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Consider This: The Need for Open Eyes

    Consider This:  The Need for Open Eyes “Give us open eyes to our blessings”.  I accidentally prayed that phrase many years ago.  I had not planned it, nor had I thought about it ahead of time.  It just happened.  Since then, I have repeated it a lot.  I almost always include it in any public prayer.  I have come to believe that having open eyes is of supreme importance.  Too often, we are drowning in blessings, yet we are discontent.  We could do so much good for others, but we think only of ourselves.  We have been gifted a million wonderful pleasures, yet focus on our few small problems.  Open eyes would change that situation.  Seeing what we actually have would cause us to be grateful, generous and kind.   Not only that, seeing how God has blessed us would help us trust him.  The future would be less scary if I remembered what God had done for me in the past.  Faith must look back occasional...
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Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant (1 Peter 1:17-21)

How Christians go through the Judgment Day and why it matters. https://youtu.be/IQ8yZoEfAA4   

Consider This: The Danger of Drifting

   Consider This: The Danger of Drifting Most people will not blow up their life in one big, messy moment. It can happen, and when it does, the damage is obvious and instantaneous. Like a car wreck at an intersection, people make a bad decision, and chaos ensues. Parts and pieces scatter all over. People get hurt. Situations like this are unexpected, loud, shocking and scary. Most of us will not wreck our lives in one big, terrible moment. The real danger is that we will lose what is valuable in small, almost imperceptible steps. It happens all the time. You can leave your marriage without ever leaving your house. You can leave your faith while still attending church. You can leave your life while you are still living it. Many people lose what they love, not by making one big, out-of-character decision, but by coasting, disengaging, neglecting and missing what matters. Almost every Biblical list of Christian characteristics mentions “Self-control”, yet I have not g...

Consider This: The Shocking Truth

    Consider This:  The Shocking Truth At the beginning of his first letter, Peter talks about what Jesus did for us on the cross.  He then writes, “Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow.  It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things” (1 Peter 1:10-12).   Did you see what he said?  The prophets had no idea what would happen.  All they knew was that God was going to do something sometime.  They searched, thought and wondered, but never in a million years wou...

A Spiritual Makeover (1 Peter 1:13-16)

 Three responses to the new life God has given us.  https://youtu.be/FmqX5-3jOKc  

Consider This: Something to Hold On To

      If you have never stopped to see the Swinging Bridge in Souris, Manitoba, you should add it to your list of things to do. I like it. Others do not. It feels wobbly. It bounces up and down. I have seen people in the middle of the bridge holding on and screaming because it feels too unstable. Of course, there is nothing to fear. The bridge has huge anchors at each end and is secured by steel cables, but sometimes, our feelings make us forget the facts. Peter knows that his readers are about to face some scary situations. He does not want their feelings to obscure everything else, so he outlines three truths they need to remember. First, their hope is greater than their troubles. “For a little while, you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold… may be proved genuine and result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:6-7). Not...

Rediscovering the Amazing Gospel Message (I Peter 1:10-12)

 Sometimes familiarity is the problem.  https://youtu.be/v0XE4ZK52xo