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What do you know about mistletoe? For most of my life, all I knew is that it was a Christmas decoration used for snagging some smooches. Well, it turns out that mistletoe is a parasite. It sucks the life and nutrients out of a tree. Once a seed sticks to a new host tree, it grows bigger and as it grows hurts everything around it. Well...sometimes those who join themselves to a church can be like this. Paul warns us to be on guard for parasites, those who would come in unsuspectingly and cause problems, killing the church from within. We must be aware, because not everyone is as holly & jolly as they may seem. 

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There was a detial that went unnoticed at the coffee shop I mentioned in yesterday's podcast until my last day in town back home in Oregon. It was a saying that was printed up on the wall. It said, "You are the hero of your story." Now, we all love a good hero story, but is that actually true? Well...the Bible paints a different picture. We are no hero. In fact, we are the enemy and our own worst enemy. We cannot save ourselves, but there is one who can. The greatest hero story of all, and the only hero in our story, is Jesus. 

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Last week as I was back in Oregon, I had an amazing thing happen. As I sat reading my Bible in a coffee shop,  another young man struck up a conversation and we visited together. He introduced a friend, and I shared with them the serious nature of my visit. That's when Daniel stopped and said, "Let's just pray together about it right now." Wow. Well...disciples, this is what we are called to do. To be alert and looking for opportunities to love others & pray for them. You cannot imagine how encouraging it is to not just tell someone you are praying for them, but to simply do it right there with them on the spot. May God make us more like this!

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Over the weekend, catastrophe struck four different states - especially the towns of Bowling Green & Mayfield, Kentucky. The largest tornado on record, along with many others, touch down and wreaked havoc upon the lives of thousands. 18 billion dollars in damage & over 100 lives lost as a result, many are left trying to pick up the broken pieces of their life. How do we respond to such tragedy? Well...just as the Christians did in the first century when disaster struck. When disaster arises, disciples act. Each of us, as we have the ability, have the opportunity & responsibility to put Christ's love on display and send relief to those who are in great need. Let's roll up our sleeves and open up our wallets, and do all we can to serve those who are suffering! 

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I woke up later than I had hoped this morning, and so I wasn't able to check in immediately at 6:50 AM for my flight tomorrow. I still got a decent boarding pass, but at the end of the day it really doesn't matter where I sit. The plane goes to the same place for the first person & last person on board. Well...our salvation works the same way. You do not get a "better position" in heaven for doing more good works or being a Christian longer. We all have the same hope in Jesus Christ, from the first to the last, just make sure you get on board. 

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When we returned home last weekend, everything was as we left it...except one thing that was missing: the ladder we borred from Randy. Was it stolen? Did I misplace it? Were other things missing? Our minds went haywire. As it turns out, the truth was much simpler: a neighbor borrowed it, whom I had already asked if he needed it before we left. Usually the things we worry about never really are true, are they? Well...maybe that's why Jesus tells us not to worry about tomorrow, because our minds are concerned with fiction, not reality. We need to give Jesus control over our thoughts, and not let them run free. 

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We came back from our extended holiday in the mountains to an unfortunate surprise. For several days we walked past our deep freeze in the garage assuming everything was fine, but when I oppened the lid to pull something out...everything was rotting. It had broken and stopped cooling while we were gone, and everything thawed and was destroyed. Well...sometimes we are like that deep freeze. Everything appears fine to others around us, but inside we are falling apart and rotting away. No matter what others think of you or who admires you, the only thing that matters is what God, who judges the heart, thinks of us. 

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Tomorrow, millions around our country will gather at the table together with family and give thanks unto God. I'm thankful for my family, my friends, my church, my community, everything. I am beyond a blessed man, and God is the source of every good and perfect gift. Well...above all else, God is worthy of our praise each and every day, not just one. Let's do something different today - let's read Psalm 145 and simply pray together this Psalm of priase to our God! Happy Thanksgiving everyone. 

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We are so glad to be up here in North Carolina with our family for the Thanksgiving week. We really wanted to see Shane, who just finished some difficult treatments for his cancer. When I went down to the basement to get a few things, I saw a banner that the neighbors had left for him which read, "You Are Loved." They can't take away his cancer, but they can love him through it. Well...that's what we are called to do as Christians in bearing each others burdens. We can't fix it, but we can love others through it. It is when we love that we truly fulfill the law of Christ. 

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They are putting in new roads in our neighborhood, and as such they are compacting the ground. As such, there is a constant, loud, repetative thumping noise from sunup to sundown that cannot be drown out. It's like living in an apartment with someone banging on your wall over and over again all day. At this point, I'd do anything to make it stop. Well...that's the kind of way that God wants us to pray. He wants us to pray and never stop, to go to him over and over again. Don't beleive me? Jesus tells us a powerful parable we consider today to help us understand. 

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