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Are You a “Facebook Friend” of Jesus?
The Merriam-Webster definition of friend is: : a person who you like and enjoy being with; one attached to another by affection or esteem. Are you attached to Jesus, do you esteem Him, do you enjoy being with Him? Or is He just a nodding aquaintance? "And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." Knowing God is eternal life. We know our friends, spouses, and children because we choose to spend time with them. Do you choose spend time with your most faithful Friend?
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I’m A Good Person—What Do I Still Lack?
Do you ever feel like being a good person just isn't enough? Does your wealth keep you from pursuing spiritual health? You're not alone, because there was only One perfect person to ever walk this earth, and He was willing to sacrifice everything to ensure we are made whole.
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God or False Prophet: Who is Jesus to You?
We live in an age when it's common to hear the phrase, "Seeing is believing." But do we really believe what we see? The Jews in Jesus' day saw God in the flesh. They were eyewitnesses of His miracles, mercy, and might. Then they killed Him....
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False Gospels: Are You Following One?–Part 2
We have a staggering lack of spiritual discernment here in the United States. In my last post, I introduced some of the reasons why false teaching is influencing the Church here in the United States so strongly in our time, namely, the over-reliance on extrabiblical study aids marketed in the Christian publishing industry and a growing attack on the verity of the Bible. My heart in this post is to help those who are being misled by false teachers or influenced by false teaching.
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False Gospels: Are You Following One?–Part 1
New-fangled digital devices help detect an out-of-tune note and perfect it. Most of these have some sort of readout that appears as a needle wavering too much to the left, or flat side, or too much to the right, or sharp side as an instrument is tuned, with the goal of getting the needle dead center of the two, making the note "in tune." This reminds me of an anology that could be made in the spiritual world between two extremes of error that can fall somewhere on the flat side of the sharp side, with truth being dead center.
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Who Is My Neighbor?
Who is my neighbor? It's a question that we should well be asking in our changing society. Jesus' parable about the good Samaritan beautifully illustrates that when we see someone in need, even an enemy, we should extend mercy. We preach that we need to see the image of God in everyone...we sing about grace that is greater than all our sin. Do we practice living out this grace toward others? Do we practice mercy? Do we prove to be a true neighbor? "You go, and do likewise." (Luke 10:37)
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The Beauty of the Gospel
Have you ever really stopped to think about the impossibility of mankind being able to save themselves? We have had roughly 6,000 years of biblical history unfolding to date, and we have not and will not ever develop the perfect person or society. Why? While man claims that we can evolve into something better given enough time, Jesus prophesied that in the last days the world and mankind would devolve and get worse...
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Faith Working Through Love
Perhaps it is serendipitous, maybe a little ironic, for me to be writing about work and rest on our Labor Day holiday weekend here in the United States. This federal holiday was enacted as a response to the action of labor activists who wanted to recognize our workers as making significant contributions to America's strength, prosperity, and well-being. It is a nationwide day off granted as a rest from our great labors. There is a somewhat similar idea in the Bible called the Sabbath day, which was the seventh day in the Jewish week on which no work was to be performed. It was to be a picture of God's…
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Repentance: Work of Man or Grace of God?
Is repentance a work of man or a work of God? Some claim that we add to the gospel or Word of God when repentance is preached. Well, what was the teaching of Jesus? What was the practice of the apostles? Why is repentance such an important theme in the Bible?
![Who Is This Jesus? "And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone." [Mark 10:18 ESV]](https://i0.wp.com/lampstanddevotions.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/BlogWhoIsThisJesusPicCopy.jpg?resize=1140%2C760&ssl=1)
![[Eph 1:16-17, 19 ESV]](https://i0.wp.com/lampstanddevotions.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Train3.jpg?resize=1140%2C784&ssl=1)
