Sermon Central
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I Recall One Sunny Afternoon When I Was 13 Years ...
Contributed by Chris Surber on Feb 5, 2009 (message contributor)
I recall one sunny afternoon when I was 13 years old and had only recently moved to Butte, Montana where I lived for a couple of years during high school with my father and grandfather. One afternoon I was exploring a very old log cabin style garage on the back of the property where we lived. It was a neat old building which was just chalked full of fun things for a 13 year old kid to get into. I remember I found this old white porcelain bowel and what appeared to be a water pitcher. Both were very old and apparently stained by age. I took both of them out of the old garage and began to fill them up with water from the hose that I would then pour on my rather “originally named” little dog Bingo. After I had been at this a while, playing the old water pitcher and the dog, I overheard my grandfather telling my dad to tell me to stop messing with that pitcher and put it back in the old garage. My dad asked him why and he explained, that thing is filthy, it is an old chamber pot! Only, he had another, more vulgar name for the chamber pot.
In Mathew 23:25-28 Jesus tells the Pharisees that they have radically missed the mark. Rather than cleaning the inside of their hearts which would lead to outward devotion, they have only focused on the appearance of holiness. They have replaced the heart’s pure devotion, the heart’s pure cry to be filled with the very presence of God with an outward commitment to religious ritual, custom, and practice. They have cleaned the outside of the cup but drank up the vilest drink of pride, hypocrisy, and self exaltation.
Dear Saints of God, if we are to arrest genuine knowledge of God, if we are to have our spiritual eyes opened and cast off the blindness of the Pharisee then we must allow God to cleanse our very hearts. Our religious devotion must not be outward as we seek to appear to be people of good works, we must seek something far greater! We must allow God to work from the inside out!
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There Is A Remarkable Prison In Brazil. For Over ... PRO
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When G. Campbell Morgan Was A Young Christian He ... PRO
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A Muslim In Africa Became A Christian, And Some ...
Contributed by Kenneth Squires on Jul 19, 2004
A Muslim in Africa became a Christian, and some friends asked him, “Why have you done such a thing?” He answered, “Well, it’s like this: Suppose you were going down the road and suddenly the road forked in two directions. You didn’t know which way to go; and there at the fork were two men - one ...read more
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During An Especially Trying Time In The Work Of ... PRO
Contributed by Lou Nicholes on Sep 8, 2004
During an especially trying time in the work of the China Inland Mission, Hudson Taylor wrote to his wife, “We have twenty-five cents—and all the promises of God! ...read more
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Each Day The Young Pastor Stopped At A ... PRO
Contributed by Kenneth Squires on Jul 19, 2004
Each day the young pastor stopped at a deli-market for fruit juice on the way to work. Each day, with kindness in his voice, he greeted the man behind the counter, a middle-eastern man with Islamic beliefs. On many occasions the young pastor shared his faith in Jesus Christ with the man behind the ...read more
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