Pastoral Resources

Famed pianist Artur Rubinstein, celebrating his 84th birthday, said:

“As long as we have what we have inside, the capacity to love, to work, to hear music, to see a flower, to look at the world as it is, nothing can stop us from being happy...but one thing you must take seriously. You must get rid of the ifs of life. Many people tell you, ‘I would be happy—if I had a certain job, or if I were better looking, or if a certain person would marry me.’ There isn’t any such thing. You must live your life unconditionally, without the ifs.”

“Why is it that the vast majority of Christian believers remain largely unexposed to Christian learning - to historical-critical studies of the Bible, the content and structure of the great doctrines, to two thousand years of classic works on the Christian life, to basic disciplines of theology, biblical languages and ethics?

Why do bankers, lawyers, farmers, physicians, homemakers, scientists, salespeople, managers of all sorts, people who carry out all kinds of complicated tasks in their work and home, remain in a literalist, elementary school level in their religious understanding?

How is it that high school age church members move easily and quickly into the complex world of computers, foreign languages, DNA and calculus, and cannot even make a beginning in historical-critical interpretation of a single text of Scripture?

How is it possible one can attend or even teach Sunday School for decades and at the end of that lack the interpretive skills of someone who has taken three or four weeks in an introductory course in the Bible at a university or seminary?”

A man left ,000 in his will for anyone who, through research, could prove before a court of justice that there is a soul and of what it consists. No one has been able to claim the legacy. Only in the Bible will you find the divine revelation concerning the soul of man.

The Barna Research Group recently surveyed 1,007 American adults and found that many born-again Christians exhibit surprisingly high levels of ignorance on the following core Christian beliefs:

80 percent of born-again Christians agree with the statement, “the Bible teaches that God helps those who help themselves.” The Bible does not make this claim.

49 percent of born-again believers accept the notion that Satan is not a living being, but a symbol of evil.

Even though born-again Christians are those who believe they will go to heaven because they ‘have confessed their sins and accepted Jesus...,” 39 percent of the born-again segment also maintain that “if a person is generally good, or does enough good things for others during their life, they will earn a place in heaven.”

30 percent claim that “Jesus Christ was a great Teacher, but He did not come back to physical life after He was crucified.”

29 percent say “there are some crimes, sins or other things people might do which cannot be forgiven by God.”

26 percent disagree with the notion that they personally have “a responsibility to tell other people [their] religious beliefs.”

Shortly after the 1912 presidential election, Woodrow Wilson visited an aged aunt whom he hadn’t seen for a long time. “What are you doing these days, Woodrow?” she asked. “I’ve just been elected president,” replied Wilson.”Oh, yes? President of what?” inquired the aunt. “Of the United States.” “Don’t be silly!” she snorted impatiently.

An airliner returned to the terminal because the pilot did not like the sound of the engines. As it taxied a second time for take-off, one nervous passenger inquired if the problem had been solved. "Yes, it has," smiled the stewardess. "We changed pilots."

When the Titanic went down, it was steaming full ahead. There had been a wide variety of warnings, but the danger signals were all ignored. The bands were playing, the passengers were dancing, and everyone was oblivious to disaster. Their collision course with destiny is much like our own. We are having too much fun to be disturbed, and a change of course seems out of the question. The stage and cast are set for distress of incredible proportions.

When the band on the Titanic changed its tune to "Nearer My God to Thee," it was already too late. God help us to strike up the band a bit sooner!

After a mission service, the preacher of the evening was hurrying away to a late train. He had just three minutes to catch it when he saw a man running after him. "Oh, sir," he said breathlessly as he came up, "can you help me? I am very anxious about my salvation." "Well," replied the preacher, "my train is just here, and it is the last one; but look up Isa_53:6. Go in at the first 'all' and go out at the last 'all.' Good night." The man stood staring after him until he had disappeared into the station and then he muttered, "Go in at the first 'all' and go out at the last 'all.' What does he mean?" When he arrived home he took down his Bible and turning to Isa_53:6 read these words, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." "Go in at the first 'all,' " he repeated. " 'All we like sheep have gone astray.' I am to go in with that 'all.' Yes, I see. It just means that I am one of those who have gone astray. And go out with the last 'all.' 'The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.' I see. Yes, I am to go out free with those whose iniquity has been laid on Christ." At last he realized his individual lost condition and his individual redemption. This is actually the message of Joh_1:9. The eternal Light of Christ illumines the individual who responds affirmatively. "Go in at the first 'all' and go out at the last 'all.'"

Money magazine reported in its January 1997 issue that a group of people were asked which is longer, the Panama Canal or the Suez Canal, and then asked how certain they were that their answer was correct. Among those who were 60% certain, 50% of them got the answer right--meaning that this group was 10% too sure. But among those who were 90% certain, only 65% got the answer right, meaning that this group was 25% too sure.

Apparently, according to this reported study, the more convinced we are of our knowledge, the bigger the gap between what we actually know and what we think we know. Such overconfidence leads to an illusion of control. As we overestimate the value of our own skills and knowledge, it leads us to make mistakes.

One of the hardest challenges for people is to accept just how little they really know. An example of overestimated knowledge took place a few years ago when a Spanish national lottery winner was asked how he selected the ticket number. He answered that he was positive his lucky number ended in 48--because, he said, “I dreamed of the number seven for seven straight nights. And seven times seven is 48.”

