Monster Media 1994 #1/monster.zip/monster/RELIGION/SERM201.ZIP/SERMON.ILL

Text File | 1993-09-20 | 51KB | 1,083 lines

@MINISTER,POPULAR,WORK,WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE
~    A minister was not very popular with his congregation.  Then one
Sunday he announced from the pulpit, "The Lord Jesus has work for me to do
elsewhere and that I am to pick up and move to another church."  The
congregation rose spontaneously to its feet and sang, "What a friend we
have in Jesus..."

    - Rusty & Linda Wright, _500 Clean Jokes_, p.28.

@GOLD,PURE,HEAR,BLESSED ARE THE PURE
~    Several years ago there was a young man who went to the Republic of
South Africa to do some missions work.  While he was there he was given an
opportunity to visit a gold mine in Johannesburg.  The mine operators took
him around to the different sites showing him many different and
interesting things.  They took him down into the mine, almost a mile
straight down, the showed him how they got the gold ore out of the ground,
and they even took him out to lunch.
    The thing about the mine he found to be most interesting was the gold
purification and refinement process.  Once the gold ore is brought to the
surface it is placed on a conveyor belt that leads to a machine that
crushes the gold ore into a fine powder much like flower or sugar.  Next
the ore is placed into a large holding tank where the ore is dissolved
with sodium cyanide.
    Once all the rock has been dissolved the end result is a gold paste,
which has the consistency of mud.  This mud is gold, but it is far from
pure.  In order for the gold to be purified it must refined by fire. The
gold is melted down time and again, until all the impurities are removed
from it.  When the gold reaches its maximum purity you can see your
reflection in it like a mirror.
    Our hearts are much like gold. They are incased in rock and need to
freed from it.  Once that is done they need to be refined by the fires of
trials and tribulations, until they reach purity, until we and the world
can see the reflection of Jesus in them.

     - Rev. Douglas C. Swift Jr.

@PRIDE,WEED,HEART,GOOD SOIL
~     Pride is the dandelion of the soul.  Its root goes deep; only a
little left behind sprouts again.  Its seeds lodge in the tiniest
encouraging cracks.  And it flourishes in good soil:  The danger of pride
is that it feeds on goodness.

     - David Rhodes  Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England

@ETERNAL,SECURITY,SALVATION,ONCE SAVED ALWAYS
~     Christians have often disagreed over whether believers can forsake
their salvation.  Perhaps we should compare our situation to ridding in
the back of a pickup truck.  All true believers are on board.  Some
Christians believe the tailgate is closed and locked; others believe it is
left open.  In either case, the logical thing to do is not to see how
daring we can be in leaning out the back, but to ride as close to the cab
as possible.

     - Gordon E. Donaldson, Phoenix, Arizona

@MARRIAGE,BRAID,UNRAVEL,HUSBAND WIFE GOD
~     A braid appears to contain only two strands of hair.  But it is
impossible to create a braid with only two strands.  If the two could be
put together at all, they would quickly unravel.
     Herein lies the mystery:  What looks like two strands requires a
third.  The third strand, through not immediately evident, keeps the
strands tightly woven.
     In a Christian marriage, God's presence, like the third strand in a
braid holds husband and wife together.

     - Cathern Paxton, Indianapolis, Indiana

@SUBMISSION,YIELD,LOVE,EPH 5:21
~     Driving down a country road, I came to a very narrow bridge.  In
front of the bridge, a sign was posted "YIELD."  Seeing no oncoming cars,
I continued across the bridge and on to my destination.
     On my way back, I came to the same one-lane bridge, now from the other
direction.  To my surprise, I say another YIELD sign posted.
     "Curious", I thought. "I'm sure there was one positioned on the other
side."
     When I reached the other side of the bridge, I looked back.  Sure
enough, yield signs had been placed at both ends of the bridge.  Drivers
from both directions were requested to give the other right of way.  It was
a reasonable and gracious was of preventing a head-on collision.
     When the Bible commands Christians to "be subject to one another"
(Eph 5:21) it is simply a reasonable and gracious command to let the other
have the right of way and avoid interpersonal head-on collisions.

     - Stephen P. Beck, Ephrata, Pennsylvania

@FIGHT,LOSES,BITING,DEVOURING DESTROYED
~     A recent issue of National Graphic included a photograph of
the fossil remains of two saber-toothed cats locked in combat.  To
quote the article "One had bitten deep into the leg bone of the
other, a thrust that trapped both in a common fate.  The cause of
the death of the two cats is as clear as the causes of the
extinction of their species are obvious."
     When Christians fight each other, everybody loses.  As Paul
put it, "If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out
or you will be destroyed by each other" (Gal 5 15).

     -- Peter A Alsinson, West Haven, Connecticut

@LIFE,CHRIST,NEW,COMFORTABLE
~     The motor home has allowed us to put all the conveniences of
home on wheels. A camper no longer needs to contend with sleeping
in a sleeping bag, cooking over a fire, or hauling water from a
stream. Now he can park fully equipped home on a cement slab in the
midst of a few pine trees and hook up to a water line, a sewer
line, and electricity. One motor home I saw recently had a
satellite dish attached on top.
     No more bother with dirt, no more smoke from the fire, no more
drudgery of walking to the stream.  Now it is possible to go
camping and never have to go outside.  We buy a motor home with the
hope of seeing new places of getting out into the world, but we
deck it out with the same furnishings as in our living room. Thus
nothing really changes. We may drive to a new place, set ourselves
in new surroundings, but the newness goes unnoticed, for we've only
cared along our old setting.
     The adventure of new life in Christ begins when the
comfortable patterns of the old life are left behind

