Devotional Posts

15 May by Mike Bergman

Depression, Joy, and “Preaching the Gospel to Myself”

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And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing, everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away! ~ Isaiah 51:11 A bit of a warning: I think this post is as much me trying to work through things [...]

30 April by Thom Hunter

“At the Statue of Jesus, Turn Left”

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As more decades descend upon my timeline, my confusion about the perfect randomness of God, as He demonstrates His all-knowingness, does not unravel, but remains tightly wound, safely bound by trust. I often do not know how or why His will is what it is, and my clarity remains unclear on the entire “God allows” [...]

17 April by Thom Hunter

At the Corner of Grace and Gray

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Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.  – Matthew 5:15 God created minds . . . and people think pure and impure thoughts God created hearts . . . and people love and hurt. God [...]

7 April by Josh Collins

Between a Friday and a Sunday…

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Easter Weekend will never be the same for me again. Last Good Friday was like any other. I went to work all day. I drove home. My wife and I headed to our church to sing and pray and remember Jesus’ death for us together as a body. We pulled a dinner audible afterwards and [...]

6 April by Thom Hunter

The Line Between Almost and Always

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Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And [...]

5 April by Doug Hibbard

The Men Who Came to Dinner

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With apologies to Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, as well as Julius J. and Philip G. Epstein for mangling the title of their play and movie adaptation. Today is Maundy Thursday on the liturgical calendar of many historically liturgical churches. We Baptists tend to know the name but don’t really do a lot with [...]

28 March by Mike Bergman

How Should We Feel When We Sin?

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guilt     shame     doubt     disapproval     self-loathing apathy     unconcern     happiness     acceptance From early on in our lives, we all have a sense of a need for approval and a feeling of disapproval when we mess up.  Sometimes the feeling of disapproval is verbalized to us, “I am disappointed in you.”  Other times it is given as a [...]

27 March by Thom Hunter

Dear Christian: You’re Scaring Them to Death

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Sometimes the distances between what people know of you . . . and what they think of you . . . and what you know of yourself . . . and what you think of yourself . . . and what is true of all of this knowledge and all of these thoughts when sifted [...]

21 March by Andrew Wencl

A Look at Jesus Messiah

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For a while now I’ve thought about doing a special discipleship group or evening presentation about some of the songs we sing and what they teach us about God, the church, and the gospel. I’ve written once or twice about what songs communicate, and I’d like to look at another one that many of us [...]

19 March by Mike Bergman

The Lord’s Prayer, part 3: The Requests Concerning Us and Conclusion

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This is part three of a study on prayer I wrote for my church.  You can read part one here, and part two at this other here. Part Three :: The Requests Concerning Us (6:11-15) As with all things in life, prayer is primarily about God.  Yet, prayer also has benefit for us.  After establishing the first [...]

19 March by Jeff Musgrave

The Problem of All or Nothing

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This post originally appeared at my personal blog. God is holy and perfect and commands us to be “perfect as He is perfect.” Perfection: it is a standard that we all know we cannot keep. Those who spend a great deal of time thinking about it are in real danger of driving themselves crazy. It [...]

12 March by Mike Bergman

The Lord’s Prayer, part 2: The Requests Concerning God

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This is part two of a study on prayer I wrote for my church.  You can read part one here. Part Two :: The Requests Concerning God (6:9-10) This first section of three requests begins with a direct address to God, specifically God “our Father in heaven.”  This is significant in three main ways: Prayer [...]

9 March by Todd Benkert

Are you pursuing God?

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I have a question. Are you pursuing God? I mean really striving after him? That is a question for you whatever your season in life. God’s desire is that we pursue Him and that as a result of that pursuit, we find our joy in Him and Him alone. I’ve been thinking about the different [...]

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