disciples return from their missionary journey, where they had cast out demons and healed the sick and lame in Jesus’ name…why was the feeding of the crowd seen as an obstacle to them? Read More |
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| Questions John 6:1-21 We changed from the Gospel of Mark to the parallel passages in the Gospel of John. The Miracles that we skipped over last week we now see here in John. As I read this account of the feeding of the five thousand we see a different dynamic in the ministry of Jesus. Jesus asks Philip an apparently rhetorical question, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” Which leads me to ask? Read More |
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| Chasing After Jesus Reading the Scriptures this morning has left me a bit bewildered…the reading from 2 Samuel speaks of David and the house that will be built. Some of it seems to speak of Solomon and some of it seems to speak of Jesus…I’m not sure how to unravel it? Read More |
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| Why the Quick Turn? Wow I thought I had a bad temper…what made them so mad? What is going on here? Read More |
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| Going Deep This year of the RCL Year C mainly works its way through the Gospel of Luke with many ‘Special Sundays’ including readings from John and a couple from Matthew. Luke 4:31-44 is skipped over for some reason and includes a very interesting detail to me. Read More |
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| Between the Heart and the Mouth He came to be what we couldn’t be, He came to fulfill what we couldn’t fulfill, He came to offer what we couldn’t offer…Holy, Righteous and Pure…the only sacrifice acceptable to the Lord. It sounds too easy to be true… Read More |
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| Fading Glory I wonder, looking out into the faces of the people each Sunday, how many have truly experienced the Lord in a life changing way? In a transfiguring way, where who they are has been shaken to the core? I have seen changes in many over the last six years…in others, not so much. Does my seeing or not seeing really indicate anything? Read More |
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| An Appetite for God As I read this week's passage from Philippians it's amazing to me how much is actually packed into these few verses! Just six verses, about 170 words...what can we learn? Read More |
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| Temptations Seize Us This week’s excerpt from 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 at first glance seems to be out of left field. It starts with a statement that sounds like it’s part of a greater statement, and it is…kind of. Paul in the previous chapter is writing about how those who do the work of the Lord deserve their pay yet, he has tried to be an example for them. Paul writes of a runner striving towards the goal and athletes training for the prize. So he also strives to bring his body into submission and under control to win the eternal prize. His last line is most insightful for our reading: Read More |
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| The Distance Between Us So here I set in downtown Columbus in a hotel room, staring at a blank screen…I’ve got nothin’! I shouldn’t say nothing…I’ve got something but no idea where to go with it. Karma is at a conference for school and I’m supposed to be writing my second sermon this week on the same set of scriptures. Read More |
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| The World of Flesh I led a Bible study at the Kiwanis Manor (an assisted living retirement home) this week and developed an outline for that study. So I thought I would share some of that as well as some insights from the women who were there. The passage I chose to reflect on was Philippians 3:4b-14. Read More |
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| An Emotional Response We have 10 new members joining BUM Church this Sunday praise God! I so look forward to the excitement and joy of the Palms and the Baptisms and the confirming of our faith with the vows that we as a church take with our new members. It always reminds me of when my family was baptized and joined the church together. Yet at the same time The Spirit reminds me that it may not always be that way. Read More |
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| Living in the Mystery Having not grow up in the church and even coming to Christ outside the church I have always looked at the things that we do in church with a bit of skepticism. In the past I used to say quite regularly, “Where’s that in the Bible?” when I would see some Religious Ceremony going on…now I’ve learned to at least hold my tongue now and then! Read More |
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| Yeah I know its lame! I've had quite a busy week and here it is almost midnight on Saturday and still no post! I want to at least add a link to a resource I used a lot this week for the first of our sermon series "Windows on the Gospel" here is the home page of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America . http://www.goarch.org/ Read More |
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| Catching Up I’m not quite sure how it happened but it seems as if I’ve gotten out of the habit of writing on this Blog and have missed some opportunities. Last week about Friday sometime I reminded myself I hadn’t written yet and thought, “Oh I’ll just finish what I’m working on and then I’ll do it”…and here it is Tuesday! Read More |
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| A Balancing Act As we enter week four of our series Windows on the Gospel the image of balancing our faith between extremes is coming clearly into view. Last week as we took a glimpse of Martin Luther, we saw that we too readily rely on our own goodness, the works of our hands to justify us before God. Read More |
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| Prayer I’ve been struggling to write something about prayer this week…maybe it’s because I’m a terrible pray-er. I so easily get distracted that if I try to spend extended time in prayer before you know it I’m making lists of things I should be doing! I’m not sure why that is, is it lack of faith? Is it lack of spiritual maturity? Or is simply a lack of practice, something I just need to practice at? Read More |
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| Emotions of the Soul I listened to a really good sermon the other day entitled “Reviving the Nephesh” by Rob Bell from Mars Hill. I always enjoy Rob’s sermons and this one pI listened to a really good sermon the other day entitled “Reviving the Nephesh” by Rob Bell from Mars Hill. I always enjoy Rob’s sermons and this one particularly grabbed me because I had preached a sermon somewhat similar back in October. I guess it encouraged me that I wasn’t completely off base on the issue?! Rob used Psalm 23 to address the issue where I was a little more analytical trying to understand the ‘Dividing Soul and Spirit’ from Hebrews 4. Read More |
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| Love Poured Out We struggle to understand this God who is three in one, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three distinct yet not three separate. This Sunday is Trinity Sunday for those who recognize liturgical calendars and for all Christ followers the very concept of the Trinity is core to our understanding of God. Yet who really understands who can really grasp this God that is so far beyond us? I’m left asking myself what does it all mean…how does it change my life and the world around me? Read More |