     -- David Rhrer, Venture, California

@COURAGE,BOLDNESS,DEATH,TELEMACHUS ROME
~     President Reagan recently retold the story of Telemachus, the
fourth-century Christian whose boldness has been recounted in
Charles Colson's Loving God .
     The Asian hermit lived in a remote village, tending his garden
and spending much of his time in prayer.  One day he thought he
heard the voice of God telling him to go to Rome, so he obeyed,
setting out on foot.
     Weary weeks later, he arrived in the city at the time of a
great festival. The little monk followed the crowd surging down
the streets into the Colosseum.  He saw the gladiators stand before
the emperor and say, "We who are about to die salute you."  Then
he realized these men were going to fight to the death for the
entertainment of the crowd He cried out, "In the name of Christ,
stop!"
     As the games began, he pushed his way through the crowd,
climbed over the wall, and dropped to the floor of the arena.  When
the crowd saw this tiny figure rushing to the gladiators and
saying, "In the name of Christ, stop!" they thought it was part of
the show and began laughing.
     When they realized it wasn't, the laughter turned to anger.
As he was pleading with the gladiators to stop, one of them plunged
a sword into his body He feel to the sand As he was dying, his last
words were, "In the name of Christ, stop!'
     Then a strange thing happened The gladiators stood looking at
the tiny figure lying there A hush feel over the Colosseum.  Way
up in the upper rows, a man stood and made his way to the exit.
Others began to follow.  In dead silence, everyone left the
Colosseum .
     The year was A.D. 391, and that was the last battle to the
death between gladiators in the Roman Colosseum.  Never again in
the great stadium did men kill each other for the entertainment of
the crowd, all because of one tiny voice that could hardly be heard
above the tumult.   One voice -- one life -- that spoke the truth
in God's name.

      -- Randy Roth, Portland, Oregon

@GREED,DESIRE,TREASURE,BEG BORROW STEAL
~     Recently I laid a small circle of poison around a hill of
stinging ants.  Thinking the tiny granules of poison were food, the
ants began to pick them up and carry them throughout the colony.
     I returned later to see how well the poison was working.
Hundreds of the stinging ants were carrying the poison down into
their hill.  Then I noticed a hole in the circle of poison.  Some
of the poison was moving the opposite way -- away from the hill .
     Some smaller, non-stinging ants had found this "food" and were
stealing it from their ant neighbors.  Thinking they were getting
the other ants' treasure, they unwittingly poisoned themselves.
     When we see someone with more than we have, we must beware The
hunger to beg, borrow, or steal our way into what is their's may
poison us spiritually.

     -- Bob James, Paint Rock, Texas

@WORLD,EYES,SPIRITUAL,TEMPORARY SOLID
~     In his novel, My Lovely Enemy, Canadian Mennonite author Rudy
Wiebe aptly pictures how different things look to the person with
spiritual eyes.
     "It could be like standing on your head in order to see the
world clearer.  If one morning you began walking on your hands, the
whole world would be hanging.  The trees, these ugly brick and tile
buildings wouldn't be fixed here so solid and reassuring, they'd
be pendant. The more safe and reliable they seem now the more
helpless they'd be then."
     Once we are given eyes to see, we recognize what a frail and
temporary world we live in.  We see the spiritual world is the
solid one.

     -- Brian Weatherton, New Glasgow Nova Scotia

@GREED,GIVING,SHARE,LOVE LOST KEEP
~     In Other Words, a publication of the Wycliffe Bible
Translators, recently told a story about Sadie Sieker, who served
for many years as a houseparent for missionaries' children in the
Philippines.
     Sadie loved books.  Though she gladly loaned out some, others
she treasured in a footlocker under her bed.  Once,in the quiet of
the night, Sadie heard a faint gnawing sound.  After searching all
around her room, she discovered that the noise was coming from her
footlocker.  When she opened it, she found nothing but an enormous
pile of dust.  All the books she had kept to herself had been lost
to termites.
     What we give away, we keep.  What we hoard, we lose.

     -- Larry Pennings, Winthrop, Minnesota

@JUSTICE,LAW,ADVERSARY,DISINTERESTED HONEST
~     Aristides judging between two private persons, one of them
declared that his adversary had greatly injured Aristides.
"Relate, rather, good friend," said he, "What wrong he hath done
thee; for it is thy cause, not mine, that I now sit judge of."
Being desired by Simonides, a poet of Chios, who had a cause to try
before him, to stretch a point in his favor, he replied, "As you
would not be a good poet if your lines ran contrary to the just
measures and rules of your art; so neither should I be a good
judge,-or an honest man, if I decided aught in opposition to law
and justice."

     Elon Foster - 6000 Sermon Illustrations

@JUSTICE,DIVINE,JUDGE,PUNISHMENT LOVE
~     When God appointed a surety, His Son, and charged our debts
upon him to satisfy his justice, in that God would not spare his
Son the least degree of punishment; hereby the Lord shows a
stronger love to justice than if he had damned ten thousand
thousands creatures. Suppose a malefactor comes before a judge, he
will not spare the malefactor, but commands satisfaction to the
law this shows that the judge loves justice. But if the judges own
son be a delinquent, and it appears before all the country that
the judge will not spare him, the judge now doth more honor justice
in this than in condemned a thousand others. So, when the Lord
shall cast many thousands into hell, there to be tormented
throughout eternity, it shows that God loves justice, but when his
own Son shall take our sins upon him, and lie will not share him,
this surely declares God's love to righteousness more that if all
the world should be damned.  Ambrose.

     Elon Foster - 6000 Sermon Illustrations

@JUSTICE,DELAYED,END,GOD WILL PAY IN THE END
~     Said Anne of Austria, the Queen of France, to her implacable
enemy, Cardinal Ricbelieu, "My lord cardinal, there is one fact
which you seem to have entirely forgotten.  God is a sure pay-
master.  He may not pay at the end of every week or month or year,
but I charge you, remember that He pays in the end."

