Contributed by Matthew Kratz on May 4, 2009
Hypocrisy is like a pin. It is pointed in one direction, and yet is headed in another.
(Michael P. Green: 1500 Illustrations for Biblical
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on May 4, 2009
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JOSEPH STALIN
Despite the mind-numbing brutality of the Joseph Stalin regime in the Soviet Union, his propaganda machine did its job well. Many Russians hailed him as a hero and a savior, including a young school girl who was chosen to greet Stalin on one occasion.
Years later, this woman
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Apr 20, 2009
Comedian and actor Chris Farley, of Saturday Night Live fame, was found dead in his downtown Chicago apartment on December 18, 1997. The Cook County medical examiner’s office later reported that he died of an opiate and cocaine overdose (James Barron, “Chris Farley, 33, a Versatile Comedian-Actor,”
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Apr 20, 2009
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WILLIAM CAREY AND HIS CROP
William Carey arrived in India in 1793 with a burden to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who had never heard the name.
For seven years he proclaimed the gospel message faithfully week after week, month after month, with not a single native of India converted
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Apr 20, 2009
ON HELPING YOUR BROTHER
Every poor and distressed man had a claim on me for pity, and, if I can afford it, for active exertion and (financial) relief. But a poor Christian has a far stronger claim on my feelings, my labors, and my property. He is my brother, equally interested as myself in the
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Apr 13, 2009
The noted historian and Oxford professor Thomas Arnold wrote:
"The evidence for our Lord’s life and death and resurrection may be, and often has been, shown to be satisfactory; it is good according to the common rules for distinguishing good evidence from bad. Thousands and tens of thousands of
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Apr 13, 2009
"If, now, Christ is our brother, I should like to know what we still lack? Brethren in the flesh have common possessions, have together one father, one inheritance otherwise they would not be brethren... All that Jesus has gained on this great day of his resurrection he has not acquired for himself
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Apr 6, 2009
O Lord, how shall I meet Thee,
How welcome Thee aright?
Thy people long to greet Thee,
My Hope, my heart’s Delight!
Oh, kindle, Lord most holy,
Thy lamp within my breast
To do in spirit lowly
All that may please Thee best.
Thy Zion strews before Thee
Green boughs and fairest palms,
And I, too, will
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Apr 6, 2009
"Friends and foes, chief priests in hate, Pilate in mockery, angels in adoration, disciples in love, Christ himself in lowliness (Acts 22:8), and now the multitudes in simplicity, all proclaim him 'of Nazareth.'
(as cited in Spence-Jones, H. D. M. (Hrsg.): The Pulpit
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Mar 29, 2009
C. S. Lewis said that “the devil laughs when he sees us overcome by pride: “He is perfectly content to see you becoming chaste and brave and self-controlled provided, all the time, he is setting up in you the Dictatorship of Pride… For Pride is spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Mar 29, 2009
Mountain Climbers Help Each Other
In May 1953, two men became the first in history to climb to the top of Mt. Everest; Edmund Hillary, a New Zealand beekeeper and explorer, and his Sherpa guide from Nepal, Tenzing Norgay. They reached the summit together and attained instant international
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Mar 15, 2009
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QUALIFICATIONS FOR MINISTRY
What qualifies someone for a task? There is a story of the testing of a candidate for missions work:
One snowy morning at 5:00 A.M., a missionary candidate rang the bell at a missionary examiner’s home. Ushered into the office, he sat three hours past his appointment
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Mar 15, 2009
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WORKS VS. FRUIT
A machine in a factory works and turns out a product, but it could never manufacture "fruit." Fruit must grow out of life, and, in the case of the believer, it is the life of the Spirit (Gal. 5:25). When you think of "works," you think of effort, labor, strain, and toil; when you
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Mar 15, 2009
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FRUIT DISTRIBUTION
The Spirit's provision of fruit might be compared to a man standing on a ladder in an orchard, picking the fruit and dropping it into a basket held by a helper below. No matter how much fruit is picked and dropped, the helper
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Mar 9, 2009
In its broadest connotation “the kingdom of God” indicates God’s kingship, rule, or sovereignty recognized in the hearts and operative in the lives of His people, and effecting their complete salvation, their constitution as a church, and ultimately a redeemed universe (William
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Mar 9, 2009
SIN WILL:
1. TAKE YOU FARTHER THAN YOU PLANNED ON GOING.
2. KEEP YOU LONGER THAN YOU PLANNED ON STAYING
3. COST YOU MORE THAN YOU PLANNED ON
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Mar 9, 2009
Without exception, everyone of them is a perversion of something which is in itself good. Immorality, impurity, licentiousness are perversions of the sexual instinct which is in itself a lovely thing and a part of love. Idolatry is a perversion of worship, and was begun as an aid to worship.
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Mar 2, 2009
People mark off times and celebrations in different ways. In Belgium (since 1394, in Binche), Brazil (a four-day celebration in Rio de Janeiro), Italy (in Venice, six months of celebrating in the 18th cent., now 12 days), Trinidad and Tobago (featuring a daylong competition among calypso bands),
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Mar 2, 2009
IDOLATRY IS ABOUT "GETTING"
William Barclay makes this important observation about ancient idolatry: "The essence of idolatry is the desire to get. A man sets up an idol and worships it because he desires to get something out of god. To put it bluntly, he believes that by his sacrifices and his
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Mar 2, 2009
WHAT OTHER GODS?
What other gods could we have besides the Lord? Plenty. For Israel there were the Canaanite Baals, those jolly nature gods whose worship was a rampage of gluttony, drunkenness, and ritual prostitution. For us there are still the great gods Sex, Shekels, and Stomach (an unholy
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