Posts tagged theology
Story 25: A Firestorm of Faith: Making Way for the Glories of God

The crowds continued to flock to John, the wild preacher who gave his message in the open places, far from the Temple in Jerusalem. As he baptized the repentant in the waters of the Jordan River, the people could see that his bold declarations were full of the Spirit of God, and so they began to wonder who he was. Is he the prophet Elijah come back to life as foretold in Malachi 4:5?

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Story 27: Epic Adventure: The Chosen Ones of God

After his baptism, Christ was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to face the temptations of Satan. Meanwhile, the counsel of the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem, the most powerful religious leaders in the country, sent more priests to question John the Baptist.

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Story 30: Delving into the Mysteries of God: Nicodemus the Brave

The world of the Jews was being shaken. In the midst of their great, national Passover celebration, the young man named Jesus was turning everything upside down.

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Story 31: Divine Paradoxes and the Sin-Shattering Power of Humility

After the Lord and His disciples left Jerusalem, they went out to the hilly region of Judea. Jesus spent time with His disciples there and they baptized those that came to Him. John the Baptist was baptizing people in an area called Aenon. There was plenty of water there and many people journeyed to him as well. His disciples began discussing something that they thought was a real problem.

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Story 32: A Broken Woman in a Broken World and the Cleansing Streams of Living Water

As the ministry of Jesus began to grow in influence, a lot of people weren’t happy. John the Baptist’s disciples weren’t the only ones who noticed how popular Jesus was becoming. The Pharisees were taking notice of Him, too.

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Story 33: The Messiah's Preaching in Galilee Begins: Will the People Hear His Call?

As the Lord travelled to Galilee to begin His ministry there, He stopped for several days in Samaria. The people there had responded to His message of freedom and transformation with great faithfulness. Then the Lord journeyed to Cana.

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Story 34: Options for Response: Throw Truth off a Cliff (or lose your soul trying...)

As Jesus made His way through Galilee to tell the people of the region the Good News of the Kingdom of God, He traveled to His home town of Nazareth. They had waited for so many years through history for the Kingdom of God to come.

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Story 35: Introducing Mark

We have already learned about the writers of the book of Luke and the book of Matthew. Let’s refresh our memories, and then we’ll go on to learn about the writer of the book of Mark. Matthew was written by Jesus’ disciple, the tax collector. He wrote his book for the Jewish people to help them understand that Jesus was really the promised Messiah of Old Testament prophecy.

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Story 36: Signs of the End of Suffering: The One with Healing in His Hands

In the early days of Christ’s ministry, He spent His days preaching and teaching in the northern region of the nation of Israel around the Sea of Galilee. One day while Jesus was in Capernaum, He went for a walk along the edge of the water.

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Story 37: Leaving Everything You've Known for Everything You've Needed

How different were the people of Capernaum from those in Nazareth! They heard the words of Jesus and believed! Many were healed of their suffering. Can you imagine the excitement the people felt as they watched people being set free?

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Story 44: The Right Side of Belief Part 2: Hearing what He really said

Listening can be a dangerous thing.Often, we can have so many thoughts in our head…so many assumptions about ourselves and others and the way the world works…that even when we do listen, we only hear what makes it through the grid of our own mental noise.

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Story 46: A Day in the Life: The Crowds Come

One of the ways a writer expresses what is important is by using a lot of repetition. You can tell what is important to them by the subjects that they bring up the most often and by what themes get the most volume in their writings.

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Story 50: Rich in Blessings, Poor in Spirit

These words are like the doorway to being a disciple. In each verse, the Lord did not give a specific action, like “serving” or “sharing the Gospel.”

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Story 52: On Purity and Grace

As Jesus taught about those who would be blessed in the Kingdom of Heaven, the next thing he said was, “‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.’” What does it mean to see God? And for that matter, what does it mean to be pure in heart?

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Story 53: Persecuted Ones: His Love for You is Great

As I prepare this blog, my heart trembles. I have never been called upon to truly suffer for my faith. One of the interesting things about blogging is that I can check every day to see how many people have read my posts and what countries they are from.

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Story 54: The Terrible Beauty of the Beatitudes

When we read the Beatitudes, we see a picture of the qualities a disciple of Christ is meant to grow in. The descriptions are of a people so full of meekness and mercy that it is hard to imagine anyone would want to persecute them.

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Story 55: Salt and Light

In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus started by describing the qualities of those who are blessed in His Kingdom. They are very different from the things that receive respect and honor in the eyes of the world. They look like Him.

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Story 56: Fullness of Meaning: When the Word was Taught by the One Who Wrote It

Jesus preached the heart-wrenchingly beautiful qualities of a disciple as the opening poem of the Sermon on the Mount. Then He taught that the humility and dependence of His blessed ones would be like salt and light to the rest of the world.

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Story 57: We Are Murderers All: What Are You Doing With Your Failure?

Jesus declared that the Laws and prophecies of the Old Testament would remain unbreakable and true until the end of time. In His own life on earth, the Lord obeyed them with absolute perfection in response to His heavenly Father.

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Story 58: The Intoxicating Beauty of Romantic Love and It's Dangers in a Fallen World

Jesus was teaching the Sermon on the Mount. He explained what it means to be a member of God’s Kingdom. The key is found in qualities of the heart such as purity, mercy, and meekness. These rich inner qualities will show outwardly in the way Christ’s followers respond to life.

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