February 2012
46 posts
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Evening Devotion: God Loves You!
Do you have ANY IDEA just how much God loves you? ANY IDEA: to sacrifice; to kill; to watch suffer; the one that he loves most; his only begotten Son? ANY IDEA how deep his love for you is? ANY IDEA the length he went to to assure that Satan and Sin and Death would not have you, but that instead you would be with him forever? Do you have ANY IDEA how cherished you are; the most cherished...
January 2012
53 posts
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Evening Devotion: There Will Be A Day When Jesus...
“It’s a perfect day outside!” Get used to saying that! For their will be a time when ALL the days feel … well… perfect! Because, after all, there will be a day when Jesus returns, and upon his return the earth itself will be remade to the way God intended. And we will just be able to stand outside… to just STAND there… feeling the perfect feeling of a perfect creation.
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Morning Devotion: Live Forgiven!
YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN.
And now that they are, LIVE FORGIVEN. Don’t dodge the seed. Don’t lose focus on what it is that Christianity, and Christ, and his church really are about. WE ARE ABOUT LIFE, and not in some sort of metaphoric way. LITERALLY, we are people who have life.
Let us then too, having had that seed sown in us, turn and cast it to those around us, that they may...
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Sunday Devotion: The Word Will Not Fail!
“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the earth…
… SO SHALL MY WORD BE that goes our from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”
You see? THE WORD WORKS. And...
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Evening Devotion: God Wants You To Have Eternal...
You see, THIS is the love that God shows for us on the cross: a love that makes a sacrifice for US that is SO MASSIVE; so brutal; so all encompassing that for US; US who are NOT GOD; WE cannot even bring ourselves to CONTEMPLATE such a sacrifice.
And yet, just like Abraham raising the dagger over Issac as he is bound and placed on the altar of sacrifice, GOD SACRIFICES THE ONE HE LOVES THE...
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Morning Devotion: Come Lord Jesus!
Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming, and with him comes day after day after day (without end!) that is, in a word, perfect. Come Lord Jesus! See you in the fields of the Lord’s harvest!
-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor
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It's a beautiful day
It's a beautiful day. I mean, it's that sort of weather where it is so comfortable
that simply BEING outside; just standing there not DOING anything;
is an enjoyable experience.
This, admittedly, is a strange experience.
Why is it
that having it be beautiful “outside” is special to us?
What is it that makes it a transcendent experience?
It's not just the...
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Morning Devotion: Who Are We?
We are the children of God. We are his chosen ones. We are the ones who have been washed in the blood of the lamb. We are the salt of the earth. We are the light of the world. We are the sons of Abraham, adopted into the promises of Israel by faith in Christ. We are the sons of Abraham. I am one of them. And so are you.
We are the children of God. Heirs to the Kingdom. Sons and...
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Thursday Devotion: The Lord Takes Care Of You!
REMEMBER CHRIST! And remember that YOU do not have to worry about the world being just towards you; listen to St. Paul: THE LORD takes care of that! So you don’t have to worry about handing out punishment! YOU just have to worry… about love.
-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor
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Wednesday Devotion: Jesus Sets Us Free!
To know Jesus is to know him crucified, paying for our sins. To know him as otherwise is not to know him at all. And saying that the most important thing to know about Jesus is that he “was a good teacher and a good man” is WORSE than saying the most important thing to know about Abraham Lincoln was that he had a weird beard and a funny hat. In the grand scheme of things, his teachings are...
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Evening Devotion: Jesus, Not Just Your Buddy
You see, it is impossible to truly know and believe in Jesus outside of the cross. It is nonsensical to have a relationship with Jesus and to have faith in him without realizing that WHAT FAITH IN JESUS MEANS is having faith for what he has done on the cross.
He is your GOD. Not just your buddy or friend or pal or teacher or good example or wise man. HE IS GOD. The God who dies. And if he is...
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Evening Devotion: LOVE THEM!
You CAN do it. Pray to the Lord to let you FEEL the love that you know you should towards your enemy. But do not let it end there: with you saying to yourself, “I will feel different about this person.” Instead, WHATEVER anyone may have done to you; LOVE THEM. Take that person that is your enemy, and find a way this week to LOVE them; to show love to them; to express love to them; to...
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Morning Devotion: Never Return Evil With Evil!
OUR love should mirror Christ’s love for us. It should love, even when it is wronged.
You see that? THAT is real love: returning love for wrong. NEVER returning evil for evil. It’s amazing how often times we justify wrong actions by saying we have first been wronged. It’s amazing how often we justify not being loving because we have been loving before in the past. ...
