Little Condo on the Prairie (May 28)

Posted on 2013/05/28 by Shawn Thomas

The countdown to Josh & Libby’s baby continued in The Little Condo on the Prairie last week, and we huddled together while storms passed nearby …

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STORM CHASER?

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Our Compassionate God

Posted on 2013/05/28 by Shawn Thomas

In Exodus 34, God granted Moses’ request to see His glory. Verses 6-8 describe what happened: “Then Yahweh passed by in front of him and proclaimed, ‘Yahweh, Yahweh God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.’ Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship.” Continue reading →

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A Most Memorial Day

Posted on 2013/05/27 by Shawn Thomas

This is a re-post of an article I wrote two years ago on Memorial Day. I thought it might be appropriate to share it again today, out of gratitude for Carl Whitley — and countless others like him.

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My Memorial Day did not unfold exactly the way I had envisioned it a week or so ago, but in the end it was the most poignant, and memorable, I have ever experienced …

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Suffering For Others’ Salvation

Posted on 2013/05/27 by Shawn Thomas

On this Memorial Day, many are commemorating those who lost their lives defending our country and preserving our liberties. They suffered in order to ensure our freedom. In II Timothy 2:10 we find a similar concept. The Apostle Paul writes: “For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.”

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Fellowship at the Mercy Seat

Posted on 2013/05/26 by Shawn Thomas

In Exodus 25:22 God spoke to Moses regarding the mercy set of the Ark of the Covenant: “There I will meet with you; and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give in commandment for the sons of Israel.” The “mercy seat” was the covering of the Ark, and significantly, it was the place where propitiation was made for sins by the sprinkling of blood. Notice there are two verbs here in relation to the mercy seat:
— God said, “there I will meet with you” and
— “there I will speak with you …”
These point to two basic needs of God’s people which God said He would meet at the mercy seat:

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Better the Little of the Righteous

Posted on 2013/05/25 by Shawn Thomas

Psalm 37:16 says: “Better is the little of the righteous than the abundance of many wicked.” Psalm 37 presents several contrasts of the righteous and the wicked, and enjoins God’s people not to envy the wicked. Verse 16 is a part of that instruction. As God’s people, we are not to envy the prosperity that rebels against God inexplicably seem so often to enjoy.

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Your Testimony & Your Family

Posted on 2013/05/24 by Shawn Thomas

In Exodus 18:1-12, Moses’ father-in-law Jethro came to meet him during the Exodus in the wilderness. Moses told him about all that God had done (:8). Jethro rejoiced (:9) and blessed God (:10) and offered God a sacrifice as a result of Moses’ testimony (:12). Verse 11 says that Jethro exclaimed: “Now I know that Yahweh is greater than all the gods.” Moses’ testimony of what God had done for them had a dramatic effect on his relatives.

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A Key To Spiritual Growth

Posted on 2013/05/23 by Shawn Thomas

In Philemon :6 Paul writes to Philemon with the prayer “that the fellowship of your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ’s sake”.
Paul wrote that Philemon’s faith would be more effective as he grew in KNOWLEDGE. We see verses similar to this throughout Paul’s writings (“I pray that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment”, Philippians 1:9, etc.) True, godly, Biblical knowledge is a key to spiritual growth. Continue reading →

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The Missing Distinctive

Posted on 2013/05/22 by Shawn Thomas

Exodus 33:16 is a signature verse. Moses said: “For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth?”
HOW is the world to know that God’s people are different from all the others? Moses asserted that it is the manifest presence of God.

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A Surprising Sign of Wickedness

Posted on 2013/05/21 by Shawn Thomas

Psalm 10 speaks of “The wicked” in :3. But when many of us think of “the wicked” we often picture some REALLY bad people, not anyone like US! But some might be surprised at what :4 says about the wicked:

“The wicked, in the haughtiness of his countenance, does not seek Him. All his thoughts are, ‘there is no god.'” This teaches us that NOT SEEKING GOD is a sign of wickedness. Is this a “surprising sign of wickedness”?

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