     Elon Foster - 6000 Sermon Illustrations

@LOVE,GOD,RENEWED,GODS LOVE FOR US
~     It has been said by some one, "Suppose the sun in the
heavens, which enlightens and warms and fructifies every thing,
were a rational being, which could see every thing which it
effects: it would then behold its own image in every sea, in every
river, in every lake, in every brook; nay, it would even see itself
reflected in the loftiest mountains of ice; and would it not in the
abundance of its joy, forgetting itself embrace all the ocean, sea,
and rivers, nay, the very glaciers in its arms, and delight over
them?"  Thus Jesus Christ, the Son of righteousness, beholds His
image and divine work in every renewed soul as in a polished
mirror.  Thus our eternal Father beholds in his children the beauty
of his Son Jesus Christ, with a complacency which is more than we
are able to express.  He embraces them with the arms of His love,
and He loves the image of himself in which He has renewed them.
    Dowling.

     Elon Foster - 6000 Sermon Illustrations

@LOVE,GOD,MAN,MANS LOVE FOR GOD
~     The sun does not shine for a few trees and flowers, but for
the wide world's joy. The lonely pine on the mountain-top waves its
somber bouglis, and cries, "Thou art my sun!" And the little meadow
violet lifts its cup of blue, and whispers with its perfumed
breath, "Thou art my sun!"  And the grain in a thousand fields
rustles in the wind, and makes answer, "Thou art my sun!"  So God
sits, effulgent, in heaven, not for a favored few, but for the
universe of life; and there is no creature so poor or so low that
he may not look up with childlike confidence, and say, "My Father,
thou art mine!"    Beecher

     Elon Foster - 6000 Sermon Illustrations

@LUCK,SAYINGS,PROVERBS,WORLD WIDE
~     Luck is all. It is better to be born lucky than wise. -
English. - The worst pig gets the best acorn - Spanish. - A good
bone never falls to a good dog.  The Devils meal runs half to bran.
- French. -  The horses eat oats that don't carn them - German. -
Pitch the lucky man into Nile River, and he will come up with a
fish in his mouth.-- Arabic

     Elon Foster - 6000 Sermon Illustrations

@LUKEWARM,PSEUDO,CHRISTIAN,LIFESTYLE IN CHURCH
~     Formality in religion is the name of being alive; and
lukewarmness in a church is like the heat of a corpse exposed to
the sun, - it is never enlivened, it is never animated, - even its
warmth is offensive.   Dr. F.W. Jenkyn

     Elon Foster - 6000 Sermon Illustrations

@FRET,WORRY,CONTROL,CURE FOR FRETFULNESS
~     Silence is the most effectual cure for fretfulness.  A man
who is fretful is like a cloudy day that cannot rain: in a little
while, it will clear off.  So a man that is fretful and peevish may
look ugly; but if he holds his mouth tight, and gives no expression
to it, after a while, it will clear up, -- the mind will get in
another quarter.  There can be no doubt but the indulgence and
expression of these feelings cultivate them, while with a
disposition to restrain them they would grow weaker and weaker.

     Elon Foster - 6000 Sermon Illustrations

@FRET,PREVENT,WORRY,ATTITUDE CORRECTION
~     Two gardeners had their crops of peas killed by the frost;
one of whom, who had fretted greatly, and grumbled at the loss,
visiting his neighbor some time after, was astonished to see
another fine crop growing, and inquired how it could be. "These are
what I sowed while you were fretting,"  was the reply. "Why, don't
you fret?"-- "Yes; but I put it off till I have repaired the
mischief." -- "Why, then there's no need to fret at all." -- "True:
that's the reason I put it off"

     Elon Foster - 6000 Sermon Illustrations

@MOURN,GREED,DESIRE,HUMILITY WORK
~     There was once a young man who having just graduated from high
school was looking for a job.  One day he was approached by a
contractor who built homes, and offered a job.  The contractor
said, "Young man if you come to work for me I will teach you to be
the best house builder in the state."  Naturally the young man
accepted the contractor offer.
     As the weeks turned into months and the months into years the
young man did in fact become the best house builder in his state.
All the rich and famous, and all the important people wanted him
to build their houses, and so he did.  The more houses he built the
more he was sought after, and with each house he built his boss got
richer and richer.
     One day his boss said to him, "My wife, my children and I have
been talking, and we want you to build our dream house we know you
are the best and we want you to build it.  Will you do it?"  The
young man who was now in his thirties was honored that his boss
wanted him to build his house.  Further more his boss told him that
money was no object, he said, "I want the very best of everything
don't spare the cost!", so he went to work on the project right a
way.
     About the third day into the construction, the young man began
to think about what he had accomplished in his life and what he had
to show for it, and then he began to think about all the had work
he had to do get what he got, and then he began to think about how
much his hard work got his boss.  And you know the more he thought
about it the more it made him mad and the madder he got the more
jealous he became.  He said to himself, "It's not fair, I live down
in the valley in a dinky little house, and heres my boss having me
build this dream house on the hill top with the money I made him,
it's just not fair."  And then he had an idea, "I'll show my boss,
he said money is no object, and that he wanted the best of
everything, well we just see about that."
     The young man decided that he would build the biggest and the
most grand looking house he ever built, but he would use the
cheapest, least reliable, the most second rate junk he could find
to build it with.  When he went to buy the lumber, instead of
buying the kiln dried wood that was free from cracks knots and
warpage, he bought wood that had been sitting out side for years
and that had turned grey.  When he put in the wiring he did it so
that when you turned on the microwave and the hair drier it would
cause the circuit breaker to trip and then when the heating was
turned on, only cold air would come out and when the air
conditioner was turned on only heat would come out.  And instead
of carpeting that when you step on it you sink up to you ankles,
he put the type of carpet that wears out in a matter of weeks.  He
did not put one single item of quality into his bosses house.
     Finally the day came for his boss to move into to his new
house.  The young man was pounding the last nail in as the
contractor and his family were driving up the hill in their big
Chevy Surbaban.  When they reached the top of the hill the family
got out and admired the house that had been built for them.  Then
the contractor did something that caught the off guard.  He took
the keys for the house out of his pocket and handed them to the
young man and said, "My wife and I have been talking, and we know
how hard you have worked for us all these years, we want you to
have this house as our way of saying thank you for all you hard
work on our behalf."
     The young man was speechless as the contractor and his family
got back in their Surbaban and drove down the hill, and left him
with the house he built.

