October 25
Today we celebrate Reformation Sunday. We remember the past as we come into a new day. And through God’s continuous reforming love, we can prepare to find a new way for our lives. Reformation is a time to cause us to stop, think about life and why we are here. To think about yesterday and prepare for tomorrow with the Word of God as our guide. It is a time to renew old vows and make new ones. It is a time to replenish hope, deepen faith, and know the forgiveness of God. We are His Church--we gather to praise Him. Let us hold each other in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit as we shout aloud our praise to God!
What sets this day apart are not the events of 500 years ago. The Reformation is not merely a past event but an ongoing movement. In every generation, no less our own, God calls His people to renewal. Today we give thanks for a Reformation heritage. We remember that a heritage is no substitute for the ongoing work of reformation and renewal in our own time. We continue in Christ's gift of freedom only as long as we continue faithful in His Word.
You can do more through a handful of totally devoted believers than through a churchful of halfhearted ones. -- Bill Hybels
As I grow older, I care less what people think about me and more what God thinks of me. I expect to be with him much longer than with you. -- Robert Baker in Country Road 13
The amount of sleep required by the average person is about five minutes more.
If people were not meant to have late-night snacks, why did God put a light in the refrigerator?
Do not look forward to what may happen tomorrow. The same everlasting Father who cares for you today will take care of you tomorrow, and every day. Either he will shield you from suffering, or he will give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace, then. Put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations. --Francis of Sales
“The most used of God are the most broken.” (Jack Hyles)
Safety is not found in the absence of danger but in the presence of God.
Work with the construction gang, not the wrecking crew.
It's said that Robert (Bobbie) Knight, fabled for his temper on the basketball sidelines as a coach, had turned his thoughts to his future after his last firing, and was contemplating more than just basketball. So he called his church pastor one day and asked him, "Reverend, will I be able to coach basketball in Heaven?"
His pastor, not wanting to give a glib answer, asked for a few days to pray and meditate upon the issue.
About a week later, he returned Bob Knight's call and asked him to come in and meet with him in his study.
"Well, Bob," says the pastor, as the two sit down together, "there's good news and there's bad news. The good news is that yes, you'll be able to coach basketball in Heaven."
"Great!" exclaims Bob. "What's the bad news?"
"Unless you get a handle on that temper of yours, you'll be coaching for the visiting team."
John Newton is remembered for his hymn, “Amazing Grace.” in his later years, he often lost his memory in the pulpit and had to be reminded of the subject about which he had been preaching. He said, “My memory is nearly gone; but It remember two things: that I am a great sinner and that Jesus is a great Savior.” (Victory Baptist Press)
"God is testing us now that He may shake out of us the things that are transient and temporal, and that we may be established in the things which cannot be shaken and which shall remain...Christ the Author and Finisher of our faith is searching and proving our faith, and bringing to light every weakness and defect so that we may be established and settled and prepared for the testing day!" - A. B. Simpson
We are not human beings going through a temporary spiritual experience.
We are spiritual beings going through a temporary human experience.
"Jesus gives us real eyes so we can realize where the real lies." - Michael McInerny
Youth is not entirely a time of life;
it is a state of mind.
Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years.
People grow old by deserting their ideals.
You are as young as your faith,
as old as your doubts;
as young as your self-confidence,
as old as your fear;
as young as your hope,
as old as your despair.
---General Douglas MacArthur
The “Perfect Church”
Ever heard the old cliche’ — “If you ever find the perfect church, please don’t join it. If you do, it won’t be perfect anymore!” The church is made up of people who are saved by God’s grace, but still not perfect!
The RIGHT Imitation
What every church should be is what every Christian should be: elect (born again), exemplary (imitating the right people), enthusiastic (sharing the Gospel with others), and expectant (daily looking for Jesus Christ to return).
Remember this Responsibility:
The world is looking for Spiritual help. When it turns to the church what will it see? Are we “fit to be imitated?” The word “imitate” is synonymous with “follow.” Are we as individuals and as the church something God would want the world to follow?
NIPPING NEGATIVE REACTIONS
Have you noticed how easy it is to react in a negative manner when something negative happens in your life? Doubt may creep into your thoughts and cause you to question God and His Word. Proverbs 17:22 (NIV) says "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones."
Samuel Hearne was an adventurer who took an expedition to the mouth of the Copper- mine River. He recorded that a few days after the journey was started, Indians stole most of the expedition's supplies. What was the explorer's comment on the theft? Surely he must have been upset and distressed about so great a loss. Not so! The optimistic Hearne wrote:
"The weight of our baggage being so much lightened, our next day's journey was more swift and pleasant."
