In his book, The Externally Focused Church, Rick Rusaw shares the story of Tom Maharius, the least likely person to make an impact on any community, let alone New York City. A casualty of the 60’s hippie movement, and heavily involved in drugs use, Maharias’s downward spiral came to an abrupt end
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Baptist
Contributed by A. Todd Coget on May 16, 2003
based on 6 ratings
| 3,944 views
[illustration]
On Christmas morning, the children in a family do not usually all receive the same gifts.
One gets a football, one a puzzle, another receives a doll house, and another a table game.
Yet, although each child does not receive the same gifts as the others, the parents intend the gifts
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Evangelical/Non-Denominational
Contributed by Dan Waite on Nov 25, 2005
based on 4 ratings
| 1,910 views
“The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” the citizens of Narnia have lived under what seems to be an endless winter in discouragement and fear. However, there are rumors, coupled with hopes that “Aslan is on the move” and when He arrives He will right all wrongs. ("Wrong will be right,/When Aslan
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Free Methodist
A man came to the church I was serving. He needed help on Christmas Eve. After giving him some food I asked him where he goes to church. He never goes. I told him he was welcome here. He said, “I know I need God; He’s the only one who will never turn His back on you.”
The man was
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United Methodist
Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 16, 2002
based on 4 ratings
| 2,422 views
AND WE WERE AFRAID
Writer and naturalist Anne Dillard tells of a cold Christmas Eve when she, then a young girl, and her family had come home from a late dinner out. Ginger ale and a plate of cookies sat on a special table. Dillard had taken off her winter coat and was warming herself on the
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Contributed by Eric Hickman on Dec 16, 2002
based on 3 ratings
| 3,228 views
It was a chilly December evening in downtown Chicago, and about a dozen people from a suburban Christian college were Christmas caroling. A few people stopped to listen. A black man edged closer as they sang. His head nodded in rhythm with the melody. He was probably in his 20s, but his tired and
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Church Of God
Contributed by A. Todd Coget on May 16, 2003
based on 8 ratings
| 6,954 views
[illustration]
Imagine how a parent would feel if on Christmas day when the gifts for their children were handed out, the children just took them, said “Thank you,” and laid them aside with no attempt to open the gifts not even to find out what they were!
Imagine how the Lord must feel when he has
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Evangelical/Non-Denominational
Contributed by Richard Mcnair on Nov 4, 2004
I played Santa this week at the nursing home - The outfit was fine but the beard was rank, so I had to spray it with something. - I hugged - asked if they were good little boys and girls, passed out gifts and even danced with some of the ladies. I couldn’t tell who really believed in Santa and
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Baptist
A recent Newsweek poll found that “84 percent of American adults consider themselves Christians, and 82 percent see Jesus as God or the son of God. Seventy-nine percent say they believe in the virgin birth, and 67 percent think the Christmas story — from the angels’ appearance to the Star of
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Methodist
Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 28, 2008
based on 1 rating
| 3,660 views
THE GREAT SECRET
As a third-century man was near death, he penned these last words to a friend: "It's a bad world, an incredibly bad world. But I have discovered in the midst of it a quiet and holy people who have learned a great secret. They have found a joy, which is a thousand times better than
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Contributed by Sermon Central on May 9, 2002
based on 8 ratings
| 2,551 views
PARENTING SOCIAL DEGENERATION
Sheila Weller, in her book "Saint of Circumstances", reveals the untold story of Alex Kelley, who was convicted of rape in 1996. When Kelley was initially indicted he fled to Europe, spending more than eight years on the run, leading a comfortable lifestyle.
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Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 20, 2006
based on 1 rating
| 1,956 views
Who Is Leading People To Christ? Recent Barna research finds that among Christians who embraced Christ before their teen years, half were led to Christ by their parents, with another 20% by some other friend or relative. 7% accepted Jesus in response to a minister’s personal prompting and 12% cited
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Contributed by Doane Brubaker on Mar 30, 2007
“Since God chose you to be the holy people whom he loves, you must clothe yourselves with... gentleness...” (Colossians 3:12, NLT)
The word is “meekness”. That’s not weakness, it’s strength under control.
When I was working in dairy farm construction, our crew put in a comfort-stall barn
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Denomination:
Mennonite
Silent Night Carol
On a cold Christmas Eve in 1818 Father Joseph Franz Mohr (1792-1848) walked the three kilometres from his home - in the Austrian village of Oberndorf bei Salzburg - to visit his friend Franz Xaver Gruber (1787-1863) in the neighboring town of Arnsdorf bei Laufen.
Mohr brought
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Anglican
Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 16, 2001
based on 11 ratings
| 1,668 views
Divorced life is not being there when your little girl
is crying from a bad dream and wants her daddy but
you’re not there because that night was not your
parenting night. (And you won’t even know she had a
bad dream because no one will tell you.)
Divorced life is not having any idea what your
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Contributed by A. Todd Coget on Jun 6, 2002
[Beauty of Unity, Citation: Mike Royko, One More Time (University of Chicago Press, 1999), pp. 85-87; submitted by Dallas Roark, Emporia, Kansas]
The late columnist Mike Royko writes about a conversation he had with Slats Grobnik, a man who sold Christmas trees.
Slats remembered one couple on the
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Evangelical/Non-Denominational
Mike Royko writes about a conversation he had with Slats Grobnik, a man who sold Christmas trees. Slats remembered one couple on the hunt for a Christmas tree. They were obviously poor. After finding only trees that were too expensive, they found a Scotch pine that was okay on one side, but pretty
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United Methodist
Contributed by Rick Crandall on Jul 12, 2008
based on 3 ratings
| 1,968 views
Paul could have been filled with bitterness, but he overflowed with the joy of the Lord, and we can too! Our hands are not in chains today. We are blessed far more than most people in the world. But if all of that was taken away, we would still have grace; we would still have Heaven; we would still
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Denomination:
Baptist
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