As physics professor at Adelaide University in Australia, Sir Kerr Grant used to illustrate the time of descent of a free-falling body by allowing a heavy ball suspended from the lecture-theater roof trusses to fall some 30 feet and be caught in a sand bucket. Each year the bucket was lined up meticulously to catch the ball—and each year students secretly moved the bucket to one side, so that the ball crashed thunderously to the floor. Tiring of this rather stale joke, the professor traced a chalk line around the bucket. The students moved the bucket as usual, traced a chalk mark around the new position, rubbed it out and replaced the bucket in its original spot. “Aha!” the professor exclaimed, seeing the faint outline of the erased chalk mark. He moved the bucket over it and released the ball—which thundered to the floor as usual.

The value of courage, persistence, and perseverance has rarely been illustrated more convincingly than in the life story of this man (his age appears in the column on the right):

Failed in business

22

Ran for Legislature—defeated

23

Again failed in business

24

Elected to Legislature

25

Sweetheart died

26

Had a nervous breakdown

27

Defeated for Speaker

29

Defeated for Elector

31

Defeated for Congress

34

Elected to Congress

37

Defeated for Congress

39

Defeated for Senate

46

Defeated for Vice President

47

Defeated for Senate

49

Elected President of the United States

51

That’s the record of Abraham Lincoln.

Merely to announce what ought to be done without helping motivate people to do it is of little value.

Enveloped in a cloud of dust, the county agricultural agent drove into the farmyard and bounced onto the old farmer’s porch. The farm looked pretty much run-down, and the farmer sitting in the creaking rocker did too. The agent, enthusiasm personified, began sharing what he thought were exciting ideas for improving the farm, but the old man stopped him in midsentence. “Simmer down, sonny; I know how to farm twice as good as I’m farmin’ already.”

Most people are not living even half the truth they already know. They don’t so much need to know more as they need to be motivated more. While the principal purpose of illustration is not to excite the emotions, illustrations do help listeners feel the truth. And people mostly do what they feel like doing.

"It is a peculiar thing," said an embalmer as he stood by a woman's casket, "but it isn't necessary to tell me she was a Christian. I always know as soon as I see a body; the glory leaves its stamp on the face."

In 1986 angry Filipinos took to the streets of Manila and drove Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos from power. In her haste to escape into exile, Imelda left behind more than 1,200 pairs of shoes, 427 designer dresses, and 71 pairs of sunglasses.

In a country where two out of every three households lacked adequate food, this was extravagant to say the least! During their twenty years in power, the couple plundered nearly $12 billion from their poverty-stricken country.

A very poor holy man lived in a remote part of China. Every day before his time of meditation in order to show his devotion, he put a dish of butter up on the window sill as an offering to God, since food was so scarce. One day his cat came in and ate the butter. To remedy this, he began tying the cat to the bedpost each day before the quiet time. This man was so revered for his piety that others joined him as disciples and worshipped as he did. Generations later, long after the holy man was dead, his followers placed an offering of butter on the window sill during their time of prayer and meditation. Furthermore, each one bought a cat and tied it to the bedpost.

President Calvin Coolidge invited some people from his hometown to dinner at the White House. Since they did not know how to behave at such an occasion, they thought the best policy would be just to do what the President did. The time came for serving coffee. The President poured his coffee into a saucer. As soon as the home folk saw it, they did the same. The next step for the President was to pour some milk and add a little sugar to the coffee in the saucer. The home folks did the same. They thought for sure that the next step would be for the President to take the saucer with the coffee and begin sipping it. But the President didn’t do so. He leaned over, placed the saucer on the floor and called the cat.

Two missionaries were captured and imprisoned in the same cell but forbidden to speak to each other. Christmas came.

One of the missionaries, shivering and silent, sat on the floor covered with hay. As he was playing with bits of hay around him, he thought that he discovered a silent way of communicating with his friend. He spelled out the word Immanuel. As soon as his friend saw the word, immediately he lit up with joy. They were captives, but they both believed that God was with them and that ultimate triumph would be theirs.

This Christmas let us find a variety of ways of showing to others that God is indeed Immanuel, God with us.

Count Zinzendorf, the founder of the Moravians, was converted in an art gallery in Dusseldorf while contemplating a painting of Christ on the cross which had the inscription, "I did this for thee. What hast thou done for me?" This picture had been painted by an artist three hundred years before. When he had finished his first sketch of the face of the Redeemer, this artist called in his landlady's little daughter and asked her who she thought it was. The girl looked at it and said, "It is a good man." The painter knew that he had failed. He destroyed the first sketch and, after praying for greater skill, finished a second. Again he called the little girl in and asked her to tell him whom she thought the face represented. This time the girl said that she thought it looked like a great sufferer. Again the painter knew that he had failed, and again he destroyed the sketch he had made. After meditation and prayer, he made a third sketch. When it was finished, he called the girl in a third time and asked her who it was. Looking at the portrait, the girl exclaimed, "It is the Lord!" That alone makes the coming of Christ meaningful to the world-not that a good man came, not that a wise teacher came, not that a great sufferer came, but that God came-Immanuel, God with us.

Ingratitude denotes spiritual immaturity. Infants do not always appreciate what parents do for them. They have short memories. Their concern is not what you did for me yesterday, but what are you doing for me today. The past is meaningless and so is the future. They live for the present. Those who are mature are deeply appreciative of those who labored in the past. They recognize those who labor during the present and provide for those who will be laboring in the future.

