Dr. Harold McNabb
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Thanksgiving: The Antidote to Pernicious Creeping Materialism |
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Saturday, 08 October 2005 16:00 |
One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice.
He threw himself at Jesus? feet and thanked him?and he was a Samaritan.
Jesus asked, ?Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Luke 17:11-19
Dr. Erin Beck is well known for his depression scale. It is the questionaire that is given to people suffering from depression.. He published some research on suicide in the American Journal of Psychiatry. Among other factors, he found that your risk of killing yourself rises with your income. A different study says, "subtract two years from your life if your income is over $40,000" That is US, so maybe $50,000 Canadian. With affluence, anxiety goes up, contentment goes down.
Next time you ask for a raise, your boss may say, "No, we can?t afford to put your life at risk."
Be forewarned.
There is no glory in poverty, but chasing after money and stuff money buys obviously does not bring happiness either.
John MacArthur of Grace Community Church in California says,
A study of thirty plus denominations points out that although income after taxes and inflation, increased 31% in the last 17 years, giving has gone down 8.5% in the same . . .
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Monday, 03 October 2005 17:51 |
The late Bishop Edwin Hughes once delivered a rousing sermon on "God?s Ownership" that put a rich parishioner?s nose out-of-joint. The wealthy man took the Bishop off for lunch, and then walked him through his elaborate gardens, woodlands, and farm. "Now are you going to tell me," he demanded when the tour was completed, "that all this land does not belong to me?" Bishop Hughes smiled and suggested, "Ask me that same question a hundred years from now."1
Over the next five weeks I am going to preach on the topic of stewardship.
This morning as we celebrate the Lord?s Supper, I am going to begin at the basis of our stewardship:
We give because God first gave to us.
On the surface, that statement seems simple enough, but our hearts are not simple.
We may understand that with our head, but our emotions may be working at cross-purposes.
Fear and unbelief betray our . . .
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Monday, 26 September 2005 19:14 |
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And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because
they tested the LORD saying, ?Is the LORD among us or not?? Exodus 17:7
This past week in our prayer group,Georgina and I asked for prayers for our families in Houston, and my nephew in Galveston, Texas. Our prayers were answered. Also this week, we watched an aircraft circle Los Angeles waiting to land because the nose wheel had turned at ninety degrees and would not retract. I along with millions watched on TV in the safety of home as the plane managed a safe landing. I prayed for them too, I am sure along with millions of others. God answered those prayers.
But what about all the others who were not so fortunate? Did God love Houston better than New Orleans, or south Texas better than the gulf coast of Mississippi?
Or better than any others who lost their lives in mishaps.
Why does God seem to respond to one request, and seemingly not to another?
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Monday, 19 September 2005 16:00 |
One of the routines in worship is our practice of saying the Lord?s Prayer in unison.
As you know, the Lord?s prayer says, "give us this day our daily bread".
That?s a simple enough statement. I suppose most of us think of it from time to time, but I have to confess that repetition doesn?t always cause me to think more deeply. In fact as often as not I find myself having to work at thinking about what I am saying.
I suspect you experience the same.
So, give us this day our daily bread.
When we are eating all we need, and often, more than we need, this does not strike at the heart of our concerns.
But when you don?t have enough to eat or enough to pay the bills, it is uppermost on the mind.
This prayer is for God?s provision for our daily needs. Food to eat, a roof over our head, clothes, school supplies...you know the list. Maybe when we pray it next time, we should pause for a moment and think about the significance. It is enormously important.
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Sunday, 11 September 2005 16:00 |
Have you ever been on the Universal Studios tour? If you have, then you have seen the secret of how Cecil B. DeMille parted the Red Sea. Have you ever wondered how God did it?
These past couple of weeks watching the effects of hurricane Katrina, you get a bit of an idea of what a strong wind can do with a body of water. Did you know that in hurricanes, most of the fatalities are from drowning? I guess the Egyptian army found that out long before there was Doppler radar.
Up to now, Pharaoh had been in charge.
Moses had been sent to Pharaoh to persuade him to let the Hebrews go. It was up to Pharaoh to give a thumbs up or a thumbs down to the idea.
God told Moses that he would not have to do all the persuading just on his own. God gave him a stick of wood and told him to use that as well.
Sure, face down Pharaoh with a wooden staff. Oh yes, and he had his brother Aaron too.
This was Pharaoh?s realm as far as the eye could see and well beyond it.
Pharaoh was the law and . . .
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