Kindness

Evie's kindness

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So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.

Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness

He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.

Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

I will tell of the kindnesses of the LORD, the deeds for which he is to be praised, according to all the LORD has done for us— yes, the many good things he has done for (us) …according to his compassion and many kindnesses.

Ephesians 1:7 Ephesians 2:7 Galatians 5:22 Ephesians 1:8 Colossians 3:12 Isaiah 63:7

Christian fellowship builds us up and binds us together.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn – 368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Skies

November sky

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Search high and low, scan skies and land, you'll find nothing and no one quite like God.

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies

Soar high in the skies, O God! Cover the whole earth with your glory!

Love and Truth meet in the street, Right Living and Whole Living embrace and kiss! Truth sprouts green from the ground, Right Living pours down from the skies! Oh yes! God gives Goodness and Beauty; our land responds with bounty and blessing.

But friends, you're not in the dark, so how could you be taken off guard by any of this? You're sons of Light, daughters of Day. We live under wide open skies and know where we stand. So let's not sleepwalk through life like those others. Let's keep our eyes open and be smart. People sleep at night and get drunk at night. But not us! Since we're creatures of Day, let's act like it. Walk out into the daylight sober, dressed up in faith, love, and the hope of salvation.

Psalm 89:5 Psalm 19:1 Psalm 36:5 Psalm 57:5 Psalm 85:10 1 Thessalonians 5:4

The design of creation points to the Master Designer.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn – 368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Shines

Avila Bay,CA

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The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, which shines ever brighter until the full light of day.

Light shines on the godly, and joy on those whose hearts are right.

Tell everyone about God’s power. His majesty shines down on Israel; his strength is mighty in the heavens.

Light shines in the darkness for the godly. They are generous, compassionate, and righteous.

Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be completely lighted, as when the light of a lamp shines on you.

We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

Proverbs 4:18 Psalm 97:11 Psalm 68:34 Psalm 112:4 Luke 11:36 1 Corinthians 13:12

Nothing can dim the beauty that shines from within.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn -368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Holding

Colorado Springs,CO

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I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith.

… holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.

Examine and test and evaluate your own selves to see whether you are holding to your faith and showing the proper fruits of it. Test and prove yourselves [ not Christ]. Do you not yourselves realize and know [thoroughly by an ever-increasing experience] that Jesus Christ is in you

The whole point of what we're urging is simply love—love uncontaminated by self-interest and counterfeit faith, a life open to God. Those who fail to keep to this point soon wander off into cul-de-sacs of gossip. They set themselves up as experts on religious issues, but haven't the remotest idea of what they're holding forth with such imposing eloquence.

It was God [personally present] in Christ, reconciling and restoring the world to favor with Himself, not counting up and holding against [men] their trespasses [but canceling them], and committing to us the message of reconciliation (of the restoration to favor).

Don't overlook the obvious here, friends. With God, one day is as good as a thousand years, a thousand years as a day. God isn't late with his promise as some measure lateness. He is restraining himself on account of you, holding back the End because he doesn't want anyone lost. He's giving everyone space and time to change.

1 Timothy 1:19 Titus 1:9 2 Corinthians 13:5 1 Timothy 1:5 2 Corinthians 5:19 2 Peter 3:8

Our salvation is secure because God does the holding.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn – 368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Soft

Naples,CA

Close the book on Evil, God, but publish your mandate for us. You get us ready for life: you probe for our soft spots, you knock off our rough edges. And I'm feeling so fit, so safe: made right, kept right. God in solemn honor does things right, but his nerves are sandpapered raw.

Did you think that because he's such a nice God, he'd let you off the hook? Better think this one through from the beginning. God is kind, but he's not soft. In kindness he takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life-change.

Go easy on those who hesitate in the faith. Go after those who take the wrong way. Be tender with sinners, but not soft on sin. The sin itself stinks to high heaven.

By faith, Moses, when grown, refused the privileges of the Egyptian royal house. He chose a hard life with God's people rather than an opportunistic soft life of sin with the oppressors. He valued suffering in the Messiah's camp far greater than Egyptian wealth because he was looking ahead, anticipating the payoff. By an act of faith, he turned his heel on Egypt, indifferent to the king's blind rage. He had his eye on the One no eye can see, and kept right on going. By an act of faith, he kept the Passover Feast and sprinkled Passover blood on each house so that the destroyer of the firstborn wouldn't touch them.

Hallelujah! Praise God in his holy house of worship, praise him under the open skies; Praise him for his acts of power, praise him for his magnificent greatness; Praise with a blast on the trumpet, praise by strumming soft strings; Praise him with castanets and dance, praise him with banjo and flute; Praise him with cymbals and a big bass drum, praise him with fiddles and mandolin. Let every living, breathing creature praise God! Hallelujah!