     --Rev. Douglas C. Swift, Pomona, California

@FAITH,SHIELD,SAINTS,PROTECTION BIERS
~     This is the defence for the living saint and the dying saint.
In olden days, when a warrior carried a shield almost as big as
himself, those who recovered the slain after a battle would often
use their shields that had been their protection in the battle as
their biers to carry them to the burial.
(Eph 6:16)

     A. Naismith  -  1200 Notes "Quotes" and Anecdotes

@FAITH,STRENGTH,GRACE,SOUL HEAVEN
~     The other evening was riding home after a heavy day's work.
I felt very wearied and sore depressed; when swiftly; suddenly as
a lightning flash; that text came to me, 'My grace is sufficient
for thee'.  I reached home and looked it up in the original and
suddenly it came to me in this way 'My grace is sufficient for
thee', and I said, I should think it is, Lord,' and I burst
out laughing I never fully understood the holy laughter of Abraham
until then.  It seemed to make unbelief so absurd.  O brethren be
great believers! Little faith will bring your souls to heaven but
great faith will bring heaven to your soul.

Spurgeon                                              (Rom 4:20)

      A. Naismith  -  1200 Notes "Quotes" and Anecdotes

@FAITH,POWER,GOD,INVISIBLE INAUDIBLE
~     Faith sees the invisible, hears the inaudible, touches the
intangible.  All seen comes out of the unseen and returns thither.
Into this realm comes faith, and it is at home.  It knows God. It
endures martyrdom since it sees Him Who is invisible.
(Heb 11:27; 35-37)

      A. Naismith  -  1200 Notes "Quotes" and Anecdotes

@FAITH,OBJECT,GOD,REDEEMER JESUS
~     They who know what is meant by faith in a promise know what
is meant by faith in the gospel; they who know what is meant by
faith in a remedy; know what is meant by faith in the blood of the
Redeemer; they who know what is meant by faith in a physician,
faith in an advocate; faith in a friend; know, too, what is meant
by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

--Bishop O'Brien              (Acts 3:16; 4:12; lO:43; 13:38,39)

      A. Naismith  -  1200 Notes "Quotes" and Anecdotes

@FAITH,OBJECT,PROOF,FAITH IN GOD
~     Some years ago I was one of the speakers at a large
Convention in Travancore now Kerala State.  The pandal for the
Convention was in the sandy dried-up bed of a river, and to reach
it we had to cross a branch of the river that had not dried up.
The brethren in charge of the arrangements had seen to it that
every facility was provided for all who wished to attend the
meetings, and had provided a strong plank from one side of the
stream to the other.  With several of the national brethren I
arrived at the bank of the stream which seemed to be fairly deep.
There was the plank over which I might cross to the other side, but
I hesitated.  "Why do you hesitate?", they asked. "You simply have
to walk across the plank and in a few seconds you will be on the
other side. This is the only stream that has to be crossed to get
to the Convention pandal."  Still I hesitated and replied, "Yes,
but I do not think the plank is strong enough to bear my weight"
     "No need for any fears on that score,' said they, "Hundreds
have already crossed in safety before you came."
     "Yes" I replied; "that may be so, but I'm taller and heavier
than those I have seen going across; and what is sufficient for
them might not bear my weight"  To prove the strength of the plank
two well-built, hefty fellows walked across together.
     "Look," they said, "two of us are heavier than you, and the
plank took us both together."
     "All right;" said I, "I'll venture."  So. very slowly and
hesitantly; I made my way across as they stood watching me with
amused smiles.  When I reached the other side; they said "Didn't
we tell you you would be quite safe?  Why didn't you take our word
for it and trust the plank in the first place?"
     "Yes," I explained to them, "you see it was not the strength
of my faith that took me safely across, for my faith, as you know,
was very weak.  But it was the strength of the plank, the object
in which you advised me to put my trust".

      A. Naismith  -  1200 Notes "Quotes" and Anecdotes

@FAITH,DEFINE,PERSONAL,PROMISE PRESENCE
~     To we need to define 'faith' to ourselves over again?  Has
not every use of the word by the Lord Himself in the Gospels long
ago assured us that it means just personal reliance, personal
entrustment?  It is the open arms which in their emptiness embrace
Christ, the open lips which receive Him as the Bread of the soul,
the life, the all.  As in justification, so in this its glorious
sequel, our part is to take the promise as it stands, to take the
thing in the envelope of promise, and to act upon its holy presence
and reality .

--H.C.G. Moule,DD                          (Rom 4:21; Heb 11:1,11)

      A. Naismith  -  1200 Notes "Quotes" and Anecdotes

@FAITH,CERTAINTY,PERPLEX,DIVINE TESTIMONY
~     Faith is simple.  If it were not so, we would he kept in
life-long perplexity, trying to perform it or to practice
it as fit were some great thing.  Faith is sure.  It is sure as
soon as it knows that what is heard is really true.  Nothing can
shake the certainty of faith, save what invalidates the foundation
on which it rests.  Faith rests on divine testimony.  We do not
reason out the matter, nor think it out; we believe because God
hath spoken.  We hear the words of His mouth; and we say, 'Amen!
I believe, whatever reason may say'

Cheyne Brady                                     (Rom 4:20,21)

      A. Naismith  -  1200 Notes "Quotes" and Anecdotes

@ACCOUNT,GOD,THOUGHT,QUOTE ACCOUNTABILITY
~     Most serious thought William Gladstone, the renowned
statesman, was asked, "what is the most serious thought which
enters your mind?"
     His instant reply was, "My personal accountability to God."
     ---Knight

