tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8595477933071954372024-03-07T22:16:37.062-08:00Ronald's BlogLoving you to the glory of God. (ESV) John 13.34-35Ronaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13184766267376705079noreply@blogger.comBlogger96125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-859547793307195437.post-70291543154319786282016-08-24T11:26:00.000-07:002016-08-24T11:35:25.559-07:00A HYMN OF DELIVERANCE <span style="color: #b45f06;"><b>Sermonic Pericope</b></span>: <br />
<!--StartFragment--><b>Exodus 15:1-21 (ESV) </b><br />
<sup><span style="color: black;">1 </span></sup><span class="ind"> Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">LORD</span>, saying, </span><span class="poetry1">“I will sing to the <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">LORD</span>, for he has triumphed
gloriously;</span> <span class="poetry2">the horse and his rider he has thrown
into the sea.</span> <span class="poetry1"><br /><sup><span style="color: black;">2
</span></sup> The <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">LORD</span> is my
strength and my song, <span class="poetry2">and he has become my salvation;</span>
<span class="poetry1">this is my God, and I will praise him,</span> <span class="poetry2">my father’s God, and I will exalt him.</span> <span class="poetry1"><br /><sup><span style="color: black;">3 </span></sup> The <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">LORD</span> is a man of war; <span class="poetry2">the <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">LORD</span> is his
name.</span> <span class="poetry1"><br /><sup><span style="color: black;">4
</span></sup> “Pharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea, <span class="poetry2">and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea.</span> <span class="poetry1"><br /><sup><span style="color: black;">5 </span></sup> The floods covered
them; <span class="poetry2">they went down into the depths like a stone.</span>
<span class="poetry1"><br /><sup><span style="color: black;">6 </span></sup> Your right
hand, O <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">LORD</span>, glorious in power,
<span class="poetry2">your right hand, O <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">LORD</span>, shatters the enemy.</span> <span class="poetry1"><br /><sup><span style="color: black;">7 </span></sup> In the greatness of
your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; <span class="poetry2">you send out
your fury; it consumes them like stubble.</span> <span class="poetry1"><br /><sup><span style="color: black;">8 </span></sup> At the blast of your
nostrils the waters piled up; <span class="poetry2">the floods stood up in a
heap;</span> <span class="poetry2">the deeps congealed in the heart of the
sea.</span> <span class="poetry1"><br /><sup><span style="color: black;">9 </span></sup> The
enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, <span class="poetry2">I will divide
the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them.</span> <span class="poetry2">I
will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.’</span> <span class="poetry1"><br /><sup><span style="color: black;">10 </span></sup> You blew with your
wind; the sea covered them; <span class="poetry2">they sank like lead in the
mighty waters.</span> <span class="poetry1"><br /><sup><span style="color: black;">11
</span></sup> “Who is like you, O <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">LORD</span>, among the gods? <span class="poetry2">Who is like you, majestic in holiness,</span> <span class="poetry2">awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?</span> <span class="poetry1"><br /><sup><span style="color: black;">12 </span></sup> You stretched out
your right hand; <span class="poetry2">the earth swallowed them.</span> <span class="poetry1"><br /><sup><span style="color: black;">13 </span></sup> “You have led in
your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; <span class="poetry2">you
have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.</span> <span class="poetry1"><br /><sup><span style="color: black;">14 </span></sup> The peoples have
heard; they tremble; <span class="poetry2">pangs have seized the inhabitants of
Philistia.</span> <span class="poetry1"><br /><sup><span style="color: black;">15
</span></sup> Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed; <span class="poetry2">trembling
seizes the leaders of Moab;</span> <span class="poetry2">all the inhabitants of
Canaan have melted away.</span> <span class="poetry1"><br /><sup><span style="color: black;">16 </span></sup> Terror and dread fall upon them; <span class="poetry2">because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a
stone,</span> <span class="poetry1">till your people, O <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">LORD</span>, pass by,</span> <span class="poetry2">till the people pass by whom you have purchased.</span> <span class="poetry1"><br /><sup><span style="color: black;">17 </span></sup> You will bring them
in and plant them on your own mountain, <span class="poetry2">the place, O <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">LORD</span>, which you have made for your
abode,</span> <span class="poetry2">the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have
established.</span> <span class="poetry1"><br /><sup><span style="color: black;">18
</span></sup> The <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">LORD</span> will reign
forever and ever.” <span class="ind"><br /><sup><span style="color: black;">19
</span></sup> For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen
went into the sea, the <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">LORD</span>
brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on
dry ground in the midst of the sea. <br /><sup><span style="color: black;">20
</span></sup> Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine
in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing.
<br /><sup><span style="color: black;">21 </span></sup> And Miriam sang to them: <span class="poetry1">“Sing to the <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">LORD</span>,
for he has triumphed gloriously;</span> <span class="poetry1">the horse and his
rider he has thrown into the sea.”</span>
</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><!--EndFragment--><br />
<span class="poetry1"><span class="poetry1"><span class="poetry1"><span class="poetry1"><span class="poetry1"><span class="poetry1"><span class="poetry1"><span class="poetry1"><span class="poetry1"><span class="poetry1"><span class="poetry1"><span class="poetry1"><span class="poetry1"><span class="poetry1"><span class="poetry1"><span class="poetry1"><span class="poetry1"><span class="ind"><span class="poetry1"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>
<span style="color: #b45f06;"><b>Sermonic Sub-Title</b></span>: Sing Triumphantly (<i>This national song glorified the Lord who the Hebrews gave full credit for their triumphant victory over Pharaoh and his Egyptian Army.) </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<span style="color: #b45f06;"><b>Sermonic Facts</b></span>: This is arguably the oldest song in scripture. (Hebrews national song)<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Idea</span></b>: The Israelites were completely helpless to defend themselves, their only hope was the miraculous working power of their covenantal keeping God. (<i>This song is theologically sound and lyrically rich</i>.)<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Tension</span></b>: You have a formidable enemy. (<i>Satan</i>)<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Point</span></b>: The Lord has the power to deliver you. (Israel were slaves in Egypt for four hundred years.)<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Structure</span></b>: (<i>There are three moves within this sermonic presentation</i>)<br />
<br />
<b>I. THIS SONG CAUSED THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL TO LOOK UP IN REVERENCE</b> (<span style="color: #b45f06;">verses 1-6</span>)<br />
A. <i>The Lord is Moses Strength</i><br />
B. The Lord is Moses Song<br />
C. The Lord has become Moses Salvation<br />
<br />
<b>II. THIS SONG CAUSED THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL TO LOOK BACK AT THEIR REDEMPTION</b> (<span style="color: #b45f06;">verses 7-16</span>)<br />
A. The Lord Redeemed Israel from the hands of the Egyptians<br />
B. The Lord Redeemed Everyone<br />
C. The Lord in Redeeming Israel totally annihilated their Enemy<br />
<br />
<b>III. THIS SONG CAUSED THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL TO LOOK FORWARD AND REJOICE</b> (<span style="color: #b45f06;">verses 17-21</span>)<br />
A. Israel held on to the Lord's Promise<br />
B. Israel had the Lord's Protection<br />
C. Israel knew that they were the Lord's Possession<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Cross Reference</span></b>:<br />
<!--StartFragment--><b>Revelation 15:1-4 (ESV) </b><br />
<sup><span style="color: black;">1 </span></sup><span class="ind"> Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels
with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is
finished. </span><span class="ind"><br /><sup><span style="color: black;">2
</span></sup> And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire—and
also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name,
standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands.
<br /><sup><span style="color: black;">3 </span></sup> And they sing the song of Moses,
the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, <span class="poetry1">“Great
and amazing are your deeds,</span> <span class="poetry2">O Lord God the
Almighty!</span> <span class="poetry1">Just and true are your ways,</span> <span class="poetry2">O King of the nations!</span> <span class="poetry1"><br /><sup><span style="color: black;">4 </span></sup> Who will not fear, O Lord, <span class="poetry2">and
glorify your name?</span> <span class="poetry1">For you alone are holy.</span>
<span class="poetry2">All nations will come</span> <span class="poetry2">and worship
you,</span> <span class="poetry1">for your righteous acts have been
revealed.”</span></span></span><br />
<b><span style="color: #b45f06;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Doctrine</span></b>: This song reveals Salvation, Monotheism and the Omnipotence of the Lord.<br />
From the Latin omnipotent, "all powerful." God's attribute of infinite power.<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "noteworthy light"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "noteworthy light"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Salvation
involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who
accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal
redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes
regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no
salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "noteworthy light"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">A.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "noteworthy light"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Regeneration,
or the new birth, is a work of God’s grace whereby believers become new
creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit
through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward
God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable
experiences of grace. Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God.
Faith is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire
personality to Him as Lord and Savior. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "noteworthy light"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">B.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "noteworthy light"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Justification
is God’s gracious and full acquittal upon principles of His righteousness of
all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer
unto a relationship of peace and favor with God. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "noteworthy light"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">C.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "noteworthy light"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Sanctification
is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which the believer is set
apart to God’s purposes, and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual
maturity through the presence and power of the holy Spirit dwelling in him.
Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerate person’s life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "noteworthy light"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">D.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "noteworthy light"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Glorification
is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and abiding state of
the redeemed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "noteworthy light"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Genesis 3.15; Exodus 3.14-17; 6.2-8; Matthew
1.21; 4.17; 16.21-26; 27.22; 28.6; Luke 1.68-69; 2.28-32; John 1.11-14, 29;
3.3-21, 36; 5.24; 10.9, 28-29; 15.1-16; 17.17; Acts 2.21; 4.12; 15.11;
16.30-31; 17.30-31; 20.32; Romans 1.16-18; 2.4; 3.23-25; 4.3ff.; 5.8-10;
6.1-23; 8.1-18, 29-39; 10.9-10, 13; 13.11-14; I Corinthians 1.18,30; 6.19-20;
15.10; II Corinthians 5.17-20; Galatians 2.20; 3.13; 5.22-25; 6.15; Ephesians
1.7; 2.8-22; 4.11-16; Philippians 2.12-13; Colossians 1.9-22; 3.1ff.; I
Thessalonians 5.23-24; II Timothy 1.12; Titus 2.11-14; Hebrews 2.1-3; 5.8-9;
9.24-28; 11.1; 12.18, 14; James 2.14-26; I Peter 1.2-23; I John 1.6; 2.11;
Revelation 3.20; 21.1; 22.5<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "noteworthy light"; font-size: 10.5pt;">MONOTHEISM
~ From the Greek mono, “one” and theos, “God.” The belief that there is one God
and only one God. In the OT God strove to teach Israel that He alone was God;
the NT clearly revealed that God was a Trinity, three in one. Acts 17.22-31; I
Corinthians 8.4-6<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
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<span style="font-family: "noteworthy light"; font-size: 10.5pt;">ATTRIBUTES OF GOD ~ The characteristics of God
that make Him God. They are not something were merely attribute to Him, but
qualities inseparable from His Very Being. In every way that God exists, He
exists without limit, that is, in perfection. God is eternal, without beginning
or end (self-existent); all-powerful (Omnipotence); all-knowing (Omniscience);
all-loving; long-suffering; present everywhere at all times (Omnipresence);
unlimited in creative power (Omnificence). God is limited only by His own
nature or character. He cannot do anything that would contradict His Very
Nature or Being; this does not mean, however, that God is limited or imperfect,
but only that God is God and cannot be other than himself.</span><!--EndFragment-->
<br />
<span style="font-family: "noteworthy light"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br /></span>
Ronaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13184766267376705079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-859547793307195437.post-40700512992997238072012-11-12T14:01:00.000-08:002012-11-17T08:36:38.906-08:00THERE'S MORE WHERE THAT CAME FROM<span style="color: #b45f06;">Snippet from Sunday</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Pericope</span>: <strong><span style="color: #b45f06;">1 KINGS 3.1-28</span></strong> (ESV) <br />
<br />
1 Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He took Pharaoh's daughter and brought her into the city of David until he had finished building his own house and the house of the LORD and the wall around Jerusalem.<br />
<br />
2 The people were sacrificing at the high places, however, because no house had yet been built for the name of the LORD. 3 Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father, only he sacrificed and made offerings at the high places. 4 And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.<br />
<br />
5 At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, "Ask what I shall give you." 6 And Solomon said, "You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne this day.<br />
<br />
7 And now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in. 8 And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude. 9 Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?"<br />
<br />
10 It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. 11 And God said to him, "Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, 12 behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you. 13 I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days. 14 And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days." 15 And Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.<br />
<br />
16 Then two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 17 The one woman said, “Oh, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. 18 Then on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. And we were alone. There was no one else with us in the house; only we two were in the house. 19 And this woman's son died in the night, because she lay on him. 20 And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me, while your servant slept, and laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast. 21 When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, he was dead. But when I looked at him closely in the morning, behold, he was not the child that I had borne.” 22 But the other woman said, “No, the living child is mine, and the dead child is yours.” The first said, “No, the dead child is yours, and the living child is mine.” Thus they spoke before the king. 23 Then the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son that is alive, and your son is dead’; and the other says, ‘No; but your son is dead, and my son is the living one. ’” 24 And the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So a sword was brought before the king. 25 And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.”<br />
26 Then the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because her heart yearned for her son, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him.” 27 Then the king answered and said, “Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means put him to death; she is his mother.” 28 And all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.<br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Theme</span></strong>: The abundance of GOD. (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Omnipotent</span></em>)<br />
<br />
The quality of being all-powerful, normally understood as the power to perform any action that is logically possible and consistent with God’s essential nature. Omnipotence is one of the traditional attributes of God. Many attempts to analyze this property have been made, centering on the “paradox of the stone”—a vivid illustration of the logical difficulties raised by omnipotence. The paradox of the stone begins with the question “Can God create a stone that he cannot move?” If so, there is something God cannot do (move the stone). But if God cannot create such a stone, then there also appears to be something God cannot do. The source of the paradox is the question as to whether it is possible for an omnipotent being to limit itself.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;">God Is Omniscient and Omnipotent</span><br />
<br />
To say that God is omniscient and omnipotent means that there can be no real barriers to God's knowing or acting. Apart from Himself, God has created everything there is to be known and sustains it in being. So is it conceivable that there is something He could not know or not have power over?<br />
It is impossible to think of something as thwarting God's will, unless God Himself allows the thwarting—as in the human free choice to sin. But that is a circumstance that requires omnipotence, and therefore is not an argument against it.<br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Subject</span></strong>: The paternal nature of GOD. (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Omniscience</span></em>)<br />
<br />
The quality of being all-knowing. This is one of the traditional attributes of God. Omniscience is usually analyzed as knowing the truth value of every proposition. Controversy has centered around the compatibility of divine foreknowledge with human free will, though many defend the claim that there is no inconsistency. However, some argue that God’s omniscience does not extend to all future actions, either because the propositions about such actions are as yet neither true nor false or else because it is logically impossible to know their truth.<br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Doctrine</span></strong>: Providence (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">GOD will provide</span></em>)<br />
<br />
The loving care and governance that God exercises over the created universe. The traditional picture of providence is one in which God, as an omniscient, omnipotent and perfectly good being, has exhaustive knowledge of the past, present and future, and exercises his power so as to ensure that every event that occurs is part of his perfect plan. Some have recently questioned such a view of providence by arguing that it does not do justice to human freedom. According to a revised view, God knows all the possibilities and knows what responses he must make to ensure that his goals are achieved. The issues raised by providence are closely linked to the problems raised by predestination and the compatibility of divine foreknowledge and human free will.<br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Tension</span></strong>: People will test the wisdom of GOD. (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Justice</span></em>)<br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Question</span></strong>: How may I receive more from GOD?<br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Sentence</span></strong>: You will never exhaust GODS resources. (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">The liberality of GOD</span></em>)<br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Refrain</span></strong>: There's more where that came from.<br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Cross Reference</span></strong>: <span style="color: #b45f06;">2 Samuel 7.14-17</span> ESV 14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, 15 but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. 16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever. ’” 17 In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;">2 Samuel 12:24-25</span> ESV Solomon's Birth 24 Then David comforted his wife, Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her, and she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. And the Lord loved him 25 and sent a message by Nathan the prophet. So he called his name Jedidiah, because of the Lord.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;">1 Kings 2.1-4</span> ESV 1 When David's time to die drew near, he commanded Solomon his son, saying, 2 “I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, and show yourself a man, 3 and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn, 4 that the Lord may establish his word that he spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel. ’<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;">1 Kings 2.10-12 </span>ESV The Death of David 10 Then David slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David. 11 And the time that David reigned over Israel was forty years. He reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty- three years in Jerusalem. 12 So Solomon sat on the throne of David his father, and his kingdom was firmly established.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;">2 Chronicles 9:1-9</span> ESV The Queen of Sheba 1 Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to Jerusalem to test him with hard questions, having a very great retinue and camels bearing spices and very much gold and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind. 2 And Solomon answered all her questions. There was nothing hidden from Solomon that he could not explain to her. 3 And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, 4 the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, and their clothing, his cupbearers, and their clothing, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the Lord, there was no more breath in her. 5 And she said to the king, “The report was true that I heard in my own land of your words and of your wisdom, 6 but I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. And behold, half the greatness of your wisdom was not told me; you surpass the report that I heard. 7 Happy are your wives! Happy are these your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! 8 Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and set you on his throne as king for the Lord your God! Because your God loved Israel and would establish them forever, he has made you king over them, that you may execute justice and righteousness.” 9 Then she gave the king 120 talents of gold, and a very great quantity of spices, and precious stones. There were no spices such as those that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;">Nehemiah 13:26</span> ESV Did not Solomon king of Israel sin on account of such women? Among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was beloved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless, foreign women made even him to sin.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;">Psalm 27.10</span> ESV 10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me,<br />
but the Lord will take me in.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;">Psalm 37.25</span> ESV 25 I have been young, and now am old,<br />
yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken<br />
or his children begging for bread.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;">Psalms 111:10</span> ESV The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;<br />
all those who practice it have a good understanding.<br />
His praise endures forever!<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;">Daniel 2:20-23</span> ESV<br />
Daniel answered and said:<br />
“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,<br />
to whom belong wisdom and might.<br />
21 He changes times and seasons;<br />
he removes kings and sets up kings;<br />
he gives wisdom to the wise<br />
and knowledge to those who have understanding;<br />
22 he reveals deep and hidden things;<br />
he knows what is in the darkness,<br />
and the light dwells with him.<br />
23 To you, O God of my fathers,<br />
I give thanks and praise,<br />
for you have given me wisdom and might,<br />
and have now made known to me what we asked of you,<br />
for you have made known to us the king's matter.”<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;">Ephesians 3.20-21</span> ESV 20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;">Philippians 4.19-20</span> ESV 19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. 20 To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;">James 1.5-8</span> ESV 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.<br />
7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double- minded man, unstable in all his ways.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;">James 1:16-18</span> ESV Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.<br />
18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;">James 3:17</span> ESV But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;">1 Corinthians 1:30-31</span> ESV And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;">1 Corinthians 3:18</span> ESV Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;">Matthew 7:24-27</span> ESV Build Your House on the Rock 24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;">John 10:10</span> ESV The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;"><strong>Sermonic Structure</strong></span>: (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">there are three major moves within this pericope</span></em>)<br />
<br />
<br />
I. IN ORDER FOR YOU TO RECEIVE MORE FROM GOD YOU <br />
NEED A RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Vrs 1-5</span></em>)<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;">1 Kings 3:3</span><br />
Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father, only he sacrificed and made offerings at the high places.<br />
<br />
II. IN ORDER FOR YOU TO RECEIVE MORE FROM GOD YOU <br />
NEED TO KNOW YOUR LIMITATIONS (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Vrs 6-15</span></em>)<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;">1 Kings 3:7</span><br />
And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in.<br />
<br />
III. IN ORDER FOR YOU TO RECEIVE MORE FROM GOD YOU <br />
NEED TO USE HIS WISDOM FOR LIFE (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Vrs 16-28</span></em>)<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;">1 Kings 3:28</span><br />
And all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.<br />
<div>
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<div>
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Ronaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13184766267376705079noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-859547793307195437.post-27401521997551089812012-03-21T19:57:00.000-07:002012-03-21T19:57:50.816-07:00Trayvon Martin<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/h3Il9aiaFBI?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Ronaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13184766267376705079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-859547793307195437.post-29571213474507189472012-02-07T15:18:00.000-08:002012-02-13T13:39:25.345-08:00THE SON OF A PROSTITUTE<span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Pericope</span>: <span style="font-size: medium;">ESV <span style="color: #b45f06;"><strong>Judges 11:1; 29-40</strong></span> Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;">29 Then the Spirit of the LORD was upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites. 30 And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD and said, "If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, 31 then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the LORD's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering." 32 So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the LORD gave them into his hand. 33 And he struck them from Aroer to the neighborhood of Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim, with a great blow. So the Ammonites were subdued before the people of Israel. 34 Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah. And behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter. 35 And as soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, "Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the LORD, and I cannot take back my vow." 36 And she said to him, "My father, you have opened your mouth to the LORD; do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, now that the LORD has avenged you on your enemies, on the Ammonites." 37 So she said to her father, "Let this thing be done for me: leave me alone two months, that I may go up and down on the mountains and weep for my virginity, I and my companions." 38 So he said, "Go." Then he sent her away for two months, and she departed, she and her companions, and wept for her virginity on the mountains. 39 And at the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow that he had made. She had never known a man, and it became a custom in Israel 40 that the daughters of Israel went year by year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Title</span>: "<strong><span style="color: white;">The Son of a Prostitute</span></strong>"</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Sub-title</span>: <em>I made a vow</em></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Doctrine</span>: Salvation (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Divine Deliverance</span></em>) </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;">The general meaning of the several Hebrew and Greek words translated into English as "salvation" is "safety" and "deliverance." In the OT salvation refers to deliverance, both physically (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Psalm 37.40; 59.2; 106.4</span></em>) and spiritually (<span style="color: #b45f06;"><em>Psalm 51.12; 79.9</em></span>). OT prophesies focus on the complete salvation of GOD'S people by the coming Messiah (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Job 19.25-27</span></em>); the NT teaches that these prophecies are fulfilled by Jesus Christ. Jesus brought salvation through forgiveness of sins (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Matthew 1.21</span></em>) and the gift of eternal life. (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Hebrews 5.9; Acts 4.12; Hebrews 2.10</span></em>)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Tension</span>: The doctrine of Grace. This is where joy and pain kiss each other. (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Temporary over and against Permanent deliverance</span></em>)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Question</span>: Why did HE do it? (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">I know why Jephthah did it...etc. He wanted to win however, why did the LORD allow it/ accept it?...etc</span></em>.)