Category Archives: grace

Psalm 56

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1 O God, have mercy on me,
for people are hounding me.
My foes attack me all day long.
2 I am constantly hounded by those who slander me,
and many are boldly attacking me.
3 But when I am afraid,
I will put my trust in you.
4 I praise God for what he has promised.
I trust in God, so why should I be afraid?
What can mere mortals do to me?
5 They are always twisting what I say;
they spend their days plotting to harm me.
6 They come together to spy on me—
watching my every step, eager to kill me.
7 Don’t let them get away with their wickedness;
in your anger, O God, bring them down.

8 You keep track of all my sorrows.
You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
You have recorded each one in your book.

9 My enemies will retreat when I call to you for help.
This I know: God is on my side!
10 I praise God for what he has promised;
Yes, I praise the Lord for what he has promised.
11 I trust in God, so why should I be afraid?
What can mere mortals do to me?

12 I will fulfill my vows to you, O God,
and will offer a sacrifice of thanks for your help.
13 For you have rescued me from death;
you have kept my feet from slipping.
So now I can walk in your presence, O God,
in your life-giving light.

Am I wrapped too tight?

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I don’t know Jeff Dyer, but I’ve appreciated his sense of humor. Jeff had a web site called www.InHis.com. It was a place where you could find clean jokes and stories. Many times, I’ve taken out my handheld PC and received a smile from what he had there.

But several years ago, the jokes disappeared. Jeff had stopped publishing jokes at inhis.com. Why? He listed three reasons, paraphrased here:

  1. Lack of time to keep up with technology.
  2. Lack of joy in keeping it current.
  3. Unwillingness to continue to subject himself to the judgments of modern-day Pharisees.

Let me read you his exact words in number three:

I am tired of trying to explain myself to the self-appointed, self-righteous guardians of ethics and morality. I have been accused of everything from intentional plagiarism, copyright infringement to un-Christ like attitudes and behavior. I just do not want to fight those battles anymore.

He had printed this third reason in bold.

I am guessing it was not just the straw the broke the camel’s back, but the primary reason he stopped.

Do you know what Jeff’s real problem was? Some of the people who read his site were wrapped a little too tightly. If you have people like that in your life, perhaps this sermon will be of some value.

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Finding Freedom from Guilt…

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There is a toxin that many people carry around with them. They carry it as casually as they carry a cell phone, as dutifully as they carry their wallet, as fatally as they might carry a poison.

That toxin is guilt. And as common as guilt is in our lives, not everyone knows how to deal with it. Jesus tells us what to do with it. This audio file explores his thoughts and works to liberate us from guilt.

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