@ACCOUNT,VIOLINS,TALENTS,MUTE NOTES
~     Max lang, a retired farmer who lives in Raymore,
Saskatchewan, owns one of the finest collections of rare and
valuable violins.  It includes violins made by Stadivari, Andrea,
Nicolaus Amati, Techler, Guadagnini, Leopold, Stainer and Gaspara
De Salo.
     The regrettable fact about this collection of rare instruments
is that they are mute and out of circulation. They give forth no
inspirational music.
     How like these violins are some of God's Children who are not
using their God-given talents to impart hope, cheer and
encouragement to needy ones about them!.
     ---Knight

@ACCOUNT,JUDGEMENT,CHRIST,TUBS & BOTTOMS
~     A lady called R. E. Neighbor and asked 'Brother Neighbor,
where is the bible verse that says every tub must stand on it's own
bottom?"
     "There is no such verse in the Bible," replied Dr. Neighbor,
"but the thought is expressed in this verse: 'For we must all
appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may
receive the things done in his body . . . whether it be good or
bad' "
     ---Knight

@ACCOUNT,TALENT,GOD,VOID WITHOUT MUSIC
~     Paderewski said to a friend, "it is not from choice that my
life is music and nothing more. When one is an artist, what else
can he be?  When a whole lifetime is too short to attain the
heights he wants to reach, how can he devote any of the little time
he has to things outside his art?"
     "I am nothing," he said, shaking his head negatively. "If you
could know the dream of what I would like to be, you would realize
how little I have accomplished. Indeed, my life would be quite
void without music. I cannot imagine what I would do if I were
compelled to deny myself its comforts."
     To each one of us God has given a special talent. For how we
use it or misuse it, we will give account to Him. (Rom 14:12)
     ---Knight

@ACTIONS,DEED,INTENTION,QUOTE
~     "The smallest deed is better than the grandest intention."
     - Unknown
     - Pulpit Helps, Feb. 1992, p. 14.

@ACTIONS,SPEAK,LOUDLY,QUOTE
~     "I must do something" will solve more problems than to say
"Something must be done."
     - Unknown
     - Pulpit Helps, Dec. 1991, p. 12.

@ADVERSITY,GOD,MYSELF,QUOTE HANDICAPS
~     "I think God for my handicaps, for through them, I have found
myself, my work and my God."
     - Helen Keller
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 15.

@ADVERSITY,WHEAT,PURITY,QUOTE AFFLICTION
~     "As threshing separates the wheat from the chaff, so does
affliction purity virtue."
     - Richard E. Burton
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 15.

@ADVERSITY,SAD,SOBER,QUOTE SORRY WISE
~     "Affliction comes to us, not to make us sad but sober; not
to make us sorry but wise."
     - Henry Ward Beecher
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 16.

@ADVICE,SELDOM,WELCOME,QUOTE LEAST
~     "Advice is seldom welcome, and those who need it the most,
like it the least."
     - Lord Chesterfield
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 14.

@ADVICE,GIVE,LIBERALLY,QUOTE MEN
~     "Men give away nothing so liberally as their advice."
     - Francois de LA Rochefoucauld
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 14.

@ADVICE,BUILDS,COUNSEL,QUOTE PULLS DOWN
~     "He that gives good advice builds with one hand; he that
gives good counsel and example, builds with both; but he that gives
good admonition and bad example, builds with one hand and pulls
down with the other."
     - Francis Bacon
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 14.

@ADVICE,FOOLISH,COUNSEL,QUOTE MAN MASTER
~     "No man is so foolish but he may sometimes give another good
counsel, and no man so wise that he may not easily err if he
takes no other counsel than his own.  He that is taught only by
himself has a fool for a master.
     - Ben Jonson
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 14.

@ADVICE,HELPED,CANNOT,QUOTE
~     "He that won't be counselled can't be helped."
     - Benjamin Franklin
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 14.

@ADVICE,CASTOR,OIL,QUOTE DREADFUL
~     "Advice is like caster oil, easy enough to give but dreadful
uneasy to take."
     - Josh Billings
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 14.

@AFFECTION,NEVER,MAN,QUOTE LIKE
~     "I never met a man I didn't like."
     - Will Rodgers
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 15.

@AFFECTION,NOT,WASTED,QUOTE
~     "Talk not of wasted affection; affection never was wasted."
     - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 15.

@AFFLICTIONS,BLESSINGS,DISGUISE,FIRES
~     National Forest Fire From July to October 1987, dozens of
fires scorched more than 1.2 million acres of Yellowstone National
Park, destroying forest land in approximately half the park. To
many watching television across the nation, this was a total
disaster.  But not to for me Yellowstone Park Superintendent Thomas
O. Hobbs.  "Good things come out of seemingly bad things," he said.
even though the current scene was marked by ruined landscape, Hobbs
explained that major fires can actually benefit the park in the
long run. Burnouts rejuvenate park land by cleansing it of insect
and plant disease before the natural growth cycle starts again.

@AGNOSTIC,ETHICAL,MODERN,QUOTE PHILOSOPHY
~     "Agnosticism is the philosophical, ethical and religious dry-
rot of the modern world."
     - F. E. Abbot
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 17.

@AGNOSTIC,FOLLY,FOOL,QUOTE GOD
~     "There is only one greater folly than that of the fool who
says in his heart there is no God, and that is the folly of the
person that says with his head that he does not know whether there
is a God or not."
     - Otto von Bismarck
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 17.

@AGNOSTIC,BE,SOMETHING,QUOTE
~     "Don't be an agnostic -- be something."
     - Robert Frost
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 17.

@AMBITION,WORLDLY,SUCCEED,QUOTE SMALL THINGS
~     "Most people would succeed in small things if they were not
troubled with great ambitions."
     - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 19.

