Contributed by Lonnie Erwin on Sep 27, 2007
Illustration: Turn Around
Repentance is not basically a religious word. It comes from a culture where people were essentially nomadic and lived in a world with no maps or street signs. It’s easy to get lost walking through the desert. You become aware that the countryside is strange. You
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Baptist
Contributed by Donnie Martin on Feb 9, 2009
When North Korea fell to the communists, all the Christians in a small village were ordered to go at once to their church. The building was plain and simple, and the people had placed a picture of Christ on the wall. When the soldiers walked in, they took it down and put it on the floor. All who
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Baptist
PAYING TO FEEL BAD
I recall many years ago when I was a sales manager for Connecticut Mutual going on some calls with an agent in another city. He led me into a major restaurant and walked up to the owner, who was an acquaintance of his, shook his hand and said "Are you going to buy that life
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Catholic
Pete Peterson was the first U.S. ambassador to Vietnam after the war. But it wasn’t his first time in Hanoi. Peterson was a POW from 1966 to 1972 at the prison camp named "Hanoi Hilton". When asked how he could return to the land where he’d endured years of starvation, brutality and torture, he
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Nathan Ingram on Nov 30, 2009
“Empty Hands” by Martha Nicholson
One by one He took them from me, All the things I valued most;
Until I was empty-handed, Every glittering toy was lost.
And I walked earth’s highways, grieving, In my rage and poverty,
Till I heard His voice inviting, “Lift your empty hands to me.”
So I held my
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Independent/Bible
Contributed by Garris Hudson on Jan 16, 2023
based on 2 ratings
| 1,119 views
In Muhammad Ali’s heyday as the heavy weight champion of the world in boxing, he had taken his seat on a 747 jet which was starting to taxi down the runway for take off. The flight attendant walked by and noticed Ali did not have on his seatbelt, and said, “Please fasten your seatbelt,
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Evangelical/Non-Denominational
Contributed by Garris Hudson on Nov 12, 2024
based on 1 rating
| 520 views
A pastor was leaving his area and was saying farewell to his congregation at the Church doors for the last time. He shook the hand of an elderly lady as she walked out. She said, "Your successor won't be as good as you."
"Nonsense", said the pastor, in a flattered tone.
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Evangelical/Non-Denominational
Contributed by Owen Bourgaize on Oct 30, 2000
based on 96 ratings
| 4,503 views
Mankind has been trying to get satisfaction for an inner longing. Someone put it in terms of our having a "God-shaped gap" in our make-up. The famous poet, Lord Byron, described his experience vividly: he "Drank every cup of joy, drank early, deeply drank, drank draughts which common millions
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Baptist
Contributed by Alan Chandler on Feb 25, 2002
based on 13 ratings
| 3,962 views
LOW EXPECTATIONS
“Indeed if we consider the unblushing promise of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.
We are half-hearted creatures like an ignorant child who wants to go on making
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Methodist
Contributed by Paul Fritz on Jul 16, 2002
based on 10 ratings
| 4,857 views
The flesh is a built-in law of failure, making it impossible for the natural man to please or serve God. It is a compulsive inner force inherited from man’s fall, which expresses itself in general and specific rebellion against God and His righteousness. The flesh can never be reformed or improved.
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Evangelical/Non-Denominational
based on 53 ratings
| 5,571 views
AN EPITAPH TO GRACE
In a small cemetery of a parish churchyard in Olney, England, stands a granite tombstone w/ this inscription:
“John Newton, clerk [pastor], once an infidel & Libertine, a servant of slavers in Africa, was, by the rich mercy of our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ, preserved,
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Evangelical/Non-Denominational
Contributed by Sermon Central on Mar 24, 2003
based on 6 ratings
| 5,762 views
AN INSTRUMENT OF PEACE
"Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that
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Contributed by Jeff Simms on Jun 4, 2003
based on 14 ratings
| 2,136 views
W.A. Criswell once said, Jesus said on the cross “It is finished.”
(Luke 19:30) What that means is that salvation is “Something outside of
myself. Something with which I had nothing to do. I add nothing to it. I take
nothing away. I just receive it as a gift from my Lord. And the rest of my
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Baptist
Contributed by Tom Doubt on Jul 11, 2003
based on 7 ratings
| 4,516 views
The mantle of righteousness that comes with forgiveness is made of vertical and horizontal threads. The vertical threads are the relationship between us and the Lord, representing our restored relationship. Horizontal threads are the relationships we have with others, established by our forgiving
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Baptist
Contributed by Tom Doubt on Jul 15, 2003
based on 3 ratings
| 1,892 views
Brenda Nichol, a teacher’s aide in Glen Campbell, PA knows the meaning of not forsaking the Lord [SBC Life, June/July 2003]. She was suspended for one year, without pay, for wearing a necklace with a cross. The PA Public School code prohibits employees from wearing religious accessories. She had
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Baptist
based on 10 ratings
| 3,409 views
Boardman reminds us that commitment to the will of the Lord does require action on our part.
“True commitment will mean not only turning to something, but also turning from something, just as Paul commended the Thessalonians for turning “to God from idols to serve the living and true God” (1 Thes.
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Evangelical/Non-Denominational