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He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city” (RSV).
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Ben Carson (Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story)
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I say, ‘you are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, you 1shall die like men, and fall as one man, O ye princes.” (Psalm 82:6, 7 RSV )
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Neville Goddard (Test Him and See)
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He has consigned all men to disobedience, that He may have mercy upon all.” (Romans 11:32, RSV)
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Neville Goddard (Test Him and See)
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I have observed that when any of us embarks on the pursuit of happiness for ourselves, it eludes us. Often I've asked myself why. It must be because happiness comes to us only as a dividend. When we become absorbed in something demanding and worthwhile above and beyond ourselves, happiness seems to be there as a by-product of the self-giving. That should not be a startling truth, yet I'm surprised by how few people understand and accept it. Have we made a god of happiness?..."You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide." John 15:16 RSV....Somehow that passage was like light penetrating their darkness: much of their unhappiness, they realized, was caused by self-centeredness.
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Catherine Marshall (Something More : In Search of a Deeper Faith)
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For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. -John, Apostle (and brother?) of Jesus, The Bible (RSV, non-Catholic), 3:16
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John Apostle
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I have observed that when any of us embarks on the pursuit of happiness for ourselves, it eludes us. Often I've asked myself why. It must be because happiness comes to us only as a dividend. When we become absorbed in something demanding and worthwhile above and beyond ourselves, happiness seems to be there as a by-product of the self-giving. That should not be a startling truth, yet I'm surprised by how few people understand and accept it. Have we made a god of happiness?..."You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide." John 15:16 RSV....Somehow that passage was like light penetrating their darkness: much of their unhappiness, they realized, was caused by self-centeredness.
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Catherine Marshall
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God has not created poverty; it is we who have created it. Before God, all of us are poor . — MOTHER TERESA Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven . — JESUS, MATTHEW 5:3 RSV Poverty doesn't only consist of being hungry for bread, but rather it is a tremendous hunger for human dignity. We need to love and to be somebody for someone else. This is where we make our mistake and shove people aside. Not only have we denied the poor a piece of bread, but by thinking that they have no worth and leaving them abandoned in the streets, we have denied them the human dignity that is rightfully theirs as children of God.
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Mother Teresa (No Greater Love)
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To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One” (Is 40:25 RSV). This question rebukes wrong thoughts about God.
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J.I. Packer (Knowing God)
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began to read in Proverbs. Immediately I saw a string of verses about angry people and how they get themselves into trouble. Proverbs 16:32 impressed me the most: “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city” (RSV). My lips moved wordlessly as I continued to read. I felt as though the verses had been written just to me, for me. The words of Proverbs condemned me, but they also gave me hope. After a while peace begin to fill my mind. My hands stopped shaking. The tears stopped. During those hours alone in the bathroom,
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Ben Carson (Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story)
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We can find comfort in the midst of mourning because God can use our sufferings to teach us and make us better people. Sometimes it takes suffering to make us realize the brevity of life, and the importance of living for Christ. Often God uses suffering to accomplish things in our lives that would otherwise never be achieved. The Bible puts it succinctly: “Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2–4 RSV).
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Billy Graham (Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional)
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One virus away from having your life wrecked!
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Steven Magee
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The apocalyptic scope of 2 Corinthians 5 was obscured by older translations that rendered the crucial phrase in verse 17 as “he is a new creation” (RSV) or—worse yet—“he is a new creature” (KJV). Such translations seriously distort Paul’s meaning by making it appear that he is describing only the personal transformation of the individual through conversion experience. The sentence in Greek, however, lacks both subject and verb; a very literal translation might treat the words “new creation” as an exclamatory interjection: “If anyone is in Christ—new creation!” The NRSV has rectified matters by rendering the passage, “If anyone is in Christ there is a new creation.” Paul is not merely talking about an individual’s subjective experience of renewal through conversion; rather, for Paul, ktisis (“creation”) refers to the whole created order (cf. Rom. 8:18–25). He is proclaiming the apocalyptic message that through the cross God has nullified the kosmos of sin and death and brought a new kosmos into being. That is why Paul can describe himself and his readers as those “on whom the ends of the ages have met” (1 Cor. 10:11).14 The old age is passing away (cf. 1 Cor. 7:31b), the new age has appeared in Christ, and the church stands at the juncture between them.
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Richard B. Hays (The Moral Vision of the New Testament: A Contemporary Introduction to New Testament Ethics)
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Although the American Standard Version (1901) had used “Jehovah” to render the tetragrammaton (the sound of y being represented by j and the sound of w by v, as in Latin), for two reasons the Committees that produced the RSV and the NRSV returned to the more familiar usage of the King James Version. (1) The word “Jehovah” does not accurately represent any form of the divine name ever used in Hebrew. (2) The use of any proper name for the one and only God, as though there were other gods from whom the true God had to be distinguished, began to be discontinued in Judaism before the Christian era and is inappropriate for the universal faith of the Christian church.
