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Monday Morning Prayer
“Dear Lord, So far today, I’ve done all right. I haven’t gossiped, haven’t lost my temper, haven’t been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or over indulgent. I’m very thankful for that. But, in a few minutes, God, I’m going to get out of bed. And from then on, I’m probably going to need a lot more…
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The Perfect Church
I think that I shall never see A Church that’s all it ought to be; A Church whose members never stray Beyond the Strait and Narrow way; A Church that has no empty pews, Whose Pastor never has the blues, A Church whose Deacons always deak, And none is proud, and all are meek. Where…
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The Lifetime of His God
O, the grace of God that He would call us to serve Him—we undeserving, incapable, ignorant slaves of earth. Yet He calls us, and that is but a part of His great grace to us. Jonah was among the recipients of God’s grace in all its wonder, that He would use such as him. More wondrous still…
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The Weapon that Wins the Culture War
How is culture war be won? How is it lost? The answer for both is the same—the church. So how does victory come? One Boston professor nailed it… “America has the most wise and just and most Biblical and moral and constitutional foundation in the world—just like ancient Israel. America is one of the most…
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Why There is a Universe
Where did everything come from? Such a big question requires a bigger answer (though not always a popular one). Of course I’m speaking of God. Why are we here? There are many ways people might answer this question, but the bottom line is perhaps the biggest one of all—and it even reveals why we have a universe… “He works on us in all sorts of…
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Stunned Surprise
Several years ago a friend named “PJ” moved out of my hometown, Cool, California, for good. Before he left he handed me a plaque inscribed with a poem he meant to be about himself, but it actually spoke of me (and perhaps you, too) and God’s amazing grace. I think of PJ whenever I recite it, and smile… I dream’t of heaven the other night, and…
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A Packaged Tour of the Absolute
The Church is a training camp and supply depot for soldiers and servants in the deadliest war ever waged, a hospital for casualties and defectors in which we are its nurses and chaplains, a weight room for the weak, a mess hall for the hungry and a power plant for the Light for the world. To drift from this is to forfeit a war…
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The View From Here…
How we view God has a huge impact on how we treat others. A wise friend once observed, “We are created in God’s image. Whenever you meet a man, it is God asking you, “How will you treat Me?” I have yet to recover from this statement. I am glad. —j
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A Slight Interruption of Faith
Sometimes we need a little shaking—something that interrupts a sleepy faith marinading in the idea that the church exists to feed, coddle and satisfy our appetite for wonder, when in fact it does’t exist for us at all. The church is Jesus living through His followers (herein is the wonder) and His followers living for Him and for each other. In fact the church is the only entity on earth…
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No Trivial Pursuit
Following Jesus is no trivial pursuit; neither is it a religious duty reserved for the devout. Following Jesus is capitulating (in ashes) to who He really is and doing what He said to do. Christians may find this somewhat optional (if we’re honest) or even imposing, but followers of Jesus follow because they came to the shattering realization of just…
Jay McCarl 