You Live What You Believe

Posted on 2013/05/31 by Shawn Thomas

Psalm 14:1 says: “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds. There is no one who does good.”
This Psalm goes on to describe how “they have all turned aside”. Romans 3 famously quotes Psalm 14 as proof of the depravity of all mankind. But the ungodly practices of those who are corrupt and do no good have their origin in :1, where they say, “There is no God.” Their lives are corrupt because their hearts reject God.
This verse reminds us that it very much matters what you believe.

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Charge That To My Account

Posted on 2013/05/30 by Shawn Thomas

In Philemon:18 the Apostle Paul speaks of the debts that the runaway slave, Onesimus, owed to Philemon: “charge that to my account.” We see in the Apostle Paul an analogy of what Christ has done for us. We are like the slave Onesimus; we have transgressed and are in debt. Jesus is like the Apostle Paul in this passage; He has an account with the debt-holder which is plenty enough to pay the debt which was owed. Onesimus was blessed to have someone like Paul, who would declare of his debts: “charge that to my account.” In the same way, WE are blessed to have Jesus say for the debt of our sins: “charge that to My account!”
But we would be remiss if we did not highlight a second application, regarding the debts that OTHERS owe US. Continue reading →

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Come Up In The Morning

Posted on 2013/05/29 by Shawn Thomas

In Exodus 34:2 God commanded Moses: “So be ready by morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to Me on the top of the mountain.”
Here, just before God would show His glory to Moses, He commanded him to come to the top of the mountain and “present yourself there to Me.”
There is a sense in which we are also to do that same thing each day. Continue reading →

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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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