Illustration results for Paul

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Since the Bible and the Ten Commandments have been taken out of our schools in the last 40+ years, we now have epidemic problems with teen pregnancy and Sexual diseases; epidemic drug and alcoholic problems, and violence in our schools to such an extent that we have never seen in the history of our Nation. SOMETHING HAPPENED IN AMERICA IN 1962: a. When our Courts ruled completely opposite to the Religious Principles our nation had been founded upon in 1962, our society has went into a moral freefall. b. Before 1962 Unwed births to girls ages 10 to 14 were steady and relatively rare. After 1962, the graph shows an increase of 325% ..... c. Sexually-transmitted Diseases to High School students were relatively rare before 1962. Since then STD’s are at epidemic proportions in our kids. d. Violent Crime since 1962 has shot up 995% e. In 1950’s a survey of teachers showed the biggest problem in schools was chewing gum and shooting spit wads. Can you believe it? f. Peter Marshall stated the following about the condition of our nation: i. He sites other indicators which point to the spiritual and moral bankruptcy of Americans: 1. There are two million Americans in prison the largest ever. 2. There are forty five million with Genital Herpes in this country. 3. There are 900,000 cases of HIV Aids in this country. 4. In Americans 10 and older 30% are carrying a sexually transmitted disease. 5. But even these indicators are not as bad as the next one he shared. He noted that 50% of Born Again believers in America do not believe in Absolute truth or in absolute principles of right and wrong. g. The Divorce rate in America since 1962 has steadily risen 111% to where America is leading the World now in divorce. h. The SAT Test as a standard measurement of education achievement for our children was began in 1926 and later standardized in 1941 as the same test we have had up until recently when it had to be ’dumbed down’. The SAT rates were steady up until 1962. Since God and prayer were kicked out of our schools in 1962 and the children were taught they evolved from mud and slime, the SAT scores declined 18 years in a row Unprecedented For the first time in history, the student’s scores were 80 points less then the previous generation of their parents Just recently our ’Educators’ from the NEA had the SAT dumbed down the test because boys and girls in America were scoring so poorly 2. This little bit of analysis shows that taking God out of our lives will cause a moral free for all in society and in the end it will destroy America and its people. The founding fathers knew this and they warned us not to believe the lies of the enemy but to follow the truth a. Here are a series of quotes from the Founding Fathers warning us not to forsake the Bible and its teachings these quotes are form the same website above and from lectures by Peter Marshall on Restoring America: “The very men who WROTE the Constitution admit that this nation and its Judicial System was founded upon the Bible and the Ten Commandments. It was done intentionally to preserve this nation from collapse.” i. James Madison - (4th President of the United States and known as the ’Father of the Constitution’) "We have staked the whole of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God." ii. John Jay was the first Chief Justice of our Supreme Court and one of the 3 top men in the formation of our Constitution. He said Americans should ’select and prefer Christians as their rulers" When is the last time you heard a Supreme Court Judge say that? iii. To show that this nation was built on the Bible and Christian Principles, listen to what Patrick Henry, that patriot and Founding Father of our country said: "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not be religionists but by Christians....not on religions but ton the Gospel of Jesus Christ." iv. Listen to what our first President, George Washington, said, "It is impossible to rightly govern....without God and the Bible." v. "Can the Liberties of a Nation be secure when we have removed the conviction that these liberties are the gift of God." - Thomas Jefferson vi. "The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time." - Thomas Jefferson vii. "Suppose a Nation is some distant region should take the Bible for their only law book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited....What a Utopia What a Paradise would this Nation be" - John Adams 3. 52 of the 55 Framers of the Constitution were members of the Orthodox Established Churches in the Colonies. A Secularized United States without any reference to God and the Bible whatsoever was the farthest thing from the minds of these men. 4. In New England - 1777 - Because of the War, Bibles from England were cut off. Patrick Allison, Chaplain of Congress, placed before the Body a petition praying for immediate relief. A special Congressional Committee ordered 20,000 Bibles which were imported from Holland, Scotland, or elsewhere, into the different parts of the States of the Union. a. These Bibles were to be given to students in school so they could learn using the Bible. 5. The University of Houston was commissioned to do a 10 year study on the Founding Fathers and their writings to see their intentions and if they intended America to be founded on Christian Principles and the Bible or complete separation from religion. They surveyed over 15,000 documents of the Founding Fathers during that 10 year period. They found 3,154 direct quotes from the Founding Fathers themselves. 34% of those direct quotes were from the Bible itself 60% were from men who were directly influenced by the Bible. One example was Blackstone, whose law books were considered the basis upon our Supreme Court and Judiciary System were built, and were the Law Books of Reference for about almost 120 years. Blackstone quoted so many Bible verses in his law books that a law student named FINNEY was saved and became a great evangelist......from reading Blackstone’s Law books So they found that 94 % of the quotes of the founding fathers were either directly or indirectly from the Bible

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ILLUSTRATION… Claire Schenot Burkat, "Five Myths of the Perfect Pastor"

His sermons were over their heads. His opinionated views alienated his colleagues. Coworkers found him boastful, even arrogant. A physical disability drove him to over-function in ministry. The first two congregations he pastored rejected his leadership, and, unable to still their internal strife and bickering, he went on to a third. By some measures of success, his ministry was a failure. This was no mythical pastor. This was the Apostle Paul.