Studies have shown that an immediate health effect will make more people change a habit than some distant threat.

While none of the actual terms for immortality are found in the gospel teachings of Jesus, he addresses the subject in passages such as Luke 20:27-40 and John 11:25-26. Strawson claims that, for Jesus and his Jewish contemporaries, immortality was synonymous with resurrection (Jesus and the Future Life, p. 209). Murray Harris holds that, while the two terms are distinct, they are also inseparable, for the resurrection inevitably involves the acquiring of immortality. They are interdependent sides of the same truth. See his volume, Raised Immortal: Resurrection and Immortality in the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1983), pp. 199-201, 209-214, 232-236, for a stimulating and detailed study of this subject.

We also want to be clear that the term immortality is not to be confused with notions such as the Greek concept of immortality of the soul. Actually, three Greek synonyms (athanasia, aphtharsia, aphtartos) are used only eleven times in the New Testament (ten by Paul and one by Peter) to refer to the believer’s life after death. In no case are these terms applied directly to the human soul. In fact, the Greek teaching had very little influence in Palestine anyway. For several reasons why Paul, in particular, opposed this Greek belief, see the next section of this chapter. Further, Paul specifically used immortality and eternal life in a related manner in Rom. 2:7 (cf. Gal. 6:8; 2 Tim. 1:10), while interchanging his references to immortality and the resurrection of the body in 1 Cor. 15:50-55. He thereby asserts that the term eternal life in the New Testament “refers primarily to quality ... secondarily to quantity ... Immortality, on the other hand, refers primarily to quantity ... and secondarily to quality” (see p. 199; cf. pp. 273-275).

�Kindness has converted more sinners than either zeal, eloquence, or learning. "

Psychologist Albert Mehrabian said, 77% of the impact of a speaker’s message comes through his words, 38% springs from his name, 55% from facial expressions.

The Princeton Religion Research Center has measured the impact of religion on day-to-day work. Comparing the "churched" with the "unchurched" on a wide range of behaviors like pilfering supplies (stealing), overstating qualifications on resumes (lying), calling in sick when not sick (lying and stealing), and overstating tax deductions (lying, stealing, and cheating), the center finds "little difference in the ethical views and behavior of the churched and the unchurched." What differences there are "are not significant or are of marginal significance."

The Princeton Religion Research Center has measured the impact of religion on day-to-day work. Comparing the “churched” with the “unchurched” on a wide range of behaviors like pilfering supplies (stealing), overstating qualifications on resumes (lying), calling in sick when not sick (lying and stealing), and overstating tax deductions (lying, stealing, and cheating), the center finds “little difference in the ethical views and behavior of the churched and the unchurched.” What differences there are “are not significant or are of marginal significance.”

Perhaps you recall the scene from the movie “Patton.” General Patton was pacing back and forth on the balcony of an English mansion. General Eisenhower had him set up as commander of an entirely fictitious army, complete with fake air traffic. The Germans are fooled and do not rush to the defense of the beaches of Normandy, thinking that the real invasion will be at Calais, headed by Patton. Of course Patton is extremely upset. He can’t believe that he is being kept out of the most glorious war of the century. He says to a subordinate that he feels God has some great calling for him, some great army to move, but General Bradley, of all people, is in charge of the only army then going anywhere.

“Booker T. Washington was born in slavery.

Thomas Edison was deaf.

Abraham Lincoln was born of illiterate parents.

Lord Byron had a club foot.

Robert Louis Stevenson had tuberculosis.

Alexander Pope was a hunchback.

Admiral Nelson had only one eye.

Julius Caesar was an epileptic.

But these men made history in spite of their handicaps.

And there was Louis Pasteur, so near-sighted that he had a difficult time finding his way in his laboratory without glasses.

There was Helen Keller, who could not hear or see, but who graduated with honors from a famous college.

“Got a handicap? Call on the Lord. No problem is too big for Him, or too small. He will make everything ‘work together for good’ -- if you trust Him.”

Two fellow travelers were seated together in a railway compartment engaged in earnest conversation of a religious nature. One of them, a skeptic, was evidently trying to excuse his unbelief by exposing the various evils which afflict Christendom, detailing with pleasure the hypocrisy and the craft, and the covetousness and divisions found in the professing church, and then he pointed to some of the leaders as the most markedly corrupt of all.

In front of them sat a Christian who was compelled to hear all this. He knew the accusations to be true-too true to be concealed from the most charitable mind-so all he could do was to bow his head and bear the deserved reproach. Soon, however, the accuser, anxious to extend the circle of his audience, addressed this fellow passenger in front of him.

"I see you are quick to detect evil," said the Christian, "and you read character pretty well. You have been uncovering the abominable things that have turned Christendom into a wreck, and are fast ripening it for the judgment of God. You have spared none, but given all a good measure. Now, I am a Christian and love the Lord Jesus and His people. Not a word shall I offer in defense, but I solemnly challenge you to speak the first word against the Lord Jesus Christ Himself."

The skeptic was surprised. He seemed almost frightened and sheepishly replied, "Well, no! I could not find fault with Him. He was perfect."

"Just so!" said the Christian. "Therefore was my heart attracted to Him, and the more I looked, the more I found I was not like Him at all, but only a poor, guilty, sinful man. All of the evil which professed followers of His may do cannot turn me away from Him. My salvation hangs on what He has done, and not on what they are doing."

