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The Most Common Command in the Bible

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 I was surprised recently to learn what the most common command is in the Bible.  Go ahead and guess what it is.  My first guess was: worship God.  Jesus says that the greatest commandment is to love God and the second greatest is to love our neighbor as ourselves.  But this is actually not the most repeated command in Scripture. The most common, most repeated, command in the Bible is "Do not be Afraid."  As someone who has struggled with anxiety recently this really struck me.  A lot of my anxiety comes from a fear of not being able to control the future.  What if this happens... What if that happens... And what if it's my fault.  But God repeatedly throughout Scripture commands us to not be afraid. I've been working on some Christmas messages lately and you find this command to not be afraid even in the Christmas story.  Joseph, Zechariah, Mary, and the shepherds are all told "do not be afraid."  There is something about the Chris...
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The Land Between

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I've been reading a really good book lately called "The Land Between."  It tells the story of the Israelites in the desert as they are between Egypt and the promised land.  Over and over again they long to be back in Egypt where they had food and were comfortable, even though they were slaves.  They complain, gripe, and lash out to Moses and God.  But, they are also on a path toward the promised land.  A land flowing with milk and honey and God's blessings.  They are in this strange in between place. I can relate so much to this analogy.  I miss 2019 and life before Covid.  I've complained a lot to God about how my church and job have changed overnight.  I hate social distancing and not being able to see people's faces because of masks.  Church is so different.  And we're not out of the woods yet, we're not through this pandemic thing.  We haven't reached the promised land of the "new normal."  For the Israelites, God used...
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The Youth Ministry I Grew Up In

  I grew up in a very different kind of youth ministry. There were no games. No gross foods. No small groups. No fun camp trips. What you ask was it? Mini church for students.   My youth pastor, Tim Kurth, had a new model for youth ministry that I’ve never seen anywhere else. First, we had confirmation for middle school. This is pretty common in a Lutheran church. We learned the basic doctrines of Christianity, the story-line of the Bible, and had to write out our testimony. I later leaned that my testimony was based on the two EE questions. Unfortunately, a lot of the youth group graduated from church at that point.   Second, there was Sunday School. I don’t remember much about middle school Sunday School but High School was basically a topical study small group with 10-15 people. I remember one lesson told from the perspective of the sheep at the manger scene, but I can’t remember anything else. But, I do remember liking my teachers.   Next we had Work Camps. Ev...
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