October 19, 2008
"Love me when I least deserve it, because that's when I really need it."--Swedish proverb
SORROW looks back, WORRY looks around, and FAITH looks UP...
"We must face today as children of tomorrow. We must meet the uncertainties of this world with the certainty of the world to come." - A. W. Tozer
The secret behind getting more faith is getting to know God more. You get to know God more by reading His book.
Till now man has been up against Nature; from now on he will be up against his own nature. Dennis Gabor (1900–1979) Physicist
The man who insists on seeing with perfect clearness before he decides, never decides. -- Henri-Frédéric Amiel
The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable.
-- John Kenneth Galbraith
"Do you ever get the feeling that the only reason we have elections is to find out if the polls were right?" - Robert Orben
Because they had no reservations at a busy restaurant, my elderly neighbor and his wife were told there would be a 45-minute wait for a table.
"Young man, we're both 90 years old," the husband said. "We may not have 45 minutes." They were seated immediately.
What We the People Demand
President James Garfield's words from 1877 still ring true. "Now more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature ... if the next centennial does not find us a great nation ... it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces."
Committing to Christ
Tony Campolo, the Philadelphia sociologist, found himself seated beside the Pennsylvania governor at a state prayer breakfast. In the course of conversation the governor said that he was sympathetic toward Christianity but not personally committed. Campolo asked, "Why not?" The governor replied, "Well, to tell you the truth, no one ever invited me to commit." Campolo said, "I'm inviting you." within five minutes that governor had committed his life to Christ.
We have good news that is essential to every human being; it's a matter of their eternal life or death. We may be the only conduits God has to certain persons. We must help him reach them.
"I have held many things in my hand, and have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God's hands that I still possess." Martin Luther
Historical Background Information: Paying Caesar
The poll tax mentioned in this passage was levied by the Romans against the Jews beginning in A.D. 6 when Judea became a Roman province. When imposed for the first time, it provoked the rebellion of Judas the Galilean recorded in Acts 5:37 and discussed in more detail below. The Herodians favored the tax, but the Zealots, Pharisees, and people resented it. The Pharisees and the Herodians, though common adversaries in New Testament times on the very issue of rendering obedience and taxes to the Roman Empire, found themselves in common alliance in this instance to trap Christ in His words, trying to impale him on the horns of a serious dilemma. Should the authority of Caesar be recognized and the poll tax be paid to him? If Christ were to have affirmed payment of the poll tax to Caesar, he would no doubt have pleased the Herodians but would have made Himself an even greater enemy of the Pharisees and an enemy of the people who shared popular resentment to the poll tax as an unlawful imposition by a heathen government. If, by contrast, Christ were to have denied that the poll tax be paid, he would have made Himself out to be an enemy of the state and possibly, subject Himself to the charge of sedition.
"Try not to become a man of success, but rather a man of value." -- Albert Einstein
"Chance favors the prepared mind." -- Louis Pasteur
False Dichotomies
Let me ask you a few questions that I am sure you can answer:
Did you put on shoes this morning, or did you come to church in a car?
Do you eat cereal for breakfast, or don't you like football?
Are you Lutheran, or do you live in America?
Will you obey God, or will you pay taxes to Caesar?
Welcome to the world of false dichotomies-thing that are wrongly set against each other, "either/or"s that really aren't. Can you wear shoes and come to church in a car? Can you eat cereal and enjoy football? Can you be Lutheran and live in America? Of course; in fact, you can be an American Lutheran who wears shoes and eats cereal while enjoying football after you've traveled to and from church in a car. None of these things are mutually exclusive. Beware of the one who asks such questions, because there may well be an agenda behind them. At the same time, rejoice! Such scheming is no match for the crucified and risen
The Importance of Voting You are wrong if you do not vote.
You are to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s. Our Caesar [in the United States] is a government of the people by the people for the people. One vote may make the difference.
