Contributed by Keith Broyles on Oct 4, 2007
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One day a man went out walking in the woods. He really wasn’t paying much attention to what was going on around him or to where he was. He was just walking aimlessly through the forest. As he walked he came to the edge of a sharp cliff. Like I said, he wasn’t paying much attention to where he
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Methodist
Contributed by Keith Broyles on Oct 4, 2007
Many church buildings, ours included, are shaped like an upside down boat. You might even here it called the “Nave” at times, the Latin word from which we get our word Navy.
We live in a stormy world. The
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Methodist
Contributed by Keith Broyles on Oct 4, 2007
When I was associate pastor in Canton, I was often fascinated watching people at First Monday. There was a place on the First Monday grounds called the unreserved section. Most of us would call the vendors at this particular part of the grounds “junk dealers.” There were people who went to First
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Methodist
Contributed by Keith Broyles on Oct 4, 2007
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I read a story this past week about a woman who, in early December had stopped at a grocery store to pick up a few things on her lunch break. One of them was a cinnamon-scented air freshener. She had smelled a candle with the same scent in the store but wanted to know exactly what the air
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Methodist
Contributed by Keith Broyles on Oct 4, 2007
The Monday after Thanksgiving, this year, still very much in November, I met a group of preachers, as is my habit most Mondays for lunch. I was the first to arrive and while I was waiting, I noticed the music playing on the sound system. Song after song of Christmas music was coming out. If only
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Methodist
Contributed by Keith Broyles on Oct 4, 2007
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A woman was doing her last-minute Christmas shopping at a crowded mall. She was tired of fighting the crowds. She was tired of standing in lines. She was tired of fighting her way down long aisles looking for a gift that had sold out days before. She was sick and tired of Christmas and wanted
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Denomination:
Methodist
Contributed by Keith Broyles on Oct 4, 2007
In the spring of 1982 Kenneth Nordvall was the speaker at a Morning Prayer group that meets in a town near Springfield Illinois. Before he spoke, a neighboring pastor shared about a recent mission trip to Mexico. While his group was returning, their van developed mechanical problems. After
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Denomination:
Methodist
Contributed by Keith Broyles on Oct 4, 2007
At the turn of the 18th century, Christmas could be a very dangerous time for ordinary common folk like us. Back in those days, it was customary for bands of young men to go door-to-door, demanding food and drink and in exchange provide a song for the household’s entertainment. If nothing was
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Denomination:
Methodist
Contributed by Keith Broyles on Oct 4, 2007
The great classical cellist Pablo Casals, in his life story entitled Joys and Sorrows, tells readers his first memory of attending worship on Christmas Eve when he was five-years-old. He walked to the church in a small village in Spain, hand-in-hand with his father, who was the church’s
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Denomination:
Methodist
Contributed by Keith Broyles on Oct 4, 2007
based on 4 ratings
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Today in Yellow Springs, Ohio, people are still receiving Christmas presents from ex-slave Wheeling Gaunt, who was born in 1812 and who died in 1894. Just before he died, he deeded nine acres of land at the south edge of the village to the town of Yellow Springs, the proceeds of which were to buy
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Methodist
Contributed by Keith Broyles on Oct 4, 2007
It is said that when the British and French were fighting in Canada in the 1750’s that Admiral Phipps, commander of the British fleet was told to anchor outside Quebec. He was given orders to wait for the British land forces to arrive, then to support them when they attacked the city. Phipps’
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Methodist
Contributed by Keith Broyles on Oct 4, 2007
There is a man who keeps on his desk a fairly large stone on which is lettered one word: FIRST. Acting as a constant reminder of Jesus’ words, “He that is without sin… let him cast the first stone,” it helps check within him the automatic desire to be hasty in condemning others. As he daily
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Methodist
Contributed by Keith Broyles on Oct 4, 2007
At a special chapel service in an Ohio penitentiary, the governor was to grant freedom to several convicts. The suspense mounted as it came time for the governor to announce the names of those selected. “Reuben Johnson, come forward and receive your pardon!” No one responded. The chaplain
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Methodist
Contributed by Keith Broyles on Oct 3, 2007
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When was the last time you took some time out to play the age-old children’s game, “Who am I? Well, after the sermon this morning you will be able to tell all of your friends that you last played it at church during the worship service.
That is how we are going to start out this morning, with a
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Denomination:
Methodist
Contributed by Keith Broyles on Oct 3, 2007
based on 2 ratings
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Some time ago my wife and I were watching Biography. It was about the development of the papacy, starting with Peter. Following the ascension Peter went to Rome. He is talked about some in Acts and Paul’s letters so his travel to Rome is taken pretty much at face value. They said, however, that
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Methodist
Contributed by Keith Broyles on Oct 3, 2007
When I was working on my undergraduate degree I took a couple of classes in geology. Most of the time I was asking myself the age-old question that many students ask as they go through some class that they don’t want to take, “Why do I have to take this class?”
As the class went on we talked
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Denomination:
Methodist
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This past Christmas, the Dallas family from our church gave us a wonderful gift of Noah’s Ark complete with hand-carved animals. The problem is that it is especially fascinating to children. We have had to glue poor Noah back together more than once. After one visit from our grandchildren, we
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Denomination:
Methodist
based on 4 ratings
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Sheep are not particularly bright animals. It is not that they occasionally wander off, it is their pattern. It is predictable and expected. They are easily distracted and easily led astray. A story ran in the Washington Post in 2005 telling about shepherds in Gevas, Turkey who watched in shock
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Denomination:
Methodist
Donald Miller, in his excellent book Searching for God Knows What, tells about going to a Bible college where he taught one of the classes. Speaking to this group of Bible students, he told them he was going to present the plan of salvation, but he was going to leave out one key element, and they
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Methodist
Contributed by Don Hawks on Sep 30, 2007
based on 11 ratings
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Sometimes you and I might think, “when I get more money I’ll start tithing.” But most people whom we know who are identified as millionaires or billionaires started out small. And many built what they have done on the tithe. I often think of the example of billionaire John D. Rockefeller,
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Denomination:
Methodist