Contributed by Bill Butsko on Oct 30, 2006
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I want to close with this poem by Lois Reynolds Carpenter, entitled “Second Birth”.
I never loved the pleasant earth
So much as since my second birth.
The shy forget-me-not’s soft blue
Seems bits of Heaven shining through.
The golden buttercup’s bright face
Proclaims the glory of His grace.
His
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Denomination:
Christian Church
An old Gospel hymn by Annie Johnson Flint sums up today’s message so well for me:
God has not promised skies always blue,
Flower strewn pathways all our lives through;
God has not promised sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.
Refrain
But God has promised strength for the
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Denomination:
Methodist
Contributed by Andy Anquoe on Feb 15, 2007
A little over 3 months ago, little Matthew (well, not exactly little) came into our family. My niece left him with my elderly parents to care for since she could not. When I heard what had happened, I traveled back to Oklahoma to assess the situation Seeing my 80 year old parents care for this BIG
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Denomination:
Baptist
Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 20, 2007
Strong Small Churches - The bigger a church grows, the worse it becomes both in quality and in its capability to reach new people. This surprising finding comes out of a Germany -based Institute of Church Development study of churches worldwide. In churches with attendance of less than 100, 31% of
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Contributed by Tim White on Apr 14, 2009
A wealthy man who had lost his son in the war put up his priceless art collection for sale by auction. The first item that was presented was not one of the great works from the masters, but a portrait of his beloved late son done by a local artist. The experienced and seasoned art buyers showed no
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Denomination:
Baptist
Contributed by Kyle Rye on Apr 29, 2009
I was hungry and you formed a humanities club and you discussed my hunger. Thank you.
I was imprisoned and you crept off quietly to your chapel in the cellar to pray for my release.
I was naked and in your mind you debated the morality of my appearance.
I was sick and you knelt and thanked God for
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Denomination:
Christian/Church Of Christ
One of my distant relatives, a young man, came to me once and showed me four photos of four different girls. This was before Twitter and Facebook… He said:
- Man, I love all of them and I wish to have the power to combine them all in one.
Cecilia – great body;
Martha – a face like an angel;
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Denomination:
Seventh-Day Adventist
Contributed by Bruce Ball on May 26, 2009
In JAMES 5:15, God promises us that a prayer offered in true faith will even make the sick person well. Let’s take that model of prayer and hold it up against the way we pray today. Most of us, being honest, pray something like this: ‘God I want you to make me well.’ And then in the back of our
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*other
Contributed by Matthew Kratz on May 31, 2009
No House Without Sorrow
Among the parables that Chinese teachers use is the story of a woman who lost an only son. She was grief-stricken out of all reason. She made her sorrow a wailing wall. Finally she went to a wise old philosopher. He said to her, “I will give you back your son if you will
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Other
Contributed by Donnie Martin on Jun 18, 2009
KNOW WHAT YOU WANT
One day a boy’s mother decided she would make hot buttered biscuits as long as her son could eat them. He loved biscuits and always complained that he never got enough. He ate and ate and ate, and she kept pulling them out of the stove.
Finally she looked around and saw him
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Denomination:
Baptist
Contributed by Noel Atkinson on Jun 29, 2009
H. G. WELLS ON THE VALUE OF HUMANS
Can we doubt that presently our race will more than realise our boldest imaginations, that it will achieve unity and peace, and that our children will live in a world made more splendid and lovely than any palace or garden that we know, going on from strength to
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Denomination:
Baptist
My wife, Susan works as a counselor in a middle school where she sometimes observes parents who are constantly making excuses for their child’s behavior. They’re arguing with the Vice Principal that it’s the teacher’s fault and the other kid’s fault and besides that the room’s too hot and the moon
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Christian/Church Of Christ
Contributed by Donnie Martin on May 24, 2010
WHAT OTHER GODS?
What other gods could we have besides the Lord? Plenty. For Israel there were the Canaanite Baals, those jolly nature gods whose worship was a rampage of gluttony, drunkenness, and ritual prostitution. For us there are still the great gods Sex, Shekels, and Stomach (an unholy
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Denomination:
Baptist
Contributed by Lonnie Erwin on Oct 17, 2010
Before Andrew Jackson became the seventh president of the United States, he served as a major general in the Tennessee militia. During the War of 1812 his troops reached an all-time low in morale. As a result they began arguing, bickering, and fighting among themselves. It is reported that Old
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Denomination:
Baptist
Contributed by Ross Cochrane on Dec 4, 2010
GOD IS NOT A GENIE
She was ferocious and yet frail. When I told her that I was a Chaplain she took the opportunity to bombard me with accusations and questions. "What is the use of prayer if God is going to let those 29 miners die anyway? All those good people prayed around the clock for those
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Denomination:
Evangelical/Non-Denominational
Contributed by Rodelio Mallari on Dec 12, 2010
LEGEND OF A KING AND A HEAVY STONE
There are certain lessons of grace that can be learned only in the valley of pain and distress. Show me a Christian who has suffered much and deepened his dependence on God, and I will show you a sensitive soul full of compassion for others, and with a deep
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*other
START WITH HEAVEN
Randy Alcorn states the following: “Often our thinking is backwards. Why do we imagine that God patterns Heaven’s holy city after an earthly city, as if Heaven knows nothing of community and culture and has to get its ideas from us? Isn’t it more likely that earthly realities,
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Evangelical/Non-Denominational
Contributed by Larry Wilson on Aug 11, 2011
I SHALL BE ALIVE...
One of the penetrating churchmen of the past generation was Reverend James Gordon Gilkey. While living in Portland, Oregon, he was told by his physician that he had an incurable disease. Death could not be averted, nor long delayed. What did he do? Here is his own story:
"I
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Denomination:
Baptist