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If you had walked through some of the shady glens around the city of Jerusalem, you might have heard in the distance the cry, “Unclean! Unclean! Unclean!”—a bitter wail that sounded like the sighing of despair, as if it came from some poor ghost that had been commanded to walk this earth with restless…

To the unclean and unbelieving, holy things will always be impure. You might as well forbid the sun to shine because, when its beams fall upon a dunghill, it brings forth unwholesome reeking. Yes, but that same sun, when it falls upon the flowers, makes them shed their aromatic perfume on every hand.…

I suppose that when the stones for the temple were quarried in the mountains, each one received a special mark from Solomon’s seal, marking it as a temple stone and perhaps denoting its place in the sacred edifice. This would be like the first inscription, “The Lord knows those who are his.” But the…

What would you think of a man who went as near as he could to burning his house down, just to see how much fire it would stand? Or of one who cut himself with a knife to see how deep he could go without mortally wounding himself? Or of another who experimented as to how large a quantity of poison he…

My observation of personal character has been somewhat wide, and I cannot help bearing my testimony that I am greatly afraid of men who make loud professions of superior sanctity. I have had the misfortune to have known, on one or two occasions, superfine brethren, who were, in their own ideas, far above…

In his book Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God, Timothy Keller says, “It is a simple fact that the nearer we get to supreme beauty or intelligence or purity, the more we are aware of our own unsightliness, dullness, and impurity.” — Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God by Timothy…

Katie Davis, a young girl from Tennessee moved to Uganda immediately after graduating high school to serve others. She spends her days helping orphans, teaching school, and feeding street children. In September 2007, Katie attended a wedding in one of the communities that she was serving in Uganda. She…

A British art dealer shared a video highlighting the restoration of a 200 year-old oil painting. As restorers removed 200 years of varnish, the original vibrant colors reemerged. The dealer, Philip Mould, described the process as a restoration expert carefully used a brush to remove the yellowing build…

A new initiative in Egypt allows residents to redeem their trash for extra cash. Many Egyptians stood in line in the capital city of Cairo carrying bags of old books, plastic water bottles, and other recyclable materials to exchange for extra money. The country was seeking a way to reduce huge piles…

Gary Carter is in the baseball hall of fame. He was an all-star catcher 11 times. He died at age 57 from a malignant brain tumor. You can find these words on his Gary Carter Foundation website. “The Baseball Hall of Fame is something every player dreams about, but being a member of God’s Hall of Fame…

Athletes, coaches, movie stars, politicians, and other people who are in the public eye have a great platform from which to teach moral and spiritual values. Some of them use the platform, some of them do not. The greatest hindrance to the gospel may be those who use the platform, and then fall far short…

The catastrophic explosion of the Deepwater Horizon Oil rig, on April 20, 2010, has resulted in one of the worst environmental disasters in America, which will significantly affect the gulf region for many years. One of the by-products of the seemingly uncontainable leak is a nasty, sticky, frothy, gooey,…

I shook my head in disbelief. This couldn’t be the right place. After all, I couldn’t possibly be welcome here. I had been given an invitation several times, by several different people, and had finally decided to see what this place was all about. Yes, I was at the right place. I peered through the…

In the Book, God Stories, author Andrew Wilson shares a unique view of what is like to Confronted with the reality of our spiritual state. Quoting Evangelist Phil Moore, Wilson says the moment might best be described as a Simon Cowell moment, drawing on the television success of the American Idol program.…

Decapolis -- 10 pagan (hellenistic) cities around Sea of Galilee. Tradition states that they were pagans driven out by Joshua (he drove out seven nations - Joshua 3:10; Acts 13:19). Numbers were important to Jewish culture. At the feeding of 5000, there were 12 baskets of leftovers, maybe symbolizing…

CHARACTER Tiger Woods may just be the most famous person with the ailment, but many Americans have bad knees. It is enough of a problem that 660,000 web sites are related to sore knees and how to care for them. They feature exercises and stretches designed to help prevent knee surgery. That’s a lot of…

Atonement Evite, the self-described "world's leading FREE online invitation service," made Business 2.0's (www.business2.com) top ten list in their fourth annual, "101 Dumbest Moments in Business," for calling Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement, a "reason to party." http://accounting.smartpros.com/x42419.xml…

Anyone can be the same, but it takes courage to be different. An invisible mark was on the name of Edwin Booth. Where once he had been a fine actor and one of the best tragedians in America, a giant asterisk now stood beside his name in the minds of the people. He was no longer Edwin Booth the Shakespearean…

We Can’t Help But Tell the Truth 18 Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. 20 For we cannot help speaking about what we have…

BLOOD, CLEANSES “Then he shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering which is for the people, and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. “He shall make atonement for the holy place,…

A Savior has Been Born Often we read the story of Jesus’ birth in Luke 2:8-15 and we read it so serenely, that “there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks.” We imagine a beautiful, pastoral picture of those who first heard that Jesus had been born. However,…

OP IL: In the Presence of Holiness “In His powerful book The Holiness of God, R. C. Sproul observes that unbelievers often feel uneasy in the presence of an obedient Christian. The holiness of God reflected in a believer’s life makes the non-Christian uncomfortable. Sproul then shares this true incident…

DIVORCE According to researcher George Barna, the ratio of Christians who have been divorced is higher than the percentage of non-Christians. In his sample of almost 4000 adults, Christians led non-Christians in divorce by a margin of 3 percentage points, 27% to 24%. —REV Magazine, May-June, 2000 Illustration…

Inspiration -If there is no resurrection then: -Justice becomes a mockery -Love becomes a mockery -Meaning becomes a mockery Ravi -For many despair is not a moment, it’s a way of life. Ravi -God is like the sun, you can’t look at Him, but without him you cannot look at anything else. -The loneliest moment…

SECTION OUTLINE FOURTEEN (ROMANS 14) Paul discusses the believer’s responsibilities toward those Christians who are weak in the faith. I. No Believer Should Be Judged by Another Believer Down Here (14:1–8). A. We are not to criticize others’ legalism (14:1–8). 1. The rules (14:1–6) a. Don’t judge in…