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Refrain</span>: Victory comes with a price. (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">I owe the LORD</span></em>)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Prohibition</span>: Stop breaking your vows. (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">I open my mouth unto the LORD</span></em>)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Sentence</span>: The LORD takes what we say seriously. (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Matthew 12.36</span></em>)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Point</span>: Keep your promises.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Help</span>: The Star of this Pericope/Novella is the LORD. The co-star is Jephthah and the best supporting role goes to Jephthah's daughter. </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Structure</span>: (<em><span style="color: white;">There are four moves within this Pericope/Novella</span></em>)</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;">I. JEPHTHAH IS A MIGHTY MAN OF VALOR (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">v.1</span></em>)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"> (A.) <em><span style="color: #b45f06;">His mother is a prostitute</span></em></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"> (B.) <span style="color: #b45f06;"><em>He has the Holy Spirits presence</em></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"> (C.) <em><span style="color: #b45f06;">He has political power</span></em></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"> (D.) <span style="color: #b45f06;"><em>His faith is lifted as a NT picture</em></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;">II. JEPHTHAH MAKES A VOW (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">v.29-31</span></em>)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"> (A.) <em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Notice he enters into negotiations personally</span></em></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"> (B.) <em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Notice he enters into negotiations horizontally</span></em></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"> (C.) <em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Notice he enters into negotiation vertically</span></em></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;">III. JEPHTHAH IS MADE VICTORIOUS (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">v.32-33</span></em>)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"> (A.) <em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Consider the source of his victory</span></em></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"> (B.) <em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Consider the size of his victory</span></em></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"> (C.) <em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Consider the significance of his victory</span></em></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;">IV. JEPHTHAH'S DAUGHTER IS A VIRGIN (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">v.34-40</span></em>)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"> (A.) <em><span style="color: #b45f06;">She's visible</span></em></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"> (B.) <em><span style="color: #b45f06;">She's vocal</span></em></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"> (C.) <em><span style="color: #b45f06;">She's Virtuous</span></em></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"> (D.) <em><span style="color: #b45f06;">She's Valuable</span></em> </span>Ronaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13184766267376705079noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-859547793307195437.post-1280834211940719202011-12-16T11:13:00.000-08:002011-12-16T11:13:31.132-08:00This Is Your Moment: Close<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object width="320" height="266" class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://1.gvt0.com/vi/T_YcIQwHySk/0.jpg"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/T_YcIQwHySk&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/T_YcIQwHySk&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div>Ronaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13184766267376705079noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-859547793307195437.post-8042225227128495762011-11-28T16:44:00.000-08:002011-11-28T16:44:49.296-08:00A preaching 'genius' faces his toughest convert<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"></span><br />
<div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">Blue Ridge, Georgia (CNN)</span></strong> -- Fred Craddock was a young preacher trying to find his voice when he received a call from his mother one day.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">"You need to go see your father," she said. "He may not live longer."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Craddock found his father in a VA hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Fred Craddock Sr. had whittled down to 73 pounds. Radiation treatments had burned him to pieces. He couldn't eat or speak.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">When he saw his son, he picked up a Kleenex box and scribbled on it a line from Shakespeare's "Hamlet": "In this harsh world, draw your breath in pain to tell my story."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">"What is your story, Daddy?"</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">His father's eyes welled with tears. He wrote:</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">"I was wrong."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">'A preacher like no other'</span></strong></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Craddock never became a televangelist, built a megachurch or preached to an adoring crowd in a packed stadium. He is a diminutive, bespectacled man whose voice is so soft that he once compared it to "wind whistling through a splinter on the post."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Yet he is a pulpit giant, a man who, one preaching scholar says, tilted the preaching world "on its axis" after creating a revolutionary method that led to him being selected as one of the 12 best preachers in the English-speaking world.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">"He is a preacher like no other" is how the Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor, who also made the top 12 list, describes him.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Craddock preached his last official sermon in October. He is 83 and struggling with Parkinson's disease. When he greets a visitor, he moves gingerly to his seat. He is 5-foot-5 with a plump belly and an impish smile.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">He lives in Blue Ridge, Georgia, a small town in the Appalachian Mountains that looks like a rustic postcard, with its small white-steeple churches and autumn forests bristling with burgundy and gold.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Friends worry about Craddock's health, but he seems to treat his illness as an annoyance.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">"I should have something by 83," he says with a quick smile when the conversation turns to Parkinson's.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">His arms shake when he talks at length, but everything else is there: his phenomenal recall of names, details, places.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Though he has gathered all manner of awards during 50 years of preaching, he never received praise for his calling from the one man he wanted to hear it from most: his father.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">"I struggled with his silence," Craddock says. "I wanted him to say he was proud of me."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">A father like no other</span></strong></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Fred Craddock Sr. had plenty to say about other subjects. He stood 5-foot-7, weighed 150 pounds and even in his 50s could do one-arm chin-ups. He liked to dance, race his horse at county fairs.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Most of all, he loved to tell stories.</div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">His son and namesake, Fred Jr., was one of his most devoted fans. Father and son developed a storytelling ritual. At the end of the day, the elder Craddock would return to his home in the small town of Humboldt, Tennessee, roll a Bull Durham cigarette by the fireplace and say to no one in particular, "Boy, I never hope to see what I saw today."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Craddock, his three brothers and his sister flocked around their father.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"What'd you see today?"</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Oh, you kids still up? No, you go to bed. You don't want to have nightmares."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">His children protested. Back and forth they'd go before Craddock Sr. finally said, "Well, sit down, but don't blame me if you have nightmares."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Craddock Sr. thrilled his children with adventure stories about Chief Loud Thunder, Civil War battles and, on occasion, stories from the Bible. The elder Craddock taught his son some of his first lessons in theology.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Each student in Craddock's first-grade class was required to answer morning roll call with a Bible verse. Craddock didn't know any, until his father taught him one. One morning, he stood up "like a bantam rooster" and repeated his father's scripture:</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Samson took the jawbone of an ass and killed 10,000 Filipinos."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The teacher sent Craddock home with a stern note to his parents for his use of profanity. Ethel Craddock chided her husband, but he chuckled, saying, "I bet the class enjoyed it."</div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The elder Craddock developed a following. Storytellers were admired in rural Tennessee during the first half of the 20th century. Television was nonexistent. Books were expensive. People spent their day around pot-bellied stoves, whittling wood and spitting tobacco while swapping stories.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">When Craddock Sr. stopped on a corner to roll a cigarette, crowds gathered, because they knew a tall tale was coming. They rarely guessed how it would end. Craddock Sr. would uncork a story, lead his audience up to the edge, then suddenly announce that he had to go to work and walk away.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Says his son: "I'm convinced now that he didn't know where his stories were going when he started."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">'Another name, another pledge'</span></strong></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Stories, however, don't feed hungry children.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Craddock's father had enough education to devour Shakespeare in his spare time. But he discovered, after inheriting 10 acres, that he couldn't farm. He wasn't good with his hands, either. Doors, fixtures and steps hung off-kilter in his house.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The elder Craddock had a bigger problem. He was an alcoholic.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">When the Great Depression tore into rural Tennessee, Craddock Sr. drank to cushion the pain. His drinking, though, only magnified his self-loathing. His mood darkened. He yelled at his family, but Craddock says he never saw his father hit his mom. When visitors came by, though, everyone was embarrassed.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sometimes, Craddock saw his father break down in tears.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"He wanted to do better by his family. He didn't know how."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">At times, Craddock Sr. would sober up. He vowed never to drink again. He found an odd job. Once, he even arranged for a dentist to pull a gold crown from one of his molars so he could buy Christmas toys for his children.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Sometimes, when something nice happened," Craddock says, "he would just go into the kitchen, take my mom away from the stove, and they would dance around the house."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">His father's pluck, though, couldn't prevent the family's slide into poverty. They lost the farm and moved into a shack with a dirt floor and no electricity. A spigot in the yard was the only running water.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Craddock's family even struggled to clothe him. He still remembers walking to grade school on a cold day, hiding his donated sweater under a bridge and walking to school shivering in his shirtsleeves. He didn't want to risk any classmate recognizing that he was wearing a sweater that had once belonged to them.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"There's something worse than being poor," Craddock said. "It's being ashamed."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Ethel Craddock held the family together. By day, she worked in a factory, sticking labels on Buster Brown shoes. At night, she gathered her children around the fireplace to play word games: "If you can say it, you can spell it: omnivorous."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">And faith held Ethel Craddock together. She took her children to church, sang hymns at home to the accompaniment of her harmonica and welcomed down-on-their luck strangers who needed a hot meal or a place to stay.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">At first, Craddock's father shared the pews with his family. He was even named after a preacher. But he stopped attending as his drinking grew worse.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"He felt guilty," Craddock says. "He'd say, 'Every time I go to church, they preach against the drunks like they can't go to heaven.' "</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Craddock Sr.'s hostility toward the church deepened when they decided to come to him. The church dispatched preachers to his home, hoping to draw him back to the pews. He belittled them so much that Craddock's mother worried a fight would erupt.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"I know what the church wants," he'd say. "Another name; another pledge. Right?"</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Craddock, though, found acceptance in the church. It was the only place where he didn't feel different -- any less or any more than anybody else. Pastors told him he would be a good preacher one day; church ladies doted on him with new shoes and a picture book filled with stories about Jesus.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"We loved our dad, but we loved the church," Craddock says.</div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Home was a place filled with fantastic stories. But Ethel Craddock kept one story from him. It centered on the horrible night when she decided her son had been set apart by God.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">Saved by a miracle?</span></strong></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A winter night in 1928, Humboldt, Tennessee.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Ethel Craddock is sprawled in a barn on a bale of hay, crying and praying to God. Her 8-month-old son, Fred, is dying.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">He has diphtheria, a highly infectious disease that forms blockages over the lungs, gradually suffocating a child.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The boy can barely draw breath. His father has run a mile to summon a doctor. But the doctor can't do much, and Craddock's breathing has grown more labored.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">His mother couldn't watch him suffer any more. She has fled to the barn, where she prays:</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Dear God, if you will let him live, I will pray every day that he will serve you as a minister."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">She falls asleep on the hay. When she awakens at daybreak, she runs to the house, where the doctor says her son is going to be fine. He leaves without asking for payment.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Ethel Craddock didn't reveal this story to her son until he came to her after turning 17 to tell her that he was thinking about becoming a minister.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">She began to cry after hearing the news, quickly regained her composure and told Craddock the story.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">He was bewildered. Why hadn't she told him before?</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">She didn't want him to feel pushed into becoming a minister, she said. She believed that a deed couldn't be good if the motive was wrong.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">When Craddock told his father of his decision to join the ministry, he listened intently before finally saying it was a big decision. Then he simply said: "Good, son."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Craddock was deflated. No tears. No sober, fatherly advice. The only reaction his father would give to his calling in the days ahead would be to crack jokes. "Don't be like John the Baptist and lose your head."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"He might have been embarrassed that I became a preacher," Craddock says. "It was kind of the opposite of him. Maybe that created some discomfort.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"I wanted more."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">His father seemed to rub away some of the luster from his calling again when Craddock went off to college.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Wanting to make sure his call to the ministry was genuine, Craddock sought out a counselor. Over several sessions, the young student ended up talking about his childhood. The counselor's verdict was devastating:</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"I think I'm clear why you're in the ministry: to redeem your father."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The counselor didn't elaborate, and Craddock was too stunned to ask questions. He thought about what his mother had taught him -- and knew what he had to do.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"I thought I was disqualified," he says. "My mother had always told me nothing can be right if the reason is wrong."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">He quit the ministry and started picking up odd jobs.</div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">It crushed me," he says of the conversation with the counselor. "I didn't have a Plan B in my life. I was kicking the can down the road every night, trying to figure it out."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The answer came while reading one of his favorite books in the Bible.