Frank Lloyd Wright is among the most innovative architects this county ever produced. But his fame wasn’t limited to the United States. About 70 years ago, Japan asked Wright to design a hotel for Tokyo that would be capable of surviving an earthquake.

When the architect visited Japan to see where the Imperial Hotel was to be built, he was appalled to find only about eight feet of earth on the site. Beneath that was 60 feet of soft mud that slipped and shook like jelly. Every test hole he dug filled up immediately with water. A lesser man probably would have given up right there. But not Frank Lloyd Wright. Since the hotel was going to rest on fluid ground, Wright decided to build it like a ship. Instead of trying to keep the structure from moving during a quake, he incorporated features that would allow the hotel to ride out the shock without damage.

Supports were sunk into the soft mud, and sections of the foundation were cantilevered from the supports. The rooms were built in sections like a train and hinged together. Water pipes and electric lines, usually the first to shear off in an earthquake, were hung in vertical shafts where they could sway freely if necessary.

Wright knew that the major cause of destruction after an earthquake was fire, because water lines are apt to be broken in the ground and there is no way to put the fire out. So he insisted on a large outdoor pool in the courtyard of his hotel, “just in case.”

On September 1, 1923, Tokyo had the greatest earthquake in its history. There were fires all over the city, and 140,000 people died. Back in the U.S., news reports were slow coming in. One newspaper wanted to print the story that the Imperial Hotel had been destroyed, as rumor had it. But when a reporter called Frank Lloyd Wright, he said that they could print the story if they wished, but they would only have to retract it later. He knew the hotel would not collapse.

Shortly afterward, Wright got a telegram from Japan. The Imperial Hotel was completely undamaged. Not only that—it had provided a home for hundreds of people. And when fires that raged all around the hotel threatened to spread, bucket brigades kept the structure wetted down with water from the hotel’s pool.

The Imperial Hotel isn’t there anymore. It was finally torn down in the 1960s to be replaced by a more modern structure.

A sailor and a miner lost control of the rowboat they were maneuvering above a waterfall. The swift water started hurling them to destruction. Someone from the shore flung a rope to the two as they were tossed from their boat into the pounding current. At that same instant, a floating log shot by. The sailor grabbed the rope and hung on, but the miner seized the log and wrapped himself around it, ignoring the rope. The man grasping the log was borne irresistibly along to his destruction. The other man was pulled safely to the shore.

The gospel message is that Christ is on the shore, throwing us a life-saving rope. So many things seem to float by that are attractive, but life shows them to be fatal. Isaiah pled for Israel to grasp the hand of the Lord which is with His servants.

Two first graders were overheard as they left Sunday School class, “Do you really believe all that stuff about the devil?”

“No, I think it’s like Santa Claus. It’s really your dad.”

In Charles Swindoll’s new book, The Quest for Character (Multnomah), “sociologist and historian Carle Zimmerman, in his 1947 book Family and Civilization, recorded his keen observations as he compared the disintegration of various cultures with the parallel decline of family life in those cultures. Eight specific patterns of domestic behavior typified the downward spiral of each culture Zimmerman studied:

“Marriage loses its sacredness; … is frequently broken by divorce; traditional meaning of the marriage ceremony is lost; feminist movements abound; there is increased public disrespect for parents and authority in general; an acceleration of juvenile delinquency, promiscuity and rebellion occurs; there is refusal of people with traditional marriages to accept family responsibilities; a growing desire for, and acceptance of, adultery is evident; there is increasing interest in, and spread of, sexual perversions and sex-related crimes.”

Americans are living in a post-heroic age, where young adults are much less likely than their parents to have national role models.

A survey by Scripps Howard News Service and Ohio University shows that 60 percent of adults have no heroes. Of those who do have heroes, most said their heroes are either dead or are historical figures.

Defining “hero” as anyone with admirable courage (other than family or biblical figures), the study revealed that the last 30 or 40 years has been a time of extreme cynicism toward heroes, in which a media-wise culture has witnessed the debunking and demythologizing of one so-called hero after another.

It’s not a healthy trend, according to former U.S. Education Secretary William Bennett, author of the best-seller The Book of Virtues: “It is particularly important for young people to have heroes. This is a way to teach them by moral example, so that we can point to someone as an ideal.” Maybe they should include biblical figures in their next survey.

If our language has appeared to some strong and severe, or even intemperate, let the gentlemen pause for a moment and reflect on the importance and gravity of the subject…We had to deal with human life. In a matter of less importance we could entertain no compromise.

A tight-fisted Christian, annoyed by the appeals of his preacher for funds, burst out one day, "Pastor, doesn't the Bible declare that the water of life is free, that grace is without money?" "Yes," replied the preacher, "but it takes pipes to channel the water to the people, and pipes cost money."

Perhaps once in a hundred years a person may be ruined by excessive praise, but surely once every minute someone dies inside for lack of it.

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. Ephesians 4:29

The physician was going to operate on a very rich man who always wanted the best of everything. "I don't think there will be any problem," said the doctor, "This operation is routine. We can even use a local anesthetic."

"No," shouted the millionaire. "Don't use a local. Get something imported."

That's what Jesus is-"something imported"; or Someone imported. A hymn puts it like this: "There was no other good enough to pay the price of sin; He only could unlock the gate to heaven and let us in."

