Author: Brance
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Keep the faith
Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me, O Lord God of hosts; let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel. (Psalm 69:6) David is surrounded by enemies who would love to see him fall. They are actively seeking his destruction and…
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Servants and Stewards
This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. (1 Corinthians 4:1) The church in Corinth was experiencing some division as people aligned themselves behind either Paul or Apollos. But Paul and Apollos weren’t leading factions. They didn’t want to. They wanted the church to be…
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Weekend Reads 4/18
Here are a few links we found interesting or worthwhile this week, and we pass them on to you for reading over the weekend. Keep It To Yourself – “You’re not just asking me to keep my personal beliefs to myself. You’re asking me to totally disregard you as a person made in God’s image.…
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Flattery will get you nowhere
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. (Psalm 66:18) If you’re like me, you want to know that God hears your prayers. If I don’t have confidence that God hears and cares about my prayers, then what’s the point in praying? So I’m always on the look out…
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Weekend Reads 4/11
Here are a few links we found interesting or worthwhile this week, and we pass them on to you for reading over the weekend. Let’s Stop Forgiving Those Who Don’t Want Forgiveness – “I understand the motive, and also the desire to present an attractive witness about Christian forgiveness to the world. But it’s not…
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Plant, Water, Watch it Grow
What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and…
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Watching (for) God
O my Strength, I will watch for you, for you, O God, are my fortress. (Psalm 59:9) In this psalm, David is under hostile surveillance. King Saul has sent men to watch David, to spy out an opportunity to kill him. He describes these men as evil, bloodthirsty, and fierce. This is no idle threat…
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Rejoicing In Who God Is
The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked. (Psalm 58:10) This is not a popular sentiment. It strikes us as wrong somehow. Yet here it is, in scripture. The context of the entire psalm makes clear this is God’s vengeance against the wicked.…
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Awake the Dawn
My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast! I will sing and make melody! Awake, my glory! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn! (Psalm 57:7-8) Here’s a guy who intends to make so much noise praising God, as to “awake the dawn”. Notice he didn’t say he was going…
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The Spirit of Understanding
…we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. (1 Corinthians 2:12) This verse and its surrounding context are at once a glorious promise, and a warning. God teaches us in this passage that right understanding and…