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Transcending Gender: God, Spirit, Identity, and the Love of All People

  Transcending Gender: God, Spirit, Identity, and the Love of All People "We will not listen to the message you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord." – Jeremiah 44:16    Jeremiah chapter 44 addresses a historical situation in which the people of Judah who had gone to Egypt were engaged in the worship of the Queen of Heaven . Jeremiah confronted their idolatry and called them back to faithfulness to God. The people, however, refused to listen to the prophet's message.    While the historical passage concerns idolatry, worship, and covenant faithfulness, it also invites us to think deeply about the human tendency to place God into limited forms and categories. Throughout Scripture, people have used masculine and feminine language, images, metaphors, and titles to speak about God. Yet God transcends every human image and category.    The deeper spiritual truth is that God is not confined to the physical characteristics that...
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Fear: Forget Everything and Run — Understanding Life Through Consciousness

  Fear: Forget Everything and Run — Understanding Life Through Consciousness "He will destroy the land of Egypt and execute death for death, captivity for captivity, and sword for sword." – Jeremiah 43:11    Life is consciousness. Consciousness is our awareness of God and our awareness of the good that God represents. The quality of life we experience is influenced by this consciousness, which manifests in different degrees and forms.    When Christ appears as life, that life becomes the light that lights every person coming into the world. What we are conscious of, what we are aware of, what we focus upon, and what we give our time, talent, treasure, and energy to all contribute to the reality we experience.    Jeremiah 43:11 reveals a sobering principle through the judgment coming upon Egypt. Egypt would experience death for death, captivity for captivity, and sword for sword. This illustrates the biblical principle of sowin...
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In the House of the Lord: The Church Is a Hospital, Dressing Room, and Gas Station

  In the House of the Lord: The Church Is a Hospital, Dressing Room, and Gas Station    There is a well-known phrase in Christian conversations today: church hurt . For many people, church hurt is not an abstract concept. It is a deeply personal experience that can leave emotional, spiritual, and relational wounds. "Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the officials and to all the people, saying, 'This man is worthy of death, for he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears.'" – Jeremiah 26:11    Many loving, anointed, gifted, and called people have reached a point where they say, "I'm done with church." They may have experienced betrayal, dishonesty, manipulation, financial concerns, leadership failures, broken trust, or mistreatment. Sometimes the hurt comes when a spiritual leader falls. Other times it comes through a lack of transparency, broken relationships, or unresolved conflict.     Chur...
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We Go Together: Understanding the Fruit of the Spirit

  We Go Together: Understanding the Fruit of the Spirit    There are some things in life that simply belong together. You cannot separate them without losing something essential about the whole. The same principle applies to the fruit of the Spirit . "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, meekness, faithfulness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law." – Galatians 5:22–23    Notice that Scripture speaks of the fruit of the Spirit, not merely the fruits of the Spirit as separate and unrelated qualities. These characteristics reveal the nature, character, and essence of God operating within a Kingdom citizen.    The fruit of the Spirit is more than a list of admirable qualities. It is evidence of God's presence within us . It becomes a spiritual signature a visible expression of an invisible God.    And here is the message: We go together!   ...
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There’s a Picture in Your Frame: Discovering God’s Divine Purpose

  There’s a Picture in Your Frame: Discovering God’s Divine Purpose    Have you ever looked at a picture inside a beautiful frame and realized that the frame is not the picture? The frame gives the picture structure, protection, and definition, but it is not the ultimate value of what is contained within it.    In the same way, many things we see in life are simply frames . Our bodies are frames. Our buildings are frames. Even our visions, missions, strategies, and goals are frameworks. But beyond every frame, there is a picture  a divine purpose, identity, and destiny that God has established. "For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust." – Psalm 103:14    Psalm 103:14 reminds us that God knows our frame. He knows our limitations, our humanity, our weaknesses, and our temporary physical existence. Yet knowing our frame does not mean that the frame is the entirety of who we are. There is a picture in the fr...
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The Gift of Choice: Choosing the Way of Life

  The Gift of Choice: Choosing the Way of Life "Furthermore, tell my people, this is what the Lord says: See, I AM setting before you the way of life and the way of death." – Jeremiah 21:8    One of the greatest gifts that God has given humanity is not speaking in tongues, prophecy, the working of miracles, the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, the discerning of spirits, or the interpretation of tongues. One of the greatest gifts God has given humanity is the gift of choice.    Choice is a divine gift given to every person as God's beloved offspring, created in the image and likeness of God. People have the ability to decide. They have the ability to choose.    Every decision involves a movement away from one possibility and toward another. In that sense, decision means death to one thing and life to something else. When we choose one path, we release another. When we say yes to one possibility, we are saying no to ...
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How Are You Going to Handle It? Finding Strength in Jeremiah 20:8

  How Are You Going to Handle It? "For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily." – Jeremiah 20:8    How are you going to handle it?    Situations arise in life, and individuals must make decisions about how they will live and show up in the world. When God directs a person to take action, and the outcome does not align with expectations, a resolve must be made.    A person may do exactly what God instructed, speak what God directed, and go where God led, yet still experience unexpected outcomes. True commitment is revealed when circumstances do not unfold as anticipated.    Jeremiah discovered this firsthand. He spoke the word he was given, yet his obedience brought opposition, ridicule, rejection, and imprisonment. He had to make a decision: How was he going to handle it? 1. Slapped in the Face    ...
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