His birth was miraculous, the only one of its kind in history. It was prophesied in Isa 7:14, 700 years before it happened. But even more startling than that is John's declaration, "The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world." That meant one thing-that Jesus was born to die.

The virgin birth of Jesus gave to us a divine Redeemer whose life became a ransom for sin. A Jesus born in sin or subsequently guilty of sin couldn't have atoned for sin. The Lord Jesus Christ will never be understood by those who don't see Him as the Savior. And Christmas is an empty thing unless the Christ of Christmas is your Savior. Why not receive Him as your Savior now?

Maria Fedorovna, the empress of Russia and wife of Czar Alexander III, was known for her philanthropy. She once saved a prisoner from exile in Siberia by transposing a single comma in a warrant signed by Alexander. The czar had written: “Pardon impossible, to be sent to Siberia.” After Maria’s intervention, the note read: “Pardon, impossible to be sent to Siberia.” The prisoner was eventually released.

Maria Fedorovna, wife of Czar Alexander III and empress of Russia, once used a comma to save a prisoner from Siberian exile. Alexander’s warrant had read, “Pardon impossible, to be sent to Siberia.” Maria intervened and moved the comma so that the note read, “Pardon, impossible to be sent to Siberia.” The prisoner was subsequently released!

We cannot arrive at a true understanding of God’s Word by detaching texts from their contexts to find personal meaning in them and be feeding them into the world of our private preoccupations and letting that world impose new senses on old phrases.

A theological student whom later I knew as a senior friend had committed himself to starting his ministry in the north of England when he received a very attractive invitation to join a teaching institution in South Wales instead. He did not feel able to withdraw from his commitments, but one day he read in Isaiah 43:6 (Authorized Version), “I will say to the north, Give up,” and concluded that this was God telling him that he would be providentially released from his promise and so set free to accept the second invitation. No such thing happened, however, so he went north after all wondering what had gone wrong. Then he reread Isaiah 43:6 and noticed that it continued, “...and to the south, Do not withhold.” At this point it dawned on him that he had been finding meaning in the text that was never really there. Instead, the concerns which he brought to his reading of the text had governed his interpretation of it.

To impose meaning on the text is not the way to learn God’s Law. Yet we constantly do this (don’t we?), and it is one chronic obstacle to understanding.

“When God wants to do an impossible task, He takes an impossible man and breaks him. As the evangelist, Charles Spurgeon, said, ‘We are but men, frail, feeble, and apt to faint.’

I am intrigued by the word ‘broken. ‘ It means, literally, ‘shattered.’ My sacrifice to God, according to Psalm 51:17, is a shattered spirit and a bruised heart. It is not until the pride of our heart is shattered that we will begin to understand the deep things of God. The shattering and the bruising are so designed by God for the preparation of his spokesman. As pastors, we understand what it means to be frail.

“God will not despise a broken and contrite heart. All of God’s giants have been weak men. Every man that sits on this platform is a weak man. Every one of us is frail, feeble, and apt to faint. The greatest gift you can give your congregation is a genuine model of your humanity. Admit your weakness, or your unresolved conflicts, and then let yourself be broken about it by God. It may be between you and your wife; it may be between you and your staff member’ it may be an unforgiving spirit, even alcoholism, incest, pornography—maybe gluttony, or plagiarism, or a critical spirit. It could be the sin of pride, or those sins that Jesus hated most, those of hypocrisy. Release it to God. If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

I have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to have a moral community or nation without faith in God, because without it everything rapidly comes down to “me,” and “me” alone is meaningless. Today Americans have stopped acting in terms of their own moral, ethical and religious beliefs and principles. They’ve stopped acting on what they knew was right—and the “me” has become the measure of everything. However, moral societies are the only ones that work. If anyone thinks there is not a direct and invaluable relationship between personal integrity in a society and that society’s prosperity, that person has simply not studied history. And this should not surprise us. Great moral societies, built upon faith in God, honor, trust, and the law blossoms because they are harmonious; because people love or at least respect their fellowman; because, finally, they have a common belief in something beyond themselves. It simplifies life immensely; you do not waste and spend your days fighting for turf, for privilege, for money and power over your fellowman. Alexis de Tocqueville said it best when he realized even at the very beginning of our national life, “America is great because America is good. If America ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.”

Vincent Van Gogh first began to experiment with impressionist techniques during his Parisian period, the time from 1886 until 1888. “Last year,” the Dutch artist wrote to his sister in 1887, “I painted almost nothing but flowers to accustom myself to colors other than gray, namely pink, soft or vivid green, light blue, violet, yellow, orange, beautiful red.”

Last week, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam announced that it had authenticated a previously unknown work of the painter’s from the Parisian period. Purchased at a French flea market after World War II by a Swiss family and kept in their attic, Still Life (Vase With Flowers) is expected to fetch millions of dollars at auction.

Mstislav “Slava” Rostopovich is a world-famous cellist. Since his exile from his native Russia in 1974, he has lived in the West. he is currently music director of the National Symphony Orchestra here in Washington. When the Kremlin hard-liners pulled their August Coup, “Slava” was in Paris. Instead of scurrying back to the U.S. and safety, he and his family flew straight home to Moscow. There, he took up his place in the “White House,” the Russian Federation Building that President Boris Yeltsin and his elected allies vowed to hold against every assault. In the darkened corridors, someone gave him a Kalashnikov automatic rifle, but he returned it. Rather, he took out his cello and gave an impromptu recital to break the awful tension of the siege.