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Anonymous (The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha)
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The contemplative life must be the foundation of all the church's missions or task forces, as well as the foundation of our individual vocations. We are twentieth-and twenty-first century people; nonetheless, we have hints that we can receive directions as clear as those given Ananias, who answered as Isaiah had answered centuries before him:
'Here I am, Lord' and the Lord said to him, 'Rise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for a man of Tarsus named Saul; for behold, he is praying...' (Acts 9:10-11, RSV)
When a community has listened to instructions like these and move din obedience to them, then any arguments as to whether or not the church should be where it is are groundless. The only sensible inquiry is whether the church heard its directions correctly. We carry the treasure in earthenware vessels. The Word we say we heard is always subject to questioning, always to e tested within the fellowship and confirmed or denied by those among us who have the gift of distinguishing true spirits from false. When we become serious about prayer, we learn how important this gift is, for the contemplative person will be addressed, will be given dreams and will see visions.
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Elizabeth O'Connor (Search for Silence)
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Luther's opponent in the Peasants' War, Thomas Muntzer is deeply rooted in mystic tradition . . . Muntzer calls the first step in preparing for God "wonderment": amazement and fright begin when the eternal Word comes into the human heart. "And this wonderment at whether it really is God's Word or not begins to happen when one is a child of six or seven years of age." . . .
Muntzer's interest in Gregorian chant and his attempt, rejected by Luther, to integrate it into the German mass, may perhaps be understood as a manifestation of his mystical love for wonderment.
In connection with "wonderment," Muntzer quotes from Deuteronomy: "But the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart" (30:14 RSV). . . This inward word, heard through God's revelation in the abyss of the soul, speaks to human beings without mediation, even without the Bible.
Muntzer opposed Luther in the understanding of Scripture. Muntzer's view of the living Word of God as being "so very close to you" - and which constitutes the first step of mystical cognition (cognitio experimen- talis) - represents a break with Luther's appeal for sola scriptura, (the Scriptures alone) as the basic principle of the Reformation puts it. What in the controversy over indulgences had served well in fighting the financial manipulations of the Church of Rome's authorities, namely this basic principle and its critical force, soon came to serve the consolidation of a new clerical domination.
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Dorothee Sölle (The Silent Cry: Mysticism and Resistance)
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O that today you would hearken to his voice! —Psalm 95:7 (RSV) MARIA, INSPIRATION BEHIND HOLY ANGELS HOME Maria was nine in 1965 when I first wrote about her, a bright, little girl with an impish smile. Born hydrocephalic, without legs, a “vegetable” who could not survive, she’d dumbfounded experts and become the inspiration behind a home for infants with multiple handicaps. Now I was back at Holy Angels in North Carolina to celebrate Maria’s fiftieth birthday. I had to trot to keep up with Maria’s motorized wheelchair through a maze of new buildings, home now for adults as well as infants. At each stop, Maria introduced me to staff and volunteers who simply exuded joy. And yet the people they were caring for had such cruel limitations! How could everyone seem so happy, I asked, working day after day with people who’ll never speak, never hold a spoon, never sit up alone? “None of us would be happy,” Maria said, “if we looked way off into the future like that.” Here, she explained, they looked for what God was doing in each life, just that one day. “That’s where God is for all of us, you know. Just in what’s happening right now.” How intently one would learn to look, I thought, to spot the little victories. In my life too…. What if I memorized just the first stanza of Millay’s “Renascence”? What if I understood just one more function on my iPhone? What if just one morning I didn’t comment about my husband’s snoring? “Thank you, Maria,” I said as we hugged good-bye, “for showing me the God of the little victories.” Through what small victory, Father, will You show me Yourself today? —Elizabeth Sherrill Digging Deeper: Ps 118:24; Mt 6:34
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Guideposts (Daily Guideposts 2014)
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la práctica de medicar vigorosamente la fiebre es generalizada entre los médicos e incluso demandada por los pacientes debido al alivio sintomático que provee dicha supresión farmacológica. Esta aversión profesional a permitir que las fiebres sigan su curso se debe a la posibilidad (pero muy baja probabilidad) de dañar el sistema nervioso central (SNC) en caso de convulsiones incontroladas inducidas por fiebre. Sin embargo, estadísticamente, la susceptibilidad a las convulsiones febriles entre los adultos no epilépticos es extremadamente rara. Estudios epidemiológicos exhaustivos y bastante sólidos sitúan el riesgo de convulsiones febriles en la población infantil en torno al 0,6%, con una incidencia que fluctúa entre 3,5/1000 en los países árabes y 17,4 / 1000 en las zonas rurales de Estados Unidos (14-16). El riesgo de episodios convulsivos gravita hacia niños de 6 meses a 5 años y se desencadena por temperaturas que superan el umbral de 38,3ºC, todo lo cual hace que el riesgo en la población adulta sea extremadamente bajo (17).
