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In: Bible and Theology, God's Character, God's love, Prayer and Devotions, Sin and Holiness

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) We have a tendency to reason about what God would do and how he would act from our fallen sinful nature. We reason, since we love so-and-so, and we accept their behavior and love them just the way we are, since this is what our love does, surely that is what God’s love does, too. Nope. He loves us, but he doesn’t accept our sin–he wants us to surrender it to him, so he can in turn makeRead More →

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In: Bible and Theology, Gospel, Post-Modernism, Prayer and Devotions

“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.” (1 Timothy 2:5-6) The context of this verse says, if I understand Paul’s complex sentence structures correctly is: Pray for all people, including all government and authority figures Pray that those in authority would allow God’s people to live peaceful, dignified lives (i.e. free of persecution) It is also good to pray for those who don’t know Christ that they might be saved because God desires all know Him andRead More →

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In: Bible and Theology, Grace, Legalism

By Adam Graham Since the earliest churches, many believers have thought, “Wouldn’t it be great if everyone were like us?” This is opposed to thinking, “Wouldn’t it be great if everyone were like Christ?” The first group like this was the Judaizers, who sought to make early Gentile converts comply with Old Testament ceremonial laws. The Apostle Paul severely criticized the Judaizers’ legalism in requiring the works of the law for salvation in addition to the cross. Paul’s ire at them may be summed up in Galatians 5:12 (ESV): “I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!” Paul’s concern with legalism goes further thanRead More →

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In: Bible and Theology, Grace, Prayer and Devotions, Sin and Holiness

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) Sin leads to death: physical death, spiritual death, death of relationship, etc. Any time something dies, it is the wages of sin–Adam’s in the garden at minimum.  But this law no longer has the last word. Oh death, where is your victory? Oh grave, where is your sting? Because the Lord’s tomb is empty, and sin is nailed to the cross, this physical life is not the end, His Spirit can live in us, we are restored to relationship with Him andRead More →

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In: Bible and Theology, God's promises, Prayer and Devotions

“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” (James 1:12) Recently we’ve talked about, based on psalms, pressing our roots down into the streams of living water flowing from the Lord being the key to weathering the storms of life (okay, so we used desert imagery.) Here James reasserts plainly the need for the steadfastness implied by the tree roots dipped into a flowing river so it has the resources to survive no matter what the weather of the world throwsRead More →