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Matthew 18:6 Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea…  woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! Years ago, I walked into the…
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Matthew 18:1-3 …The disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” …He said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” A few years ago, in jest, I told some coworkers that the key to feeling good…
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Matthew 17:20 …If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you. As a kid, I took this verse to mean that, like Luke in Star Wars, I could learn to move things…
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Matthew 16:25,26 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? I spoke yesterday of the necessity of committing to radical change if I want transformation.  Half-efforts are…
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Matthew 16:24 If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. I have tried to change a thousand times and have failed.  I have promised myself over and over that I would never do this again but here I am.  I have prayed repeatedly for God to…
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Matthew 16:21-23 Jesus began to show his disciples that he must… be killed… And Peter… began to rebuke him, saying… “This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said… “you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” I sat, not long ago, talking with…
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Matthew 16:13-16 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” I have a habit of putting myself in a story and wondering how I would perform.  Would I have answered Jesus’ question correctly?  The disciples had lived with…
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Matthew 15:17-20 …Whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled. But what comes out… proceeds from the heart… For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone. I…
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Matthew 15:8,9 This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me… Have you ever, out of obligation, said that you would do something that you had no desire or intention of doing?  Lacking the courage to just say, I’m not doing that, have you…
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Matthew 14:38-31 Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord,…
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