Wilderness Wonderings

Wilderness Wonderings

Jesus

To Whom It May Concern

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Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
They collapse and fall,
but we rise and stand upright.

Psalm 20:7,8
Image credit: Protestors swarming the Detroit vote-couting center – The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/elections/100000007436552/detroit-protest-election-center.html

As we sit anxiously awaiting the results of our election that is now 48 hours past, I was reflecting this morning on the last several months of prognostications and even so-called prophecies from the pulpit of victory for a favored candidate. Prophecies uttered that offer hope in form of a leader of an earthly kingdom. Prophecies that ultimately have done nothing to advance the gospel of reconciliation between man and God. Prophecies that have done more to divide the Bride of Christ rather than unite her. And my heart breaks, because when we the church practice religion for the purpose of advancing an earthly kingdom, we have lost sight of the Kingdom of God that transcends all earthly kingdoms.

Yes, earthly governments have their place in God’s ordained order. Romans 13:1 makes it very clear “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” There are times that God will provide a Godly leader as a time of respite and other times that God will allow an ungodly leader for the purpose of discipline and the testing and strengthening of our faith. You need look no further than the books of 1 and 2 Kings to see this cycle repeated over and over again.

Was God not sovereign over the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah even when ungodly kings ruled and instituted pagan religions that allowed for the sacrifice of children to the god Ba’al, Asherah, and Molech? Was God not sovereign when He chose David, a man described as one “after God’s own heart,” to lead the nation from under the ungodly rule of Saul, only to watch him fall to the sin of adultery, covetousness, and murder? Was God still sovereign when the people of Israel were carried away to live in exile in Babylon? Was God still sovereign when He allowed His only Son to be nailed to a cross for the sins of the world?

Of course He was still sovereign. Of course He was still on His throne. Of course He still loved His people. We cannot possibly know God’s immediate plans in the here and now. But I guarantee you, He has a plan and He is working it to completion.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Isaiah 55:8,9

Now let me be clear: I’m not saying that the church should not be involved in governmental affairs or the electoral process. By all means, as a citizen of this country, we have a duty to exercise our Constitutional privilege to vote and right to voice our religiously informed conscience at the ballot box. I’m not disputing that. But I am worried that the attitudes with which we exercise our rights muddle the vision and distract from our ultimate allegiance to God’s Kingdom.

My friends, I beg you to be patient. I plead with you to allow the results of the election to play out. But more importantly, I beg you to keep your eyes on the King of kings and Lord of lords. Regardless of how this election turns out, He will still be on His throne. So what if your candidate doesn’t win. Our ultimate allegiance is to the Kingdom of God and His Kingdom has stood the test of time and will continue to stand against the very gates of Hell itself.

Secondly, I ask that you carefully reconsider your attitudes towards those that vote differently than you. Such judgement is unbecoming of the very fabric of our American society. More importantly, especially within the body of Christ, such judgement will keep us divided and at each others throats. Forgive one another. Love one another. Live the gospel like your life depends on it, because quite frankly, it does.

Finally, we must repent of our self-centered covetousness. We must repent of using the pulpit for the purpose of advancing an earthly kingdom with shallow prophecies designed to offer false hope in a fallible kingdom. We must repent of taking our eyes off the cross and fall our our knees at the feet of Jesus in humble submission to His Lordship. Then, and only then, will we ever know true peace.

The Path Through the Pain

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And when He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but He was asleep. And they went and woke Him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” And He said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then He rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey Him?”

Matthew 8:23-27

Are you willing to follow your leaders into battle? Many people do so blindly every day. Soldiers follow the orders of their commanding officers, trusting that the officer has the intelligence necessary to win the battle ahead. Business teams follow their own leaders into the battle of commerce, trusting that the strategy that has been communicated to them is effective and profitable. Students follow the instruction of their teachers, trusting that the education they are receiving will serve them well in the years to come.

Jesus’ disciples followed Him, and they went blindly trusting Him. And they weren’t ignorant of the dangers that potentially lie ahead. The Sea of Galilee is known for sudden storms caused by uplifts of air from the Mediterranean to the west that come in and strike the mountains and then rise up and form storms on the other side of those peaks. Additionally, the region of Israel is also known for being at the northern end of a tectonic plate that comprises all of the Sinai Peninsula to the south. This tectonic activity is largely responsible for the formation of the Red Sea that separates Egypt from Saudi Arabia, as well as the formation of the Gulf of Suez on the west of the Peninsula and the Gulf of Aqaba to the east. Peter, Andrew, James, and John all knew the potential dangers of setting out on the Sea of Galilee that could strike without warning as it was their careers as fishermen that prepared them for these dangers.