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Evening Devotion: Love Your Enemy!
And then love one another. Do not sit idly by as they struggle on their own. Do not be their source of pain or hurt with comments or tone that act like their situation is different form yours. LOVE them. Their feelings are the most important commodity to you; their comfort more valuable than gold!
For God loves them. And asks for us to too. And we do. We do. We do, knowing our Lord Jesus...
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Morning Devotion: Do Not Withhold Forgiveness!
If there is someone in your life, from whom you are withholding forgiveness, that is not okay. If there is someone in your life, and you are saying “Well, God will forgive, but I CANNOT,” then that is not okay, and be warned: it is not the sin of the other, but your OWN lack of forgiveness with which you must be concerned! If you find too much fault with another to forgive them, know today that...
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Evening Devotion: Jesus Will Return!
LET THIS BE REALITY! Let us, if need be, face persecution so that we are not so comfortable in the world that Satan uses to blind us from reality! And let us ACT and LIVE as though Jesus WILL return, because, you know what? He REALLY REALLY WILL!
-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor
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Evening Devotion: It Is True. God Exists!
So I want to ask you something: these things that we talk about; this JESUS who tells us today that he is GOD; this Messiah that we say is the source of all salvation and will RAISE YOU FROM THE DEAD to live in a Kingdom that has no end:
Do you think that that is real? I mean really really really real? Not a nice thought. Not a tradition. Not maybe it is and maybe it isn’t. FAITH! ...
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What Prayer Do You Pray Over Your Children When...
Aj Neugebauer and I often get asked this question.So, here is the prayer we pray!
Dear Father in Heaven,
Please keep Audrey Joy safe, please keep her healthy, please protect her from the evil one. Please bless her with and abundance of the Holy Spirit and keep her in the true faith. Please let her grow up to live a life to serve you. Please let her always know how much Jesus loves her, please...
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Lunch Time Devotion: The Message From Heaven
MY SINS ARE FORGIVEN. And so I will live forever. And you know what? YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN. So go. You, too, live forever.
THAT is the wisdom from God. THAT is the message from heaven.
So let us heed the words of St. Paul from today’s Epistle; the words we began with:
Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God, without...
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Evening Devotion: Listen To The One Who has Come...
Now I have to give a disclaimer: because you see, there are those who honestly believe that the Scriptures do NOT say things like the role of the pastor should be filled by a man and not a woman. And those are good conversations to have, and those are AWESOME things to ask, because you know what those questions do? They get us digging into the Scriptures.
But more often than not, the opinions...
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Morning Devotion: Wisdom Beyond Imaginable
Where is it that God OFFENDS us? Where is it that God oversteps his bounds? Where is it that we tell God to mind his own business, and to not be so much the way he is? Where do we tell God, “well, this is the part where you and I will just agree to disagree.”
Ask yourself this question, and then let me ask you this: in answering these things, and in seeking the truth about them, are the answers...
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Dave Ellefson, bass player of Megadeth at... →
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Morning Devotion: For Dust You Came, And To The...
Did you know that the words “human” and “humility” actually come from the same root word? They both come from the word “humus” which means “earth, dirt or soil”. How could that be? Well, with humility it is likely obvious: dirt and soil have a connotation of lowliness. But what about “human”? Well perhaps that is obvious too.
For dust you came, and to the dust you shall return. You see, we...
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Evening Devotion: A God Of Love
Hear Jesus lament when people will not turn and believe and be saved. Hear him lament as he goes to Jerusalem to die for a people who mock and kill him. Hear the sadness of Jesus for being rejected; hear the perpetual sadness by Yahweh, God the Father, that his people Israel continually turn away from him.
Hear the disappointment of the master who throws the wedding banquet that no one...
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If You Reject The Invitation, Do Not Blame God
You see, it is tragic the way people view God, and his plan, and his invitation. But I want you to remember this: the people who are out there who talk about God and his lack of fairness; the people who hold out, and DON’T believe, on principle; those people who will bring up hypothetical situations:
“Well, what about the little boy in the small village on an island somewhere?”
“Well,...
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So Many People Call Christianity an "Exclusivist"...
You know, so many people call Christianity an “exclusivist” faith. That we are so “exclusive” because we believe that we worship the true God. But that’s the most bizarre thing in the world! The invitation is SO all inclusive! We don’t turn away anyone! The only people who aren’t here, and who don’t believe, aren’t here because they do not WANT to be!
The...
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What The World Says...Contiuned!
