(March 8, 2010)
Prayer House News!
We had another great weekend of ministry at Prayer House. Our new format for SNS drew the biggest "regular" crowd we've ever had. Our youth "SWAT" band is getting better everytime I hear them.
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This is Family Week for us so relax and enjoy some time at home this week.
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This is the link to the video I played in church about the revival in Haiti.
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Three Sacrifices

For the last month we have been studying the Sermon on the Mount. It took three sessions to get through the beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5. In Chapter six we find the means to implement the beatitudes into our lives. As I said earlier, the beatitudes are a description of the kingdom of God, or another way of defining the kingdom of God would be to say; the qualities of God which will dwell in a man once the spirit of God has great freedom within that man. Look at how this chapter ends in verse 33.

Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.
After Jesus finishes saying all that he does about the three sacrifices of the Christian life, giving, praying, and fasting, he ends his comments by saying, the most important thing is that we seek first his kingdom. In other words we should seek, first of all, to develop in all the fullness of God. Chapter six teaches us how to develop the kingdom of God within us through sacrifice or self-denial. Remember this has to do with developing the character of God within us subsequently, there needs to be a change in our natural character.
There is more to becoming like God in character than simply making a decision to do so. It may start with a willful determination to become godlier however, it will ultimately involve more than that. We must keep in mind that we are in a battle of images. It is the true image of God against the image of fallen man. If our lives are going to emulate the true nature of God, there will need to be a dramatic change from whom we are naturally.
Our human nature must go through a death. It must be put to death so that it can be resurrected in victory. When a man is saved the old passes away and all things become new. However, at the time of salvation he then enters into a whole new world, a whole new way of seeing and thinking. The maturing of the new nature is what we would call disciplining. Disciplining does not just happen all by itself. It’s no different than if we were to leave an infant all by itself. Infants need direction. They literally need to learn everything other than being hungry.
In this chapter Jesus teaches that giving, praying, and fasting should be part of the normal Christian life. That is why when referring to these three subjects the scriptures begin by saying, "When you; give, pray, fast." There is naturalness to the words of Christ here. It’s not like he stops everything and says, “OK guys here is what you need to understand. You are going to need to give of your money to the work of God; you are going to need to pray a lot and you are going to need to fast once in a while.” It’s not like that at all. Jesus is teaching them about how to flow in the kingdom and he says, just as normal as can be, “When you give, when you pray, and when you fast.” It was assumed by Jesus that these practices would flow out of the new man.
In dealing with these three areas of sacrifice prayer becomes the central practice. It is the only one of the three that can accomplish spiritual goals without the practice of the others along with it. You can pray without giving and you can pray without fasting and still achieve spiritual goals however, you cannot give without praying and you cannot fast without praying and accomplish the same things.
Matthew 6:2-4 "So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. (3) But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, (4) so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

The first sacrifice Jesus deals with is giving. In Acts 10 we read about an Italian centurion named Cornelius. According to verses 2-4 he and his family were devout, God-fearing, generous, and people of prayer. One day at three in the afternoon Cornelius had a vision where he saw an angel come to him and say, "Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God." (Acts 10:4)
Note that it was the combination of his giving and praying that went up as a memorial before God. It is an act of love to give to a missionary it is a more complete act of love to give and pray for a missionary. That is precisely why we have all of our missionaries pictures posted in our prayer room. Many of you give regularly to our missionaries – do you also regularly go to the prayer room and pray over them? If you do then, your prayers and gifts come up as a memorial offering before God.
continued tomorrow
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Medication: A Merry Heart
Change
"Ever since we got married, my wife has tried to change me.
She got me to stop drinking, smoking, and running around until all hours of the night.
She taught me how to dress well, enjoy the fine arts, appreciate gourmet cooking and classical music, and even how to invest in the stockmarket," said the man.
"Sounds like you may be bitter because she changed you so drastically," remarked his friend.
"I'm not bitter. Now that I'm so improved, she just isn't good enough for me."
at 11:08 PM 0 comments Posted by
(March 5, 2010)
Prayer House News!
It's Friday and the beginning of a great weekend. Isn't it nice to have some sunny weather.
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FYI - We have hired Darlene Jung as our new receptionist/administrative assistant. She will begin working next week. Darlene will be replacing Barb Provencher who is retiring after almost 10 years in our church office. We are going to miss Barb in a big way.
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Please be in prayer for Jim Cumbie as he is going through chemotherapy. Sara Britten has asked us to pray for a 12 year old girl (Hanna) who needs a heart transplant. She really needs a miracle. Sal Prieto's father has stomach cancer and is going through surgery - pray for him also.
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The Sermon III
continued from yesterday
Matthew 5:43-47 "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?

