Thought for today - 07/31/2013

HOPE
"[The Christian] refuses to give his heart to, or be taken in by, the values and pleasures of this passing world. He does not hesitate to use all that is good and beautiful and true, partly because he knows that his God gives him "richly all things to enjoy," and partly because he knows that in all life's impermanent beauties and pleasures, there is the promise of the real and permanent which he is thoroughly convinced will exceed his wildest expectations.

"But even the Christian, for all this satisfying and hopeful conviction, does not know the meaning of the mystery of life, and if he is wise he does not pretend to. He has enough light to light him on his way, but there are a great many gaps in his knowledge. When he says, "one day we shall understand", he is by no means always uttering a pious platitude. Quite frequently he is voicing a solid conviction, a genuine facet of hope. At present his vision is severely limited, and that is probably just as well if his sanity is to be preserved. But when he is free from the limitations of temporal life, he has every hope of being able to know as surely as he is at present known."
- J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), New Testament Christianity, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1956, ch. 5

In case you missed it LIVE on Friday, here's the archive replay:

In case you missed it LIVE on Friday, here's the archive replay:
WHY TODAY'S "CHURCH" HAS NO POWER
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thepath/2013/07/27/why-todays-church-has-no-power

Discovering the City of Sodom: The Fascinating, True Account of the Discovery of the Old Testament

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Discovering the City of Sodom The Fascinating, True Account of the Discovery of the Old Testament's Most Infamous City TODAY'S FEATURE PRICE $22.10 Ships For $4.50 Overview Like many Christians today in the academic world, Dr. Steven Collins felt pulled in different directions when it came to apparent conflicts between the Bible and scholarly research and theory--an intellectual crisis that inspired him to lay it all on the line as he set off to locate the lost city of Sodom. Recounting Dr. Collins's quest for Sodom in absorbing detail, this adventure-cum-memoir reflects the tensions that define biblical archaeology as it narrates a tale of discovery. Readers follow "Dr. C" as he tracks down biblical, archaeological, and geographical clues to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, narrowing the list of possible sites as he weighs evidence and battles skeptics. Finally, he arrives at a single location that looms as the only option: a massive ancient ruin called Tall el-Hammam in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Many scholars who were initially opposed to Dr. Collins's theory now concede that history books may need to be rewritten in light of his groundbreaking discovery. It--along with several other recent finds--is challenging the assumptions of academics and asserting a new voice in the controversy of biblical archaeology and the dispute over using the Bible as a credible historical source. *** >From respected archaeologist Dr. Steven Collins and award-winning author Dr. Latayne C. Scott comes the fascinating, true account of the frustrating search and exciting excavation of the city the Bible calls Sodom, which scholars and others had "misplaced" for hundreds of years. Like many modern-day Christians, Dr. Collins struggled with what seemed to be a clash between his heritage of belief in the Bible and the research regarding ancient history and human evolution. This crisis of faith led him to embark on a quest to put both his archaeological education and the Bible to the test by seeking out the lost ancient city, an expedition that has led to one of the most exciting finds in recent archaeology. Challenging the assumptions of academics around the world, "Discovering the City of Sodom "may well inspire a revision of the history books. Dr. Collins has become a new voice in the controversy over using the Bible as a credible source of understanding the past--and opened a new chapter in the struggle over the soul of biblical archaeology.

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Thought for today - 07/30/2013

AN INDESCRIBABLE CONNECTION WITH GOD
"I have a friend who went through deep waters several years ago. He described the weeks and months that followed as the darkest days of his life. Feeling as though he was drowning in depression and grief, he sought the Lord with a desperation beyond anything he had ever experienced. As a result, he learned a new way to pray in those days -- on his face on the living room carpet, arms outstretched, as dependent as a little child.

"Looking back on those days, my friend recalls how narrow his world had become, with the suffocating darkness pressing in from all sides. His Bible became as thin as a half dozen of his favorite psalms. But he also remembers an indescribable connection with God, as if a larger channel had been opened between them. It resulted in a new sense of God's presence and an ability to discern His voice. His new standard for prayer was his nose buried in the carpet fibers, his arms out in front of him, palms up. He learned that the lower he placed himself before God, the more he expressed his utter dependence on the Lord for everything, the sooner God's miraculous work of healing and restoration began in his life.

"Hard-pressed and hedged in? Just remember that where the Spirit of the Lord is ... wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And hope. And light. And even beauty."
- Joni Eareckson Tada in A Lifetime of Wisdom: Embracing the Way God Heals You

Thought for today - 07/29/2013

GOD WALKS INTO ETERNITY CREATING
"There are few more dizzying realities of life than cooperating with God to produce another human being. This aspect of the marital experience should be particularly meaningful for Christians (and a key reason why having difficulty conceiving can be so painful to so many couples). The picture of God as Creator is central to his authority, identity, and purpose. In fact, the Bible is framed around the fact that God is Creator.

