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We Have No Bragging Rights | A SOAP Devotional by Pastor Jamie

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  Read Romans 11 https://www.biblegateway.com/ passage/?search=romans+11& version=NLT   Romans 11:18- But you must not brag about being grafted in to replace the branches that were broken off. You are just a branch, not the root.   Here Paul continues to wrestle (the meaning of the word Israel) with the meaning of the Good News being given to the Gentiles. He says the fact that many Jews had already chosen to reject the gospel opened the door for the Gentiles to walk through into a new relationship with Jesus Christ, but since they were merely grafted onto an already existing tree they had nothing to boast about. Paul weaves a complicated argument about how God has not and will not give up on His chosen people, Israel, even though many of them had given up on Him. We Gentiles need to be grateful that God's grace through Jesus Christ has been made available to everyone.   Paul finds all kinds of ways to emphasize in his writings that none of us have anything to boast about when ...
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Jesus Takes We Sheep (And Our Mess) Onto Himself : A Devotional by Brian Romero

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When Jesus tells the story of the lost sheep, He is not painting a soft, sentimental picture. He is revealing a love that is costly, uncomfortable, and breathtakingly personal.   Sheep are not clean animals. They wander. They fall. They get stuck in mud, thorns, and their own waste. A lost sheep is not just scared. It is filthy. Exhausted. Covered in grime. And unable to rescue itself.   The dirtiest part of a sheep is its hindquarters. That is where the waste clings. That is where the smell is strongest. That is where the mess is undeniable.   And when the shepherd finds the sheep, he does not drag it. He does not clean it first. He does not make it walk back to prove it has learned a lesson.   He lifts it.   He places the sheep on his shoulders.   Which means the dirtiest part of the sheep is pressed against the shepherd’s neck, his face, his clothes. The smell. The filth. The weight. All of it rests on him.   Jesus chose ...
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Jesus Is the Exact imprint of God's Very Being - A SOAP Devotional, by Pastor Jamie

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  Hebrews 1:1-4- Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. 2 And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe. 3 The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. 4 This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is greater than their names.   One of the reasons the author (unknown) wrote the Book of Hebrews was to serve as a bridge between the first generation of Jews who had come to believe in Jesus as the Messiah and Son of the living God and the next generation, which included Gentiles with far less familiarity with the stories in what we now call our Old...
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Hope For The Future - A SOAP Devotional, by Pastor Jamie

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  Revelation 21:1-7- Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” 5 And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” 6 And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. 7 All who are victorious will in...
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Fully Rely On God - A SOAP Devotional, by Pastor Jamie

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The picture below is inside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. This part of the building is constructed over the top of the cave where we believe Jesus was born. If you look carefully, you will see a small hole in the floor where you can lay down and reach into that small hole and touch the cave,  but only in a position of humility.    Micah 5:2-5-  But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,  are only a small village among all the people of Judah.  Yet a ruler of Israel,  whose origins are in the distant past,  will come from you on my behalf.  3 The people of Israel will be abandoned to their enemies  until the woman in labor gives birth.  Then at last his fellow countrymen  will return from exile to their own land.  4 And he will stand to lead his flock with the Lord’s strength,  in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.  Then his people will live there undisturbed,  for he will be highly honored around the wo...
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Joseph, Integrity, and Listening to God | A SOAP Devotional, by Pastor Jamie

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    Read Matthew 1:18-25 https://www.biblegateway.com/ passage/?search=Matthew%201% 3A18-25&version=NLT   Matthew 1:24- When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife.    Luke focused more on the involvement of Mary in the miracle of Jesus' birth as the Savior of the world, but Matthew's gospel looks more carefully at the connection of Jesus to His earthly father, Joseph. God not only intentionally selected Mary to be Jesus' mother, but He also intentionally selected Joseph to be His earthly father. Can you imagine being in Joseph's position 2000 years ago? At first he believed his dreams were crushed and he was filled with disappointment and pain. As he discovered the young woman he was to marry was "with child," without consulting God still made a choice based on his integrity to simply release her from the marriage commitment to go their separate ways. In John 8 we see the story of the woman caught in adultery w...
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