@AMBITION,WORLDLY,MADE,QUOTE
~     "Ambition should be made of sterner stuff."
     - William Shakespeare
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 19.

@AMBITION,WORLDLY,QUENCHED,QUOTE GROWS ENJOYMENT
~     "Ambition is a lust that is never quenched, but grows more
inflamed and madder by enjoyment."
     - Thomas Otway
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 20.

@AMUSE,HAPPY,THINK,QUOTE CANNOT THINK
~     "Amusement is the happiness of those who cannot think."
     - Alexander Pope
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 23.

@AMUSE,PEOPLE,SOME,QUOTE FALL ICY
~     "The only way to amuse some people is to slip and fall on an
icy pavement."
     - Ed Howe
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 23.

@AMUSE,FOUND,CHARACTER,QUOTE
~     "The real character of a man is found out by his amusements."
     - Joshua Reynolds
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 23.

@ANGER,MAN,INDICATES,HIGHER UP
~     "A chip on the shoulder indicates there is wood higher up."
     - Unknown

@ANGER,MAN,OPPONENT,QUOTE TEMPER DEFEAT
~     Any person who can make his opponent lose his temper can
defeat him whether it be an athletic contest, debate, or personal
encounter.  A guide commenting on the height of a mountain range
in South America made this statement about a certain jagged
volcanic mountain, "This would have been our tallest if it had
not blown its top."  This can be said of many people who could
not maintain the composure of coolness.
     - Charles Ashcraft
     - Pulpit Helps, Dec. 1991, p. 12.

@ANGER,MAN,WRATH,QUOTE REASON
~     "Men often make up in wrath what they want (lack) in reason."
     - William Rounseville Alger
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 25.

@ANGER,MAN,RULE,QUOTE PREVENT BETTER
~     "To rule one's anger is well; to prevent it is still better."
     - Tryon Edwards
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 25.

@ANGER,MAN,EYES,QUOTE OPENS SHUTS
~     "An angry man opens his mouth and shuts up his eyes."
     - Cato
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 25.

@ANGER,MAN,ARGUMENT,QUOTE SELDOM
~     "Anger is seldom without argument but seldom with a good
one."
     - Halifax
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 25.

@ANGER,MAN,WASP,QUOTE STONE
~     "Anger is like a stone cast into a wasp's nest."
     - Unknown
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 25.

@ANGER,MAN,HIMSELF,QUOTE REASON
~     "An angry man is again angry with himself when he returns to
reason."
     - Pubilius Syrus
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 25.

@ANGER,MAN,MADNESS,QUOTE PASSION
~     "Anger is a momentary madness, so control your passion or it
will control you."
     - Horace
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 26.

@ANGER,MAN,ARGUMENT,QUOTE COOL
~     "Keep cool; anger is not an argument."
     - Daniel Webster
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 26.

@ANGER,MAN,EASY,QUOTE ANYONE DEGREE
~     "Anyone can become angry -- that is easy; but to be angry
with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right
time, and for the right purpose, and in the right way -- that is
not within everybody's power and it is not easy."
     - Aristotle
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 26.

@ANGER,MAN,WRONG,QUOTE ADMIT
~     "When a man is wrong and won't admit it, he will always get
angry."
     - Haliburton
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 26.

@ANXIETY,FORBIDDEN,BUILT,QUOTE CHRISTIAN
~     "God never built a Christian strong enough to carry today's
duties and tomorrow's anxieties piled on the top of them."
     - Theodore Ledyard Cuyler
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 27.

@ANXIETY,FORBIDDEN,CAME,QUOTE MISFORTUNES
~     "The misfortunes hardest to bear are these which never came."
     - James Russell Lowell
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 27.

@APPEAR,SUSPICION,HOMELY,QUOTE PENALTIES
~     "Getting talked about is one of the penalties for being
pretty, while being above suspicion is about the only compensation
for being homely."
     - Kin Hubbard
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 28.

@APPEAR,BIRD,DUCK,QUOTE
~     "When I see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a
duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck."
     - Richard Cardinal Cushing
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 28.

@APPEAR,DECEIT,JUDGE,QUOTE
~     "How little do they see what is, who frame their hasty
judgments upon that which seems."
     - Robert Southey
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 28.

@APPEAR,DECEIT,WORLD,QUOTE GOVERNED
~     "The world is governed more by appearances than by realities,
so that it is fully as necessary to seem to know something as to
know it."
     - Daniel Webster
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 28.

@APPEAR,DECEIT,LOOKING,QUOTE
~     "You are only what you are when no one is looking."
     - Robert C. Edwards
     - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 28.

@ASSURANCE,GENTLEMAN,HOPE,THE CHANGED WILL
~     An aged gentleman, leaving on a visit to the Continent,
called upon his lawyer to have his "will" attested.  Everything
regarding his property was definite and clear, and he concluded
with the words, "I wish to testify that I die trusting in the
merits of my Savior Jesus Christ, and hope I am accepted by God for
His sake." "Why do you only hope, when God says to believers, 'He
HATH made us accepted in the Beloved''' (Eph. 1:7), said the
lawyer, who was a Christian, to his client. "I would not like to
be so presumptuous, as to say that so confidently," said the
visitor. "Well, if it be presumption, God has endorsed it," was the
lawyer's answer. Without another word the aged man drew his pen
through the word "hope," and wrote "know."

@ATHEISM,GOD,BARN,A DAKOTA CYCLONE
~     A follower of Colonel Ingersoll boasted that he would build
a barn that "God Almighty could not blow down." So he erected a
great stone structure, and called his neighbors to see it. The
following year a great cyclone swept the country, and one of the
first buildings to go, into a heap of ruins, was the infidel's
barn. He stood before the wreck silent, and one said, "It is the
finger of God" - to which he gave no answer. But since that day,
his infidelity has left him.

