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Taken, Blessed, Broken, Given (Matthew 26:26-29)

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 The focal point of Jesus' work of salvation was sacrifice.  The four verbs he used at the Last Supper put salvation into action every time we sit down for a meal. The words are words of sacrifice. We deliberately set ourselves in God's presence at the Lord's Supper so that we might become like Jesus.Our lives, like his, are to be  sacrificially lived- taken, blessed, broken, and given to others. Eugene H. Peterson Isaiah 53
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Romans 4:16 (The Message)

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 The fulfilment of God's promise depends entirely on trusting God and his way and simply embracing what he does. God's promise arrives as a pure gift. That's the only way everyone can be sure to get in on it, those who keep the religious traditions and those who have never heard of them. For Abraham is the father of us all. He is not our racial father - that is reading the story backwards. He is our faith father. We call Abraham "father" not because he got God's attention by living  like a saint, but because God made something out of Abraham when he was a nobody. Isn't that what we've always read in Scripture, God saying to Abraham " I set you up as a father of many peoples"? Abraham was  first named "father" and then became a father because he dared to trust God to do only what God could do: raise the dead to life, with a word make something out of nothing. When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding not to live...
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Everything

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 Everything’s looted, betrayed and traded, black death’s wing’s overhead. Everything’s eaten by hunger, unsated, so why does a light shine ahead? By day, a mysterious wood, near the town, breathes out cherry, a cherry perfume. By night, on July’s sky, deep, and transparent, new constellations are thrown. And something miraculous will come close to the darkness and ruin, something no-one, no-one, has known, though we’ve longed for it since we were children. Anna Akhmatova Here I am to Worship
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Daniel 2, THE MESSAGE

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 “Blessed be the name of God, forever and ever, He knows all, does all: He changes seasons and guides history, He raises up Kings and also brings them down, He provides both intelligence and discernment, He opens up the depths, tells secrets, sees in the dark- light spills out of him. God of all my ancestors, all thanks! all praise! You made me wise and strong. And now you have shown us what we asked for. You’ve solved the king’s mystery “” Eugene H. Peterson   PSALM 46
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Object?

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 I am an object to be used I am an object to be abused I am an object Forever and today I am an object with a conscious to think I am an object and I think I can blink I am an object Forever and today I am an object who feels their hands I am an object with hope in a sliver or strands I am an object Forever and today I am an object who's told what they are I am an object who is worth less with a scar I am an object Forever and today I am an object with pain in my mind I am an object who can be nothing but kind I am an object Forever and today I am an object who wants a say I am an object who's kept at bay I am an object For forever and for today Amelie Summers PSALM 46
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PSALM 46 (THE MESSAGE)

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 God is a safe place to hide, we stand fearless on the cliff edge of doom, courageous in sea storms and earthquakes. Before the rush and roar of oceans, the tremors that shift mountains. Jacob wrestling God fights for us, God of angel armies protect us. River fountains splash joy, cooling God's city, the sacred haunt of the Most High. God lives here the streets are safe, God at your service from crack of dawn. Godless nations rant and rave, kings and kingdoms threaten, but earth does anything he says. Jacob-wrestling God fights for us, God of angel armies protect us. Attentoin all! See the marvels of God! He plants flowers and tree's all over the earth. Bans war from pole to pole, breaks all weapons across his knee. "Step out of the traffic! Take a long loving look at me. your  h igh  God. above politics above everything." Jacob-wrestling God fights for us, God of angel armies protect us. Eugene H. Peterson Changed by what we see?
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Changed by What We See (THE MESSAGE)

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 The first thing that strikes me about 2 Corinthians 3 is the confident air  of freedom in it. Change is possible. We don't have to remain as we are. But change isn't automatic. And it isn't something inherent in us. It has a cause. Change is rooted in a relationship with Jesus Christ. In him, God becomes open, personal, and accessible to us. The person of Jesus shows us who God is. When we're with Christ, we're in touch with all who can apprehend God. In that environment, we're  all changed by what we see, changed into the likeness of Christ.  If we're exposed to the sun, our skin is changed. But if we are exposed to Christ our lives are changed. The change is a result of our relationship with him. By opening ourselves to him, we come under his influence and are changed into his likeness, "our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful", from one level of maturity to another, from one stage of development to another. Eugene H. Peterson I...
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