Tag: salvation
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It’s Been A While, But I’m Finally in a Healthy Frame of Mind
Hurt is hard. I realized in the last month that it has been more than a year since I have done any serious writing. I had given up on ministry and started my own business because, frankly, I was done being hurt. At the beginning of 2023, a friend of mine (a couple, actually) told…
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The Ten Virgins
Jesus’s teaching in Matthew 25 is a continuation of Matthew 24. Jesus’s disciples have asked Him when the Temple will be destroyed and what the signs will be of His judgment against Jerusalem. Jesus has been answering their question, and we are now able to look at the historical record and see that Jesus was…
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BUILDING ON THE ROCK
Jesus has been preaching His most popular sermon, what we call the “Sermon on the Mount.” It is the single most important sermon in all of history. It is the centerpiece of Christian living, a sermon we want to plunge the depths of if we want to live significant lives. The entire sermon is important,…
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Daily Devotional: Ephesians 2:11-16
Therefore, because God is making dead people alive in a way that excludes human boasting in self, the saints remember that they were at one time separated from Christ. We were excluded from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hop and without God in this world. Since it…
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Daily Devotional: Ephesians 2:1-10
After praying that the saints may grow in all wisdom and knowledge, that their eyes of their hearts may be enlightened, Paul writes of their wretchedness. They were, past tense because they are not in Christ, dead in their trespasses and sins. When we speak of our wretched estate and that of those in our…
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Daily Devotional: 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12
Paul, and those with him when he visited Thessalonica, shared the gospel free of monetary charge in the midst of great oppression while they were there. The Thessalonian church is now made up of people who believed despite oppression from both Jews and gentiles in their city. Paul is greatly encouraged and praises the church. …
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Daily Devotional: 1 Thessalonians 1:5-10
Paul is confident in the salvation of the Thessalonians, meaning we can be confident in the salvation of others. He is confident because of their fruit, yes, but also because of the power of the gospel. According to Paul, the gospel did not go out from them in word only. Have you ever listened to…
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Daily Devotional: Romans 10:12-21
Paul, who is still writing largely to gentiles about how they have been chosen by God while the Jews rejected Him, continues by encouraging gentiles all the more. When it comes to justification, there is no difference between a Jew and gentile. This is about God’s work, not the works of the nations. God abounds…
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Daily Devotional: Romans 9:14-21
Paul has now claimed that the people of God are chosen from the womb, before they can do anything good or bad so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls. Salvation is the choice of God, not people. Paul immediately answers the issue…
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Daily Devotional: Romans 2:9-16
Paul is unclear, here, about what and when the day of judgment will be (v. 5, 16). What we know for sure is that on the day of judgment, it is a person’s conscience and thoughts that bear witness against him or her. Those who keep the Law will be justified. The person’s soul will…