In my book, The Seven Spirits of God, I refer to this beatitude as the spirit of completeness. When Christ comes into a person’s life they are finally complete. God has finally filled the Christ-shaped void in their life and now they are complete. The peace maker not only loves his neighbor, he also loves his enemy and he prays for those who persecute him. If you love your enemy, how long can he remain at odds with you? If you sincerely pray for your enemy, how long can they stay your enemy?
Anybody can love those who love them – but only the peacemaker can love those who hate him. Do you see how the fullness of God’s spirit completely disarms those around Him?
Look at how this chapter ends,
Matthew 5:48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Verses like this one that admonish us to be perfect usually seem to have such a high standard that no can hope to achieve it. But the Greek meaning for the word “perfect” here means; something properly brought to its end, something that is finished or complete. Be perfect like your heavenly Father, could also read; be complete as your heavenly Father is complete.
This is the essence of what it means to be filled with the spirit of God. We need to catch the big picture of what Jesus is teaching here. The whole purpose of the word of God is to restore the image of God to man. This whole thing is a battle over image.
Man was created in the image of God. The devil did not like that. When he was successful in causing man to sin the image of God was damaged. Therefore, the work of God, from the time of the fall of man right up until today has been the restoration of God’s image to man. Satan is fighting this tooth and nail.
I’m just going to give you some scripture references here so that you can just listen to the word of God.
2 Corinthians 4:4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Colossians 3:9-10 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices (10) and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

Satan does not want men to see the true image of God. He wants to keep that image clouded. If men could get a true picture of God’s image they would run to him.
Jesus is the pinnacle of the work of God. Because Jesus paid the price for our sin the spirit of God can once again dwell within man restoring the very image in which he was originally created in. Why else do you think the Pentecostal message has received such opposition right from its beginnings? The Pentecostal message emphasizes the fullness of the spirit. It contains within it the ability to restore the image of God in man. It is one thing to be forgiven of your sins; it is quite another thing to be possessed by the spirit of God.
That is why we periodically give you the opportunity to receive the gift of tongues. We want you to be able to fully express yourself when you pray; we want you to be able to flow more freely in the image of God because it empowers us to become what we cannot be on our own.
A.W. Tozer once said that the first call to the church was not the great commission. He said the first call was to prayer. The disciples were to be filled with the spirit of God before they attempted to fulfill the great commission. It’s almost like Jesus saying, “I want my image put inside of your before you go about the work of God.”
Revelation 13:14-16 Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth. He ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed.

We now come to the end of time as we know it. The great and final battle in the book of Revelation is still over the image a man is projecting. Satan will attempt to kill everyone who does not worship the image of the beast.

The image of God is a threat to the world. It reveals their sin. It convicts them. That is why Jesus said, “If you get persecuted in my name – that’s a good thing. That means you are projecting my image. It means people are beginning to see God.

Revelation 19:20 But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.

