Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Sep 21, 2008
A Domino a rectangular tile with a line dividing its face into two square ends. A popular way of playing with dominos is lining them up end to end and knocking them over. This domino effect is fun to watch when handling the physical tiles but, if it occurs metaphorically in worldwide financial
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Sep 21, 2008
Church history is replete of individuals who saw the importance of fearing God and not other individuals. Following in the footsteps of Paul, John Chrysostom had a period of isolation in the mountains near Antioch in A.D. 373. Although his time of isolation was cut short by illness, he learned that
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Sep 14, 2008
Running For Dinner Or For Life
The reason you do what you do is all important. There is an old fable about a dog that boasted of his ability as a runner. One day he chased a rabbit and failed to catch it. The other dogs ridiculed him on account of his previous boasting. His reply was, "You must
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Sep 14, 2008
How Badly Do You Want It?
In pursuing a righteous goal, Les Brown said: "If you want a thing bad enough to go out and fight for it, to work day and night for it, to give up your time, your peace, and your sleep for it … if all that you dream and scheme is about it, and life seems useless and
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Sep 14, 2008
Salman Rushdie, is an author who had a fatawah, or Islamic death edict, put on his life several years ago for writing a book critical of Islam called Satanic Verses. In another book he wrote entitled Imaginary Homelands he notes one of the family traditions of his home:
“In our house, whenever
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Sep 8, 2008
John R. W. Stott writes: “Now a man in that mental and emotional state is in no mood to change his mind, or even to have it changed for him by men. … Only God could reach him-and God did!”
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Sep 8, 2008
John Brown commented that, beginning with the Damascus Road encounter, Christ took Paul under His own immediate tutoring. It was essential for the Lord to establish Paul’s independence as an apostle.
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Sep 8, 2008
In our own day the dramatic turnaround in the life of such a person as Charles Colson can only be explained by a divine intervention from above. While many were at first wary of Colson’s “born-again” experience, no objective observer, not even his detractors, can gainsay the sincerity of his
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Aug 23, 2008
“In a market-driven age we are accustomed to think of every church having a special niche, of every visitor as a prospective customer, and every aspect of worship designed to satisfy the consumers. Paul was reminding the Galatians that the gospel was not a product to be peddled on the marketplace
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Aug 23, 2008
APPROVAL OF THE MASTER
A young man once studied violin under a world-renowned master. Eventually the time came for the student’s first recital. Following each selection, despite the cheers of the crowd, the performer seemed dissatisfied.
Even after the last number, with the shouts louder than
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Aug 23, 2008
“If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the word of God except precisely that little point which the world and the Devil are at that point attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Aug 18, 2008
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"We are not to be dazzled, as many people are, by the person, gifts or office of teachers in the church. They may come to us with great dignity, authority and scholarship. They may be bishops or archbishops, university professors or even the pope himself. But if they bring a gospel other than the
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Aug 18, 2008
“The outward person of the messenger does not validate his message; rather, the nature of the message validates the messenger.” (MacDonald, W., & Farstad, A. (1997, c1995). Believer’s Bible
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Aug 18, 2008
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COUNTERFEIT GOSPEL
Counterfeit money is lacking in authority—-it does not have the backing of the federal government. A good counterfeiter can dupe some people into accepting his copywork as legitimate currency. But eventually, when the fake money is brought before the authorities, it will be
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Aug 9, 2008
The early Church Father John Chrysostom relates these two words to the special situation in which the Galatians found themselves: “For since they were in danger of falling from grace, he prays that they may recover it again, and since they had become at war with God, he
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Aug 9, 2008
Martin Luther said: "Grace releases sin, and peace makes the conscience quiet. The two fiends that torment us are sin and conscience. But Christ has vanquished these two monsters, and trodden them under foot, both in this world, and in the world to come."
(Source: Barton,
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Aug 9, 2008
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Jehovah-Shalom: The Lord Send Peace (Judges 6:24)
Jesus! whose blood so freely stream'd
To satisfy the law's demand;
By Thee from guilt and wrath redeem'd,
Before the Father's face I stand.
To reconcile offending man,
Make Justice drop her angry rod;
What creature could have form'd the plan,
Or
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Jul 27, 2008
"I can plod," said William Carey, the father of modern missions. "That is my only genius. I can persevere in any
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Jul 27, 2008
John Knox, the Scottish reformer, wrote:
Quote: “By what means Satan first drew mankind from the obedience of God, the Scripture doth witness: To wit, by pouring into their hearts that poison, that God did not love them”.
(
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Jul 27, 2008
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“Time is often represented by a straight line drawn on a page. We call this a time line. To get a grasp of what the eternality of God means, when you have drawn your time line you must picture God as the whole page on which the line is drawn”. (Green, M. P. (1989). Illustrations for Biblical
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