Contributed by Anne Benefield on Sep 4, 2008
"I'm No Moses!"
When I received my call to go into ministry, I was praying. Immediately, I rejected the call, telling God that I was a business person, not really minister material. I knew how to speak about marketing. I knew a bit about managing people. I could talk about that. On and on I
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Anne Benefield on Sep 4, 2008
When I was in New York, I taught confirmation. I’m delighted to announce that Scott Roby and the confirmation teachers are planning to use the materials (updated, of course) that I used. The strength of the curriculum is that each student has a mentor, an adult from the congregation.
The young
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Glenn Durham on Aug 13, 2008
Pastor Tim Keller, Ministries of Mercy, 227: “It should be obvious how this applies to our work with the needy. Neither the ‘liberal’ approach (no conditions on aid to the needy) nor the ‘conservative’ approach (only helping the deserving poor) understand grace. Instead, our mercy ministry must
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Glenn Durham on Aug 13, 2008
If you tune the second string of your guitar, the A string, to 440 hertz, then pluck it, the E string at 330 hertz will begin to vibrate also, because they share an overtone of 1320 hertz. It is called sympathetic vibrations. As you read this paragraph, Jesus is plucking the A string of mercy; does
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Glenn Durham on Aug 13, 2008
Kent Hughes, who pastored in Chicago, tells something which happened to a dear friend. This lady was a missionary on furlough after a particularly difficult season of service. Now, for the first time since they had been missionaries, they had bought a place of their own to rest and recover. The
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Presbyterian/Reformed
More than a decade ago, Matt Thom, a few helpful young teens and me conceived of and set in motion a tree house for our back yard. The tree had a great section where branches came together but it wasn’t large enough for a good side platform. Instead, we placed four 12’ pressure treated 4x4’s around
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Presbyterian/Reformed
The first time I helped my dad prep a car for painting I got the glamorous job of wet sanding it by hand. I got done, went in the house and my dad said, "Are you done?"
I got my usual senior high ego in a twist and said, "Of course. It wasn’t that hard." After lunch, my dad went out to look at the
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Anne Benefield on Jul 14, 2008
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The hard-hearted listener is cynical. Often they have done a fair amount of research to support their unwillingness to hear the word. Or they may have had a personal trauma that left them without faith.
There is a woman in New York City that I counseled during a particularly difficult time in
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Anne Benefield on Jul 14, 2008
One of the most difficult problems Protestant churches are experiencing is the lack of denominational loyalty. Protestants regularly church-shop. If the preaching isn't good enough, or the youth group isn't large enough, or the music isn't glorious every week…then we search for a church
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Presbyterian/Reformed
In his book, Metamorpha, Kyle Strobel tells about a friend of his whose name is Cassie. Cassie was a first-year seminary student whose view of God had never been challenged. Suddenly, she found herself in a setting in which it seemed to her that her image of God was being dismantled. It was as
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Imagine how surprising Matthew’s life was to him. One day he’s sitting at the tax collector’s booth, busily engaged in taking whatever he can get from people. That night he’s got Jesus in his house, throwing a dance party. And the next day -- the very next day -- he’s in the house of the ruler of
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Jesus compared two builders, one "a wise man," the other "a foolish man." Both these men built houses. One house endured the storm; the other house did not. And the emphasis that we must not overlook is this: that the storm pressed upon the wise man's house as fiercely as it did upon the house
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Presbyterian/Reformed
The word “obedience” has its origin in the Latin audire, which means “to hear.” Obaudire is the term. As a point of further interest, the word “absurd” comes from a root which means to be deaf. The absurd
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Contributed by Anne Benefield on May 28, 2008
The gift of the Spirit is much too important not to share, but sometimes we don't share it. A few weeks ago when I attended the preaching conference in Woodbridge, VA, I heard James Emery White speak. He is the president of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. In his book, Long Night's Journey
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Anne Benefield on May 28, 2008
Earlier this week, I was talking to our music director, Jim Turk, about this sermon. I told him that I was going to challenge you to live out your faith. I told him a story about myself that makes me very self-conscious. It is a story I had never told anyone else. I explained to Jim that it was
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Anne Benefield on May 28, 2008
Reverend Marsh writes:
When I was a boy making the morning fires in the fireplace, sometimes, as I cleared away the ashes, I would find some glowing embers from the fire of the night before. I would lay some kindling wood on the coals and blow gently until it glowed bright red and then burst
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Anne Benefield on May 28, 2008
Reverend Marsh tells the story of two men who worked together for years.
Joe went to church every Sunday, Harvey not at all. One Monday morning, Harvey said, "Joe, I went to church yesterday," whereupon Joe responded excitedly, "Harvey, I'm sure glad to hear that."
Harvey continued, "The
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Glenn Durham on May 27, 2008
Dr. Ed Stetzer directs church planting for the Southern Baptist Convention, one of the largest denominations in the country. He writes: "Harold stood up, paused for a moment, and began to speak softly, 'We don't want our church to die. We'll do what it takes.' That was when I first knew the church
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Glenn Durham on May 27, 2008
Dr. Robert Lewis (pastor of the Fellowship Bible Church of Little Rock, AR) says: “The first ‘big idea’ driving many churches is to create a church that meets the needs of its members. And since so many people have deep spiritual needs, there is much good in this approach. But often it also leads
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Take special note of the chapel windows. Each window uses symbols to depict the life and destiny of a different apostle. You will see the three money bags that represent Matthew the tax collector. You will see two crossed fish to remind us of Andrew the fisherman who died a martyr's death on an
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Presbyterian/Reformed
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