Faith
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What Wild Animals Come Rushing at You?
The real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it . . . the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in… Continue reading
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A Nagging Question that Prevents Us from Fully Giving Our Hearts to God
Even those of us who have firmly decided to follow Jesus often don’t trust him unconditionally because of one big problem–pain and suffering. We can only trust someone to the extent we believe they are good and therefore have our best interests at heart. We will hold back from fully giving our hearts to God… Continue reading
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Look at the Cross, Look at the Angels
Two verses before John 3:16, the best known verse of the Bible, Jesus says he will be like the snake Moses lifted up (John 3:14). Jesus alludes here to the Old Testament story where the Israelites were bitten by snakes because of their disobedience. God tells Moses to make a bronze snake, put it up… Continue reading
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Is the Universe Cold and Dead, or Haunted by a Mysterious Presence?
What do you make of the fact that human beings have never considered themselves to be alone? No matter what corner of the earth we look to, no matter how far back in time we go, all people groups tell us a mysterious, awe-inspiring, frightful, yet fascinating Presence pervades our world. So concludes Rudolph Otto’s,… Continue reading
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Why is There so Much Suffering if God is in Absolute Control, or is He?
“While everybody was asleep an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat.” Recently, in the middle of the night, Lee Strobel’s interview of Charles Templeton came to mind. Templeton was a Canadian journalist in the 60’s and 70’s, well known for his atheism. He had been a preacher, at one time the pulpit partner… Continue reading
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Loving the Person We See: Part 2
When God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, He gave them only one restriction which concerned the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And there was only one restriction concerning it. They were free to enjoy its beauty, to sit under its shade, play on it or whatever they liked.… Continue reading
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Beauty: a Better Way to Believe
Recently I was speaking with a young man about the Christian faith and he said something like the following, “I’ve tried to believe. I’ve given it everything I’ve got, but it just doesn’t work for me. I can’t make myself believe.” The requirement of “faith alone” is one of the most difficult hurdles concerning the… Continue reading
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WHAT ABOUT PEOPLE IN OTHER RELIGIONS?
Let me begin by affirming that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life and that no one comes unto the Father except by Him. (John 14:6) His is the only name given whereby we can be saved. The question we will explore in this post regards ‘how’ an individual can be brought… Continue reading
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Jesus in the Dark
A number of years ago a friend asked me to visit a woman dying of cancer in the hospital. Her sickness had begun as breast cancer, and now an ugly, tell-tale purple blotch crept from the top of her night gown to her shoulder. Chemotherapy had robbed her of all her hair. As I approached… Continue reading
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A Little Lower than God! Part 6: Cooperating with the Spirit
(Previous) The most exciting part of the Gospel is often understated, that is, that the cross and its accompanying forgiveness were a means to an end and not the end itself. The purpose for which Jesus died was that God’s Spirit could fully inhabit human beings once again. This is the great truth of Pentecost.… Continue reading