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| In Whose Strength? It’s a mystery to me, how God will work in people’s lives differently. For some He immediately calls into a deep life changing transformation and in others it seems to take a long while. Read More |
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| Living in the Struggle Have you ever wondered why God has made this life so hard? Not that we in the U.S. even have an inkling of what HARD can be, but that the answers to all of life’s questions seem to be just beyond our reach. Read More |
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| “To Sin or Not to Sin” that is the question The Bible it's been said is the history of a God who created us to be with Him in a paradise. Only He gave us freewill and with it we've chosen to separate ourselves from a perfect and Holy God Read More |
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| Something About the Order Last week I preached a message proclaiming that there is one thing above all other things that we as Christ followers ought to be concerned about…Jesus Christ and Him crucified for my (your) sins…first, foremost above all else. Other things may be nice, other things may be important, other things may demand our attention, but this one thing must be held closest to our hearts above all else! Read More |
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| The Story of a Fool I though I would share with you a Bible Study I lead at the Kiwanis Manor this week. Luke 12:13-21 "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" Read More |
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| Longing For a Better Country? I don’t know why but ever since I read the scriptures Monday morning as a part of my devotional time this phrase has been nagging at me. Read More |
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| Real Faith I went to a zoning meeting on Monday evening. It was to allow a halfway house to be placed in an old home that had already been zoned as a group home only now the home was to house people convicted of felonies. Read More |
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| Facebook Christians I started a Facebook page a couple of years ago and the first thing it did was ask all of these questions about me: Read More |
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| The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus Once again I led the Bible Study at the Kiwanis Manor in Tiffin on Tuesday of this week. So I thought I would just share some of the things we covered. Read More |
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| What About? ...It's Complicated Series Summary In an effort to provide the scriptural references used during the sermon series What About? ...It’s Complicated! Below is a list of the questions with at least the scriptures I used during the sermon. Read More |
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| Lent It’s been a long time since I’ve posted a blog…sorry. I really am a creature of habit; they are so easy to break and so hard to establish. Read More |
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| Seeking the Kingdom While all of this was going on I’m trying to prepare for Sunday. John 3:1-17 is chock full of verses with lots of depth to them. Max Lucado wrote a whole book on just John 3:16! I’ve preached on this passage before so I don’t want to repeat myself…but I would be remiss if I didn’t follow an exegesis of Nicodemus and Jesus to some extent. Read More |
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| Living Water I feel as if there is a depth here in this encounter between Jesus and the woman at the well that I haven’t reached yet. In the Sermon on Sunday I touched on the contrasts between this encounter in Samaria and the previous weeks encounter in Jerusalem with Nicodemus. Read More |
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| Called From Death The Gospel reading for this coming Sunday is another long one! I’ve unknowingly ran over the last three Sundays and I wonder if I’ll end up doing it again? It started with Nicodemus and then the Woman at the Well, last week’s reading of the man born blind was even longer than the previous two…this Sunday’s Reading is long as well! Couple that with a long O.T. Reading and think I need to cut something… Read More |
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| Masterpiece in the Making Now I know in my own heart, I cannot love my neighbor without first loving God…in fact it is only in obedience to God and His commandment that I’m able to truly love others! I’ve got the loving myself part down…it’s the loving my neighbor part that I struggle with! Read More |
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| I 'll Get Right With God Later “I’ll come to church when I get right with God” and “I better start doing some good to make up for all the bad I’ve done if I want to get to Heaven” are just two examples I have personally heard from people who misunderstand what the Bible teaches. Read More |
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| Wondering Wanderings I had an interesting day and a nice drive this week. I went to visit someone at the Cleveland Clinic who had been held several days past what had been anticipated...Well I missed my exit off of I-90 and had to turn around and wander through Cleveland. My cell phone kept shutting off from the heat and I was using it as my GPS! Long story short we got there a bit later than I had intended and sure enough they had just left… Read More |
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| Dispensationalism and love The fact that God has dealt differently with people throughout the ages is obvious to even the casual reader of scripture. Yet the common theme throughout history has been God’s love and mercy. The Psalms may be the most obvious references of God’s desire to show us His mercy, if we would only turn to Him and receive it! Read More |
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| Joseph and Big Brother While reading the scriptures for today I couldn’t help but think bad of Joseph for buying the peoples livestock and then land in exchange for grain. Genesis 47:21 and Joseph reduced the people to servitude, from one end of Egypt to the other. Read More |
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| Who do you say I am? Matthew 16:13-20 may be one of the most well-known and hotly debated passages from the Bible. Hotly debated not for who Christ is, but who Christ says Peter is! Read More |
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| Why We Do, What We Do It’s hard to believe it’s almost September again! Fall is my favorite season but as fast as time is going by these days it will be gone before we know it. Read More |
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| Lesson's Learned and Hearts Softened I'm providing the Sermonette on WTTF radio this week so I thought I's share what I'm saying on the radio here. If you'd like to listen it is 1600 AM on your radio dial. Read More |
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| Life, Money & Hope Final My harddrive crashed again! So I'm afraid this weeks sermon went with it...there is a link on the "Sermons" page to the Dave Ramsey message given at Life Church. Read More |
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| Both AND The last few weeks have been so full and have gone by so fast I’m only now able to pause and reflect on what I’ve learned and experienced! It’s hard to believe it’s almost been two weeks now since I went to the AND Conference in Granger Indiana. Read More |
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| Reflecting Christ Well its here! The Holiday Season is upon us whether we like it or not. Karma and I handed out over 400 pieces of candy on Tuesday running out with over half an hour left Read More |
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