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Ernesto Prieto Gratacós (Victoria de la Inmunidad Humana: Nutrientes inmunoesenciales contra Influenza H1N1, H3N2, herpes, RSV, Coronavirus SARS COV-2 y todos los próximos (Spanish Edition))
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Paul was an educated Roman citizen. He would have been familiar with contemporary rhetorical practices that corrected faulty understanding by quoting the faulty understanding and then refuting it. Paul does this in 1 Corinthians 6 and 7 with his quotations “all things are lawful for me,” “food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food,” and “it is well for a man not to touch a woman.”47 In these instances, Paul is quoting the faulty views of the Gentile world, such as “all things are lawful for me.” Paul then “strongly modifies” them.48 Paul would have been familiar with the contemporary views about women, including Livy’s, that women should be silent in public and gain information from their husbands at home. Isn’t it possible, as Peppiatt has argued, that Paul is doing the same thing in 1 Corinthians 11 and 14 that he does in 1 Corinthians 6 and 7?49 Refuting bad practices by quoting those bad practices and then correcting them? As Peppiatt writes, “The prohibitions placed on women in the letter to the Corinthians are examples of how the Corinthians were treating women, in line with their own cultural expectations and values, against Paul’s teachings.”50 What if Paul was so concerned that Christians in Corinth were imposing their own cultural restrictions on women that he called them on it? He quoted the bad practice, which Corinthian men were trying to drag from the Roman world into their Christian world, and then he countered it. The Revised Standard Version (RSV) lends support to the idea that this is what Paul was doing. Paul first lays out the cultural restrictions: “As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silence in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as even the law says. If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church” (1 Corinthians 14:33–35). And then Paul intervenes: “What! Did the word of God originate with you, or are you the only ones it has reached? If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that what I am writing to you is a command of the Lord. If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. So, my brethren, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues; but all things should be done decently and in order” (vv. 36–40).
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Beth Allison Barr (The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth)
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THE DISLODGING OF THE CARNAL MIND The rule of the carnal mind begins to be dislodged when we receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, and when we read the Word of God, pray, receive truth when confronted by brothers and sisters in Christ, minister to others in the Spirit, choose sound thinking in Christ, and so forth. Therefore, our carnal mind fights back. It seeks any pretext to break out against sound judgment (Prov. 18:1, RSV). It casts up seemingly wise thoughts, objections, and skepticisms, trying to involve us in unnecessary reasoning, clever sophistries, and “foolish . . . speculations” (2 Tim. 2:23). “It isn’t logical to believe that.” “You aren’t making sense.” “You have no business trying to help anyone else when you’re a mess yourself.” Anything will do—any thought, any seeming contradiction that must be resolved, any feelings that have to be settled. The most brilliant create the most clever smoke screens.
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John Loren Sandford (Life Transformed: How to Renew your Mind, Overcome Old Habits, and Become the Person God Designed You to Be)
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The Lord my God lightens my darkness. —Psalm 18:28 (RSV) Nursing a grouchy mood, it was with leaden feet I trudged up the hill that morning to check the newborn calves on our family ranch. I determined that nothing could cheer me up, but in an instant my sour grapes were forgotten. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I first saw the calf with her mother standing over her proudly. Normally our calves are around seventy to ninety pounds. We weighed Mini, just to be sure. Full term and full of life…and only twenty pounds. As a precaution, Mini is spending the first few weeks of her life living in an insulated, heated room in the barn, breathing warm air and where her mother won’t accidentally squish her. Twice a day we carry her out to nurse the cow. She can just reach if she stands on her toes. Plus, we bottle-feed her periodically throughout the day and night. We took pictures of Mini next to the cats, and they’re the same size! I told a friend that I don’t know why Mini is that size; all of the cow’s other calves were normal. “Every now and then,” she replied, “God sends us a present that will always make us smile.” She’s right. No matter what misery I’m dwelling on, whenever I see Mini, it all goes away and I can’t help but grin. There are times when I get caught up in negativity, Lord. Please don’t let me forget Your big blessings in however small a package. —Erika Bentsen Digging Deeper: Ps 21:6; Eph 3:20–21
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Guideposts (Daily Guideposts 2014)
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Believers, look up—take courage. The angels are nearer than you think. For after all (as we have already noted), God has given “his angels charge of you, to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone” (Psalm 91:11–12 RSV).
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Billy Graham (Angels: God's Secret Agents)
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The Genesis account of the advent of mankind (Adam-man) is far more eloquent and significant than a casual reading of the passage in English might suggest. In this majestic “Poem of the Dawn” or “Hymn of Creation” (cf. H. Orton Wiley, Christian Theology, Vol. I, Nazarene Publishing House, Kansas City, Mo., pp. 450 ff.), the metaphorical use of the terms “dust,” “image,” “likeness,” “create,” “made,” “breath of life,” and others, contributes much to biblical understanding of man, sin, redemption, holiness, and all the implications of “grace” in relation to man. The writer of the Genesis story chose his words carefully. In 1:26 he tells us that God said, “Let us make man in our image after our likeness,” and (1:27) then, “God created man in his own image … male and female created he them.” Strangely, the second account (Genesis 2) introduces a most mundane and earthy note to the almost too idealistic and incredible first description. “The Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life [‘lives, ’ Hebrew plural, here]; and man became a living being” (Gen. 2:7; RSV). Note the progress; formed, breathed into, and then the process of becoming. There will be no attempt made here to formulate any theory of man's appearance on earth. These terms are noted to suggest that the wording gives room for more than one interpretation. However, no attempt to interpret these passages from the standpoint of modern science should be permitted to obscure the main ideas proposed in Genesis 1—2. This is not a scientific account nor was it in any sense intended to be. The role of science is to unpack all the facts possible which are built into man and his history and world. But the meaning of man and his universe must be derived from another source. And it is this meaning that the biblical story seeks to impart. This starkly beautiful, unembroidered introduction to man as made in his Creator's image establishes the fundamental religious meaning of man as he stands in relationship to God and to nature. This noble concept must precede and throw light upon all that the Hebraic-Christian teaching will assume about man—a sinful creature as of now, yet created in the Imago Dei.