Our story can start to be wrong about who God is, and how he saves, and how he loves, and why some are saved but not others. Our story, in fact, can start to look like the WORLD’S version of what the coming of the Kingdom of God looks like. What story does the world use?
Well, it goes like this: the God that we believe in is this arbitrary God who picks some people and not others. And...
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What The World Says...
“We should be able to reject Jesus, and still have him save us.” That may seem like a sentiment that, on the surface, is patently absurd. And it should seem like that, because it is.
But bizarrely enough this is exactly the type of thinking that is so pervasive amidst our pluralistic society. What do I mean by that? Well, just this: the world that now says that no one can say that one way of...
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"Supreme Court keeps church job-bias disputes out... →
This is HUGE!
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"Why God Can't Be Trusted" →
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What Is The Formula For Forgiveness?
And the formula is just that: we are redeemed by the blood of Christ, and NOTHING ELSE. That is all. It’s not, “Okay, I am saved by the blood of Christ, and a little smidgen of all the world I did for the church yard sale.” Or, “Okay, I am saved by the blood of Christ, and the fact that even though I want to I don’t cheat on my taxes.” Or, “Okay, I am saved by the blood of Christ,...
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Evening Devotion: Forgiveness
Forgiveness is given in love. And there is no cost for us. For the great price that it cost has already been paid for by the death of Jesus. So that all who believe are forgiven. And you are forgiven so that you may have eternal life.
-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor
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Blessed Are The Un-Cool! →
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THESE PEOPLE:
They are the ones who neglect worship, who neglect God’s Word, who neglect prayer, who neglect the time spent with God because they would rather be about their own things. They are the ones who are so shallowly and BIZARRELY obsessed with THINGS; with STUFF; with possessions; with cars and homes and trips and clothes and THINGS.
They are the ones obsessed with money.
You know these...
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Jesus Comes!
He comes, and he has died on the cross; shed his blood that we may have mercy.
He comes. So be glad. Rejoice. As St. Paul says: look: be joyful always.
-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor
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Saturday Devotion: Jesus Is Coming back!
Jesus is coming back. He came into the world the first time at Christmas; he became flesh, and that is what we observe this season. But look too! This is the promise of Christmas: He is coming back; and with his return, all the brokenness of creation is GONE! It is GONE! It is GONE, and all that remains is a creation with all its beauty intact. It is the wonder of the embrace of a loved...
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Friday Devotion: You Are Forgiven!
There will not be shame for you on the day of Christ’s return. So many times there are those who speak this way. Who say this sentence that I NEVER want to hear us speak. This sentence that Satan uses against us:
“Yes, you are forgiven, BUT…” That is what Satan says. And it sounds like him just the same as when he was wrapped around a tree trying to convince Eve to take a bite of...
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Thursday Devotion: A Reminder Of The World To...
JESUS has come. And Jesus comes again. He comes, and there will be joy just by us being in his presence! He comes, and he breathes life and restoration into the fallen creation! He comes, and all is healed, and all is made well, and all the evil that is in our hearts and in our lives is taken away! He comes, and DEATH is no more!
He comes, and he has died on the cross; shed his blood that...
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Trying To Prove God Will Always Be A Fool's Errand
You can play the evolutionist reduction of creation game with everything. And so those who have that presupposition will say, “Well, there is beauty in creation because it helps preservation and reproduction.”
Which begs the question: who is it necessary for the sunset to attract, in order for it to reproduce? Who is reproducing with the stars in the nighttime sky? Of what threat is anything...
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Thursday Devotion: Creation Is Not Just Pratical
Creation; the world that we live in, that bodies and thoughts and spirits that we are; the universe all around us; is NOT just practical. Not at all. It is not just functional. Not at all. It is not just some cold pragmatic math class machine. It’s not just good engineering.
It is also … a work of art. It is also, in so many many ways, beautiful. If it is unlikely that our...
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Target After Christmas Clearance!
Stop by your local target for after Christmas Clearance deals! Our local Target in Fort Myers, FL has Christmas marked 70% off! While I was their….they were clearance pricing TONS of toys! Squinkies were $2.48, Barbie Sticker Time was $1.68, Colgate toothpaste, $.90! Also a teething ring was on clearance for $.88! Great time to get some Great deals for future presents!
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Tuesday's Devotion: Creation: Not Just Good...
We live in a beautiful world. You don’t have to look far to see it. The bleeding colors of a sunset. The vast volume of the ocean. The uniqueness of each species of animal that crawl, fly and swim over its surface.
When people, and I mean Christians, talk about how unlikely it is that everything that we are, and everything that the earth is, and everything that the universe does, is...
