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Matthew 6:8-9

Matthew 6:8-9

  Matthew 6:8-9, “…your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. Pray then like this: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.”   Short Thoughts: When we pray this, we are asking for the beauty of God’s identity—as He has made it known in the crucified and risen Son—to illuminate and saturate

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Psalm 139:23-24

Psalm 139:23-24

  Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts! See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”   Short Thoughts: And if we are in Christ, we have nothing to fear from the searching eyes of our Lord….let

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Psalm 115:4,8-9

Psalm 115:4,8-9

  Psalm 115:4,8-9, “Their idols are…the work of human hands…Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them. O Israel, trust in YHWH!”   Short Thoughts: The human soul—from the inside out—will become like that in which it trusts.   Longer Thoughts: The key thing to see in the text

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1 Corinthians 2:2

1 Corinthians 2:2

  1 Corinthians 2:2, “…I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”   And in knowing Christ Crucified (and risen) we know every good, true and beautiful thing. To know the identity of God in the crucified and risen Son and make Him known; to enjoy Him and help others

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Revelation 19:7-8

Revelation 19:7-8

  Revelation 19:7-8, Let us rejoice and exult and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure…” …with garments washed white in the blood of the Lamb (7:14) No long thoughts on

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Matthew 3:17

Matthew 3:17

  Matthew 3:17, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”   Short Thoughts: And all who are trusting Christ as their life, have entered into this same fellowship as beloved sons and daughters, with whom the Father is well pleased.   Long Thoughts: By virtue of the Christian’s union to God

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Leviticus 16:21

Leviticus 16:21

  Leviticus 16:21, “And Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of the live goat,  and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat…” (Also, Is.53:4-6). Short Thoughts: Christ is the

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Hebrews 9:27

Hebrews 9:27

  Hebrews 9:27, “…it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.” Short Thoughts: Shining like the dawn (or blazing like a furnace) on the horizon of ever human life is an inevitable, unavoidable, impending and ever approaching encounter with the living Jesus Christ.   Long Thoughts: Once again, this morning’s

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Romans 9:25

Romans 9:25

Romans 9:25, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call, ‘beloved.’” Short Thoughts: Anyone who bows their soul to the risen Lord has been transformed from the core…no longer “not beloved,” but “beloved,” no longer in exile but welcomed home.   Long Thoughts:

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Luke 1:52

Luke 1:52

Luke 1:52, “He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate.” Short Thoughts: Through the crucified and risen Son, God shatters the foundation of every human power and lifts the humbly dependent to Himself. Long Thoughts: This picture was actually based on Psalm 107:40-41, 43….however, once I’d finished in

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Romans 10:4,9

Romans 10:4,9

  Romans 10:4,9, “Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes….becuase if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” There are no “short thoughts” today, the text from Romans says pretty clearly

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John 20:16

John 20:16

  John 20:16, “Mary.”   Short Thoughts: Because He has gone before them through suffering into glory, when the Risen Christ calls His sheep by name, He turns their mourning to joy, their sorrow to laughter, and their death into life. Long Thoughts: John 10:3-4, “…He calls His own sheep by name and leads them

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John 18:38 + John 14:6

John 18:38 + John 14:6

  John 18:38, “what is truth?” – Pilate John 14:6, “I am…the Truth…” – Jesus   Short Thoughts: Truth is the Person we meet in the suffering, dying, and rising Jesus. Long Thoughts: John 18:37, “For this reason I was born and for this reason I came into the world, in order to bear witness

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Acts 20:35

Acts 20:35

  Acts 20:35, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Short Thoughts: This principle is true only because the Triune God Himself—the most blessed of all—is the supreme Giver, as He declares definitively in the Son at the cross. Long Thoughts: What does it mean for something to be “more blessed”? Does it

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Revelation 5:9

Revelation 5:9

Revelation 5:9, “…for you were slain…”   Short Thoughts: The events of Revelation transpire because the scroll is opened. The scroll is opened because the Lamb is worthy. The Lamb is worthy because He was slain. One implication we can draw from this is that, as the Beloved Son hung naked and beaten and shamed

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Psalm 102:15-21

Psalm 102:15-21

Psalm 102:15-21 Nations will fear the name of YHWH and all the kings of the earth will fear your glory For YHWH builds up Zion; He appears in His glory; He regards the prayer of the destitute and does not despise their prayer Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a

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Revelation 2:10

Revelation 2:10

Revelation 2:10, “Do not fear what you are about to suffer.”   Short Thoughts:  May we receive from Christ’s hand whatever suffering He might ordain—not fearing it as the assault of an enemy—but receiving it as a mercifully appointed, wisely authored, lovingly tempered means for our deepest good.    Long Thoughts: Perhaps the first thing

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