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Mildred Bangs Wynkoop (A Theology of Love)
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But the Roman Catholic and Jewish scholars were not “liberals.” They were unbelievers. Unknown to the general populace, RSV Bibles were popping up on the desks of SIL translators around the world. But big change had only begun.
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David W. Daniels (Why They Changed The Bible: One World Bible For One World Religion)
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They went to a place which was called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I pray.” —Mark 14:32 (RSV) MAUNDY THURSDAY: LEARNING TO SAY YES I’m sitting in a car in the rain with my friend Linda, looking out over the Pacific Ocean, eating chicken satay. This will be our last meal forever, at least on this earth. Actually, I’m the only one eating. Linda is—as discreetly as possible—using a paper bag to, um, unload some of the chemotherapy from her stomach. When we arranged this trip—my flying in from Pennsylvania to California—we didn’t know it was the good-bye tour. Check that: I suspected but said nothing. Linda had been declining for two years. By the time I arrived, it was obvious this would be it. Ordinarily, I'm not an obedient servant nor a fully engaged human being. I am scattered, sarcastic, selfish, and way too proud. But for two days now I have answered her every wish the same way: Yes. I agree to even strange requests, like tossing back chicken satay while she tosses her cookies. Part of me can’t think of anything more tragic; another part of me realizes every moment of this visit is fully lived, fully engaged, and will be fully remembered for the rest of my life. Long ago, in centuries far away, another Last Supper took place among friends. I won’t pretend to know what that Passover meal felt like, but I can tell you it was fully lived and fully remembered. I can tell you that Someone said yes to what was asked that night, a sacrifice beyond sacrifice. But that’s what loved ones do for each other, something that redeems even the most scattered and selfish and proud among us sinners. Lord, help me to say yes more often—to You and to others. —Mark Collins Digging Deeper: Is 53:5; 2 Cor 5:21; Heb 10:1–14
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Guideposts (Daily Guideposts 2014)
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Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!…” —Matthew 21:8–9 (RSV) PALM SUNDAY: REMAINING FAITHFUL It’s graduation day at the University of Pittsburgh. It’s thrilling, watching the young men and women I’ve taught go forth and do all of the world’s work, but there’s a nagging disquiet. Like many weighty truths, their education is accompanied by an equally weighty lie. I’ve told my students they’re unique and capable of wonderful things (true); I didn’t warn them of the attendant difficulties that lay ahead. I’ve long stopped betting on their futures. Who am I to tell them about the odds of a successful life, the weird dance of hard work and good luck, the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune? Luckily, today is filled with smiles, flowing robes, hugs, funny hats. In ancient times such celebrations would be marked by palm fronds, like Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem. And then is no different from now, where celebration can suddenly turn to trepidation, where young lives quickly discover that speaking the truth may lead to trouble, betrayal, or worse. But today they’ll throw their hats into the air with faith in the future. And when asked, I’ll pose with them for photos. Years from now they’ll wonder about the teacher with the gray hair and wan, anxious smile, who looks as if he might be praying. Lord, we often praise You one day, then betray You the next. Let us overcome our fickle nature and be faithful companions to You and our brothers and sisters. —Mark Collins Digging Deeper: Mt 21:1–11
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Guideposts (Daily Guideposts 2014)
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Can we Christians simply dare to tell men, “We are the body of Christ. If you want to know Jesus Christ, receive His power, be healed of your brokenness, and do His work in this world, join us”? Or are we afraid that the desire to know Jesus, be healed, and do His work is just not strong enough in men to warrant forming His church? Biblical faith understands that God “created the world” (Heb. 1:2 RSV) through Jesus. So the desire to know Jesus must exist in all of God’s creation—including men—no matter how deeply hidden.
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Gordon Dalbey (Healing the Masculine Soul: God's Restoration of Men to Real Manhood)
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I was hungry and you gave me food….” —Matthew 25:35 (RSV) I sat through lunch at the usual eatery, hoping the woman would be gone when I walked back to the office. The sight of her was just too upsetting: a disheveled-looking mom at the top of the subway steps, begging with her two young children in tow. “If she’s gone when I go back, I won’t have to do anything,” I told myself. I’d be off the hook. But just the image of her had kept me on the hook. Why weren’t her children in school? Where did they live? “I shouldn’t give her anything because she’s probably an addict,” I rationalized. People who know more about these things than I do tell me beggars will take whatever money you give them and use it for drugs or alcohol. But what about her kids? They weren’t addicts. They were wearing clean T-shirts, jeans, their hair braided with beads. “I’ll pray for them,” I told myself. But to leave it at that seemed like a cop-out. Maybe they’re there because God wants you do something, Rick. Not just for them but also for you. The poor and hungry should not just be ignored. I swallowed the rest of my sandwich and went to the counter to buy some more food. Not for myself this time. I carried my bag and rounded the corner. She was still there. “What’s your name?” I asked the woman. “Dolores,” she said. “Dolores, this is for you.” I gave her the food and promised to pray for her. Back at the office I put her name on a note with the names of the other people I pray for. I’ve never been good about praying for big concepts like hunger or the poor, but now I had these three faces and one name. Harden not my heart, Lord, from the pain in the world. Let me know how I can relieve it. —Rick Hamlin Digging Deeper: Mt 25:31–46; 2 Cor 1:3–4
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Guideposts (Daily Guideposts 2014)
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does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life” (Jn 5:23-24 RSV). “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. . . and you will find rest” (Mt 11:28-29).
