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2 Timothy 1:5-2:1
2 Timothy 1:5-1:8
Luke 15:11-15:32
Acts 3:1-3:10
Psalms 79:1-80:19
Romans 8:22-8:27
Acts 13:3-14:23
Jeremiah 23:1-23:6
Philippians 1:1-1:11
Ephesians 3:20-3:20
Philippians 1:1-2:1
Romans 1:8-1:17
1 Timothy 2:1-2:4
Luke 11:9-11:10
Isaiah 52:2-52:3
PRAYER AND PRESIDENT LINCOLN
A clergyman from New York, during a call on President Lincoln at the White House, said: "I have not come to ask any favors of you, Mr. President; I have only come to say that the loyal people of the North are sustaining you and will continue to do so. We are giving you all that we have, the lives of our sons as well as our confidence and our prayers. You must know that no boy’s father or mother ever kneels in prayer these days without asking God to give you strength and wisdom."
His eyes brimming with tears, Mr. Lincoln replied: "But for those prayers, I should have faltered and perhaps failed long ago. Tell every father and mother you know to keep on praying, and I will keep on fighting, for I know God is on our side."
As the clergyman started to leave the room, Mr. Lincoln held him by the hands and said: "I suppose I may consider this as sort of a pastoral call?"
"Yes," replied the clergyman.
"Out in our country," replied Lincoln, "when a parson makes a pastoral call, it was always the custom for the folks to ask him to lead in prayer, and I should like to ask you to pray with me today. Pray that I may have the strength and the wisdom."
The two men knelt side by side, and the clergyman offered the most fervent plea to Almighty God that ever fell from his lips. As they arose, the President clasped his visitor’s hand and remarked in a satisfied sort of way: "I feel better."
(From a sermon by George Bannister, Praying For America, 7/1/2010)
"Leslie Weatherhead tells of a little boy who was admitted to an orphanage after his parents were killed. One of the first items on the agenda was to find him a new set of clothes. He was given a new pair of pants, a new shirt, and a pair of shoes that shinned as he saw his face in its glow.
Lastly, he was offered a new hat. But he refused to take it. He hung on to his worse- for the-wear—hat. Finally the Sister was able to coax him into trying on the new cap. He tried it on, liked it, but then did something very funny. He reached inside his old cap and tore the lining out and placed it in his pocket.
Noticing the Sister had a puzzled look on her face, he said said, "The lining is a part of my mother’s dress; it’s all I’ve got left of her and somehow it seems to bring her back."
Darren Ethier
Helen Rosavere is an English woman who had interests in becoming a doctor and serving Do. Upon completion of her medical training at Cambridge University, Helen began to ask God where he would want her to serve. Before long, God directed Helen to an area in the Congo (Africa) which had a population of over 200,000 people and not one doctor in the whole area. This meant that she would be working seven days a week, always on call, no time off, and when a medical emergency arose, she would have to take care of it.
Soon a hospital and training center was needed. It was a great need and there was just no way Helen could build it. Helen then cried out to God, "Surely, Lord, there is at least one man in England who could come and build a hospital!" But Helen heard nothing. Later, Helen wrote a letter to her parents and asked them to send her a book on how to build a hospital!" But Helen heard nothing. Later, Helen wrote a letter to her parents and asked them to send her a book on how to build a hospital. Her parents couldn’t find a book on how to build a hospital, but they did send a book on how to build bricks. When Helen received the book, she cried out to God again, "Surely, Lord, there is at least one man from England who could come and build bricks for the hospital."
No man arrived. So, in the midst of Helen’s busy schedule, she followed the instructions. She made the bricks to be put in the kiln to be fired. After the bricks were dried, the rough edges had to be sanded down. One day, as she was sanding, she noticed a wet substance on the brick and realized it was her own blood. "Surely, Lord, there is a man somewhere in England who could come and make these bricks." At that time a man came running up to Helen and told her of an emergency at the dispensary. With her fingers still bleeding, Helen went to take care of the man. When she entered the scrub room, she began to take a wire brush and scrub her raw fingers. The pain made her more irate. She began to yell at God in her spirit, "Surely, Lord, there is at least one man in all of England who could come and make bricks for the hospital."The attendant began to pour alcohol over her fingers. The pain was excruciating. The Helen put on her gloves and did what she had to do. Following the surgery, Helen went back out to begin working on the bricks. While out there, one of the nationals approached her and began to talk to her. He said, "Doc, we no know that you love and care for us. When you enter the operating room wearing your mask and gown, and use your ability to heal the sick, you frighten us. But when you come out here and work with the rest of us and bleed the same as we do, we realize that you are one of us."
Helen, for the first time, realized why there was no man from England who could come to help. God said to her, "I didn’t have you come here just to heal the sick, Helen. I brought you here to befriend these people in order that they may see me through you." Helen thanked the Lord. She then realized that God didn’t call her to be a medical missionary, but he called her to himself.
MEASURING UP
In Washington D.C. there is a building called the "National Institute of Standards & Technology." This facility is responsible for storing perfect samples of weights and measurements. They have what are called “prototypes” of pound weights and kilograms. Measuring rods for feet, yards & metric measurements like meters. For example, they have a “Meter Standard” a reinforced bar of platinum alloyed with exactly 10% iridium. When they want to know the exact measurement of a “meter” they cool this bar down to 0 degrees Celsius at a sea level of 45 degrees latitude then they know they will have the exact tip to tip measurement of a meter. That bar is known as “prototype #27, because the original is kept in a suburb of Paris at the International Bureau of Weights & Measures.
We Christians also have a measuring rod that never chang...
WITHOUT ME, YOU CAN DO NOTHING
A do-it-yourselfer who went into a hardware store early one morning and asked for a saw. The salesman took a chain saw from the shelf and commented that it was their “newest model, with the latest in technology, guaranteed to cut ten cords of firewood a day.” The customer thought that sounded pretty good, so he bought it on the spot.