Psalm 7:9 Romans 2:3 Jude 1:22 Hebrews 11:24 Psalm 150:1

The world’s applause cannot compare to the Lord’s approval.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn – 368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Cross over

Monterey,CA

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(the impossible and God)

'Do you not fear Me?' declares the LORD 'Do you not tremble in My presence? For I have placed the sand as a boundary for the sea, an eternal decree, so it cannot cross over it. Though the waves toss, yet they cannot prevail; though they roar, yet they cannot cross over it.

Are you not the same today, the one who dried up the sea, making a path of escape through the depths so that your people could cross over?

Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus [to the west] and see, send also to Kedar [to the east] and carefully consider; and see whether there has been such a thing as this.

"But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that in your lifetime you got the good things and Lazarus the bad things. It's not like that here. Here he's consoled and you're tormented. Besides, in all these matters there is a huge chasm set between us so that no one can go from us to you even if he wanted to, nor can anyone cross over from you to us.'

That night Paul had a dream: A Macedonian stood on the far shore and called across the sea, "Come over to Macedonia and help us!" The dream gave Paul his map. We went to work at once getting things ready to cross over to Macedonia. All the pieces had come together. We knew now for sure that God had called us to preach the good news to the Europeans.

Jeremiah 5:22 Isaiah 51:10 Jeremiah 2:10 Luke 16:25 Acts 16:9

Faith bridges chasms that reason cannot fathom.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn – 368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Thankfulness

Early morning -Lake Tahoe

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Voice your thankfulness to God

Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.

Just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Ephesians 5:4 Colossians 2:7 Colossians 2:7 Colossians 3:15 Colossians 3:16

Gratitude is a God-honoring attitude.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn – 368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Snow

Gleneagle

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“Come now, let’s settle this ”says the Lord.“ Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.

Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

“The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry.

Like the coolness of snow at harvest time is a trustworthy messenger

Praise the Lord from the earth, you creatures of the ocean depths, fire and hail, snow and clouds, wind and weather that obey him,

He sends out His word, and melts [ice and snow]; He causes His wind to blow, and the waters flow.

Isaiah 1:18 Psalm 51:7 Isaiah 55:10 Proverbs 25:13 Psalm 148:8 Psalm 147:18

Faith in God’s goodness puts a song in your heart and praise on your lips.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn – 368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Treat(s)

Garden of the Gods - Pike's Peak

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Get out the message—God Rules! He put the world on a firm foundation; He treats everyone fair and square.

But you, God, break out laughing; you treat the godless nations like jokes. Strong God, I'm watching you do it, I can always count on you. God in dependable love shows up on time

An extravaganza before God as he comes, As he comes to set everything right on earth, Set everything right, treat everyone fair.

While Jews clamor for miraculous demonstrations and Greeks go in for philosophical wisdom, we go right on proclaiming Christ, the Crucified. Jews treat this like an anti-miracle—and Greeks pass it off as absurd. But to us who are personally called by God himself—both Jews and Greeks—Christ is God's ultimate miracle and wisdom all wrapped up in one. Human wisdom is so tinny, so impotent, next to the seeming absurdity of God. Human strength can't begin to compete with God's "weakness."

"Watch that you don't treat a single one of these childlike believers arrogantly. You realize, don't you, that their personal angels are constantly in touch with my Father in heaven?

God makes everything come out right; he puts victims back on their feet. He showed Moses how he went about his work, opened up his plans to all Israel. God is sheer mercy and grace; not easily angered, he's rich in love. He doesn't endlessly nag and scold, nor hold grudges forever. He doesn't treat us as our sins deserve, nor pay us back in full for our wrongs. As high as heaven is over the earth, so strong is his love to those who fear him. And as far as sunrise is from sunset, he has separated us from our sins. As parents feel for their children, God feels for those who fear him. He knows us inside and out…God's love, though, is ever and always, eternally present to all who fear him, Making everything right for them and their children as they follow his Covenant ways and remember to do whatever he said.

Psalm 96:10 Psalm 59:8 Psalm 96:13 1 Corinthians 1:22 Matthew 18:10 Psalm 103:6

Kindness is treating others the way God treats you.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn – 368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Wonder

Saturday morning

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I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous, your handmade sky-jewelry, Moon and stars mounted in their settings. Then I look at my micro-self and wonder, Why do you bother with us? Why take a second look our way?

It wasn't so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn't know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It's a wonder God didn't lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.

So don't lose a minute in building on what you've been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can't see what's right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books.

