Category: Sin

12/24/2024 0 Comments

Insignificant

He was born in a lowly place—a smelly stable in a manger, nursed among unclean animals because his parents were required by edict to register in an obscure village—Bethlehem, the town Micah, the prophet, foretold (Micah 5:2). His father, Joseph, nearly in secret divorced the unborn Child’s mother, Mary, until an angel intervened and informed him that she conceived through the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:19,20). Joseph was a humble carpenter, whose trade he would pass on to his Boy, raised in the Galilean town of Nazareth. “‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Nathanael asked him. ‘Come and see,’ Philip answered” (John 1:46).

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12/17/2024 1 Comment

Miracles: We Have Never Seen Anything Like This!

Roberta was Stacy’s laundry mat owner and insurance agent in Mexico City. Needing to renew her insurance policy, Stacy scheduled a meeting with Roberta and was prompted by the Holy Spirit that she was to share the gospel with the result that Roberta would be saved. When they met, Roberta confessed, “Sometimes I sit at a stoplight and wonder, God, how can I know You?” That gave Stacy an opening to share the gospel. Roberta responded, “You’re telling me I can walk out of here forgiven for everything I’ve ever done?” Stacy answered, “Yes—everything.” Roberta reacted incredulously, “Even an abortion?”
“Yes, even an abortion.”
“I want that because I’ve gone to a church for 18 years, and the leaders told me that was not possible.” Roberta then prayed and asked for forgiveness for her sins and for Jesus to be the Lord and Savior of her life.

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12/10/2024 0 Comments

Omnipotent

There are two unsolvable problems all humans face: sin and death. The reality of sin is the inability of any person to refrain from doing something wrong or evil, whether it be lying, stealing, cheating, etc. The reality of death is we all age and eventually die. The beauty of Christianity is that it solves both of those problems.

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10/19/2024 1 Comment

Den of Robbers

One of a person's most detrimental beliefs is that attending church offers a pass for bad behavior. The thinking runs like this. I attend church every Sunday. Therefore, God is pleased with me. He gets His due, and I can do whatever the hell I want during the rest of the week.

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10/10/2024 0 Comments

Mickey Mantle

Mickey Charles Mantle (October 20, 1931—August 13, 1995) was a Hall of Fame Center Field player for the New York Yankees from 1951 to 1968. [1] During his illustrious career, he was a 3x Most Valuable Player (MVP), Gold Glove winner, Batting and Triple Crown (batting average, home runs, and runs batted in) winner, and Major League Player of the Year. Mantle played in the All-Star game 16 times. He was part of seven World Series-winning teams. He is considered one of Baseball’s best players and sluggers. He is the only player to hit 150 home runs as a left and right-handed batter.[2]

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9/24/2024 0 Comments

On a Quest

Have you ever felt like you were on a journey to nowhere? Does life seem unfulfilling and taxed by unnecessary hardship? Do you find that what you thought would be meaningful is meaningless or empty? Imagine how the Israelites felt as they were exiled from their land by the Assyrians and Babylonians. Their lives revolved around loss, shame, and suffering. God told them, “You will be delivered by returning and resting; your strength will lie in quiet confidence. But you are not willing” (Isaiah 30:14). Like most people, the Israelites believed that they could solve problems and live however they wanted. God restored them to a worthwhile life only when they came to the end of themselves and recognized and renounced the evil of their rebellion.

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6/30/2024 0 Comments

Transformation

Do you remember the Transformers film series where cars transform into robots with various combative skills? Well, that is nothing compared to what will finally happen when we who love Jesus complete our change to the image and glory that is the Lord’s. The Apostle Paul gives us a preview of what will come in his letter to the Corinthians.

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3/20/2024 1 Comment

Pretending

Alice* presented her plan for her organization to succeed if certain political events went differently than expected. Sadly, her presentation failed because she neglected to vet it with her peers, and her message needed to be clearer. It caused subordinates to question how in touch their senior leaders were with them.

One of the junior supervisors, Becky, wept as she shared her frustration with senior leadership’s inability to appreciate their needs. Her vulnerability encouraged many in the room to speak up with similar thoughts, and the atmosphere in the room became tense and somewhat awkward. Feeling overwhelmed, Becky left the meeting.

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1/21/2024 0 Comments

Purify Yourselves

My father was given a valuable porcelain Buddha figurine from an Asian antique collector. He would display it in the house until guests came over and then hide it in a drawer. He always knew where it was. Years later, my brother, Nate, was at a point in his life where he decided to follow God. He was convicted that his music collection was holding him back spiritually. So, he purged his CD collection of music worth over $1000 by breaking them apart in our parent’s garage. Seeing what Nate was doing, Dad was convicted of his Buddha figurine. He brought it out to be destroyed. While holding a bowl of eggs, he placed the antique on a stump and brought an ax head down to smash it.