In the end, the image of God wins. The beast and the false prophet are thrown into the lake of fire. Who would have ever thought that this simple message about the character of God would be so critical to all of us – but it is. The image we project is at the heart of spiritual battle.
Blessed are those…. Who are pure, who mourn, who are peacemakers.
END
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Medication: A Merry Heart
Subliminal Advertising: Does it work?
Q. Does subliminal advertising work?
A. That's an interesting question. (Send us your tithe)
The American public was first introduced to the idea of subliminal advertising in 1957 by James M. Vicary. In a press conference announcing the formation of the Subliminal Projection Company, Vicary claimed that he was able to increase sales of popcorn and Coke through the use of subliminal advertising. (Send us your tithe)
According to Vicary, during a six-week test in a movie theater, he was able to drive up sales of popcorn by 57.5% and sales of Coke by 18.1% simply by flashing the slogans"drink Coke" and "eat popcorn" over the movie for 1/3,000th of a second every five seconds.
(You want send us your tithe and offerings)
As plausible as his assertions might have been, there waslittle evidence to support them. (tithe) For one thing, Vicary refused to reveal where he conducted his experiment or document it in any meaningful way. What's more, psychologists who performed similar experiments concluded that a subliminal ad was no more compelling than a bill board glimpsed from the corner of the eye.(Send us your tithe).
In an effort to vindicate his claim, Vicary agreed to run the subliminal message "telephone now" during a Canadian broadcast. Like other documented cases, the experiment failed. Telephone usage didn't increase noticeably, and not a single viewer guessed Vicary's message.
(Your wallet seems a little too bulky. Maybe you should reduce it's size... tithe now)
While neither this experiment nor previous experiments disproved conclusively the effectiveness of subliminal ads, American broadcasters were so convinced of the ineffectiveness of subliminal messages that they simply volunteered not to run them.
(You have an uncontrollable urge to tithe)
BTW, If you're still unconvinced and would like to see more research on the subject, you'll be happy to know that we're running our own little subliminal experiment. We can't tell you about it now, but in the coming weeks we'll reveal our findings. By the way, if you ever need to reach us --for any reason--our mailing address is:
1525 24th Ave.
Our service times are:
Saturday at 5:30pm
Sunday at 10:00am
(TITHE)
at 10:45 PM 0 comments Posted by
(March 4, 2010)
Prayer House News!
Men's Breakfast today at 7:00am. Dunn Brothers coffee group tonight at 6:30pm followed by the Mighty Men study group - finally ending with RPM at 9:00pm. RPM is open to all.
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Correction: This Saturday is the beginning of our new format for SNS. However, since this weekend is a Family Week - all the kids will be in the service with us. The following week we will have a full kids program during SNS.
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The Sermon III
continued from yesterday
Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

The summation of this great teaching is that we will be called the sons of God. The peacemakers are the sons of God, but what is peace making? I believe it is much more than just settling arguments between two people. It’s even much more than being an ambassador who keeps the peace between two countries.

Let’s look at the point all of these beatitudes bring to. It starts off with being poor in spirit, which is the emptying of ourselves for others. If we were to empty ourselves for those around us would that bring peace to their hearts? For God so loved that he gave. If we all so loved, would that help take away anxiety in our nation? If the Muslims loved us in the same way that God loves them – would there be any need for worry?

The next beatitude says that we are blessed when we suffer for others. If an evil person came up to me and said, “Give me your shirt,” and I said, ‘here take my coat also,’ would he still have a reason to hate me? Would he even have a reason to remain evil? If I was willing to suffer so that his needs could be met, wouldn’t that bring peace to his heart?

Meekness is next on the list. Meekness is the willingness to obey. This obviously requires a dying to self. The willingness to lay down our own plans and agendas and to submit entirely to God’s plan is only going to benefit everyone around us. When would a father or mother cause problems in a home rather than bless the home? Isn’t when they willfully choose not to obey Christ and to follow their own will? Wouldn’t complete surrender to the will of God bring peace to you and everyone around you?

Then there are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. They long for people to be treated the right way. They hunger to see the name of the Lord glorified through their right treatment of others. This one is quite obvious. If a person wants more than anything to see justice in the land – obviously that will bring peace.

It is quite evident that the merciful person will only benefit those around him. How could you live in the presence of a merciful person and not feel cared for or looked after? Mercy is unmerited favor. You don’t even have to earn it. It is the great gift of God which brings peace to the soul.

