When the pastor fell asleep

Maybe you already knew that Charles Spurgeon was called the “Prince of Preachers,” with more than 3,500 published sermons. But did you know he didn’t even stop when he slept?  Marshall Shelley shared the story of how, one Saturday night, Spurgeon began to talk in his sleep.

“His wife, Susannah, heard the noise and awoke. She realized her husband was preaching, so she listened attentively and in the morning gave her husband a detailed summary. A few hours later, he preached that sermon to his congregation.”

SOURCE: “From the editor: Sleepy Preacher”

Relationships take time

Jay Younts wants parents to understand that they won’t be the biggest influence on their children’s lives if they aren’t investing time.

“If teenagers are listening to three hours of TV every day and averaging five minutes a day talking with their dads, who is winning the influence battle?”

And as a Frank Viola points out, what’s true for parents and our children is also true for us and God.

“In Willard Harley’s marvelous book on marital relationships – His Needs, Her Needs – Harley observes that in order for couples to stay emotionally connected, they need to spend 15 hours a week together. The point there is that for any relationship to flourish, there must be intentional time spent for communication and presence….. It’s no different with our relationship to Jesus. If we neglect Him, we’ll eventually shrivel up spiritually. Our lives will be overtaken by ‘the cares of this life,’ ‘the lust/desire for other things,’ and ‘the deceitfulness of money’ – all of which choke out God’s life (Mark 4:19).”

The 7 deadly medical conditions

In the August issue of Faith in Focus in his article “The sin of gluttony,” Dr. Hans Snoek discusses how we’ve “medicalized” many a sin:

“…the seven deadly sins were Pride, Greed, Lust, Envy, Gluttony, Wrath and Sloth. It is not for me to discuss the status of these sins as ‘deadly’ or otherwise but Scripture confirms that all of these characteristics of a human being are sinful….It is noteworthy that these seven sins have, in the 21st Century, become one virtue followed by six medical conditions! Pride is the 21st-century virtue, pride is being encouraged for all, raise your self-esteem is almost a mantra of the age.”

Theistic evolution flips the script…

“The Bible teaches that Adam produced death. The opposing view has to say that in some manner death produced Adam.”
– Douglas Wilson

Even the post-modernist knows there are absolutes

Ravi Zacharias has a favorite story he tells about an encounter with a deconstructionist/postmodern building. As he describes it, “…inside you encounter stairways that go nowhere, pillars that hang from the ceiling without purpose, and angled surfaces configured to create a sense of vertigo.” What’s the point? Zacharias explained that when the artist was questioned the man answered:

“If life itself is capricious, why should our buildings have any design and any meaning?”

But as Zacharias went on to explain, this postmodern building, with its dead ends and useless pillars was still very well designed, because even as the designer pretended to flout all the rules of design, he had to acknowledge them and submit to them.

“When the rationale was explained to me, I had just one question: Did he do the same with the foundation?

“The laughter in response to my question unmasked the double standard [atheists] espouse. And that is precisely the double standard of atheism! It is possible to dress up and romanticize our bizarre experiments in social restructuring while disavowing truth or absolutes. But one dares not play such deadly games with the foundations of good thinking.” 

Evil isn’t just out there

Right since Adam and Eve, mankind has been very good at the blame game – it’s always someone else’s fault, isn’t it? But no, as the gents below highlight, the battle starts closer to home.

“If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human heart.”
– Alexander Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago

“Dear Sir: Regarding your article ‘What is Wrong with the World,’ I am. Yours truly.”
– G.K. Chesterton

Men ≠ women

“A study in The Washington Post says that women have better verbal skills than men. I just want to say to the authors of that study: ‘Duh!’”
– Conan O’Brien

We honor God with obedience…not results

Martin Luther is credited with saying, “If I knew that tomorrow was the end of the world, I would plant an apple tree today!” Whether the attribution is correct, it highlights that we don’t know what tomorrow might bring, therefore it is the means and not the ends that are in our hands. It is only the means then, with which we can glorify God, and not uncertain results. Or as Mike Ratliff has put it:

“…I had always assumed that when God gives us a message or lesson or sermon or counsel in which to write or teach or preach or give to those who need to hear it, He would also cause those hearing it to recognize it as the truth, believe it, and obey it. Reality hit hard. The principle I learned was that God is glorified when we obey Him whether the results of our obedience meet our expectations or not.”