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  • Devotion: Wilderness Wandering and Spiritual Assessment

    After spending 6 weeks dwelling with The Story, how do you feel? Just like the road trip we talked about Sunday morning in worship, the beginning of The Story has been exciting as we see the possibilities ahead for us this year. You may have found that The Story hasn’t been what you expected. You…

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    prjeffwilson
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  • Devotion: God’s Commands vs. God’s Love

    On Sunday, I posed a couple of questions that have led to some great conversations: (1) When God interacts with us or judges us, which holds more sway – God’s Commandments or God’s Love? (2) Do God’s laws change? God’s commands and the obedience of God’s people are obviously important because God tells Moses to…

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  • Welcoming All of God’s Children

    35[Jesus] sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” 36Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, 37“Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and…

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  • Devotion: Deliverance

      Could you be like Moses? I’m sure your first reaction is “No way!” Well … think about that … why not? Moses didn’t even think he should be able to do what God called him to do. But, God chose to reach out to Moses. Could we say that Moses may not have been…

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  • Devotion: Joseph – From Slave to Deputy Pharaoh

    The story of Joseph is familiar to many of us because of Sunday School or dramatizations like Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. This story also helps us see how God was indeed with Joseph and how God prospered Joseph even through some terrible situations. If you haven’t read chapter 3 of The Story, you could…

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  • Devotion: The Story – Abraham

    The focus for this week is the story of Abraham and the building of a nation. I suggest starting with reading The Story, chapter 2. If you need a book, they are available at church. If you weren’t able to be in church on Sunday, we covered a lot in the sermon (see “References” below for…

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  • Devotion: The Story – Creation part 2

    The wonder of Creation often becomes burdened with the politics of environmentalism, the deep questions of existentialism, and the theological dissection of precisely happened at Creation and how long it took to transpire. It’s good and natural for us to question and dig deeper – and I hope you do. As I see it, the…

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  • The Story

    13For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” 14But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? 15And how are they to…

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  • Church Size and Ministry Effectiveness – What is God’s Role?

    I was thinking this morning about large and small churches – churches that seem to have near limitless funding and people to provide great services and ministry – churches like Lakewood (Joel Osteen), Willow Creek (Bill Hybels), Saddleback (Rick Warren), and McLean Bible Church (Lon Solomon). Regardless of what issues or concerns we have with…

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  • Devotion: The Story – Creation

      This is where it all begins. Week 1 of “The Story” … Creation. Even now, so many people study and debate what happened at the beginning – where we all came from – what started it all. As a pastor, people often ask me about Creation: Was the universe created in a literal 7…

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