Sermon Central
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Grace Is God Drawing Sinners Closer And Closer To ...
Contributed by Donnie Martin on Jul 7, 2010 (message contributor)
Grace is God drawing sinners closer and closer to him. How does God in grace prosecute this purpose? Not by shielding us from assault by the world, the flesh, and the devil, nor by protecting us from burdensome and frustrating circumstance, not yet by shielding us from troubles created by our own temperament and psychology, but rather by exposing us to all these things, so as to overwhelm us with a sense of our own inadequacy, and to drive us to cling to him more closely.
This is the ultimate reason, from our standpoint, why God fills our lives with troubles and perplexities of one sort and another—it is to ensure that we shall learn to hold him fast. The reason why the Bible spends so much of its time reiterating that God is a strong rock, a firm defense, and a sure refuge and help for the weak is that God spends so much of his time showing us that we are weak, both mentally and morally, and dare not trust ourselves to find or follow the right road. When we walk along a clear road feeling fine, and someone takes our arm to help us, likely we would impatiently shake him off; but when we are caught in rough country in the dark, with a storm brewing and our strength spent, and someone takes our arm to help us, we would thankfully lean on him. And God wants us to feel that our way through life is rough and perplexing, so that we may learn to lean on him thankfully. Therefore he takes steps to drive us out of self-confidence to trust in himself, to—in the classic scriptural phrase for the secret of the godly man’s life—“wait on the Lord.”
James Packer, Your Father Loves You, Harold Shaw Publishers, 1986.
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Don't Quit! Don't Quit! PRO
Contributed by Wade Martin Hughes, Sr on Apr 8, 2005
DON’T QUIT! DON’T QUIT! Many years ago I was visiting a lady named Deanna in the resthome, she had a copy of this little poem, I borrowed it and made a copy. I ask you to ponder these words: DON’T QUIT (author unknown) When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, When the road you’re ...read more
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High Opinion, Our Daily Bread, ... PRO
Contributed by Troy Borst on Sep 16, 2004
ILLUSTRATION... High Opinion, Our Daily Bread, July 3, 1989 A man who had a high opinion of himself stepped on a coin-operated scale that dispensed a card, giving his weight and comments about his personality. After reading the card, he handed it to his wife and said, “Here, look at this!” She ...read more
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Win Arn, A Leading Church Consultant Conducted A ... PRO
Contributed by Martin Kim on Oct 5, 2004
Win Arn, a leading church consultant conducted a survey: He surveyed members of nearly a thousand churches asking the question, “Why does the church exit?? The results? Of the church members surveyed, 89 percent said, “The church’s purpose is to take care of my family’s and my needs.? For many, ...read more
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Several Years Ago, I Read Patrick Morley's Book ... PRO
Contributed by Jim Kane on Nov 7, 2004
Several years ago, I read Patrick Morley’s book “Walking with Christ in the Details of Life.” It is a book of meditations that includes one called “Revival: The Gospel of Addition.” In it, he said the following, “The American gospel has evolved into a gospel of addition without subtraction. It is ...read more
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Are We Really Who We Say We Are? PRO
Contributed by Greg Buchner on Aug 9, 2004
“Are We Really Who We Say We Are?” It was a typical night on the streets of Lansing. As the bars began to open and the nightlife found its pulse again, the little storefront building, which held The Lansing Street Ministry – The Harvest House, was just beginning its evening ministry. The ...read more
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