Contributed by Mark Eberly on Dec 24, 2007
                
                
                    
            
            
            
            
            
        based on  5 ratings
                    
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                    John Mackie was the president of the Church of Scotland after WWII. He traveled to a remote parts of the Balkan Peninsula to check on missionaries that they supported. On one trip he was accompanied by two ministers from a severe and pietistic denomination that supported the same
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Church Of God
                
             
        
            
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Mark Eberly on Dec 24, 2007
                
                
                
                    Os Guinness said, “The truth is not that God is finding us a place for our gifts but that God has created us and our gifts for a place of his choosing—and
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Church Of God
                
             
        
        
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Mark Eberly on Dec 24, 2007
                
                
                
                    This is seen by the names of those that she raised alongside of Jesus. Now we generally believe that these children were the siblings of Jesus. Joseph and Mary’s children but not all followers of Jesus adhere to this. Some believe that James for example was a cousin. The idea is that Mary remained
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Church Of God
                
             
        
        
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Mark Opperman on Dec 28, 2007
                
                
                    
            
            
            
            
            
        based on  2 ratings
                    
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                    -Author Ken Jones tells about a lesson he learned about hearing God:
[When I walked into my office] I noticed something I had never seen before. It was round, about the size of a dessert plate, and plugged into the wall, giving out a constant noise. It wasn’t a loud noise, just constant. What in
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Assembly Of God
                
             
        
        
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Mark Opperman on Jan 3, 2008
                
                
                
                    there are people who believe that the NT was written so long after the life of Christ that it is not an accurate reflection of what really happened. In other words, all that Jesus said and did was blown out of proportion- kind of like a myth or a legend. Lee Stobel answers this well in his book The
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Assembly Of God
                
             
        
        
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Mark Opperman on Jan 3, 2008
                
                
                    
            
            
            
            
            
        based on  2 ratings
                    
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                    -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 Mark Opperman on Jan 3, 2008
                
                
                    
            
            
            
            
            
        based on  1 rating
                    
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                    -Let me use an illustration from physical science to give us some insight into the infilling of the HS. If you’ve ever done a speedometer check, then you are probably familiar with the formula for determining velocity or speed. When you take the distance traveled and divide it by the amount of time
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Assembly Of God
                
             
        
        
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Mark Opperman on Jan 3, 2008
                
                
                
                    -This past week I watched part of an interview with a medical expert about this bird flu that is spreading around our world. The govt. has already suggested that people should stock a couple of month’s supply of such things as canned tuna and powdered milk. This is not to throw anybody into a
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Assembly Of God
                
             
        
        
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Mark Opperman on Jan 3, 2008
                
                
                
                    -[Illustration] Some of you are aware that Robin and I are in the middle of a house hunt. We would like to buy a house, and live there for quite awhile, if the Lord is willing. We have wanted to buy a home all along, but I just always assumed that we did not really have the buying power to purchase
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Assembly Of God
                
             
        
        
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Mark Opperman on Jan 3, 2008
                
                
                
                    -Why do we sometimes hold on so tightly to things God is asking us to let go of? God really does want to bless us with His very best, but we can get so attached to the things of this life that we aren’t willing to release them to Him.
-One little girl saved up her money for weeks and weeks. She
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Assembly Of God
                
             
        
        
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Mark Eberly on Jan 7, 2008
                
                
                
                    In Irresistible Revolution Shane Claiborne tells about his decision to go to Iraq before the war began. He counted the cost finally deciding to go Iraq to stop terrorism and the war in order to love our enemies. After spending much time in Baghdad in the midst of the bombing, he and his friends
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Church Of God
                
             
        
            
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Mark Eberly on Jan 7, 2008
                
                
                
                    When we came home on New Year’s Day, the weather got pretty bad east of Cleveland. We planned to stop and did stop at exit 223 for gas, bathroom, etc. And it was pretty bad. We had been going the last 25 miles at about 40 mph. And we were moving faster than a lot of folks. We saw several cars in
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Church Of God
                
             
        
        
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Mark Eberly on Jan 7, 2008
                
                
                
                    The problem is there are times when we don’t feel like we are a new creation. Like the group of women that met for an afternoon of lunch and shopping. At lunch they began to share some of the things in their lives. Superficially at first but then they moved into more intimate topics and details. It
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Church Of God
                
             
        
        
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Mark Opperman on Jan 10, 2008
                
                
                
                    -Someone might say, “Well, God does not raise dead people anymore.” I would agree that it is not very common, but the Lord still does it. I have told some of you about my own experience with death. When I was between 1 & 2 years old, I got a hold of a piece of wood from an old orchard sprayer tank.
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Assembly Of God
                
             
        
        
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Mark Eberly on Jan 14, 2008
                
                
                
                    When Shane Claiborne was in Baghdad during the initial stages of the Iraqi war as a civilian and peacemaker, he attended a birthday party for a girl whose family he had become friends with. She was turning 13. (I told the story last week of Shane’s harrowing escape from Baghdad in the midst of
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Church Of God
                
             
        
        
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Mark Eberly on Jan 14, 2008
                
                
                    
            
            
            
            
            
        based on  2 ratings
                    
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                    Before I read as this is a new year, I wanted to share with you last year’s winners for the wackiest label contest. These are labels that seem the most ridiculous sponsored by Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch. I’ll start with some of the honorable mentions.
Cyndi LaMonde of Traverse City submitted a
                    
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                    Church Of God
                
             
        
            
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Mark Opperman on Jan 21, 2008
                
                
                    
            
            
            
            
            
        based on  2 ratings
                    
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                    -Barnabas was seeing so many people come to Jesus that he knew he needed more help. So, he set out for Tarsus (probably on foot) to find Saul. Tarsus was 100 miles around the NE corner of the Mediterranean Sea from Antioch. It probably took him a few days to get there. Why did he go to all that
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Assembly Of God
                
             
        
        
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Mark Opperman on Jan 21, 2008
                
                
                    
            
            
            
            
            
        based on  11 ratings
                    
                         | 2,307 views
                    
                 
                
                    -ILLUS: One day a farmer’s donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally he decided the animal was old and the well needed to be covered up anyway , it just wasn’t worth the effort to retrieve the donkey. He invited all his
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Assembly Of God
                
             
        
        
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Mark Nichols on Jan 22, 2008
                
                
                
                    ILLUSTRATION:  I want to show you a moving video I saw on ESPN in October.  So if the video is cued up, we’ll watch it.  (Show video of Charlotte and Emmitt Ray - “Ray of Hope..aired on espn October 2007)  The link is found at:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=rayofhope
Did you
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Christian/Church Of Christ
                
             
        
        
            
                
                
                    Contributed by Mark Eberly on Feb 4, 2008
                
                
                    
            
            
            
            
            
        based on  1 rating
                    
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                    Our lives are filled with signs and symbols. It has been estimated that we observe over 15,000 images a day. I believe more and more that we need Spiritual signs to help us negotiate this world more so than ever. Baptism is one such important sign. It is sign
                    
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                    Denomination: 
                    Church Of God