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1/14/2024 1 Comment

I Am Claiming God's Goodness

At the beginning of each year, I select a passage from Scripture to be my verse(s) for the year. This year, I picked Psalm 65:11.

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1/7/2024 0 Comments

Three Consequences of Sin and a Great Danger

Recently, I spoke with Jackson,* a sailor who was part of my ministry over three decades ago. He called to apologize over a series of texts that frankly were spawned from frustration and anger over racial issues he was troubled by. During our conversation, he linked his bondage to pornography to his father, who beat his wife, Jackson, and his older brother. His justification troubled me, and he permitted me to speak candidly.

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11/20/2023 1 Comment

Karma

Brita angrily kicked the wandering Cocker Spaniel, who dared to enter her front yard. Her neighbor, Betty, viewed the mean action with disgust. Two weeks later, when Brita broke her leg after slipping off her front porch, Betty noted to her husband with some satisfaction, “That’s karma. She’s getting what she deserved.”

Karma is a Hindu concept that views one’s actions as bringing upon themselves good or bad results either in their present life or in a reincarnation. It is a cosmic reward or punishment principle based on a person’s deeds. In The Logic of God, Ravi Zacharias explained, “Hinduism has two nonnegotiable beliefs: karma and reincarnation. No Hindu will trade these away.”

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8/30/2023 0 Comments

A New Language

When God first created mankind, they spoke the same language. But when the earth’s inhabitants used the advantage of a common tongue to manifest their own good and to make a name for themselves, it was an act of rebellion that God did not approve, so he scrambled and confused their speech so they could not understand each other (Genesis 11:4-9). From then until now, communicating with people worldwide has been challenging.

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7/26/2023 1 Comment

Dried Up

The earth is tilting? What?
Pumping groundwater appears to have a greater consequence than ever previously thought. But now—thanks to a new study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters--we can see that, in less than two decades, Earth has tilted 31.5 inches as a result of pumping groundwater. This equates to .24 inches of sea level rise.[1]
I’m unsure of the science of tying the earth’s tilt to pumping groundwater, but I know God is sometimes the primary cause of disasters and climate change.

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7/3/2023 1 Comment

"The Sparkle Creed"

Edina Community Lutheran Church, an ELCA congregation in Edina, Minnesota, celebrated Pride Sunday led by their female pastor in reciting the sparkle creed whose words state:
I believe in the non-binary God whose pronouns are plural. I believe in Jesus Christ, their child, who wore a fabulous tunic and had two dads, and who saw everyone as a sibling child of God. I believe in the rainbow Spirit, who shatters our image of one white light and refracts it into a rainbow of gorgeous diversity.[1]
This creed is a gross perversion of theology. It represents the misguided attempts of a congregation to fit God into their inclusive agenda that will spare no expense to accommodate a world fully intent on making sexual sin something to celebrate and force upon all those who take God’s warnings seriously and strive to obey Him.

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6/5/2023 1 Comment

Drinking the Living Water

If you have ever hiked in the mountains, you know that the higher you climb, the purer the water source will be. But as the streams flow downward, they become part of the forest, and now purification tablets are needed to protect against giardia parasites which can cause giardiasis. Continuing downward, the stream merges with other streams and becomes a river. More pollutants are added as waste flows into the river from drainage systems, and people throw their trash, dump chemicals, etc., into the water. So what is my point?

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4/23/2023 1 Comment

Because of His Majesty

How do we avoid sinning? It’s a fundamental question that has many implications for our lives. Reading through the book of Job, we can pick up some amazing insights from a man horrifically tormented by Satan for his righteous life. In chapter 31, Job identifies at least thirteen things that would be inappropriate for him to do, with verse 23 serving as the lynchpin for his profound reasoning.

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11/7/2022 1 Comment

Salvation with Fear and Trembling

Salvation is a free gift received by a heart that recognizes sin, takes responsibility for it through confession and repentance, and then places one’s faith in God’s Son, Jesus Christ, that He is Lord and the only One capable of sacrificing His life to pay the debt of sin, forgiving transgressions so that all who place their faith in Him might experience eternal life with Him.

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9/12/2022 0 Comments

What's Your View?

Pastor Brad at Impact Church asks, “Does your view of God determine your view of life, or does your view of life determine your view of God?” How one answers that question is profoundly revealing.

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7/1/2022 0 Comments

Inability to See

Meditation
John 8:25-27—“Who are You?” they questioned. “Precisely what I’ve been telling you from the very beginning,” Jesus told them. I have many things to say and to judge about you, but the One who sent Me is true, and what I have heard from Him—these things I tell the world.” They did not know He was speaking to them about the Father.

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