Yet, when the storm arose and the ship began to be overrun by the waters, they became afraid. And this was no small storm. “There arose a great storm” is translated from the Greek phrase “ginomai megas seismos”. In essence, we are talking about a gigantic, mega-earthquake. And Jesus was sleeping through it all. As they trembled in fear, they awoke their Master, who rebuked their lack of faith in the One who has already demonstrated His power over disease and infirmity. Then He stands and rebukes the very power of nature itself. And they stared in wonder and admiration at the fact that even the unpredictable powers of nature were at His command.

The term “ginomai” is actually a theatrical term which means “to come upon the stage” or to make a sudden grand entrance. “Surprise! I’m here!” If there is anything that 2020 has taught us this year, it’s that life is unpredictable. That is an inescapable fact. War, disease, fires, hurricanes, political unrest. Who would have predicted a year ago that everything we have experienced this year would come to pass. And yet, too often I have seen disciples who have chosen to follow the Savior cower in fear as if Jesus was not present or “asleep at the wheel.” Too many of us have put our faith in our political leaders to resolve our problems instead of crying out to the only One who can command the storm. We blame “climate change” on one another instead of the natural shifting of nature over time that has occurred for thousands of years.

We must never forget that Jesus not only got into the boat, but as His disciples we got in the boat with Him, knowing full well the dangers that lie ahead in this life. Being a disciple of Christ doesn’t mean checking your brain at the door. God can still use your career and all of the knowledge you have gained in the world to serve His kingdom and provide you with a fresh perspective of His power and authority in this life. The fishermen among the disciples knew what they were supposed to do when the storm strikes, but for some reason they believed those skills no longer mattered to the kingdom. The appropriate response was not to freak out in fear, but rather to anchor deep trusting in the mission of the Master.

If you are a disciple of Jesus, I implore you – remember that He’s on the boat with you. His presence is not negated by the arrival of the storm. Sometimes, the storm is simply a test for you to use the skills and competencies that you already have to serve the Master. Instead of running in fear to Him, try trusting in what you already know to be true. Trust that Jesus has a purpose for the pain. There is a reason that He chose the path through the storm instead of going around it. That reason is build an opportunity to trust Him and believe in what He has called you to do and that is to follow Him through the storm, knowing the dangers that lie ahead, and trusting that He will calm the storm with simply a word. Live your life in wonder and admiration of the One who can see you through it all.

Peace Within the Pain

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But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

2 Corinthians 12:9

As Sara and I near the end of our packing up for our move, yesterday I went through and starting taking things off the walls. As I took down pictures and decorations from the various rooms in our apartment, then had to go back and remove nails and staples, which left marks in the walls that I will have to go back to cover over before we turn in our keys. Otherwise, as is common practice, we would be charged with the damages from simply living a normal, every day life with decorations on our walls. Embellishments to make life more bearable. Photos to boast of our travels. Paintings to add color to our meager existence.

It struck me how removing all of the embellishments and vanity pieces exposed the damages beneath. The scars along the walls that were hidden behind the photos and decorations. What struck me even more was how much of a picture of our lives this has become. When all is stripped away and your life is laid bare, what will be exposed beneath the embellishments of your life? Inevitably, underneath it all, we all bear scars from pains long past. Our natural tendency is to cover up those scars and hide them or distract from them with false impressions that are secondary to the true surface that lies beneath.

We cover up our pain with false joy and laughter. We fill in the cracks with the appearance of wealth and prosperity. We spackle the piercings with vanity and pride. We paint over the blemishes in order to blend in with our surroundings hoping that nobody will see the imperfections beneath. We make our lives a facade while our world continues to crumble from the inside out.

Too often we treat vulnerability as a weakness, but in reality, it is in our weakness that we can find our greatest strength. When we humbly submit to the healing hand of our gracious Lord, He joyfully provides the healing we so desperately need. But we must be willing to strip away the veneer and lay our lives bare before His throne so that He can reach out and touch us and make us whole again. We must learn to be honest with ourselves about the true state of our being before we can really grasp the depth of our need for our Savior.

Then and only then can the Master Builder come in and do the work of restoration that our souls require. He fills in the holes of our pain with healing. He covers the blemishes of our sin with grace. And as a Master Painter, He begins painting a new mural with our lives that outshines the dull, drab white-washed walls of our heart.

Open your heart today to the joy of the Savior. Let Him transform your mind and bring peace to your troubled heart.

