Just as they were in the time of the early church, people notice and are drawn to others who fellowship and have genuine relationships with people who are nothing like themselves.
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God is love; so we were not only made for love, we were made by love. And while our hearts too often settle for lesser love, true love is what we long for. True love is what penetrates the deepest parts of who we are.
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So why in the world are we spending an entire summer studying prophets from thousands of years ago? Hopefully, now that we are halfway through the summer, you aren’t asking that question anymore. If you are, this blog post won’t answer that question. But at this point in our series on the minor prophets, you might have some questions about the historical context for these prophets. So this blog post is my attempt to answer those questions better than Wikipedia would.
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But there is no double meaning to Jesus’ words. He tells Judas that Mary did exactly what she was equipped for—what he equipped her for. She did exactly enough. Jesus fills in the gaps between Mary’s small action and Judas’ harsh words. And because she didn’t let the standards set by Judas hold her back, Mary’s story speaks to me all these years later.
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Yes, life might be easier if we could simply void out our emotions. But that kind of life wouldn’t be true life, would it? It wouldn’t be the kind of kingdom living that God invites us into. If God created emotions, then we can trust that they are good and serve a purpose. So what are we to do with them? It has been my experience that when we fully acknowledge our emotions, and entrust them with another person, we are on our way to holy feeling.
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When I close the Bible and live my life according to my own will, when things start crumbling and the walls of my life cave in, my first reaction is always to blame God, and it’s never God’s fault.
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In our study of Galatians, we have been looking at Paul’s defense of the gospel and his call to the believers in Galatia to not add anything—no rules, no laws, no additional steps—to their simple and profound faith in Jesus and in his death and resurrection. … I was reminded of the false gods that I and many believers that I know are tempted to serve again out of laziness, frustration, or just our plain self-centeredness.
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It’s still scary to trust God sometimes. Committing to be a partner at Summit doesn’t mean my relationship with God is perfect and life is super easy now. There’s no switch on the control panel that makes everything great; there’s no autopilot. But I can sit knowing that he is for me and never against me.
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Alongside seven bright girls and two incredibly wise leaders, I learned (or at least took a stab at) what it takes to thrive in a family, and how to follow God’s commandments regarding honoring mine.
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The very essence of Jesus’ time on earth was dotted with pain and joy, with laughing and grieving, sometimes in the very same breath.
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We asked a handful of artists at Summit—designers, painters, photographers, and writers—to take a simple prompt, “Jesus works miracles,” and to use their medium to express it. To take a truth about Jesus and use some of their God-given materials to share it with the world. Just as God uses his creation to reveal himself more fully to each of us, we, as image-bearers of God, can choose to use our creativity to show the world who he is.
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In Ephesians 1:17, Paul tells the Ephesians he prays for them as follows, “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.” There you have it: Father, Son and Holy Spirit all working together for the Ephesians’ (and our) benefit.
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Of course Jesus was a storyteller. He is the one who created us for story. He knew we would need stories to pass down his wisdom from generation to generation. He knew we would need stories to build depth of relationship in community. He knew we would need stories to make sense of this broken world.
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It struck me recently that while Jesus is a great example—a perfect example really—for how we ought to live, there is one thing necessary in our lives that Jesus taught but never had to model.
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Last year I spoke at For Her and it was the most surreal night of my 2017 and I met the Backstreet Boys in 2017, so there was some fierce competition. Female friendships have always been a challenge for me. I worry a lot that I’m too much and yet simultaneously not nearly enough.
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As the Holy-Spirit-inspired historical accounts of four men about the life and death of God’s son, Jesus, the Gospels highlight the tension of varied perspectives. While each Gospel can stand on its own as a reliable account, the authors—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—wrote with different purposes and to different audiences.
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I am not very good at prayer, I think because I’m too busy doing stuff—stuff that I think is important and necessary and, well, I just don’t have time to stop and pray. How would I ever get things done?
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I’ve been in this season recently where I’ve encountered a potential disconnect between my will and God’s will. I’m hoping and praying for something seemingly impossible. Something that could very well be in God’s plan, but maybe not. I don’t know yet. In this tension God is teaching me some things about my relationship to his will. And one of the ways he’s taught is through Summit’s Gospel Reading Plan.
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What is your response when you encounter Jesus? Not necessarily a conversation, but when something in your life clearly suggests that Jesus is at work, or you read a verse of Scripture and find it striking.
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When I was asked what I would want to record for the Jesus Songs project, my answer was pretty quick. I had written the bulk of a song called “I Call Him Lord” right after completing my first ever worship album release last year. It’s pretty typical (and frustrating) for me that whenever I get done with some big creative project, it’s usually followed by a wave of creativity that makes the project I just finished seem obsolete already.
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