Month: January 2018

And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” Genesis 25:30-32 Several years ago, I was moving a large pile of soil with a shovel…
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God tested Abraham . . . “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering . . .” Genesis 22:1-2 I once spoke with a man who just could not follow God as he clung to something in his…
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Genesis 19:26 Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. Several years ago, I sat in my doctor’s office, in tears, telling him of my depression. I blamed my demanding job, my insomnia and the time of year. Depression was not my problem though, addiction was. I was miserable because…
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He (Abraham) believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness. Genesis 15:6 I often just assume that I believe. As I have accepted that God exists and as I claim to follow Christ, I have faith. Isn’t this a once and done decision? Abraham’s belief in today’s passage was a constant thing,…
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You are invited to watch this Sunday’s (1/21) NFC championship game with us at the Goodness, downtown Willmar. We will open at 5:30PM. Bring an appetizer or dessert to share. Come as You Are, meets weekly on Sunday nights, but this week, we will be watching the game, so if you have been thinking about…
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Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves . . . Genesis 11:4 Over the years, I’ve had to reduce many dislocated joints. Whether it’s a shoulder, hip or finger, they all have two things in common: As long…
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He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. Genesis 9:21 I rarely write of current events, but I recently read a news story of another pastor whose secret misdeeds had come to light. The details of his indiscretion were shocking. How could he be so stupid? These stories should…
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Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him. Genesis 6:22 As I am always working on tomorrow’s passage, I took this verse with me to jail bible study yesterday, where we discussed Noah and his ark. We read that for Noah, following God radically set him apart from the world. Believing in God…
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Make yourself an ark . . . Genesis 6:14 As my father is a pastor, I grew up learning the Old Testament stories as history, as real as any other history I learned in school. It is therefore, not difficult for me to believe in a literal Noah’s ark or in the great fish that swallowed…
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Genesis 4:8 When they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. For every college wrestling meet, we had to weigh-in. As everyone tried to wrestle at the lightest possible weight class, we were always struggling to make weight. Some unscrupulous young men, instead of losing the weight, would try…
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