Category Archives: New Testament

The Concept of “Race” Is a Lie – shared from Scientific American

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26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.

diversityPaul was speaking in Athens to the philosophers on Mars Hill.  What he evidently knew back then was not particularly controversial to his Greek audience at the time.  For some reason this no longer seems obvious today, but turns out Paul was right.  This is one of the points we tried to emphasize in the recent series Unity, Diversity and Our Identity in Christ.

Check out this post appearing today from Peter G. Prontzos of Scientific American.

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/the-concept-of-race-is-a-lie/

A Prayer Prompted by the Parables of Matthew 13

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Heavenly Father,

Christ has taught us about the reality and the danger of not responding positively and passionately to him.  Please help us to respond with unswerving commitment.

Let your word find good soil as it falls upon our hearts.  Let there be no corrupting or false influences in our faith.  Please keep us from being distracted by the enticements of this world.  Let us hold onto Jesus firmly, holding nothing back, remembering that he already gave everything for us.

Help us to make your kingdom the very center and goal of our lives. Cause us to continuously grow and bear fruit with perseverance as long as you allow us to live.

In Christ,

Amen.

Matthew 13 Verse by Verse

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Matt photoJesus gives us an extensive teaching using seven parable that all deal with the kingdom of heaven..  

Matthew 13.pdf

Matthew 13.mp3

 

A Prayer for Good Fruit Prompted by Matthew 12:33-35

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33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. 

Heavenly Father,

I deeply desire that my life would bear good fruit, the kind that would please you in every way.  For that to happen I ask first that you would make the the kind of person that might be comparable to a good tree, so that good fruit would naturally appear.

Since it is true that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, I ask you first to purify my heart.  Let my heart be filled with an abundance of good. Then let my mouth speak good things that would impact others for good purposes.

Let me be a good person in your eyes because I allow you make me good.  There is no possible way for me to be good on my own.  Then let my life bring forth good out of my good treasure.

One way or another, I am going to leave a legacy.  Let what I leave behind be good.  Once again, Father, I desire that my life would bring forth good fruit.  For that to happen I ask you to change me from within, so that good would be the natural outcome of all that I say and do.

And I ask this for Jesus’ sake and for his glory.

Amen.