Tag: grace
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So the Wall Was Finished
15So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. 16And when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem, for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.–Nehemiah 6 The great…
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It Is Through the Grace
9“He [God] did not discriminate between us [Jewish] and them [Gentile], for he purified their [Gentile believers’] hearts by faith. 10Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? 11No! We believe it is through the grace…
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Great Grace
33And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.–Acts 4 The apostles led the early church in two key ways here. They testified to the resurrection of Jesus. And they influenced their flock with grace. My friends, God has worked…
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Foster Love
9Whoever would foster love covers over an offense, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.–Proverbs 17 Relationships thrive where grace is present. Grace is always undeserved or unmerited. Relationships suffer where bitterness is present. Bitterness repeats the past and never shows grace. There is a need for confession and owning your wrongs. But there…
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Arose and Began to Rebuild
2Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak arose and began to rebuild the house of God that is in Jerusalem, and the prophets of God were with them, supporting them.–Ezra 5 The people in Jerusalem faced a decision. They knew what honored God, but political opponents previously stopped them. Now…
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A Companion of Gluttons
7The one who keeps the law is a son with understanding, but a companion of gluttons shames his father.–Proverbs 28 It almost seems impossible that Jesus didn’t have this proverb on his mind when he gave his famous parable about the Prodigal Son in Luke 15. Let’s use that passage to illustrate. A father had…
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If You Return to Him
For the LORD your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him.–2 Chronicles 30 King Hezekiah wrote a letter to the remnant of the nation of Israel. By this time, Israel up north had been conquered by the Assyrian Empire. Hezekiah was calling them to come…
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The Tension of Perspective
10For you, O God, have tested us;you have tried us as silver is tried.11You brought us into the net;you laid a crushing burden on our backs;12you let men ride over our heads;we went through fire and through water;yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.–Psalm 66 On one side is a crushing…
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You Were Dead, But God
1And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires…
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Jeroboam and Jonah
23In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, began to reign in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years. 24And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat,…