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The book of Philippians, written by the Apostle Paul, is regarded by some as one of the most uplifting in the New Testament. Yet the backdrop for Paul's composition is grim. He is imprisoned, and the church is splintering into factions. Paul thinks he's about to be executed; his enemies are spreading division and preaching Christ out of selfish motives.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">But Paul says that none of that matters. Whether he lives or dies, or whether his enemies preach Christ out of selfish gain, what ultimately matters is that Christ is proclaimed.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Something shifted inside of Craddock. What did it matter if he preached Christ to save his father or save souls? Christ is preached.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"They're preaching for the wrong reason, yet Paul said thanks God for that," he says.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The message was clear; living it would prove more difficult:</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"I had to get to a point where I disagreed with my mother. That was tough."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Craddock returned to school and started preaching at rural churches. He had ignored his father and defied his mother's teaching to pursue the ministry.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Now he was about to revolutionize preaching.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">Changing the rules of preaching</span></strong></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Craddock had three books in his childhood home: his mother's King James Bible, his father's complete works of Shakespeare and "The Life and Times of Billy Sunday."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sunday was a Major League Baseball player who became one of America's most famous preachers during the early 20th century by transforming preaching into an athletic event.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">He'd smash chairs, throw parts of his clothing into the audience and run across the preaching platform as if he were sliding into home plate while proclaiming, "Safe at home -- by the blood of Jesus!"</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sunday was the type of pastor Craddock grew up admiring. They strode the pulpit like human firecrackers: booming voices, explosive movements, big men who radiated power.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Craddock had a problem. He couldn't bring the thunder. He was short, and his voice was weak. His high school counselor tried to talk him out of becoming a preacher because of his size. And his first church sermon landed with a thud. While preaching about three wise men visiting baby Jesus, an elderly man stood up in the back and blurted: "How do you know there were three?"</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A flustered Craddock had no reply. But he eventually found a way to be heard and owed part of that breakthrough to his father.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">When he started preaching in rural Tennessee during the 1950s, Craddock employed the traditional "deductive" preaching style. The sermon is structured like a term paper: thesis, three supporting points, restatement of thesis.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Something in me said that's not the way to do it," he says.</div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Maybe it was the stories he heard growing up, but Craddock gradually stumbled onto his preaching style.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">While serving as a young pastor at a church in Columbia, Tennessee, he noticed that people responded more to his informal talks outside church service than to his sermons.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">He started experimenting. What if you didn't structure the sermon like a legal argument but more like an extended conversation? The listener -- not the preacher -- would be challenged to give the sermon its meaning.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Craddock never took to preachers who tried to bulldoze people into converting. He had seen plenty of preachers try to goad his father back to church. And his mother, by withholding the story of his near-death experience, had taught him that people's faith decisions must be genuine, not coerced.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">So Craddock became a preacher who didn't preach. He once said that a "yes" is no good unless a "no" is possible.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"No one wants to listen to pulpit bullies, behaving as though they had walked all round God and taken pictures," he wrote in the introduction to his book "Craddock on the Craft of Preaching."</div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Over the years, people have tried to describe Craddock's style. Some use the term "inductive," a word he resists because it sounds like a legal term. One of his prize students, the Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor, offers one of the best descriptions of Craddock's preaching style.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In an introduction to "The Collected Sermons of Fred B. Craddock," Taylor wrote:</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"He assumes from the start that we are capable of attending to the text, handling some scholarship, dealing with open-ended stories, and drawing our own conclusions. He does not tell us what he is going to tell us, and then tell us what he told us. He sits down before we are ready. He lets us chew our own food."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Craddock's sermons, though, don't go down like broccoli. They are playful, inventive, filled with hyperbole. They sound like probing short stories or front-porch yarns.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In one sermon, Craddock recounts a conversation with an overweight sparrow that doesn't know it can fly. In another, he imagines bored teenagers who "sat out on the hoods of their camels" listening to a shaggy John the Baptist preach in the desert, and in another he pretends to emcee a debate at a dreary church committee meeting between early Christian leaders arguing over whether Gentiles should be included in the church.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Craddock didn't have to break chairs to get people's attention. His stories did the job. His reputation spread. He began writing influential preaching textbooks. When he became a preaching professor at Emory University in Atlanta, he spawned a new generation of preachers who took his style out into the pews. People started describing him as a pulpit genius.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In 1996, Craddock received one of his most celebrated honors. Baylor University in Texas polled 341 seminary professors and editors of religious periodicals and asked them to name the most effective preachers in the English-speaking world. Newsweek magazine published the top 12.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Craddock was selected for the list. So were two pastors he heavily influenced: Taylor and the Rev. Thomas Long.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Long says Craddock tilted the homiletic world "on its axis" with his 1971 book on preaching, "As One without Authority." He calls it one of the most pivotal books on preaching to appear in the past century.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"There's a homespun nostalgic quality to his sermons," says Long, who now teaches at Emory. "He rarely preaches about the engineer with the complex ethical decision. It's more about the pot of beans served at the back door."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Taylor still remembers the first time she heard Craddock speak at Yale Divinity School in 1978. She was working as a secretary at a local church on the weekends, but listening to Craddock stirred her desire to preach.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"He simply spoke of the gospel so compellingly that I wanted know more -- about the way of life he was describing, about why his words struck me with such force and about how I could learn to use language that way, too."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Some preachers transform their eloquence into business ventures. They build megachurches, TV empires. Some even get entourages. Craddock wasn't driven to build a personal brand. He has no e-mail address, doesn't drive and refused to turn on a personal computer his son and daughter bought him several years ago.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"If Fred Craddock ever tweets, I'll know the world has come to an end," Taylor says.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Craddock used some of his renown to reach out to the region that nurtured him. He gave preaching workshops to itinerant pastors in the Appalachian Mountains and established the Craddock Center, a nonprofit group that offers free meals and storytelling to needy kids in three Southern states.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">He built a family as he built a career. He married his high school sweetheart, Nettie, and they raised their two children, John and Laura, as he taught at various seminaries and accepted preaching invitations across the country.</div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Sometimes we felt like we were in competition with the church and God," says Laura, his daughter, who named her son after her father.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">His son, John, never felt pressured to become a minister. He is the CEO of America's First Choice Warranty company in Atlanta. His father, he says, is the most remarkable person he has ever known.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"I don't care if it's a guy on the street asking for a dollar or the president of the United States, he makes you feel as if you're the most important person in the world when he's talking to you.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"I won the lottery as far as great fathers go."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Telling his father's story</strong></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Craddock yearned to hear such praise from his father.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Yet his father never even came to hear him preach. Craddock says he sometimes overheard his father accept praise for his son's decision to enter the ministry, but he can't recall ever hearing his father admit to anyone that he was proud of his son's choice.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"He never said it. I looked for little signals. I finally decided that I was reading into things that were not there."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">His father may not have acknowledged him, but Craddock affirmed his father. In the dedication in his book "As One without Authority," he wrote:</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"To my mother, and in memory of my father: She taught me the Word. He taught me the words."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">One Sunday, he did get a sign that maybe his father would have enjoyed hearing him preach. At his childhood church in Humboldt, Tennessee, a man approached after hearing him preach. The man was about his father's age.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"You sound like your daddy," he said.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The comment stirred strong emotions in Craddock. He had to compose himself before he shook the man's hand and thanked him. He says it was the grandest compliment he's ever had about a sermon.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"He was a good storyteller and a good man," Craddock says of his father. "For him to relate me to my father ... I spent a lot of time working through my relationship with my father."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Perhaps he still is.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">When asked in one interview whether he became a minister to save his father, he says, "I'll never know."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Yet in his memoirs, "Reflections on My Call to Preach," he wrote:</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"I was confident that my being a Christian minister would have a life-changing effect on my father. With a son, his own namesake, going into the ministry, would not Daddy toss the bottle forever and return to the pew beside my mother? Surely. But I was naïve, knowing nothing about the power of addiction."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Craddock's last visit with his father revealed to him the results of addiction. His father never stopped drinking or smoking and was hospitalized with throat cancer. He was 63.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">That's when Craddock received the phone call from his mom: You need to go see your father.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">When he entered his father's hospital room, he noticed that it was filled with flowers and a stack of get-well cards 20 inches deep besides his bed. Every card and every blossom came from Craddock's childhood church in Humboldt, the church his father scorned.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">His father confessed that he was wrong about the church and the people in the pews. They didn't just want a name and a pledge. They wanted him.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">His father's admission didn't provide relief. It deepened his grief.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"It was so late. It was at the end. With his personality and his education -- he was generous to a fault; give you the shirt off of his back. He could have been such a good person, helping people, talking to people, playing with children -- he could do all these things."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Would it have been better if his father had said he was also wrong about his son and his decision to become a minister?</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Would it have been better if he had finally said, "I'm proud of you, son"?</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Craddock doesn't dwell on those questions.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"In my tendency to choose between yes and no, I choose yes. I really think he would be proud of me because he loved a storyteller. He would have taken credit for it, though. He would have said, 'I taught you real good, son.' ''</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">What Craddock remembers of their last moments together is not just his father's confession but something his father did.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">After he asked his son to "tell my story," Craddock reached out and clutched his gaunt hand.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"I just held his hand. ... He couldn't move. I couldn't move."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Craddock squeezed his father's hand, and both men cried.</div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 14px/19px arial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 19px; padding-left: 186px; padding-right: 24px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><br />
</div></span>Ronaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13184766267376705079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-859547793307195437.post-49784612273011599262011-11-16T19:06:00.000-08:002011-11-16T19:06:43.074-08:00REVIVAL<div class="MsoNoSpacing"><b><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">Revival</span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> ~ from the Latin <i>revivere</i>, "<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">to live again</span></i>." <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">To be revived is to become active or flourish again; revival thus is a period of renewed group or individual spiritual interest, commitment and growth. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In North American history, some of the great leaders of revival have been Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), George Whitefield (1714-1770), Barton W. Stone (1772-1884), Alexander Campbell (1788-1866), Charles G. Finney (1792-1875), Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899), and the twentieth century evangelists William "Billy" Sunday and William Franklin "Billy" Graham. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The LORD allows me from time to time to collaborate with likeminded congregations as we come together with our focus on Spiritual Renewal. Last week was no different as I traveled to Shawnee Oklahoma to share with my friend and brother Pastor Tony Rhone and the Galilee Baptist Church. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">What a glorious time we shared in the LORD on last week with the precious members of Galilee Baptist Church. I thoroughly was encouraged helped and blessed by the fellowship, worship, and time of deep theological discussion. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Pastor Rhone is an excellent Senior Pastor and a wonderful host. His staff left no stone unturned; I am truly grateful for our friendship, fellowship, and future. Shawnee is a better place because of Pastor Rhone and Galilee, I’m certain of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">NKJ Luke 2:40 And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">May it also be true of you and the wonderful people you serve. When time and people reflect upon you may they say that they grew and were strengthened by the Spirit of GOD, filled with wisdom; and the grace of GOD was upon them.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I thank GOD for Pastor Rhone and Galilee.</span></div>Ronaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13184766267376705079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-859547793307195437.post-65780902086021809512011-11-07T14:01:00.000-08:002011-11-07T14:01:40.841-08:00PREACH.Mark Driscoll made a list of 16 things to look for in a preacher or teacher’s sermon:<br />
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1. Tell me about Jesus. Connect it all to Jesus. If you don’t mention Jesus a lot, you need to do something other than preach. And tell me that Jesus is a person, not just an idea. Help me to not only know him but to also like him.<br />
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2. Have one big idea. Hang all your other ideas on the one big idea. Otherwise, you will lose me or bore me.<br />
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3. Get my attention in the first 30 seconds without being gimmicky. Get to work. Don’t “blah blah blah” around, chitchat, or do announcements. That will make me start checking my phone. Get my attention, and let’s get to work.<br />
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4. Bring me along theologically and emotionally. Preaching is not a commentary. Commentaries are boring for even nerds to read. Your job is to do the nerd work and bring it to life. Raise your voice, grab my affections, and bring the living Word.<br />
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5. Make me like you, trust you, and respect you so that I can't dismiss you. If you want me to follow you, you have to get me to that point.<br />
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6. Avoid Christian jargon and explain your terms. The average person has no idea what fellowship means, or even God for that matter. So, tell us what you’re talking about and don’t assume we have your vocabulary.<br />
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7. Don't have points as much as a direction and destination. Take me somewhere. Take me to a place of conviction, compassion, conversion, etc.<br />
