The Kingdom Will Succeed

(Matthew 13:24-30; 36-43) The planners hadn’t expected such a large turnout for the “seminar.” Jesus was teaching. They had to have “Professor” Jesus in a larger space to accommodate the “class.” Moving outside was the only logical solution – so outside went students, notebooks, pens and all. Capitalizing on the outside visual aids, Jesus launched […]

Go and Tell

Sermon Outline from the Lectionary, from PREACHING, July/Aug. 1987, pg. 41. Matthew 28:18-20 and Acts 1:8 All Christians are commanded to share about Christ. God did not just call pastors, Sunday School teachers and missionaries to share the good news about Christ. The command to “go and tell” is for all disciples of Christ. We are […]

"Today is mine. Tomorrow is none of my business. If I peer anxiously into the fog of the future, I will strain my spiritual eyes so that I will not see clearly what is required of me now." - Elisabeth Elliott in Keep a Quiet Heart

"It is precisely because of the eternity outside time that everything in time becomes valuable and important and meaningful. Therefore, Christianity…makes it of urgent importance that everything we do here (whether individually or as a society) should be rightly related to what we eternally are. 'Eternal life' is the sole sanction for the values of this life. - Dorothy L. Sayers in Dorothy L. Sayers: Her Life and Soul" - Christianity Today: Oct. 6, 1997

"Although the threads of my life have often seemed knotted, I know, by faith, that on the other side of the embroidery there is a crown." - Corrie Ten Boom in My Heart Sings

"A pastor was preaching on going to heaven. He said, 'How many of you would like to go to heaven tonight?' And everybody raised their hands but a little boy in the balcony. He tried again, 'How many of you would like to go to heaven?' Everybody but that one little fellow in the balcony. So he said to him, 'Son, don't you want to go to heaven?' The little boy said, 'Yeah, someday, but I thought you were gettin' up a load right now.'" - James HewettIllustrations Unlimiteda

Eternity

"Those that try the hardest, work the hardest, and put in the longest hours when necessary usually pull ahead of the pack just out of sheer effort." - F. Lee Bailey, First Draft, April 1998

"That which we obtain too easily we esteem too lightly." - Thomas Paine

Effort

"I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book." - Groucho Marx, 1890-1977

"What is killing us is having to teach them to read, compute... and to think." - IBM chief Louis Gerstner on the need for educated workers

"Education - the great mumbo jumbo and fraud of the ages - purports to equip us to live and is prescribed as a universal remedy for everything from juvenile delinquency to premature senility. For the most part it serves to enlarge stupidity, inflate conceit, enhance credulity, and put those subjected to it at the mercy of brainwashers with printing presses, radio, and television at their disposal." - Malcolm Muggeridge, Jesus Rediscovered

Education

"Whatever it was that occurred after Jesus' crucifixion, one thing is absolutely clear: It was called 'resurrection.' Of that there can be no doubt. All who were met by it called it the same thing. However unclear many things may be about alleged meetings with Jesus after his death, there was a consensus in the community that whatever it was that people were experiencing, the correct term for it was resurrection. This meant that they had experienced and tasted the first fruits of the expected event at the end time of judgment and redemption." - "Thomas C. Oden in Agenda for Theology After Modernity... What?" - Christianity Today: April 2, 1998

"'Oh, you're real! Oh, Aslan!' cried Lucy and both girls flung themselves upon him and covered him with kisses.
'But what does it all mean?' asked Susan when they were somewhat calmer.
'It means,' said Aslan, 'that though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of Time. But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read there a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards. - C.S. Lewis in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" - Christianity Today, April 6, 1998

"It costs God nothing, so far as we know, to create nice things; but to convert rebellious wills cost Him crucifixion." - C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity

Easter

We are constantly assured that the churches are empty because preachers insist too much upon doctrine - 'dull dogma,' as people call it. The fact is the precise opposite. It is the neglect of dogma that makes for dullness. The Christian faith is the most exciting drama that ever staggered the imagination of man - and the dogma is the drama." - Dorothy Sayers (quoted in New Covenant, Jan. 1998, page 6)

Doctrine

"Ever hear that 50% of U.S. marriages are headed for divorce? It all started one year when somebody at the Census Bureau noticed that there had been 2.4 million marriages and 1.2 million divorces. Comparing those two figures without taking into account the 54 million marriages already in existence gave birth to a quotable, but highly inaccurate, statistic. The fact is only about 2% of existing marriages will fail, and in any given year only one out of eight married couples divorce. As pollster Louis Harris says, 'The idea that half of American marriages are doomed is one of the most specious pieces of statistical nonsense ever perpetuated in modern times.'" - Leadership, Sum 1996 (page 69)

"In three decades of pasturing and counseling couples, there's only one thing we've found truly makes for a lasting marriage. Both people must want to be married to each other more than they want to divorce." - A college professor quoted in Today's Christian Woman, Sept/Oct 1995

"Rabbi Earl Grollman, a professional divorce lecturer and author who believes divorce can be more traumatic than death, says, 'The big difference is, death has closure, it's over. With divorce, it's never over.'" - Charles SwindollStrike the Original Match

"Surrendering is not an option if you plan to win a war…or succeed in a marriage. I firmly agree with a San Francisco attorney whom I heard say, 'There are two processes that must never be started prematurely: embalming and divorce.'" - Charles SwindollStrike the Original Match

Divorce

Which Door Do I Use?

The Low Self-Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 p.m. Please use the back door. Weight Watchers will meet at 7 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use large double door at the side entrance. 2ProphetU2ProphetU is an online magazine/website, started by Warren Wiersbe and Michael Catt, to build up the church, seek […]

Watch Out for Those Potlucks

Attend and you will hear an excellent speaker and heave a healthy lunch. The church will host an evening of fine dining, superb entertainment, and gracious hostility. Potluck supper Sunday at 5 p.m. Prayer and medication to follow. 2ProphetU2ProphetU is an online magazine/website, started by Warren Wiersbe and Michael Catt, to build up the church, […]

The Power of Prayer

Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community. Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say “Hell” to someone who doesn’t care much about you. Don’t let worry kill you. Let the church help. Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our church and community. 2ProphetU2ProphetU is an online […]

The Members of the Congregation

Barbara remains in the hospital and needs blood donors for more transfusions. She is also having trouble sleeping and requests tapes of Pastor Jack’s sermons. Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24th in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days. 2ProphetU2ProphetU is an online magazine/website, started by […]

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