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Daily Bible thoughts 1009: Wednesday 11th November 2015: 1 Timothy 3:14-16: Truth matters.

1 Timothy 3:14-16: Truth matters.(please click here for todays Bible passage)

We need to understand that there is behaviour which befits church members, and there is conduct that is unbecoming (14, 15). There are ways to be that have an ‘’ought’’ attached to them. They are obligatory rather than optional. We have spent two days looking at what church leaders ‘’ought’’ to be. The truth is that this ‘ought’ applies to all of us in the church. Leaders must be a certain way because all God’s people are called to live like that. Shepherds are to be models to their sheep. If we conduct ourselves like our leaders we shouldn’t be going too far wrong. (Otherwise, something has gone terribly awry with the leadership.)

The church is a wonder and a marvel, and it has an important relationship to the truth. It is not composed of a bunch of deluded people who believe in fairy stories. It is made up of those who care about truth; they know the truth has set them free. Leaders in the church are not to play ‘fast and loose’ with the truth (2, 9). The revealed truth of God is to shape and govern their consciences, and all their teaching and living. They must be people of the Word, following the ‘Map’ placed into their hands by the Lord, and showing others the way from this same Map. The ministry of Biblical preaching is vitally important to the health of a local church. It cannot be sacrificed without terrible cost. Paul calls the church ‘’the pillar and foundation of the truth.’’ It’s been said that there are two aspects to this ministry: guarding and defending the truth (‘’foundation’’); and lifting it high, proclaiming it (‘’the pillar’’). A pillar thrusts something upwards and holds it aloft; a foundation (or bulwark) prevents something from falling down. The church has this dual protective and proclaiming ministry with regard to the truth.

Ultimately, Jesus Christ is the embodiment of truth (John 14:6). He is at the heart of the church’s message. The living Word is the centre point of the written Word. It all converges in Him and focuses on Him. This chapter concludes with a beautifully succinct statement about Jesus (16).

‘’The Christian life is a great mystery, far exceeding our understanding, but some things are clear enough…’’ The Message.

People may disagree about what aspects of the career of Jesus some of the lines in this short ‘hymn’ are describing. But no one can miss the central point that it is about the glory of Jesus and the success of the gospel in the world. That is what the church is all about, proclaiming and defending the eternal truth about Jesus to the glory and praise of His Name forever.

Prayer: Lord God help me to always stay on the rails of your truth.

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Daily Bible thoughts 1008: Tuesday 10th November 2015: 1 Timothy 3:8-13: Serving well.

 1 Timothy 3:8-13: Serving well.(click here for todays Bible passage)

There clearly are areas of overlap between the qualifications for elders and those for ‘’Deacons’’. See the word ‘’likewise’’ (8).The boundary line between these two roles may not be so clearly demarcated as we sometimes imagine, but it appears that the elders were the ‘overseers’ of the church, perhaps assisted by deacons, who could also exercise a teaching/preaching ministry (9). There are four areas mentioned where deacons must be similar to elders:

  • They should have integrity and be of good character (8): Who they are counts; not just what they can do;
  • They must be theologically sound (9): This is a particularly interesting statement in the light of the fact that it is regularly thought that a deacon’s ministry may have been more practical in nature (see Acts 6:1-7, which may refer to the appointment of the first diaconate);
  • They have got to prove themselves first (10): ‘’Let them prove themselves first. If they show they can do it, take them on.’’ The Message. This may link to the next point (see also 4, 5. We saw yesterday that the home is the proving ground for church leadership);
  • They have to be exemplary in home and family life (12): Perfection is not asked for, but a good example in moral/sexual conduct is required.

Verse 11 points to the character which is also required for deacon’s wives. But I understand the word can also refer to ‘deaconesses.’ ‘’No exceptions are to be made for women – same qualifications: serious, dependable, not sharp-tongued, not overfond of wine.’’ The Message.

When people serve well in Christian leadership they receive both external and internal blessings (13). Externally, there is an honour placed on them by God (and the church). Internally, they grow in a sense of assurance that they are saved people demonstrating and expressing their salvation in the good works of ministry.