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8. Don't show me how smart you are, because it makes me feel dumb. I assume you’re smart since you’re standing up talking and we’re all sitting down listening. If you quote words in some language I don’t know, or quote dead guys to show you’re a genius, that makes me feel dumb, which doesn’t serve me well. Don’t come off like that kid in school that the rest of us wanted to give a wedgie to every time they raised their hand.<br />
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9. Invite lost people to salvation. Some people in the seats aren’t Christians. So, tell them how to become one. Talk about sin, Jesus, and repentance. At some point in every sermon just do that. If you do, people will bring lost friends. Don’t be a coward.<br />
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10. Whether it feels like a wedding or a funeral, be emotionally engaging and compelling. Some sermons are a funeral—convicting, deep, hard hitting, and life shattering. Other sermons are a wedding—exciting, compelling, encouraging, and motivating. Pick an emotional path. Have an emotional trajectory to the sermon, not just a theological point. If you pass the audition and get to preach publicly, have the entire service flow emotionally. If we do wedding songs after a funeral sermon, I’m emotionally confused. Likewise, if we’re singing melancholy hymns after a big motivational sermon, I’m also emotionally confused. So, you and the guy in skinny jeans with the guitar have got to get this figured out together.<br />
<br />
11. Look like someone who has it together from clothes to haircut to overall presentation. You don’t need to be a model, but you should look presentable. If you have bed-head, your fly open, keep losing your place in your notes, your shoe is untied, your mic battery dies, and you say, “Um,” a lot because you’re unprepared, I may feel sorry for you but I’m not following you because you don’t seem to have a clue where you are going.<br />
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12. Tell the truth and don't be a coward. Look me in the eye and don't flinch. Don’t apologize for what God’s Word says—just say it. Say it like you mean it. Say it like it’s true. Sure, I may despise you, but at least I’ll know what God said. Get over your fear of man and assume that I may just hate you.<br />
<br />
13. If you get lost or mess up, make a joke about yourself and keep me interested. I know at some point you’re going to mess up. The Bible is perfect, you aren’t. If I can laugh at you while laughing with you, I’ll trust you.<br />
<br />
14. Don’t just preach repentance but also practice it. Don’t talk about everyone else’s sin and never your own. Don’t tell me all the victories you’ve had or that your sin was a long time ago. Jesus is the hero, not you. I don’t trust smug, religious folks who preach how great they are and how I can become like them. It’s smarmy.<br />
<br />
15. Answer some objections. You know how most of us are going to push back, question, disagree, or wiggle off the conviction hook. So, anticipate those objections and answer some. Brawl with me a bit, show me you can go a few rounds, get me in a corner, and work me over until I give in and obey God. But, you have to work at it.<br />
<br />
16. "It" is the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in you and through you. I’m looking to see if you have it. I can’t explain it, but I know it when I see it.Ronaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13184766267376705079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-859547793307195437.post-70376332264295034602011-10-19T18:36:00.001-07:002011-10-19T18:36:31.507-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object width="320" height="266" class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://2.gvt0.com/vi/Q4b_QCqVeP4/0.jpg"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Q4b_QCqVeP4&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Q4b_QCqVeP4&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div>Ronaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13184766267376705079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-859547793307195437.post-22908738468465378452011-10-14T11:42:00.000-07:002011-10-14T11:42:02.390-07:00THE gospel of health & wealth<div class="MsoNoSpacing"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">THE gospel of Health & Wealth</span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A dangerous teaching in the modern church that the faithful of God will be rewarded with physical health and material wealth. The one who is sick or poor is judged to have little faith. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">This teaching is nothing more than humanistic materialism cloaked in alleged spirituality</span>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The <b>NT</b> stands radically opposed to the gospel of health and wealth. Money in itself is not wrong. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">1 Timothy 6.10</span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> (<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">AMP</span>) </span><b><sup><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">10</span></sup></b><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> For the love of money is a root of all evils; it is through this craving that some have been led astray <i>and</i> have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves through with many acute [mental] pangs.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">1 Timothy 6.11-19</span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> (<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">AMP</span>) </span><b><sup><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">11</span></sup></b><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> But as for you, O man of God, flee from all these things; aim at <i>and</i> pursue righteousness (right standing with God and true goodness), godliness (which is the loving fear of God and being Christlike), faith, love, steadfastness (patience), and gentleness of heart. <b><sup>12</sup></b> Fight the good fight of the faith; lay hold of the eternal life to which you were summoned and [for which] you confessed the good confession [of faith] before many witnesses. <b><sup>13</sup></b> In the presence of God, Who preserves alive all living things, and of Christ Jesus, Who in His testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I [solemnly] charge you <b><sup>14</sup></b> To keep all His precepts unsullied <i>and</i> flawless, irreproachable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Anointed One), <b><sup>15</sup></b> Which [appearing] will be shown forth in His own proper time by the blessed, only Sovereign (Ruler), the King of kings and the Lord of lords, <b><sup>16</sup></b> Who alone has immortality [in the sense of exemption from every kind of death] and lives in unapproachable light, Whom no man has ever seen or can see. Unto Him be honor and everlasting power <i>and</i> dominion. Amen (so be it). <b><sup>17</sup></b> As for the rich in this world, charge them not to be proud <i>and</i> arrogant <i>and</i> contemptuous of others, nor to set their hopes on uncertain riches, but on God, Who richly <i>and</i> ceaselessly provides us with everything for [our] enjoyment. <b><sup>18</sup></b> [Charge them] to do good, to be rich in good works, to be liberal <i>and</i> generous of heart, ready to share [with others], <b><sup>19</sup></b> In this way laying up for themselves [the riches that endure forever as] a good foundation for the future, so that they may grasp that which is life indeed.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">NIV</span> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">Luke 12:15</span></b> Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">NLT <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Luke 12:21</b></span> "Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God." <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">NLT <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Philippians 1:29</b></span> For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">NIV <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">1 Peter 3:14</b></span> But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">NIV <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Philippians 3:17-19</b></span> Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. 18 For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">ESV <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Matthew 5:12</b></span> Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">ESV <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Acts 9:16</b></span> For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">ESV <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Acts 14:22</b></span> strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">NIV <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">2 Thessalonians 1:5</b></span> All this is evidence that God's judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">ESV <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">2 Timothy 1:12</b></span> which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">ESV <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">1 Peter 3:17</b></span> For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">ESV <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">1 Peter 4:1</b> </span>Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">ESV <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">1 Peter 5:10</b></span> And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Maiandra GD","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">ESV <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Revelation 2:10</b></span> Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Ronaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13184766267376705079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-859547793307195437.post-38886315657478366092011-10-04T08:57:00.000-07:002011-10-04T09:00:48.645-07:005 Good & Bad Times to Leave your Ministry<h2>GOOD: a good time to leave/a good type of restlessness:</h2><strong>1.</strong> When you’ve fulfilled your calling<br />
<strong>2.</strong> When you’re being pulled toward improvement<br />
<strong>3. </strong>When you’re embracing a new assignment<br />
<strong>4. </strong>When you’ve reached your potential<br />
<strong>5. </strong>When you’ve learned as much as you can from your inner circle<br />
<h2><br />
BAD: a bad time to leave/a bad type of restlessness:</h2><strong>1. </strong>When you’re bored<br />
<strong>2.</strong> When you’re running from improvement<br />
<strong>3. </strong>When you’re escaping your current assignment<br />
<strong>4.</strong> When you haven’t paid the price<br />
<strong>5. </strong>When you think you’re better than the people around you<br />
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Remember, don’t move anywhere else until you’ve done the best where you are.<br />
However, don’t stay a day longer than you should. Disengaged people are dead people.Ronaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13184766267376705079noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-859547793307195437.post-76335477356103032332011-09-23T11:36:00.000-07:002011-09-23T11:51:50.557-07:00Facebook Changes Again<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474747; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"></span><br />
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">As we</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474747;"> </span><a href="http://mashable.com/2011/09/21/prepare-for-the-new-facebook/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #1e598e; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">predicted</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474747;">, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Mark Zuckerberg’s</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474747;"> </span><a href="http://mashable.com/2011/09/22/facebook-f8-live-video/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #1e598e; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">keynote at the f8 conference</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474747;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">in San Francisco Thursday introduced some of the most profound changes seen on Facebook since its inception. So many changes, in fact, that it can be hard to keep track. So here’s a handy-dandy guide.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1. You’re going to get a Timeline — a scrapbook of your life.</strong> In a complete overhaul of its</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474747;"> </span><a href="http://mashable.com/2011/09/22/facebook-profile-evolution/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #1e598e; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">ever-evolving profile page</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474747;">, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Facebook is introducing</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474747;"> </span><a href="http://mashable.com/2011/09/22/new-facebook-profiles/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #1e598e; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Timeline</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474747;">. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">This is a stream of information about you — the photos you’ve posted, all your status updates, the apps you’ve used, even the places you’ve visited on a world map — that scrolls all the way back to your birth. It encourages you to post more stuff about your past, such as baby pictures, using Facebook as a scrapbook.</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The further back in Timeline you go, the more Facebook will compress the information so that you’re only seeing the most interesting parts of your history. You can customize this by clicking on a star next to a status, say, or enlarging a picture.</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Timeline is in beta now, and will be opt-in to start. In the long run, it will become the new default profile page.</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">2. You don’t have to just Like something — now you can [verb] any [noun].</strong> Remember when all you could do to something on Facebook — a video, a comment, a product, a person — was Like it? Pretty soon that’s going to seem laughably antiquated. The social network has launched</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"> <a href="http://mashable.com/2011/09/22/facebook-gestures/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Facebook Gestures</span></a>,</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> which means that Facebook’s partners and developers can turn any verb into a button.</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">So you’ll start seeing the option to tell the world you’re Reading a particular book, for example, or Watching a given movie, or Listening to a certain tune. In turn, as many observers have pointed out, this is likely to lead to an explosion of oversharing — and far more information on your friends’ activities showing up in your news feed than you probably cared to know.</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">3. Facebook apps need only ask permission once to share stories on your behalf.</strong> Although not as big a deal as the Timeline, this tweak may be one of the more controversial. Previously, apps had to ask every time they shared information about you in your profile. Now, the first time you authorize the app, it will tell you what it’s going to share about you. If you’re cool with that,</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"> <a href="http://mashable.com/2011/09/22/new-facebook-open-graph/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">the app never has to ask you again</span></a>.</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">But you don’t have to worry about this app stuff clogging your news feed, because …</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">4. All “lightweight” information is going to the Ticker.</strong> Status updates, photos from a wedding or a vacation, changes in relationship status: these are the kinds of things you want to see from your friends when you look at your news feed. Who killed whom in<em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Mafia Wars</em>? Who planted what in <em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">FarmVille</em>? Not so much. So that kind of trivial detail has been banished to the Ticker, a real-time list of things your friends are posting now that scrolls down the side of your screen.</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">5. You can watch TV and movies, listen to music, and read news with your friends — all within Facebook.</strong> Starting today, thanks to a whole bunch of partnerships, there are a lot more things you can do without ever having to leave Facebook. You can</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"> <a href="http://mashable.com/2011/09/22/facebook-tv-and-movies/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">watch a show on Hulu</span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">, listen to </span><a href="http://mashable.com/2011/09/22/facebook-music-spotify/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: white; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">a song on Spotify</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">, or </span><a href="http://mashable.com/2011/09/22/facebook-yahoo-news/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: white; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">check out a story on Yahoo News</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> (or </span><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: white; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Mashable</em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">, via the </span><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: white; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Washington Post</em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">‘s Social Read app). The ticker will tell you what your friends are watching, listening to or reading, allowing you to share the experience with them by clicking on a link.</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The upshot: a brand-new kind of media-based peer pressure. On stage, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings — a launch partner — revealed that he had only just decided to watch <em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Breaking Bad</em> because Facebook’s Ticker told him a colleague was watching it. Netflix’s own algorithm had been recommending the show to him for years, but that was never reason enough for Hastings.</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: white; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">6. Facebook has more users and more engagement than ever.</strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> We got two interesting nuggets of information out of Zuckerberg (and the </span><a href="http://mashable.com/2011/09/22/facebook-keynote-at-f8-pits-zuckerberg-vs-zuckerberg-video/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Zuckerberg-impersonating Andy Samberg</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">): Facebook has </span><a href="http://mashable.com/2011/09/22/facebook-800-million-users/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: white; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">hit 800 million users</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">, and most of them are active. The social network just saw a new record for the most visitors in one day: an eye-popping 500 million.</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Indeed, the whole impression left by the event was that of a confident, fast-evolving company that is becoming ever more professional, and Zuckerberg’s stage show bore more than a little resemblance to an Apple keynote. </span></div>Ronaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13184766267376705079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-859547793307195437.post-32970207910169002222011-09-22T11:22:00.000-07:002011-09-22T11:26:12.865-07:00Mr. Troy Davis<div class="content grid-2 alpha omega"><div class="inner-left-sidebar"><div class="block block-globalgrind_analytics " id="block-globalgrind_analytics-trending_now"><div class="content"><div id="trendingnow-result"><div id="trending"><div><img alt="" class="imagecache-article_images article_image" src="http://static.globalgrind.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/article_images/images/2011_september/russell-blog-troy-david-hed-1.jpg" title="" /></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="content grid-5 omega"><div class="inner-content"><div class="galleries-preview"><div class="galleries-label">Photos</div><div class="gallery-thumbs"><a class="gallery-link" href="http://globalgrind.com/news/he-has-name-troy-davis-died-truth-came-out-photos-0"><img alt="Troy Davis" class="imagecache imagecache-gallery_thumb" height="160" src="http://static.globalgrind.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/gallery_thumb/images/2011_september/32127_3.gif" title="" width="220" /><img alt="Troy Davis " class="imagecache imagecache-gallery_thumb" height="160" src="http://static.globalgrind.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/gallery_thumb/images/2011_september/656838457_4.jpg" title="" width="220" /><img alt="Troy Davis " class="imagecache imagecache-gallery_thumb" height="160" src="http://static.globalgrind.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/gallery_thumb/images/2011_september/1912542_0.jpg" title="" width="220" /><img alt="Troy Davis " class="imagecache imagecache-gallery_thumb" height="160" src="http://static.globalgrind.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/gallery_thumb/images/2011_september/troyandme-345x350_0.jpg" title="" width="220" /></a></div><h3 class="gallery-title"><a href="http://globalgrind.com/news/he-has-name-troy-davis-died-truth-came-out-photos-0">The Life And Times Of Troy Davis (PHOTOS)</a></h3></div><br />
