Ideas, stories, quotes, and short essays or selections from books that stimulate thoughtful consideration of a topic or spiritual principle.
“Every Christian family ought to be as it were a little church consecrated to Christ, and wholly influenced and governed by His rule. And family education and order are some of the chief means of grace. If these fail, all other means are likely to prove ineffectual. If these are duly maintained, all the means of grace will be likely to prosper and be successful.”
Jonathan Edwards
Have you ever wondered why the stone was rolled away?
It certainly wasn’t so that Jesus could get out — Later when the disciples are in the upper room with the doors locked, Jesus simply appears in their presence.
The gospels tell us there was an earthquake and the stone rolled away – But I assure you that it wasn’t for Jesus’ benefit.
It was for ours.
It wasn’t so Jesus could get out.
It was so Mary and others could get in
and see that Jesus was gone.
I wonder if there is a stone in your life that needs to be rolled away so that you can discover the resurrected Savior?
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Among the apostles, the one absolutely stunning success was Judas, and the one thoroughly groveling failure was Peter.
Judas was a success in the ways that most impress us: he was successful both financially and politically. He cleverly arranged to control the money of the apostolic band; he skillfully manipulated the political forces of the day to accomplish his goal.
And Peter was a failure in ways that we most dread: he was impotent in a crisis and socially inept. At the arrest of Jesus he collapsed, a hapless, blustering coward; in the most critical situations of his life with Jesus, the confession on the road to Caesarea Philippi and the vision on the Mount of transfiguration, he said the most embarrassingly inappropriate things. He was not the companion we would want with us in time of danger, and he was not the kind of person we would feel comfortable with at a social occasion.
Time, of course, has reversed our judgments on the two men. Judas is now a byword for betrayal, and Peter is one of the most honored names in the church and in the world. Judas is a villain; Peter is a saint. Yet the world continues to chase after the successes of Judas, financial wealth and political power, and to defend itself against the failures of Peter, impotence and ineptness.
Eugene Petersen quoted in: Tim Kimmel, Little House on the Freeway, Page 191-192.
Easter CollectionGet more than 80 creative ideas for planning a Youth Easter celebration or Easter Party. You can immediately download my best Easter Icebreakers, games, illustrations, Easter activity ideas AND MUCH MORE in a useful ebook!
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If everything is coming your way, you might be in the wrong lane!
I think that I shall never see
A church that’s all it ought to be.
A church whose members never stray
Beyond the straight and narrow way.
A church that has no empty pews
Whose pastor never has the blues.
A church whose deacons always deak
And none are proud and all are meek.
Where gossips never peddle lies
Or make complaints or criticize
Where all are always sweet and kind
And all to others’ faults are blind.
Such perfect churches there may be
But none of them are known to me.
But still I’ll work and pray and plan
To make our church the best I can.
—-Author Unknown
MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”
200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.
Great leaders don’t change the way we do things–they change the way we think.
“The man who forgets to be thankful has fallen asleep in life.”
Robert Louis Stevenson
Holiday CollectionCreative Holiday Ideas has over 300 pages of ideas to help you plan your next New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween or Fall Festival, and Thanksgiving event. If you’ve ever wondered what you’re going to do for all these holidays and how you’re going to do it, this resource is for you.
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The roots of the American Thanksgiving holiday celebration are found in the faith of our American Founders and Forefathers. For many people, like the pilgrims and puritans, it was the quest for religious freedom that brought them to America. Yet it was their faith in God that brought them through the tests and trials of day to day life.
A fitting way to begin this November, the month in which Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, is to look at some of the words of famous Americans regarding their deep faith in God and their thanks for his blessings!
Here’s some from the Thanksgiving quotes found in the Creative Youth Ideas Website Archives:
Holiday CollectionCreative Holiday Ideas has over 300 pages of ideas to help you plan your next New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween or Fall Festival, and Thanksgiving event. If you’ve ever wondered what you’re going to do for all these holidays and how you’re going to do it, this resource is for you.
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“Prayer goes by faith into the great orchard of God’s exceeding great and precious promises, and with hand and heart picks the ripest and richest fruit.”
E. M. Bounds
“The prayer power has never been tried to its full capacity. If we want to see mighty wonders of divine power and grace wrought in the place of weakness, failure and disappointment, let us answer God’s standing challenge, ‘Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not!”
J. Hudson Taylor