Contributed by Melvin Newland on Nov 28, 2006
ILL. The late Erma Bombeck in her book, "If Life is a bowl of Cherries, Why Am I Always in the Pits?", recalled the legend of a church where the chimes rang miraculously whenever someone gave a generous gift.
But the chimes hadn’t rung for a long time, even though kings & potentates had come
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Christian/Church Of Christ
Contributed by Richard Goble on Nov 29, 2007
Give A Birthday Present To Jesus.
One year our church celebrated Christmas by giving a birthday present to Jesus. On the first Sunday in December, I asked the congregation to think about what Jesus Christ really meant to them, and to offer a gift on the altar to symbolize their love for Him and
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Denomination:
Baptist
based on 5 ratings
| 2,674 views
Dennis Prager, author of the shrewd and perceptive "Happiness is a Serious Problem."
He states: "There is a 'secret to happiness, and it is gratitude. All happy people are grateful, and ungrateful people cannot be happy. We tend to think that it is being unhappy that leads people to complain, but
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Evangelical/Non-Denominational
Contributed by Michael Thomas on Feb 10, 2004
based on 7 ratings
| 1,316 views
Psychologists are studying what makes people happy. "Materialism is toxic for happiness," says University of Illinois psychologist Ed Diener. Even rich materialists aren’t as happy as those who care less about getting and spending. The article also quoted University of Michigan psychologist
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Evangelical/Non-Denominational
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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Denomination:
Methodist
Contributed by Lynn Malone on Sep 12, 2005
Remember the words of Thomas Jefferson? He said we were endowed with certain inalienable rights "among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." So maybe we don't have the right to be happy, but we certainly have the right to pursue happiness, don't we. Benjamin Franklin said
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Methodist
Contributed by Joo-Ching Chng on Jan 1, 2008
According to a legend Satan and his demons were having a Christmas party. As the demonic guests were departing, one grinned and said to Satan, “Merry Christmas, your majesty.” At that, Satan replied with a growl, “Yes,
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Denomination:
Pentecostal
Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 9, 2003
based on 84 ratings
| 2,381 views
The legend is told of the time Satan and his demons were having a Christmas party. As the demonic guests were preparing to depart, one grinned and said, "Merry Christmas, your majesty!" At that, Satan replied with a growl, "Keep it
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based on 1 rating
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Restitution = Joy
Zacchaeus had hurt many people. Perhaps many were devastated economically. This would go a long way to beginning to set people back right. It's kind of like Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas morning. Think back to that
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Denomination:
Wesleyan
The Quarter of Remembrance by Mike Cope (reprinted)
http://preachermike.com/2007/12/21/two-bits-of-memory
I actually got to meet Dr. Channing Barrett, though I don’t remember the meeting because I was too young. But that doesn’t change my picture of him as a young man walking a marathon of miles
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Christian/Church Of Christ
Contributed by Mark Haines on Dec 16, 2006
based on 1 rating
| 2,580 views
I found an almost unbelievable demonstration of how the Christmas spirit comes and goes in a story told to Pastor Stuart Briscoe years ago by an old German man.
He fought with the German forces in the First World War. In those days, battles were not high tech but hand-to-hand trench warfare.
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Denomination:
Wesleyan
Contributed by Wayne Major on Apr 23, 2001
based on 110 ratings
| 2,070 views
Even our foundational beliefs in this country see the “pursuit of happiness” as a basic right of all individuals. Yet with all our pursuit, happiness seems to elude many of us for much of our lives. Nathaniel Hawthorne said, “Happiness is a butterfly, which, when pursued, is always just beyond
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Methodist
Contributed by Tim White on Apr 15, 2013
DON'T BE IMPATIENT
When I was a teen-ager, my mom finally gave in to my dad. After mom and dad bought our Christmas, dad talked mom into allowing us to open the gifts days, sometimes weeks early. He couldn’t wait until we opened our gifts. The problem is that it took a lot of the joy out of
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Baptist
Contributed by Sermon Central on Mar 17, 2009
based on 3 ratings
| 1,834 views
I WISH I COULD BE LIKE THAT
It was the Christmas season and Paul had received a special pre-Christmas gift from his brother. It was a beautiful brand new automobile.
On Christmas Eve, when Paul came out of his office, a street kid was walking around the shiny new car, admiring it. When Paul
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based on 9 ratings
| 2,586 views
A DIFFERENT VIEW
It was just a few days before Christmas. Two men who were next-door neighbors decided to go sailing while their wives went Christmas shopping. While the men were out in their sailboat, a storm arose. The sea became very angry and the men had great difficulty keeping the boat under
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Denomination:
Assembly Of God
Contributed by Et Tapper on Feb 9, 2009
based on 1 rating
| 2,688 views
In a recent experiment, psychologists asked undergraduates to complete a survey that included a happiness scale and measures of gratitude and thankfulness.
Then over the next six weeks, the participants wrote down, once a week, five things for which they were grateful. It had a dramatic effect on
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Denomination:
Pentecostal
Sermon Central