“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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“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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“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
What is it that has made you what you are today? Who we are is a complex web of many different factors. Some of it has come by the intentional effort of someone else trying to shape us into one thing or another. Some of it has come by a set of circumstances over which we had no control. Some of it has come by things that we have pursued ourselves. Paul identifies a fourth factor here, and this should be the big one.
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“beginning from the baptism of John until the day he was taken up from us — from among these, it is necessary that one become a witness with us of his resurrection.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
What is the foundation of the church? What is the thing that if you removed it, the church would crumble into dust? There’s an old hymn that would seem to give us the answer to that question. It goes like this: “The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ, her Lord; she is His new creation by water and the Word; from heav’n He came and sought her, to be His holy bride; with His own blood He bought her, and for her life He died.” So that’s it then? Jesus is the foundation of the church? Well…yes and no. Let me explain.
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“Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who lives in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Otherwise, believe because of the works themselves.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
Don’t you just love some of the things Jesus said? There are a few of His sayings that almost by themselves have utterly transformed the way our culture thinks and operates. How about, “Let the children come to me”? How about, “Love your neighbor as yourself”? How about, “For God so loved the world…”? But the thing is, anybody could have said those things. What made Jesus’ saying them so special?
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The Nexus 