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Stuck

Introduction

Every year, the Lawsons and the Rushings go to the National Peanut Festival (at least once). A couple of years ago, Allison, Misty and myself were standing in front of one of the fun houses. You know the one with the glass maze as you enter. Bradley was either on a corndog run or had already left to finish up his sermon or watch LSU lose to Alabama. Anyway, the three of us were standing there with Keller while our little girls entered the maze. We stood there talking and then either Allison or Misty said, “Where’s Keller?” At about the point panic starts to set in, we look up and see 3 year old Keller in the middle of the glass maze, trying to follow the bigger girls. Except he’s stuck in the middle of this maze and every time he try to step forward, he’s met by this cruel invisible wall of glass. After a few minutes of laughing and seeing that Keller was on the verge of an emotional breakdown, I went in to rescue him. It was obvious that he wasn’t getting out of that maze.

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God’s Mercy To A Deceiver

Introduction

The other day, my family was on vacation in Pigeon Forge, TN. I was not on this particular trip, but my wife relayed a comical story she overheard while out eating lunch with the family. On this particular day, they had chosen to go to The Old Mill Pottery House Cafe & Grill. (If you’ve never been, I highly recommend the praline grilled pork chop. You can thank me later.) At the table beside beside them, were a group of ladies from Wisconsin.

Female Customer: “Excuse me, Mam. What do you call this drink here? It’s delicious!

Waitress: “Ummm. Sweet Tea.”

Female Customer: “What do you sweeten it with? This is wonderful!”

Waitress: “Ummm. Sugar…”

What are some foods associated with localities, and which ones have you tried? Which ones have you liked?

Evidently, Issac and Esau love a good meal. Just last week we read about Jacob and Esau’s trading a birth right for a bowl of soup. I can sympathize. I love a good meal too. In these verses, we see God’s covenant plans continue over the setting of a meal. Through theses verses, we see that God is merciful to use even the most unlikely people to build His kingdom.

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God Renews His Promise

Introduction

Think about the following Bible verse: What are some of its implications?

Isaiah 55:9 – For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

There may be several, at least one of these is the fact that God often works in and does unexpected things in our lives. Sometimes these may look like a complete blessing, other times these “surprises” may come in the form of a trial.

The questions is, What do we do when God throws us a curveball?

God keeps His promises, but at times He does so in ways we would least expect. Continue reading “God Renews His Promise”

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The Ordo Salutis

Doesn’t a title in Latin sound fancy? I don’t know why theologians have the habit of throwing in Latin and German terms. Maybe it’s to sound intelligent. I’m not really sure.

The Ordo Salutis simply means the “order of salvation”.

When we refer to the Ordo, what we are attempting to do is seek to understand the process in which God brings about salvation. We’re trying to put it into a logical order. Hopefully, the better we understand God’s saving work in our lives, the more we will love and appreciate Him. Theology should always lead to doxology.

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Continue – What Is A Biblical Conservative, Or One Who Conserves the Bible?

When we use the words “biblical conservative” we automatically think of political stances. What we usually mean is, we don’t like legislation that is anti-biblical. We want a small government, who largely stays out of our affairs. We don’t like taxes and regulations and we want a big military, who can keep us safe so that we can enjoy liberty.

But I want us to think a bit differently about the term, at least for a moment. Let’s think about the term biblical conservative this way. As a person who conserves the Bible. So how do we as believers conserve the Bible? The word conserve means, “to maintain, keep, sustain, or continue.”

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Suffering and God’s Presence

Introduction

Why do bad things happen to good people?

The story of Job is one of the Bible’s oldest stories. Scholars believe he lived back during the time of the patriarchs. Although we are uncertain about an exact dating of this account.

Since man’s beginning we have all struggled with the idea of suffering. You see a glimpse of this in Genesis 4:13 where, after Cain killed his brother, he claims his punishment is “too great to bear.”

Fortunately, the Bible is not silent when it comes to suffering. The book of Job wrestles with the idea of suffering. Here are some biblical principles we can see as we look into this story.

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Social Media and Anxiety: Casting Your Cares Upon Him

1 Peter 5:6-7

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

A World of Self Promotion

We live in a world of self-promotion. We have entire websites which have now been created to aid us in this process. We share our lives, our photos, our ideas on a plethora of internet spaces, we’ve dubbed “social media” because we are important. My ideas are important. My ideas are correct. I’m humorous. My new hair cut is absolutely fabulous. My children are prettier than your children. I’m at Disney World and you’re not. My family is happier than your family. My vacations are better than your vacations. My kids, more successful than your kids, and it goes on and on…

There’s nothing wrong with sharing our lives with others, but underneath this, we have the dangers of massaging our egos and building pride up within us.

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Sin and God’s Grace

Introduction

I, probably just like you, grew up playing a bunch of backyard football. One of the greatest rules of backyard football was the “re-kick”. If the opposing team kicked a ball off that was un-returnable, someone from your team would yell, “Re-kick!” before the ball hit the ground and the opposing team would have to kick the ball again.

Our narrative today, presents a re-kick of sorts.

What began with Adam and Eve’s rebellion in the garden has grown and permeated all of society. This grieved God and in this story we see God put forth his rightful judgment upon the earth.

Continue reading “Sin and God’s Grace”