11:08. 11:08PM. <a href="http://globalgrind.com/news/troy-davis-died-dead-death-executed-georgia-mark-macphail-photos">11:08PM EST</a>, September 21st, 2011 was the moment that America lost a piece of her soul. Tonight America lost more of her innocence when she injected <a href="http://globalgrind.com/tag/Troy+Davis"><strong>Troy Davis</strong></a> with a lethal drug cocktail that took his life for the belief that he was the person who murdered police officer, Mark MacPhail. Before I continue with my thoughts, I want to express my deepest condolences to the family of Mr. MacPhail, who not only lost their son, brother, father and husband, but also have been unfairly tortured during the past twenty years.<br />
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I have been in Hong Kong for the past week, so I have been watching the Troy Davis situation unfold from a distance. There was a time in our country when the image of America around the world provided a voice to the aspirations of millions. During my lifetime, hip-hop led the way and I was fortunate to be a part of that movement.<br />
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Now is it possible that we are known for feeding war machines, lining the pockets of the rich and killing innocent men and women? Is this what our great republic has been reduced to? Murdering with mountains of reasonable doubt? I wish that they would have televised the execution of Troy Davis, so we could watch the barbarianism that we sanctioned. We have spiraled into a "revenge" culture, thinking that the only way to reach closure in our lives is by hurting others.<br />
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Revenge is a "slow burning" form of hatred and anger that many carry with them throughout their lives, which can weigh heavily on your personal spiritual, physical, mental and emotional growth. Although we might think it is difficult to forgive someone, it is actually much more difficult to hold all that anger and hatred inside of you. As a nation, we must rid ourselves of this mentality of "revenge," for if we do not, I am sad to say that we will continue to kill people like Troy Davis without much remorse.<br />
Tonight as a nation, we lost.<br />
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We lost our way and we lost a big piece of our moral good standing with the rest of the world. How are we going to defend ourselves against the worst governments on this planet if we can’t commit to justice at home? It is shameful that we allowed state-sponsored murder to destroy our aspirations and our interests around the world. Is this the America we want? Experts, leaders, opinion leaders – all said – DO NOT KILL THIS BLACK MAN. But, we did. We put him to death, knowing full well that this whole thing didn't seem right. <br />
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We will have a lot of work to do to get past 11:08PM EST. Although at times it may seem like we won't make it, we must remember that we are resilient nation and we are compassionate people. We will learn from our mistakes and heal the wounds that have been made. We will do this together, for the case of Troy Davis did not divide us, it actually brought us closer. We will make it to 11:09 as a better, united nation. I know we will.<br />
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~Russell Simmons</div></div>Ronaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13184766267376705079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-859547793307195437.post-9378187206738742922010-12-23T07:44:00.000-08:002010-12-23T07:44:39.953-08:00Father Forgets<strong>FATHER FORGETS</strong><br />
<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">W. Livingston Larned</span></em><br />
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Listen, son: I am saying this as you lie asleep, one little hand crumpled under your cheek and the blond sticky curls wet on you damp forehead. I have stolen into your room alone. Just a few minutes ago, as I sat reading my paper in the library, a stifling wave of remorse swept over me. Guiltily I came to your bedside. <br />
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I was thinking these things son I had been cross to you. I scolded you as you were dressing for school because you gave your face merely a dab with a towel. I took you to task for not cleaning your shoes. I called out angrily when you threw some of your things on the floor. At breakfast, I found fault, too. You gulped down your food. You put your elbows on the table. You spread butter too thick on your bread. In addition, as you started to play and I made for my train, you turned and waved a hand and called, “<strong>Goodbye, Daddy</strong>!” and I frowned, and said in reply, “Hold your shoulders back!”<br />
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Then it began all over again in the late afternoon. As I came up the road, I spied you, down on your knees, playing marbles. There were holes in your socks. I humiliated you before your friends by marching you ahead of me to the house. Socks are expensive and if you had to buy them, you would be more careful! Imagine that, son, from a father! Do you remember, later, when I was reading in the library, how you came in timidly, with a sort of hurt look in your eyes? When I glanced up over my paper, impatient at the interruption, you hesitated at the door. “What is it you want?” I snapped. You said nothing, but ran across in one tempestuous plunge, and threw your arms around my neck and kissed me, and your small arms tightened with an affection that God had set blooming in your heart and which even neglect could not wither. Then you were gone, pattering up the stairs. <br />
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Well, son, it was shortly afterwards that my paper slipped from my hands and a terrible sickening fear came over me. What has habit been doing to me? The habit of finding fault, of reprimanding this was my reward to you for being a boy. It was not that I did not love you; it was that I expected too much of youth. I was measuring you by the yardstick of my own years. <br />
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There was so much that was good and fine and true in your character. The little heart of you was as big as the dawn itself over the wide hills. This was shown by your spontaneous impulse to rush in and kiss me good night. Nothing else matters tonight, son. I have come to your bedside in the darkness, and I have knelt there, ashamed! It is a feeble atonement; I know you would not understand these things if I told them to you during your waking hours. <br />
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However, tomorrow I will be a real daddy! I will chum with you, and suffer when you suffer, and laugh when you laugh. I will bite my tongue when impatient words come. I will keep saying as if it were a ritual: “He is nothing but a boy a little boy!” I am afraid I have visualized you as a man. Yet as I see you now, son, crumpled and wary in your cot, I see that you are still a baby. Yesterday you were in your mother’s arms, your head on her shoulder. I have asked too much, too much. (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">This is one of the classics of American journalism, ‘Father Forgets.’” It originally appeared as an editorial in the People’s Home Journal. Also condensed in the Reader’s Digest</span></em>.)Ronaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13184766267376705079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-859547793307195437.post-89966517817138621732010-12-09T08:29:00.000-08:002010-12-09T08:29:45.061-08:00A Snippet from SpurgeonOctober 7, 1857, he preached to the largest crowd ever 23,654 people at "The Crystal Palace" in London.<br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">Spurgeon noted</span>: <span style="color: #b45f06;">"</span>In 1857, a day or two before preaching at the Crystal Palace, I went to decide where the platform should be fixed; and, in order to test the acoustic properties of the building, cried in a loud voice, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." In one of the galleries, a workman, who knew nothing of what was being done, heard the words, and they came like a message from heaven to his soul. He was smitten with conviction on account of sin, put down his tools, went home, and there, after a season of spiritual struggling, found peace and life by beholding the Lamb of God. Years after, he told this story to one who visited him on his death-bed<span style="color: #b45f06;">."</span>Ronaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13184766267376705079noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-859547793307195437.post-61124645831936377902010-12-01T18:01:00.000-08:002010-12-02T07:30:14.801-08:00A case for CSISunday Sermon<br />
November 28th 2010<br />
Rhema Community Church<br />
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Sermonic Skeleton<br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Pericope</span>: ACTS 5:1-11 1 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2 and with his wife's knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet. 3 But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? 4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God." 5 When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. 6 The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him. 7 After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 And Peter said to her, "Tell me whether you sold the land for so much." And she said, "Yes, for so much." 9 But Peter said to her, "How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out." 10 Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.<br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Theme</span>: The Power of the Holy Spirit (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">The Doctrine of Stewardship</span></em>)<br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Subject</span>: Spiritual Discernment (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">The Doctrine of Christian Ethics</span></em>)<br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Tension</span>: You cannot stop people from lying to you however, you can be filled with the Holy Spirit, and He will illuminate your mind and give you the ability to discern. (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Satan Attacks the mind...etc</span></em>.)<br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Sentence</span>: Christianity is a matter of life and death. (<span style="color: #b45f06;"><em>Live with integrity</em></span>) <br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Question</span>: Is your all on the altar? (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Ananias and Sapphira were under no obligation to give</span></em>.)<br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Warning</span>: You cannot afford to give Satan your heart. (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Ananias and Sapphira gave Satan their whole heart</span></em>.)<br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Title</span>: "A CASE FOR CSI" (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Contributors Spiritual Investigation</span></em>)<br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Sub-Title</span>: “Don’t hold back”. (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">There is a serious spiritual crime perpetrated by Satan against Ananias and Sapphira however; Ananias and Sapphira let Satan do it</span></em>.)<br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Cross Reference</span>: NLT <span style="color: #b45f06;">Hebrews 6:18</span> So God has given us both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can take new courage, for we can hold on to his promise with confidence.<br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">John 8:44</span> (ESV) You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.<br />
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ESV <span style="color: #b45f06;">Luke 22:3</span> Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve.<br />
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ESV <span style="color: #b45f06;">John 13:2</span> During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him,<br />
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ESV <span style="color: #b45f06;">John 13:27</span> Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, "What you are going to do, do quickly."<br />
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KJV <span style="color: #b45f06;">Ephesians 6:11</span> Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.<br />
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ESV <span style="color: #b45f06;">James 4:7</span> Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.<br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Structure</span>: (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">There are five moves within this pericope</span></em>.)<br />
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I. THINK ABOUT THE MARRIAGE (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">verse 1 Ananias, with his wife Sapphira</span></em>,)<br />
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II. THINK ABOUT THE MONEY (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">verse 1, 2 sold a piece of property, and with his wife's knowledge</span></em>)<br />
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III. THINK ABOUT GOD’S MAN (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">verse 3 But Peter said</span></em>,)<br />
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IV. THINK ABOUT THE MOTIVE (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">verse 4 you have not lied to men but to God</span></em>)<br />
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V. THINK ABOUT THE EFFECT THIS HAD ON THE MINISTRY (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">verse 11 And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things</span></em>.)<br />
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<em>A. To be an effective Church we need families</em><br />
<em>B. To be an effective Church we need finances</em><br />
<em>C. To be an effective Church we need fear</em>Ronaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13184766267376705079noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-859547793307195437.post-79059954399377640432010-11-26T09:54:00.000-08:002010-11-26T09:56:12.640-08:00Jonathan Edward (1703-1758)Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)<br />
Edwards provides insight into the relation between apologetic evidence and the Holy Spirit. He too saw complementary relation between the two. Edwards say eight functions in reason:<br />
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1. Reason must prove the existence of God, the Revealer.<br />
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2. Reason anticipates that there will be a revelation.<br />
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3. Reason can show that a "pretended" revelation is not from God.<br />
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4. Reason demonstrates the rationality of revelation.<br />
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5. Reason verifies a true revelation as genuine.<br />
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6. Reason argues for the dependability of revelation. <br />
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7. Reason anticipates that there will be mysteries in a genuine divine revelation, defends them, and refutes objections to their presence. <br />
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8. Reason comprehends what is illumined by revelation.Ronaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13184766267376705079noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-859547793307195437.post-78148328951650206182010-10-01T10:44:00.000-07:002010-10-01T11:41:35.505-07:00The Day the Holy Spirit ArrivedSunday Sermon<br />
September 26th 2010<br />
Rhema Community Church<br />
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Sermonic Skeleton<br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Pericope</span>: ESV <span style="color: #b45f06;">Acts 2:1-13</span> When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians- we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God." 12 And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" 13 But others mocking said, "They are filled with new wine."<br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Theme</span>: The Day of Pentecost (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">The Ascension of Jesus Christ</span></em>)<br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Subject</span>: The Baptism of the Holy Spirit (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Acts 1.4-5 The Fathers promise</span></em>)<br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Tension</span>: The Doctrine of Speaking in Tongues (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Waiting for the Holy Spirit</span></em>) <br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Sentence</span>: Hold on to Gods unchanging hand for His promises are true.<br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Point</span>: This is the Birthday of the Christian Church (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Historical Fact</span></em>) <br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Observation</span>: Non-Christians cannot discern moves of God (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Acts 2.12-13</span></em>)<br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Title</span>: “THE DAY THE HOLY SPIRIT ARRIVED”<br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">Sermonic Structure</span>: (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">There are six moves within this pericope</span></em>) <br />
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I. THE HOLY SPIRIT ARRIVED ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">verse 1</span></em>)<br />
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II. THE HOLY SPIRIT ARRIVED WHEN THEY ALL WERE IN ONE PLACE (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">verse 1</span></em>) <br />
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III. THE HOLY SPIRIT ARRIVED AS THE FATHER HAD PROMISED (<span style="color: #b45f06;"><em>verse 2</em></span>)<br />
