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M-O-T-H-E-R
"M" is for the million things she gave me,
"O" means only that she’s growing old,
"T" is for the tears she shed to save me,
"H" is for her heart of purest gold;
"E" is for her eyes, with love-light shining,
"R" means right, and right she’ll always be,
Put them all together, they spell "MOTHER,"
A word that means the world to me.
~By Howard Johnson~
DEMON-POSSESSED MAN
People had written him off a long time ago. He was just a crazy lunatic that no one wanted anything to do with. They kept their children away, they kept their wives away and they kept themselves away. He lived like a pig, his body odor was almost unbearable and to make matters worse he ran around with no clothes. The people just wanted to be rid of him and longed for the day when he would be gone so he would just be a bad memory. But today, some 2,000 years later we talk about him. We talk about the demon possessed man who met Jesus. We talk about Jesus’ power over the legion of demons that possessed him. We talk of him finding clothing and sitting at the feet of Jesus. We find him wanting to go with Jesus, wanting to be with Jesus wanting to spend time with the One who had set him free. Yet in Luke 8 we find Jesus telling him, “Return to thine own house, and show how great things God hath done unto thee.” Jesus told this brand new believer to go back home and be His ambassador—His minister of reconciliation! The Scripture says that this is what the man did, “…he went his way, and PUBLISHED throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him.”
A BONE OR A STEAK?
Which is better, a bone or a steak?
Think of it this way. It’s easy to give a dog a bone, but it’s almost impossible to take a bone away from a dog. Even our little Schnauzer, Betsy, the world’s friendliest dog, will growl at me if I try to take a bone away from her.
But there’s an easy to way to take a bone away from a dog. All you have to do is offer a juicy steak to them. When you do that, the dog will evaluate and choose. In every case, they’ll give up the bone and take the steak.
The same is true of our relationships. If you’re single and dating someone who is an unbeliever, you might think it’s pretty good--but it’s a bone, and God has a steak for you, a relationship with Him. If you’re thinking about entering in to a business partnership with an unbeliever, it may look like a tasty bone, but your Heavenly Dad has a steak for you, a dynamic relationship with Him. We all desire someone’s presence, intimacy, and someone to care for us, but if we settle for having those needs met by someone other than God, we’re settling for the bone when God has something so much better for us!
(From a sermon by David Dykes, Radioactive Relationships, 8/12/2010)
On February 24, 1948, one of the most unusual operations in medical history took place in Ohio State University’s department of research surgery. A stony sheath was removed from around the heart of Harry Besharra, a man thirty years of age. When only a boy he had been shot accidentally by a playmate with a .22-caliber rifle. The bullet had lodged in his heart but had not caused his death. However, a lime deposit had begun to form over the protective covering of the heart and gradually was strangling it. The operation was a delicate one separating the ribs and moving the left lung to one side. Then the stony coating was lifted form the heart as an orange is peeled. Immediately the pressure of the heart was reduced, and it responded by expanding and pumping normally. "I feel a thousand per cent better already," said the patient soon after the operation.
There is a parable of life here. Our hearts develop a hard protective coating because of accidents and incidents in life. They are coated by the deposits of a thousand deceits and rebuffs. They are hardened by the pressure of circumstance. Inevitably they become smothered and insensitive ...
Two years before I met my wife, my eventual best man Kevin set me up on a blind date. His girlfriend had a friend who was unattached and we all went off to the cinema together. I have to confess that I cannot remember the girl’s name but I can remember that when I got home that evening I was troubled in my heart. I felt uncomfortable and I felt as if I had been driving in my car the wrong way down a one way street. The next morning was Sunday and I explained the situation to a friend who prayed with me. God was clear in his direction: I must not give any wrong impression about being available to someone who did not share my faith in Jesus Christ. She had told me that she was not religious, and didn’t see it as a problem that I was a Christian, but I knew that if we continued, my spiritual car was heading for a crash!
BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE--COMMUNION MEDITATION
USA Today had an article on the front page about those who escaped the World Trade Center on September 11. After interviewing over 300 survivors and family members of victims, USA Today concluded that in the South tower those who didn’t delay but ran for safety immediately are the one’s who survived. Those who delayed are the ones who perished. It occurred to me that the spiritual life is much the same, that those who delay and put off a commitment to Jesus Christ often wait until it’s too late.
USA Today also noted that people lived or died in the towers by groups, influenced to stay or go by the people around them. The same is true in our spirituality, that people are often influenced to seek Christ or to reject Christ by those around them.
If there’s ever a time for courage, it’s in responding to God’s call.
Those who didn’t delay and who took a stand are those who survived the world trade center.
Those who don’t delay and take a stand spiritually are those who respond to God’s calling and are saved.
If you've never resp...
Years ago I received a tract entitled, " The Unequal Yoke - Will It Work? (1). " The key scripture associated with this tract is:-
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? ( 2 Corinthians 6: 14 )
The Christian woman who wrote the tract confessed that she married an unsaved man. She said she didn?t wait long enough to get the Lord?s will in the matter. Even the pastor of her church, who was a well known conference speaker, encouraged her to go through with the marriage.
After she was married her spouse brought his unsaved, drinking friends into the home and caused her a lot of grief. Over 25 years later she stated we are still married but the husband is not yet saved.
In this tract the woman relates her bitter experience when she chose her own way and ignored God? s Word. She said, " I expected he would walk with me in the ways of the Lord ... but I watched my husband going deeper in sinful living. "
Not mentioned in the tract is the fact...
