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Showing posts from November, 2025

Did God Really Say? Unmasking the Serpent’s Lies

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Have you ever gotten one of those emails that look legitimate—same logo, same colors, same tone—but something feels off? Then you check the sender’s address and realize the name is misspelled by one letter. Instant relief: Whew… glad I didn’t fall for that. That’s what deception does. It doesn’t scream a lie. It whispers a twist. In Genesis 3, we meet the very first twist—and that whisper still echoes in our world, our culture, and our internal battles. The devil’s most effective weapon has never been force; it’s deception. But Scripture shows us how to recognize it, resist it, and walk in God’s truth. Let’s take a closer look at the oldest lie ever told. The First Whisper: “Did God Really Say…?” Genesis places us in a perfect garden filled with yeses and one protective boundary. Into that goodness slithers the Serpent—crafty, subtle, shrewd. He begins with a question: “Did God really say…?” He doesn’t argue. He doesn’t threaten. He simply reframes God as restrictive. ...
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Did God Really Say? Unmasking the Serpent’s Lies

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Image
Have you ever gotten one of those emails that look legitimate—same logo, same colors, same tone—but something feels off? Then you check the sender’s address and realize the name is misspelled by one letter. Instant relief: Whew… glad I didn’t fall for that. That’s what deception does. It doesn’t scream a lie. It whispers a twist. In Genesis 3, we meet the very first twist—and that whisper still echoes in our world, our culture, and our internal battles. The devil’s most effective weapon has never been force; it’s deception. But Scripture shows us how to recognize it, resist it, and walk in God’s truth. Let’s take a closer look at the oldest lie ever told. The First Whisper: “Did God Really Say…?” Genesis places us in a perfect garden filled with yeses and one protective boundary. Into that goodness slithers the Serpent—crafty, subtle, shrewd. He begins with a question: “Did God really say…?” He doesn’t argue. He doesn’t threaten. He simply reframes God as restrictive. ...
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Legion vs. the Lord: Christ’s Authority Over Unseen Evil

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by Bart Denny Whether you are a professional mechanic or a shade-tree tinkerer, you have probably met that bolt. You know the one. You start with a regular wrench. No movement. You grab a longer handle. Your knuckles get scraped, your patience wears thin, and if you are honest, your vocabulary gets “creative.” So you reach for the Liquid Wrench. Then the torch. Then the breaker bar. Still nothing. Finally, you call the neighbor with the impact wrench. Same bolt, same rust, same stuck threads. One burst from the impact, and what resisted you for an hour breaks loose in a second. The difference was not you trying harder. The difference was authority . A different kind of power was applied. A lot of life feels like that bolt. Maybe it is an addiction, anger, bitterness, lust, or unforgiveness that will not budge. Maybe your “stuck bolt” is more internal: anxiety that will not let go, depression that will not lift, bitterness that has hardened into a way of life. The Bible c...
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Face to Face with the Angel of the Lord

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Based on Judges 13 Have you ever looked back on a difficult season of your life and realized— God was at work the whole time ? You didn’t see it in real time, but later, you could trace His fingerprints over every detail. I’ve lived through that. When I was preparing to retire from the Navy, I thought I had my next steps all mapped out. We’d bought a home in Tampa, planning to sell it at a profit and move back to Michigan. Job recruiters were calling. Everything looked smooth. Then—everything stopped. The calls stopped. The housing market crashed. The house we thought had plenty of equity suddenly wasn’t worth what we owed. It felt like God slammed the door shut. But in that disappointment, He redirected me. While working at the air base, I enrolled in seminary. A few years later, I joined the staff at our church, and eventually, I became pastor of a small congregation that needed revitalization. What I thought would be a two-year plan turned into fifteen. Only in hindsight did...
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Do You See What’s Really There?

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2 Kings 6:8–23 What if the greatest battles you’re facing aren’t the ones you can see? Most of us picture the obvious struggles—the bills piling up, the bad news from the doctor, the stress at work, the tension in our homes. Maybe the unseen battles of temptation or anxiety that keep us up at night. Those are real. But Scripture reminds us that there’s another dimension to every fight—a spiritual one that we often overlook. Elisha’s servant in 2 Kings 6 learned this the hard way. When he woke up to find their city surrounded by an enemy army, he panicked. To him, defeat was certain. But the prophet Elisha calmly prayed, “Lord, open his eyes.” And suddenly the servant saw what had been there all along—the hills blazing with horses and chariots of fire. God’s heavenly host had them completely surrounded. That story pulls back the curtain on reality. The world we see isn’t all that exists. The Bible repeatedly shows that the spiritual realm—God’s unseen world—is not a myth or metaph...
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What Angels Long to Do

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Hebrews 1:1–14 When you picture an angel, what comes to mind? A glowing figure with wings? A chubby cherub from a Christmas card? Maybe a tall blond in a white robe with a halo? The Bible’s version is far different—and far more awe-inspiring. When angels appear in Scripture, people don’t giggle or grin; they tremble. Luke tells us that when an angel appeared to the shepherds at Bethlehem, “the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.” ( Luke 2:9 NIV ) That’s a far cry from the figurine on your mantel. But even these powerful beings—God’s messengers, warriors, and servants—exist for one reason: to glorify the Son of God. And that’s what the Book of Hebrews wants us to see. Big Idea: Angels are mighty servants in God’s story, but Jesus is the Son, the Sovereign, and the Savior. 1. Listen to Jesus, the Final Word Hebrews opens with this declaration: “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets… but in these last days he has spoken...
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