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Holiday Schedule
How does your church operate through the holidays? What kind of special events, services, or outreaches do you have? Do you typically eliminate certain services to give families more time together? What do you and your family do on a personal level to make the season special and to keep yourself rested? Read the responses.
Have Yourself a Merry Substantive Christmas
Rev. Tony Cooke
OK, maybe it doesn’t have the flow of the song title, but I think it’s an important thought. Every year, countless voices decry the superficiality and materialism associated with Christmas. But what can we do to reclaim the richness and depth of this season? Before we can really esteem the value of the Good News, we need to understand just how bad the bad news really was. Before the significance and joy of Jesus’ birth can be fully appreciated, there must first be a realization of the world’s absolute hopelessness and despair if it had not been for the Savior who would come. Read the article.
For Mature Audiences Only
Pastor Gerald Brooks
Seeing the truth about maturity may make us uncomfortable. It reminds me of a quote attributed to President James Garfield. “The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable.” I’ve noticed that when people are facing an uncomfortable truth, they have a tendency to think about how it applies to someone that they know. They think about how they wished they had invited someone to hear a sermon, think about how they can get the CD, or plan to buy that person a copy of the book. Starting with the fall in the Garden of Eden, people have always tried to sidestep the truth and focus it on someone else. Read the article.
Stop Complaining
Pastor Steve Roll
The Early Church was confronted with a relationship hindering, unity busting issue in its congregations: Christians complaining against Christians. Sad to say, it is no different today. Churches are packed with complaining Christians. Everything from the length of the Pastor’s sermon, his personal style, his family’s lifestyle, the worship team’s performance, ministry workers care for children, to campus décor, to expenditure of God’s funds, and on and on and on...all are subject to subjective judgment by believers who take upon themselves the mantle of judge and jury. Read the article.
Just for Christmas (and New Year's)
Tips for Managing Stress, the Blues, and Grief During the Holidays
The Rest of the Christmas Story
Great Thoughts for the New Year
Read all of our quotes by visiting our Quotes Page.
HEAVEN
“Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave with regret? There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.”
- C.S. Lewis
FORGIVENESS
“A good marriage is the union of two forgivers.”
- Ruth Bell Graham.
LISTENING
Retire from the world each day to some private spot. Stay in the secret place till the surrounding noises begin to fade out of your heart and a sense of God’s presence envelops you. Deliberately tune out the unpleasant sounds and come out of your closet determined not to hear them. Listen for the inward voice till you learn to recognize it.
- A.W. Tozer
KINDNESS
“Often the only thing a child can remember about an adult in later years, when he or she is grown, is whether or not that person was kind.”
- Billy Graham
WORRY
“Worry is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If it continues, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.”