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Eric shared with the youth...

Illustration
Eric shared with the youth group the time when he accompanied his father to the service club's Christmas party held at a children's home. His father explained that there would be gifts for the children and that he would not receive any presents. Eric told his father that he understood.

The children at the home were treated to a nice meal and then they sang a couple of Christmas carols before opening their gifts. The children were delighted, having received gifts of toys. Eric remembers the joy on the faces of the children as they opened their presents.
UPCOMING WEEKS
In addition to the lectionary resources there are thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...
Epiphany 4 (OT 4)
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33 – Commentary / Exegesis
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Epiphany 5 (OT 5)
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39 – Children's Sermons / Resources
24 – Worship Resources
33 – Commentary / Exegesis
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Epiphany 6 (OT 6)
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35 – Children's Sermons / Resources
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29 – Commentary / Exegesis
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Plus thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...

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John Jamison
Object: Two small containers or boxes and several pieces of paper. I used two shoe boxes with lids and about fifty pieces of used printer paper. Label one box “Judge”, and the other box “Not Judge”.

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For February 23, 2025:

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Frank Ramirez
I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. (v. 4)

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Emphasis Preaching Journal

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Genesis 45:3-11, 15
Christal Berns wrote, in a May 23, 2023, article for Christian Learning, about Jacksonville, FL police officer Ike Brown. On May 27, 2002, Brown received heartbreaking news from his colleagues. His sergeant, lieutenant, chief, and chaplain came to his home and told him his son had lost his life in a shooting incident.
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We all believe in justice; we all cry out to have our rights protected. Yet the power of revenge eventually takes us beyond where any of us truly want to go, for two reasons.

First of all, because of sin, we tend to be more zealous in our vindictiveness than we are in our love. I am much quicker to strike out at someone else and seek revenge against him for what he’s done to me, than I am to be that righteous myself.

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Carlos Wilton
Some years back, there was a best-selling book that got a lot of attention in the church, one written by a rabbi, Harold Kushner. The book was called When Bad Things Happen to Good People (HarperCollins, 1982). It is an honest attempt to grapple with the problem of evil. Why is it, Rabbi Kushner wants to know, that good and faithful people sometimes have to suffer?

John T. Ball
The honored dead from our fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq have created a problem for Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. So many have rightly claimed burial in Arlington National Cemetery that the cemetery is running out of space. Rightful burials may soon have to be denied because there is no place for them.

Mary S. Lautensleger
Sibling rivalry. It's the pits. It has been around as long as there have been siblings around. Beginning with Cain and Abel, we see one brother disgruntled because God likes the other brother's sacrificial offering better. We remember, too, Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, Rachel and Leah, the prodigal son and his older brother. Life is not fair.
James T. Garrett
When a person enters into any society or any fellowship, he takes upon himself the obligations to live a certain way, by certain standards. If the person fails to live the kind of life necessary, he hinders the purpose of the society.

Once we make the claim that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true then a claim is put on our lives. In today's Scripture lesson, Jesus sets down behavior patterns for kingdom people.

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