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J.I. Packer (Knowing God)
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The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. —LUKE 4:18–19, EMPHASIS ADDED And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. —ROMANS 12:2, EMPHASIS ADDED Put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. . . . Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds. —COLOSSIANS 3:5, 9, NKJV, EMPHASIS ADDED And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. —COLOSSIANS 3:12, EMPHASIS ADDED See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled. —HEBREWS 12:15, EMPHASIS ADDED Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. —MATTHEW 23:25–26, EMPHASIS ADDED And like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and he who believes in him will not be put to shame.” —1 PETER 2:5–6, RSV, EMPHASIS ADDED I
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John Loren Sandford (Transforming The Inner Man: God's Powerful Principles for Inner Healing and Lasting Life Change (Transformation))
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by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Rom 15:18-19 RSV). In
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Larry W. Hurtado (God in New Testament Theology (Library of Biblical Theology))
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As for the style of English adopted for the present revision, among the mandates given to the Committee in 1980 by the Division of Education and Ministry of the National Council of Churches of Christ (which now holds the copyright of the RSV Bible) was the directive to continue in the tradition of the King James Bible, but to introduce such changes as are warranted on the basis of accuracy, clarity, euphony, and current English usage.
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Michael D. Coogan (The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha: New Revised Standard Version)
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When the angels announced the arrival of the Messiah, they proclaimed “good news of a great joy” (Luke 2:10 RSV), not “bad news of a great duty.
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Max Lucado (He Gets Us: Experiencing the confounding love, forgiveness, and relevance of Jesus)
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Casi todos los resfríos, catarros, dolores de garganta y la mayoría de las bronquitis son causados por virus, sobre los cuales un antibiótico no tiene ninguna influencia. En aquellas patologías en las que finalmente se decida usar un antibiótico cuya indicación sea adecuada e imprescindible, el tratamiento debe llevarse a cabo de modo íntegro (la totalidad de las dosis y la totalidad de los días) sin saltear ninguna toma ni interrumpirlo antes de su completa aplicación, sumando múltiples dosis diarias de ácido ascórbico. Tomar antibióticos a medias conduce –aún cuando los síntomas de la enfermedad remiten casi totalmente debido a la medicación y a la acción de su propio Sistema Inmune- a una erradicación parcial de la colonia bacteriana causante del problema. Habiéndose facilitado así su adaptación y supervivencia estos microorganismos quedan en estado latente (como esporas), pudiendo recrudecer la enfermedad en pocos días. También dichos gérmenes pueden quedar en algún sitio del entorno, esperando la llegada de un cuerpo propicio para prosperar nuevamente. Estas bacterias sobrevivientes pasarán a sus descendientes sus rasgos genéticos resistentes, y no responderán favorablemente ante un ataque terapéutico futuro con el mismo antibiótico al que ya una vez sobrevivieron.
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Ernesto Prieto Gratacós (Victoria de la Inmunidad Humana: Nutrientes inmunoesenciales contra Influenza H1N1, H3N2, herpes, RSV, Coronavirus SARS COV-2 y todos los próximos (Spanish Edition))
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Nuestra experiencia en regiones tropicales como Cuba y Panamá nos mostró, por otra parte, que en ausencia de ácido ascórbico puro de grado farmacológico, un modo de incorporar cierta cantidad terapéutica de vitamina C es tomar cada día el jugo de varios limones (Citrus medica) disuelto en abundante agua, sumado a una cantidad sustancial de pimientos, tomates, apio, perejil, etc. En este caso, el rol más importante que cumplen los cítricos es preventivo pero, para un inmenso número de personas, especialmente los sectores más carenciados de la población, esos 800 a 1.500 miligramos diarios puede significar la diferencia entre la vida y la muerte gracias a la activación del Sistema Inmune.
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Ernesto Prieto Gratacós (Victoria de la Inmunidad Humana: Nutrientes inmunoesenciales contra Influenza H1N1, H3N2, herpes, RSV, Coronavirus SARS COV-2 y todos los próximos (Spanish Edition))
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For to every one who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” - Matthew 25:29, RSV
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Chris Matakas (12 Rules For Jiu Jitsu)
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God's insistent challenge to the pharaoh was not simply, "Let my people go," but "Let my people go that they may serve me" (Exod. 7:16; 8:1, 20; 9:1, 13; 10:3 RSV). John Levenson comments: "The emphasis, I think, falls on that last word: that they may serve Me and no one else. The point of the exodus is not freedom in the sense of self-determination, but service, the service of the loving, redeeming, and delivering God of Israel, rather than the state and its proud king".
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Richard Bauckham
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Cullmann has correctly expounded the view that the eschatological dualism is the substructure of redemptive history.11 There is no New Testament word for “eternity,” and we are not to think of eternity as the Greeks did, as something other than time. In biblical thought eternity is unending time. In Hellenism people longed for release from the cycle of time in a timeless world beyond,12 but in biblical thought time is the sphere of human existence both now and in the future. The impression given by the AV at Revelation 10:6, “there should be time no longer,” is corrected in the RSV, “there should be no more delay.” The entire New Testament expresses the idea of eternity by the idiom eis ton aiōna, translated “forever” (Mk. 3:29), or eis tous aiōnas (Lk. 1:33, 55), and sometimes eis tous aiōnas tōn aiōnōn (Gal. 1:5; 1 Pet. 4:11; Rev. 1:18) — “unto the ages of the ages,” translated “forever and ever.
