Table Talks tagged with ‘2014’

1120 of 21 items

Faithfulness: Faithful to All Generations (3/9/14)

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Psalm 89:1-4 It’s not just that God “used to be” faithful: God is faithful to all generations. We celebrate, worship, and rely upon God whose faithfulness never ends. This is an expression of God’s fundamental character. How will our own lives of faith be affected when we take God’s infinite faithfulness to heart?

Faithfulness: Seeing, Believing, Doing (3/2/14)

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Genesis 15:1-6 As the story of Abraham and Sarah makes clear, belief in relation to God is necessarily much more than mere cognitive assent. Abraham saw, believed, and did. These go together in a life of faith. We are called to trusting, active relationships with God and the world. God makes some pretty extravagant promises. […]

Generosity: Cheers! (2/23/14)

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2 Corinthians 9:6-15 God is abundantly generous, and calls us to lives of abundant, cheerful generosity. Generosity, if it becomes a way of life, is joyful, meaningful, and contagious. The more we live and give in lifestyles of cheerful generosity, the more we will build and sustain relationships of justice and grace. Grateful living and […]

Generosity: Open Hands & Evil Eyes (2/16/14)

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Matthew 20:1-16 This story of distributive justice, of generous fairness, seems as hard to take for many of us as it was for the full-day workers in the parable. We try to apply human economics to the economy of grace. What happens when everyone receives enough? Is one human being as valuable as any other? […]

Generosity: Father Gives Best (2/9/14)

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Luke 15:11-32 This parable ought to be called the prodigal father, since the parent in the story extravagantly spends and gives. The uncustomary (and for the older brother, unsettling) generosity of the father is the key to understanding this story. Notice both the material AND the relational generosity. We are always longed-for, always loved, always […]

Generosity: A Little Bread (2/2/14)

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Genesis 18:1-8 Abraham certainly showed generous hospitality to the 3 men who came to him as he was sitting outside his tent. His modest offer of “a little bread” ended up in a wonderful feast. Hospitality to strangers is a key way we are called to be generous. What would it mean in our lives […]

Kindness: Kindness in Christ (1/26/14)

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Ephesians 2:1-10 Through Jesus Christ we know and experience God’s kindness. We are recipients of a message of grace that offers us newness of life! This is a gift given to us so that we might be created again for good works. How do we receive, cherish, use, and share this kindness from God in […]

Kindness: No Good Deed… (1/19/14)

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2 Corinthians 6:1-13 It ain’t easy following Jesus. Paul’s resume sounds like a bad country song, it contains so much adversity. What does it mean to live the love we know through Jesus? How can we survive and thrive in the midst of a world that seems not to accept the gospel? Can we live […]

Kindness: What Happens to Kindness Cul-de-Sacs? (1/12/14)

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Book of Jonah (esp. 4:2) Jonah did everything he could think of to keep God’s message from Ninevah. When they finally received the message and repented, Jonah still had no kind thoughts, words, or deeds for the Ninevites. What does it mean when we believe that God’s goodness and mercy end with us? What happens […]

Kindness: The Kind of God We Serve (1/5/14)

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Exodus 34:6 There are many versions of God out there: angry God, judging God, exclusive God, vengeful God, happy-go-lucky God, etc. God’s character is proclaimed and revealed repeatedly in the Bible as being compassionately concerned for the lives of people throughout the earth. How are our lives affected by this God? What does it mean […]