ONE VOTE made Oliver Cromwell Lord Protector of the Commonwealth and gave him control of England. (1645)
ONE VOTE caused Charles I to be executed. (1649)
ONE VOTE kept Aaron Burr – later charged with treason – from becoming President. (1800)
ONE VOTE elected Marcus Morton governor of Massachusetts. (1839)
ONE VOTE made Texas part of the United States. (1845)
ONE VOTE saved President Andrew Johnson from impeachment. (1868)
ONE VOTE changed France from a monarchy to a republic. (1875)
ONE VOTE admitted California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho into the Union. (1850, 1850, 1889, 1890)
ONE VOTE elected Rutherford B. Hayes to the Presidency, and the man in the Electoral College who cast that vote was an Indiana Representative also elected by ONE VOTE. (1876)
ONE VOTE made Adolf Hitler head of the Nazi Party. (1923)
ONE VOTE maintained the Selective Service System only 12 weeks before Pearl Harbor. (1941)
ONE VOTE per precinct would have elected Richard Nixon, rather than John Kennedy, President. (1960)
I'm only one but I am one. I can't do everything but I can do something and what I can do I ought to do and that by the grace of God I will do.
At times I wonder if Caesar is really due his portion. As Mark Twain once said, "Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it."
Christianity not only saves you from sin, but from cynicism. E. Stanley Jones
Two older women who were walking around a somewhat overcrowded English country churchyard, and came upon a tombstone on which was the inscription: "Here lies John Smith, a politician and an honest man." "Good heavens!" one exclaimed, "isn't it awful that they had to put two people in the same grave."
A sportswriter once asked Joe Louis, "Who hit you the hardest during your ring career?" His reply was "Uncle Sam."
A true friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.--Anonymous
Most of us could move mountains if only someone would clear the foothills out of the way.--Bob Talbert
"For every verse in the Bible that tells us the benefits of wealth, there are ten that tell us the danger of wealth." - Haddon Robinson
"Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway." -- John Wayne
"It doesn't matter how strong your opinions are. If you don't use your power for positive change, you are, indeed, part of the problem." -- Coretta Scott King
"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also with overcoming it." -- Helen Keller
"I have witnessed the softening of the hardest of hearts by a simple smile." -- Goldie Hawn
"Grandchildren don't stay young forever, which is good because granddaddies have only so many horsey rides in them." -- Gene Perret
"Prefer a loss to a dishonest gain; the one brings pain at the moment, the other for all time." -- Chilon
When was baseball mentioned in the Bible? When Rebecca walked to the well with a pitcher.
Fishing for People
"I often went fishing up in Maine during the summer. Personally, I am very fond of strawberries and cream, but I have found that for some strange reason, fish prefer worms. So when I went fishing, I didn't think about what I wanted. I thought about what they wanted. I didn't bait the hook with strawberries and cream. Rather, I dangled a worm or grasshopper in front of the fish and said: 'Wouldn't you like to have that?'"
Why not use the same common sense when fishing for people?" Dale Carnegie
We cannot always or even often control events, but we can control how we respond to them. When things happen which dismay or appall, we ought to look to God for His meaning, remembering that He is not taken by surprise nor can His purposes be thwarted in the end. What God looks for is those who will worship Him in the midst of every circumstance. Our look of inquiring trust glorifies Him. This is our first responsibility: to glorify God. In the face of life's worst reversals and tragedies, the response of a faithful Christian is praise -- not for the wrong itself, certainly, but for who God is and for the ultimate assurance that there is a pattern being worked out for those who love Him.--Elisabeth Elliot
Reinhold Niebuhr often quoted a remark made to him by an agnostic friend who objected to the church, "not because of its dogmas but because of its trivialities," by which he meant "preoccupation with trivial concerns with the world hanging on the rim of disaster." Fred Craddock was invited to attend a prayer meeting at a home in a wealthy suburb of Atlanta. He said the group shared "weighty" prayer concerns like a date coming up on Friday night and the purchase of a new car, and one man announced they had had 75 answered prayers since the group started meeting. Then one of them turned to him and asked, "What do you think, Dr. Craddock?" Craddock, usually more reticent to criticize anybody's praying, was offended by the superficial and mechanistic reduction of Israel's God to what Paul Tillich called, "the Cosmic Bellhop." He couldn't help himself. He said, "Do you mean to tell me when people are starving in Africa and the poor are suffering in India and parents in Latin America can't sleep through the night wondering if the death squads will visit them, you folks are praying about dates and new cars?"