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George Eldon Ladd (A Theology of the New Testament)
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Peppiatt has argued, that Paul is doing the same thing in 1 Corinthians 11 and 14 that he does in 1 Corinthians 6 and 7?49 Refuting bad practices by quoting those bad practices and then correcting them? As Peppiatt writes, “The prohibitions placed on women in the letter to the Corinthians are examples of how the Corinthians were treating women, in line with their own cultural expectations and values, against Paul’s teachings.”50 What if Paul was so concerned that Christians in Corinth were imposing their own cultural restrictions on women that he called them on it? He quoted the bad practice, which Corinthian men were trying to drag from the Roman world into their Christian world, and then he countered it. The Revised Standard Version (RSV) lends support to the idea that this is what Paul was doing. Paul first lays out the cultural restrictions: “As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silence in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as even the law says. If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church” (1 Corinthians 14:33–35). And then Paul intervenes: “What! Did the word of God originate with you, or are you the only ones it has reached? If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that what I am writing to you is a command of the Lord. If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. So, my brethren, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues; but all things should be done decently and in order” (vv. 36–40). I often do this as a classroom exercise. I have a student read from their own translation, usually the ESV or NIV. Then I will read from the RSV, inflecting the words appropriately. When I proclaim, “What! Did the word of God originate with you?” I can usually hear their gasp, their collective intake of breath. Once a student exclaimed out loud, “Dr. Barr! That changes it completely!” Yes, I told her, it does.
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Beth Allison Barr (The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth)
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Take a look in your own Bible at these verses and see if they are in brackets, as in the NRSV, or have a footnote, as in the NIV, or are simply included with no note, as in the CEB, or not included at all, as in the RSV.
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Adam Hamilton (Luke: Jesus and the Outsiders, Outcasts, and Outlaws)
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Nevertheless, judgment remains an eschatological fact, even for believers. The righteousness we hope for (Gal. 5:5) is acquittal at the final judgment.53 “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ” (2 Cor. 5:10), which is also the judgment seat of God (Rom. 14:10, RV, RSV, NRSV). However, because of the justification in Christ, the day of judgment has lost its terror for the person in Christ (Rom. 8:1, 33-34). Nevertheless, believers will be judged for their works. Our life will be laid bare before the divine scrutiny that each one may receive the proper recompense for the things done through the life of the body, in accordance with the things that he or she has done, whether that life record is good or bad.54 This judgment is not “a declaration of doom, but an assessment of worth,”55 involving not condemnation or acquittal, but rewards or loss on the basis of the worthfulness or worthlessness of the Christian’s life. The
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George Eldon Ladd (A Theology of the New Testament)
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He was “put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit” (3:18). It is difficult to decide whether “spirit” should be capitalized (AV) or not (RSV), depending on whether the spirit is Christ’s spirit in contrast to his body, or whether it is the Holy Spirit. If it is the former, we may have the idea of an altogether “spiritual resurrection” in contrast to the resurrection of the body. This, however, is contrary to primitive Christian belief, which always thought of the resurrection of the body, although of a body transformed by the Holy Spirit. It is better, therefore, to take flesh and spirit not as two parts of Christ, but two different ways of viewing the whole Christ. Flesh is the human sphere of existence; Spirit is Christ in his heavenly sphere of existence.21 This can include his bodily resurrection, but the body glorified by the Holy Spirit. Our problem is with the words that follow: “in which [i.e., in the Spirit] he went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark” (3:19-20). We can do little more than outline the three major interpretations.22 The older patristic interpretation is that in the intermediate state, Christ in the Spirit went and preached the gospel to the spirits of dead people imprisoned in Hades, who either lived in the days of Noah or in the time before Christ.23 This view soon lost favor, for it opened the door to the possibility of salvation after death. A second view, held by Augustine and many Reformers, holds that Christ in his pre-existent state of being preached the gospel through Noah to Noah’s living contemporaries. The third view, most widely accepted today, is that in the intermediate state Christ proclaimed the victory of the gospel to fallen angels imprisoned in Hades.24 The “preaching” involved may not mean an offer of salvation, but the triumphant announcement that through his death and resurrection, Christ had broken the power of the spirit world.25
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George Eldon Ladd (A Theology of the New Testament)
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When Paul describes the new body as a soma pneumatikon, often translated “spiritual body,”23 he does not mean a “nonphysical body.” Despite one tradition of contemporary translation (the RSV, followed by the NRSV), what Paul contrasts with this “spiritual body” is not a “physical body” (inviting the reader to suppose that Plato has won the game after all), but rather a soma psychikon, literally, a “soulish body.” The contrast is not so much between physical and nonphysical, but rather between a body animated by “soul” (the present natural body, which will, like those of animals, die and decay), and a body animated by “spirit,” presumably God’s spirit, which will therefore possess a quality of life that transcends the present decaying existence.
