family (219)

Ian

Advent Set Aside

Zechariah 14:1–9; 1 Thessalonians 4:1–18 So often, it takes destruction for transformation. Far too many stories, whether Alcoholics Anonymous, Celebrate Recovery, Narcotics Anonymous, or others involve someone hitting rock bottom before a turn-around occurs. The opening words from this passage from Zechariah are brutal. The…

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Ian

Prepare to Prepare

Psalm 80; Zechariah 13:1–9; Revelation 14:6–13 If you’ve ever watched a professional chef (besides the competition ones), they will often have pre-cut and -measured ingredients so that when a customer orders a dish, most of the time-consuming work is completed. If you’ve ever ordered a…

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Ian

Kingdom Justice

Psalm 7; Revelation 19:1–9 “They got what they deserved.” We long for justice. In fact, much of the separation between political parties and people, in general, is defined by justice. When we look at emotionally charged issues such as racism, justice is often the biggest…

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Ian

Purple Vision

Numbers 27:15–23; 2 Timothy 2:8–13 Having worked for family-owned and -run businesses, I know that one of the business’ concerns is, who’s next? Perhaps it might be better to say that the success of a family-owned and -run business is who will successfully lead it…

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Ian

Moneyed Futures

2 Samuel 7:12–21; Matthew 6:33–34; James 4:13–5:6 If you’ve ever listened to Dave Ramsey, you’ve probably heard of the “emergency” fund. When you start his Financial Peace University program, this is the first thing to be done. His point being that credit cards and payday…

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