@ATHEISM,MOTTO,LAWYER,GOD IS NOWHERE
~     An atheist's motto was fixed on the wall of a skeptical
lawyer's sanctum. His little daughter, beginning to read, came into
the place one day, and while awaiting her father to go home,
spelled out the letters, dividing them so: "God-is-now-here." Her
father was so impressed by that word of his child, that he
renounced his skepticism, turned to the living God, and his motto
now reads, "God is now here."

@ATHEISM,GOD,INSIST,QUOTE NOBODY
~     "Nobody talks so constantly about God as those who insist
that there is no God."
     - Heywood Broun
     - _Instant Quotation Dictionary_, p. 33.

@ATHEISM,REQUIRES,FAITH,QUOTE GREAT TRUTHS
~     "To be an atheist requires an infinitely greater measure of
faith than to receive all the great truths which atheism would
deny."
     - Joseph Addison
     - _Instant Quotation Dictionary_, p. 33.

@ATHEISM,FOXHOLES,BATAAN,QUOTE
~     "There (were) no atheists in the foxholes of Bataan."
     - Douglas MacArthur
     - _Instant Quotation Dictionary_, p. 33.

@ATHEISM,DISTURB,DISBELIEF,QUOTE LORD
~     "An atheist is one who hopes the Lord will do nothing to
disturb his disbelief."
     - Franklin P. Jones
     - _Instant Quotation Dictionary_, p. 33.

@ATHEISM,INVISIBLE,SUPPORT,QUOTE MAN
~     "An atheist is a man who has no invisible means of support."
     - Unknown

@ATHEISM,POET,ALPS,STORY BEAUTY FOOL
~     The English poet Shelly made a visit to the Alps which is
awesome in its beauty.  He entered a tourist office where there
was a register for visitors to write their names and their
impressions of the Alps.  Shelly wrote his name and next to his
name, he wrote "Atheist."  Another visitor followed after Shelly
read his remark.  He in turn wrote, "If one remains an atheist
after seeing the beauty of the Alps, then he must be a fool, and
if not a fool, then a liar if he says that God does not exist."
     - Pulpit Helps, Oct. 1991, p. 12.

@ATHEISM,PREACHER,SLUMS,STORY LOVE KIND
~     A preacher and an atheistic barber were once walking through
the city slums.  Said the barber to the preacher: "This is why I
cannot believe in a God of love.  If God was as kind as you say,
He would not permit all this poverty, disease, and squalor.  He
would not allow these poor bums to be addicted to dope and other
character-destroying habits.  No, I cannot believe in a God who
permits these things."
     The minister was silent until they met a man who was
especially unkempt and filthy.  His hair was hanging down his neck
and he had a half-inch of stubble on his face.  Said the minister:
"You can't be a very good barber or you wouldn't permit a man like
that to continue living in this neighborhood without a haircut or
shave."
     Indignantly the barber answered: "Why blame me for that man's
condition?  I can't help it that he is like that.  He has never
come in my shop; I could fix him up and make him look like a
gentleman!"
     Giving the barber a penetrating look, the minister said: "Then
don't blame God for allowing these people to continue in their
evil ways, when He is constantly inviting them to come and be
saved.  The reason these people are salves to sin and evil habits
is that they refuse the One who died to save and deliver them."
     - _Pulpit Helps_, August, 1990, p. 14.

@ATHEISM,WORDS,PUBLISHED,THOMAS PAYNE INFIDEL
~     Thomas Payne, the author of many infidel books, said to Dr.
Manlay, when dying, "I would give worlds if I had them, that The
Age of Reason had never been published."

@ATTITUDES,CHRISTIAN,VISITING,GRAND CANYON PERSPECTIVE
~      Three people were visiting and viewing the Grand Canyon --
an artist, a pastor, and a cowboy.  As they stood on the edge of
that massive abyss, each one responded with a cry of exclamation.
The artist said, "Ah, what a beautiful scene to paint!"  The
minister cried, "What a beautiful example of the handiwork of God!"
The cowboy mused, "What a terrible place to lose a cow!"

@BEAUTY,EXAMPLES,PHYSICAL,NATURE WOMAN
~     "Beauty is the first present nature gives to women and the
first it takes away."
     - George Brossin Mere'
     - _Instant Quotation Dictionary_, p. 37.

@BEAUTY,SPIRITUAL,HAPPINESS,QUOTE COSMETIC
~     "There is no cosmetic for beauty like happiness."
     - Countess of Blessington
     - _Instant Quotation Dictionary_, p. 36.

@BIBLE,BOOK,AGES,AUTHORITY HOLINESS
~     "To say nothing of its holiness or authority, the Bible
contains more specimens of genius and taste than any other volume
in existence."
     - Walter S. Landor
     - _Instant Quotation Dictionary_, p. 38.

@BIBLE,FURNISHES,LIGHT,QUOTE WINDOW PRISON
~     "The Bible is a window in this prison of hope, through which
we look into eternity."
     - John Sullivan Dwight
     - _Instant Quotation Dictionary_, p. 38.

@BIBLE,WRITTEN,PURPOSE,QUITE BOOK STATE
~     The Bible contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way
of salvation, the doom of sinners, the happiness of believers.
Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its decisions
are immutable.  Read it to believe, believe it to be safe,
practice it to be holy.  It contains light to direct you, food to
support you, and comfort to cheer you.  It is the traveler's
guide, the pilgrim's staff, the pilot's compass, the soldier's
sword, the Christian's character.  Here paradise is restored,
heaven opened, and the gates of hell disclosed.  Christ is its
grand subject, our good its design, and the glory of God its end.
It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet.
Read it slowly, daily, prayerfully.  It is a mine of wealth, a
paradise of glory, and a river of pleasure.  It is given you in
life, will be opened at the judgment, and will be remembered
forever.  It involves the highest responsibility, will reward the
greatest labor, and condemns all who trifle with its contents.
     - Herald of Holiness (Dec 1, 1982)

@BIBLE,WRITTEN,PURPOSE,QUOTE SCRIPTURE BOTHERED
~     "Most people are bothered by those passages of Scripture they
do not understand, but the passages that bother me are those I do
understand."
     - Mark Twain
     - _Instant Quotation Dictionary_, p. 38.