The next day the customer returned, looking somewhat exhausted. “Something must be wrong with this saw,” he moaned. “I worked as hard as I could and only managed to cut three cords of wood. I used to do four with my old-fashioned saw.” Looking confused, the salesman said, “Here, let me try it out back on some wood we keep there.”
They went to the woodpile, the salesman pulled the cord, and as the motor went vvvrooommmm. The customer leaped back and exclaimed, “What’s that noise??”
I read the story of a man who got saved years ago in South Georgia. But as he grew up and moved away, he got away from the Lord. Later on in his life, he went back to his home and visited the old county Church that he used to attend. As he went into the Church alone, memories flowed his mind and soul about the time he was saved in the Church during a Revival. He reminded good times he had experienced in the Church. He the, began, to cry out, “Rekindle my fire Lord, Rekindle my fire, Lord, do it again.”
This ought to be the cry of every Christian today, rekindle our fire, Lord, do it again.
(feel free to interject your own experience into this pattern)
One Christmas on a road trip with the my wife and kids to my parent’s home I decided to take them on a "scenic loop" through the Mississippi Delta. Its where I was born and raised and my parents still live there. To me, it is the Motherland, God’s country. It is the place where I passed my formative years hunting, fishing, and playing with friends in its field, bayous, ditches, and swamps.
Now, I was having a grand old time as the official tour guide pointing out the various landmarks and places of personal significance. Then I came to a stark realization. I had missed a turn. I was apparently having too grand a time. I knew where it was supposed to be, maybe they moved it?
At first, I reasoned. It had been awhile since I had been through there. Maybe I had not got to it yet? Lets just go to that next stand of trees and see if anything looks familiar. Okay, lets go to that next farm house. This approach, of course, took me even further from the correct road.
Next, I schemed. I thought of the roads ahead and tried to calculate a way to turn around without my family realizing I had turned around? All I needed was two lefts... or two rights... or a right and three lefts. That was fruitless so I tried to remember if there was a road ahead that would take us back to the Highway we should be on without anyone knowing it wasn’t deliberate? No such luck.
Finally, I negotiated. I knew where the road we were on would take us and it would add at least an hour to our trip. Was an extra hour in the car worth not having to admit that I had made a mistake and turning around and covering ground we had already travelled?
Everyone comes to the realization in life, at some point, that they have taken a wrong road. And we all find ourselves wanting to correct our direction without having to admit that we made a mistake. Its just the "scenic route". Life gets very busy and complicated when we try to return to the path we lost without turning around.
I have heard some millenials express the opinion that, since Jesus forgives, they can do anything they want as long as they remember to ask for forgiveness. Yes, Jesus forgives but that forgiveness also hinges on our repentance, to admit that what we did was wrong and we had learned our lesson. We can ask forgiveness over and over but, at some point, we also have to turn around for the Savior to set us on the right path. Asking Him to put us on the right road while also rewarding our stubbornness just isn’t going to happen.
I’ll Get Back to You! (08.04.05--Boldness Too!--Acts 3:11)
“Let me think about it and I’ll get back to you.” How often have you heard that said in your life. If we could count the number of times action has been spared by inaction due to the “thought process” necessary beforehand, we’d probably have lost count a long time ago.
In fact, I would have to bet that “I’ll get back to you” is one of the most common five-letter phrases in the English language. Not that planning ahead of our actions is something to be avoided. The Bible tells us that planning is a necessary part of doing. If Moses had not planned the long march through the Sinai would have been that much more tedious. If David or Solomon had not planned, the building of the temple would have been more laborious. Nehemiah’s plans enabled an incredible rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem in a very short time. No, planning is a necessary part of doing. Unfortunately, as with so many things in this life, we often substitute planning for thinking. Rather than taking the time and effort to think through something on the moment, we often procrastinate and hope that our “thinker” will do better on the morrow. How often this can lead to poor timing, even negligence on our part when time is of the essence.
Dr. J.B. Gambrel tells an amusing story from General Stonewall Jackson’s famous valley campaign. Jackson’s army found itself on one side of a river when it needed to be on the other side. After telling his engineers to plan and build a bridge so the army could cross, he called his wagon master in to tell him that it was urgent the wagon train cross the river as soon as possible. The wagon master started gathering all the logs, rocks and fence rails he could find and built a bridge. Long before daylight General Jackson was told by his wagon master all the wagons and artillery had crossed the river. General Jackson asked where are the engineers and what are they doing? The wagon master’s only reply was that they were in their tent drawing up plans for a bridge. (Pulpit Helps, May, 1991.)
God wants each of us to be bold in our planning as well as our doing. That means thinking on our feet in a timely manner is probably a pretty good way of getting things accomplished in God’s “t...
In the days when the great evangelist Moody was preaching in Chicago, a man, partially under the influence of liquor, seeing the warm lights of Moody’s tabernacle, staggered up the steps to the front door. Upon opening it, he saw no one within, but he did see the motto hanging above the pulpit: “God Is Love.” The man slammed the door, staggered down the steps, and muttered to himself, “God is love? God is not love. If God were love, He would love me, and He hates me.”
He continued his uneven walk around the block, still muttering to himself. But those words began to burn images into his benumbed thinking. A power seemed to draw him back to the tabernacle. With the throngs that were now making their way into the tabernacle, he soon found himself seated inside, and Mr. Moody was preaching. The sermon over, Moody made his way to the door to shake hands with the people as they left. But this man didn’t leave. He continued to sit in his seat, weeping. Moody came over to him, put his arm on the man’s shoulder, and asked, “Is there something that I can do for you? What was it in my sermon that touched your he...