The Disciple’s Sacrifice

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Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”

Matthew 8:18-22

I am the proud father of a daughter who serves in the Armed Forces. She and her husband have both worked diligently to achieve the rank of Sergeant, but their success has not come without sacrifice. While I did not have the privilege of serving in the military, I have always had a healthy respect for those who do serve. As part of the boot camp training experience, each soldier is broken down and rebuilt into the image of a soldier fit for service. That means being isolated from everything that has defined your life, personality, and habits up to that point in your life. It’s a high price to pay to serve the greater cause of liberty and the mission of protecting our nation.

Following Jesus is really no different conceptually. If we say that we will follow Him, we must understand that at times He will call us to go places that are uncomfortable and unfamiliar. We may be required to cross the street and care for a neighbor. We may need to demonstrate love to someone who is “unloveable.” Perhaps He may even call you to cross the oceans to carry the gospel to some of the darkest places on earth.

Last night, my wife and I attended a webinar hosted by Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary where we listened to stories of current missionaries serving in South Asia in a land of 1.7 billion people, where 1.5 billion of those do not know the light of Jesus. For a sense of scale, that is a population that is more than 5 times the total population of the United States in an area that is roughly half the geographic size of the Lower 48 states combined. It is considered “the greatest concentration of lostness in the world” as 89% of that region has no connection with the truth of Jesus. What is equally distressing is that for these missionaries, they are literally putting their lives on the line to bring the light of the gospel to this darkness.

January 30, 1933 is a day that should be forever burned in our memories. It was on this day that the history of the world irrevocably changed as the Nazi regime rose to power in Germany. Two days later, Adolf Hitler was installed as Chancellor of Germany in the hopes of reviving the Holy Roman Empire. Immediately, from the earliest days of the Nazi regime, a young Luteran pastor began boldly speaking out against this powerful new regime and their idolatrous worship of the Führer (“leader”). He would often refer to Hitler in his radio speeches as Verführer, or “misleader, seducer”.

It wasn’t long before he was on the radar of the Nazi leadership as he vocally criticized Hitler’s campaigns for euthenasia and genocide. In 1943, he was finally arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned in Tegel prison for a year and a half where he endured unspeakable torture before being transferred to Flossenburg concentration camp. In 1945, he was accused of association with a July 20 plot to assassinate Hitler. He was quickly tried and hung as a martyr on April 9, 1945. His name was Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

His overriding passion was the Kingdom of Christ and it cost him his life. During this time, much of his writing was designed to encourage Christian living in an increasingly secular world and he wrote a book that is considered one of the great classics of modern Christian thought “The Cost of Discipleship”. Within this book, he summarizes his thesis very clearly with this one statement:

Salvation is free, but discipleship will cost you your life.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

And yet here we are in the American church complaining because our pews are too hard or our built in coffee bars don’t serve our preferred drink. We spend more time debating with each other over doctrine and politics than we do serving our communities that we are called to be a light to. We walk around either with our heads held high in the air with pride or drooped in despair, all the while there is a lost and dying world in need of the transformative power of grace right in front of our noses. We sit in judgement of those who believe differently than us instead of breaking bread with those who need our fellowship and the grace of our Lord. We continue to perpetuate the very same divisiveness that we decry in the name of our own self-preservation.

But Jesus warned us that the mission we have before us carries with it a price. We must learn to let go of everything that binds us to what we were before we came to know Him and allow Him to transform our lives to be more in line with the truth of His word – to be more like Christ. Sometimes that means being at odds with our own family members. Sometimes that means going places that don’t make sense in the moment. Sometimes that means letting go of our preconceived notions of who Jesus is and simply listening to His words and accepting them for truth, in spite of our personal preferences and opinions.

Jesus never promised that following Him would be easy. In fact, He very clearly promised that it would be difficult. I’ve often heard it said that nothing worth doing in this life comes easy, and that is never more true as it is related following Jesus. It often requires swimming against the current of society. It often requires enduring the ridicule and judgement of others who do not even know Him. But to know Him – to truly know Him instead of just knowing things about Him – is to love Him and to be devoted to Him and His mission to “seek and to save those who are lost.”

I would like to challenge you today. Be willing to break out of your routine and be intentional about your faith. Speak the truth even if it is uncomfortable, but do so in a spirit of love and grace. Be willing to go and shine your light into the darkness around you. But be prepared, for the task is not easy. However, in the end, the rewards for obedience will far exceed your wildest imaginations.

