Michelangelo is famous for his work as a sculptor and painter. Although he started 44 statues, he finished only 14. He is best remembered for his sculptures of David and also of Moses. But 30 of his sculptures are left unfinished.

As creative as Michelangelo was, he is surpassed by a more awe-inspiring sculptor. This creator has more works than you can count. You are one of them. Scripture says, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works.” (Ephesians 2:10)

With the Creator claiming us as His workmanship, why do so many of us feel unfinished? Why do so many people feel like chunks of stone waiting for the right person to recognize the potential inside of us?

Paul prayed for the saints at Philippi, “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)

Are you confident that God is sculpting you, molding your character, shaping you to be like His Son? Are you as confident as Paul that God is a faithful, persistent Creator that will not stop until His work in you is complete? Or do you listen to that internal voice of condemnation that thrives on doubt, fear and discouragement?

Spend some time yielding your life to the Master to shape and mold you, to renew your mind, to complete the good work for which He has created you.

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.

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Avoid negative sources, people, places, things and habits.
Believe in yourself.
Consider things from every angle.
Don’t give up and donate give in.
Enjoy life today, yesterday is gone, tomorrow may never come.
Family and friends are hidden treasures, seek them and enjoy their riches.
Give more than you planned to.
Hang on to your dreams.
Ignore those who try to discourage you.
Just do it!
Keep trying no matter how hard it seems—it will get easier.
Love selfless if u loves.
Make it happen.
Never lie, cheat or steal; always strike a fair deal.
Open your eyes and see things as they really are.
Practice makes perfect.
Quitters never win, and winners never quit.
Read, study and learn about everything important in your life.
Stop procrastinating.
Take control of your own destiny.
Understand yourself to better understand others.
Visualize it!
Want it more than anything.
X-celerate your efforts.
You are unique of all God’s creations, nothing can replace you.
Zero in on your target and go for it!

Author: Unknown

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.

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Ruth went to her mail box and there was only one letter. She picked it up and looked at it before opening, but then she looked at the envelope again. There was no stamp, no postmark, only her name and address.

She read the letter:

Dear Ruth,

I’m going to be in your neighborhood Saturday afternoon and I’d like to stop by for a visit.

Love Always,
Jesus

Her hands were shaking as she placed the letter on the table. “Why would the Lord want to visit me? I’m nobody special. I don’t have anything to offer.”

With that thought, Ruth remembered her empty kitchen cabinets. “Oh my goodness, I really don’t have anything to offer. I’ll have to run down to the store and buy something for dinner.” She reached for her purse and counted out its contents. Five dollars and forty cents. “Well, I can get some bread and cold cuts, atleast.” She threw on her coat and hurried out the door.

A loaf of french bread, a half-pound of sliced turkey, and a carton of milk…leaving Ruth with grand total of twelve cents to last her until Monday. Nonetheless, she felt good as she headed home, her meager offerings tucked under her arm.

“Hey lady, can you help us, lady?” Ruth had been so absorbed in her dinner plans, she hadn’t even noticed two figures huddled in the alleyway. A man and a woman, both of them dressed in little more than rags. “Look lady, I ain’t got a job, ya know, and my wife and I have been living out here on the street, and, well, now it’s getting cold and we’re getting kinda hungry and, well, if you could help us, lady, we’d really appreciate it.”

Ruth looked at them both. They were dirty, they smelled bad and, frankly, she was certain that they could get some kind of work if they really wanted to. “Sir, I’d like to help you, but I’m a poor woman myself. All I have is a few cold cuts and some bread, and I’m having an important guest for dinner tonight and I was planning on serving that to Him.”

“Yeah, well, OK lady, I understand. Thanks anyway.” The man put his arm around the woman’s shoulders, turned and headed back into the alley. As she watched them leave, Ruth felt a familiar twinge in her heart. “Sir, wait!”. The couple stopped and turned as she ran down the alley after them.

“Look, why don’t you take this food. I’ll figure out something else to serve my guest.” She handed the man her grocery bag. “Thank you lady. Thank you very much!”

“Yes, thank you!” It was the man’s wife, and Ruth could see now that she was shivering. “You know, I’ve got another coat at home. Here, why don’t you take this one.” Ruth unbuttoned her jacket and slipped it over the woman’s shoulders. Then smiling, she turned and walked back to the street…without her coat and with nothing to serve her guest. “Thank you lady! Thank you very much!”

Ruth was chilled by the time she reached her front door, and worried too. The Lord was coming to visit and she didn’t have anything to offer Him. She fumbled through her purse for the door key. But as she did, she noticed another envelope in her mailbox. “That’s odd. The mailman doesn’tusually come twice in one day.” She took the envelope out of the box and opened it.

