Contributed by Gregg Bitter on Jun 15, 2010
Let’s begin understanding this name, /Adonai/ (אֲדֹנָי), meaning /Lord/, by going back to the Middle Ages. Picture a medieval manor. Peasants worked the surrounding fields. Craftsmen lived in the village. The manor house, maybe with a moat and watchtower,
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Contributed by Gregg Bitter on Jun 15, 2010
Picture again the medieval manor we talked about earlier. No doubt many lords of the manor were more concerned about their own comfort and safety rather than about their people. But a good lord would defend his people. He would fight for them against marauders, raiders, bandits. He might even bleed
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Contributed by Gregg Bitter on Aug 10, 2010
And I don't think that I'm alone in this struggle to pray. Even a great church leader like Martin Luther has said this about prayer, "At times I, who teach this and prescribe it to others, have learned from my own example that praying comes close to being the most difficult of all works"
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Contributed by Gregg Bitter on Aug 17, 2010
FAITH AND PROMISE
When something is promised, you have not seen it happen yet, have you? If I promise my wife that I'm going to clean out the basement, there's no proof that you can see. There's only my word. That promise is the only evidence it will happen. And I may prove unreliable for one
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Contributed by Gregg Bitter on Nov 24, 2010
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70 FUNERALS IN ONE DAY
During a forty-year ministry, I would guess that many pastors do seventy or more burials. But this wasn't over the full span of his ministry. In fact, it wasn't even a full year. In one day, Pastor Rinkart did burial rites for up to seventy people and did the same the next
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Contributed by Gregg Bitter on Nov 29, 2010
STAY FOCUSED
God's Word. That's what focuses our hearts so that we watch continuously, ready for Jesus. In a way, you might say, God's Word is like my glasses. Without my glasses, I couldn't even begin to catch a football. I wouldn't see it coming. But even with my glasses on, I still need to
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Contributed by Gregg Bitter on Jul 22, 2009
AN AFFLICTED LIFE CAN SAVE
Or consider the young lady suffering with terminal cancer. It’s a painful and hopeless disease. But instead of complaints and self-pity, she openly talked about her hope of eternal life in Jesus, about the inheritance in heaven Jesus won for her by dying on the cross,
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Contributed by Gregg Bitter on Jul 22, 2009
Or consider the story of the boy catching fish for supper. He wanted to give some to the Lord. So he brought a fish to the pastor. The pastor asked, "Where are the other fish for you to eat?" The boy answered,
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Contributed by Gregg Bitter on Aug 2, 2009
Consider a new mother home alone with her baby. Suddenly she’s awakened by the smell of smoke. The house is on fire. Her only thought is for her baby. She races down the smoke-filled hall without a thought for her own safety. She grabs him in her arms, shields his face from the flames with her
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Contributed by Gregg Bitter on Aug 2, 2009
SHEPHERDLESS SHEEP
How pitiful shepherdless sheep are! Shepherdless sheep become easy prey for wolves, coyotes, and other predators. They can’t outrun them. They can’t outfight them. And what wolf would be scared off by a bleating: baaa? Sheep are left torn and bloodied and dead without a
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Contributed by Gregg Bitter on Aug 16, 2009
There could have been peace instead of war in 1939. Great Britain and France could have just let Hitler have Poland. That had worked the year before when they let Hitler have part of Czechoslovakia, and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain returned from Munich declaring "peace for our
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Contributed by Gregg Bitter on Aug 16, 2009
WORTHLESS SLAVES
Rewards from God are never merited as something God owes us but come as a free gift from his grace. Jesus brought this home at another time with a short story. Suppose you had a slave plowing the fields. Now when that slave came in, would you say, "Sit down and I’ll get you some
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Contributed by Gregg Bitter on Sep 15, 2009
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BATTLEFIELD AWAY FROM HOME
He cherished every letter that came from her. His deployment had started six long months ago. No end date was in sight. These were the days before emails and webcams. Those handwritten letters from his sweetheart was his only lifeline out of those trenches to back home.
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Contributed by Gregg Bitter on Sep 20, 2009
How the words of Psalm 23 echoed in their hearts! "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death" (Psalm 23:4 KJV). How dark that valley seemed as their tear-blurred eyes stared at the two caskets!
It had been summer vacation. A family camping trip. The two girls laughing down
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Contributed by Gregg Bitter on Oct 25, 2009
King Midas got what his heart longed for. How he loved gold! Now everything he touched turned to gold. An oak twig. A rock. He had what his heart treasured, until his little
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Contributed by Gregg Bitter on Nov 1, 2009
"Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that the believer would stake his life on it a thousand times"
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Contributed by Gregg Bitter on Nov 1, 2009
"Faith, however, is a divine work in us which changes us and makes us to be born anew of God" (Luther’s Works
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Contributed by Gregg Bitter on Nov 16, 2009
FAITH: A LIVING, DARING CONFIDENCE
"Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that the believer would stake his life on it a thousand times. This knowledge of and confidence in God’s grace makes men glad and bold and happy in dealing with God and with all creatures.
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Contributed by Gregg Bitter on Nov 25, 2009
William Reid recognized how far our thankfulness falls short. He wrote, "Forgive us, Lord, for shallow thankfulness, For dull content with warmth and sheltered care, For songs of praise for worldly wealthiness, While of your richer gifts we’re unaware" (Christians Worship, 482:1, "Forgive
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