peace (83)

Ian

Fruitful Unboxing

Galatians 5:22–26, 2 Peter 1:5–11, 1 Corinthians 12:4–11, Romans 12:9–21 We are all familiar with the list of the Fruits of the Spirit in Galatians. Hopefully, you even have them memorized (If not, there’s your challenge of the week). It is an impressive list. If…

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Ian

Spirit Grades

Jeremiah 23:30-40, 1 John 4:1–6 What is a spirit? In the Scriptures, there is the Holy Spirit. That is certainly one. However, often the time spirit is used, it is not a good thing. There are evil spirits. There are deceptive spirits. It is the…

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Ian

Freedom From Earned

Genesis 15:1–6, Romans 5:1–11, 1 John 1:5–2:2 One of the ongoing struggles that people have is earning their salvation. They think they can, or that they must. This is what is often called “works” in Christian circles. Theologians have discussed what “works” is from a…

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Ian

Respond How?

Haggai 1:4–14, Amos 7:10–17 It would be nice if nice things just happened. It would be nice if all the stuff that needs to happen, just happened. It doesn’t work that way. Someone has to take responsibility. God had fulfilled his promise that the remnants…

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Ian

Sharpening and Armor

Matthew 15:10–20, Luke 6:39–42, Ephesians 6:12–18 In our current political and cultural climate, there are plenty of sharp barbs being thrown out. If we wanted to, we could say flaming arrows, which is metaphorically accurate. It’s pretty nuts, and certainly unloving, unpeaceful, impatient (i.e, doesn’t…

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