Contributed by Johnny Wilson on Jun 27, 2009
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SERVANTHOOD: THE SOLOIST
There was an interesting movie recently. It bombed at the box office, but it was a very interesting film. "The Soloist" was a true story about a Los Angeles Times columnist named Steve Lopez who discovered a homeless person on the street who, in turn, was a Julliard School
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Contributed by Johnny Wilson on Jun 27, 2009
REVELATION AND OVALTINE
The word often translated "revelation" or as I translated it, "unveiling," could also be understood as "decoding." Ever heard of those Ovaltine Decoder Rings in the '40s? Ovaltine drink advertisements used to have a coded message on them (as did some of the Ovaltine radio
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Contributed by Johnny Wilson on Jun 27, 2009
I want to give you a silly illustration of one way this can work. When I was a teenager and just starting to enjoy coffee, I liked to take a cup of coffee with me wherever I went. Of course, those of you who’ve seen me play softball are well aware that I have trouble walking and talking at the same
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Contributed by Johnny Wilson on Aug 11, 2009
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EYES AND TOES
There is a terrific story I once heard in a taped message from a marvelous Baptist pastor named Ron Dunn. Dunn's parable suggested that once upon a time there was a body where the eyes convinced all of the other parts of the body that the gift of SIGHT was the only important gift.
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Contributed by Johnny Wilson on Aug 11, 2009
BUYING THEM BACK
We're told about a gift of grace (singular) and informed that it will help us to build up the church in LOVE. Do you see a pattern, here?
Whatever we have to use in God's service comes directly from God.
It's a lot like a former colleague experienced at Ziff-Davis Publishing. He
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Contributed by Johnny Wilson on Aug 11, 2009
BEGINNING AND ENDING
A Connecticut Baptist named A. Roger Williams (a modern pastor, not the one who founded Rhode Island) once preached, "It is true that if religion begins with the individual--it begins, but if it ends with the individual--it ends." [A. Roger Williams, "The Kingdom of God," in
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Contributed by Johnny Wilson on Aug 11, 2009
But proffering our physical lives as living sacrifices, we get the benefit of living life to its fullest because we are in agreement with God as to priorities and purpose. We aren’t really giving up our lives. We are learning to stand beside ourselves and see ourselves as God sees us. We see our
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Contributed by Johnny Wilson on Aug 24, 2009
Sin separates us from God and from each other. I recently read about an interesting scientific phenomenon with fluorophores. Fluorophores are molecules that glow when they are excited by the right kind of light source. They’re usually found in amino acids and proteins. (There is an illustration at:
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Contributed by Johnny Creasong on Aug 28, 2009
DADDY’S EMPTY CHAIR
A man’s daughter had asked the local minister to come and pray with her father. When the minister arrived, he found the man lying in bed with his head propped up on two pillows.
An empty chair sat beside his bed. The minister assumed that the old fellow had been informed of
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Church Of God
Contributed by Johnny Creasong on Aug 28, 2009
When you pray do you seek His Face or His Hand?
In most of our praying we are not seeking God’s Face, but rather seeking His hand, looking for God to provide something for us. While Jesus instructed us to pray,
“Give us today our daily bread.”
(Matt 6:11 NIV)
I believe He intended our prayers to
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Contributed by Johnny Creasong on Aug 28, 2009
When you pray, do you seek His Face or His Arm?
In some of our prayers, if we are honest to God, we will find that rather than seeking His Face we are simply seeking His Arm. We pray because we find ourselves in a position where we need His Strength. We believe that
“…nothing is impossible with
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Contributed by Johnny Wilson on Aug 31, 2009
In the Broadway musical, “Guys and Dolls,” there is a line where Sky Masterton (the Marlon Brando role in the film version) shares some advice that his father gave him. Sky is a gambler and the entire play revolves around a certain bet that he makes which pays off in a way he isn’t expecting. But I
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Contributed by Johnny Wilson on Aug 31, 2009
Since Isaiah (and later, the New Testament writers) spoke of God’s "tested" keystone (cornerstone?) or foundation stone in terms of depending upon God rather than what anyone else says or promises, it might be good to look at the importance of "foundations" and Jesus Christ as our "tested"
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Contributed by Johnny Creasong on Sep 29, 2009
In the early 1930s a man by the name of Peter Strudwick was born in what was quickly becoming known as Deutsches Reich ("German Reich.") During her pregnancy Peter’s mother contracted Rubella. As a result, Peter was born with legs that ended in stumps just past the ankles, a left arm that only had
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Contributed by Johnny Wilson on Oct 26, 2009
TERAH AND THE GODS
There is a Jewish midrash (not Scripture) that tells a funny story about Terah being a merchant who sold idols but had a son named Abram who wasn’t convinced about the validity of the gods because the real God had been speaking to him. Since it isn’t actually Scripture, I’m
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Contributed by Johnny Wilson on Oct 26, 2009
I’ve seen lots of parents who instilled a dream in their children. In fact, Wailam’s (my wife’s) mother gave her the dream of studying in America. But her mother died before she could see that Wailam finished her education at the American School. As a result, Wailam had to go through a long,
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Contributed by Johnny Wilson on Oct 26, 2009
Dr. Cecil Hyatt, former professor of Old Testament at California Baptist University, always used to say that almost anytime God is about to move, there have to be some
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Contributed by Johnny Wilson on Nov 6, 2009
HEATHERS AND GRATITUDE
Some people think being thankful all the time is like going around with a goofy smile on your face all of the time and being insensitive to other people’s feelings. Some think it means to always be happy. We can be grateful, thankful, without being irrationally "happy" in
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Contributed by Johnny Wilson on Nov 23, 2009
EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS: RIGHT DAY, WRONG YEAR
Once there was a covenant with Noah, with Abram, with Moses, and with David, but now there is a NEW covenant written in the blood of Jesus. That promise, that contract, never expires. It is guaranteed by God's action, not our actions. The word often
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