Tag: what does
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Daily Devotional: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-28
Paul closes his letter by instructing the Thessalonian believers to rejoice always. Show your joy again in celebration. Party like something good has happened. Out of all the people on God’s earth, Christians are the ones with most reason to have a good time, celebrate, and rejoice. The rejoicing does not stop. God is doing…
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Daily Devotional: Romans 10:1-11
After writing about God’s work of predestination, Paul, still referring to Jews who were not predestined, shares his desire that they be saved. They have a zeal for God, but their zeal is without understanding. They are trying to establish their own righteousness instead of resting in God’s righteousness—something many religious people in every context…
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Daily Devotional: Genesis 50:1-26
Jacob is buried in Canaan, and Joseph dies. Before he dies, Joseph’s brothers beg his forgiveness for their evil against him in Canaan. Joseph explains that he is not in the place of God. What his brothers meant as evil against him, God meant for good in order to bring about the salvation of many…
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The Creation of Humankind
During the creation week, God created the heavens and the earth and has been filling them both. Moses’s language has been inexact. We have not received the minutia of creation. We simply know that God speaks to create and command His creation. Moses has presented God as the sole creator and has called out the…
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Tongues vs Prophecy
We return to Paul’s discourse on spiritual gifts, which have been used to cause division within the local church at Corinth. There were some who, apparently, exalted the gift of tongues such that others desired the mystical gift above all else. There are many in our own day who exalt mystical sign gifts like tongues,…
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The Truth About Spiritual Gifts
Paul is writing to the local church at Corinth in order to admonish the local church toward unity through maturity in the faith, not only knowledge of Christ but wisdom—which is knowledge in love. He has admonished the local church to edify one another and those outside her proverbial walls rather than be puffed up…
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Look at Those Gluttons, Drunkards, and Hellians
Paul is writing to the local church at Corinth to admonish the congregation toward unity through maturity in the faith. He expounded on Christian liberty and pay for pastors. Now, he writes about the Christian as a voluntary slave even though he is free. Basic Christian servanthood means much for the way we treat others.…
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To Hell With You
Jesus has proved Himself a capable Rabbi. He has warned the crowds not to be like the Pharisees and scribes. Now, He speaks directly to the Pharisees and scribes in order to rebuke them because of their hypocrisy. There are occasions on which one should not be polite but, instead, call out injustice. While it…
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Listening to Hypocrites
It is Fig Monday during Passion Week. Jesus’s rabbinic knowledge has been tested. He upheld Torah and proved wiser than the Pharisees, Herodians, and Sadducees who exceeded Him in their religious status, formal education, and physical age. Jesus now turns to the crowds who have been watching His exchanges with the religious leaders of the…
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A Kingdom of Power, Not Words
Paul has been instructing the congregation about how it should view him and its pastors and how the pastors (elders) of the local church should view the congregation. The pericope in view, here, is transitional. Paul is transitioning from the place of the pastor to the immorality of the local church. Before he begins addressing…