Remember, negative reactions only make a bad situation worse. Choose to look for the bright side of problems this week. Keep tabs on the results of your optimistic outlook.
You might also want to keep a record of how your perspective is changed.
"Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm." -- Winston Churchill
A young bride was scouring the aisles of the supermarket. Up and down each aisle she went, then started over again. The store manager noticed this and went over to her.
"Can I help you find something, miss?" he asked.
"I's Mrs.!", she said proudly, "I just got married."
"Congratulations, " said the manager. "What can I help you find?"
"Scratch," she replied.
"Scratch?" he asked, "Is that a new cleanser or something?"
"No silly," she replied brightly. "My husband told me that his mother made everything from scratch, so I need to find some!"
"By sacrificing his body, Jesus created a new form of community - the Body of Christ around the world. There are people like my friends, stories like our stories, everywhere he is believed and obeyed. His sacrifice reconnects us to reality, to truth, to who God is, to a clear vision of who we are without him and who we are with him." - Kelly Monroe Kullberg, Finding God Beyond Harvard (InterVarsity, 2006)
The letters of the alphabet in order of their frequency of use are,
ETAISONHRDLUCMFWYPGVBKJQXZ.
Three paramedics were boasting about improvements in their respective ambulance team's response times.
"Since we installed our new satellite navigation system," bragged the first one, "we cut our emergency response time by ten percent."
The other paramedics nodded in approval. "Not bad," the second paramedic commented. "But by using a computer model of traffic patterns, we've cut our average response time by 20 percent."
Again, the other team members gave their congratulations, until the third paramedic said, "That's nothing! Since our ambulance driver passed the bar exam, we've cut our emergency response time in half!"
"If God never became flesh, he could neither redeem us nor reveal to us his promise of eternal life. It is only by becoming like us that God can make us like him, restoring us in his image." - St. Irenaeus, 444 Surprising Quotes about Jesus (Bethany House, 2006)
"The Lord's Prayer is 66 words, the Gettysburg Address is 286 words, and there are 1,322 words in the Declaration of Independence. Yet, government regulations on the sale of cabbage total 26,911 words." --David McIntosh
"People don't ask for facts in making up their minds. They would rather have one good, soul-satisfying emotion than a dozen facts." --Robert Keith Leavitt
The church should be a community of dates instead of pumpkins. Pumpkins you can harvest in six months. Dates have to be planted and tended by people who will not live to harvest them. Dates are for future generations. -- George Chauncey
If we can convince people that we are onto something that's full of joy, they'll stampede one another to follow us. -- William Treadwell
What sets this day apart are not the events of 500 years ago. The Reformation is not merely a past event but an ongoing movement. In every generation, no less our own, God calls His people to renewal. Today we give thanks for a Reformation heritage. We remember that a heritage is no substitute for the ongoing work of reformation and renewal in our own time. We continue in Christ's gift of freedom only as long as we continue faithful in His Word.
You can do more through a handful of totally devoted believers than through a churchful of halfhearted ones. -- Bill Hybels
As I grow older, I care less what people think about me and more what God thinks of me. I expect to be with him much longer than with you. -- Robert Baker in Country Road 13
The amount of sleep required by the average person is about five minutes more.
If people were not meant to have late-night snacks, why did God put a light in the refrigerator?
Do not look forward to what may happen tomorrow. The same everlasting Father who cares for you today will take care of you tomorrow, and every day. Either he will shield you from suffering, or he will give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace, then. Put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations. --Francis of Sales
“The most used of God are the most broken.” (Jack Hyles)
Safety is not found in the absence of danger but in the presence of God.
Work with the construction gang, not the wrecking crew.
It's said that Robert (Bobbie) Knight, fabled for his temper on the basketball sidelines as a coach, had turned his thoughts to his future after his last firing, and was contemplating more than just basketball. So he called his church pastor one day and asked him, "Reverend, will I be able to coach basketball in Heaven?"
His pastor, not wanting to give a glib answer, asked for a few days to pray and meditate upon the issue.
About a week later, he returned Bob Knight's call and asked him to come in and meet with him in his study.
"Well, Bob," says the pastor, as the two sit down together, "there's good news and there's bad news. The good news is that yes, you'll be able to coach basketball in Heaven."
"Great!" exclaims Bob. "What's the bad news?"
"Unless you get a handle on that temper of yours, you'll be coaching for the visiting team."
