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God has, Paul told us, given each believer enabling grace. If the blood of Christ covers us, we are part of the larger body of believers. From His exalted seat in heaven, Christ pours out His grace and Spirit to aid us in the church's work. He is our head. We are His body.
Read moreSunday Teaching: Maturity Profiled 06—The Mature Tame Their Speech—James 3:1-12
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Concluding the Book of Mark
Mark 16:17-20
Let's be honest. This passage is likely why many wonder if this should be included in Mark's gospel (see my explanation about this disputed text in last week’s post). Many of us see things like demons, tongues, invincibly picking up snakes, and drinking poison, and run the other way.
Read moreThe dominant word of this sentence — Paul used it seven times — is “one.” It describes the whole Trinity — one Spirit, one Lord, and one God and Father of all. Paul dreamed of the church. In so doing, he introduced a beautiful truth: the universal church is one because the Triune God is one.
Read moreSunday Teaching: Maturity Profiled 05—Interlude: Faith Produces Maturity—James 2:14-26
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Jesus’ Parting Words to the Disciples and Us
Mark 16:15-20
Before we jump into our final text of Mark, we have to address the notation in many of our Bibles suggesting that the final twelve verses might not be in the original text.
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10 Changes In 10 Years
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I recently reached the ten-year mark as the lead pastor of Calvary Monterey. In one sense, that is not a great deal of time, but it was a wild decade.
Read moreSunday Teaching: Maturity Profiled 04—The Mature Love Without Partiality—James 2:1-13
Read moreBefore that fateful meeting in Jerusalem, I had not yet laid eyes on Paul. But his legend—a Pharisee and master teacher who had repented and followed Christ—had only grown with his reach throughout the empire. Word back home was that people from the nations were surrendering to Jesus at a rapid rate, all from this man's work. The death, burial, and resurrection of the Jewish Messiah was believed by thousands of Gentiles through his faithful preaching. I had become a distant admirer of this great preacher, this emerging apostle, this weapon in the mighty hand of God. Peter had opened the door to the nations, but Paul kept running through it.
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The Case for the Resurrection: Part 2
Mark 16:1-14
Last week, we began looking at seven clues that lead to the legitimacy of the claim that Jesus rose from the dead – he was supernaturally resurrected, which is the most important event in human history, the event upon which Christianity hinges. Today, we’ll uncover the remaining clues found in Mark 16.
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