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A man who first pastored and nurtured a church brings in an assistant to help with the work, a hand-picked man. Later, both men do church planting work together for a couple of years, then return to the home church. A sharp disagreement arises over an issue they both view as a matter of principle, and about which neither feels he can back down. The disagreement is so sharp that they part company, but the church supports the assistant! (Acts 15:36-41)

The Grace Awakening, C. Swindoll, 1990, pp. 78, 181ff

For more from Chuck, visit http://www.insight.org

Paul

Paul, the apostle, who before was called Saul, after his great travail and unspeakable labors in promoting the Gospel of Christ, suffered also in this first persecution under Nero. Abdias, declareth that under his execution Nero sent two of his esquires, Ferega and Parthemius, to bring him word of his death. They, coming to Paul instructing the people, desired him to pray for them, that they might believe; who told them that shortly after they should believe and be baptized at His sepulcher. This done, the soldiers came and led him out of the city to the place of execution, where he, af...

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Swindoll states, “His journey reversed direction. His mind did a turnaround that would ultimately transform him from the inside out. That’s the essence of genuine repentance-the mind does a turnaround…So many things within Saul’s thinking changed-and changed completely. He changed his mind about God, about Jesus, about the Resurrection, about those who followed Christ. He must have shaken his head for days. He thought Christ was dead. Paul shows that he was convinced Jesus was alive” (25).

For more from Chuck, visit http://www.insight.org

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Long ago a story was told about a proud fishing pond and a fish. Across the land, fishermen would come and exclaim how clear the water was in this pond. Upon hearing yet another positive accolade, the pond’s level of pride began to reach flood stage. "I must be the best and clearest pond in the world" It didn’t take long for the old fish at the bottom to grow weary of this overdone pride. He had heard it for years. And he, better than anyone, knew what was really in this pond. Resting on the bottom of the pond, the old fish began to rapidly flutter his fins. As he did the motion of the water began to stir up the silt on the bottom. It did not take long for the pond to fill up with a murky cloud. "Stop What are you doing to me? What have you done? How dare you dirty me up?" screamed the offended pond. The fish responded in measured and striking words: "I haven’t done a thing to you except to show what has been in you all the time. And that is what the law does to us. It simply shows us the sin that has settled in the bottom of our hearts. Just in case we forget who we really are, the law reminds us how desperately we need the cleansing power of our precious Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Do you know and love the author? The story was told about a young college woman who read a book that she found to be extremely boring. Reading each page of the book was cumbersome and difficult. Yet, because reading the book was required for her education, she forced herself to move through its pages and finally finish the book. A few years later, while working in her field of study, she met a young professor and quickly fell head over heels in love with him and became engaged to be married. One evening, while visiting her home, he saw the “boring and cumbersome” book tucked away, collecting dust on her book shelf. Pulling the book from the book shelf, he quickly informed her that he had written the book under an assumed name as was requested by the publisher. Later that night, the young lady picked up the book and began reading it. All night long she sat up and now, to her surprise, the book seemed to be the most interesting book she had ever read. It was not dull at all. She found the book fascinating and intriguing. What made the difference? That which made the difference was the fact that now; she knew the author and loved him

Paul considered himself Christ’s ambassador. What is an ambassador? He is an authorized representative of a sovereign. He speaks not in his own name but on behalf of the ruler whose deputy he is, and his whole duty and responsibility is to interpret that ruler’s mind faithfully to those to whom he is sent.

Paul used this "ambassador" image twice -- both in connection with his evangelistic work. Pray for me, he wrote from prison, "that utterance may be given me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak" (Eph. 6:18-20). He wrote also that God "gave us the ministry of reconciliation...So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God" (2 Corinthians 5:18-20).

Paul called himself an ambassador because he knew that when he proclaimed the gospel facts and promises and urged sinners to receive the reconciliation effected at Calva...

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TV Guide and the Bible One of Satan’s strategies in our life is to sweep away the Bible and its importance out of our lives. A poet once wrote about the tendency to get into a slump allowing our commitment to God’s Word to wilt away as he writes: “They lie on the table side by side; the Holy Bible and the TV Guide, One is well worn and cherished with pride, not the Bible, but the TV Guide, One is used daily to help folks decide, no, not the Bible but the TV Guide, As pages are turned, what shall they see, oh what does it matter, just turn on the TV, Then confusion reigns, oh, they can not agree, on what they should watch on the old TV, So they open the book, in which they confide, no, not the Bible but the TV guide, The Word of God is seldom read, maybe a verse or two before they fall into bed, Exhausted and sleepy, as tired as can be, not from reading the Bible, but from watching TV, So then back to the table side by side, lie the Holy Bible and the TV guide, No time for prayer, no time for the Word, the plan of Salvation is seldom heard, But forgiveness of sin, so full and free, is found in the Bible, not on the TV. (Unknown)

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Birdy, Birdy One of my favorite memories of my time serving as a youth pastor, was in the mid 1980’s when I took a group of teenagers to a nursing home in Arkadelphia, AR. While there, we sang songs to the residents, we shared a testimony of how Christ touched our life, and then, a young man in our youth group named “Randy” read a scripture. After reading the scripture, we began singing another song. Yet, at the back of the room there was an aged man who had obviously suffered a stroke who began to shout loudly, “ Birdy, Birdy, Birdy, Birdy.” Embarrassed for the man, we attempted to go on with the song. Yet, the louder we sang the louder the man shouted, “ Birdy, Birdy, Birdy, Birdy.” Then, the man began moving forward. Dragging one leg and walking slowly he walked toward us, all the time saying louder and louder, “ Birdy, Birdy, Birdy, Birdy.” Still confused, we tried to ask the man what he wanted. Yet, all he could say was, “ Birdy, Birdy, Birdy, Birdy.” Finally, after inquiring over and over again. I finally understood him. He was saying, “Wordy, Wordy, Wordy, Wordy.” Immediately I told Randy, “ Read the Bible Randy Read it” Immediately, Randy opened the scripture and began reading the Bible. It was then that we heard the man say with great peace and passion, “ Oh Birdy, Birdy, Birdy, Birdy. Oh, Birdy, Birdy, Birdy, Birdy.”