Monthly Archives: May 2012

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How to Avoid Personal Hypocrisy

Ever tried to tell if someone is authentic or phony? It isn’t easy. It gets even tougher when we look at ourselves.

Wearing a mask.

(Photo: Tyler Olson, via Vivozoom)

I remember seeing at Masada a one-inch painted black line running across the walls of the ruins. This line revealed the division between the original ruins below and the modern reconstruction built directly on top of it.

Unfortunately, we have no black line running down our lives and behaviors to reveal the division between the authentic and the phony. The line often seems easy to see in the lives of others, but discerning the hypocrite in ourselves?

That’s a challenge, even when we’re looking for it.

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Messianic Prophecies Change a Life

Why can’t I just pray to God without Jesus in the middle?” asked a Jewish friend of mine in Israel. The lady to whom he spoke answered, “Why don’t you just pray that God will reveal to you who Jesus is all about?”

(Photo: My friend Amir at Masada, Israel)

So for the first time, Amir sat down, wrote out a prayer, stuck it on the wall where he could see it—and prayed. “And I made sure I said every word,” he said.

The next day changed his life.

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Tour the Holy Land and Experience the Benefits

I’ll be honest. I have never recovered from my travels to the Holy Land.

As many times as I’ve been to Israel, every trip impacts me. There’s a reason.

On the Southern Steps of the Temple Mount

(Photo: Our tour group on the Southern Steps of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem)

After Cathy and I took our first tour to the Holy Land, the truth hit home harder than it ever had: my faith is rooted in events that occurred in real places.

My experience isn’t unique. The following video shows people whose lives have changed as a result of a tour to the Holy Land.

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Who Cares about the Ascension of Jesus?

7 benefits we enjoy as a result of the Ascension of Jesus

Every year we have Ascension Day. The day commemorates the Ascension of Jesus into heaven 40 days after His resurrection (Acts 1:3-9). Okay, so this may sound like a dumb question, but here goes. So what?

(Photo: SqueakyMarmot, via Wikimedia Commons)

Why in the world did Christ ascend to heaven? What difference does the Ascension of Jesus have for us as Christians today?

In a word: plenty.

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Love What Lasts

Part 3 – “Faith in Times Like These”

– 1 Peter 1:22-2:10 –

Once the attitude of holiness has begun in an individual’s heart, he or she should display that holiness in selfless love for God’s people and in an unflagging desire for God Word. Only through Scripture will anyone grow in respect to salvation, and only through love displayed will that salvation be shared with others. Only two things last forever–God’s Word and God’s people. So love what lasts.

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(c) 2008 Wayne Stiles
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Christian Apologetics Resources You Can Trust

Have you ever been asked a tough question about your faith? I sure have. Sometimes when Christians talk to people about God, or when people discover that we believe what the Bible says, they fire off a list of questions.

Good questions need good answers.

(Photo: Monkey Business Images, via Vivozoom)

Tough questions, like:

  • How can you say Jesus is the only way to God?
  • What about the person who’s never heard of Jesus?
  • How can the Bible be the Word of God when it was written by fallible men?
  • How can a good God allow such evil in the world?

These questions, and many others, can be hard to answer. If you’re not ready for these questions, they can eat your lunch– the sandwich, the candy bar, and the note from mom.

Here are some Christian apologetics resources you can trust.

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Anger with God

God controls everything.

So our frustration with Him reaches the boiling point when He seems to do nothing with our requests. Here’s a biblical way to think through that tension.

(I recommend The Anger Workbook by Les Carter, an essential resource used in this series.)

Part 4 – “Good and Angry” – Psalm 13 

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