John Newton is remembered for his hymn, “Amazing Grace.” in his later years, he often lost his memory in the pulpit and had to be reminded of the subject about which he had been preaching. He said, “My memory is nearly gone; but It remember two things: that I am a great sinner and that Jesus is a great Savior.” (Victory Baptist Press)
"God is testing us now that He may shake out of us the things that are transient and temporal, and that we may be established in the things which cannot be shaken and which shall remain...Christ the Author and Finisher of our faith is searching and proving our faith, and bringing to light every weakness and defect so that we may be established and settled and prepared for the testing day!" - A. B. Simpson
We are not human beings going through a temporary spiritual experience.
We are spiritual beings going through a temporary human experience.
"Jesus gives us real eyes so we can realize where the real lies." - Michael McInerny
Youth is not entirely a time of life;
it is a state of mind.
Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years.
People grow old by deserting their ideals.
You are as young as your faith,
as old as your doubts;
as young as your self-confidence,
as old as your fear;
as young as your hope,
as old as your despair.
---General Douglas MacArthur
The “Perfect Church”
Ever heard the old cliche’ — “If you ever find the perfect church, please don’t join it. If you do, it won’t be perfect anymore!” The church is made up of people who are saved by God’s grace, but still not perfect!
The RIGHT Imitation
What every church should be is what every Christian should be: elect (born again), exemplary (imitating the right people), enthusiastic (sharing the Gospel with others), and expectant (daily looking for Jesus Christ to return).
Remember this Responsibility:
The world is looking for Spiritual help. When it turns to the church what will it see? Are we “fit to be imitated?” The word “imitate” is synonymous with “follow.” Are we as individuals and as the church something God would want the world to follow?
NIPPING NEGATIVE REACTIONS
Have you noticed how easy it is to react in a negative manner when something negative happens in your life? Doubt may creep into your thoughts and cause you to question God and His Word. Proverbs 17:22 (NIV) says "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones."
Samuel Hearne was an adventurer who took an expedition to the mouth of the Copper- mine River. He recorded that a few days after the journey was started, Indians stole most of the expedition's supplies. What was the explorer's comment on the theft? Surely he must have been upset and distressed about so great a loss. Not so! The optimistic Hearne wrote:
"The weight of our baggage being so much lightened, our next day's journey was more swift and pleasant."
Remember, negative reactions only make a bad situation worse. Choose to look for the bright side of problems this week. Keep tabs on the results of your optimistic outlook.
You might also want to keep a record of how your perspective is changed.
"Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm." -- Winston Churchill
A young bride was scouring the aisles of the supermarket. Up and down each aisle she went, then started over again. The store manager noticed this and went over to her.
"Can I help you find something, miss?" he asked.
"I's Mrs.!", she said proudly, "I just got married."
"Congratulations, " said the manager. "What can I help you find?"
"Scratch," she replied.
"Scratch?" he asked, "Is that a new cleanser or something?"
"No silly," she replied brightly. "My husband told me that his mother made everything from scratch, so I need to find some!"
"By sacrificing his body, Jesus created a new form of community - the Body of Christ around the world. There are people like my friends, stories like our stories, everywhere he is believed and obeyed. His sacrifice reconnects us to reality, to truth, to who God is, to a clear vision of who we are without him and who we are with him." - Kelly Monroe Kullberg, Finding God Beyond Harvard (InterVarsity, 2006)
The letters of the alphabet in order of their frequency of use are,
ETAISONHRDLUCMFWYPGVBKJQXZ.
Three paramedics were boasting about improvements in their respective ambulance team's response times.
"Since we installed our new satellite navigation system," bragged the first one, "we cut our emergency response time by ten percent."
The other paramedics nodded in approval. "Not bad," the second paramedic commented. "But by using a computer model of traffic patterns, we've cut our average response time by 20 percent."
Again, the other team members gave their congratulations, until the third paramedic said, "That's nothing! Since our ambulance driver passed the bar exam, we've cut our emergency response time in half!"
"If God never became flesh, he could neither redeem us nor reveal to us his promise of eternal life. It is only by becoming like us that God can make us like him, restoring us in his image." - St. Irenaeus, 444 Surprising Quotes about Jesus (Bethany House, 2006)
"The Lord's Prayer is 66 words, the Gettysburg Address is 286 words, and there are 1,322 words in the Declaration of Independence. Yet, government regulations on the sale of cabbage total 26,911 words." --David McIntosh
"People don't ask for facts in making up their minds. They would rather have one good, soul-satisfying emotion than a dozen facts." --Robert Keith Leavitt
The church should be a community of dates instead of pumpkins. Pumpkins you can harvest in six months. Dates have to be planted and tended by people who will not live to harvest them. Dates are for future generations. -- George Chauncey
If we can convince people that we are onto something that's full of joy, they'll stampede one another to follow us. -- William Treadwell
posted by joypastordon at 3:44 PM
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