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I wonder how many times you have been let down by someone? There are many people who promise us that they will stand by us, no matter what comes our way. They say, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll be right behind you’. However, when trouble strikes, they desert us. In fact, many of them are so far behind that you can’t see them even with a telescope!
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I once read a story in a magazine of an atheist who loved nature & had gone on a hike on a nature trail. As he kept admiring the scenes around him, he lost track of the trail. When eventually the time came for him to get back, he realized that he was hopelessly lost. So, for the first time in his life, he prayed to God.
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A lady told her husband that she had dreamed that he had bought her a diamond necklace for Christmas! The husband responded positively to her dream by bringing her a beautifully wrapped gift. As she eagerly tore open the wrapping to see her diamond necklace, all she found was a little book. It was titled, ‘How to interpret your dreams’!
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‘Be quick to listen’ (James 1:19)
I was wonderfully saved by the grace of God at the age of 16. Since that day, I always believed that one day I would be preaching the amazing Word of God. I therefore decided that I would listen as best as I could to the preaching of God’s Word and learn that Word as much as I could.
I remember sitting on the edge of my seat as a teenager, as the Founder Pastor of our church, Dr Colton Wickramaratne would preach his anointed and inspiring sermons week after week, trying to learn as to what made those sermons come alive. Besides Ps Colton, I would eagerly look forward to hearing other men of God who would come in to our church as missionaries or guest preachers. Among the many who did come, I vividly remember the preaching of Pastors Mark Buntain, Syvelle Phillips and Arthur Speldewinde, besides many others, as they expounded God’s Word skillfully. Being an avid short-wave radio listener, I would also spend many hours listening to Christian Radio Stations. Memories of programs like ‘The Hour of Decision’ and ‘Unshackled’ come to mind. I was listening and trying to learn.
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There is a story about a man who was concerned about what he felt was his wife’s loss of hearing. So, he decided to test it out one day while she was seated, doing some work. The man went behind her and from two separate distances called out “Can you hear me”? There was no reply on either occasion and he determined that her hearing was really bad. He finally came within earshot & once again called out, “Can you hear me”? His wife, sounding rather irritated said, “Yes John, for the third time, I can hear you”! The problem was not with his wife’s hearing, but his own hearing!
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There is a story of a child who was slow in learning and did poorly in her first grade in school. However, when she started grade 2, her grades started to improve dramatically. The reason: her new teacher, on the first day of school, would call every student close to her and whisper something nice into their ear. When this particular child came up to the teacher, she apparently whispered into the child’s ear, “I wish I had a child like you”. That beautiful thought had a huge impact on the child and it reflected in her studies from there on!
I read a story about a plainly dressed man who went into a church in the Netherlands one Sunday and took a seat near the pulpit. Soon a woman came along and curtly told the man that he was seated in ‘her seat’. She then asked him to leave the seat. The man apologized and apparently moved away to a pew reserved for the poor, from where he took part in the service.
CONTINUE READING
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I have been preaching the amazing Word of God for over 25 years and still love doing it. During that time, I have preached many sermons, some of which went off very well, others that were fairly good and many that failed badly (at least that’s what I think!). In this article, I want to focus on the sermons that didn’t do too well. At such times when I have known that the sermon didn’t go off well, I used to look for excuses to justify a bad presentation. Here are some of the excuses I have given.
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