Beyond Mediocrity Blog

(Image courtesy of http://strokeconnection.strokeassociation.org.) "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in Heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith - more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire - may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.  Though you have not seen Him, you love Him.  Through you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the...

(Image courtesy of http://www.abc.net.au.) "Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the LORD'" (Exodus 10:1-2). Just before the eighth plague, God tells Moses the purpose of Pharaoh's hardened heart, the plagues, Israel's captivity, and their future deliverance: "that you may know that I am the LORD."  God's purpose in delivering His people was so that they would know He is the LORD.