For as long as the commander controls the entire court martial machinery, there will be continuing possibility of improper command influence, and (the right to a fair and impartial trial will remain in jeopardy.)

For several years a lawyer and a doctor had regularly played golf together. They were evenly matched, and there was a keen sense of rivalry. Then one spring the lawyer’s game suddenly improved so much that the doctor was losing regularly. The doctor’s efforts to improve his own game were unsuccessful, but finally he came up with an idea. At a bookstore he picked out three how-to-play golf texts, and sent them to the lawyer for a birthday present.

It wasn’t long before they were evenly matched again.

Pause my friend, as you walk by

As you are now, so once was I

As I am now so you will be

Prepare my friend, to follow me.

A visitor added:

To follow you is not my intent

Until I know which way you went!

Man who decided that “in” and “out” baskets on his desk weren’t sufficient. Instead, he labeled them: Urgent, Frantic, Overdue, Forget it

Admit God’s Word to be His message to you.

Submit to the authority of the Book.

Commit the words of the Scriptures to your memory.

Transmit the message to someone else.

The bulletin board out in the shop carried this notice:

IN CASE OF ACCIDENT OR INJURY, NOTIFY YOUR SUPERVISOR IMMEDIATELY.

At the bottom of the notice someone scribbled, “He’ll kiss it and make it better.”

A love that can never be fathomed

A life that can never die

A righteousness that can never be tarnished

A peace that can never be understood

A rest that can never be disturbed

A joy that can never be diminished

A hope that can never be disappointed

A glory that can never be clouded

A light that can never be darkened

A purity that can never be defiled

A beauty that can never be marred

A wisdom that can never be baffled

Resources that can never be exhausted.

I watched him playing around my door,

My neighbor's little boy of four.

I wondered why a child would choose

To wear his dad's old worn-out shoes.

I saw him try with all his might

To make the laces snug and tight.

I smiled to see him walk, and then

He'd only step right out again.

I heard him say his voice so glad,

"I want to be just like my Dad."

I hope his Dad his steps would choose

Safe for his son to wear his shoes.

And then a shout and cry of joy,

A "Hello, Dad!" and a "Hi-yu, boy!"

They walked along in measured stride

Each face aglow with love and pride.

"What have you done today, my lad?"

"I tried to wear your old shoes, Dad,

They are big but when I am a man

I'll wear your shoes. I know I can."

They stopped and stood there hand in hand

He saw his son's tracks in the sand,

His words-a prayer-came back to me,

"Lord, let my steps lead him to Thee."

Whatever you do, let the people see that you are in good earnest…You cannot break men’s hearts by jesting with them, or telling them a smooth tale, or patching up a gaudy oration. Men will not cast away their dearest pleasures upon a drowsy request of one that seemeth not to mean as he speaks, or to care much whether his request be granted.

A. W. Tozer once wrote, The meek man is not a human mouse afflicted with a sense of his own inferiority. Rather he may be in his moral life as bold as a lion and as strong as Samson; but he has stopped being fooled about himself. He has accepted God’s estimate of his own life. He knows he is as weak and helpless as God declared him to be, but paradoxically, he knows at the same time that he is in the sight of God of more importance than angels. In himself, nothing; in God, everything. That is his motto.”

La Fontaine, chaplain of a Prussian regiment, preached a plain sermon on the sin of a hasty temper. The next day the major, a very passionate man, told him he had used his official liberty rather too freely. La Fontaine admitted that he had thought of him, but had no intention of being personal. "Well, it is of no use," said the major. "I have a hasty temper, I cannot help it, and I cannot control it. It is impossible." The next Sunday La Fontaine preached upon self-deception, and the excuses which men are apt to make, "Why," said he, "a man will declare that it is impossible for him to control his temper, when he very well knows that, were the same provocation to happen in the presence of his sovereign, he not only could, but would, control himself. And yet he dares to say that the continual presence of the King of Kings imposes upon him neither restraint nor fear!" The next day the major again accosted him. "You were right yesterday, chaplain," he said humbly. "Hereafter, when you see me in danger of falling, remind me of the King." Let us always remember we are in the presence of Christ. Surely we would not wish to let our passions loose in the presence of the King.

During a spelling contest in which the prize was a fine Bible, the contestants were finally reduced to two-Betty, the daughter of a poor, hard-working widow, and Susan, the daughter of a well-to-do farmer. The sympathy of the school was with the poor girl. Finally Susan misspelled a word, and Betty won the coveted prize. Going home, Susan's mother said to her daughter, "Couldn't you have spelled that word?" "Yes, Mother." "Then why didn't you do it?" "Well, you know Betty is quite poor, and she doesn't get many presents. She wanted the Bible very much, and she tried so hard for it that I thought I'd let her have it." "What made you do that, Susie?" "My Sunday school lesson, Mother, which said, 'in honor preferring one another.' So I thought I'd try it, and I'm glad I did." A few days later, Susan received as a birthday present a beautiful Bible, and on the flyleaf was written the text, "In honor preferring one another" (Rom 12:10).

