S227P6 – Laid on the altar: our self-reliance

Mk. 10:23-25 Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!”  The disciples were amazed and bewildered by His words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God!  It is easier…

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S227P5 – Laid on the altar: our minds

Rom. 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. I remember the days before I knew Jesus, when spiritual conversations really looked more like intellectual ones.…

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S227P4 – Laid on the altar: our feelings

Lk. 6:35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Perhaps my expectations had been a little too high, but I…

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S227P3 – Laid on the altar: our relationships

Mt. 10:37 Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. I thought I had built quite a nice life for myself in my early adulthood.  I had many friends on whom I thought…

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S227P2 – Laid on the altar: our works

Heb. 13:15-16 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. He had been a spiritual father to many, but there was one boy…

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S227P1 – Laid on the altar: our bodies

Rom. 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Martyrdom was not a foreign concept to him.  He had read of Christians who died in that way in the scriptures, and…

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S226P5 – The power of the blood: an assignment of value

Acts 20:28-31 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.  I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among…

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S226P4 – The power of the blood: peace established

Col. 1:15-20 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.  And he is before all things, and in him…

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S226P3 – The power of the blood: the great propitiation

Rom. 3:21-26 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.  For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,…

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