PHall | March 27, 2010
When the reality of suffering becomes personal we can doubt the love of God. We need to not doubt the reality of something else – the hatred of Satan. Satan hates God and therefore hated Job. Satan’s hatred led to the suffering of innocent people, parents, children, friends and servants. Evil persisted on earth, while […]
Category: Job |
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Tags: Suffering
PHall | March 25, 2010
If we were to count the number times we praise versus how often we want to be pleased, would we be surprised that our prayers are more about us than God? The book of Psalms has 150 seperate psalms, and the word praise (or praises, etc.) occurs 166 times in the NASB. Here is an […]
Category: Psalms |
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Tags: Prayer
PHall | March 22, 2010
“If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans” (Woody Allen). “Man makes plans . . . and God laughs” (Michael Chabon). “We plan, God laughs” (old Yiddish proverb). Even the Bible asserts such similar belief – Psalm 33:10 HCSB – He thwarts the plans of the peoples. That such is said […]
Category: Acts, Romans, I Thessalonians, Psalms |
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Tags: Article
PHall | March 22, 2010
What word describes people, every single individual, all of mankind, maybe more definitely than any other? There are many to choose from such as “sinners,” and “mortal.” Indeed, we all sin and we all die. But one word that comes to my mind is maybe completely unexpected by you, which is very fitting, because that […]
Category: I Kings, II Kings, II Chronicles |
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Tags: Sermon
PHall | March 17, 2010
If an imperfect mind cannot explain the contradictions within the actions of those with likewise imperfect minds, what makes the imperfect mind think he can explain the pure actions of the perfect mind of God? The answer is that our imperfect minds cannot see the limitations of our own imperfect thinking. Too often we substitute […]
Category: Romans |
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PHall | March 15, 2010
God created within us an innate need for love. It is as if he left within our psyches a self-awareness of our emptiness so that we can search out God to fill it with His love. It is up to us how we fill that need – with Him or with sin. But the search […]
Category: Romans |
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PHall | March 14, 2010
How can we better handle stress? The answer is at the bottom. Verb tenses bring vitality to language and to life. Verb tenses stress the past, present, and future which converge upon us every day in choosing paths and building relationships. Knowing where we come from, who we are, and where we are going, are […]
Category: John |
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PHall | March 14, 2010
Do you love surprises? For some of us, discovering before we are surprised that someone is trying to surprise us is more fun than being surprised itself. We get to surprise the givers of the surprise. When it comes to God, do we ever think of “surprises?” Undeniably, we worship “The God of Surprises.” The […]
Category: Luke, John, Romans, Genesis, Psalms |
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Tags: Article, Grace
PHall | March 13, 2010
This study is about finding grace in the most unexpected places. This lesson is about being surprised by grace. And maybe the biggest surprise of all, is that we can still be surprised. Our God is a God of grace and that means He is a God of surprises. The biggest surprise of all came […]
Category: Luke, Acts, Genesis, Deuteronony, Nehemiah |
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Tags: Grace, Sermon
PHall | March 10, 2010
(9) that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; (10) for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. This might be the most easily recognized chiasm […]
Category: Romans |
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Tags: Chiasm, Commentary