‘’Those who do this servant work will come to be highly respected, a real credit to this Jesus-faith.’’ The Message.

Pray today that your leaders will serve well.

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Daily Bible thoughts 1006: Friday 6th November 2015: Jeremiah 21: Courageous living.

 Jeremiah 21: Courageous living. (please click here for todays passage)

‘’The first twenty chapters of Jeremiah have come in roughly chronological order; the remaining chapters are arranged on the basis of subject matter rather than chronology. Here in this chapter, Jeremiah jumps forward to the ninth year of the reign of Judah’s last king, Zedekiah. Zedekiah had foolishly rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and now Babylon was attacking Jerusalem (see 2 Kings 24:18-20; 25:1; Jeremiah 52:1-4). Tom Hale: ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary’, p.1105.

That’s a helpful introduction to this chapter and the remainder of the Book. I want to highlight three points:

Courage (1-7): It takes courage to tell people what you know they will not want to hear. Jeremiah would be considered a traitor for delivering messages such as these. ‘’But he was not pro-Babylonian, he was pro-Yahweh, and he saw clearly that Jerusalem’s only recourse was to submit to God’s righteous chastisement.’’ A.E. Cundall. Tom Hale points out that, regrettably, King Zedekiah was more interested in avoiding trouble than in avoiding the sins that caused him trouble. There comes a point where we cannot realistically expect God to answer our prayers if our hearts are set against doing His will. It is thought likely that verses 11-14 were spoken on an earlier occasion when there was still time for repentance. Such messages had been given, and rejected, over and over. They had been met with smug complacency. It was now too late for the desired miracle. Zedekiah (and this is still true of many today) wanted a ‘genie’ who would pop out of the bottle when required and grant him his wishes. At that moment he’d have settled for one. ‘’Maybe GOD will intervene with one of his famous miracles and make him leave.’’ The Message. It wasn’t going to happen; not this time. Jeremiah had to deliver this message, and he needed courage, for the messenger would be ‘shot’.

Consolation (5; see Romans 8:31): It is a terrible thing when God says He is against you. That’s not a ‘boat’ you want to be in. ‘’I’m joining their side and fighting against you, fighting all-out, holding nothing back.’’ The Message. But the consolation I find in this verse lies in the realisation that this can never be true of those who are ‘in Christ’. Paul teaches in Romans 8 that if God is ‘’for us’’ no-one can be against us.

Clarity (8-10): Within the unpopular message handed to Jeremiah to convey, there was nevertheless a ray of hope. It was not exactly what people wanted to hear, but ‘’the way of life and the way of death’’ were made utterly clear. It was not possible for Jerusalem to be saved, but it was the case that the populace, the people, could be saved. They could escape with their lives if they humbled themselves and surrendered. No one could be in any doubt about what they had to do. ‘’Listen carefully. I’m giving you a choice: life or death. Whoever stays in this city will die – either in battle or by starvation or disease. But whoever goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who have surrounded the city will live. You’ll lose everything – but not your life.’’ The Message. This sounds a lot like the message of the gospel which has been entrusted to us. It sets out clear alternatives (Matthew 7:13, 14), and we must communicate it in such a way that people know what they are. Let’s not make a simple message foggy. If people are prepared to lose their own lives for Jesus’ sake, they will then find them.

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 1004: Wednesday 4th November 2015: Luke 1:57-80: ‘’His name is John’’.

Luke 1:57-80: ‘’His name is John’’. (please click here for todays Bible passage)

Jilly, my lovely wife pointed out to me the power of two in this story. To my mind it’s a great thought. You’ve got Zechariah and Elizabeth backing each other up as they take their stand on God’s truth (57-66). ‘’It’s better to have a partner than go it alone…And if one falls down, the other helps…’’ The Message (from Ecclesiastes 4).

