Tag: Gospel
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Does God Feel Love or Wrath? (Part 1)
John chapter 3 sounds like a flat contradiction. Verse 16 says: For God so loved the world… But by verse 36 we hear: …the wrath of God remains on him. Something we say here at Manchester Lutheran Church is: “God is in a good mood with you!And you see that when you look at Jesus.” But…
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Your Work Doesn’t Count—That’s Why It Matters
Everything you do has value. All of us have “vocations” which are our roles and states in life. Any aspect of your life where you have opportunity to relate to others, serve others, make the world a better place are your vocations: being a son, daughter, father, mother, husband, wife, friend, neighbour, and (of course)…
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You Can’t Stop God’s Word
You can scatter Christians.You can shut down the church.You can try to silence the preacher. But you can’t stop God’s Word: …the word of God increased and multiplied. (Acts 12:24) Persecuting the church doesn’t slow the Word. It’s one of the ways God spreads it. You can ban the Bible.You can censor Biblical ideas.You can…
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Does Allah Love the Wicked?
Muslims and Christians both speak about God—the one who created us.(Allah is simply the Arabic word for “God”.)But what they say about him is very different. We see that very clearly in what their holy books claim is God’s attitude to the wicked. The Qur’an (Surah 3:57):* وَأَمَّا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتِ فَيُوَفِّيهِمْ أُجُورَهُمْ ۗ…
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God Is Not Angry with You
You assume God is angry with you and that you need to do something about it. That assumption is the problem. It’s understandable why you think that way: We often feel like God is angry with us.The world often looks as though he’s angry with us.And the Bible often sounds like he’s angry with us.…
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Who is God?
God is not distant, divided, or unpredictable. That’s what it means that God is one—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So you can actually know what he’s like. And what he’s like is good. God is one being, not divided or conflicted within himself. He does not change and is not made of parts, so his…
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You’re Allowed to Be Overwhelmed
Sometimes all you can do is cry. You can barely get through the day. Everything feels heavy. On days like this, your emotional collapse feels like failure. It feels like one more thing collapsing on top of everything else. But, feeling overwhelmed is not a failure. It’s not a sin. It’s not wrong. It’s something…
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The Futility Loop
You replay it. You try to fix it. You fail. You replay it again. Rumination is that cycle of trying to fix something in your mind that can’t be fixed by thinking. Most of the time, when something goes over and over in our heads like this, it’s not voluntary. And, it’s not healthy. You…
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Made to Receive, Not Achieve
You weren’t made to achieve. God does not need anything from you.You do not need to prove yourself to establish your value.Your life is not something you build and secure. If God did need something from you—then security depends on you.If your worth were uncertain—then the weight of everything hangs on your shoulders.If your life…
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Stop Trying Harder
All the voices around you tell you to deliver, excel, perform. The voices in your head say the same. Two widespread, fundamental misunderstandings of what church is feed these voices. The first is that church is just another platform, another facet, where you can perform and shine. Either to compensate for failure in another part…