Biblical Teachings

A Most Unwelcome Leader – by Steve Schmutzer

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You have to admit – it’s a fantastic story.Against all odds, a well-known polarizing figure gains the leadership of an entire nation – the world’s number one superpower. But he’s an outsider. He’s not one of the establishment folk, and his path to power was an unconventional one. Not everyone is happy about this – especially the members of the ruling class. This new guy’s a legitimate threat to their self-serving agenda, and his early successes force them to rethink what they most want to believe about themselves. While the new leader gained his position through proper process, plenty of …

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The Trees that are Slow to Grow Bear the Best Fruit – Molière

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How patient should we be? To what extent is godly patience practiced? How many chances should we give to someone who knowingly has bad intentions and wants to harm us? Very often, we act hastily at the first hint of an offense, and we are quick to condemn. Is our patience contained in a shallow vase that needs only a few drops more to overflowing which then pulls the trigger of condemnation? To bring truth even closer to the surface, we need to question the extent to which partiality plays in our rush to rebuke one and not the other. …

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Getting What He Paid For!

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Dr. Mike Murphy It should never shock us to hear the wisest of words spoken at a Bible study.  So many times, even in teaching a study, I have heard the Holy Spirit speak the greatest words of wisdom.  Not through me, but coming from the lips of those in the class. Hearing the Spirit speak through them in the most amazing of ways, as their words taught far more than I could ever bring to the class that day.In a Bible study the other day, the Holy Spirit gave me another one of these moments.  As from a man …

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“Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”

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How many times during each of our lives have we heard these words? Despite how often you have heard these words, how many of you know where these words come from? We all know these as words of encouragement, words that tell us the benefit of diligence and hard work.Most who know a little about these words, will attribute them to Benjamin Franklin, and his publication of Poor Richard’s Almanac. In the 1735 version of the almanac, most Americans first saw these words in print. Words that Franklin saw as giving an earnest intent, with an uplifting message that reached …

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33–Isaiah Judgment of Philistia

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This heavy prophecy was given to Isaiah in approximately 715 B.C. It described the destruction of Philistia which consisted of five city states located in the Gaza Strip on the Southwest coast of Israel. They were Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron. Each functioned as an individual entity with its own king and government. The […]

Operation 10/40

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Originally written March 2012 Having spent three and a half years of my adult life embedded in the Middle East ”sharing our culture” with the Iraqis, Afghanis, Jordanians, and Saudis, I feel like I can speak firsthand about our foreign policy experiment with a high degree of clarity that a lot of our pundits and […]

Heaven and a Billion Dollars – by Jack Kinsella

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The Bible has almost as much to say about heaven as it does about hell. What is heaven really like? Can we know on this side of eternity, or do we have to wait until we get our wings, cloud assignment and tub of cream cheese, first? First, how many ‘heavens’ are there? The word ‘heaven’ has three meanings in Scripture.Genesis 1:6-8 calls the atmosphere surrounding the earth ‘heaven’. Genesis 1:14-19 and Psalms 19:1 makes reference to outer space, the abode of the sun, moon and stars, as ‘heaven’. And finally, heaven is the place where God has His Throne. …

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“The unsearchable riches of Christ.”—Ephesians 3:8.

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C. H. Spurgeon “The unsearchable riches of Christ.”—Ephesians 3:8. MY Master has riches beyond the count of arithmetic, the measurement of reason, the dream of imagination, or the eloquence of words. They are unsearchable! You may look, and study, and weigh, but Jesus is a greater Saviour than you think Him to be when your thoughts are at the greatest. My Lord is more ready to pardon than you to sin, more able to forgive than you to transgress. My Master is more willing to supply your wants than you are to confess them. Never tolerate low thoughts of my …

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