March 28
It costs God nothing, so far as we know, to create nice things; but to convert rebellious wills cost Him crucifixion. -- C. S. Lewis
Put your will in neutral, so God can shift you.
When God was ready to judge the world with a flood, He came to Noah. When He desired to build a nation for Himself, He turned to Abraham. When He heard His children groaning under Egyptian bondage, He appeared in a burning bush to Moses. They were three of the most ordinary of men. But God had work to do, and He knew just who to do it with. God has always given His people assignments that are too big for them to handle alone, so that a watching world can see—not what we can do—but what God can do. --Henry Blackaby
“Let us step into the darkness and reach out for the hand of God. The path of faith and darkness is so much safer than the one we would choose by sight." George MacDonald
Penney Schwab's grandsons, six-year-old Ryan and four-year-old David, were visiting her church for Easter Sunday service. Penney explained to each boy that the pastor would give them a small cross during children's time to remind them of how Jesus died for them. At this point, young David announced, "I think I'd rather stand outside with my basket and wait for the Easter bunny."
Isn't that just like us adults, too? We don't want the true story of Easter-the suffering, the sacrifice, the death and despair. We want the warm and fuzzy unreality of the Easter bunny instead. -- Penney Schwab. Daily Guideposts, 1998
“There are many who have a great deal of this life in their hands, but nothing of the other life in their hearts.” Matthew Henry
“Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.” P. J. O'Rourke
"The best vitamin for a Christian -- B1." -- Author Unknown
"Without ambition, one starts nothing. Without work, one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
SOME WISDOM FROM LARRY THE CABLE GUY
1. A day without sunshine is like night.
2. On the other hand, you have different fingers.
3. 42.7 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.
4. 99 percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name.
5. Remember, half the people you know are below average.
6. He who laughs last, thinks slowest.
7. Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.
8. The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese in the trap.
9. Support bacteria. They're the only culture some people have.
10. A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
11. Change is inevitable, except from vending machines.
12. If you think nobody cares, try missing a couple of payments.
13. How many of you believe in psycho-kinesis? Raise my hand.
14. OK, so what's the speed of dark?
15. When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.
16. Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off now.
17. How much deeper would the ocean be without sponges?
18. Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines
19. What happens if you get scared half to death, twice?
20. Why do psychics have to ask you for your name?
21. Inside every older person is a younger person wondering, "What the hell happened?"
22. Just remember--if the world didn't suck, we would all fall off.
23. Light travels faster than sound. That's why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
One Author tells of viewing the Oberammergau Passion Play in Germany a few years ago. Every ten years, the citizens of Oberammergau stage the story of Jesus' life and crucifixion. People come from all over the world to view the play. As he watched the play, he also observed the irony going on around him. As Jesus drove the money-changers out of the temple, vendors wandered among the crowd and sold over-priced religious trinkets. As the soldiers attempted to quench Jesus' thirst on the cross, the audience gulped down their Cokes and crunched on the ice. In spite of the distractions, he reports that the message of the play still came through. As he wrote, "Even amid the clamor and commercialism, I had felt the power of his inexplicable peace."
Something to Die For... "Even if they try to kill you, you develop the inner conviction that there are some things so precious, some things so eternally true that they are worth dying for. And if a person has not found something to die for, that person isn't fit to live!" Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"A veteran--whether active duty, retired, national guard or reserve--is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to The United States of America, for an amount of 'up to and including my life.' That is honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it." -- Author Unknown
He Expected Fruit
The disciples come upon a fig tree which is showing a burst of new leaves. But Jesus looks among them, and says that there is no fruit. He expected fruit. It is the condemnation of promise without fulfillment. Charles Lamb told of a certain man in whose life, he said, there were three stages. When he was young, people said of him, "He will do something." As he grew older and did nothing, they said of him, "He could do something if he tried." Towards the end of his life they said of him, "He might have done something, if he had tried." That could be the epitaph of too many Christians...and too many churches.
When Lincoln's body was brought from Washington to Illinois, it passed through Albany and it was carried through the street. They say a black woman stood upon the curb and lifted her little son as far as she could reach above the heads of the crowd and was heard to say to him, "Take a long look, honey. He died for you". So, if I could, I would lift up your spirit to see Calvary. Take a long look; He died for you.