When the Holy Spirit is active, doing a ‘new thing’, he may cut across cherished traditions. There was nothing inherently wrong with naming the son after the father (traditions aren’t necessarily sinful). But this new day required a new approach. God was doing something new and the ‘new wine’ required a ‘new wineskin’. At times, those who seek to keep in step with God’s Spirit will find that they have to be prepared to go against the norm, the accepted ways of doing things (61). People, almost by default, have a tendency to question change and even resist it. But if the Lord has given us insight into what He is doing we must be prepared to stand with Him against the tide of public opinion. There comes a time to say, as it were, ‘’His name is John’’. Here is something that is no longer up for grabs because God has revealed His mind on it. We know what He thinks, and though the entire world should be moving in the opposite direction, we will stick with God. For every believer, there comes a time to firmly take our stand and say, ‘I believe this is how it is because God says this is how it is!’ (I would add the point from verse 66, that people may well notice when ‘’the Lord’s hand’’ is with someone, but that won’t necessarily make them popular.)

Looking at (63, 64), you see something of the liberating power of obedience to God. It does not bring you into slavery. Well, in one sense it does; yet in slavery to Christ there is true freedom. The hymn writer, George Matheson, captured something of the paradox when he wrote, ‘’Make me a captive, Lord, and then I shall be free.’’ When Zechariah firmly took his stand on what God had revealed, he was ‘’Immediately’’ set free.

The ‘Magnificat’ of Mary (46-55) and the ‘Benedictus’ of Zechariah (68-79) share this feature in common that both express continuity with the Old Testament. Yes, God was doing something new; but He wasn’t going off at a tangent. Everything that was now about to happen in the ‘new’ was a fulfilment of the ‘old’. For a time, I went once a week to pray with the clergy at a local Anglican church. We shared some beautiful liturgical prayers, and these words of Zechariah were at the core of every prayer time. We always stood for this part. I couldn’t help but feel that there was something especially powerful about words that reminded us that Jesus came into the world in fulfilment of prophecy, and that He came for ‘’the forgiveness of…sins’’ (77).

Prayer: Thank you Lord for the amazing way the Bible hangs together.

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Daily Bible thoughts 1003: Tuesday 3rd November 2015: 1 Timothy 2:9-15: Orderly worship

 1 Timothy 2:9-15: Orderly worship (please click here for todays passage)

Without getting into detail on the more controversial aspects of this passage, I do want to underline certain truths that I believe are in keeping with all Scripture.

  • God has an order/a pattern for public worship. We are not free to ‘bin it’. Everything in the Bible is important, and we must apply our hearts and minds to understand it, and try to make faithful application to church and personal life
  • God has an order/a pattern for male-female relationships. This applies to the home, the church and society at large. This template entails men taking a lead. ‘’I don’t let women take over and tell the men what to do.’’ The Message .But this is not because men are superior to women or more important creatures. They are in fact both equal before God in Christ (Galatians 3:26-28). Paul gives theological reasons for his argument here in (13, 14); but be clear that he is not arguing that men are lesser sinners than women. ‘’Adam was made first, then Eve; woman was deceived first – our pioneer in sin! – with Adam right on her heels.’’ The Message. It’s beyond the scope of these daily inspirational thoughts to fully unpack the details of Paul’s argument (and there are many good commentaries available that can help you). But it must be born in mind that in the Bible’s big picture (and every text must be understood in terms of this larger context) many women played important leadership roles.
  • God’s order/pattern for public worship involves dressing in a way that does not distract our brothers and sisters from the worship of God. Although the message is delivered to women in this passage, it is surely applicable to both sexes. True beauty is inward, not outward. It is the beauty of holiness: ‘’…doing something beautiful for God and becoming beautiful doing it.’’ The Message.

Donald Guthrie, the renowned New Testament scholar, believes that these verses may relate to a specific problem at the time of writing where women, who were downtrodden in that culture, but now newly liberated through faith in Christ, and were beginning to dominate men in the church. So they were in danger of bringing the church into disrepute. Guthrie writes these wise and balanced words, and I find them helpful: ‘’If we say that Paul was culturally conditioned, so that if he were writing today he would emphasize only the equality of the sexes, we make God’s revelation dependent on transitory fashion – changing from year to year. And who can tell what Paul would write if he were here today? If, on the other hand, we insist on a precise application of each feature of first century practice, we run the risk of being irrelevant to modern life and even ridiculous. Our task is to discern the basic biblical principles which do not change and apply them sensitively to our present situation, bearing in mind that it is better, in the last resort, to appear ridiculous than to be disobedient to God’s loving purposes.’’ ‘The New Bible Commentary’, p.1298.

