There is hardly any human need
stronger than the need to belong.
We were created this way.
Every one of us came out of a womb screaming for warmth,
companionship, and someone else’s heartbeat.
We were rudely ripped out of that idyllic existence and thrust into a cold,
impersonal, and lonely world. No wonder babies cry.
And the rest of our lives are spent trying to find that intimacy again.
Everyone knows what this was because everyone had the same experience once
being so close to another that…
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Added by Rick on September 1, 2009 at 7:43am —
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When we are intimate with someone else,
we trust them enough to share our secrets.
As God, Jesus already knows everything about us anyway,
but when we choose to tell Him what’s hidden deep within us,
it proves we trust Him.
~Trust is hard~
We've probably been betrayed by other people,
and when that happened, maybe we swore
we will never open up again.
But Jesus loved us and trusted us first.
He laid down his life for you & me.
That sacrifice has earned Him our trust.
Many of our secrets a…
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Added by Rick on August 14, 2009 at 7:07am —
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we may have second thoughts and doubts from time to time,
but none of us wants to go back.
One thing we're sure of is that we have
chosen the best thing possible to give our life to.
The question then becomes,
what do we do when the world pulls us one way and our faith another?
..
The bottom line, as always, comes down to trust in Jesus Christ.
Is he the way, the truth and the life, as he said, or not?
Did he save us from our sins because of his tremendous love for us?
Is he the ultimate real…
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Added by Rick on August 11, 2009 at 11:45am —
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Leviticus 6:13
Keep the altar of private prayer burning. This is the very life of all piety. The sanctuary and family altars borrow their fires here, therefore let this burn well. Secret devotion is the very essence, evidence, and barometer, of vital and experimental religion.
Burn here the fat of your sacrifices. Let your closet seasons be, if possible, regular, frequent, and undisturbed. Effectual prayer availeth much. Have you nothing to pray for? Let us suggest the Church, the ministry, yo…
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Added by Rick on July 15, 2009 at 6:51am —
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Joshua's Charge to Israel's Leaders
23:1 A long time afterward, when the Lord had given rest to Israel from all their surrounding enemies, and Joshua was old and well advanced in years, 2 Joshua summoned all Israel, its elders and heads, its judges and officers, and said to them, “I am now old and well advanced in years. 3 And you have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake, for it is the Lord your God who has fought for you. 4 Behold, I have allotted to you…
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Added by Rick on July 14, 2009 at 7:45am —
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Deuteronomy 10:12
Circumcise Your Heart
12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
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Added by Rick on July 14, 2009 at 7:30am —
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Lack of Faith - Matthew 13:57-58
And the people refused to accept Jesus. But Jesus said to the people, "Other people give honor to a prophet. But people in that prophet's own town or own home don't give honor to him." The people there did not believe in Jesus. So Jesus did not do many miracles there. (ERV)
Key Thought
Jesus is all powerful, but we can limit his power by our lack of expectation, by our wimpy faith! His work is hidden, sometimes even denied, to those who refuse t…
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Added by Rick on July 8, 2009 at 7:51am —
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"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
2 Chronicles 7:14, New International Version
In today's Scripture, which occurs immediately after the dedication of the Temple, God told Solomon that the Temple would be a place his people could come and be assured that their prayers would be heard if they honestly and humbly would seek God.…
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Added by Rick on July 3, 2009 at 7:40am —
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19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a m…
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Added by Rick on June 30, 2009 at 7:42am —
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Then Jesus told the people another story: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. A person plants that seed in his field. That seed is one of the smallest of all seeds. But when the seed grows, it is one of the largest garden plants. It becomes a tree, big enough for the birds to come and make nests in its branches." (ERV)
Key Thought
From the selection of King David, God's people had been warned not to judge on mere appearances. We shouldn't be surprised if Jesus' Kingdom would start sma…
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Added by Rick on June 28, 2009 at 6:02am —
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"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' The King w…
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Added by Rick on June 27, 2009 at 5:59am —
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Colossians 3
14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks…
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Added by Rick on May 26, 2009 at 10:16am —
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Matthew 28:20
It is well there is One who is ever the same, and who is ever with us. It is well there is one stable rock amidst the billows of the sea of life.
O my soul, set not thine affections upon rusting, moth-eaten, decaying treasures, but set thine heart upon him who abides for ever faithful to thee.
Build not thine house upon the moving quicksands of a deceitful world, but found thy hopes upon this rock, which, amid descending rain and roaring floods, shall stand immovably secure.
My sou…
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Added by Rick on May 11, 2009 at 6:06am —
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"When a person stands before other people and says he believes in me, then I will say that person belongs to me. I will say this before my Father in heaven. But when a person stands before people and says he does not believe in me, then I will say that person does not belong to me. I will say this before my Father in heaven." (ERV)
Key Thought
Life is really all about who we are trying to please. When it's all said and done, who do we want to claim they love us, claim they're proud of us, and cl…
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Added by Rick on May 9, 2009 at 7:26am —
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"
John 5:13
13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place.
Years are short to the happy and healthy; but thirty-eight years of disease must have dragged a very weary length along the life of the poor impotent man. When Jesus, therefore, healed him by a word, while he lay at the pool of Bethesda, he was delightfully sensible of a change. Even so the sinner who has for weeks and months been paralysed with despair, and has wea…
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Added by Rick on May 8, 2009 at 5:31am —
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“For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?”
Luke 14:28
Our Lord refers not to a cost we have to count, but to a cost which He has counted. The cost was those thirty years in Nazareth, those three years of popularity, scandal and hatred, the deep unfathomable agony in Gethsemane, and the onslaught at Calvary - the pivot upon which the whole of Time and Eternity turns. Jesus Christ has counted the cost…
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Added by Rick on May 7, 2009 at 5:11am —
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Well today my 17 year old girl comes to me to talk to me about getting married.
A day that I knew would come, but didn’t really know how or what to say to her.
But as always I want her to be happy, so I told her to think about it and make sure this would be the man she wants to spend the rest of her life with. I remember back to the day when we took her home from the hospital. How happy we where to bring her home. And from that day on how I wanted to be there for her, and I remember her firs…
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Added by Rick on May 5, 2009 at 9:00am —
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John 16:33
Art thou asking the reason of this, believer? Look upward to thy heavenly Father, and behold him pure and holy. Dost thou know that thou art one day to be like him? Wilt thou easily be conformed to his image? Wilt thou not require much refining in the furnace of affliction to purify thee? Will it be an easy thing to get rid of thy corruptions, and make thee perfect even as thy Father which is in heaven is perfect? Next, Christian, turn thine eye downward. Dost thou know what foes tho…
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Added by Rick on May 3, 2009 at 5:59am —
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The sad thing is in the world today to many people get married and don’t really think about the thing they say before God.
Does what we say before God mean any thing?
What about for better or worst.
Or through sickness and health?
From the word of God
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
10 To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband
11 (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else…
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Added by Rick on April 22, 2009 at 7:42am —
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Job 19:25
The marrow of Job's comfort lies in that little word "My"-"My Redeemer," and in the fact that the Redeemer lives. Oh! to get hold of a living Christ. We must get a property in him before we can enjoy him. What is gold in the mine to me? Men are beggars in Peru, and beg their bread in California. It is gold in my purse which will satisfy my necessities, by purchasing the bread I need. So a Redeemer who does not redeem me, an avenger who will never stand up for my blood, of what avail we…
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Added by Rick on April 21, 2009 at 6:44am —
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