@BLAME,PLACING,FAULTS,,QUOTE NATURE
~     "Blaming your faults on your nature does not change the
nature of your faults."
     - _Pulpit Helps_, November, 1991, p. 10.

@BLINDNESS,SPIRITUAL,KING,QUOTE COUNTRY
~     "In the country of the bind the one-eyed man is king."
     - Erasmus
     - _Instant Quotation Dictionary_, p. 40.

@BOASTING,TRUE,INTELLIGENCE,QUOTE RIVER FLOWS
~     "Intelligence is like a river, the deeper it flows the less
noisy it makes."
     - Pulpit Helps, Jan. 1992, p. 16.

@BONDAGE,SPIRITUAL,ESCAPE,BONDAGE REAL IMAGINED
~      Harry Houdini, the famed escape artist from some years back,
issued a challenge wherever he went.  He could be locked in any
jail cell in the country, he claimed, and set himself free in
short order. Always he kept his promise, but one time something
went wrong.  Houdini entered the jail in his street clothes; the
heavy, metal doors clanged shut behind him.  He took from his belt
a concealed piece of metal, strong and flexible.  He set to work
immediately, but something seemed to be unusual about this lock.
For thirty minutes he worked and got nowhere.  An hour passed, and
still he had not opened the door.  By now he was bathed in sweat
and panting in exasperation, but he still could not pick the lock.
Finally, after laboring for two hours, Harry Houdini collapsed in
frustration and failure against the door he could not unlock.  But
when he fell against the door, it swung open!  It had never been
locked at all!  But in his mind it was locked, and that was all it
took to keep him for opening the door and walking out of the jail
cell. -  Jesus has unlocked many doors for us, lets walk on
through.

@BOOKS,WRITTEN,IGNORANT,QUOTE QUESTION
~     "This is the best book ever written by any man on the wrong
side of a question of which he is profoundly ignorant."
     - Thomas B. Macaulay
     - _Instant Quotation Dictionary_, p. 43.

@CALL,DIVINE,LEADERSHIP,QUOTE FOLLOWING
~     "If God has called you, do not spend time looking over your
shoulder to see who is following."
     - Pulpit Helps, March, 1992, p. 13.

@CHILDREN,LIFE,PREPARED,QUOTE
~     "There are two things in life for which we are never fully
prepared -- twins!"
     - Josh Billings
     - _Instant Quotation Dictionary_, p. 39.

@CHILDREN,EXHORTATIONS,MASTER,ELEPHANTS BEAST
~     Magnificent pachyderms are trained to serve their human
masters. Of course, if elephants knew how strong they were
they would never yield to the domination of anything, but they are
subjected to stressful forms of "brainwashing:, which takes the
fight out of them. The process begins with three days of total
isolation from man or beast. Female elephants and their young are
remarkably social animals, and they react to loneliness the same
way humans do. They grieve and fret and long for their peers. At
that precise moment of vulnerability, they are brought to a
nighttime ceremony of fire, Then for many hours in the flickering
light, they are screamed at, intimidated, stroked and ordered back
and forth. By morning, half-crazed, the elephants have yielded.
Their wills have been broken. Man is the master. Even thought I
understand the economic need for working elephants in India, there
is still something sad about their plight. These wonderfully
intelligent animals are transformed from freedom to slavery in a
single evening. There is a parallel between these elephants and us
fragile human beings, especially as teenagers. Like the elephant
staked in a distant field, teenagers are subjected by their
culture to a period of intense isolation and loneliness. Even
those who are moderately successful during these years often feel
rejected, ridiculed and ignored.  They are at that moment prime
targets for brainwashing. Adolescent society will do the rest.

     James Dobson  - "Children at Risk"

@CHILDREN,GIFT,GOD,QUOTE BABY OPINION WORLD
~     "A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on."
     - Carl Sanburg
     - _Instant Quotation Dictionary_, p. 35.

@CHILDREN,GIFT,GOD,QUOTE BABIES PEOPLE
~     "Babies are such a nice way to start people."
     - Don Hubbard
     - _Instant Quotation Dictionary_, p. 35.

@CHILDREN,VICES,WILD,QUOTE BEASTS MANAGE
~     "Of all wild beasts, the most difficult to manage."
     - Plato
     - _Instant Quotation Dictionary_, p. 45.

@CHRIST,ABIDING,GAS,INEFFECTIVE POWER SUPPLY
~      One afternoon a little boy decided he would help his father.
He removed the gas cap on his father's car and filled the gas
tank with water.  When his father tried to start the car it
sputtered and died.  The car, which was designed to run on
gasoline, was inoperative because of the ineffective power
supply.
      When we try to live for the Lord in our own power we are like
the car with a tank full of water.  We become inoperative because
of an ineffective power supply.
     - DTS Bulletin, 10/4/75

@CHRIST,BLOOD,SAVAGES,CHIEF AFRICANER
~     Africaner, a celebrated Bechuana Chief, converted through the
ministry of Dr. James Moffat, called his people together around
his dying bed, and said: "We are not savages as once we were, but
men professing to be taught according to the Gospel. My former
life was stained with blood, but Jesus Christ has pardoned me, and
I am going to heaven."

@CHRIST,BLOOD,GOD,WILLIAM TROTTER
~     William Trotter, of York, said, "As I may not be able to
express myself by and by, I wish to state that I am in perfect
peace, resting alone on the blood of Christ, the precious blood of
God's Son, which cleanseth from all sin."