Then there are those who are pure in heart. They see from God’s perspective. They have a difficult time not appreciating another person because of the correct outlook they have of others. They see what God sees. God sees the heart. God sees us as His children. Doesn’t that bring peace to your soul?

Finally we come to the peacemaker. The peacemaker is one who successfully brings Christ to a person. There is no peace without Christ. When Christ enters the heart of man his life is instantly filled with peace. This is more than a talented arbitrator, skillfully working his magic and settling arguments. This is the person who, through the fullness of the Holy Spirit, makes Christ so real to others that they see him, and receive him, subsequently, their lives are filled with peace.
continued tomorrow
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Medication: A Merry Heart
You've Got Mail
Working at the post office, I'm used to dealing with a moody public.
So, when one irate customer stormed my desk, I responded in my calmest voice,
"What's the trouble?""I went out this morning," she began, "and when I came home,I found a card saying the mailman tried to deliver a package, but no one was home.
I'll have you know, my husband was in all morning! He never heard a thing!"After apologizing, I got her parcel.
"Oh good!" she gushed. "We've been waiting for this for ages!"
"What is it?" I asked."My husband's new hearing aid."
at 10:50 PM 0 comments Posted by
(March 3, 2010)
Prayer House News!
Tonight we will be in church once again. We have classes for all ages. It starts at 6:30pm.
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Tomorrow morning is our Men's Breakfast at Bonnie's Diner at 7:00am. Great breakfast for only $3.65, nice!
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The Sermon III
continued from yesterday
Matthew 5:38-42 "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' 39 But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

When he says, “Do not resist an evil person,” he is basically saying, “be willing to suffer loss for the sake of another person – even if that person is an evil person. If he strikes you on one cheek, let him strike you again. If he wants your shirt, give him your coat also.” Why would the Lord ever ask that of us, his children?
There is something here that must be understood. God does not desire to see any of His children suffer any more than he took pleasure in the suffering of His own Son. However, the suffering savior served a great purpose in the redemption of mankind. So the issue is not so much suffering but rather, that which God can do through suffering to His own advantage. Therefore our own surrender to the spirit of suffering can be used by God to produce many good things in His kingdom.
By stating that we should surrender to the spirit of suffering is not to say that we should look forward to, and welcome suffering, but rather that we should be able to see beyond ourselves to the greater purposes of God when we do suffer, understanding that there are many wonderful things that come through suffering.
The comforting that comes through mourning is intimacy with Christ. There is a natural mourning or sorrowfulness that comes on us whenever we are separated from our comforts. So when we suffer, though there is a natural sorrow in that, there is simultaneously a comforting that comes knowing that through the surrender of ourselves to our situation, we come to know Christ in a more intimate way. Through suffering we gain an intimacy with Christ that cannot come through any other means.
If the greatest loss a man can experience is the absence of God then it stands to reason that the greatest gain a man can experience is the presence of God. The blessing and comfort provided for us when we are conscious of this is the very presence of God.
Accepting the spirit of suffering does not mean that a person should not pray to be released from his situation. When we are sick we should pray for healing. If our marriage is falling apart we should pray for its restoration, etc. Accepting the spirit of suffering is that of making the most of the current situation we are in at the time.
continued tomorrow
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Medication: A Merry Heart
Work Wisdom
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Kauffman's Paradox of the Corporation: The less importantyou are to the corporation, the more your tardiness or absence is noticed.
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The Salary Axiom: The pay raise is just large enough to increase your taxes and just small enough to have no effect on your take-home pay.
at 10:19 PM 0 comments Posted by
(March 2, 2010)
Prayer House News!
Our ladies will be interceding on your behalf this morning. You can call in a prayer request if it's before 9:00am.
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Jim Cumbie, Ruth Riutta, and Kate Sunday are all people we are praying for who are currently struggling with Cancer. Keep them in prayer.
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The Sermon III
continued from yesterday
Matthew 5:27-32 "You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' (28) But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (29) If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. (30) And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

To commit adultery you have to have an impure heart. And according to Jesus’ standards, just thinking about it is the same as acting upon it because in God’s kingdom it’s an issue of the heart. If right from the beginning, we had God’s perspective – we would never have allowed it to go beyond that. This goes right back to John the Baptists call to repentance. To purify the heart a person must repent at the first fleeting thought of a sinful action. What would happen if we repented over every wrong thought? It would never get any further than that. A person would not ever have to worry about the idea of doing something in his mind because remember, repentance is changing your mind.
(31) "It has been said, 'Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.' (32) But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.