A Woman’s Service

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And when Jesus entered Peter’s house, He saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever. He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve Him. That evening they brought to Him many who were oppressed by demons, and He cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”

Matthew 8:14- ESV

When Jesus touches you, He changes your life for the better. He restores your spirit and soul. He forgives your sin and reconciles your relationship to the Father. He even has the capacity to heal your sickness for the glory of God. But when Jesus touches your life and changes you, how do you respond? Do you respond with an attitude of gratitude, ready to serve Him in whatever way He needs you for the sake of the Kingdom? Or do you continue on your merry way accepting His grace as if it was owed to you?

The touch of Christ in our lives is always intended to inspire a Kingdom response. It is intended to shine a light on our Messiah who comes to take away the sins of the world. Too often we treat the touch of Jesus as if His primary purpose for coming to the world is to serve us. While it is true that He came to be a servant, He came to be the King of our hearts. When we treat Jesus as if He is nothing more than our genie granting wishes whenever we have a perceived need that will make our lives more convenient, what happens when He sovereignly chooses not to provide your desire?

A couple of interesting things to note in this passage to illuminate the grace of our God. First, Simon invited Jesus into His home and he didn’t restrict Jesus’ access or movement. As a result, not only was Jesus able to see his sick mother-in-law, He was able to touch her and heal her. Yes, we have already established that Jesus did not need to go in person to the centurion’s home to heal his servant, but it still required the invitation of the centurion inspired by faith in the one He knew could heal. Jesus doesn’t intrude where He is uninvited except where it is required to advance the purposes of the Father’s sovereign will and Kingdom purposes. He doesn’t force His love and grace upon us. He offers the gift of Himself in daily communion, but it is a gift that requires acceptance in order to realize the blessing.

Secondly, neither Simon nor his mother-in-law asked Jesus for healing. In fact, the healing that took place was at the full initiative of Jesus himself. He saw that she was sick with a fever. He saw that she was sick. He saw her. The single most important part of this entire passage is these two words: “He saw.” Jesus sees. He sees your situation. He sees what you are going through. He sees your pain. He sees your suffering. He sees your sickness. He sees your hopelessness. He sees your sin. He sees your isolation. He sees your rebellion. He sees your rejection. Yet He still loves you and He reaches out to touch you and restore you and reconcile you so that you might serve Him.

Finally, our service to the Kingdom, when performed with an attitude of gratitude for His grace, draws others to Him. There is no indication in this passage that Jesus left Simon’s house, but it is glaringly obvious that word got around as to what Jesus did and how she quickly responded by serving Him. And this drew others to their home in search of a touch from Jesus to restore their hearts, bodies, souls, and spirits. Not only did Simon’s mother serve the one who healed her out of gratitude, she and Simon opened their home for others to receive that same touch.

If you treat Jesus as a means to an end, what happens when you come to the end of your means? Time and again I see people make demands of Jesus like He owes us some material blessing. Jesus owes you nothing, but we owe Him everything! Jesus doesn’t owe you a new car or a house or even the designer clothes you think you deserve. The truth of the matter is because of our sin we deserve Hell. Because of our willful choices to disobey Him and reject Him in favor of our own selfish desires, because of our own self-inflated sense of self-worth, we are deserving of nothing more than to be cast out of Paradise for eternity.

But Jesus, in His great love and grace and mercy, wants to reach out and touch you and make you whole again. His touch is meant to inspire you to serve Him and His Kingdom and draw all people unto Him. Most importantly He sees you, but He will only touch you if you open the door of your heart and home to let Him in.

Note: Copyright of the video above is held by The Chosen Productions and VidAngel Studios. No copyright infringement is intended and the video is linked solely for educational purposes in keeping with fair use doctrines. As an additional side note, I highly recommend watching The Chosen. This program is without question one of the most original expressions of the gospel and gives unique insights into the personality of Jesus and the Biblical characters without compromising the heart and message of the Scriptures. To view The Chosen, you can download The Chosen app on your iPhone or Android device and stream through any streaming device (i.e., Roku, Amazon Fire, Chromecast, etc.) to your television.

The Phalanx Unity

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So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in one spirit, intent on one purpose.

Philippians 2:1-2
Roman Phalanx in a shielded formation

It is no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic has posed significant challenges to our society at large. The extended global isolation from one another has brought about the demise of millions of jobs and the shuttering of untold numbers of small businesses. Beyond the economic toll of the pandemic is also the psychological toll as mental health issues have risen at unprecedented rates across the country. Communities continue to struggle relationally as people continue to feel isolated from one another. Fear plagues various communities that continue to struggle to contain the pandemic in their areas.