"The first thing we learn about God in the book of Genesis is that he created the heavens and the earth (see Genesis 1:1); the last image of the New Testament shows God creating a new heaven and a new earth. When God says, 'I am making everything new!' (Revelation 21:5), the word 'making' is in the present tense -- it's an ongoing process. God walks into eternity creating."
- Gary Thomas in Sacred Marriage: What If God Designed Marriage To Make Us Holy More Than To Make Us Happy? (DVD)

Thought for today - 07/28/2013

THE NEW COVENANT PROMISE
"The foundational promise God made through the prophets and recorded in the Old Testament is the promise of a new covenant, or new testament (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36-37). Central to this covenant would be a decisive activity on God's part to deal with the problem of human sinfulness. This happened in the death of Jesus Christ upon the cross. In the horror and suffering on the cross, Jesus absorbed God's wrath against sin in his own body and in our place.

"Much of the New Testament describes the passion of Christ and reflects on its significance for us. When Jesus of Nazareth began his three-year public ministry, he announced that he had come in fulfillment of this new covenant promise. During the last supper as he distributed the bread and wine to his disciples, he remarked, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you' ( Luke 22:20). Jesus was truly 'the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world' (John 1:29). The 27 books of the New Testament provide testimony of God's work in and through Jesus to fulfill this new covenant promise."
- Clinton E. Arnold in How We Got the Bible

Thought for today - 07/27/2013

"The older I get, the surer I am that I'm not running the show."
- Leonard Cohen

Thought for today - 07/26/2013

VERSE TO PONDER
[Jesus said,] "Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."
- Matthew 7:13-14

Thought for today - 07/25/2013

SELF DISCIPLINE
"In vain does any man pretend that he will be a martyr for his religion, when he will not rule an appetite, nor restrain a lust, nor subdue a passion, nor cross his covetousness and ambition, for the sake of it, and in hope of that eternal life "which God that cannot lie hath promised.' He that refuseth to do the less is not like to do the greater. It is very improbable that a man will die for his religion, when he cannot be persuaded to live according to it. He that cannot take up a resolution to live a saint, hath a demonstration within himself, that he is never like to die a martyr."
- John Tillotson (1630-1694), Works of Dr. John Tillotson, v. IV, London: J. F. Dove, for R. Priestley, 1820, Sermon LXXVII, p. 451-452

Thought for today - 07/24/2013

AS WE WAIT AND TRUST
"Money problems, sickness, and emotional difficulties stress a marriage. But nothing is quite so devastating as unmet expectations. The longer those go unfulfilled the less tolerance spouses have for each other and the more tension builds. The only way to deal with the problem is for couples to be honest with each other, reset their priorities, and then decide how best to meet those needs over time.

"Likewise, as we continue to bring our needs to God, we can have faith and not lose heart when he fails to immediately provide what we need. For during the waiting time he may be giving us far better gifts than those we have asked for -- gifts that can ease our selfishness, build our marriages, and strengthen our families. As we wait and trust, we begin to experience love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (see Galatians 5:22-23)."
- From Couples' Devotional Bible

Thought for today - 07/23/2013

THE DANGER OF 'QUIET' SINS
"Men perish with whispering sins, nay with silent sins, sins that never tell the conscience that they are sins, as often as with crying sins; and in hell there shall meet as many men that never thought what was sin, as that spent all their thoughts in the compassing of sin."
- John Donne (1573-1631), Works of John Donne, vol. I, London: John W. Parker, 1839, Sermon XIV, p. 276

Thought for today - 07/21/2013

READY AND WILLING
"You don't need to have all the answers to every theological question. You don't have to master a polished gospel presentation that you mechanically recite whether people want to hear it or not. You don't have to pretend you're the next Billy Graham. All you have to do is authentically follow Christ in your own life and ask him to ambush you with opportunities, then trust that he's going to use you in spite of (and sometimes even because of) your shortcomings, foibles, and quirks.

"Simply put, our role is this: to be ready and willing -- because God is always able. After all, he is the great evangelist; we're merely the tools that he uses to fulfill his mission of redeeming the world, one individual at a time."
- Lee Strobel and Mark Mittelberg in The Unexpected Adventure: Taking Everyday Risks to Talk with People about Jesus

Thought for today - 07/20/2013

WHAT DO I HAVE LEFT?
"Your body is not you. Your job is not you. Your success, reputation, and possessions are not you. What your parents, boss, peers, friends, or enemies think of you is not you. Your circumstances and limitations are not you. Psychologist Dan Baker puts it like this: 'There is a you in you nobody put there.' We will all, like Daniel, spend some time in Babylon (see Daniel 1:1-7). Sometimes dreams will go unfulfilled, health will disappear, hopes will fade. The key question is never, 'What have I lost?' It is 'What do I have left?'"
- John Ortberg in When the Game Is Over It All Goes Back in the Box

Thought for today - 07/19/2013

"The real act of discovery is not in finding new lands, but in seeing with new eyes."
- Marcel Proust

Thought for today - 07/18/2013

"The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights."
- Habakkuk 3:19

Thought for today - 07/17/2013

Worry is interest paid on trouble before it is due.

