Contributed by Mark Eberly on Aug 29, 2007
Van Gogh. The use of yellow in his later paintings were a sign of hope: of starting over with a new master. We can start over with a new master. We all need that hope. We need that assurance that
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Denomination:
Church Of God
Contributed by Mark Eberly on Sep 10, 2007
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How about Michael Vick? He confessed to find Jesus. I think the loving approach is to pray for him. It is not my place to judge him and whether or not his confession was sincere. I don’t know. God does. I will leave that up to God. However, I can discern and even judge that his comment in the
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Denomination:
Church Of God
Contributed by Mark Eberly on Sep 10, 2007
Maybe we need to set up appropriate boundaries especially when people transgress our boundaries. This is not an act of condemnation but of self-preservation so that we can live out the love of Christ. When I worked at Pizza Hut as a shift manager, I got a call from a customer where we made a
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Denomination:
Church Of God
Contributed by Mark Eberly on Sep 17, 2007
Sometimes there things that I react so strongly to not because there is a tendency in me but because I have strong emotional connection to the issue. The biggest example for me personally is sexual abuse of children. My parents were social workers in the child welfare system and even though I was
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Denomination:
Church Of God
Contributed by Mark Eberly on Sep 17, 2007
Ignatius of Loyola advocated a 28 day retreat and examination (he lived hundreds of years ago). Most of us can’t get away for 28 days but we can take a weekend retreat or just
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Denomination:
Church Of God
Contributed by Mark Clarke on Sep 21, 2007
True story: one of the leaders of a large chruch found a young pastor in his office praying for the flock. He said, “We are not paying to pray. Pray on your own time!” Let me give you
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Denomination:
Independent/Bible
Contributed by Mark Eberly on Sep 24, 2007
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As a recovered alcoholic, I have a God-given opportunity to share with other alcoholics so that they also may recover. But the very first question is, “Do you want to get better?” If the answer is “no” or “I don’t have a problem” then the response is, “Sorry to bother you.” Pursuing the issue will
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Denomination:
Church Of God
Contributed by Mark Eberly on Oct 8, 2007
And since we work hard and live so affluently as part of the American Empire, when prices rise or we lose our jobs or another company makes a “run for the border” or gas prices hit $3.00 a gallon, most of us don’t consider God. He may be a peripheral idea. Out here on the edges of consciousness but
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Denomination:
Church Of God
Contributed by Mark Eberly on Oct 8, 2007
Recently the stock market plummeted after hitting another record high and who saved the day? The empire! They lowered one insignificant rate but resulted in millions of dollars that would have been spent on interest to be used for spending. The empire saved us!!
Meanwhile nothing really changed
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Denomination:
Church Of God
Contributed by Mark Eberly on Oct 15, 2007
Two men were walking along discussing God, eternity, and judgment. One of them stops and says, “You know, there is a question I’d like to ask God.”
“What question?” his friend responds.
“How could you let all the evil and despair and injustice occur in this world?”
“Yeah, it doesn’t make sense!”
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Denomination:
Church Of God
Contributed by Mark Eberly on Oct 29, 2007
We live in a safety first culture. When I was a kid, we didn’t wear helmets when riding our bikes except on the BMX track. I turned out ok. Today we wear seatbelts, have car seats, and heaven forbid that the kids might actually get to ride in the back of a pick up truck. Not only that but cars now
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Denomination:
Church Of God
Contributed by Mark Eberly on Oct 29, 2007
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| 1,575 views
But loving is hard. The way is narrow. Not many really love the way Jesus does. Even in churches. We are more consumers than lovers. We are more takers than givers. I’ve poured into people and given and given as I know many of you have. I’ve poured into groups of people in this way. And they keep
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Denomination:
Church Of God
Contributed by Mark Eberly on Nov 12, 2007
I want to give you the chance to receive a blessing. I have something for you to taste. It is fruit. You can receive it but do not take it. Hopefully you will find it good. I ask you to worship the Lord in this. Praise God for the goodness of fruit that nourishes us. Praise God for this symbol of
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Denomination:
Church Of God
Contributed by Mark Eberly on Nov 12, 2007
Early in the summer, we’ve gotten burned with corn on the cob. Inevitably some grocery in late May or early June have a huge sale on fresh corn on the cob. For several years we’ve tried it. I look forward to good corn on the cob. Yet, we have always gotten burned with this early corn. It is awful.
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Denomination:
Church Of God
Contributed by Mark Eberly on Nov 19, 2007
Powerful.”
Richard Selzer, MD, writes in his book Mortal Lessons,
I stand by the bed where a young woman lies, her face postoperative, her mouth twisted in palsy, clownish. A tiny twig of the facial nerve, the one to the muscles of her mouth, has been severed. She till be thus from now on. The
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Denomination:
Church Of God
Contributed by Mark Eberly on Nov 19, 2007
Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “He who is alone with his sins is utterly alone.” In fact he goes on to say, “The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner. So everyone must conceal his sin from himself and from their fellowship. We dare not be sinners. Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when
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Denomination:
Church Of God
Contributed by Mark Eberly on Nov 19, 2007
Brennan Manning urges us toward creative listening imagining God’s words to us as such (I invite you to close your eyes and imagine Jesus speaking these words to you now): “Has it crossed your mind that I am proud you accepted the gift of faith I offered you? Proud that you freely chose Me, after I
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Denomination:
Church Of God