Contributed by Bruce Howell on Jun 19, 2001
                
                
                    
            
            
            
            
            
        based on  123 ratings
                    
                         | 9,549 views
                    
                 
                
                    A high school girl wrote the following letter to a friend:
I attended your church yesterday.  Although you had invited me, you were not there.  I looked for you, hoping to sit with you.  I sat alone.  A stranger, I wanted to sit near the back of the church but those rows were all packed with
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Wesleyan
                
             
        
            
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Steve Malone on Nov 13, 2001
                
                
                    
            
            
            
            
            
        based on  153 ratings
                    
                         | 3,405 views
                    
                 
                
                    Here is a parody of Luke’s account of the birth of Christ, that really underscores just how far our world has let the true meaning of Christmas slip away from them.
	"And there were in the same country children keeping watch over there stockings by the fireplace.  And lo! Santa Claus came upon
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Christian/Church Of Christ
                
             
        
        
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 10, 2002
                
                
                    
            
            
            
            
            
        based on  6 ratings
                    
                         | 2,253 views
                    
                 
                
                    SOME ATHEIST ENJOY CHRISTMAS, 
Christmas isn’t just for Christians anymore. 
Nearly half of adult Americans report they personally know someone who doesn’t believe in God but still will celebrate the yuletide this year, according to a survey of 1,001 people conducted by Scripps Howard News
                    
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                    Contributed by Brad Beaman on Jul 21, 2003
                
                
                    
            
            
            
            
            
        based on  10 ratings
                    
                         | 2,566 views
                    
                 
                
                    Not long after Paul was in prison there was a man, one of the early church fathers, by the name of Pollycarp. He lived his life for the sake and the glory of God. At eighty-six years old the officials called upon him. Even before this he had a vision that he was to by martyred. He could have fled
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Baptist
                
             
        
        
            
                
                
                    Contributed by A. Todd Coget on Sep 26, 2003
                
                
                    
            
            
            
            
            
        based on  7 ratings
                    
                         | 4,967 views
                    
                 
                
                    Many of us can remember when we were in grade school how whenever the teacher had to leave the classroom for some reason, she would always tell the class to, “Be quiet and study!” However we also remember that as soon as she left the room, the paper wads would begin to fly! Erasers would be flung
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Evangelical/Non-Denominational
                
             
        
        
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Dana Visneskie on Feb 9, 2004
                
                
                    
            
            
            
            
            
        based on  9 ratings
                    
                         | 3,251 views
                    
                 
                
                    Research from Barna concerning Leadership:
The Deception of Effective Leadership
    Most pastors are content with the way things are going in their ministry. A national survey among pastors revealed that a majority feel they are doing an excellent or good job in leading people spiritually in
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Pentecostal
                
             
        
            
            
        
        
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Kent Kessler on Jan 8, 2007
                
                
                
                    Jan was on staff with Athletes in Action. After attending a conference where the importance of listening to unsaved people was stressed, Jan and others were relaxing in the hotel whirlpool. Two adolescent girls joined them in the tub. One of the teens, named Brittany, began passionately telling her
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Methodist
                
             
        
        
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Mark Eberly on Jul 6, 2009
                
                
                
                    HIGHER STANDARD OF GOD
Paul very much emphasized that we are responsible to others. Not responsible for them but to them. We are held to a high standard (at least we should be) by our own conscience, by others, and by God. 
Too often we make excuses such as not knowing that something was
                    
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                    Church Of God
                
             
        
        
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Chris Surber on Jul 31, 2009
                
                
                
                    Henry Surber is a distant and ancient relative of mine.  The following is from “History of Montgomery County, Kansas”:  The Rev. Henry Surber, a Campbellite preacher and an early settler of the "Hoosier State." The latter took his family to Iowa in the early settlement of that state and he aided
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Christian Church
                
             
        
        
            
        
            
            
        
        
            
        
        
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 9, 2011
                
                
                    
            
            
            
            
            
        based on  13 ratings
                    
                         | 8,406 views
                    
                 
                
                    VACANT HOMES, VACANT LIVES
TIFTON, GA — The most interesting thing about Tifton is an abandoned Victorian house filled with thousands of bats. Tift County declared the once-elegant house in the town’s historic district off limits after a bat specialist said that maybe 20,000 bats had moved in,
                    
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                    Contributed by Bobby Scobey on May 2, 2007
                
                
                
                    At a Billy Graham School of Evangelism, Dr. George Hunter, professor of evangelism at Asbury Theological Seminary, gave the following explanation of secularism and meaning for the church today. 
Throughout the Middle Ages the church exercised control or heavy influence over all of Western culture.
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Pentecostal
                
             
        
        
            
        
            
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007
                
                
                    
            
            
            
            
            
        based on  6 ratings
                    
                         | 3,215 views
                    
                 
                
                    President Abraham Lincoln called for a day of fasting and prayer. 
His declaration for a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer begins with this thought.
And in so much as we know that, by his divine law, nations, like individuals, are subject to the punishments and chastisements in this
                    
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        based on  2 ratings
                    
                         | 1,279 views
                    
                 
                
                    My first pastoral appointment was the Marissa and Zion United Methodist Charge in St. Clair County, Illinois, about forty miles southeast of St. Louis, Missouri.  Zion had only three members and no electricity or running water.  In past decades light had been provided in the sanctuary by kerosene,
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Methodist
                
             
        
        
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Mark Opperman on Jan 3, 2008
                
                
                    
            
            
            
            
            
        based on  2 ratings
                    
                         | 2,861 views
                    
                 
                
                    -In the early 1900’s a major revival began in Los Angeles. It became known as the Azusa Street Revival. What the Holy Spirit did there was really quite revolutionary for its time. Here is what Dr. Gary McGee of the Assemblies of God writes about Azusa St.:
According to the Los Angeles Times, a
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Assembly Of God
                
             
        
        
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 18, 2008
                
                
                
                    From the book "A Love Worth Giving" by Max Lucado chapter 5- Harold suffered from cerebral palsy.  The condition left him unable to walk, dress, feed himself, or go to the rest room.  My job was to help him with this.  And I didn’t like it.  I had moved to St. Louis for spiritual training.  Fresh
                    
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