SORROW looks back, WORRY looks around, and FAITH looks UP...
"We must face today as children of tomorrow. We must meet the uncertainties of this world with the certainty of the world to come." - A. W. Tozer
The secret behind getting more faith is getting to know God more. You get to know God more by reading His book.
Till now man has been up against Nature; from now on he will be up against his own nature. Dennis Gabor (1900–1979) Physicist
The man who insists on seeing with perfect clearness before he decides, never decides. -- Henri-Frédéric Amiel
The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable.
-- John Kenneth Galbraith
"Do you ever get the feeling that the only reason we have elections is to find out if the polls were right?" - Robert Orben
Because they had no reservations at a busy restaurant, my elderly neighbor and his wife were told there would be a 45-minute wait for a table.
"Young man, we're both 90 years old," the husband said. "We may not have 45 minutes." They were seated immediately.
What We the People Demand
President James Garfield's words from 1877 still ring true. "Now more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature ... if the next centennial does not find us a great nation ... it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces."
Committing to Christ
Tony Campolo, the Philadelphia sociologist, found himself seated beside the Pennsylvania governor at a state prayer breakfast. In the course of conversation the governor said that he was sympathetic toward Christianity but not personally committed. Campolo asked, "Why not?" The governor replied, "Well, to tell you the truth, no one ever invited me to commit." Campolo said, "I'm inviting you." within five minutes that governor had committed his life to Christ.
We have good news that is essential to every human being; it's a matter of their eternal life or death. We may be the only conduits God has to certain persons. We must help him reach them.
"I have held many things in my hand, and have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God's hands that I still possess." Martin Luther
Historical Background Information: Paying Caesar
The poll tax mentioned in this passage was levied by the Romans against the Jews beginning in A.D. 6 when Judea became a Roman province. When imposed for the first time, it provoked the rebellion of Judas the Galilean recorded in Acts 5:37 and discussed in more detail below. The Herodians favored the tax, but the Zealots, Pharisees, and people resented it. The Pharisees and the Herodians, though common adversaries in New Testament times on the very issue of rendering obedience and taxes to the Roman Empire, found themselves in common alliance in this instance to trap Christ in His words, trying to impale him on the horns of a serious dilemma. Should the authority of Caesar be recognized and the poll tax be paid to him? If Christ were to have affirmed payment of the poll tax to Caesar, he would no doubt have pleased the Herodians but would have made Himself an even greater enemy of the Pharisees and an enemy of the people who shared popular resentment to the poll tax as an unlawful imposition by a heathen government. If, by contrast, Christ were to have denied that the poll tax be paid, he would have made Himself out to be an enemy of the state and possibly, subject Himself to the charge of sedition.
"Try not to become a man of success, but rather a man of value." -- Albert Einstein
"Chance favors the prepared mind." -- Louis Pasteur
False Dichotomies
Let me ask you a few questions that I am sure you can answer:
Did you put on shoes this morning, or did you come to church in a car?
Do you eat cereal for breakfast, or don't you like football?
Are you Lutheran, or do you live in America?
Will you obey God, or will you pay taxes to Caesar?
Welcome to the world of false dichotomies-thing that are wrongly set against each other, "either/or"s that really aren't. Can you wear shoes and come to church in a car? Can you eat cereal and enjoy football? Can you be Lutheran and live in America? Of course; in fact, you can be an American Lutheran who wears shoes and eats cereal while enjoying football after you've traveled to and from church in a car. None of these things are mutually exclusive. Beware of the one who asks such questions, because there may well be an agenda behind them. At the same time, rejoice! Such scheming is no match for the crucified and risen
The Importance of Voting You are wrong if you do not vote.
You are to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s. Our Caesar [in the United States] is a government of the people by the people for the people. One vote may make the difference.