One final word, it is possible that the rather strange sounding fifteenth verse may refer to the ‘’childbearing’’ of Mary, who brought the Saviour, Jesus into the world. But it is by no means certain that this is the correct interpretation (lovely thought that it is) and the point continues to be debated.

Prayer: Thank you for your Word Lord. I want to always bow to your wisdom, when I understand it and when I don’t.

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 1002: Monday 2nd November 2015: 1 Timothy 2:1-8: The church’s priority

 1 Timothy 2:1-8: The church’s priority (please click here for todays post)

I imagine most churches in the UK are wide of the mark if they measure their public worship against Paul’s words here. He says clearly that the church’s priority is to pray, and it is an ‘urgent’ requirement. This praying is to be carried out in unity and with purity of heart (8). And it comes ‘’first of all’’ (1). That could mean ‘first in time’, i.e. it’s the first thing you should do in a service; or as a priority, so that it is seen as the most important thing you do. I take it to mean the latter.

Notice a number of interesting and important details:

  • There are different types, or forms, of prayer (1; see Ephesians 6:18);
  • Prayer is to be offered for ‘’everyone’’ ;
  • We are to pray for people in authority (2), and be thankful for them too! We may not approve of them. We may not have voted for them. But we do have a solemn duty to pray for them, and to thank God for them. In His sovereignty He has raised them up for a reason. (Remember Paul and his fellow-Christians lived under Roman rule when he wrote these words and they read them. They didn’t have the opportunity of casting a vote);
  • Our prayers will affect the atmosphere of our society (2; see also Jeremiah 29:7). We can pray that the culture will remain open and free so that we can continue to spread the gospel and live the Christian life;
  • In particular, in praying for our leaders, and for all people, we are to remember that this pleases God because He ‘’wants all men to be saved’’ (4). It may be hard for us to believe at times, but God can save those in high authority in our land. (In fact, we are led to believe that there already are many Christians working in and around Westminster, and they need our prayer support);
  • So at the heart of this passage a classic statement is made about the saving work of Christ through the cross (5, 6). We pray for people knowing how much Jesus loves them, and in the certainty that only He can save them. We pray with the confidence that He is able to save them. This message of salvation through Christ’s death lay at the heart of Paul’s ministry (7). Whenever we come boldly before God in prayer it is because of Jesus’ sacrifice. At the heart of all our praying there must be this evangelistic desire that all people may be brought to know God through Jesus. ‘’Since prayer is at the bottom of all this, what I want mostly is for men to pray – not shaking angry fists at enemies but raising holy hands to God.’’ The Message.

What a privilege we have; what a responsibility. Probably most Christians and churches in Britain today need to take these words more seriously, and get on with obeying them; at least, doing so more consistently. Our land desperately needs the urgent, on-going prayers of God’s people.

‘’The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. This is the way our Saviour God wants us to live.’’ The Message.

Prayer: Lord, teach us to pray.

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Daily Bible thoughts 1001: Friday 30th October 2015: Luke 1:39-56: Host to a miracle.

 Luke 1:39-56: Host to a miracle.(please click here for todays Bible passage)

As we read these early chapters of Luke’s gospel it is good to remember that the doctor probably had the opportunity to interview Mary at some point, when he was on his travels with Paul.

Mary and Elizabeth’s lives were intertwined by blood; now they would be knitted even closer together through their sons, and the intersecting missions of these boys. When Mary and Elizabeth met, the older woman surely had prophetic insight (41-45). It must have been a thrilling confirmation for young Mary. This encounter between the two chosen women sort of reminds me of when you meet up with another Christian and your heart just leaps; you’ve got something so special in common.