Dear Ruth

It was so good to see you again. Thank you for the lovely meal. And thank you, too, for the beautiful coat.

Love Always,
Jesus

The air was still cold, but even without her coat, Ruth no longer noticed.

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ ~Matthew 25:40

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.

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Our attitude determines our results. What often seems impossible is possible when God is added to the equation. Do we focus on the impossibilities or the possibilities?

__________100% — I did!
_________90% — I will
________80% — I can
_______70% — I think I can
______60% — I might
_____50% — I think I might
____40% — What is it?
___30% — I wish I could
__20% — I don’t know how
_10% — I can’t
0% — I won’t

Author Unknown

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I sometimes wonder if there is a place for grace in the church today? Churches get berated for “cheap grace.” But grace was anything but cheap. It was costly. it doesn’t matter if you are a youth that doesn’t know better, or a seasoned youth worker that should know better. We all fail and we all need grace. It is only through grace that anyone is saved.

“The church is more than a group of people who have all been born again. The church consists of God’s trophies of grace…

Throughout eternity, God will be glorified because He has extended His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. We certainly didn’t deserve His grace, yet He *chose* to extend loving grace toward us on the basis of His own loving nature.

Unlike their Father, performance-based Christians accept other people according to their conduct. One walking in grace accepts people on the basis of unconditional love. This doesn’t suggest a blanket approval of all behavior, but grace allows one to accept and love others regardless of ther actions.

Legalists set out to change what people *do.* Grace looks beyond what others do and affirms them for who they *are*, encouraging them to live up to their identity.

Legalists heap guilt and shame on those who fail to measure up. A gracious Christian loves unconditionally.

As you extend grace to Christians who stumble and fail, you will be amazed at the impact it has on their life. A Christian who has fallen doesn’t need condemnation. He probably already has enough self-condemnation to cause him to feel crushed under its weight. Condemnation of a believer *never* comes from God…

Legalism separates Christians, but grace draws us together in a love relationship. We are one in union with Christ.”

Source: Steve McVey “Grace Walk” Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, OR

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.

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“I want you to know that I haven’t always looked like this.

You see, there was a time when I was just clay. The Master came and He pounded me, and He pounded me so long and so hard. I said, “Let me alone; LET ME ALONE!” And He looked at me and He smiled and said, “Not yet.”

Then the pounding was finished. He took me and put me on the wheel. And the wheel went round and round and round. I was getting dizzy. I cried, “Let me off this wheel! LET ME OFF!” And the Master just smiled and said, “Not yet.”

He came and He picked me up. He took me toward an oven. He shut the door and turned the heat up high. I thought to myself, “I’m going to burn to death in here.” I started pounding on the walls of the oven. I kept shouting, “Let me out. Let me out. LET ME OUT!” Through the window I could see the Master’s face, and He was looking with great compassion in His eyes. He said, “Not yet.”

Finally, the door opened and…Whew! It felt so good to be taken out of the oven. He took me and put me on the shelf. I watched Him get a brush and some paint. He started dabbing me and dabbing me and making little twirls here and there. The fumes were getting to me. I started to gag and I said, “Stop that! Stop that! STOP THAT!” And He just smiled with His love and said, “Not yet.”

Then He took me again and He started walking toward the oven. I said, “Oh, no! Please No! I’ve already been in that oven!” He put me in the oven and He said, “Shut the door.” He turned up the heat twice as hot. I said, “Let me out. LET ME OUT! I’m going to suffocate in here. I’M GOING TO SUFFOCATE IN HERE!” And I saw Him looking through the window and a tear was trickling down His cheek, but there was a smile on His face. He said, “Not yet.”

Finally, when I felt the very breath leaping out of me, the door opened and it was cool. The Master came and very gingerly He picked me up and put me on the shelf. He said, “There! Would you like to see yourself?” I said, “Yes!” He said, “Here, take a look in the mirror.” And I looked and I looked again. I said, “That’s not me. I’m just a lump of clay; I’m just a pot.”

He said, “Yes, that’s you; but you see the process of pain was necessary. You see, if I hadn’t pounded the clay, you would have dried up. If I hadn’t subjected you to the stress of the potter’s wheel, you would have crumbled. If I hadn’t put you in the oven, you would have cracked. If I hadn’t painted you, you wouldn’t have any color in your life. But it’s the last oven. The second experience there gave you the hardness to endure the troubles of life. Now I want you to know exactly what I had in mind all along. You are finished – changed!”

