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Jesus the Savior
She will give birth to a Son; and you shall name Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. – Matthew 1:21 It’s a familiar verse, no? I heard it during Advent every year and thought, I don’t really get the connection between the name and the savior business, but that’s nice. If that’s you, buckle up, buttercup. Let’s set the scene. Joseph has discovered that his sweet little betrothed is pregnant. He decides to divorce her discreetly because he’s a stand-up guy. But an angel appears to him in a dream. (From the Gospel of Luke, we find that Gabriel has appeared to both Zechariah and Mary.…
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The First and the Last
Listen to Me, Jacob, Israel whom I called; I am He, I am the first, I am also the last. – Isaiah 48:12 Jesus is: The Alpha and the Omega The First and the Last The Beginning and the End In the last post, we looked at what the Alpha and the Omega might have meant to John. What does that mean to you? In Ann Spangler’s book Praying the Names of God for 52 Weeks, she asks some thought provoking questions. Instead of looking at your life as your story, what if you viewed your life as part of God’s story? What implications does this have tor the way you…
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Alpha and Omega
I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. – Revelation 1:8 This name, the Alpha and the Omega, only occurs in the last book of the Bible. Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, the beginning and the end. And even though the name is used only in the last book, it’s used both at the beginning and the end of the book. Maybe that’s a Godwink. John started his gospel, “In the beginning was the Word.” How appropriate that Jesus would tell John He’s not just the Word, He’s the letters. That’s another wink.…
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You are My Friends If . . .
12 This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that a person will lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do what I command you.15 No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, because all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. 17 -John 15:12-17 In John 15, Jesus is giving His final words of encouragement and instruction to His friends before He goes to the cross to lay down His life for His friends. Who are His friends? You…
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You Are My Friends . . .
This week’s name, Friend, is a 180-degree turn from last week–Lord. He is – Lord of All. ALL. Every knee WILL bow, and every tongue WILL confess it. But the Lord of All Creation is not some overbearing tyrant. He calls us “Friend.” Isaiah tells us Abraham was God’s friend. But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, Descendant of Abraham My friend – Isaiah 41:8 That’s not all. God visited Abraham and Sarah, sharing a meal with them. I think we can infer from Genesis 18 that it happened more than once. He wrestled with Jacob. He sought out Adam and Eve in the garden in the cool of the day. He…