We see so many wonderful qualities in Mary:

  • Belief in God’s promises (45; compare with 20). This is how we are to live the Christian life; trusting in every promise of His Word.
  • A worshipful spirit (46, 47). The whole song of Mary (46-55) has the focus on ‘’Him’’/ ‘’He’’. This is surely a mark of the Holy Spirit’s fullness. David Pawson told a story about hearing a young ‘Salvation Army’ girl give her testimony in an open air service. He said that she never once spoke about herself; all that she said was about Jesus. He added that he did not believe that this was a conscious decision; she was just so full of the Holy Spirit that she overflowed with Jesus.
  • Humility (48). She knew that she would be famous, but probably had little idea of how well known she would become. However there was nothing boastful about her. I’m grateful to my wife, Jilly, for the insight that Mary was willing to serve. Elizabeth needed Mary. In the last three months of her pregnancy she would benefit from the help of the younger woman. God showed His care for her through Mary. Mary was not full of pride, but full of wonder, love, service and meekness; full of Jesus. True greatness takes the form of a servant (John 13; Philippians 2:1-11). The central verses in this song illustrate the point that God’s Kingdom is the ‘Upside down Kingdom’. Mary and Elizabeth and Zechariah were illustrative of the truth that God reaches down into obscurity to lift up the ‘nobodies’.
  • Knowledge of God’s Word and purposes (54, 55). Again we see continuity with the Old Testament.

Mary knew that she was playing ‘host’ to a miracle. She would not be carrying this baby apart from the mysterious and wonderful work of God within her. Her response was one of humble, adoring thanks for this ‘surprise’. Today I feel the challenge of always thanking God for His surprising blessings; not taking them for granted or thinking I somehow deserve them. It is also important to remember that although God blesses us for our good; it is always for His glory.

Prayer: Thank you Lord for your goodness to me

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Daily Bible thoughts 1000: Thursday 29th October 2015: Jeremiah 20:7 – 18: Honest to God.

Jeremiah 20:7 – 18: Honest to God.(please click here for todays Bible passage)

The first six verses of this chapter display something of Jeremiah’s courage in his outer life. He was knocked down, but he got right back up again and carried on, even though he was likely to take more punishment for doing so.

However, the remainder of the chapter pulls back the curtain on his inner life. He paid a high price for his ministry. We see him overwhelmed with anguish and discouragement, saying some things that are hard to hear. For example he expresses the feeling that he wished he’d never been born (14-18). He doesn’t curse his parents (Exodus 21:17), but he does curse the day of his birth. This is a man at rock bottom; just about clinging on by his fingertips. ‘’He should have killed me before I was born, with that womb as my tomb…Why, oh why, did I ever leave that womb? Life’s been nothing but trouble and tears, and what’s coming is more of the same.’’ The Message.

‘’Once again, the prophet was bold before men but broken before God ’ Warren W. Wiersbe. Here are three important lessons:

A strong ministry is built on and sustained by a robust inner life. Jeremiah the preacher was also a man of prayer. You will never survive the marathon of Christian ministry without a healthy relationship with God, in which you can be completely honest about your feelings. (It also helps if you’ve got one or two ‘FDF’s’ as John Ortberg calls them: ‘Fully Disclosing Friends’. Is there someone with whom you can open your heart?) Most of all, keep your eyes on Jesus, who persevered through terrible suffering. Look to Him and remember the Cross (Hebrews 12:2,3)

You can be honest with God. I wouldn’t be surprised if you read this and something deep inside said, ‘You can’t say that Jeremiah!’ But clearly you can. You can be honest with God. He knows what you’re thinking and feeling anyway, whether or not you articulate it. Effectively what Jeremiah said to the Lord was that He had over-persuaded him when he called him to be a prophet. He hadn’t realised just how much he would suffer. But in fact God had told him that life would be difficult, while at the same time assuring him that he would not be overcome by these hardships (1:17-19). We can be totally honest with God. We may get some things wrong in what we say about people in His presence, and in what we say about Him. I’m not commending that (and once we know we got it wrong we need to repent), but God allows His servants to talk things out before His throne. What a privilege. Let it all out. ‘’It has often been observed that Jeremiah’s doubts were never expressed in public.’’ A.E. Cundall.

