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God’s Providence in a Ford Aerostar

on Jun 25, 2012 in Family Life

In 2007, my family and I returned from a long trek in Central Asia. With lots of uncertainty, we left & gave away our Dodge Caravan to some friends there. We trusted God to provide for us stateside. We came to our temporary apartment from the airport in Evansville and there on the dining room table was the title to a Ford Aerostar! Crossroads and Evansville Auto Mission had provided us with a van! We could see God’s obvious hand in moving us to trust Him and give away our van in Asia. Today, 5 years later, I returned the van to the Auto Mission. It served us well most of the time, brought an element of adventure to every drive (even just driving to church on Sunday!) and kept us from a car payment for the past 5 years. Thanks to the Lord & His people for this chapter of the Sullivan’s transportation. I’m not sure we’ll miss it, but I’m thankful for...

Poverty the Blessing & the Prosperity Curse

on Jan 20, 2012 in Bible Study

Psalm 17:13-14 NASB Deliver my soul from the wicked with Your sword, From men with Your hand, O LORD, From men of the world, whose portion is in this life, And whose belly You fill with Your treasure; NET Use your sword to rescue me from the wicked man! Lord, use your power to deliver me from these murderers, from the murderers of this world! They enjoy prosperity; you overwhelm them with the riches they desire. If you never read it anywhere else, you can read it here. Prosperity and the riches of this world are a curse, not a blessing. Some of that sounds good: to have your belly full of treasure, to have all of the riches you desire, but the context is worldly men or murderers, not the blessed. This fits along with 1 Timothy 6:9 Those who long to be rich, however, stumble into temptation and a trap and many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction....

Unrelenting Wisdom Supplier

on Dec 31, 2011 in Bible Study

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

…It’s like He doesn’t even care if you’re a good guy or a bad guy, if you want wisdom, He will give it to you!”

Jesus Completely Heals the Completely Helpless

on Mar 24, 2011 in Bible Study

Matthew 12:22 Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. It is really significant that this man is blind AND mute. Many people thought in that day (and today too) that a person could only be healed if they rejected the illness themselves. If the man could see, he could see that they were showing him some motion or action to do. If the man could talk, he could repeat the things they told him to say. Many times in the NT when they say mute, it can be mute or deaf or a combination of the two. Here is a man helpless to help himself. He was on the same level as the paralyzed man that was lowered down to Jesus on a stretcher. Jesus heals him completely. If you believe that garbage about God cursing your life because you have sin that you haven’t confessed, be free. This guy couldn’t confess anything! If you believe...

Ezra 8:35 – Abundance and God's Restored People

on Jan 13, 2011 in Bible Study

Ezra 8:35 At that time those who had come from captivity, the returned exiles, offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel, twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and as a sin offering twelve male goats. All this was a burnt offering to the Lord. It’s pretty awesome to note that they really only had to offer the 12 goats as a sin offering. The additional 12 bulls, 96 rams, and 77 lambs were just fellowship/thank offerings. At some point of true worship-life, you cease to keep track of what you have to give God and you just start giving Him all that you want. Somebody kept track of it, of course, because we have a count, but all that would have been required of them by the law were the 12 goats. I hate it that “you can’t outgive God” has become a sort of religious extortion by prosperity preachers. What these people had was joy and...