The Father dearly loves the Son and discloses to (shows) Him everything that He Himself does. And He will disclose to Him (let Him see) greater things yet than these, so that you may marvel and be full of wonder and astonishment.

Pursue a righteous life—a life of wonder, faith, love, steadiness, courtesy. Run hard and fast in the faith. Seize the eternal life, the life you were called to, the life you so fervently embraced in the presence of so many witnesses.

Psalm 8:3 Ephesians 2:1 2 Peter 1:5 John 5:20 1 Timothy 6:11

A wonder-filled life is yours when you know (experientially) Christ.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn – 368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Kindness

In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus.

So clean house! Make a clean sweep of malice and pretense, envy and hurtful talk. You've had a taste of God. Now, like infants at the breast, drink deep of God's pure kindness. Then you'll grow up mature and whole in God.

Do not forget or neglect to do kindness and good, to be generous and distribute and contribute to the needy [of the church as embodiment and proof of fellowship], for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

See that none of you repays another with evil for evil, but always aim to show kindness and seek to do good to one another and to everybody.

So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It's your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.

Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish!

1 Peter 5:10 1 Peter 2:1 Hebrews 13:16 1 Thessalonians 5:15 Colossians 3:12 Ephesians 2:7

Kindness is the oil that takes the friction out of life.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn – 368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Revealed

This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

I do not call you servants (slaves) any longer, for the servant does not know what his master is doing (working out). But I have called you My friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from My Father. [I have revealed to you everything that I have learned from Him.]

"I've used figures of speech in telling you these things. Soon I'll drop the figures and tell you about the Father in plain language. Then you can make your requests directly to him in relation to this life I've revealed to you. I won't continue making requests of the Father on your behalf. I won't need to. Because you've gone out on a limb, committed yourselves to love and trust in me, believing I came directly from the Father, the Father loves you directly. First, I left the Father and arrived in the world; now I leave the world and travel to the Father."

"This is what I want you to do: Ask the Father for whatever is in keeping with the things I've revealed to you. Ask in my name, according to my will, and he'll most certainly give it to you. Your joy will be a river overflowing its banks!

Let your love, God, shape my life with salvation, exactly as you promised; Then I'll be able to stand up to mockery because I trusted your Word. Don't ever deprive me of truth, not ever— your commandments are what I depend on. Oh, I'll guard with my life what you've revealed to me, guard it now, guard it ever; And I'll stride freely through wide open spaces as I look for your truth and your wisdom; Then I'll tell the world what I find, speak out boldly in public, unembarrassed. I cherish your commandments—oh, how I love them!— relishing every fragment of your counsel.

John 2:11 John 15:15 John 16:25 John 16:23 Psalm 119:41

Keep eternity’s Goal in sight by walking daily in God’s light.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn – 368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Sure

Maui

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You can be sure of this: The Lord set apart the godly for himself. The Lord will answer when I call to him.

I'm sure now I'll see God's goodness in the exuberant earth. Stay with God! Take heart. Don't quit. I'll say it again: Stay with God.

The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the [whole] person; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

Blessed are you who give yourselves over to God, turn your backs on the world's "sure thing," ignore what the world worships; The world's a huge stockpile of God-wonders and God-thoughts. Nothing and no one comes close to you!

I hate the two-faced, but I love your clear-cut revelation. You're my place of quiet retreat; I wait for your Word to renew me. Get out of my life, evildoers, so I can keep my God's commands. Take my side as you promised; I'll live then for sure. Don't disappoint all my grand hopes... therefore I lovingly embrace everything you say. I shiver in awe before you; your decisions leave me speechless with reverence.

Listen carefully to my wisdom; take to heart what I can teach you. You'll treasure its sweetness deep within; you'll give it bold expression in your speech. To make sure your foundation is trust in God

Psalm 4:3 Psalm 27:13 Psalm 19:7 Psalm 40:4 Psalm 119:113 Proverbs 22:17

You can trust the Bible – God always keeps His word.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn – 368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Not seen

Colorado

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Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

I have been young and now am old, yet have I not seen the [uncompromisingly] righteous forsaken or their seed begging bread.

while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

But, on the contrary, as the Scripture says, What eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, [all that] God has prepared (made and keeps ready) for those who love Him

Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

John 20:29 Psalm 37:25 2 Corinthians 4:18 1 Corinthians 2:9 1 Peter 1:8 Hebrews 11:1

Faith knows that God is working behind the scenes.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn – 368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Directs

Colorado Springs

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God's Word warns us of danger and directs us to hidden treasure.

The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.

By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me— a prayer to the God of my life.

A man's mind plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps and makes them sure.

