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Tag Archive: suffering

The Potter’s Hand

One of Lemme's sculptures: The torn vessel reveals the work of the Spirit inside

1 [This is] the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 “Go down at once to the potter’s house; there I will reveal My words to you.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, working away at the wheel. 4 But the jar that he was making …

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Innocuous Seeker Sensitive Legalism

sad_woman

Most churches would hesitate to label themselves as legalistic or law-centered. I want to take a look at a typical ‘seeker-friendly’ helpful life-focused practical sermon meant to help normal average people lead better lives. Let’s suppose our friendly and kind of cool pastor has chosen to do a series on marriage. This is a popular …

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What was Jesus Thinking?

jesus_thinking

When Jesus was on the cross, suffering and dying, what was He thinking? When He said “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do,” did He really want to forgive them, or was He just saying that for posterity, while inwardly He secretly hated them for putting Him through all of that? On the …

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Praise in the Wilderness

  Here is a song I wrote a number of years ago, performed recently live by Betty and me at House of James in Abbotsford B.C. We are submitting it to a radio station contest so I decided to post it here as well. The basic message is that when things are not going so …

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The dignity of our suffering

photo © 2008 Brad Bridgewater | more info (via: Wylio) Everyone has a cross to bear, it is our very dignity, and it is true suffering. It must not be diminished nor taken from us. It reminds me of the priest in The Brothers Karamazov who told the bereaved woman that there would be no …

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The grace which humbles us

“”And He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.” Deuteronomy 8:3, NASB. …

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Speculation about Suffering

Taking ideas from the last post, there is another idea that formed for me. God, who creates universes with an utterance, who owns everything and if that isn’t enough can create more, and Jesus His son, who feeds 5000 with a few loaves and a word of thanks, had a key problem. How could He …

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worshipping when you’re wounded

I decided to post my sermon notes for this message so I can get some comments back and new ideas from everyone. It is kind of a loose amalgam of blog post and brief speaking points, but I’m throwing it out there anyway because I’m out of time and I have to go to work. …

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