I turned to the Master and I said something I never thought I’d hear myself say. “Thank you for the ordeal of suffering. Thank you for the process of pain. Now I am ready for the challenge to serve you with my life of Glory.”

Author unknown

“I went to the potter’s house, and he was working there at his wheel. Whenever a clay pot he was working on was ruined, he would rework it into a new clay pot the way he wanted to make it.” -Jeremiah 18:3-4

Our youth face many trials, but each trial and decision builds character and strength for our youth to become the leaders God wants them to be, to fulfill the purposes for which he created them, and to face the difficulties in life that lie

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.

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“When you stop achieving long enough to think about it, our world is full of overexpecters. They are in every profession, most of the schools, many of the shops, and (dare I say it?) in all the churches…

Because nobody screws up enough courage to tell overexpecters where to get off, these things keep happening:

• The little child loses his love for art because he is told time and again to stop coloring outside the lines. Parents are often overexpecters.
• The wife erodes in her joy around the house because she never seems to please the man she married. Husbands are often overexpecters.
• The gifted and competent employee gets an ulcer because the boss finds it next to impossible to say two monosyllabic words, ‘good job.’ Employers are often overexpecters.
• The once-dedicated, motivated pastor in a small church finally decides to change careers because he realizes he will never please his people. Church members are often overexpecters.
• The high school athlete chooses to hang it up at midseason because he knows that no matter what, he’ll never satisfy. Coaches are often overexpecters.
• And, yes, congregations get tired of being beaten and bruised with jabs, hooks, and uppercuts from pulpits. Preachers are often overexpecters…

I frequently think of Jesus as the Model. He promised people ‘rest’ if they would come to Him, not an endless list of unrealistic expections. He even said His yoke would be ‘easy’ and His burden ‘light.’ He was something else. Still is!”

Source: Charles R. Swindoll- “Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life”

Do we live according to expectations or purpose. Expectations come from outside ourselves. But purpose comes from within – knowing why we are here, what we were created for, and fulfilling that role in everything we do.

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.

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Description
Just got this great teaching / sermon illustration for Zig Ziglar’s Newsletter. Would be great for a youth sermon or youth talk and addresses a common concern among today’s youth. Many are asking “What is my gift and how can I develop it and use it?” This illustration of a famous whittler provides a fresh perspective on gifts.

Here it is…

He Couldn’t Sing, So He Whittled

Antonio was a lad who lived in Cremona, Italy, during the 17th century. Cremona was a musical town where great acclaim was bestowed on those who could sing or play. Unfortunately, although Antonio wanted recognition for his musical talents, his friends called him “squeaky voice” when he tried to sing. He tried to play the piano and the violin, but his skills were limited.

As Antonio walked through the streets of Cremona with his friends, he listened to their beautiful voices. Unfortunately, the only thing he could do was whittle on a block of wood with his knife. One day, while sitting at the edge of the street, whittling, watching and listening to three of his friends play and sing beautiful songs, he noted that the people passing by frequently dropped coins into their hands to reward their efforts. One gentleman stopped longer than any of the others and even asked them to repeat a song. When they finished, he dropped a coin into the hand of the singer, then moved on down the street. Much to their shock, the boys discovered it was a gold coin, which was quite a bit of money to give a street singer. But the man who gave it could afford to do so. His name was Amati and he was identified as the greatest violin maker in all of Italy.

That evening at home, Antonio thought about Amati and decided that he, too, wanted to become a violin maker. The next morning he went to the home of Amati and persuaded him to let him be his apprentice. For many years Antonio learned from the master and in due time his work became known throughout the whole world.

Antonio’s last name was Stradivari. To this day, musicians still make music from his violins, which now sell for six figures plus.

Take it to the Next Level
If you don’t have the talent you want, use the talent you have and find a way to develop it and refine it.

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I’m part of the fellowship of the unashamed.
I have stepped over the line.
The decision has been made. I’m a disciple of Jesus Christ.
I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.
My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure.
I’m finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning,
smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap living, and dwarfed goals.
I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity.
I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded.
I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by power.
My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way rough, my companions few, my Guide reliable, my mission clear.
I cannot be bought, deluded, or delayed.
I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the adversary, negotiate at the table of the enemy, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.
I won’t give up, shut up, let up, until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, preached up for the cause of Christ.
I am a disciple of Jesus.
I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till He stops me.
And when He comes for His own, He will have no problem recognizing me–my banner will be clear!
–Source unknown

[Updated with a video. Thanks Alex]

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.

Learn More…