December 2013 Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year Thanks for reading “Life in the Kingdom” in 2013. I am taking a break from blogging with the holidays. I will be posting again the first part of January.
2013 archive
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Dec 17
Handling the Holiday Blues
Which song more reflects your view of the holiday season? “Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas” or “I’ll Have a Blue Christmas” Temporary depression, loneliness, or high stress cause many to wish they could just skip the month of December. This is often called, “Holiday Blues.” It is not a clinical term, but refers to the …
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Dec 12
The Mistake In the Genealogy of Jesus
The language is so stark, yet so common that you almost miss it. But, when it hits you, you realize, that wasn’t right! It is not supposed to be that way. You think, “that was a mistake!” And you are right! Actually, it was a big mistake, and it got David in a lot of …
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Dec 10
Don’t Just Give Your Kids a New iPad!
It was the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I was at McDonald’s eating breakfast with my family. I heard a mother telling about standing in line for a long time to get her child an iPad mini. She said, it was worth it because, “she loves it, and is on it all the time.” To which I …
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Dec 08
Validate and Respect the Work of Others
Have you noticed we all tend to think our work is more important than others? Really, be honest, don’t you often feel disrespected in your work? Like few really understand its’ challenges and your hard work. The truth is–most don’t. Do we really know the challenges of a junior high teacher, unless we are one? …
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Dec 05
Sometimes You Get Showed Up By Your Son
This year was my first foray into Fantasy Football. A family member began the league and got many of us to play. I watch some football, but am not a fanatic. I had an elders meeting the night of the draft, so the computer picked my team. I actually got a pretty good team. I …
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Dec 01
The Local Church is the Hope of the World
I have a dear friend who has spent his professional life involved in mission work and church planting and now works in recruiting mission teams to plant local churches. When last speaking with him, he noted how he is increasingly seeing more Christians who are not interested in church planting. There is a desire to …
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Nov 29
Changing the Perspective
How do we typically apply the stories of Biblical characters? We gain so much from studying these characters and the events of their lives. Recently, I have studied the life of Abraham, who was such a wonderful character. God told Isaac, “In your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because Abraham obeyed …
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Nov 25
Thoughts about Ministry at the 10 Year Mark at Seven Oaks
On Sunday (11-24-13) we celebrated our 10th anniversary with the Seven Oaks Church of Christ in Mayfield, Kentucky. I spoke about this topic and challenged us for the future in the morning sermon. It is in the audio resources titled, “Reflection and Thanksgiving at 10 Years.” In a way of expressing our appreciation we prepared …
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Nov 21
Bedroom Expectations Brought To Marriage
We did a marriage retreat this past weekend with a local church. It was lots of fun and we hope a great blessing to the couples who attended. I wanted to share one concept that seemed to resonate with the couples regarding the sexual relationship. We come into marriage with various expectations. It seems that …
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