Must Suffer and Be Rejected
Jesus Christ must suffer and be rejected. This "must" is inherent in the promise of God - the Scriptures must be fulfilled. There is a distinction here between suffering and rejection. Had he only suffered, Jesus might still have been applauded as the Messiah. All the sympathy and admiration of the world might have been focused on his passion. It could have been viewed as a tragedy with its own intrinsic value, dignity and honor. But in the passion, Jesus is a rejected Messiah. His rejection robs the passion of its halo of glory. It must be a passion without honor. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship,
A Shoe Clerk Named Moody.... A 19th century Sunday School teacher named Kimball led a shoe clerk named Moody to Jesus Christ. Dwight L. Moody became a famous evangelist who influenced Frederick B. Meyer to preach on college campuses. Meyer led J. Wilbur Chapman to the Lord. Chapman while working with the YMCA arranged for Billy Sunday to come to Charlotte, North Carolina to attend revival meetings. Community leaders in Charlotte scheduled another revival with Mordecai Hamm. Under Hamm's preaching Billy Graham gave his heart to Jesus Christ. Billy Graham has preached to more people than any man in history. I am sure this Sunday School teacher in Boston had no idea what would happen from leading a shoe clerk to Christ.
As we examine this passage of Scripture, I encourage you to look at the owner of the donkey and his response to the king who entered into Jerusalem that day.
The number of items handled by the post office fell from 213 billion in 2006 to 177 billion last year. Volume is expected to shrink to 150 billion by 2020.
There's an old adage popular among lawyers: If your case is weak on the law, pound the facts. If it's weak on the facts, pound the law. If your case is weak on the facts and the law, pound the table."
Wherever we are in our journey of life, whatever "page we are on" in our own biography of living; the ending is no tragedy--the ending is a new beginning.
Guess Who? Wanted By:
the FDA for turning water into wine without a license,
the EPA for killing fig trees, the AMA for practicing medicine without a license,
the Dept. of Health for asking people to open graves, for raising the dead and for feeding 5,000 people in the wilderness,
the NEA for teaching without a certificate, OSHA for walking on water without a lifejacket and for flying without an airplane, the SPCA for driving hogs into the sea,
the NATIONAL BOARD of PSYCHIATRISTS for giving advice on how to live a guilt-free life,
the NOW for not choosing a woman apostle, the INTERFAITH MOVEMENT for condemning all other religions, and by the ZONING DEPT for building mansions without a permit. Guess Who?
"Answer the big question of eternity, and the little questions of life fall into perspective." - Max Lucado
For God so loved the world that he didn't send a committee.
Put your will in neutral, so God can shift you.
When God was ready to judge the world with a flood, He came to Noah. When He desired to build a nation for Himself, He turned to Abraham. When He heard His children groaning under Egyptian bondage, He appeared in a burning bush to Moses. They were three of the most ordinary of men. But God had work to do, and He knew just who to do it with. God has always given His people assignments that are too big for them to handle alone, so that a watching world can see—not what we can do—but what God can do. --Henry Blackaby
“Let us step into the darkness and reach out for the hand of God. The path of faith and darkness is so much safer than the one we would choose by sight." George MacDonald
Penney Schwab's grandsons, six-year-old Ryan and four-year-old David, were visiting her church for Easter Sunday service. Penney explained to each boy that the pastor would give them a small cross during children's time to remind them of how Jesus died for them. At this point, young David announced, "I think I'd rather stand outside with my basket and wait for the Easter bunny."
Isn't that just like us adults, too? We don't want the true story of Easter-the suffering, the sacrifice, the death and despair. We want the warm and fuzzy unreality of the Easter bunny instead. -- Penney Schwab. Daily Guideposts, 1998
“There are many who have a great deal of this life in their hands, but nothing of the other life in their hearts.” Matthew Henry
“Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.” P. J. O'Rourke
"The best vitamin for a Christian -- B1." -- Author Unknown
"Without ambition, one starts nothing. Without work, one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
SOME WISDOM FROM LARRY THE CABLE GUY
1. A day without sunshine is like night.
2. On the other hand, you have different fingers.
3. 42.7 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.
4. 99 percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name.
5. Remember, half the people you know are below average.
6. He who laughs last, thinks slowest.
7. Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.
8. The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese in the trap.
9. Support bacteria. They're the only culture some people have.
10. A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
11. Change is inevitable, except from vending machines.
12. If you think nobody cares, try missing a couple of payments.
13. How many of you believe in psycho-kinesis? Raise my hand.
14. OK, so what's the speed of dark?
15. When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.
16. Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off now.