In some areas, spiritual darkness has begun to take root and government entities have been overstepping the limits of their authority by imposing excessive restrictions upon houses of worship in areas that have already seen significant recovery from the pandemic (Here’s looking at your Grace Community.). As institutions of higher learning were forced to switch gears with minimal notice to online offerings in order to provide students with opportunities to complete their classes, our seminaries were no exception.

Recently, the presidents of two Southern Baptist Convention seminaries – Dr. Adam Greenway of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, TX and Dr. Jamie Dew of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary – held a live Zoom conversation discussing the two seminaries’ plans for the future as they look forward to extended precautions imposed in the wake of COVID-19. One thing was made abundantly clear between the two gentlemen was that while they have experienced success with their switch to online teaching and local churches have experienced continued stability and marginal growth in the midst of this grand paradigm shift, both agreed there is no substitute for human contact and in-person community.

As quoted in the Southwestern News, Dr. Dew stated “If COVID-19 has done anything, it has given us a scenario that reminds us of how much we need each other. We need each other relationally, we need each other psychologically, we need each other spiritually, we need each other missiologically. And so it’s given us a context now that should forever change the way we celebrate and embrace public gathering.”1

Dr. Dew’s statement perfectly encapsulates Paul’s encouragement to the church of Philippi. Paul, writing from his prison cell in Rome, encourages the persecuted believers at Philippi who were beginning to feel the effects of Nero’s cruelty. It was during Nero’s reign that most of the apostle’s were martyred, including Peter and Paul. It was Nero who coined the term “Roman candle” to describe the tarring of Christian prisoners and lighting them on fire in order to light up his late night feast in his golden palace. And Paul offered these words of strength in the midst of the struggle:

“Only let your manner of life be worthy[h] of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.” (Philippians 1:27-30)

Acknowledging the trials that the church at Philippi was enduring, Paul laid out a four-fold foundation of unity and interdependence that is intended as a message of hope for the believers of his day, as well as an encouragement for believers today. Unity within the body of Christ is about interdependence upon one another. Our American society has become some consumed with individualism and personal expression, that the church has forgotten the call to be interdependent upon one another within the body. This is distinguished from dependence as the body of Christ was never intended to be a source for leeches who absorb from the community but never contribute to the community. God has gifted each believer with unique gifts and talents for the purpose of building up of the body of Christ together.

However, in the midst of our devotion to our Lord, we are called to live in unity with one another:

  1. Unity of mind (psychologically) – “being of the same mind” – having our minds mutually made up that unity for the sake of the Kingdom is THE priority.
  2. Unity of heart (relationally) – “maintaining the same love” – intentionally seeking to maintain healthy relationships with one another in spite of our challenges.
  3. Unity of spirit (spiritually) – “united in spirit” – empowered by the Holy Spirit of God and sensitive to His leading and comfort in the midst of our challenges.
  4. Unity of purpose (missiologically) – “intent on one purpose” – intentionally seeking opportunities to advance the Kingdom of God in spite of our circumstances.

The Roman military utilized a special type of unit called a phalanx. A phalanx was a troop of soldiers that worked in unison with one another both offensively and defensively. A phalanx of soldiers would march arm in arm, interlocked together, as they advanced towards their goal. They were often armed with spears, pikes, or other similar pole type weapons with a long reach, but their most important tool was their shield. When necessary for the defense of the troop, the commanding officer would order a defensive position that would mimic that of a turtle as a shield wall would form around the entire troop and internal troops would raise their shields to protect against arrows raining down (see image above). In so doing, these troops were not only protecting themselves, but they were protecting one another from the enemy’s attack.

All too often today, the church has been beset with attacks from within. Either by false teachers, or individuals more interested in being right than in being in a right relationship with one another for the sake of the kingdom. Personal self-interests have outweighed the interests of the body of Christ and the Kingdom of God. We have been divided by heresies and hatreds of one another. We have allowed our differences of opinion to turn us into enemies of one another, while a greater enemy eager waits to slip in and attack and win the day.

The phalanx works best when the troops work together for each other’s sake. In fact, the words “unit”, “unity”, “union”, and “unison” all originate from the same word that means “one” or “as one”. That is why Paul goes further to say “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:3-4)

It is time for the phalanx of the Body of Christ to rise up. It time for us to start looking to one another to build each other up in our faith, rather than compete against one another for attention. To echo the words of Philip Yancey “How great it would be if believers would compete to outgrace one another!”2

Footnotes:
1. “Greenway and Dew Discuss Leading In and Beyond COVID-19”, Southwestern News, Summer 2020, Volume 78, Issue 01
2. What’s So Amazing About Grace?, Yancey, Phillip. c 1997, Zondervan Publishers

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