I Samuel 16:1-13 A new pastor in a rural area is ready for his firstservice, but only one farmer has shown up. Thepastor asks the farmer, “If you took a load of hayto feed your cows and when you got there, therewas only one cow, what would you do?”.“I’d feed it” said the farmer.So the…
Deuteronomy 6:1-9 I heard a story about a guy who was getting readyto go out of town for the weekend to a formalevent. And as the week went along, he got towardthe end of the week and realized that he hadn’tgotten his formalwear dry-cleaned, and it was in amess, and the cleaners where he normally…
Luke 2:8-20 On Dec. 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright madetheir first flight of an airplane at Kitty Hawk, NorthCarolina. On their fifth attempt, the plane under thecontrol of Orville, embarked on a 12-second flight. Wilbur rushed to the local telegraph office and sentthe following message: WE HAVE FLOWN FOR 12SECONDS—WE WILL BE HOME FOR…
Matthew 1:21-23 This week I was talking with some of mycolleagues at work discussing Christmas traditions,from food to when and how the gifts are opened. Itwas interesting to see their view of Christmas froma worldly perspective. Some shared withexcitement, while others expressed theirfrustration with the pressures of Christmas and theobligations that come with it. Still…
Luke 1:26-38 A man was putting a tin roof on his barn when all ofa sudden, he slipped and began to slide down theroof. He cried out to God to save him when nosooner he got the words out of his mouth a nailcaught his pants and stopped him. When hestopped, he said, never mind…
Matthew 1:18-25 On the Sunday before Christmas, a reverend waswalking down a street on his way to see aparishioner. However, he wanted to mail a letter urgently so heasked a young boy where he could find the postoffice. When the boy had directed him, thereverend thanked him and said, ‘If you’ll come tothe Church this…
I Thessalonians 5:16-18 From an Elementary School TeacherAfter reading my all-time favorite turkey-day book,“The Night Before Thanksgiving” by Dave Pilkey, tothe class, I asked them what Thanksgiving wasreally all about. While many shouted, “FOOD!”others enthusiastically raised their hands. “Well, we are celebrating the day our country camehere!”I looked at Tennison and asked, “What do youmean?”…
William MacDonald rightly comments that Spiritgiven, supernatural…power is the grandindispensable of Christian witness. A man may behighly talented, intensively trained, and widelyexperienced, but without spiritual power he isineffective. On the other hand, a man may beuneducated, unattractive, and unrefined, yet lethim be endued with the power of the Holy Spiritand the world will turn out…
Exodus 3:1-10 How does God get our attention?Does God hear our prayers?How do we know when God is speaking to us?What is our response when God calls?How do we know when we are in God’s presence?Have you ever asked any of these questions? Today we are going to answer these questions as we lookat Exodus…
Psalm 46:10; John 15; Job 33:14-15; Romans 10:17; John 10:27 In his book Directions, author James Hamiltonshares this insight about listening to God: Before refrigerators, people used icehouses topreserve their food. Icehouses had thick walls, nowindows and a tightly fitted door. In winter, whenstreams and lakes were frozen, large blocks of icewere cut, hauled to…