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New to the Faith: Now What?
Part 1: Next Steps So, you’ve recently accepted Jesus as your Savior. Now what? For a new believer, it may be difficult to know what to do next, particularly when many churches are unable to meet together during this world-wide pandemic. Though some churches are able to offer online classes and information, others aren’t. If you are a new believer, I want to encourage you as you begin your new journey of faith. This will be a 4-part guide that will hopefully help you dig deeper, draw closer, and cultivate your relationship with Christ. You’re not alone in this journey, as the Holy Spirit is with you and will guide…
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Human Trafficking Awareness
Today is World Human Trafficking Awareness Day. Human trafficking brings in approximately $150 billion per year, making it one of the most profitable criminal enterprises in the world. But we’re not just talking about forced labor, we are also talking about sex trafficking, which includes the trafficking in of children as young as 6 months old (read that again) for the purposes of being sexually abused. Actually, it’s more than just being sexually abused. Let’s call it what it is: rape. In many cases, the vicious attacks are filmed and put online, where more sick individuals can access it for a fee. As I have been researching this topic, I’ve…
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A Few Words on Loving Others
This week brought even more grief to our country – the murder of George Floyd. My heart is broken over his senseless death. I haven’t watched the video in full, nor do I plan to. The little bit I watched shattered me. I weep when I think back to how he begged for his life. He pleaded for his mom, for relief, and for help. The cops offered no relief, no mercy, no compassion. Though I don’t know exactly what they were thinking, their actions showed they dehumanized Mr. Floyd. How else could you ignore someone’s pleas for help? How else could you continuously kneel on someone as they begged…
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Jesus and His Distress
“And going a little farther, He fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And He said, ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.’” (Mark 14:35-36) I recently re-read these verses as I was preparing to write a devotional for a contest I was entering. The contest theme focused on fear, anxiety, and stress. I know I’ve read these verses hundreds of times, but I didn’t make the connection, until now, that Jesus could not only relate to my feelings of anxiety, stress, and fear, but…
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Abide in Him: 2 Peter 1:10-11
Since most of us are staying home for the next couple of weeks, let’s use this time to work on our Scripture memorization. This is our last section of 2 Peter 1 to memorize. Before we begin our study of verses 10-11, let’s recite verses 3-9. Try it first from memory: “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who has called us to His own glory and excellence, by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the…
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Faith Over Fear
“Do not be anxious about anything, but with prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Philippians 4:6-8, ESV) In this moment of panic in our country, we can’t let fear rule over or lives. I will admit, as a parent of an immunocompromised child, this pandemic has me slightly…
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Abide in Him: 2 Peter 1:8-9
How are you all doing with these memory verses? Are you putting all of them together to keep it fresh in your mind? Let’s say them together, beginning with verse 3: “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who has called us to His own glory and excellence, by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them we may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your…
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Abide in Him: 2 Peter 1:5
Before I dive into our new verse, let’s review what we’ve learned already. Test yourself and try to say verses 3 and 4 out loud first, before reading the text. Here we go: “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who has called us to His own glory and excellence by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.” This week, we will add verses 5-7. Do…
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Abide in Him: 2 Peter 1:4
This week, we will add on to our previous verse. Before we jump into verse 4, let’s review verse 3: “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who has called us to His own glory and excellence…” Verse 4 is the last part of the sentence we started to learn last time and it continues to explain why we should add to our faith in order to keep from being ineffective and lacking in the knowledge of Jesus. I chose these verses for our memorization project because they serve as a good reminder of what we can…
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Abide in Him: 2 Peter 1:3
Happy New Year! I hope you all enjoyed the Christmas season. As with all Christmas seasons, this one seemed to have passed too quickly. Now it’s time to jump back into the normal routine of life and into our verse memorization project. We will spend several weeks in 2 Peter 1. We’re actually going to work on memorizing verses 3 – 11. I’m sure some of you are thinking there is no way you can memorize that many verses. I’m here to tell you that yes, you can memorize that many verses. I’m not asking you to do all of these verses at once. We will break this chunk of…
