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I Desire Mercy Not Sacrifice
Experiencing the mercy of God in our lives
Ready & Faithful
Looking to Jesus for help now and hope in the future
Why Suffering?
Help your church understand God's plan in pain
PERSECUTION OF BAPTISTS IN THE COLONIES Throughout their long history as a people of faith, Baptists have consistently opposed any diminution of the rights of the individual to seek and to pursue their own faith, or for each person to decide to be without faith if that is the choice. Though ...read more
Scripture: 1 Peter 2:13-17
Tags: Persecution
GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS A man went to see his doctor in a state of high anxiety. "Doctor," he said, "you have to help me. I'm dying. Everywhere I touch it hurts. I touch my head and it hurts. I touch my leg and it hurts. I touch my stomach and it hurts. I touch my chest and it hurts. You have to ...read more
Scripture: 1 Peter 4:12-19
Tags: Trials And Difficulties
THE MEANING OF THE CROSS In the 19th century, Armenian Christians, under a Turkish Muslim government, experienced a tremendous amount of persecution. The government lifted the ban on Muslims converting to Christianity in 1856. Then just eight years later, they began arresting these Muslim converts ...read more
IS GOD GOOD? Randy Alcorn talks about what happened to his friend, Ethel Herr in his new book, What Good is God. She had had a double mastectomy. Then two months later, doctors discovered that the cancer had spread. One of Herr's friends in shock asked her, "And how do you feel about God now?" ...read more
STAY OUT OF THE STAGNANT WATER Palmer Chinchen, in his book, True Religion, talks about traveling to the western edge of Zimbabwe with his brothers to raft the Zambezi River, starting at the base of the Victoria Falls. The falls are the largest in the world, more than a mile wide and three hundred ...read more
Tags: Church Practices
THEY'RE NOT READY FOR HEAVEN The movie The End of the Spear tells the true story of five missionaries who gave their lives to reach the violent Waodoni tribe in the jungles of Ecuador in the 1950s. Led by Nate Saint, the missionaries were eager to reach the Waodoni people before they all died off ...read more
Tags: Missions
THE EXAMPLE OF BETHANY HAMILTON That word for "commit" is actually a banking term. It means to deposit something for safekeeping. Well, that's what we're to do with our lives when we go through times of suffering. Deposit your life in God's bank (so to speak) for safe-keeping. Trust Him to ...read more
Tags: Trust
PICKING THE WRONG DOOR Stuart Briscoe, in his book Everyday Discipleship for Ordinary People, tells the story about a fellow pastor who was officiating at the funeral of a war veteran. The dead man’s military friends wanted to have a part in the service at the funeral home, so they requested that ...read more
Scripture: 1 Peter 5:1-5
Tags: Leadership General
MAKING SERVICE A JOY An amusing story was told to me by the manager of a New York hotel. The great Paderewski occupied a suite there a number of years ago during one of his seasons at Carnegie Hall. It was the master’s custom to practice for a couple of hours every morning on the magnificent ...read more
Scripture: 1 Peter 4:9-11
Tags: Servanthood
Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ
THE CLARENCE PRINCIPLE That's what spiritual maturity is--It's not just being a Christian for a little while. It's being able to discern the difference between right and wrong, because you have practiced applying the principles of God's Word in your every-day life. It's being able to discern the ...read more
Scripture: 1 Peter 5:1-4
LEADERS AT THE POLES In his book, Leading at the Edge, Dennis Perkins contrasts the leadership values of two different explorers: Earnest Shackleton and Vilhjalmur Stefansson. In 1914, Shackleton led a daring expedition to reach Antarctica in the South. A year earlier, Stefansson led an expedition ...read more
WEAR THE PANTS Levi-Strauss recently ran an ad campaign that targeted men for a line of Dockers pants (June 2011). Maybe you've seen some of the ads. One of them was called a "MAN-ifesto," and the script went like this: "Once upon a time, men wore the pants, and wore them well. Women rarely had ...read more
Tags: Men, Leadership, Biblical, Leadership General
JOHN STOTT, A HUMBLE MAN I like the way Thomas Carlyle put it some time ago. He said, "One example is worth a thousand arguments." (Thomas Carlyle, quoted in Men of Integrity, July/August 2000; www.Preaching Today.com) In difficult times, we don't need dictators and arguments. We need leaders ...read more
Tags: Humility
TRUSTING THE SCENT Years ago I read the story of a man by the name of Wally who owned a farm in Connecticut. He had a remarkable talent he had with birds, chickadees specifically. It seems that every morning these little birds would flutter down and land on his hands. And it wasn’t just for food; ...read more
Scripture: 1 Kings 17:2-5
WHO DO YOU SAY I AM--IN ENGLAND? A teaching assistant accused of looting. An 11 year old girl appears in court and admits breaking windows in Nottingham. Teenagers appear before Magistrates with no parent in attendance. Magistrates ask, "Where are their parents?" Two girls interviewed by the BBC ...read more
Scripture: 1 John 3:4-10
Tags: Sin Exposed
VISIONS OF GLORY Chan Gailey, who just began his second season as head coach for the Buffalo Bills, got his start coaching football at Alabama's Troy State University. In 1984, with a 12-1 record, he led the Troy State Trojans to a Division II NCAA national championship. A week before the big ...read more
Scripture: 1 Peter 5:5-6
Tags: Pride
STEVEN CURTIS CHAPMAN: STILL BLESSING HIS NAME On May 17, 2008, Christian recording artist Steven Curtis Chapman and his family suffered a devastating loss. Their five-year-old adopted daughter, Maria Sue, was struck and killed when Chapman's seventeen-year-old son was backing his SUV out of the ...read more
Scripture: 1 Peter 5:10-11
Tags: God In The Hardships
MYSTERIOUS LIFE PRINCIPLE A wise old professor of biology stood before his class of eager students. The Professor held a little brown seed in his hand. Quietly he spoke to his class. "I know just the composition of this seed. It has nitrogen, hydrogen, and carbon. I know the exact proportions. I ...read more
Scripture: 1 Peter 1:22-25
Tags: Creation
CARL'S GOSPEL GARDEN He didn't talk much. He would always greet you with a big smile and a firm handshake. Even after living in our neighborhood for over 50 years, no one could really say they knew him very well. Before his retirement, he took the bus to work each morning. The lone sight of him ...read more
Tags: Christian Witness
MOTHERS LIVE FOR OTHERS We've got all sorts of people here this morning. One thing we have got a lot of is mothers. Some of you, your children are long grown up. But you have the experience of having been a mother. So? Well, every mother lives her life for another. And that is what the church ...read more
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Tags: Mother's Day
Denomination: Anglican
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