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Marcus J. Borg (The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions (Plus))
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Whereas the Mosaic Law recognized only the reality of deeds, Jesus recognized the reality of inner psychic states. For example:
You have heard that it was said to the men of old, "You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment." But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment ...(Matt. 5:21-22, RSV)
And again:
You have heard that it was said, "You shall not commit adultery." But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Ibid. 5:27-28)
These passages have a major psychological import. They represent a transition from a kind of crude behavioristic psychology to one which is aware of the reality of the psyche as such without concrete actions.
The gospel accounts abound in many other major psychological discoveries. Jesus formulated the conception of psychological projection two thousand years before depth psychology:
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your bother's eye with never a thought for the great plank in your own eye? (Matt. 7:3, New English Bible)
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Edward F. Edinger (Ego and Archetype: Individuation and the Religious Function of the Psyche)
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To see oneself associated in Christ’s death and declared innocent in his blood is the only worthy manner in which to examine one’s own life in the context of the new covenant meal. (Self examination according to the Old Covenant, i.e. Deuteronomy 28 is no longer relevant. “Examine yourselves to see whether you are holding to your faith, test yourselves, do you not realize that Jesus Christ is within you!” [2 Cor 13:5 — RSV])
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François Du Toit (The Mirror Bible)
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Question: What is the true meaning of "Dreamland"?
Answer: It's simple. 3 words only "Dreams Become Reality
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Nani Rsv
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The Giver gets the glory. We get help. That is the story of prayer. "Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me" (Ps. 50:15, RSV). Jesus said to aim at two things in prayer: your joy and God's glory. "Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full" (John 16:24). "Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son" (John 14:13). These are not two aims, but one. When we delight ourselves in the Lord, the Lord is glorified in giving the desires of our heart (Ps. 37:4).
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John Piper (God's Passion for His Glory: Living the Vision of Jonathan Edwards (With the Complete Text of The End for Which God Created the World))
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You bless my heart the only way you can bless the world as well ..... Just by existing you make me the happiest woman alive.
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Nani Rsv
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Third Sunday in Advent, December 17 THE WORD AMONG US: Living the Word And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord.” —Luke 1:46 (RSV)
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Guideposts (Daily Guideposts 2017: A Spirit-Lifting Devotional)
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One of the most disputed Old Testament texts that could show distinct personality for more than one person is Proverbs 8:22–31. Although the earlier part of the chapter could be understood as merely a personification of “wisdom” for literary effect, showing wisdom calling to the simple and inviting them to learn, vv. 22–31, one could argue, say things about “wisdom” that seem to go far beyond mere personification. Speaking of the time when God created the earth, “wisdom” says, “Then I was the craftsman at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind” (Prov. 8:30–31 NIV). To work as a “craftsman” at God’s side in the creation suggests in itself the idea of distinct personhood, and the following phrases might seem even more convincing, for only real persons can be “filled with delight day after day” and can rejoice in the world and delight in mankind.7 But if we decide that “wisdom” here really refers to the Son of God before he became man, there is a difficulty. Verses 22–25 (RSV) seem to speak of the creation of this person who is called “wisdom”: The LORD created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water. Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth. Does this not indicate that this “wisdom” was created? In fact, it does not. The Hebrew word that commonly means “create” (bārā’) is not used in verse 22; rather the word is qānāh, which occurs eighty-four times in the Old Testament and almost always means “to get, acquire.” The NASB is most clear here: “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his way” (similarly KJV). (Note this sense of the word in Gen. 39:1; Ex. 21:2; Prov. 4:5, 7; 23:23; Eccl. 2:7; Isa. 1:3 [”owner”].) This is a legitimate sense and, if wisdom is understood as a real person, would mean only that God the Father began to direct and make use of the powerful creative work of God the Son at the time creation began8: the Father summoned the Son to work with him in the activity of creation. The expression “brought forth” in verses 24 and 25 is a different term but could carry a similar meaning: the Father began to direct and make use of the powerful creative work of the Son in the creation of the universe.
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Wayne Grudem (Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine)
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Judge not and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back. Luke 6:37-38 (RSV)
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Candy Paull (The Heart of Abundance: A Simple Guide to Appreciating and Enjoying Life)
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Satan may play his wicked role in the drama and take Job's children and strike him with boils from head to toe, but Job will not give Satan the eminence of ultimate causality. That belongs to God alone, even if we cannot understand it all. When Job's ten children were crushed to death, he "fell upon the ground, and worshiped. And he said, 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return; the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD'" (Job 1:20-21, RSV).
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John Piper (The Hidden Smile of God: The Fruit of Affliction in the Lives of John Bunyan, William Cowper, and David Brainerd (The Swans Are Not Silent, #2))
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In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong" (Job 1:22, RSV).
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John Piper (The Hidden Smile of God: The Fruit of Affliction in the Lives of John Bunyan, William Cowper, and David Brainerd (The Swans Are Not Silent, #2))
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The words of human beings are unstable things. But not so the words of God. They stand forever, as abidingly valid expressions of his mind and thought. No circumstances prompt him to recall them; no changes in his own thinking require him to amend them. Isaiah writes, “All flesh is grass. . . . The grass withers. . . . But the word of our God will stand for ever” (Is 40:6-8 RSV). Similarly, the psalmist says, “Your word, O LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. . . . All your commands are true. . . . You established them to last forever” (Ps 119:89, 151-52).
