Philip Yancey says that today, “We make faith not an attitude of trust in something unseen but a route to get something seen-something magical and stupendous, like a miracle or a supernatural gift. Faith includes the supernatural, but it also includes daily, dependent trust is spite of results.
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Evangelical/Non-Denominational
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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Evangelical/Non-Denominational
Contributed by David Ward on Aug 26, 2006
based on 3 ratings
| 2,418 views
In Our Greatest Gift, Henri Nouwen tells a parable of faith and hope. He imagines twins–a brother and a sister–talking to each other in their mother’s womb:
The sister said to the brother, "I believe there is life after birth."
Her brother protested vehemently, "No, no, this is all there is. This
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Baptist
Contributed by Darren Ethier on Apr 9, 2002
based on 148 ratings
| 7,843 views
NOT THE GIFT, BUT THE GIVER
A man told a story about the time his son’s sixth birthday was approaching. He had mentioned he wouldn’t mind a party, and as his son usually was very specific about the kind of presents he liked. The dad asked him what he could get him. Bill expected a well-planned
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Pentecostal
Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 10, 2002
based on 33 ratings
| 5,005 views
THE EMPTY GIFT
"I was enjoying 1st grade to the fullest until one day in December when the little girl behind me set "it" on her desk. It was the tiniest Christmas present imaginable, less than an inch on each side with white glossy paper tied up with a sliver of red cellophane. Immediately I was
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Contributed by A. Todd Coget on May 16, 2003
based on 6 ratings
| 3,482 views
[illustration]
On Christmas morning, the children in a family do not usually all receive the same gifts.
One gets a football, one a puzzle, another receives a doll house, and another a table game.
Yet, although each child does not receive the same gifts as the others, the parents intend the gifts
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Evangelical/Non-Denominational
Contributed by A. Todd Coget on May 16, 2003
based on 8 ratings
| 6,001 views
[illustration]
Imagine how a parent would feel if on Christmas day when the gifts for their children were handed out, the children just took them, said “Thank you,” and laid them aside with no attempt to open the gifts not even to find out what they were!
Imagine how the Lord must feel when he has
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Evangelical/Non-Denominational
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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Catholic
Contributed by Ed Sasnett on Jul 8, 2010
THE GIFTS IN THE FRIES
If you have one or more of the gifts of service, you are critical to the work and glory of God. Do not think lightly of your place in God’s plan.
A man goes to buy a hamburger for lunch. The young lady behind the counter asks, “Do you want fries with that?” The man
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Baptist
A GIFT OF THE WORD
When I was a teenager, my pastor gave me a little pocket New Testament, bound in red leather. And inside, on the flyleaf, he had written a note. And with the note was a Scripture citation: Romans 12:1-2. I couldn’t wait to turn to that passage and read what it said. If you know
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Presbyterian/Reformed
GIFT OF PEARLS
A number of years ago, when our oldest was just a little tyke, a Chinese man we knew gave my wife a string of pearls as a gift. Anyway, the pearls he gave her were different from the ones we might find in a jewelry store; they were natural, not cultivated.
Now, the most common
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Lutheran
THE GIFT OF A CROSS
Story: Woman Led to Christ through an Act of Kindness
Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist (Zondervan, 2011). p. 210
It's amazing what a difference the little things will make. For example, years ago when I was a new believer, I always wore a tiny cross pin on my shirts.
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Evangelical/Non-Denominational
Sermon Central