Out of the Boat

    The Sunday school teacher asked Jimmy why he was late. "I was gonna go fishing," Jimmy said, "but daddy would not let me."
    "You have a wise father," said the teacher. "Did he explain why you shouldn't go fishing today?"
    "Sure, He said there wasn't enough bait for both of us."

Source:
Unknown

Out of Heaven

     Johnny was gazing at his one-day old brother who lay yelling in his crib. "Has he come from heaven?" asked Johnny.
    "Yes, dear."
    "No wonder they put him out."

Source:
Unknown

No Glass Between!

There was a little boy who came from an extremely poor family. He received no gifts at Christmas time, but he often looked into the store windows at the pretty things other little boys could have but he could not. One day he was run over by a car and taken to a hospital. One of the nurses brought him some toys - a troop of soldiers. As he touched them, he said, "There isn't any glass between!" There is a class separating us know from the things that many of our fellow men enjoy in this life, even great honor and respect in the house of God, but the day will come when there will be no glass.

Source:
Pulpit Helps, date unknown.

The Name "Christian"

Henry Ward Beecher: "Let me speak in the language of heaven and call you Christians."
Albert Barnes: "These divisions should be merged into the holy name Christian."
Martin Luther: "I pray you leave my name alone. Do not call yourselves Lutherans, but Christian."
John Wesley: "I wish the name Methodist might never be mentioned again, but lost in eternal oblivion."
Charles Spurgeon: "I say of the Baptist name, let it perish, but let Christ' name last forever. I look forward with pleasure to the day when there will not be a Baptist living."
Peter, the Apostle: "Yet, if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this name" (1 Pet. 4:16).
Paul, the Apostle: "Now, this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were you baptized in the name of Paul?" (1 cor. 1:12-13).
Luke, the writer of Acts: "...And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch" (Acts 11:26).

Source:
Pulpit Helps (date unknown)

My Part

God didn't put me on this earth, to have an easy time.
    He put me here to fight, to hold a battle line.
He put me here to help the weak, and myself grow strong.
    He put me here to lend a hand, and help the world along.
He put me here to say a word of encouragement and cheer;
   He put me here to sing a song, for someone else to hear.
He didn't put me here to whine, stick out my lips and pout.
    He put me here to do his work, and Satan’s evil rout.
He didn't put me here to seek rewards and starry crowns.
    He put me here to do my part, and see that love abounds.
So I'll just seek to do my part, as I travel through these lands,
    and I will strive to do his will, and leave all in his hands.

Source:
Unknown

Lost

By Roy Goodmiller

"The loss of wealth is much;
The loss of health is more;
But the loss of Christ is such a loss
That no man can restore."

Someone else has written, "Sheep get lost, not because of the thicket, but because they wander away too far from the shepherd."

When the late Adlai Stevenson ran for President of the United States and lost to General Dwight Eisenhower, he said after the election, "I fell like the little boy who stubbed his toe; I'm too old to cry, but it hurts too much to laugh." It always hurts when we stop to realize that most of the world will be lost eternally, and we can do so little about it. It hurts when we realize that some are "not far from the kingdom;" and we can't persuade them to be "altogether as I am" (Acts 26:29). It hurts when we realize that there are so many in the church who were "once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift" (Heb. 6:4), and yet have turned their backs on the Lord and serve Him no more.

A very wise writer said concerning those who fall away, "Someone asks why so many church members fall. Here's one answer in a parable. When a boy was asked why he fell out of bed, he replied, "I guess it's because I stayed too close to the getting-in place."

Source:
Weekly bulletin of the Jackson Church of Christ, Jackson, MO, date unknown.