Life Abundant: Pleasing God in the Mundane Deep Dive

In Acts 11:19-26, we read about the disciples’ doings, which led to the coining of the term ‘Christian.’  Others saw that their way of life was different from everyone else, but similar to that of Jesus Christ, so they called them Christians.  They were labeled because of their Christ like actions.  Let’s take a look …

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***Devotional – Pleasing God in the Mundane****

  Read: Matthew 3:13-17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17). The crowd looked on in awe.  One minute, he was just another person getting baptized.  Next, the heavens opened up with a ringing endorsement from God Almighty Himself, saying “This …

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Life Abundant – Walking with God

The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. – Genesis 2:8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God …

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***Devotional – Idolatrous Priorities***

In the middle of a sermon, someone called out.  “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”  Without skipping a beat, Jesus replied, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” Then he turned to the crowd. “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness…” (Luke 12:13 – 15) …

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Life Abundant – Courage to Die Boldly

  My church just completed a message series entitled ‘Living Like You’re Dying.’  Yes – I know it sounds morbid, but stay with me :). The central theme of the series was that people who have only a limited time to live (and know it) have a certain perspective and clarity about life.  Suddenly, things …

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***Devotional Share – Chicken or Eagle?***

In keeping with our Life Abundant theme, I’m sharing this excerpt from a devotional published by Journey Christian Church on August 25: In his book, The Song of the Bird, author Anthony de Mello tells the following story: A man found an eagle’s egg and put it in a nest of a barnyard hen.  The eaglet hatched …

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Life Abundant – Passion Unleashed

What would the world look like if we all lived out our lives with passion, fully embracing our call and design? I remember watching the series AD – The Bible Continues, and truly despising the character who played Saul.  His desire to eliminate the Jesus followers was quite disturbing, and I had trouble wrapping my …

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***Devotional – A Holy Desperation***

Read: Mark 5:24-32 The disciples thought Jesus had lost it.  A multitude of people pressed in, and He wanted to identify just one!  But Jesus stood his ground – someone had touched him.  Eventually the woman trembled forward with a confession.  How had Jesus singled her out? Jesus could tell that most of the people …

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Life Abundant – Coming Alive

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” -          Howard Thurman, African American author, theologian, and civil rights leader “Man fully alive is the glory of God.” -          St. Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons “I have come …

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New Series – Life Abundant

“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” (Ecclesiastes 1:2) So opens Ecclesiastes, one of the Bible’s five wisdom books. This pessimistic view of life is amplified by 17th century philosopher Thomas Hobbes, who wrote that “the life of man [is] solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.” Current world events appear to support …

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