The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?

This is what the LORD says—"I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.

But you are not living the life of the flesh, you are living the life of the Spirit, if the [Holy] Spirit of God [really] dwells within you [directs and controls you].

Psalm 19:11 Psalm 37:23 Psalm 42:8 Proverbs 16:9 Proverbs 20:24 Isaiah 48:17 Romans 8:9

When God gives an assignment, it comes with His enablement.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn – 368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Stays

Fish Creek Falls, CO

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A fool is quick-tempered, but a wise person stays calm when insulted.

Foolishness brings joy to those with no sense; a sensible person stays on the right path.

The Master, God, has given me a well-taught tongue, So I know how to encourage tired people. He wakes me up in the morning, Wakes me up, opens my ears to listen as one ready to take orders. The Master, God, opened my ears, and I didn't go back to sleep, didn't pull the covers back over my head. I followed orders, stood there and took it while they beat me, held steady while they pulled out my beard, Didn't dodge their insults, faced them as they spit in my face. And the Master, God, stays right there and helps me, so I'm not disgraced.

They still didn't get it, didn't realize that he was referring to the Father. So Jesus tried again. "When you raise up the Son of Man, then you will know who I am—that I'm not making this up, but speaking only what the Father taught me. The One who sent me stays with me. He doesn't abandon me. He sees how much joy I take in pleasing him."

What you say goes, God, and stays, as permanent as the heavens. Your truth never goes out of fashion; it's as up-to-date as the earth when the sun comes up. Your Word and truth are dependable as ever

And be very careful around them so you don't lose out on what we've worked so diligently in together; I want you to get every reward you have coming to you. Anyone who gets so progressive in his thinking that he walks out on the teaching of Christ, walks out on God. But whoever stays with the teaching stays faithful to both the Father and the Son.

Proverbs 12:16 Proverbs 15:21 Isaiah 50:4 John 8:27 Psalm 119:89 2 John 1:8

Genuine faith stays strong even when deliverance seems distant.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn – 368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Rest

Denver,CO

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Oh! Teach us to live well! Teach us to live wisely and well! Come back, God … Surprise us with love at daybreak; then we'll skip and dance all the day long. Make up for the bad times with some good times; we've seen enough evil to last a lifetime. Let your servants see what you're best at— the ways you rule and bless your children. And let the loveliness of our Lord, our God, rest on us, confirming the work that we do. Oh, yes. Affirm the work that we do!

Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him;

May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you.

My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.

He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams.

I have set the Lord continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory [my inner self] rejoices; my body too shall rest and confidently dwell in safety.

Psalm 90:12 Psalm 37:7 Psalm 33:22 Psalm 62:1 Psalm 23:2 Psalm 16:9

Our hearts are restless till they find their rest in Christ.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn - 368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Criticism

Colorado

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If you listen to constructive criticism, you will be at home among the wise.

If you ignore criticism, you will end in poverty and disgrace; if you accept correction, you will be honored.

Whoever stubbornly refuses to accept criticism will suddenly be destroyed beyond recovery.

My dear children, let's not just talk about love; let's practice real love. This is the only way we'll know we're living truly, living in God's reality. It's also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.

Personally, I've been completely satisfied with who you are and what you are doing. You seem to me to be well-motivated and well-instructed, quite capable of guiding and advising one another. So, my dear friends, don't take my rather bold and blunt language as criticism. It's not criticism. I'm simply underlining how very much I need your help in carrying out this highly focused assignment God gave me, this priestly and gospel work of serving the spiritual needs of the non-Jewish outsiders so they can be presented as an acceptable offering to God, made whole and holy by God's Holy Spirit.

Proverbs 15:31 Proverbs 13:18 Proverbs 29:1 1 John 3:18 Romans 15:14

Never fear criticism when you’re right; never ignore it when you’re wrong.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn – 368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Content

Denver Botanical Gardens

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The fear of the LORD leads to life: Then one rests content, untouched by trouble.

I've kept my feet on the ground, I've cultivated a quiet heart. Like a baby content in its mother's arms, my soul is a baby content.

"Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant. If you puff yourself up, you'll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you're content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty.

[ Keep It Simple ] Jesus now called the Twelve and gave them authority and power to deal with all the demons and cure diseases. He commissioned them to preach the news of God's kingdom and heal the sick. He said, "Don't load yourselves up with equipment. Keep it simple; you are the equipment. And no luxury inns—get a modest place and be content there until you leave. If you're not welcomed, leave town. Don't make a scene. Shrug your shoulders and move on."

"You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.

