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ILLUSTRTATION: ARE YOU A CHRISTIAN?
Addressing a national seminar of Southern Baptist leaders, George Gallup said, "We find there is very little difference in ethical behavior between churchgoers and those who are not active religiously...The levels of lying, cheating, and stealing are remarkable similar in both groups.
Eight out of ten Americans consider themselves Christians, Gallup said, yet only about half of them could identify the person who gave the Sermon on the Mount, and fewer still could recall five of the Ten Commandments. Only two in ten said they would be willing to suffer for their faith.
SOURCE: Erwin Lutzer, Pastor to Pastor, p. 76
Sermon Central Staff
THE STOLEN BABY JESUS SYNDROME
A few years back, Wellington, FL had their baby Jesus stolen two years running. This was a wealthy community and their Jesus was worth around $1800. The third time around they put a GPS inside and traced the thief to her home.
But the baby Jesus doesn’t have to be expensive. In 2008, in Eureka Springs AK, the thieves not only stole a plastic baby Jesus; they also took the concrete block and chain meant to keep that from happening
It’s called the “Stolen Baby Jesus Syndrome.” Some take the babies as a joke. Others do so because they want to protest Christmas. When found, the babies are often defaced with profanity or Satanic symbols (AP Dec. 10, 2008)
But the thief doesn’t always have bad intentions. About 6 years ago, Chicago Police say an art student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago was arrested for stealing a figure of the baby Jesus from the Nativity Scene at the Daley Plaza. Two witnesses saw him pull the three-foot figure from the manger and just walk away with it. When questioned about the theft, the man said he took the figure because he saw it and wanted it.
(http://www.14wfie.com, Baby Jesus Stolen - Again, 12/6/04. From a sermon by Jeff Strite, A Reason to Party, 12/26/2010)
(A man named John came home from work one day and rushing through the door tells his wife of a man who lied to him at work. He said, there was a guy at work who stole my tools and I saw him from a distance. When I confronted him he down and out lied to me. He lied straight through his teeth even after I told him I saw him. I can’t believe it, he lied to me he did.
Later in life John dies and standing before God he gives excuses saying, I never knew anything. I never knew right and wrong, I never even knew the Ten Commandments. God tells an angel play the tape, as if it were, and there replayed on the screen before him he sees himself running through the door shouting and telling his wife about the man who “lied” to him at work.
You see, every person knows "Basic" Right and Wrong.
Just as a child here in America, for the very first time, can experience his conscious telling him it is wrong to steal, so can another child experience the very same thing who lives on the other side of the earth.
It’s not culture. It’s not religious background. It’s not how you were raised. It’s in your conscience.
So God has given us the "Light of Creation" and the "Light of Conscience".
Addressing a national seminar of Southern Baptist leaders, George Gallup said, "We find there is very little difference in ethical behavior between churchgoers and those who are not active religiously...The levels of lying, cheating, and stealing are remarkable similar in both groups. Eight out of ten Americans consider themselves Christians, Gallup said, yet only about half of them could identify the person who gave the Sermon on the Mount, and fewer still could reca...
MELVIN NEWLAND
The Book of Judges ends with these words, "In those days there was no king," no law. And because there was no law, "every man did what was right in his own sight." Can you imagine what a world like that would be?
Just look at Los Angeles in 1992, or Miami in the 1980’s, or Watts in the 1960’s. Or how about Montreal, Canada, on Oct. 6, 1969?
On that day the Montreal police force went on strike. For 24 hours, Montreal, one of the larger cities of the world, was without law enforcement. That day was such a chaotic day that Canadians dubbed it "Black Tuesday."
In a 24-hour period, one policeman & one burglar were murdered. Forty-nine people were injured or wounded. There were hold-ups & robberies. In total, over 1,000 store windows were broken as people looted stores, stealing stereos, televisions, radios, & wearing apparel.
One man, dressed in a fine business suit was seen running down the street with a fur coat over each arm. While respectable citizens broke windows & stole merchandise from store fronts, thieves backed up to the back doors with trucks & hauled merchandise away by the truck loads.
Black Tuesday in Montreal, Canada, was a day of anarchy, of freedom from all restraints, because there was no authority, no enforcement of the law.
There were 90,556 cases of theft in Alberta in 2000, and 844,265 in Canada, in a population of almost 31 million people. This is obviously a big problem.
THE VALENTINE’S DAY TEN COMMANDMENTS
I. I am thy Main Squeeze; thou shalt have no other squeeze before me.
II. Thou shalt not take the name of thy Squeeze in vain, nor badmouth him/her behind him/her back.
III. Remember our Anniversary, and keep it holy--or else.
IV. Honor MY mother and father. THINE are just too weird.
V. Thou shalt not kill my love by behaving tackily or cause undo embarrassment when I am with thee.
VI. Thou shalt not commit adultery, nor shalt thou even THINK about it least you be smitten from the earth.
VII. Thou shalt not steal from my wallet/purse while I am at my bath, nor use my credit cards.
VIII. Thou shalt not talk about our personal problems to our friends.
IX. Thou shalt not covet the higher market price of thy neighbor’s house without first puttin’ down the remote and learnin’ how to use a paintbrush!
X. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s main Squeeze, nor his son, nor his daughter, nor his stereo, nor his BMW, nor anything else that belongs to thy neighbor.
www.MikeysFunnies.com!
A. Many years ago a man conned his way into the orchestra of the emperor of China although he could not play a note. Whenever the group practiced or performed, he would hold his flute against his lips, pretending to play but not making a sound. He received a modest salary and enjoyed a comfortable living. Then one day the emperor requested a solo from each musician. The flutist got nervous. There wasn’t enough time to learn the instrument. He pretended to be sick, but the royal physician wasn’t fooled. On the day of his solo perf...
So did you hear the story about the Sunday School teacher who was teaching on the 8th Commandment and trying to illustrate that it’s wrong to steal? “all right children, here’s another example,” she said. “If I were to pull a man’s wallet out of his pocket and take all the money in it, what would I be?” Little Johnny’s hand shot up, “Oh, oh I know! I know!” “Okay, Johnny, what would I be?” “You’d be his wife!”
THE NICHOLSON SHED
William Pattison Nicholson has been called the ’tornado’ of the pulpit. He was mightily used by God in Northern Ireland at the beginning of the 20th century. Nicholson was as Irish as the turf and as rugged as the hills of Donegal. But Holy Ghost power rested upon him. In the Belfast shipyard they had to erect a special shed to house stolen tools that converted workers were returning as revival blessing swept through the country. They called it the ’Nicholson Shed’. Men who had broken the eighth commandment were brought to repentance and faith in Christ through ’Billy’ Nicholson.
(From Jonathan Campbell’s Sermon: “Private Property”)
