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THE GLORY OF GOD

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“ And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory. ” Matthew 24:30 The glory of God is cumulative manifestation of all that He is. It is the display of all His wonders; His attributes and works. His glory means His renown, honor, magnificence, and resplendence – all worthy of praise, exaltation and worship. He is distinguished above all and outshines everything and everyone, for all glory ultimately belongs to Him. His glory never fails to continually captivate all those who behold Him. He never fails to impress or elicit praise and adoration. His glory never fades and never passes away. It is eternal. The terms used for glory in the scriptures refers to being “heavy, weighty, powerful, burdensome”. It is the idea of having a weighty reputation and exceeding honor. It is also associated with overpowering brilliance, bright...
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THE GOD OF PEACE

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Peace in the Battle “And the God of peace will be with you.” Phil 4: 9 Peace and quiet. Wouldn’t that be nice for once? When we look around us we often see nothing but a world full of conflict, stress, anxiety, and fear. It seems like a never ending battle to maintain any sort of calm. But when our eyes turn to Him above, everything begins to change. Conflict is put into perspective, stress eases, anxiety is relieved and fears fade. Even if the battle outwardly continues we are overcome with peace, God’s peace. All because He is the God of Peace. (Romans 15:33, 16:20; Philippians 4:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:23, Hebrews 13:20).   The Lord is at peace within Himself. Nothing is conflicting within Him. There is complete peace within the Father, Son and Holy Spirit - the Trinity. All in perfect harmony and the utmost of love. His peace is made secure because He is all powerful and sovereign. Nothing to disrupt that peace. His enemies do not cause Him to fear or lack peace. H...
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DOES GOD HATE?

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You must not worship the Lord your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the Lord hates. Deuteronomy 12:31 What the heck is this doing in here?! Hate is a bad word isn’t it? After all, God is love, right? So how can God hate? Is love and hatred incompatible? It almost seems antithetical. And yet, all throughout scripture we see that God has hatred. He even tells us to hate. The idea seems to both contradict our feelings about God and life as well as authenticate the sense that hating some things just seems the right thing to do. Rank this as one of the embarrassing things about God that Christians are often afraid to talk about. Somehow this notion of a God who hates appears to be nothing but a leftover belief of an antiquated tribal deity. It certainly doesn’t fit the “Don’t offend me” culture in which we live. Yet it is certainly a comforting aspect of who God is. He hates the things we rightly hate.   Hatred...
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THE GENTLENESS OF GOD

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He will not break a bruised reed or extinguish a smoldering wick, until He brings justice to victory.  Matthew 12:20 Take my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart , and you will find rest for your souls .  Matthew 11:29 40 Now a leper came to Him and fell to his knees, asking for help. “If You are willing, You can make me clean,” he said. 41 Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “ I am willing . Be clean !” 42 The leprosy left him at once, and he was clean.  Mark 1:40–42 25 Now a woman was there who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years. 26 She had endured a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all that she had. Yet instead of getting better, she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind Him in the crowd and touched His cloak, 28 for she kept saying, “If only I touch His clothes, I will be healed.” 29 At once the bleeding ...
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THE GOD OF JOY

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" Enter into the joy of your master. " Matthew 25:21 There are many reasons that we find joy in life. There is joy in victory - when good triumphs over evil. There is joy when we have perfect love. There is joy when we find satisfaction and fulfillment. There is joy when there is a good expected future outcome. There is joy when we are surrounded by others who are experiencing joy. (Shared joy is often the best!)  As a result, you'd think that Christians should have more joy than anyone else. But for some strange reason, it has been often modeled to us that Christianity is a somber, serious and painful enduring of life, if not even downright boring. I've heard someone once describe Christians as looking like people who sit around and suck lemons. And yet, as we find in the descriptions of scripture, nothing of the sort. The contrary is true. God tells us that the prevailing attitude of Heaven is sheer joy. The main reason? Because He is a God of joy. Thro...
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GOD THE JUDGE

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" And no creature is hidden from God, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must render an account." Hebrews 4:13 What is it that makes a good judge? A good Judge must have a thorough knowledge of the law. They must possess fairness, have integrity and keen discernment. But no matter how good the judge is, they must have the authority and power to execute their judgment.  The Lord is a fulfillment of all that is required for a good judge. He has a thorough knowledge of the law because He wrote the law. He is the standard. He is fair, as He is not dissuaded by reputation. He has integrity because He is faithful unto all that He is and says.  No one can slip one by Him or deceive Him, for He is all knowing - knowing not only all our actions, all the surrounding events but also all the thoughts and intentions of our hearts. He is the key witness and the expert witness. As the God of truth, He knows all truth. No one will find looph...
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WHEN WE MAKE REALLY DUMB DECISIONS

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It's easy to point out and mock the insane decisions other people make and to lambast away at how horrible their actions were and the consequences they deserve. Then we piously rant about the right thing they should have done. In our minds, it's all well deserved. But inevitably, the Spirit begins to work in our own hearts and we can't help but look at ourselves, remembering the times when we also did something really stupid. So stupid that the regrets continue to haunt us, even at the most inappropriate random moments. Decisions that seemed so far out of the character from what we've esteemed for ourselves; leaving us shaking our heads and murmuring in disappointment to ourselves, "I'm such an idiot! How can I blow it like that?" If only we could have that moment back again in order to make the right decision.   So, what do we do when we've done something we regret? When we have just plain blown it? We have a variety of choices to make after...
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