The Spirit, not content to flit around on the surface, dives into the depths of God, and brings out what God planned all along. Who ever knows what you're thinking and planning except you yourself? The same with God—except that he not only knows what he's thinking, but he lets us in on it. God offers a full report on the gifts of life and salvation that he is giving us. We don't have to rely on the world's guesses and opinions. We didn't learn this by reading books or going to school; we learned it from God, who taught us person-to-person through Jesus, and we're passing it on to you in the same firsthand, personal way.

Proverbs 19:23 Psalm 131:2 Matthew 23:11 Luke 9:1 Matthew 5:5 1 Corinthians 2:10

Resentment comes from looking at others; contentment comes from looking to God.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn – 368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Preparing

Building site - Cottonwood Christian Church

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Sing to God a thanksgiving hymn, play music on your instruments to God, Who fills the sky with clouds, preparing rain for the earth, Then turning the mountains green with grass, feeding both cattle and crows. He's not impressed with horsepower; the size of our muscles means little to him. Those who fear God get God's attention; they can depend on his strength.

"Let me tell you what's going on here: No one in history surpasses John the Baptizer; but in the kingdom he prepared you for, the lowliest person is ahead of him. For a long time now people have tried to force themselves into God's kingdom. But if you read the books of the Prophets and God's Law closely, you will see them culminate in John, teaming up with him in preparing the way for the Messiah of the kingdom. Looked at in this way, John is the 'Elijah' you've all been expecting to arrive and introduce the Messiah.

"From out of David's descendants God produced a Savior for Israel, Jesus, exactly as he promised—but only after John had thoroughly alerted the people to his arrival by preparing them for a total life-change. As John was finishing up his work, he said, 'Did you think I was the One? No, I'm not the One. But the One you've been waiting for all these years is just around the corner, about to appear.

For our light, momentary affliction (this slight distress of the passing hour) is ever more and more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory [beyond all measure, excessively surpassing all comparisons and all calculations, a vast and transcendent glory and blessedness never to cease!],

Now He Who has fashioned us [preparing and making us fit] for this very thing is God, Who also has given us the [Holy] Spirit as a guarantee [of the fulfillment of His promise].

Psalm 147:7 Matthew 11:11 Acts 13:23 2 Corinthians 4:17 2 Corinthians 5:5

While God is preparing a place for us, He is preparing us for that place.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn – 368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Request

Steamboat Springs

THE KING [David] shall joy in Your strength, O Lord; and in Your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! You have given him his heart's desire and have not withheld the request of his lips.

Let my cry come right into your presence, God; provide me with the insight that comes only from your Word. Give my request your personal attention, rescue me on the terms of your promise. Let praise cascade off my lips; after all, you've taught me the truth about life! And let your promises ring from my tongue; every order you've given is right. Put your hand out and steady me since I've chosen to live by your counsel. I'm homesick, God, for your salvation; I love it when you show yourself! Invigorate my soul so I can praise you well, use your decrees to put iron in my soul. And should I wander off like a lost sheep—seek me! I'll recognize the sound of your voice.

Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

And this is the confidence (the assurance, the privilege of boldness) which we have in Him: [we are sure] that if we ask anything (make any request) according to His will (in agreement with His own plan), He listens to and hears us.

At that time you won’t need to ask me for anything. I tell you the truth, you will ask the Father directly, and he will grant your request because you use my name.

"I'm telling you these things while I'm still living with you. The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you. I'm leaving you well and whole. That's my parting gift to you. Peace.

Psalm 21:2 (1-3) Psalm 119:169 Matthew 15:28 1 John 5:14 John 16:23 John 14:25

No request is too great or too small to being to God

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God.

Glenn – 368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921

Saints

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus

Now, brethren, you know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts and our firstfruits in Achaia (most of Greece), and how they have consecrated and devoted themselves to the service of the saints (God's people).

[It is then] my counsel and my opinion in this matter that I give [you when I say]: It is profitable and fitting for you [now to complete the enterprise] which more than a year ago you not only began, but were the first to wish to do anything [about contributions for the relief of the saints at Jerusalem].

For the ministry of this service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing through many thanksgivings to God.

Therefore you are no longer outsiders (exiles, migrants, and aliens, excluded from the rights of citizens), but you now share citizenship with the saints (God's own people, consecrated and set apart for Himself); and you belong to God's [own] household.

By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones),

Ephesians 1:1 Corinthians 16:15 2 Corinthians 8:10 2 Corinthians 9:12 Ephesians 2:19 Ephesians 1:18

God is the perfect Judge, and He can declare the guilty perfect.

LIFEgroups – together experiencing God

Glenn – 368 Mission Hill Way, Colorado Springs CO 80921