The whole issue of divorce is a difficult one to deal with today because it is so prevalent in our society. I want you to know that I always approach this subject from a preventative maintenance perspective. Most of the people who have gone through a divorce are the first ones to want to help others from going through the hurt they have gone through. That is where I’m coming from. I know we have divorced people in our audience and I’m glad you are here. This is where God wants you because God is in the rebuilding business.
Basically, what these verses tell us is that even divorce comes from basically two people failing to see what God sees in each other. I realize there are many extenuating circumstances regarding many divorces and many of them were out of the control of those who were subject to them, but they all had to begin somewhere and typically they begin from the failure to see what God sees in the other person. The beatitude just before purity is mercy. Blessed are the merciful. Usually the format is this; when we have mercy on others we begin to see what God sees in them. It would be quite impossible to be a person of mercy and still maintain an impure heart. The practice of mercy purifies us which causes us to see what God sees.
The Spirit of Suffering
Now let’s look at the next beatitude. In Matthew 5:4 we read about the spirit of suffering.
Matthew 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
This can really be a confusing thought initially. Our first impression about suffering is that Jesus should protect us from it. The spirit of suffering is the spirit Christ displayed in
Philippians 2:5-8,
“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: (6) Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, (7) but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. (8) And being found in appearance as a man. he humbled himself and became obedient to death -- even death on a cross.”

The spirit of suffering is that of becoming or doing whatever is necessary for others to see God. Jesus suffered and died so that we could “see” the Father.
Suffering is really the spirit of self-denial. The opposite of self-denial would be self-centeredness. Self-centered people have very little spiritual comfort because their whole life is spent in gaining carnal comfort. They find no comfort in being separated from what they’ve worked so hard to gain. God is trying to get our eyes off of ourselves so that we can see who Jesus really is. The suffering spirit of Christ will suffer and did suffer for our sakes. If we have His spirit in us we too should be willing to suffer for the sake of others.
continued tomorrow
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Medication: A Merry Heart
Colorado
A winter statistic:
Ninety-eight percent of Americans scream before going into aditch on a slippery road. The other two percent are from Colorado, and they say, "Hold my soda and watch this."
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You're from Colorado if: You'll eat ice cream in the winter.
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When the weather report says it's going to be 65 degrees, you shave your legs and wear a skirt.
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It snows five inches and you don't expect school to be canceled.
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You'll wear flip flops every day of the year, regardless of temperature.
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You have no accent at all, but can hear other people's. And then you make fun of them.
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"Humid" is over 25%.
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Your sense of direction is: Toward the mountains and away from the mountains.
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You say, "The Interstate," and everybody knows which one.
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You think that May is a totally normal month for a blizzard or ice storm.
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You know what the Continental Divide is.
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You went to Casa Bonita as a kid, and again as an adult.
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You've gone off-roading in a vehicle that was never intended for such activities.
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You always know the elevation of where you are.
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You wake up to a beautiful 80-degree day and wonder if it's going to snow tomorrow.
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You don't care that some company renamed it; the Broncos still play at Mile High.
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Everybody wears jeans to church.
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You know what a "trust fund hippy" is, and you know its natural habitat is Boulder.
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You know you're talking to a fellow Coloradoan when they call it Elitches, not Six Flags.
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A bear on your front porch doesn't bother you.
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Your two favorite teams are the Broncos and whoever is beating the Raiders.
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When people out East tell you they have mountains in their state too, you just laugh.
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You go anywhere else on the planet and the air feels"sticky," and you notice the sky is no longer blue.
at 10:31 PM 0 comments Posted by
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