We are complex creatures. Emotions are complex. In these few verses we ride a rollercoaster of feelings with the prophet. One moment he’s saying things like, ‘’You pushed me into this, GOD, and I let you do it. You were too much for me. And now I’m a public joke. They all poke fun at me.’’ The Message. Then he’s affirming that the Lord is with him, and will vindicate him (11, 12) and even singing praise to Him (13; see Acts 16:25). We move from low to high…and then, whoosh, plummet back down again (14-18). Some commentators would say that these verses are out of place and got mixed up in transmission. But I think it is more helpful to say that this is true to life. We experience swings of emotion, and it can all tumble round together in a kind of ‘washing machine’ of prayer. ‘’Faith and doubt can jostle each other in a disorderly way…’’ Gordon McConville: ‘NBC’, p.689.

Prayer: ‘Every cry you are listening, no matter what state my heart is in.’

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 999: Wednesday 28th October 2015: Jeremiah 20:1-6: The rubber prophet!

 Jeremiah 20:1-6: The rubber prophet!(please click here for todays Bible passage)

The saying, ‘Don’t shoot the messenger’ springs to mind. The person who has to deliver unpalatable truth regularly takes a bullet for it. (It is ironic to think about a preacher of God’s Word being put in stocks, in church, because of faithful preaching! Essentially, that is what you find here.) The preaching of Jeremiah cost him dearly. In these verses he records the first of many experiences of physical abuse at the hands of his enemies. He had been warned about the personal cost of his ministry at his calling (1:19). He had been given the promise that he would not be overcome by his foes, but no guarantee was given that he would not suffer. ‘’Similarly, the Christian is assured of final victory because of the resurrection of Christ – but not of immunity from suffering or opposition.’’ Gordon McConville: ‘The New Bible Commentary’, p.688. These opening verses of chapter 20 show how much of a stir Jeremiah was creating in the higher echelons of Judean society.’’Passhur’’ seems to have been a kind of priestly policeman, responsible for order in the temple area.

God’s messengers will suffer because of the messages they bring. If you are a preacher and your text is the Bible; if your calling is to say what God says, somewhere along the line you are going to run into trouble. There will be people who hate what you are saying, and who may even hate you. Some will want you out of the way, and there may be those in your path who will actively take steps to remove you. God’s Word is potent. It goes to work on sin and evil. Therefore the devil hates it, and kicks up a fuss, pulling on people’s strings in his counter-attack (Ephesians 6: 12).

God’s messengers need to be resilient. Jeremiah has been characterised as ‘the weeping prophet’, but to my mind he is also the ‘rubber’ prophet, because after this beating he bounced back. In the next section, it is true, we will see something of how this hurt him, but it doesn’t alter the fact that he got back up from the canvas with his fists up, ready for more fighting. But this wasn’t personal animosity; it was rather a refusal to be silenced when he had been entrusted with God’s message. His ‘come back’ must have taken immense courage, because after his release from the stocks (3) he would surely have experienced the temptation to keep his head down. Wasn’t this the reason for the punishment anyway; to cow him into silence? But whatever the temptation he may have felt, he couldn’t help himself (8, 9). The words in him from God were like pent up floodwaters behind a locked door. They just had to burst through. There was no holding them back. He was so brave, because when he spoke again he delivered a personal word to the man who’d had him beaten: ‘’GOD has a new name for you: not Pashhur but Danger-Everywhere, because GOD says, ‘You’re a danger to yourself and everyone around you…’ ‘’ The Message. ‘’Ironically, the one who thought he was guarding the institutions and traditions was doing just the reverse; the temple with its rituals and its wealth, which he was protecting from the disorderly, would soon be no more, and the priesthood an irrelevance in a foreign land. No institution, however good, can be an end in itself; it can be good only if it points forward to the kingdom of God.’’ Gordon McConville: ‘The New Bible Commentary’, p.688.

God’s messengers must remember who is in control. In Jeremiah’s situation it wasn’t ‘’Pashhur’’ or his ‘’friends’’ or any of the other people who hated his message. It wasn’t the Babylonians either. Jeremiah’s God was in control. Look at the repeated ‘’I will’’ in (4, 5). Let’s keep our eyes on the Lord and always remember that He reigns.

‘’Let God take care of the people who create problems for you.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe.

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