In ordinary times we get along surprisingly well, on the whole, without ever discovering what our faith really is. If, now and again, this remote and academic problem is so unmannerly as to thrust its way into our minds, there are plenty of things we can do to drive the intruder away...But to us in wartime, cut off from mental distractions by restrictions and blackouts, and cowering in a cellar with a gas mask under threat of imminent death, comes in the stronger fear and sits down beside us. “What,” he demands rather disagreeably, “do you make of all this? What do you believe? Is your faith a comfort to you under the present circumstances?”

“Although out of pure grace God does not impute our sins to us, He nonetheless did not want to do this until complete and ample satisfaction of His law and His righteousness had been made. Since this was impossible for us, God ordained for us, in our place, One who took upon Himself all the punishment we deserve.

“He fulfilled the law for us. He averted the judgement of God from us and appeased God’s wrath. Grace, therefore, costs us nothing, but is cost Another much to get it for us. Grace was purchased with an incalculable, infinite treasure, the Son of God Himself.”

A gardener expressed his idea of a co-worker: "As I work in the garden with the flowers and vegetables I feel that I am having a share in creation." And when a mother says to a little child who carries some small item into another room for her, "You are helping me," what stature it gives to that child and what a sense of dignity and place in life's affairs. This ought to take away any sense of the worthlessness of the countless small tasks you perform day by day. Look beyond the temporal and limited as you work in partnership with God. Your attitude will determine your sense of satisfaction with your task.

Literally, “en-flesh-ment” (Latin carnis—”flesh”); the doctrine that the Son of God became human (John 1:14). Jesus did not play at becoming a man but took on our flesh with all its problems and weaknesses. Incarnation, in the Christian understanding, means that Christ was both God and human.

One man used to play tennis quite a lot. He wasn't very good, but he was always open to anything that could help him. One day he was watching a match on TV, and saw a commercial advertising the Wilson T-2000 metal racquet. It showed Jimmy Connors making a lot of fancy shots while a hidden narrator said, "If the Wilson T-2000 could win Wimbledon and Forest Hills, it could certainly handle my little matches."

So he played with one all that summer. And he lost all summer. That racquet didn't do anything for him. The truth is, the Wilson T-2000 didn't win Wimbledon or Forest Hills. Jimmy Connors did-using the Wilson T-2000. When the fans walked away from the match that day, they didn't talk about what a great racquet the Wilson T-2000 was; they talked about what a great player Jimmy Connors was. And the prize check was made out to Jimmy Connors and not to you-know-what.

Now in tennis, a racquet is essential-but it isn't the racquet that wins. It's the champion who wins, using the racquet. In the doing of works and greater works, Jesus is the champion and we are the racquet in His hands.

ABC presented “In the Name of God” on March 16, 1995. Peter Jennings analyzed some of the growing churches/movements in the U.S., and concluded with this question, “As these churches try to attract sell-out crowds, are they in danger of selling out the gospel?”

Community Survey Questions:

1. Are you an active member of a nearby church?

2. What do you think is the greatest need in this community?

3. Why do you think most people don’t attend church?

4. If you were looking for a church in the area, what kinds of things would you look for?

5. What advice would you give me as the pastor of a new church?

6. Are you interested in getting more information about this new church?

Surveys show that as much as 85 percent of church membership growth is made up of people who church-hop. Other surveys show that there has been no real growth in church membership in recent years; increase in some denominations is simply offset by decrease in others.*

*Gallup says 81 percent of those who have changed are Protestant, and one out of four have changed faiths or denominations (23 percent). He writes: “A superficial view of the statistics on religious life in America would suggest that there is little change over the decades” (this, in spite of what he calls “constant denominational shifting”)

Hence we find in non-Christian religions a restless sense of the hostility of the powers of the universe; an undefined feeling of guilt, and all sorts of merit-making techniques designed to get rid of it; a dread of death, and a consuming anxiety to feel that one has conquered it; forms of worship aimed at once to placate, bribe, and control the gods, and to make them keep their distance, except when wanted; an alarming readiness to call moral evil good, and good evil, in the name of religion; an ambivalent attitude of mind which seems both to seek God and to seek to evade him in the same act.

Therefore in our evangelistic dialogue with people of non-Christian religions, our task must be to present the biblical revelation of God in Christ—not as supplementing them but as explaining their existence, exposing their errors, and judging their inadequacy.

Research shows that people seem more receptive to the gospel message during times of significant change. In fact, it’s in times like these when people need friendships, someone who will go the extra mile, an invitation to church, or at least someone who will share the gospel. Gary McIntosh of Church Growth Network lists a few “windows of opportunity” to watch for:

Following a move people are looking to build new relationships.

Following a divorce many look for places of safety and healing.

During a crisis event such as death, injury, or job lay-off people tend to consider the bigger questions of life.

During a time of hurt from divorce, drugs or abuse, people, especially younger people respond well to support groups.

During a period of physical renewal those concerned with physical fitness may respond well to sports oriented programs at a church.

During transition to single parenting there is often openness to practical help and support.

During the child-care years the continuing need for two-income families produces the opportunity to be involved in childcare.

Following the birth of a child the physical and spiritual challenges of raising a child become more apparent.

Have you at sometime watched a symphony orchestra as a performance is about to begin? The musicians sit and stand about, strumming on strings, blowing into horns, beating on drums. There is a lot of noise, but no music. Then the conductor enters. He walks to his podium and steps up onto it. His eye sweeps the scene before him-all the musicians and all their instruments. He lifts his baton, pauses there for a moment, then he gives the downbeat. Instantly there is music; all instuments blend into one harmonious whole.