17. How much deeper would the ocean be without sponges?
18. Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines
19. What happens if you get scared half to death, twice?
20. Why do psychics have to ask you for your name?
21. Inside every older person is a younger person wondering, "What the hell happened?"
22. Just remember--if the world didn't suck, we would all fall off.
23. Light travels faster than sound. That's why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
One Author tells of viewing the Oberammergau Passion Play in Germany a few years ago. Every ten years, the citizens of Oberammergau stage the story of Jesus' life and crucifixion. People come from all over the world to view the play. As he watched the play, he also observed the irony going on around him. As Jesus drove the money-changers out of the temple, vendors wandered among the crowd and sold over-priced religious trinkets. As the soldiers attempted to quench Jesus' thirst on the cross, the audience gulped down their Cokes and crunched on the ice. In spite of the distractions, he reports that the message of the play still came through. As he wrote, "Even amid the clamor and commercialism, I had felt the power of his inexplicable peace."
Something to Die For... "Even if they try to kill you, you develop the inner conviction that there are some things so precious, some things so eternally true that they are worth dying for. And if a person has not found something to die for, that person isn't fit to live!" Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"A veteran--whether active duty, retired, national guard or reserve--is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to The United States of America, for an amount of 'up to and including my life.' That is honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it." -- Author Unknown
He Expected Fruit
The disciples come upon a fig tree which is showing a burst of new leaves. But Jesus looks among them, and says that there is no fruit. He expected fruit. It is the condemnation of promise without fulfillment. Charles Lamb told of a certain man in whose life, he said, there were three stages. When he was young, people said of him, "He will do something." As he grew older and did nothing, they said of him, "He could do something if he tried." Towards the end of his life they said of him, "He might have done something, if he had tried." That could be the epitaph of too many Christians...and too many churches.
When Lincoln's body was brought from Washington to Illinois, it passed through Albany and it was carried through the street. They say a black woman stood upon the curb and lifted her little son as far as she could reach above the heads of the crowd and was heard to say to him, "Take a long look, honey. He died for you". So, if I could, I would lift up your spirit to see Calvary. Take a long look; He died for you.
Must Suffer and Be Rejected
Jesus Christ must suffer and be rejected. This "must" is inherent in the promise of God - the Scriptures must be fulfilled. There is a distinction here between suffering and rejection. Had he only suffered, Jesus might still have been applauded as the Messiah. All the sympathy and admiration of the world might have been focused on his passion. It could have been viewed as a tragedy with its own intrinsic value, dignity and honor. But in the passion, Jesus is a rejected Messiah. His rejection robs the passion of its halo of glory. It must be a passion without honor. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship,
A Shoe Clerk Named Moody.... A 19th century Sunday School teacher named Kimball led a shoe clerk named Moody to Jesus Christ. Dwight L. Moody became a famous evangelist who influenced Frederick B. Meyer to preach on college campuses. Meyer led J. Wilbur Chapman to the Lord. Chapman while working with the YMCA arranged for Billy Sunday to come to Charlotte, North Carolina to attend revival meetings. Community leaders in Charlotte scheduled another revival with Mordecai Hamm. Under Hamm's preaching Billy Graham gave his heart to Jesus Christ. Billy Graham has preached to more people than any man in history. I am sure this Sunday School teacher in Boston had no idea what would happen from leading a shoe clerk to Christ.
As we examine this passage of Scripture, I encourage you to look at the owner of the donkey and his response to the king who entered into Jerusalem that day.
The number of items handled by the post office fell from 213 billion in 2006 to 177 billion last year. Volume is expected to shrink to 150 billion by 2020.
There's an old adage popular among lawyers: If your case is weak on the law, pound the facts. If it's weak on the facts, pound the law. If your case is weak on the facts and the law, pound the table."
Wherever we are in our journey of life, whatever "page we are on" in our own biography of living; the ending is no tragedy--the ending is a new beginning.
Guess Who? Wanted By:
the FDA for turning water into wine without a license,
the EPA for killing fig trees, the AMA for practicing medicine without a license,
the Dept. of Health for asking people to open graves, for raising the dead and for feeding 5,000 people in the wilderness,
the NEA for teaching without a certificate, OSHA for walking on water without a lifejacket and for flying without an airplane, the SPCA for driving hogs into the sea,
the NATIONAL BOARD of PSYCHIATRISTS for giving advice on how to live a guilt-free life,
the NOW for not choosing a woman apostle, the INTERFAITH MOVEMENT for condemning all other religions, and by the ZONING DEPT for building mansions without a permit. Guess Who?
"Answer the big question of eternity, and the little questions of life fall into perspective." - Max Lucado
For God so loved the world that he didn't send a committee.
posted by joypastordon at 10:18 PM
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