Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 15 – No. 4813 November 30, 2013
Thought for the week: "The voice of sin is loud, but the voice of [God's] forgiveness is louder." – D. L. Moody
"People with clear, written goals, accomplish far more in a shorter period of time than people without them could ever imagine." – Brian Tracy
"The bad news is that time flies. The good news is that you are the pilot." – Unknown
"If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end: if you look for comfort, you will not get either comfort or truth." – C.S. Lewis
"I tell them that if you stay committed, your dreams can come true. I'm living proof of it. I left home at 17 and had nothing but rejections for 25 years. I wrote more than 20 screenplays, but I never gave up." – Michael Blake, author of Dances With Wolves
"Sunny days are here again: Thank you God for sun and rain / For joy and sorrow, bliss and pain / For battles lost and battles won / For precious
glimpses of your Son." – Submitted by Sandra Herron
"It is difficult to see the picture when you are inside the frame." – R.S. Trapp
A grandmother is giving directions to her grown grandson who is coming to visit with his wife.
"You come to the front door of the apartment. I am in apartment 301. There is a big panel at the front door. With your elbow, push button 301. I will buzz you in. Come inside, the elevator is on the right. Get in, and with your elbow push 3. When you get out, I'm on the left. With your elbow, hit my doorbell."
"Grandma, that sounds easy, but, why am I hitting all these buttons with my elbow?
Louis Pasteur, the pioneer of immunology, lived at a time when thousands of people died each year of rabies.
Pasteur had worked for years on a cure. Just as he was about to begin experimenting on himself, a nine-year-old, Joseph Meister, was bitten by a rabid dog. The boy's mother begged Pasteur to experiment on her son. Pasteur injected Joseph for ten days—and the boy lived. Decades later, of all things Pasteur could have had etched on his tombstone, he asked for three words: Joseph Meister Lived.
Thought: Our greatest legacy will be those who live eternally in heaven because of our efforts.
From his earliest days in politics, Lincoln had a critic who continually treated him with contempt, a man by the name of Edwin Stanton. Stanton would say to newspaper reporters that Lincoln was a "low cunning clown" and "the original gorilla."
He said it was ridiculous for explorers to go to Africa to capture a gorilla "when they could find one easily in Springfield, Illinois." Lincoln never responded to such slander, and never retaliated in the least. And when, as President, he needed a Secretary of War, he selected Edwin Stanton. When his friends asked why, Lincoln replied, "Because he is the best man for the job."
Years later, that fateful night came when an assassin's bullet murdered the president in a theater. Lincoln's body was carried off to another room. Stanton came, and looking down upon the silent, rugged, face of his dead President, he said through his tears, "There lies the greatest ruler of men the world has ever seen." Stanton's animosity had finally been broken. How?
By Lincoln's patient, long-suffering, non-retaliatory love.
Dr. Dale Johnson from Sermon "How Is Your Love Life?" Cited on eSermons.com.
Nietzsche told us "what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger" and Hemingway wrote about becoming stronger in broken places. A different way of thinking is found in the Japanese concept of kintsukuroi, the art of repairing broken pottery with gold or silver lacquer in a way that makes the object more beautiful than it was before. I think this is so with people as well. If we take care to repair ourselves with ointments laced with gratitude, humility and compassion, the scars left by healed wounds reveal life insights and experiences that can make us more beautiful.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
Jesus said, "You are to go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere."1
You may have read about "layman Edward Kimball who gathered the nerve to witness and win the soul of a young shoe salesman named D.L. Moody to Christ. D.L. Moody went on to become one of the greatest evangelists of his day. But, do you know the rest of the story? D.L. Moody went to England and worked a profound change in the ministry of F.B. Meyer. F.B. Meyer, with his new evangelistic fervor, influenced J. Wilbur Chapman. Chapman helped in the ministry of converted baseball player Billy Sunday, who had a profound impact upon Mordacai Ham. And Mordacai Ham, holding a revival in North Carolina, led Billy Graham to Christ. And the man who started it all was a layman, Edward Kimball, who took seriously Christ's commission to be a witness in his world."2
And we all know the incredible way God has used Billy Graham to reach millions of people worldwide with the
gospel.
You and I are not too likely to ever become a Billy Sunday or a Billy Graham, but every single one of us can be an "Edward Kimball" witness for Christ.
As the hymn writer so eloquently said, "When we all get to heaven, What a day of rejoicing that will be! When we all see Jesus, We'll sing and shout the victory." And how wonderful it will also be to meet the ones who are in heaven because of your and my witness for Jesus. Only heaven will reveal who these ones are.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, I'm available for You to use ... please make me usable and use me today and every day to be an effective witness for You and to be 'as Jesus' in some way to every life I touch. And grant that they, seeing Jesus in me, will want You for themselves. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' nasme, amen."
1. Mark 16:15 (TLB)(NLT).
2. Submitted by Deward Hurst. Cited on the Sermon Fodder list. To subscribe please send an e-mail to Sermon_Fodder-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
P.S. I happened to graduate from Moody Bible Institute, the school that D.L. Moody founded.
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