Thought for today - 07/16/2013

ON PRAYER 
"Prayer is a mighty instrument, not for getting man's will done in heaven, but for getting God's will done in earth."
- Robert Law

Archive Replay - 07/12/2013

Listen to last Friday's replay on BlogtalkRadio
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thepath/2013/07/13/something-holy

Thought for today - 07/15/2013

"Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night." 
- Psalm 90:2-4

Thought for today - 07/08/2013

Life is 10% what you make it and 90% how you take it!

Thought for today - 07/17/2013

ON PRAYER 
"Formal prayer is a practical device, not a spiritual necessity. It makes direct suggestions to our souls: it reminds us of realities which we always tend to forget."
- Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941), Concerning the Inner Life, London: Methuen, 1927

Thought for today - 07/06/2013

VERSE TO PONDER 
"The day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives."
- 2 Peter 3:10-11

Thought for today - 07/04/2013

CONSIDER 
"When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don't throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer."
- Corrie Ten Boom

Never Let Go - Gods Story of Healing Hurting Lives

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Never Let Go God's Story of Healing Hurting Lives TODAY'S FEATURE PRICE $12.74 Ships For $3.99 Overview Mac and Mary are in high school when they fall in love in the 70s. Knowing the disapproval and shame a teenage pregnancy will bring, they keep it a secret from their church and from most of their family and friends, and make the heartbreaking decision to give up their baby for adoption. Eventually they marry and begin their life together, but before long fun-loving Mac isn't just a guy looking for a good time...he's a meth addict. God has a plan, however, and His timing is perfect. When Mac wakes up to the mess he's made of their young family's life, the couple seeks solace in their church and in recovery, beginning a miraculous journey that neither of them could have imagined. A story about a family's hurts and a father's habits, transformed by God's healing power. Reviews "This book shows the power of God when humble men and women choose to surrender their lives to Him. The Robertsons and Owens are cut from the same cloth-the servant towel of Jesus!"- Phil Robertson, The Duck Commander from Duck Dynasty "You may have heard them share their testimony at a seminar or on a 'Testimonies to Go' DVD, but you haven't heard the whole story! I don't think Travis Thrasher could have conjured up a fictional story any more dramatic than the profound truth of what God has done in Mac and Mary's lives."-John Baker, found of Celebrate Recovery About The Authors MAC & MARY OWEN have been married since 1976 and have three children and eight grandchildren. Mac was an ordained elder and pastor at White's Ferry Road Church for 17 years. Both serve nationally for Celebrate Recovery and have been working together in recovery for over 25 years. In 2012 they sold their home in West Monroe, Louisiana, turning it into a home for men in recovery, and now live in Colorado. TRAVIS THRASHER is the author of over twenty books in a variety of genres. He and his wife, Sharon, have three daughters and live in a suburb of Chicago.

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Thought for today - 07/03/2013

VERSE TO PONDER 
"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever."
- Psalm 136:1-2

Where God Finds You - New Devotional Release

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Where God Finds You A New Devotional Release by Anita Higman TODAY'S FEATURE PRICE $11.04 Overview In forty devotional tales, Where God Finds You breathes new life into ancient Bible characters. Live with and learn about more than forty Bible men and women, including the wife of Pontius Pilate, Esther, John the Baptist, Delilah, Lazarus, and Mary Magdalene. Through reflection on Scripture and prayer, you'll discover a place in each of these lives of vulnerability, tenderness, truth, and love - a place where you can find God . . . and where God finds you. Where God Finds You is unique among women's devotional books in that it brings dozens of men and women of the Bible to life through dramatic short stories, connects biblical truths to today's culture, and offers readers an opportunity to reflect on what they've learned. Each devotion features: A dramatic retelling of Scripture that allows the reader to crawl into the pages of the Bible. The Story from God's Word: a quote or paraphrase of the applicable Bible passage in a reader-friendly version. The Story-From Then to Now: a personal reflection from the author to help link the passage to life today. The Story-Questions to Think About: prompts for personal reflection or group discussion that lead to practical application.

You may unsubscribefrom our newsletters at any time. You are receiving this email because you have subscribed to our newsletter, or because you made a purchase from one of our websites. You can read our privacy policy, by visiting our website at www.christianconnectionbooks.com The Christian Connection Chicago, IL, 60629, USA.