Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Feb 8, 2009
Someone has pictured legalism and libertinism as two parallel streams that run between earth and heaven. The stream of legalism is clear, sparkling, and pure; but its waters run so deep and furiously that no one can enter it without being drowned or smashed on the rocks of its harsh demands. The
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Feb 8, 2009
Bruce Thielemann, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, told of a conversation with an active layman, who mentioned, “You preachers talk a lot about giving, but when you get right down to it, it all comes down to basin theology.”
Thielemann asked, “Basin theology? What’s that?”
The
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Feb 8, 2009
In understanding the new reality in Christ with the law, Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) explained it in this way:
“What is God’s law now? It is not above a Christian-it is under Christian. Some men hold God’s law like a rod, in terror, over Christians, and say, “If you sin you will be punished with
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Feb 15, 2009
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STEP BY STEP
He does not lead me year by year
Nor even day by day,
But step by step my path unfolds;
My Lord directs my way.
Tomorrow’s plans I do not know,
I only know this minute;
But He will say, "This is the way,
By faith now walk in it."
And I am glad that it is so,
Today’s enough to
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Feb 15, 2009
In the early church Jerome, that hardy and stern disciplinarian, removed himself far from the lurid temptations of the city only to find that he had not escaped them at all. As he confessed:
“O how often I imagined that I was in the midst of the pleasures of Rome when I was stationed in the
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Feb 15, 2009
At the close of World War II, two pictures appeared in a magazine showing a soldier in conflict with a tank. The first showed a huge tank bearing down on a tiny soldier, about to crush him. The picture was proportioned to show the odds involved when a foot soldier with a rifle faced a tank. The
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Mar 2, 2009
People mark off times and celebrations in different ways. In Belgium (since 1394, in Binche), Brazil (a four-day celebration in Rio de Janeiro), Italy (in Venice, six months of celebrating in the 18th cent., now 12 days), Trinidad and Tobago (featuring a daylong competition among calypso bands),
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Mar 2, 2009
IDOLATRY IS ABOUT "GETTING"
William Barclay makes this important observation about ancient idolatry: "The essence of idolatry is the desire to get. A man sets up an idol and worships it because he desires to get something out of god. To put it bluntly, he believes that by his sacrifices and his
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Mar 2, 2009
WHAT OTHER GODS?
What other gods could we have besides the Lord? Plenty. For Israel there were the Canaanite Baals, those jolly nature gods whose worship was a rampage of gluttony, drunkenness, and ritual prostitution. For us there are still the great gods Sex, Shekels, and Stomach (an unholy
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Mar 9, 2009
In its broadest connotation “the kingdom of God” indicates God’s kingship, rule, or sovereignty recognized in the hearts and operative in the lives of His people, and effecting their complete salvation, their constitution as a church, and ultimately a redeemed universe (William
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Mar 9, 2009
SIN WILL:
1. TAKE YOU FARTHER THAN YOU PLANNED ON GOING.
2. KEEP YOU LONGER THAN YOU PLANNED ON STAYING
3. COST YOU MORE THAN YOU PLANNED ON
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Mar 9, 2009
Without exception, everyone of them is a perversion of something which is in itself good. Immorality, impurity, licentiousness are perversions of the sexual instinct which is in itself a lovely thing and a part of love. Idolatry is a perversion of worship, and was begun as an aid to worship.
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Mar 15, 2009
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FRUIT DISTRIBUTION
The Spirit's provision of fruit might be compared to a man standing on a ladder in an orchard, picking the fruit and dropping it into a basket held by a helper below. No matter how much fruit is picked and dropped, the helper
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Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006
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Church Growth: According to the 2003 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church experienced a 12% growth. Catholics followed with a 2.5% increase, while Mormons and the Assemblies of God each reported 2% growth in ‘01, the latest year for which figures
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Contributed by Ed Wood on Feb 18, 2003
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Earl Allen’s book, Sign of the Star, relates the Suffering Servant to the Christmas story. Allen wrote: “Near the cradle of Bethlehem stands the cross, God’s Christmas tree—you can’t make anything else out of it. The blood of Jesus Christ has been the red ribbon strung from that first coat of skins
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Contributed by Brian Matherlee on Nov 29, 2007
I was driving the other night and saw a car with those stick on characters that depict their family. Usually it has the stick outline of a dad, mom, a couple of kids and maybe a dog. The particular car I saw the other night was different. It began with a phrase followed with a mom and two kids.
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Wesleyan
Contributed by Garris Hudson on Apr 1, 2023
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Passover begins this year on April 8th, at sundown. What many do not know is that Passover illustrates the sacrifice of The Passover Lamb–the crucifixion of Jesus. The first Passover lamb was slain during the dark times in Egypt marked. This event marked the beginning of The Exodus, which
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Contributed by Joel Pankow on May 24, 2001
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A confusing directive was recently issued by a British Admiral. It read: “It is necessary for technical reasons, that these warheads be stored bottom-side-up, that is, with the top at the bottom and the bottom at the top. That there be no doubt which is the bottom, and which is the top, each
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Lutheran
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