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IV. THE HOLY SPIRIT ARRIVED UNTO ALL WHO WERE PRESENT (<span style="color: #b45f06;"><em>verse 3</em></span>)<br />
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V. THE HOLY SPIRIT ARRIVED WITH POWER (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">verse 4</span></em>)<br />
A. <em>The Holy Spirit gives them Unity </em><br />
B. <em>The Holy Spirit gives them Utterance</em><br />
C. <em>The Holy Spirit gives them Understanding</em><br />
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VI. THE HOLY SPIRIT ARRIVED AND SOME WERE PERPLEXED (<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">verses 5-13</span></em>)<br />
A. <em>The Holy Spirit is Audible</em><br />
B. <em>The Holy Spirit is Visible</em><br />
C. <em>The Holy Spirit is Intelligible</em> <br />
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Sermonic Cross Reference: <br />
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ESV Mark 7:33 And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. <br />
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ESV Mark 7:35 And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. <br />
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ESV Mark 16:17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; <br />
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ESV Luke 1:64 And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God.<br />
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ESV Luke 16:24 And he called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.'<br />
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ESV Acts 2:3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. <br />
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ESV Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. <br />
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NLT Acts 2:11 Cretans, and Arabians. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!"<br />
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ESV Acts 2:26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope.<br />
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ESV Acts 10:46 For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared,<br />
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ESV Acts 19:6 And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.<br />
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ESV Romans 3:13 "Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive." "The venom of asps is under their lips." <br />
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ESV Romans 14:11 for it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God."<br />
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ESV 1 Corinthians 12:10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. <br />
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ESV 1 Corinthians 12:28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.<br />
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ESV 1 Corinthians 12:30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? <br />
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ESV 1 Corinthians 13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. <br />
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ESV 1 Corinthians 13:8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. <br />
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ESV 1 Corinthians 14:2 For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit.<br />
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ESV 1 Corinthians 14:4 The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church.Ronaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13184766267376705079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-859547793307195437.post-51329736043082077352010-09-13T12:17:00.000-07:002010-09-19T20:26:01.407-07:00Good Choice or Godly ChoiceSunday Sermon<br />
September 12th 2010<br />
Rhema Community Church<br />
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Sermonic Skeleton<br />
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<span style="color: orange;">Sermonic Pericope</span>: ESV <span style="color: orange;">Acts 1:12-26</span> Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. 13 And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. 14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. 15 In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said, 16 "Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. 17 For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry." 18 (Now this man bought a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. 19 And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) 20 "For it is written in the Book of Psalms, "' May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it'; and "'Let another take his office.' 21 So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us- one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection." 23 And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias. 24 And they prayed and said, "You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place." 26 And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.<br />
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<span style="color: orange;">Sermonic Theme</span>: The Ascension of Jesus Christ. (<em><span style="color: orange;">The Doctrine of Divine Necessities</span></em>) <br />
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<span style="color: orange;">Sermonic Subject</span>: Apostolic Authority (<em><span style="color: orange;">The Necessity of Prayer</span></em>)<br />
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<span style="color: orange;">Sermonic Tension</span>: Did the Apostles make the right decision? (<em><span style="color: orange;">Disciples are made not born</span></em>.)<br />
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<span style="color: orange;">Sermonic Point</span>: Your ability to make Godly decisions is based upon your willingness to persevere in prayer. <br />
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<span style="color: orange;">Sermonic Sentence</span>: The goal of every Christian disciple is to persevere in prayer until your decisions become Godly. <br />
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<span style="color: orange;">Sermonic Goal</span>: Persevere in pray before you decide.<br />
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<span style="color: orange;">Sermonic Question</span>: Will you persevere in pray over your next decision? <br />
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<span style="color: orange;">Sermonic Cross Reference</span>: ESV <span style="color: orange;">Zechariah 14:4</span> On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward. <br />
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ESV <span style="color: orange;">Psalm 69:25</span> May their camp be a desolation; let no one dwell in their tents.<br />
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NLT <span style="color: orange;">Proverbs 16:33</span> We may throw the dice, but the LORD determines how they fall.<br />
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<span style="color: orange;">Sermonic Help</span>: The final day of Christ’s postresurrection ministry did not take place in Galilee. That may have been the site of the largest assembly of His followers, as we have just seen; but His actual departure was from the crest of the Mount of Olives, not far from Bethany. There was something especially fitting that this should be the point of His departure, since from the prophecy in <span style="color: orange;">Zechariah 14:4</span> we know that the Mount of Olives will be the place of His return in the day of Armageddon. As He sets His foot down there, a mighty earthquake will split the hill of Olivet into a broad valley running from west to east. <br />
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We have no way of knowing how many of Jesus’ disciples gathered on the summit of Olivet for that last memorable interview with their Lord, on His final day of earthy ministry. Perhaps there were about 120 there, judging from the statement in <span style="color: orange;">Acts 1:15</span>. It is conceivable that the “over five hundred brethren at once” (<span style="color: orange;">1 Cor. 15:6</span>) were there rather than up in Galilee. <span style="color: orange;">Matthew 28:16</span> only mentions the Eleven as being certainly of that number; yet the Eleven may have simply been a core group, and a great many more may have gathered around them. On the other hand, if there were over 500 assembled at Olivet on Ascension Day, it is unlikely that 380 of them would have disregarded Christ’s solemn instructions and would have failed to tarry for the specified ten days until Pentecost (<span style="color: orange;">Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4</span>), when the Spirit would descend from heaven on them.<br />
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As the disciples gathered about Jesus to take their leave of Him before His departure to heaven, they asked Him one question of pressing importance: Will the kingdom of God very soon be established on earth? They were anxious to know what their Lord’s plan was for the triumph of His cause and establishment of His sovereignty over all the earth. In response to this question, Jesus does not correct their underlying premise—that He some day will establish the kingdom of God on earth—but indicates that there will be intervening times and seasons in phraseology reminiscent of the Olivet Discourse (<span style="color: orange;">Matt. 24:5–14</span>), with its clear indication that much would have to happen before the present age would draw to its close. It was unnecessary and inappropriate for them to know about the exact date of the Second Advent; their task was simply to carry out the Great Commission and spread the gospel to the very ends of the earth (<span style="color: orange;">Acts 1:7–8</span>).<br />
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As His final gesture there on the hilltop near Bethany, our Lord lifted His hands to bless His disciples (<span style="color: orange;">Luke 24:50</span>); and in that attitude He was suddenly lifted up from the ground, to disappear from their sight beyond the clouds. As they stood there looking up, transfixed with wonder, two angels suddenly appeared beside them (perhaps the same angels who had greeted the visitors to the empty tomb) and assured them that Jesus would some day return to earth in bodily form—in the same form as they had seen Him ascend to heaven. With this glad assurance ringing in their ears, they made their way down from Olivet in order to spend the next ten days in communion and prayer, until the outpouring of Christ’s Holy Spirit came on them all at Pentecost.<br />
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In <span style="color: orange;">Acts 1:18</span> the apostle Peter reminds the other disciples of Judas’s shameful end and the gap he left in the ranks of the Twelve, which called for another disciple to take his place. Peter relates the following: “He therefore acquired a plot of land [chōrion] from the reward of wrongdoing. (This could mean either that Judas had already contracted with the owner of the field that he originally had wanted to buy with the betrayal money; or—as is far more likely in this context—Peter was speaking ironically, stating that Judas acquired a piece of real estate all right, but it was only a burial plot [chōrion could cover either concept], namely, the one on which his lifeless body fell. <span style="color: orange;">Acts 1:18</span> goes on to state: “And he, falling headlong, burst asunder, and all of his inwards gushed out.” This indicates that the tree from which Judas suspended himself overhung a precipice. If the branch from which he had hung himself was dead and dry—and there are many trees that match this description even to this day on the brink of the canyon that tradition identifies as the place where Judas died—it would take only one strong gust of wind to yank the heavy corpse and split the branch to which it was attached and plunge both with great force into the bottom of the chasm below. There is indication that a strong wind arose at the hour Christ died and ripped the great curtain inside the temple from top to bottom (<span style="color: orange;">Matt. 27:51</span>). This was accompanied by a rock-splitting earthquake and undoubtedly also by a thunderstorm, which normally follows a prolonged period of cloud gathering and darkness (<span style="color: orange;">Matt. 27:45</span>). Conditions were right for what had started out as a mere suicide by hanging to turn into a grisly mutilation of the corpse as the branch gave way to the force of the wind and was hurtled down to the bottom. <br />
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<span style="color: orange;">Sermonic Title</span>: “<strong>GOOD CHOICE or GOD’S CHOICE</strong>”<br />
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<span style="color: orange;">Sermonic Structure</span>: (<em>There are six moves within this pericope</em>) <br />
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I. THE APOSTLES ARE IN PRAYER (<span style="color: orange;"><em>vrs.12-14</em></span> <em><span style="color: #783f04;">Obeying Christ they return to Jerusalem [hostile territory], entered into the house, and went into the “upper room” attempting to get as close to heaven as humanly possible so that they could talk to God</span>.</em> <em><span style="color: orange;">Acts 1.4</span></em>) <br />
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II. THE APOSTLES ARE LISTENING TO PETER (<em><span style="color: orange;">vrs.15-16</span></em>)<br />
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III. THE APOSTLES HAVE A PROBLEM (<span style="color: orange;"><em>vrs.17-20</em></span> <em><span style="color: #783f04;">Jesus has left and the Holy Spirit has not yet come. The apostles are attempting to fill an empty space/ a vacancy, void in their lives and ministry</span></em>.)<br />
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IV. THE APOSTLES WILL CHOOSE ONE OUT OF TWO PEOPLE (<span style="color: orange;"><em>vrs.21-23</em></span> <em><span style="color: #783f04;">Listen to the criterion given</span></em>.)<br />
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V. THE APOSTLES PRAY ONE MORE TIME BEFORE THEY PICK (<span style="color: orange;"><em>vrs.24-25</em></span>)<br />
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VI. THE APOSTLES PICK MATTHIAS TO TAKE JUDAS PLACE (<em><span style="color: orange;">vrs.26</span></em> <em><span style="color: #783f04;">Just because you are chosen don’t become arrogant and smug remember the last person who had your job was a devil</span></em>. <em><span style="color: orange;">John 6.70</span></em>)Ronaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13184766267376705079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-859547793307195437.post-74485475249915198492010-06-16T08:30:00.000-07:002010-06-16T08:44:11.526-07:00The Spirit of the LordSunday Sermon<br />June 13th 2010<br />Rhema Community Church<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Skeleton</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Pericope</span>: <span style="color:#cc6600;">ESV Luke 4:18-19</span> "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Theme</span>: The Spirit of the Lord. (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">The ministry of Jehovah</span></em>)<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Subject</span>: Rejection (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">The first rejection at Nazareth</span></em>)<br /> <br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Tension</span>: People are poor, captive, blind, and oppressed. (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sin and Satan causes people to reject the message and the messenger of Good news</span></em>.)<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Sentence</span>: The proclamation of good news is the Lord’s solution for humanities sin. (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">The life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension and soon return of Jesus Christ</span></em>.)<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Question</span>: Are you sharing the good news with people as you go? (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">Evangelism</span></em>) <br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Point</span>: People need to hear good news. (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">The spiritual and physical needs of people both matter to the Lord. Is this liberation theology</span></em>?)<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Refrain</span>: You can do nothing without the Spirit of the Lord. (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">P</span><span style="color:#cc6600;">eople may reject you however, the Lord has already accepted you</span></em>.)<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Title</span>: “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD”<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Sub-title</span>: <em>Preaching ain’t easy</em><br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Structure</span>:<br /><br />I. THE LORD AFFIRMS JESUS PUBLICALLY (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">The Spirit of the Lord is upon me</span></em>)<br /><br />II. THE LORD ANOINTS JESUS FOR PREACHING (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">Good news</span></em>)<br /><br />III. THE LORD ASSIGNS JESUS TO PEOPLE (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">Poor, captives, blind, and oppressed…etc</span></em>.)Ronaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13184766267376705079noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-859547793307195437.post-67820982853797881782010-05-22T11:23:00.000-07:002010-05-22T11:34:13.125-07:00The Kind of Giver God LovesSunday Sermon<br />May 16th 2010<br />Rhema Community Church<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Skeleton</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Pericope</span>: ESV <span style="color:#cc6600;">2 Corinthians 9:6-15</span> 6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all contentment in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. 9 As it is written, "He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever." 10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way for all your generosity, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. 12 For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. 13 By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission flowing from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, 14 while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. 15 Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Theme</span>: Give (<span style="color:#cc6600;"><em>Giving money is a spiritual act</em></span>.)<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Subject</span>: Stewardship (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">The Ministry of Generosity</span></em>)<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Tension</span>: Your mind must be made up in order for you to sow generously into people. (<span style="color:#cc6600;"><em>You need a generous spirit</em></span>.)<br /> <br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Sentence</span>: Generously sow into people knowing that God is able to make all grace abound toward you.<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Question</span>: God is so generous toward you why aren’t you generous toward others?<br />(<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">A stingy Christian is an oxymoron and a disgrace to grace</span></em>.)<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Help</span>: GRACE: New Testament Noun: charis (charis), GK G5921 (S 5485), 155x. charis is “grace, favor”—the acceptance of and goodness toward those who cannot earn or do not deserve such gain. As in the OT, “finding favor in the presence of God” (Lk. 1:30) means that God has an attitude of kindness toward someone, wishing to prosper them. Being “highly favored” highlights God’s decision to bless and use that person for his good purpose (of Mary, Lk. 1:28; even of Jesus, 2:52; cf. also Stephen, Acts 6:8). Paul acknowledges that God’s “grace” has called and equipped him to be the authoritative apostle of Christ’s gospel (Rom. 15:15).