THINK STEPS, NOT PROGRAMS
In his book, Seven Practices of Effective Ministry, Andy Stanley writes: "Think Steps, Not Programs" (p. 88). The idea is this: Instead of having a strategic vision that focuses on programs, you have a strategic vision of a people-process, a pathway that takes people from
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Denomination:
Presbyterian/Reformed
COME IN THROUGH THE DOOR
There's an old spiritual. I'm sure you've heard it. It starts out, 'So high you can't get over it, so low you can't get under it, so wide you can't get around it! You gotta come in through the door.'
That's what Jesus tells us in this passage from John's
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Denomination:
Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Paul Wallace on Sep 20, 2006
Love her or loathe her, Winfrey has become proof that you can’t be too rich, too thin or too committed to rising to your place in the world. With 49 million viewers each week in the USA and more in the 122 other countries to which the show is distributed, Winfrey reaches more people in a TV day
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Denomination:
Wesleyan
Contributed by Lonnie Erwin on Sep 24, 2007
The people of God:
Individuals, and in a state of distinctness from all the nations amongst which, in their calamitous dispersion, they are scattered; but they have no national existence -- no king, no country, no organization, no government, no political being. Just so the great community of
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Denomination:
Baptist
Contributed by Rick Crandall on Nov 28, 2009
Please notice that Paul did not pray for these Christians to get the Lord’s resurrection power. They already had it! And Christian, so do you. So, how well do you know the power of His resurrection? Paul prayed for them to spiritually know and see the power they already had.
*It actually reminds
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Baptist
Contributed by David Fox on Nov 10, 2001
based on 143 ratings
| 10,008 views
“Baptism” – Comes from the Greek word
- “Baptismo” which means to immerse or dunk.
Baptismo is a word which was used to describe:
a) Sinking ships as they sank water would fill
the inside of ship.
b) Another usage describes a garment being
immersed into dye… the dye penetrates
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Pentecostal
Contributed by Jim Kane on Nov 25, 2001
based on 19 ratings
| 1,793 views
“Most churches do a good job of getting people to first base or maybe even second base. People will receive Christ, be baptized and join the church (that’s getting them to first base). Some churches also do an excellent job of helping believers develop the habits that lead to spiritual maturity
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Church Of God
based on 7 ratings
| 2,234 views
In my home town there was a company that purchased some land and began to build what
was to become a large grocery store. The foundation was laid, the frame of the building
was erected, then, for some unknown reason, all work stopped. For years the unfinished
building stood as a sort of
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Denomination:
Baptist
Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 9, 2002
based on 3 ratings
| 1,148 views
“We emulate what we think about. Children pretend they are the heroes they dream about. Teenagers dress like the sports stars or popular musicians they devote so much attention to. But these tendencies don’t disappear when we become adults. Those who concentrate on “making it to the top” read
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Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 6, 2002
based on 9 ratings
| 3,844 views
In evangelical individualism people think of their personal relationship with God in isolation (“Just me and Jesus”) and forge their destiny apart from any church authority. While holding relatively low opinions of history, traditions, and the church, they turn to the experiences of self and
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Contributed by Paul Fritz on Jun 5, 2001
based on 12 ratings
| 3,120 views
THE BIG RETURN ON FAITHFULNESS
It was a stormy night in Birmingham, England, and Hudson Taylor was to speak at a meeting at the Severn Street schoolroom. His hostess assured him that nobody would attend on such a stormy night, but Taylor insisted on going. "I must go even if there is no one but
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Denomination:
Evangelical/Non-Denominational
based on 3 ratings
| 12,297 views
There is a story of a woodpecker who was pecking on a tree. Just as he flew away, lightning hit the tree and split it right down the middle. The woodpecker heard the noise, turned back, and said, “Look what I did!”
A lot of us are like spiritual woodpeckers. We walk around consciously and
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Denomination:
Evangelical/Non-Denominational
Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 30, 2003
based on 12 ratings
| 2,639 views
In his book, When God Whispers Your Name, Max Lucado writes:
I choose self-control …
I am a spiritual being. After this body is dead, my spirit will soar. I refuse to let what will rot, rule the eternal. I choose self-control. I will be drunk only by joy. I will be impassioned only by my
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Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 5, 2003
based on 3 ratings
| 1,859 views
HOW REAL IS YOUR FOOD?
James Boice puts it this way:
“Is he as real to you spiritually as something you can taste or handle? Is he as much a part of you as that which you can eat? Do not think me blasphemous when I say that he must be real and as useful to you as a hamburger and French fries. I
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Contributed by Evie Megginson on Nov 4, 2003
based on 5 ratings
| 3,821 views
S. D. Gordon tells of a spring storm that broke a large limb on his cherry tree. Although it hung by a very slender strand, to his surprise the blossoms came anyway. Later some fruit began to grow as it did on the other branches. He noticed, however, that only those in full contact with the tree
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Denomination:
Baptist
Contributed by Jay Robison on Aug 30, 2004
based on 2 ratings
| 3,294 views
What business is our church in? We are not all about buildings and budgets. Although it is important for us to be good stewards of those, they are not our primary business. We are in the people business. God has created and sustained this church that people may gather together and praise Jesus
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Denomination:
Baptist
Contributed by Martin Kim on Sep 21, 2004
based on 19 ratings
| 2,221 views
Phillip Yancey describes grace in his book What’s So Amazing About Grace. He writes, “Grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us more—no amount of spiritual calisthenics and renunciations, no amount of knowledge gained from seminaries, no amount of crusading on behalf of righteous
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Denomination:
Adventist
A man was driving through a mining region one Sunday when he noticed a large number of mules in an open field. When he inquired about this unusual sight, he was told that the work animals had been brought up from the dark passages below to preserve their eyesight. Unless they were regularly
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Denomination:
Evangelical/Non-Denominational