ONE VOTE made Oliver Cromwell Lord Protector of the Commonwealth and gave him control of England. (1645)
ONE VOTE caused Charles I to be executed. (1649)
ONE VOTE kept Aaron Burr – later charged with treason – from becoming President. (1800)
ONE VOTE elected Marcus Morton governor of Massachusetts. (1839)
ONE VOTE made Texas part of the United States. (1845)
ONE VOTE saved President Andrew Johnson from impeachment. (1868)
ONE VOTE changed France from a monarchy to a republic. (1875)
ONE VOTE admitted California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho into the Union. (1850, 1850, 1889, 1890)
ONE VOTE elected Rutherford B. Hayes to the Presidency, and the man in the Electoral College who cast that vote was an Indiana Representative also elected by ONE VOTE. (1876)
ONE VOTE made Adolf Hitler head of the Nazi Party. (1923)
ONE VOTE maintained the Selective Service System only 12 weeks before Pearl Harbor. (1941)
ONE VOTE per precinct would have elected Richard Nixon, rather than John Kennedy, President. (1960)
I'm only one but I am one. I can't do everything but I can do something and what I can do I ought to do and that by the grace of God I will do.
At times I wonder if Caesar is really due his portion. As Mark Twain once said, "Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it."
Christianity not only saves you from sin, but from cynicism. E. Stanley Jones
Two older women who were walking around a somewhat overcrowded English country churchyard, and came upon a tombstone on which was the inscription: "Here lies John Smith, a politician and an honest man." "Good heavens!" one exclaimed, "isn't it awful that they had to put two people in the same grave."
A sportswriter once asked Joe Louis, "Who hit you the hardest during your ring career?" His reply was "Uncle Sam."
A true friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.--Anonymous
Most of us could move mountains if only someone would clear the foothills out of the way.--Bob Talbert
"For every verse in the Bible that tells us the benefits of wealth, there are ten that tell us the danger of wealth." - Haddon Robinson
"Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway." -- John Wayne
"It doesn't matter how strong your opinions are. If you don't use your power for positive change, you are, indeed, part of the problem." -- Coretta Scott King
"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also with overcoming it." -- Helen Keller
"I have witnessed the softening of the hardest of hearts by a simple smile." -- Goldie Hawn
"Grandchildren don't stay young forever, which is good because granddaddies have only so many horsey rides in them." -- Gene Perret
"Prefer a loss to a dishonest gain; the one brings pain at the moment, the other for all time." -- Chilon
When was baseball mentioned in the Bible? When Rebecca walked to the well with a pitcher.
Fishing for People
"I often went fishing up in Maine during the summer. Personally, I am very fond of strawberries and cream, but I have found that for some strange reason, fish prefer worms. So when I went fishing, I didn't think about what I wanted. I thought about what they wanted. I didn't bait the hook with strawberries and cream. Rather, I dangled a worm or grasshopper in front of the fish and said: 'Wouldn't you like to have that?'"
Why not use the same common sense when fishing for people?" Dale Carnegie
We cannot always or even often control events, but we can control how we respond to them. When things happen which dismay or appall, we ought to look to God for His meaning, remembering that He is not taken by surprise nor can His purposes be thwarted in the end. What God looks for is those who will worship Him in the midst of every circumstance. Our look of inquiring trust glorifies Him. This is our first responsibility: to glorify God. In the face of life's worst reversals and tragedies, the response of a faithful Christian is praise -- not for the wrong itself, certainly, but for who God is and for the ultimate assurance that there is a pattern being worked out for those who love Him.--Elisabeth Elliot
Reinhold Niebuhr often quoted a remark made to him by an agnostic friend who objected to the church, "not because of its dogmas but because of its trivialities," by which he meant "preoccupation with trivial concerns with the world hanging on the rim of disaster." Fred Craddock was invited to attend a prayer meeting at a home in a wealthy suburb of Atlanta. He said the group shared "weighty" prayer concerns like a date coming up on Friday night and the purchase of a new car, and one man announced they had had 75 answered prayers since the group started meeting. Then one of them turned to him and asked, "What do you think, Dr. Craddock?" Craddock, usually more reticent to criticize anybody's praying, was offended by the superficial and mechanistic reduction of Israel's God to what Paul Tillich called, "the Cosmic Bellhop." He couldn't help himself. He said, "Do you mean to tell me when people are starving in Africa and the poor are suffering in India and parents in Latin America can't sleep through the night wondering if the death squads will visit them, you folks are praying about dates and new cars?"
posted by joypastordon at 10:38 PM
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