Contributed by Mark Eberly on Apr 6, 2009
UN-CHRISTLIKE CHRISTIANS
A couple of months ago, there was a story on CNN of a Christian school basketball team that beat another team (another Christian school, I think) by the score of 100 to 0. It was a slaughter. The coach of the winning team, even though it was clear that the other team was
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Contributed by Mark Eberly on Apr 6, 2009
Grapevine Faith’s football team was scheduled to play the Gainesville State School. Gainesville was 0-8 and only scored two touchdowns all year. Gainesville was a state school. Many of the kids had been convicted on drugs and assault and robbery. The families of many of them had disowned them. They
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Contributed by Mark Eberly on Apr 6, 2009
I read a story of a pastor whose son began to drift away from God in high school. The son started to hang out with the wrong crowd changing his actions and attitude. The parents, of course, were broken-hearted. They were embarrassed. But they didn’t hide this. They cried out to God with God’s
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Contributed by Mark Eberly on Apr 6, 2009
There was a man traveling through a certain area out west and he ran out of gas. As the economy was bad, he was really struggling. He didn’t have any money and was trying to get home to his wife and kids after interviewing for a job. So he looked in the phone book and called a sister church. The
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Contributed by Mark Eberly on Apr 6, 2009
based on 1 rating
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THE CHURCH: WE NEED ONE ANOTHER
A pastor received a call from a chronic alcoholic. He just couldn't seem to stay sober. He had tried several other churches, but they didn't seem to have anything to help him. Finally he called this pastor whose church had a reputation for not giving up on people.
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Contributed by Mark Eberly on Mar 23, 2009
DELIVERING PAPERS IN THE RAIN
When I was ten, my mother and I somehow had gotten involved in a bible memory course. It was all through the mail, and we didn’t go to a church anywhere, even occasionally, but we would memorize ten verses a week. During the time, the materials gave some Scriptures
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Contributed by Mark Eberly on Mar 23, 2009
One man that I remember from several years ago talked about his drinking. He like to go to the bar after work and throw back a few brews at the end of the week. Sometimes he would get a little intoxicated but he wasn’t an alcoholic. At one point he felt the Lord telling him to give it up. He didn’t
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Contributed by Mark Eberly on Mar 17, 2009
Our room steward, Denny, was so nice and seemed to genuinely show concern and respect to our family. It was amazing. So as I thought about this issue of respect, which we are going to talk about today, I also began to wonder if respect can be bought.
How many of you have been on a cruise? This
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Contributed by Mark Eberly on Mar 17, 2009
If you really want to earn the respect of others, you begin by respecting yourself. This means doing what is right in God’s eyes. Not cutting corners. Not engaging in lifestyles and activities that you know would be wrong in God’s eyes. Lying, cheating, stealing, being selfish, outbursts of rage
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Contributed by Mark Eberly on Feb 23, 2009
There is an old pizza delivery joke that when someone comes into the shop to ask for directions the standard reply is, “You can’t there from here.” When you are loaded down with guilt, and all your emotional baggage, and all the comforts and securities of life that you have earned, then you can’t
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Contributed by Mark Eberly on Feb 23, 2009
Following Jesus is not easy. Being faithful is not easy. Giving and sacrificing. Generosity. Showing kindness and love. Being faithful and consistent. Offering praises and worship even when you don’t feel like it can be a huge sacrifice. You will most likely be rejected at some point. You might
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Contributed by Mark Eberly on Feb 19, 2009
In seminary, every student was asked this question and it was sort of a psychological test that with the other tests could reveal some possible issues of the student and point to the fitness of the student for pastoral ministry. For example, I said, “Jesus.” Because as a potential pastor, I thought
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Contributed by Mark Eberly on Feb 19, 2009
This is a huge concept for us: loyalty. It is huge because loyalty in my opinion is narrowly practiced on our society. It is present but usually limited to loyalty to oneself. And loyalty affects a very special area of our lives: the social arena. Loyalty or lack of loyalty has a major impact upon
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Contributed by Mark Eberly on Feb 19, 2009
LOYALTY TO GOD OR OURSELVES?
When I was in seminary, I had some conversations with some fellow students, with a good mentor and friend Ron Mabry, with a Dr. Stafford and the credentialing team in Indiana. Through these interactions God was speaking to me and asking me where my loyalties to lie? Is
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Contributed by Mark Eberly on Feb 19, 2009
Countries far and wide sought out Solomon. He gained influence and riches. Immediately after this passage, there is the story of two prostitutes who each had a baby. The mother of one child in her sleep rolled over and killed her child. She got up and switched her dead baby with the other women’s
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Contributed by Mark Eberly on Feb 19, 2009
Yet, in a way Ray was a hero (at least by our culture’s standards). He was selfish. He was self-centered. He was egotistical. He was self-absorbed and was focused too much on power, privileges, and the pleasures that excessive wealth could bring. I say he was a hero because basically Rehoboam was
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Contributed by Mark Eberly on Feb 19, 2009
Learn from others. Learn from their mistakes. Learn from their advice. Ray was too self-centered to do that. He wasn’t seeking advice as much as wanting people to tell him that what he was thinking was right. He didn’t really want his father’s advisors to help him as much as he wanted them to agree
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Contributed by Keith Maynard on Feb 17, 2009
based on 3 ratings
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GIVE HIM THE POST AND LET'S MOVE ON
The story’s told about a young preacher who was pastoring a very traditional and established church. The church was beginning to experience phenomenal growth. It got to the place where the sanctuary was no longer suitable for the congregation. They were going to
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