Tag Archives: Jesus

Become Your True Self

Posted on November 4, 2025 by salooper57

Last week, we talked about moving closer to Christ. That takes faith. It can be scary moving closer to him, because it means we’re moving further away from something else – maybe something we enjoy, something our identity is wrapped … Continue reading →

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Every Christian Experience Spiritually Dry Times

Posted on October 25, 2025 by salooper57

They trust God when they feel trusting. They are kind when they feel kind. They are grateful for God’s salvation when they feel saved. But this is not enough: God will have us trust him, and not just our feelings about him. Continue reading →

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Covenant: What It Is, How It Works

Posted on October 15, 2025 by salooper57

We are taking two weeks to try to understand what it means to be in covenant with God. Covenant plays an important role in the story of the Bible because God is conducting his rescue operation for creation in partnership … Continue reading →

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How Did Sin Lead to Jesus’s Death?

Posted on July 19, 2025 by salooper57

The crucifixion is a microcosm of sorts, displaying how human sin, from envy to ethnic and racial hatred, results (both immediately, at the time of the crucifixion, and over the millennia of human rebellion) in rejection of, and hatred toward, God. J Continue reading →

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Why I Had So Much Trouble Reading the Bible

Posted on July 5, 2025 by salooper57

I would read some passage in the Gospels and, before I was done with the first paragraph, wander into some daydream or fretting episode. When I finally emerged and returned to my reading, the same thing would happen again within moments. Continue reading →

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Jesus: The Divine-Human Interlinear

Posted on June 14, 2025 by salooper57

We don’t see it because we think of glory as glitz and hype and notoriety. Glory, in our minds, is being selfie-stalked on the street, going viral on social media, entreated for interviews and autographs. Continue reading →

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The Ascension and Spiritual Gifts (Eph. 4:7-16)

Posted on June 4, 2025 by salooper57

Who would have guessed? Those little pieces were important. And so are the gifts that God gave to each of us. You can say, “My gift is probably not important,” but Jesus gave that gift to you for a reason, and gave you to us for a reason. Continue reading →

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John 3:16: The Bible’s Most Popular Verse

Posted on May 30, 2025 by salooper57

The words “believes in him” deserve careful attention. A strictly literal translation would go, “believes into him.” This is a Johannine phrase, used only in this Gospel and in the First Epistle, but used more than twenty times. What does it mean to “believe into” Jesus, and why did John latch onto this preposition? Continue reading →

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A Change Is Coming

Posted on May 22, 2025 by salooper57

I am neither a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, but I am going to die on June 23, 2031 – at least according to the website, http://www.deathclock.com … I’ve got 6 years left on earth. They have me dying seven days before our 52nd wedding anniversary. I first read that about 20 years ago, and 2031 seemed a long way off. Seems a lot closer now. Continue reading →

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The Work of the Lord: Am I Making Any Difference?

Posted on May 15, 2025 by salooper57

I am neither a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, but I am going to die on June 23, 2031 – at least according to the website, http://www.deathclock.com. .. I first read that about 20 years ago, and 2031 seemed a long way off. Seems a lot closer now. Continue reading →

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