Tag: scripture
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What is the Church? 10 Things the Bible Says About the Church
Over the past several years of seminary work I have had the privilege of studying the church. There are a lot of different answers to that question (just look how many different churches there are in this country). Yesterday was our first open-air outdoor worship service at our Cornerstone Lee-Scott site. Not because we all…
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What’s More Useful to the Glory of God Than 95% of All We Do?
I’m guessing you didn’t think poetry was the answer to the question in the title, but it is. Poetic language and the language of prose put together in a sentence is sort of a misnomer, since they basically mean the opposite, but such is my relationship with metric and non-metrical language. Over the years I…
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Biblical Basis Question for Vacation Bible School :: VBS
This, like other posts on this particular blog, are unfinished thoughts, and this one is beyond unfinished. This time of year, churches all across the country are going to great lengths to setup for their versions of VBS. As the chaotic week arrived, I asked the stupid question, “What is the Biblical basis for VBS?”…
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A Look at The Pericope Adulterae from John 7:53-8:11
I was quite troubled the first time I heard someone say, years ago at this point, that the story about Jesus and the woman caught in adultery was not inspired Scripture, and thus didn’t belong in the Bible. Of course it troubled me, but I did nothing about trying to understand why this story was…
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Heavenly Wisdom vs Earthly Wisdom :: James 3:13-18
A few weeks ago I was given the privilege of preparing a short message on James 3:13-18 for our series on the book of James, which is the small section at the end of James 3 on wisdom as it pertains to the taming of the tongue. The entire message is available on PDF at Heavenly…
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Is True Christianity Represented on CNN, Discovery, and History Channel?
Can we really know the true meaning of Christianity today? The answer of course, is an emphatic yes, of course we can, but the answer always seems to change depending on who you ask. Our culture is filled with blogs and news articles like the CNN “Belief Blog” and the Washington Post “On Faith” section, which…
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Lent Has Brought Us To This Maundy Thursday Prayer
Every year, on this day, Maundy Thursday, we come to the Lord in prayer, as Jesus did with his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane. On that night, Jesus asked his disciples to watch and pray… because our spirit is willing, but our flesh is weak (Matthew 26:36-46), and then Jesus was betrayed by one…
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Though Your Sins are Like Scarlet Only Christ Can Atone :: Isaiah 1:18-20
I am in the middle of reading three different reading plans from YouVersion (I rotate reading from one particular plan each day), and today in the Canonical Plan started the book of Isaiah. I put off starting the book for a week or two because of its depth and heaviness, but today was the day.…
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Ash Wednesday Breaking Routines with a Lenten Reader
It’s already that time of year, Lent is here. Today is Ash Wednesday (see also history), marking the beginning of the season of Lent, which then takes us to the Passion and into Easter. There are many things our church does that I really like and producing a Lenten Reader for the past few years…
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The Necessity of Prayer by E.M. Bounds Book Review
Below is a short review of a book I just finished called The Necessity of Prayer by E.M. Bounds. It can be read for free here, or on Amazon over here, or even on audiobook over here. If you want the real real short version then pick up this book and read it, it is…
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Should Christians Rejoice over the Death of Osama Bin Laden?
I suppose this is as good a photo of the day post as anything. I took this shot around 11:30pm ET last night with my iPhone and it about says it all. It’s probably the biggest news to hit the “war on terror” in 10 years, but last night as we the country awaited a…
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Our Life of Multitasking and Skimming in Search of Productivity
Maybe its photography over the past 20 years that has made me over sensitive to our cultural demands for productivity, which in turn has given way to our two worst developed habits in search of better productivity, multi-tasking and skimming text. I am probably the worst at putting aside distractions but photography is one of…
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Did Jesus Descend into Hell After He Died on the Cross?
Update March 2012 [ For an update to this post on a more scholarly level please see Did Jesus Descend into Hell According to the Apostles’ Creed? ] This question is usually asked once a year after people remember what actually happened on Good Friday. I ask the question myself each year and go back and re-read the…
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Put off Flesh, Put on Christ: Colossians 3:5–16
Colossians 3:5-16 is one of those classic pieces of scripture that can be studies and meditated over time and time again. I made this particular post also available in a pdf Put off Flesh, Put on Christ: Colossians 3:5–16 in my writing section. Colossians 3:5-16 Overview In Paul’s letter to the Colossians, chapter 3 starts…
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I AM Lenten Reader, Introduction :: Lent Day 1
Today is the first day of Lent, and as discussed in my previous post The “I AM” Lenten Reader During This Season of Lent, I will be going through our Lenten Reader here on my blog each day. You can click the image above for the full page as shown in the reader, and if…
Scott Fillmer 