WHOSE SEED? A seed is planted. When watered, it grows. A light is provided. Unto mankind it shows The benefits of a Loving Father and King, The Righteousness unto life He will bring. Rise up,…
Sermon Illustrations
PAUL Keep yourself in training for a godly life. Physical exercise has some value in it, but spiritual exercise is valuable in every way, for it promises life both for now and for the future.…
START EARLY Children are like wet cement. Whatever falls on them makes an impression. Haim Ginott
RELIGION COSTS "What people don't realize is how much religion costs. They think faith is a big electric blanket, when of course it is the Cross." Flannery O'Conner
THE BARRIER Christianity has not so much been tried and found wanting, as it has been found difficult and left untried. G. K. Chesterton
VISUALLY BLESSED If you have your sight, you are blessed. If you have insight, you are a thousand times blessed. Bits & Pieces, October, 1988.
THE ENEMY AND YOUR DISCIPLINES Know well that the enemy laboureth in all wise to stay thy desire in good and to make thee void of all good exercise. Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ
GROUP ACCOMPLISHMENTS In 1927, the story goes, a Detroit secretary burst excitedly into her boss's office and cried, "Mr. Smith! A man has just flown across the Atlantic all by himself!" Smith, engrossed in reports,…
NEWTON ON PRAYER The great and devout scientist, Sir Isaac Newton said, "I can take my telescope and look millions and millions of miles into space, but I can lay it aside and go into…
SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE I am inspired by the practicality and rigor of Dallas Willard's book entitled The Spirit of the Disciplines (Harper & Row, San Francisco, 1988). Willard writes: "My central claim is that we can…
GRACIAS I have found a number of helpful passages in Henri Nouwen's book Gracias! It is the journal he kept while spending a six month pilgrimage in Bolivia and Peru. It is an insight into…
PRAYER Prayer is the ongoing cry of the incarnate Lord to the loving God. It is eternity in the midst of mortality, it is life among death, hope in the midst of despair, true promise…
THE MINISTRY OF WEAKNESS True missioners are people who are hunting for the Divine treasure hidden in the heart of the people to whom they want to make the Good News known. They always expect…
MOTHER TERESA When I met Mother Teresa in Rome, I saw immediately that her inner attention was focused constantly on Jesus. It seemed that she saw only him and through him came to see the…
THOMAS A KEMPIS It is often seen that those who hear the Gospels find little sweetness in them; the reason is that they do not have the spirit of Christ. So, if we desire to…
FOCUS Have this common proverb often in your mind: The eye is not satisfied or pleased with seeing any material thing, nor the ear with hearing. Study, therefore, to withdraw the love of your soul…
THE WORLDLY Flee the company of worldly- living persons as much as you can, for the treating of worldly matters greatly hinders the fervor of spirit, even though it be done with a good intention.…
LENT Let me keep Lent. Let me not kneel and pray, Forego some trifle every day, Fast - and take sacrament - And then, Lend tongue to slander, hold ancient grudge Deny the very Lord…
SOLITUDE AND SILENCE Seek for a convenient time to search your own conscience, and think often of the benefits of God. Abandon curiosity and read such matters as shall stir you to compunction of heart…
PRAYING FOR THINGS OR GOD? I remember one day in Tibet, when I was in prison. The stones of that prison were like flowers. There was nothing in these stones, but His presence changed them,…