<br /><br />Jesus’ mission to the world is seen as the appearance of “grace and truth” (Jn. 1:14, 17), even “grace upon grace” (1:16). The gospel of Jesus Christ can rightfully be called “the word of his grace” (Acts 14:3; 20:32) and “the gospel of the grace of God” (20:24), and being sent out to preach the gospel is seen as “being handed over to the grace of God” (14:26; 15:40).<br /><br />In the NT, God’s grace manifests itself most clearly in the sacrificial, substitutionary death of Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:24–26; Heb. 2:9). By nature gifts of grace cannot be earned (Rom. 11:6), for a gift earned is the opposite of a gift of grace (4:4). Grace, Christ, and salvation are so connected that those who attempt to earn righteousness have “fallen away from the grace” (Gal. 5:4; cf. 2:21). Salvation is “by grace through faith, and not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8).<br /><br />The undeserved blessings of grace are numerous. Jesus gave up the riches of heaven, making himself poor so as to make sinful humans rich—that is “grace” (2 Cor. 8:9)! Every step of God’s salvation (from eternity past to the everlasting future) is accomplished through grace: his precreational choosing of the elect in Christ (Eph. 1:4–6), his inner call to the gospel (2 Tim. 1:9), his regeneration of dead sinners (Eph. 2:5), his gift of saving faith (Acts 18:27), his redemption of sinners (including justification, Tit. 3:7; forgiveness of sins, Eph. 1:7), his sanctification of believers (2 Cor. 9:8; 2 Thess. 2:16–17), his preservation of the saints (1 Cor. 1:4, 8), and his glorification of believers (1 Cor. 15:57; 2 Thess. 1:12). God saves “in order that in the coming ages he might show the surpassing richness of his grace in kindness on us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:7).<br /><br />Grace is a new domain in which and by which Christians live (Rom. 15:15; 16:20). In this realm sin no longer rules (6:14). By his grace, God affects Christians’ personal lives, giving them the ability to obey the gospel from the heart (Rom. 6:17), the ability to work hard (1 Cor. 15:10), and an increase of joy in severe trials (2 Cor. 8:1–2). God graciously affects Christians’ interpersonal relations, giving them care in their hearts for others (2 Cor. 8:16) and different spiritual gifts that cause the body of Christ to function together (Rom. 12:6).<br /><br />The believer is motivated to show practical grace to others. Jesus applies charis (translated “credit,” “benefit,” or “thanks”) to the act of doing something kind for someone who has not earned and does not deserve it (Lk. 6:32–34). The Christian knows that no matter the level of suffering or weakness in life, Christ’s grace toward them is sufficient (2 Cor. 12:9), allowing them to “approach the throne of grace with confidence in order that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Heb. 4:16). Dependence on Christ’s power and grace causes an overflow of thanksgiving (2 Cor. 4:15).<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Title</span>: “THE KIND OF GIVER GOD LOVES”<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Structure</span>:<br /><br />I. God generously loves people who cheerfully sow (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">Verses 6-7</span></em>)<br /><br />II. God generously supplies seed to the cheerful sower (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">Verses 8-11</span></em>)<br /><br />III. God generously graces us for service (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">Verses 12-14</span></em>)<br /><br />IV. God generously gave us His son (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">Verse 15</span></em>)Ronaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13184766267376705079noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-859547793307195437.post-74490126755474287092010-05-10T15:04:00.000-07:002010-05-10T15:23:51.381-07:00She Gave More than all of ThemSunday Sermon<br />May 9th 2010<br />Rhema Community Church<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Skeleton</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Pericope</span>: ESV <span style="color:#cc6600;">Luke 21:1-4</span> Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, 2 and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. 3 And he said, "Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. 4 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on."<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Theme</span>: Money (<span style="color:#cc6600;"><em>Do Not Be Deceived: Notice the generosity of this poor widow woman’s volition</em></span>.)<br /> <br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Subject</span>: Stewardship (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">Divine Judgment: True value is not what you have it is in what you give</span></em>.)<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Tension</span>: If I give my all to God who will take care of me? (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">This poor widow woman shows no anxiety for her life</span></em>.)<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Sentence</span>: Give your all to God today. (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">She gave all she had while Jesus in a few chapters will give all He has, His life</span></em>.)<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Question</span>: Why did this poor widow woman do it? (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">I argue that she could not resist</span></em>)<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Help</span>: Stewardship. The principle of stewardship is closely linked to the concept of grace: everything comes from God as a gift and is to be administered faithfully on his behalf. There is thus both stewardship of the earth and stewardship of the gospel (cf. J. Goetzmann, TDNT II, pp. 253–256); stewardship of personal resources of time, money and talents, and stewardship of the resources of church and society. Along with questions of mission strategy and support there are issues of personal and corporate lifestyle, just wages and fair prices, poverty and wealth all related to explicit or implicit theologies of the kingdom of God, work and nature.<br /><br />The theme of stewardship as a recognition of the unity of creation and the consequent need to care for the whole earth can be traced in Eastern Orthodoxy and in Western theology down to Calvin. Nevertheless it can be argued that in practice a more prevalent understanding of ‘dominion’ (Gn. 1:28) as domination rather than stewardship has been a justification, if not a cause, of much exploitation. However, international consciousness of the relationship between ecological and political exploitation and the need to seek what the World Council of Churches has called a ‘just, participatory and sustainable society’ has grown steadily since the publication of Only One Earth by Barbara Ward and René Dubois (London, 1972) and the Brandt Commission report North-South: A Programme for Survival (London, 1980), with much attention inside and outside the churches paid to the arms race and nuclear disarmament.<br /><br />More recently, at least in Western Europe, the stewardship of human resources has become a major concern as churches seek to respond at a personal, community or national level to the social consequences of unemployment and technological change in industry. From the Greek oikonomos, which refers to the manager of a household or estate. Stewardship is management of all God has entrusted. God bestows many things, yet the most important gift a Christian must invest wisely is his own life his abilities to think and to love: A Christian’s body and mind are to be a “living sacrifice” dedicated to God (Romans 12.1-2). A Christian should invest his time in study and service to God, seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6.33). Once a Christian learns to be a good steward of mind and body then he will use all other gifts from God wisely. See: Luke 12.42; 16.1-8; I Corinthians 4.2; Galatians 4.2; Romans 16.23. 1 Corinthians 4.1, of preachers of the Gospel and teachers of the Word of God; Titus 1.7, of elders in churches; 1Peter 4.10, of believers generally.<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Title</span>: “She Gave More than All of Them”<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Subtitle</span>: “Going broke for God”<br /><br />Sermonic Structure:<br /><br />I. JESUS SEE’S <br />A. <span style="color:#cc6600;">Jesus saw the rich people putting in their gifts</span><br />B. <span style="color:#cc6600;">Jesus saw this poor widow woman putting in two small copper coins</span><br /><br />II. JESUS SPEAKS <br />A. <span style="color:#cc6600;">Jesus speaks about how much she gave</span> (<span style="color:#3333ff;"><em>more than all of them</em></span>)<br />B. <span style="color:#cc6600;">Jesus speaks about where their offering came from</span> (<em><span style="color:#3333ff;">out of their abundance</span></em>)<br />C. <span style="color:#cc6600;">Jesus speaks about where her offering came from</span> (<em><span style="color:#3333ff;">out of her poverty</span></em>)Ronaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13184766267376705079noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-859547793307195437.post-70247517893785062832010-04-12T12:53:00.000-07:002010-04-12T16:37:23.252-07:00A Portrait of Christian WorshipSunday Sermon<br />April 11th 2010<br />Rhema Community Church<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Skeleton</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Pericope</span>: ESV <span style="color:#cc6600;">Romans 12:1-2</span> I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Theme</span>: Christian Worship (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">Christian living is an act of perpetual worship</span></em>.)<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Subject</span>: Practical Christianity (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">God wants all of us Jew & Gentile</span></em>.)<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Tension</span>: Living Sacrifice (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">This is the quintessential image, illustration, idea of Christian worship</span></em>.)<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Sentence</span>: “Worship is more than an event it’s a lifestyle.” (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">Worship God for the rest of your life</span></em>.)<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Footnote</span>: My life is being transformed by the power of the gospel. (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">There can be no real worship without sacrifice</span></em>.)<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Help</span>: I scarcely like this word sacrifice, because it involves nothing more than a reasonable service. If we gave up all we had and became beggars for Christ, it would display no such chivalrous spirit or magnanimous conduct after all. We would be gainers by the surrender.<br /><br />Nothing worse can happen to a church than to be conformed to this world. Charles H. Spurgeon at his best<br /><br />Stewardship: From the Greek oikonomos, which refers to the manager of a household or estate. Stewardship is management of all God has entrusted. God bestows many things, yet the most important gift a Christian must invest wisely is his own life his abilities to think and to love: A Christian’s body and mind are to be a “living sacrifice” dedicated to God (Romans 12.1-2). A Christian should invest his time in study and service to God, seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6.33). Once a Christian learns to be a good steward of mind and body then he will use all other gifts from God wisely. Luke 12.42; 16.1-8; I Corinthians 4.2; Galatians 4.2; Romans 16.23. 1 Corinthians 4.1, of preachers of the Gospel and teachers of the Word of God; Titus 1.7, of elders in churches; 1 Peter 4.10, of believers generally.<br /><br />Worship: Several Greek words used in the NT are translated “worship.” They involve acknowledgement, praise, thanksgiving, and service. Only God is worthy of worship (Matthew 4.10). He is to be worshiped in spirit and truth, for He is Spirit and Truth (John 4.23-24). The essence of worship consists not of practices and rituals, but of giving one’s life in attitude and action as “living sacrifice” (Romans 12.1-2). Worship is not just being in church on Sunday, but doing all things to God’s glory (1 Corinthians 10.31).<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Title</span>: "A Portrait of Christian Worship"<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Structure</span>:<br /><br />I. The Christians Behavior is a portrait of Worship<br /><br />II. The Christians Body is a portrait of Worship<br /><br />III. The Christians Brain is a portrait of WorshipRonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13184766267376705079noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-859547793307195437.post-82750148356841049672010-04-05T05:06:00.000-07:002010-04-05T05:11:56.453-07:00Jesus Gives us HopeSunday Sermon<br />April 4th 20X<br />Rhema Community Church<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Skeleton</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Pericope</span>: ESV <span style="color:#cc6600;">1 Peter 1:3</span> Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Theme</span>: The Resurrection of Jesus Christ (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">Fact</span></em>)<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Subject</span>: Living Hope (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">Optimism, Sanguinity, Confidence, Expectancy</span></em>)<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Tension</span>: Fiery Trials (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">Diaspora, Suffering, Persecution, Agony, Anguish, Affliction</span></em>)<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Sentence</span>: There’s a resurrection coming for you. (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">Literally & metaphorically</span></em>)<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Help</span>: The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important doctrine of the Christian faith. Christians since the NT have argued for the centrality of the doctrine, convinced that it proved Jesus’ deity and the efficacy of His death for our sins. Paul, for example, considered the resurrection to be the cornerstone of the Christian faith: If Jesus did not rise from the dead, the whole structure of Christianity collapses. Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 15.14-17: “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile.” The Christian faith and its claim to be Truth exist only if Jesus rose from the dead, because the heart of Christianity is a living Christ. Phil 3.20-21; II Cor. 5.1-5; 1 Thess. 4.16-17. The fact that Jesus rose bodily (in a real physical body) from the grave has been fundamental to Christian teaching from the beginning. In the NT Jesus’ appearance is depicted as spiritual in the sense of being independent of the ordinary laws of nature but also as material or physical. He invited them to touch His hands and feet” for a spirit does not have flesh and bones” (Luke 24.39-40; Matthew 27.61-66; 28.1-20; Mark 16.1-20; Luke 24.1-53; John 20.10-31).<br /><br />Resurrection of the Dead: From the Latin resurrection, from resurgere, “to rise again,” from re, “again,” and surgere, “to rise.” Both the OT and NT teach that the dead will come back to life. For the Christian the resurrection will be a complete redemption, with a new body that will be immortal and incorruptible. Isaiah 25.6-8; 26.19; Daniel 12.1-4; 1 Cor. 15; I Thess. 4.14-17.<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Title</span>: “JESUS GIVES US HOPE”<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Structure</span>:<br /><br />I. Jesus gives us a Living Hope<br /><br />II. Jesus gives us a Liberating Hope<br /><br />III. Jesus gives us a Legitimate Hope<br /><br />IV. Jesus gives us a Lasting HopeRonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13184766267376705079noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-859547793307195437.post-21549145096591742002010-03-29T12:38:00.000-07:002010-04-05T03:20:29.243-07:00Give it to the LordSunday Sermon<br />March 28, 20X<br />Rhema Community Church<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Skeleton</span><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;"></span><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Pericope</span>: ESV <span style="color:#cc6600;">Luke 19:28-40</span> And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, 30 saying, "Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' you shall say this: 'The Lord has need of it.'" 32 So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. 33 And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, "Why are you untying the colt?" 34 And they said, "The Lord has need of it." 35 And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36 And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. 37 As he was drawing near- already on the way down the Mount of Olives- the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, 38 saying, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" 39 And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples." 40 He answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out."<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Theme</span>: Triumphal Entry (<span style="color:#cc6600;"><em>Peace & Humility</em></span>)<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Subject</span>: Prophetic Ministry (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">Zechariah 9.9</span></em>)<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Tension</span>: The colt is tied. (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">The Lord has need of it</span></em>.)<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Sentence</span>: If the Lord can use a donkey, surely He can use you.<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Footnote</span>: When true disciples rejoice and praise the Lord with a loud voice, Pharisees will always get upset.<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Refrain</span>: It’s not only what you do that counts, it’s also how you do it.<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Help</span>: While the praise was multitudinous, it was quite select. It was the whole multitude of the disciples. The Pharisees did not praise him; they were murmuring. All true praise must come from true hearts. (<em>Spurgeon at his best</em>)<br /><br />Hosanna: The Greek equivalent of a Hebrew greeting that means, “save us we pray” (see <span style="color:#cc6600;">Psalm 118.25</span>). This greeting occurs only six times in the NT, all with regard to Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem (<span style="color:#cc6600;">Matthew 27.9, 15; John 12.13</span>). This word subsequently came to be used at an early date as an expression in Christian worship of joy and praise.<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Title</span>: “GIVE IT TO THE LORD”<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;">Sermonic Structure</span>:<br /><br />I. Give The Lord your Commitment (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">v29 He sent two disciples</span></em>…)<br /><br />II. Give The Lord your Confidence (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">v32 Those who were sent went</span></em>…)<br /><br />III. Give The Lord your Colt (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">v35 They brought it to Jesus</span></em>…)<br /><br />IV. Give The Lord your Cloak (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">v35 Throwing their cloaks on the colt</span></em>…)<br /><br />V. Give The Lord your Celebration (<em><span style="color:#cc6600;">v40 If these were silent</span></em>…)Ronaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13184766267376705079noreply@blogger.com0