“A good reputation is acquired by many actions; and can be lost by one. Be upon your guard, therefore, against those weaknesses which may risk it. Nothing can be more unjust than to judge a person by one single action; but the world is seldom just.” - Philip Dormer Stanhope

I’ve launched a community for faith discussions on piefeed.com, you can follow the community @faith@piefeed.com and you can tag your posts about faith with that account to send them to the community!

“In normal life we hardly realize how much more we receive than we give, and life cannot be rich without such gratitude. It is so easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements compared with what we owe to the help of others.”

  • Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I begin preaching Amos Sunday! The trepidation is real. This is not going to be a lighthearted or easy series to preach. 😮‍💨

@faith@piefeed.com

#Wordle 1,755 4/6*

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The #OldGal came down off her high from the last couple days and merely tied me.

Wordle 1,755 4/6

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Dragons, Monsters, and the Powers Behind the Curtain

Auto-generated description: An open book lies on rocky ground in front of a dramatic landscape, with clouds illuminated by sunlight and the text Beyond Sunday School: A Study of Revelation prominently displayed.

A Study in Revelation 13


You can listen to the full unabridged audio here: Dragons, Monsters, and the Powers Behind the Curtain

We’re deep in dragon-and-monster territory now. If you’ve been following along in Revelation, you know we’re not exactly in cheerful, Hallmark-card Christianity. And that’s precisely the point.

Before we dive into the text itself, a quick note on Bible navigation: all those chapter and verse numbers? They weren’t in the original. They were added later to help people find their place — and the running joke among Bible scholars is that the divisions were made by a monk on horseback, because the breaks don’t always make sense. Case in point: N.T. Wright ends chapter 12 where the NIV begins chapter 13. If you want to experience Scripture fresh, try copying a passage into a plain document, stripping out the chapter and verse numbers, and reading it without those interpretive interruptions.

Now, on to the monsters.

The more I reflect on the events of yesterday, the more disheartened I have become that so many followers of Jesus apparently believe the ends justify the means. The way of the cross is the demonstration of the opposite.

#Wordle 1,754 4/6*

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The #OldGal brought the heat today, unlike the weather.

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@wordle@piefeed.com

When any world leader proclaims the death of a civilization, it is reprehensible. To so callously treat image bearers of God in such a way is despicable, if not evil. To glory in death and destruction is abhorrent.

#Wordle 1,753 5/6*

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I am so annoyed. A tie? A tie! The #OldGal is pesky.

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@wordle@piefeed.com

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The #OldGal got her granddaughter fix and crushed me.

Wordle 1,752 3/6

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@wordle@piefeed.com

My dearest colleagues, today as you preach, do not mock those who are present for their annual time of worship. Offer them a radical and reckless grace rooted in sacrificial love for 1 of the 99 has shown up on your door looking to be loved well.