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J.I. Packer (Knowing God)
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Wisdom in Scripture always means knowledge of the course of action that will please God and secure life, so that the promise of James 1:5—“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all men generously and without reproaching, and it will be given him” (RSV)—is in effect a promise of guidance. “Let your minds be remade and your whole nature thus transformed,” counsels Paul.
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J.I. Packer (Knowing God)
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Dr. Hotez confessed to the committee that his colleagues had killed a number of children from pathogenic priming during experiments with the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccines in 1966,
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health)
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To be true to the apostolic function, those who plant apostolically will not be able to resist the urge to preach the gospel, but will echo the apostle, “For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Cor. 9:16 RSV). You may plant a church without being evangelistic, but you can’t function apostolically without being evangelistic. To claim this would be contrary to the makeup and gifting of the apostolic function, not to mention Paul’s description of his role. For this reason, many advocates of APEST have been mistaken for being apostolic, yet they are merely teachers who have discovered how to talk the talk of APEST. They are not apostolic if proclaiming and heralding Christ is not at the center of what they do. How could they be? How would it serve a missionary function if Christ’s proclamation were not central to being apostolic like it was for every apostle in Scripture? Claiming the apostolic gift for yourself as an entrepreneurial teacher who popularizes APEST cannot replace actually being an apostolic practitioner.
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Peyton Jones (Church Plantology: The Art and Science of Planting Churches (Exponential Series))
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He will give his angels charge of you to guard you in all your ways. PSALM 91:11 RSV A secret agent is one who seeks to protect his country, his king, or his president against evil forces that are opposed to the one he serves. The American Secret Service is charged with protecting the president of the United States. They do an excellent job, but even they will tell you that someone who is fiercely determined to assassinate the president could be successful. God has His own secret agents—the angels. Unseen and unrecognized by the world, they never fail in their appointed tasks. Much has been written recently about angels—often not based on the Bible but on popular legends. But angels are real, and God has commanded them to watch over us. Only in eternity will we know how many accidents they prevented or how often they kept Satan’s malicious spirits at bay. In the meantime, we can take comfort in their presence and thank God for the love He expresses for us through their service.
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Billy Graham (Hope for Each Day Morning & Evening Devotions)
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the pursuit of our soul's satisfaction--our joy and delight and happiness--is not sin. Sin is the exact opposite: pursuing happiness where no lasting happiness can be found. "My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns, that can hold no water" (Jer. 2:13, RSV). Sin is trying to quench our unquenchable soul-thirst anywhere but in God. Or, more subtly, sin is pursuing satisfaction in the right direction, but with lukewarm, halfhearted affections (Rev. 3:16).
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John Piper (God's Passion for His Glory: Living the Vision of Jonathan Edwards (With the Complete Text of The End for Which God Created the World))
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To the rest of us, down the ages, he testifies by illuminating: opening blinded eyes, restoring spiritual vision, enabling sinners to see that the gospel is indeed God’s truth, and Scripture is indeed God’s Word, and Christ is indeed God’s Son. “When he [the Spirit] comes,” our Lord promised, “he will convince the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” (Jn 16:8 RSV).
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J.I. Packer (Knowing God)
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We are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God chose you [selection] from the beginning [before creation] to be saved [the appointed end], through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth [the appointed means]” (2 Thess 2:13 RSV).
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J.I. Packer (Knowing God)
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tn Heb “he”; the referent (one of the three men introduced in v. 2) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Some English translations have specified the referent as the LORD (cf. RSV, NIV) based on vv. 1, 13, but the Hebrew text merely has “he said” at this point, referring to one of the three visitors. Aside from the introductory statement in v. 1, the incident is narrated from Abraham’s point of view, and the suspense is built up for the reader as Abraham’s elaborate banquet preparations in the preceding verses suggest he suspects these are important guests. But not until the promise of a son later in this verse does it become clear who is speaking. In v. 13 the Hebrew text explicitly mentions the LORD.
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Anonymous (NET Bible (with notes))
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Doubting helps you sort through competing ideas and come to as much truth as you can discern. Doubt, but keep looking for answers until you find something that makes sense to you. There is a lot of untruth out there. Your ultimate destiny is not dependent on your getting all of the facts right. Nevertheless, truth will empower your growth. Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. (Matthew 7:7, 8, RSV)
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Troy Caldwell (Adventures in Soulmaking: Stories and Principles of Spiritual Formation and Depth Psychology)
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How the Twelve Steps Relate to Soulmaking 1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable. This prompts the ego to yield its ego centrism. 2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. This introduces the idea of a higher unconscious/nous being present as a resource for change. 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. Here is further letting go by the ego. This links the higher unconscious to God, but it allows those not yet theistic to participate. If one cannot believe in God yet, at least they can still activate the higher unconscious. 4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. In these next steps, we see that purgation is necessary for deeper illumination: 5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. 6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. 7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings. 8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. 9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. This follows Jesus’ instruction: “So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift (Matthew 5:23, 24, RSV).” 10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. 11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. Here we see the main point I am making at this time—acknowledgement that meditation is an important, necessary step. Taking the issues raised in the above steps to the still point and offering them to God for healing, aids transformation. 12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
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Troy Caldwell (Adventures in Soulmaking: Stories and Principles of Spiritual Formation and Depth Psychology)