What spiritual disciplines are you currently practicing? Which disciplines are lacking, and what’s your plan to bring them back into practice?
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When Pilate asks Jesus if He’s a king, Jesus’ answer may seem a bit strange. Interesting that Jesus points back to an event that we celebrate as Christmas. He states, “For this Purpose” He was born. “For this purpose,” He came into the world. Pilate of course was not at the manger with Mary, Joseph, and the Shepherds; but this pointer back to the Nativity scene leads us to a sobering realization…
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Lessons to be learned from the Jewish-Samaritan divide.
Today, we’re taking a third look at the Samaritan’s sacrifice to rescue a man who was left for dead. What can we learn from him about the cost of loving our neighbour?
In order to fully grasp the social or societal cost that this Samaritan entered into, we need to understand the differences between the Jewish man laying half-dead, and the Samaritan man that saved his life. We need to understand the social relationship between these two people groups in the same way Jesus audience would have understood them, when He first outlined this parable.
Then we can begin to understand the deeper Gospel picture that Jesus is painting for us in this parable.
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Something that many of us would say we don’t have enough of. Especially if you serve in any area of leadership. Whether you lead at work, in the church, or in a community association, you know how much time and energy it takes to keep an organization pointed in the right direction and moving forward.
It can be truly exhausting!
That is course, is on a normal year. This past year has been a massive challenge for every leader. Ask any manager or director, supervisor or shop foreman, pastor, or board member, and they’ll tell you that over the past year, their time and energy has been depleted to an extent that they’ve never felt before.
Today, we’re looking back at the parable of The Good Samaritan, specifically related to the Samaritan’s sacrifice of time and energy. What can we learn about the amount the physical cost of loving our neighbour?
#GoodSamaritan #Samaritan #Cost #Sacrifice #Jesus #Parable #Gospel
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Have you heard of the Good Samaritan? If you’ve grown up in Western society, it likely rings a bell. The Good Samaritan is one of the most well-known parables of Jesus.
Throughout Christianity, in every denomination, fellowship, and network; every follower of Jesus learns about The Good Samaritan early on in their faith journey. Even those from other faith backgrounds, or even from an atheist or agnostic position, have a loose idea of The Good Samaritan.
This parable brings about an internal conflict that was felt with the initial audience, and has continued throughout the millennia, right up into our modern era.
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How much peace are you experiencing these days? Would you define this chapter of your life as a peaceful one? Maybe that’s an unfair question in the current state of the world.
Imagine our world if every conversation ended with “Go in Peace”. Imagine if the the last word we said to each other in conversation was, “peace”. What would our society look like?
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How’s this chapter of life going? Maybe for you, this chapter has a lot of difficult moments; personal struggles, broken relationships, as well as the numerous trials related to this cultural moment. As we navigate the difficulties of life, we can choose to quit and walk away, or we can choose to stay! To stay the course, looking forward to the end goal; past this earthly life and into eternity, focused on a better story.
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There’s a huge difference between intention and direction. Because intention never actually gets us to our desired destination. That is, until we stop, and change our direction. If we can keep Jesus at the centre, our direction changes. When Jesus is the centre and the standard, our best intentions turn into Gospel-focused direction. And we live a better story!
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Every Christmas Eve we’re invited to the manger. The manger is the centre-piece of every nativity set. And the manger central to the account of the very first Christmas. Have you ever asked why?
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Our Fourth Advent If I told you that “I love you” would you believe me? Depending on the relationship we have, you may or may
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I’m talking about that giddy, uncontrollable joy, where you want to run and jump and shout for joy?
Some of you may feel like this is an unfair question. That this year, 2020, has not been very joyful at all. However, there is one moment of giddy, uncontrollable joy that happened hundreds, if not thousands of times throughout 2020. And that’s when parents find out a baby’s on the way!
Specifically, for those first-time parents! We’ve all seen those videos on social, where a mom plans a pregnancy reveal to her husband on camera. And what does he do? He goes crazy; crying or laughing, sometimes both at the same time. He is overwhelmed with joy!
Then, an even better video-clip is when the couple tells the first-time grandparents. I especially love watching grandmas! She starts dancing around the kitchen or living room like a crazy lady! You can’t help but smile or laugh.
Now imagine for a moment, receiving that baby announcement after 400 years of waiting.
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When do you start preparing for Christmas? Do you start the day after Thanksgiving, or maybe even before that?
Do you start playing Christmas music after the first snowfall? Then immediately move to decorating, wrapping gifts, and Christmas baking?
What if I told you preparations were a matter of the heart? That preparing for Christmas has little to do with what we do, and more to do with why we do it? (Our heart condition leading up to Christmas can make all the difference!)
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