If you went to work everyday and did the job that was required of you, you could demand a paycheck. You can go to your supervisor, and payroll to find out what is going on because you earned the pay that you worked so hard for. We can never work so hard to demand that God save us from sin. It was
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Pentecostal
                
             
        
        
            
        
        
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Oct 1, 2007
                
                
                    
            
            
            
            
            
        based on  3 ratings
                    
                         | 1,613 views
                    
                 
                
                    How can salvation be offered to us as a free gift of God, yet Discipleship have a great cost? Consider this analogy:
Suppose you have a desire to climb Mount Everest. Suppose a wealthy businessman heard of your desire and offered to pay for the entire expedition. It costs about $70,000 to do it. He
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Other
                
             
        
        
            
        
            
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Tim Smith on Oct 21, 2012
                
                
                    
            
            
            
            
            
        based on  2 ratings
                    
                         | 7,226 views
                    
                 
                
                    J Vernon McGee told the story of the days before the Civil War in a city in the south. At the center of town, there is a commotion as a crowd gathers for a public auction to watch the proceedings. In the crowd is an uncouth, foulmouthed, loud, boisterous man who is the meanest, cruelest, most
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Methodist
                
             
        
        
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Jeff Strite on Dec 18, 2002
                
                
                    
            
            
            
            
            
        based on  3 ratings
                    
                         | 3,083 views
                    
                 
                
                    A preacher had once to illustrate the free nature of God’s gift of salvation. They stood in the pulpit one morning held up a poinsettia plant and said: “Whoever wants this beautiful Christmas poinsettia may have it. All you have to do is take it.”
  They stared at me.  I waited.  And waited.
 
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Christian/Church Of Christ
                
             
        
        
            
                
                
                
                    
            
            
            
            
            
        based on  2 ratings
                    
                         | 2,751 views
                    
                 
                
                    Something goes wrong in just about every wedding.  Most of the time it seems funny (…at least later on.)  I’ve officiated at a lot of weddings, but there’s one I’ll never forget.  It was not anyone associated with our church, but this couple wanted to use our old sanctuary, and I agreed to marry
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Christian/Church Of Christ
                
             
        
        
            
        
        
            
        
            
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Peter Loughman on Dec 21, 2007
                
                
                
                    THE GIFT
A professor of mine from seminary told us this story: When he was a young man, all of 23, he had the opportunity to take a summer tour of Europe as a graduation present, he was from a well to do family. He traveled about Europe by train, boat and sometimes by bicycle. Finally he ended up
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Evangelical/Non-Denominational
                
             
        
        
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Rodney Buchanan on Oct 26, 2003
                
                
                    
            
            
            
            
            
        based on  5 ratings
                    
                         | 2,275 views
                    
                 
                
                    FREEING GOLLUM
In the film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, we are introduced to a frightening creature named Gollum.  He lives in the area known as Middle Earth and goes about with a croaking throat muttering.  At one time he possessed the ring of power and it corrupted him with its evil. 
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Methodist
                
             
        
        
            
        
        
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Jul 2, 2011
                
                
                
                    SET FREE
Ray Bakke, the Executive Director of International Urban Associates, tells a great story from World War II.
An airman named MacDonald and a Scottish chaplain bailed out behind German lines, were captured and put into a prison camp, with MacDonald in the American barracks and the chaplain
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Presbyterian/Reformed
                
             
        
        
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Davon Huss on Sep 5, 2011
                
                
                
                    SET FREE
It all began on Sunday, December 11, 2005, when a fisherman spotted a 50-ton humpback whale tangled up in crab trap lines off the coast in northern California. His call for help was answered by a group of Coast Guard divers and whale experts. 
The rescue operation was both difficult and
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Christian/Church Of Christ
                
             
        
            
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Perry Greene on Oct 5, 2011
                
                
                
                    FREEING THE QUAIL
At a Farmer’s Market, there was a covey of quail walking around a pole.  They had strings attached to their legs and walked in circles hour after hour.  A customer purchased the birds and then cut the strings off their legs, giving them their freedom.  Yet, in spite of the
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Christian/Church Of Christ
                
             
        
        
            
        
        
            
        
        
            
                
                
                
                
                    BARNABAS' GIFT
Barnabas later becomes the disciple who takes St. Paul in tow on the first missionary journey. It is on that journey that Paul discovers his calling to be the apostle to the Gentiles.  So Barnabas’s gift, his free will offering of what he owned
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Catholic