Our human spirits are a lot like symphony orchestras. Within us there may be discordant elements, warring factions that pull this way or that, and we are out of focus, out of tune-we are just not together within. As an orchestra needs a master control, so do we. When we turn the whole focus of our attention to our Lord and acknowledge that He is in command, our lives will give forth harmonious music.

The Ladies Home Journal (Sept, 1981) asked, “In whom do you trust?” Responses were:

Walter Cronkite

40% of the vote

Pope John Paul

26% of the vote

Billy Graham

6% of the vote

God

3% of the vote

In Edwin Markham's lovely poem, "The Shoes of Happiness," Conrad, the old cobbler, dreamed one night that the Master would come to be his guest. When the dawn was yet young, he arose and decorated his little shop with bright and gay flowers and waited. When the Master would come, he would wash the feet where the spikes had been and would kiss the hands that the nails had punctured.

But the Master did not come. A beggar came, and Conrad gave him a pair of shoes. An old woman came bent from the weight of a heavy burden. He lifted the load off her back and refreshed her with food. And finally, just before the day was about to fade away into darkness, a little child came. Her eyes were wet with tears, and in pity Conrad led her back to her mother. But the divine guest never came:

Then soft in the silence a voice he heard

"Lift up your heart, for I kept My word.

Three times I came to your friendly door;

Three times my shadow was on your floor.

I was the beggar with bruised feet,

I was the woman you gave to eat,

I was the child in the homeless street."

"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me" (Mat 25:40).

When the federal income tax was signed into law in 1913, a senator speaking in opposition to the bill stated: “If we allow this 1 percent foot-in-the-door, at some future date it might rise to 5 percent.”

Socrates taught for 40 years, Plato for 50, Aristotle for 40 and Jesus for only 3 1/2 years. Yet the influence of Christ's ministry infinitely transcends the impact left by the combined years of teaching from these greatest of philosophers.

Jesus painted no pictures, yet some of the finest artists such as Raphael, Michelangelo, and Leonardo da Vinci received their inspiration from Him.

Jesus wrote no poetry, but Dante, Milton and scores of the world's greatest poets were inspired by Him.

Jesus composed no music; still Haydn, Handel, Beethoven, Bach and Mendelssohn reached their highest perfection of melody in the music they composed in His praise.

Every sphere of human greatness has been enriched by this humble Carpenter of Nazareth.

In our dealings with those caught in sexual lust, mercy is incomplete unless we do as Jesus did; call it sin. We have winked, giggled, made alibis, or ignored sin all too long. A friend in deed is one who says quietly, but firmly, “What you’re doing friend is sin. It is harmful to you and to others. It is destructive to God’s dream for you.

There is a great deal about God that we cannot understand. Who can understand the Trinity? John Wesley very appropriately said, "Bring me a worm that can comprehend a man, and then I will show you a man that can comprehend the Triune God!"

There are several Scripture commands having to do with increased faith. You can increase faith by thinking back on your toughest experiences as a Christian (Heb. 10:32-5); you may do so by becoming better acquainted with Scripture (Rom. 10:17); you may do so by getting rid of excess spiritual and psychological baggage (Matt. 6:24).

A University of Wisconsin study found that those who cohabit before marriage increase their odds of divorce by 50 percent “Cohabitation is a cancer eating away at the center of marriage,” McManus writes. “Yet, have you ever heard a sermon on living together?”

Retirement may increase a man’s risk of dying of heart attack. “We found an 80 percent higher rate of death from coronary disease among those in a study who had retired compared with those who had not,” said Dr. Charles H. Hennekens of Harvard Medical School. It may be that some people who retire get all nervous about it and kind of tense,” said Hennekens. “That may be a way of explaining this, but I just don’t know.”

Hennekens said he and his colleagues were trying to set up a long-term study of up to 10,000 elderly persons to determine their physical and mental responses to retirement. Among the variables not included in the current data, he said, were length of retirement, changes in lifestyle and attitudes toward retirement. The last may be very important, he said, since “for some people, retirement is a reward for a lifetime’s work and they look forward to it. But for other people, it is a punishment for growing old. Those who feel that way perhaps might be the ones who get nervous, but we don’t have that breakdown.”

Each victim was matched with another man of similar age living in the same neighborhood. Of the 568 pairs of victims and controls, 102 included one retiree and one person still at work. Of those, Hennekens said, 76 of the dead men were retirees, while only 26 of the living men had retired. After adjusting the information for age differences and other variables, he said, “there was still this 80 percent association.” He said the tentative findings applied only to men in whom coronary disease is much more common than in women. By age 60, one in five American men will have had a coronary problem, while the figure for women is about one in 17.

A minister who had to move to an obscure country parish in England because of ill health never gained acceptance among the villagers whom he sought to serve. Being unable to do much work, he procured a preacher from Wales who attracted large congregations. His family was a little jealous of this unexpected preference, but he rebuked them. "Take me to hear him," he said. "God honors him, and I will honor him. Have you ever studied that text, 'He must increase, but I must decrease'? 'A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven.' " How many preachers would be able to accept a more popular man in their pulpit in that spirit?

Human beings are incurable optimists. They believe they have a pretty good chance to win a lottery, but that there is hardly any chance of getting killed in a traffic accident.