written (42)

Ian

Worship Heart-Fully

2 Kings 23:4–20, Ezekiel 42:13‭-‬14 King Josiah had a mess to clean up. Over the years, his kingly predecessors and the priestly predecessors had put a lot of stuff that didn’t belong in the temple. A lot of it was worship pieces for worshipping gods…

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Ian

Magic Targets

2 Peter 1:16–21, 2 Timothy 4:1–8 Yesterday, we read about mediums, sorcerers, et al., and that they were bad mostly because of the human tendency toward the self. The problem with the way this is portrayed is what seems to be an apparent conflict between…

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Ian

Evaluating Value

John 8:2–12, 2 Corinthians 5:10–15 Before we go any further, this story in John is an odd one. It does not show up in the earliest manuscripts that we currently have, however, the story does show up soon (time-wise) after the earliest manuscript. What is…

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Ian

Stone to Grace

Exodus 28:15–30, Ezekiel 36:24–30, Luke 3:7–9, Luke 19:37–40 “I’ve done too much.” “God would never forgive me.” “I would be [struck by lightening/catch on fire/combust/die] if I walked through the doors.” “If you (or God) knew what I had done…” Have you heard any of…

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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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