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Struggling
Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 18, 2009 (message contributor)
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1. Struggling When Others Disappoint Us
Contributed on Sep 18, 2009
July 1989. When others disappoint us, it is often because they do not meet our expectations, and anger is natural. God feels that about us. But God allows us to reap the consequences of our sin in Christ’s cross takes into Himself that burden and transf
He was a fuzzy-faced young man with a twangy West Virginia accent and an angular chin as craggy as the hills from which he had come. You had to notice him, small though he was, because he carried a Bible as big as the side of a barn and painted in the same bright fiery color. It was obvious that he ...read more
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2. Struggling To Work For Peace
Contributed on Sep 19, 2009
August 1989, Day of Prayer for World Peace: Making peace in the world begins with making peace with God. It does not mean making peace WITH the world.
Just a few weeks ago they re-enacted, not very far from here, a small but crucial Civil War battle. The Battle of Fort Stevens did not get into a lot of the history books, but it was important in that it turned back the Confederate armies on the very edge of the capital city. Had the South taken ...read more
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3. Struggling With The Pain Of Faithlessness
Contributed on Sep 20, 2009
July 1989. Our sexual behavior matters to God, and He has expressed His will. When we go our own ways, it hurts Him as well as others and ourselves. He can and will redeem even from this most painful sin.
A number of years ago a friend of mine was teaching a group of children the Ten Commandments in Vacation Bible School. In order to teach the Ten Commandments, she says, she was given a set of pictures. Each of the pictures illustrated the bad behavior forbidden by the Commandment; each picture ...read more
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4. Struggling Even When The Good Times Roll
Contributed on Sep 21, 2009
July 1989: When we are prospering, we are tempted into the idolatry of me-ism and self-congratulation. This is an opportunity to do more for others and for the Kingdom, for God is the source of our bounty.
About a year ago, toward the end of July, I placed one of these up here on the pulpit as the visible sermon for the day. Remember? Do you recall what we called that Sunday? Right: we called it "catch-up Sunday" …catch-up Sunday … and the idea was that if we were behind in our giving, if we as a ...read more