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The Wednesday Word 10.11.2023

  Thessalonians 2:9-13 New Living Translation 9 Don’t you remember, dear brothers and sisters, how hard we worked among you? Night and day we toiled to earn a living so that we would not be a burden to any of you as we preached God’s Good News to you. 10 You yourselves are our witnesses—and so is God—that we were devout and honest and faultless toward all of you believers. 11 And you know that we treated each of you as a father treats his own children. 12 We pleaded with you, encouraged you, and urged you to live your lives in a way that God would consider worthy. For he called you to share in his Kingdom and glory. 13 Therefore, we never stop thanking God that when you received his message from us, you didn’t think of our words as mere human ideas. You accepted what we said as the very word of God—which, of course, it is. And this word continues to work on you who believe.   Always an avid reader, I enjoy just about every genre book I pick up. There were many books that have had
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The Wednesday Word 10.04.2023

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  Matthew 22:34-40 New Living Translation   34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again. 35 One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” 37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”   Love. It is what it is all about. Love that creates and nurtures. Love that sustains. Love that gathers you in and holds you close. All kinds of love. Agape love. The love God has for us and the love we express for our fellow human beings  because  we are so loved. Jesus said the entire law and all the proclamations of the prophets have their basis
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The Wednesday Word 9.27.2023

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Jonah 4:1-11 NLT New Living Translation This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry. 2 So he complained to the LORD about it: “Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, LORD? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people. 3 Just kill me now, LORD! I’d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.” 4 The LORD replied, “Is it right for you to be angry about this?” 5 Then Jonah went out to the east side of the city and made a shelter to sit under as he waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 And the LORD God arranged for a leafy plant to grow there, and soon it spread its broad leaves over Jonah’s head, shading him from the sun. This eased his discomfort, and Jonah was very grateful for the plant. 7 But God also arranged for a worm! The next morning at dawn the worm ate through the s
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The Wednesday Word 9.20.2023

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  Jonah 3:1-10 NLT New Living Translation 1Then the LORD spoke to Jonah a second time: 2 “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh, and deliver the message I have given you.” 3 This time Jonah obeyed the LORD’s command and went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to see it all. 4 On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!” 5 The people of Nineveh believed God’s message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow. 6 When the king of Nineveh heard what Jonah was saying, he stepped down from his throne and took off his royal robes. He dressed himself in burlap and sat on a heap of ashes. 7 Then the king and his nobles sent this decree throughout the city: “No one, not even the animals from your herds and flocks, may eat or drink anything at all. 8 People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God. They m
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The Wednesday Word 9.06.2023

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  JOHN 17:6-10 New Living Translation 6 “I have revealed you to the ones you gave me from this world. They were always yours. You gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything I have is a gift from you, 8 for I have passed on to them the message you gave me. They accepted it and know that I came from you, and they believe you sent me. 9 “My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you. 10 All who are mine belong to you, and you have given them to me, so they bring me glory. It is essential that we never forget the source of Jesus’ teachings and everything he endured to bring those teachings to us. We belong to God. We are His. Jesus’ teachings, God’s messages to us, are given to us for his glory, not ours. The thing is, that in doing so, we may live totally different lives than if we had been left adrift in this world. All by His glory. How can we not be overflowing with gratitude? How can we not strive
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The Wednesday Word 9.13.2023

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  Jonah 2:1-10 NLT 2  Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish.  2  He said, “I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble, and he answered me. I called to you from the land of the dead, and Lord, you heard me!  3  You threw me into the ocean depths, and I sank down to the heart of the sea. The mighty waters engulfed me; I was buried beneath your wild and stormy waves.  4  Then I said, ‘O Lord, you have driven me from your presence. Yet I will look once more toward your holy Temple.’  5  “I sank beneath the waves, and the waters closed over me. Seaweed wrapped itself around my head. 6   I sank down to the very roots of the mountains. I was imprisoned in the earth, whose gates lock shut forever. But you, O Lord my God, snatched me from the jaws of death! 7  As my life was slipping away, I remembered the Lord. And my earnest prayer went out to you in your holy Temple.  8  Those who worship false gods turn their backs on all God’s mercies. 9  But I will offer sacrific
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The Wednesday Word 8.30.2023

  1 Corinthians 7:32-35 New Living Translation 32 I want you to be free from the concerns of this life. An unmarried man can spend his time doing the Lord’s work and thinking how to please him. 33 But a married man has to think about his earthly responsibilities and how to please his wife. 34 His interests are divided. In the same way, a woman who is no longer married or has never been married can be devoted to the Lord and holy in body and in spirit. But a married woman has to think about her earthly responsibilities and how to please her husband. 35 I am saying this for your benefit, not to place restrictions on you. I want you to do whatever will help you serve the Lord best, with as few distractions as possible.   Well…if you have to make an argument for celibacy, I guess this would be the best. Take all the care and time and energy you might have spent on a significant other and pour it into the study and service of the Lord. I have been trying to visualize what that life wo
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