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Spiritual Complacency

The residents of Jerusalem during King Josiah’s reign (640-609 BC) experienced a revival that came with a rediscovery of God’s previously ignored and misplaced Word.  Zephaniah, a prophet, warned that enjoying the memory of a revival is not the same as living in response to God. The problem?  The people of his day were ready […]

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Is Godliness Goodliness?

Sometimes an individual in a church is described as being a very godly individual.  But what does that mean?  This post was sparked by a comment at a recent gathering of Christian leaders where one of the speakers stated that godliness is a “steady growth in reverence for God.” On one level there is a […]

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Stability in Chaos

Jeremiah’s book is God’s spiritual and moral bristle brush: it always gives my soul a good scrub when I read it.  God, as the prophet tells us, will confront sin.  Chaos is coming.  Why?  Because national religious and political leaders all support evil: the evil of ignoring God’s words and ways.  Jeremiah promises his readers […]

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Eyes to See

This past week we had a great time at the Cor Deo Intensive.  One of many highlights was studying sections from John’s gospel together.  What became clear as we worked through John 5 was how the religious experts in Israel seemed to have selective sight when it came to their Bible reading. These were people […]

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Heroes of the Faith

Today in our Cor Deo meeting we spoke of Athanasius as one of the heroes of the faith.  As bishop of Alexandria, Egypt, (328-373) he was sent into exile by various Roman emperors five times, so that of his 45 years in office he was away more than he was at home.  Still he wrote […]

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Primary Concerns Divine and Human

I was preaching last week and sought to gain assent to the fact that relationships matter more than other goals we tend to esteem in our culture.  I spoke of an individual who had pursued the “P’s” of possessions, power, position, prominence, prestige and popularity.  Yet after achieving the ultimate promotion in his career, he […]

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Faith and Experience

Christians, if quizzed, will favor firm objective truth rather than loose subjectivity.  If, for instance, believers are asked, “Do you know that God loves you?” most will respond with, “Yes, of course”.  We can treat God’s love as an objective certainty affirmed in the Bible.  But if the subjective question is asked, “Do you often […]

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Getting Married

This week’s post is a timely offering from Chris Carrier, one of the Cor Deo team in 2011.  We deeply appreciated Chris during our months together and are sure you’ll appreciate his first guest post on the site.  Thanks again, Chris. ————————————————————– I’ve studied and prayed about marriage for the past year.  Why?  Because in […]

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Mid-life Crises and the Drain of Duty

In recent months I have seen several people go into a state of personal crisis. A mid-life crisis that manifests in buying a motorbike and starting a combat sport is one thing, going into spiritual meltdown is something altogether different. Why does it happen? I don’t want to presume to know the inner workings of […]

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Humility as a hearing aid

Psalm 34 is attributed to David as his response to God after he played the madman before the king of Gath.  One distich in the Psalm caught my attention in a new way: “My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad.”  I take it that David was aligning […]

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