Wednesday, December 26, 2012
The Cleaning Lady
There was a little old cleaning Lady who went to a local church. When the invitation was given at the end of the service, she went forward wanting to become a member. The preacher listened as she told him how she wanted to be baptized and become a member of Christ's church.
The preacher thought to himself, "oh my, she is so unkempt, even smells a little, and her fingernails are not clean. She picks up garbage, cleans toilets -- what would the members think of her." He told her that she needed to go home and pray about it and then decide.
The following week, here she came again. She told the minister that she had prayed about it and still wanted to be baptized. "I have passed this church building for so long. It is so beautiful, and I truly want to become a member of Christ's church and a local member of this body of believers."
Again the preacher told her to go home and pray some more.
A few weeks later while out eating at the restaurant, the preacher saw the little old lady. He did not want her to think that he was ignoring her so he approached her and said, "I have not seen you for a while. Is everything all right?"
"Oh, yes," she said. "I talked with Jesus, and He told me not to worry about becoming a member of your church."
"He did?" said the preacher.
"Oh, yes" she replied. "Jesus said he's been trying to get into your church for years, and even HE can't get in."
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Touch of the Master's Hand
Illustrations About Change
*Clickable Links Are Blue with Underlines:
Church Songs?
#Change
#Value
#Souls
#Price
#Scripture
You Think About it!
Kevin Rayner
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- What illustrations would you suggest adding to these?
'Twas battered and scarred and the auctioneer
Thought it scarcely worth his while
To waste much time on the old violin,
But he held it up with a smile:
"What am bidden, good folks?" he cried,
"Who'll start the bidding for me?"
"A dollar! A dollar!" then "Two! Only two?"
"Two dollars, and who'll make it three?"
"Three dollars once, three dollars twice . . .
And going for three . . . " but no.
From the room, far back, a gray-haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow.
Then, wiping the dust from the old violin,
And tightening the loosened strings,
He played a melody pure and sweet,
As a caroling angel sings.
The music ceased, and the auctioneer
With a voice that was quiet and low
Said, "What am I bid for the old violin?"
And he held it up with the bow.
"A thousand dollars! And who'll make it two?
"Two thousand! Who'll make it three?
"Three going once? Three going twice?
"And going . . . and gone!" said he.
The people cheered but some of them cried,
"We do not understand!
What changed its worth?" -- Swift came the reply,
"The touch of the Master's Hand."
And many a man with life out of tune
And battered and scarred with sin
Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd
Much like the old violin.
A "mess 'o pottage"
A glass of wine
A game and he travels on.
He's "going" once
And "going" twice
And "going" . . . and almost "gone"
Then along comes the Master, and the foolish crowd
Never can quite understand
The worth of a soul or the change that's wrought
By the touch of the Master's Hand.
When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn't change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn't change the town and as an older man, I tried to change my family. Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world.
=============
Imagine a world...
- Where one small act of kindness turned into billions of acts, like a never-ending chain.
- Where people value people and have a genuine love for one another.
- Where every neighborhood was safe because the community looked after each other.
- Where someone did something that unites us together instead of drives us apart.
- Where that someone is YOU!
This world that you imagine... What if it was real? What if you really did have a voice in your world and you really could make a difference?
Solid Guide Posts
Far off in the dark night, the ship's captain spotted faint lights. Right away, he ordered his signalman to send this message:
"Alter your course 10 degrees south."
Promptly a return message was received: "Alter your course 10 degrees north."
The captain was angered; his command had been ignored. So he sent a second message: "Alter your course 10 degrees south—I am the captain!"
Soon another message was received: "Alter your course 10 degrees north—I am seaman third class ones.
Immediately the captain sent a third message, knowing the fear it would evoke: "Alter your course 10 degrees south—I am a battleship!"
Then the reply came: "Alter your course 10 degrees north—I am a lighthouse."
Do you think that captain changed his course?
Thursday, December 06, 2012
Quotes
In a sermon a well painted picture becomes a mirror to the soul and then a window to see God.
For a blog on quotes organized by topics, go to my blog at
http://reallifequotes.blogspot.com/
For a blog on quotes organized by topics, go to my blog at
http://reallifequotes.blogspot.com/
Unknown Author or is He known?
BIBLE STUDY
There was a young lady who read a book and having completed it, remarked, "It was the dullest book I ever read."Not long after she met a man, fell in love and was engaged to be married. One evening she said, "I have a book in my library by a man whose name is the same as yours. Isn't that a coincidence " He replied, "Not at all, I wrote the book."
She ran home, sat up all night rereading the book again. When finished she said, "That was the most interesting book I've ever read." Why had the book changed so much? Because she knew and loved the author.
Application: You will enjoy reading and studying the greatest book, the Bible, if you know and love the author. Then the Bible becomes the most interesting book in the world.
Tuesday, December 04, 2012
Expository Preaching
Expository Preaching
Let me invite you into the preacher's head so that I can share with you my basic approach to preaching.
My first preference in preaching is to do what are called "expository" sermons. This kind of lesson "exposes" or reveals the teachings of a certain text of Scripture. It uses as its basis one particular passage of Scripture, develops the ideas that are presented in the passage, and applies those ideas to our daily lives.
The main alternative to expository preaching is topical preaching. A topical sermon begins with an idea or topic (for example: "Love", or "How to Be a Better Christian", or "Things Young People Should Avoid") and then finds several verses throughout Scripture that provide ideas related to the topic.
The advantages of expository preaching are many. For one, it presents the teachings of Scripture the way they were written: in context, presenting the ideas as the inspired writers presented them. Although I might add stories, illustrations, and applications, I try to present the main idea that is presented in Scripture. I enjoy preaching through books of the Bible because, again, I am presenting the Word of God the way God presented it to us. Dealing with the Scriptures this way also forces us to consider the difficult passages, maybe the ones we would rather not think about or have always had questions about. Studying them in context often helps us find the answers we need.
Expository preaching also helps me avoid my weaknesses in preaching only topically. If I preach on topics, I find that I wind up pounding the same drum over and over - the drum of my favorite topic, you see. If I just do topics, I might pull a verse out of context to try to make my point, and that isn't a good way to study Scripture. Also, I can easily just deal with the "hot topics" and not get beyond the "current issues" to deal with the more central matters. Expository preaching gets to the issues, but it does so in the context of how those issues are addressed in Scripture. Topical preaching also tends to start out with man's thinking ("What topic can I come up with?" "What topic do I think people need to hear about?), whereas expository preaching starts out with God's thinking ("What has God revealed to us in this passage or book?").
I certainly preach topically on many occasions. For one thing, people think topically. We usually don't wonder "What does Matthew 21 say?" but we want to know, "What does the Bible say about this or that topic?" In addition, the Bible is sometimes written topically. Paul sometimes gathers up several passages to prove the point he is making. But as we today try to get across the message of Scripture accurately, we need to think of books and passages and contexts. That will give us a good grasp of the Scriptures so that we can understand what the Bible says about the topics we want to know about.
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