“It is not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
You shouldn’t have to feel bad. That’s one of the unspoken mantras of our culture. The only thing that’s really bad these days seems to be feeling badly about something. What we want to feel—and others with us—is competent. We want to feel like we can do anything.
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“The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, “You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.”’” (CSB – Read the chapter)
How do you resist temptation? What are your strategies? Are there any routines that help you do it? Do you have certain things you say, perhaps a mantra of some kind? The fact is, you do face it. We all face it. We’ve all faced it since Eve here took the initial shot to the heart. Succumbing to it obviously isn’t the best plan, but if we don’t have another one better, that’s usually what’s going to happen. What do we do?
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“The Lord God made clothing from skins for the man and his wife, and he clothed them.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
This is one of my favorite verses in this whole story. This verse seems like almost an afterthought when you first read it, but I think a good argument can be made that it reveals more important information about God’s character than anything else in this section. Let’s talk about why.
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“So she went running to Simon Peter and to the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They’ve taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they’ve put him!’” (CSB – Read the chapter)
John wrote his account of Jesus’ life and ministry about 30 years after the other three gospels had already been recorded. In that time, the original three had no doubt been copied and shared numerous times. Their stories and presentations of the teachings of Jesus (along with the other New Testament letters) were likely already shaping the young church. The first three, though, were not without their problems. John had the opportunity, knowing that all the other eye-witnesses to the resurrection were probably dead, to “set the record straight.” So, what did he do?
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“If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
What’s next? Do you ever wonder that? Avengers: Endgame just came out this past weekend. It completely destroyed every box office record and will likely go on to make the most money of any movie ever. It won’t be close. And, with eleven years of build-up and 22 mostly excellent movies leading up to it, that really shouldn’t come as any surprise. I’ve been waiting for it to come out since before I had kids. But now that it’s out, the question most everybody is going to be asking is this: What’s next?
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The Nexus 