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Omniscient

In Bible Study, Blog, Luke on
May 22, 2022

Jesus Draws Near to the Outcast

There have many times in my life when I felt like an outcast. I wasn’t doing what everyone else was doing. I wasn’t wearing what everyone else was wearing. I wasn’t watching what everyone else was watching. Sometimes, I’ve been glad for this. I’ve been happy to stand out and stand up for my principles and beliefs. Other times, I’ve resented this. I just wanted to fit in with my friends and peers, and I felt judged and excluded for being different. Whether I felt my outcast identity was good or bad in the moment, it pretty much always has left me feeling lonely. Life is hard, and it’s even harder when you’re doing it alone, without the help and encouragement of someone else who’s been in the same boat.

If we’re being honest, we’ve probably all felt like outcasts at some point or another, each of us experiencing varying degrees of loneliness, judgment, and exclusion. But in the book of John, Jesus comes upon a woman who was likely far more alone, far more judged, and far more excluded than we could ever imagine. And He met her in a city of Samaria.

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In Bible Study, Blog, Luke on
January 31, 2022

Jesus Draws Near to the Powerless

I cannot imagine what it must be like to never be able to walk or run. I cannot fathom what it must feel like to never be able to stand up and stretch and move around. As a person who likes to be in control of her life, I can’t conceive how frustrated I would be and how powerless I would feel that I couldn’t do normal, everyday tasks, like buying groceries, or putting on clothes, or going to the bathroom.

It can be easy for able-bodied people to take these things for granted, to forget how many things we need our legs for. I thank God that He has blessed me with legs that can run, walk, bend, stretch, skip, jump, crouch, and squat. But the unimaginable, the unfathomable, the inconceivable, the frustrating powerlessness is a reality for many people, including the paralyzed man in Luke 5.

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In Bible Study, Blog, Isaiah on
December 20, 2021

A Child is Born

Christmas is a busy time of year. It’s a time of baking cookies, hosting holiday parties, and singing all of your favorite Christmas carols. It’s a time of wrapping presents, drinking hot chocolate, and last-minute shopping for that one family member you didn’t know was coming into town. It’s a time of hanging lights, decorating trees, and watching classic films, like Home Alone, Christmas with the Kranks, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. For some, Christmastime is filled with joy and cheer. For others, Christmastime is filled with stress and exhaustion.

No matter what life stage or season we’re in, we all have busy schedules at the end of each year, and we all get to a point where it feels like there is so much to do and so little time to do it all in. But as we attempt to fit in all the festivities and events, we miss something. We forget that Christmas is about more than the gifts and the music and the décor. It’s a day when we are to celebrate the birth of a child. And not just any child, but the Son of God.

What is so special about this child? Why does this boy named Jesus deserve our focus, our reverence, our worship? We can discover the answers to these questions by consulting a roughly 2,700-year-old Jewish prophecy written by a man named Isaiah.

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In Attributes of God, Blog, Theology on
September 27, 2021

He is True

Do you believe in absolute truth? Do you believe that something can be true no matter what? If you do, you’re in the minority! According to a 2020 Barna Group research study, 58% of American adults believe that truth depends on the individual, and that even includes people who claim to be born-again Christians.[1] The majority of Americans believe that moral truth is relative. They believe there are no absolute truths, which is ironic because by saying there are no absolute truths, one is admitting that there actually is at least one. We, as Christians, should believe that there are absolute moral truths because we have the Source of absolute truth-

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In Blog, Common Questions, Theology on
September 13, 2021

What is God’s Will for My Life?

Discerning the will of God is something I think every Christian has attempted to do at one point or another. It’s definitely something I’ve prayed for and longed for and tried to figure out. I’ve often asked that God would reveal His will to me about different decisions or situations, but most of the time I never get a clear, solid answer. Honestly, I sometimes wish I could be like Gideon and put out a fleece to get some answers from God (please, do not do this the next time you need to make a decision).

God’s will can be a tricky thing to understand. We’re told that nothing happens outside of God’s will. But does that mean it’s God will for a family member to be diagnosed with cancer? Is it God’s will for a friend to get in a serious car accident? Is it God’s will for a child to tragically die at a young age? And how are we to understand His will well enough to make decisions that won’t fall outside of it?

All these questions stem from a misunderstanding of God’s will. There are actually three aspects of the will of God: His sovereign will, His moral will, and His personal will.

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