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Church-ianity VS Christianity	Christ? Yes! Church? No!
The *right* church?	Eye of the Beholder
Trials of life	Butterfly
Consoling the Bereaved	Cry-baby
Adoption	Heart-baby
Christian hypocrisy	How NOT to walk the walk
Good VS Evil	Is it hard to be good? Consider the alternative!
The allure of sin	Devil's food cake
Christian living	Sheep do NOT wallow

Christ? Yes! Church? No!

"Hostile to the church, friendly to Jesus Christ." These words describe large numbers of people, especially young people, today. They are opposed to anything which savors of institutionalism. They detest the establishment and its entrenched privileges. And they reject the church -- not without justification -- because they regard it as impossibly corrupted by such evils. Yet what they have rejected is the contemporary church, not Jesus Christ Himself. It is precisely because they see a contradiction between the founder of Christianity and the current state of the church He founded that they are so critical and aloof. The person and teaching of Jesus have not lost their appeal, however. For one thing, He was Himself an antiestablishment figure, and some of His words had revolutionary overtones. His ideals were incorruptible. He breathed love and peace wherever He went. And, for another thing, He invariably practiced what He preached. From the preface to "Basic Christianity" by John R.W. Stott

Eye of the Beholder Jim went to church one Sunday morning... He heard the organist miss a note, and he winced. He saw a teen talking when everyone else was praying. He felt certain the usher was watching to see what he put in the offering plate, and it made him boil. Five times, by actual count, he caught the preacher in slip-of-the-tongue mistakes. During the invitation, he slipped out the side door, all the while muttering to himself, "What a waste of time!" Ron went to church, also... He heard the pianist play an arrangement of "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God," and he was stirred to worship by the majesty of it. A special missions offering was received, and he was glad his church was doing what they could for people around the world. He especially appreciated the sermon that Sunday; it really spoke to a need in his life. He thought, as he shook the preacher's hand and left, "How can anyone come here and not feel the presence of God?" Jim and Ron were in the same church, on the same day. Each man found what he was looking for.

Butterfly A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through the hole. Then it seemed to stop making progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could, and it could go no further. So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly. What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were the Creator's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon. Sometimes struggles are just exactly what you need in your life. If God allowed you to go through your life without any obstacles, it would cripple you. You could never fly!

Cry baby A four year old child lived next door to an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his mother asked him what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, "Nothing, I just helped him cry."

Heart's Baby Some first graders were discussing a picture of a family. One little boy in the picture had a different color hair than the other family members. One child suggested that the little boy was adopted. Mary said, "I know all about adoptions because I was adopted." "What does it mean to be adopted?" asked another student. "It means," said Mary, "that you grew in your Mommy's heart instead of her tummy."

Busted! A woman pulled up to a red light behind another car. The driver of the car in front of her was talking on his cell phone, and shuffling through some papers on the seat beside him. The light turned green, but the man didn't notice. The woman began pounding on her steering wheel and yelling at the man to move. The man still didn't move. The woman went ballistic inside her car, ranting and raving at the man, pounding on her steering wheel and dashboard. The light turned yellow. The woman blew the car's horn repeatedly, as she yelled and screamed curses at the man. The man finally noticed the commotion. He looked up, saw the yellow light, and accelerated through the intersection just as the light turned red. The woman was beside herself, screaming in frustration as she missed her chance to get through the intersection. As she was still in mid-rant she heard a tap on her window and looked into the face of a very serious looking policeman. The policeman told her to shut off her engine and step out of the car. The red-faced woman obeyed, speechless at what was happening. The policeman then arrested the woman and took her to the police station where she was booked and placed in a cell. After a couple of hours the woman was escorted back to the booking desk where the original officer was waiting with her personal effects. The policeman handed her the bag containing her things, and said, "I'm really sorry for this mistake. But you see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn and screaming and cursing. Then I noticed the *Choose Life* license plate holder, the *Follow Me to Sunday School* bumper sticker, and the chrome plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk. Naturally I assumed that you had stolen the car. Have a blessed day!!!"

Do you find it hard to be good? Consider the alternative! If you get 10 good people together, they will have nothing to fear from one another. Good folks have a common ethic. They will trust each other and be friends. If you get 10 evil people together, they will have everything to fear from one another. Evil folks have a common brute selfishness. They will suspect each other and CANNOT truly be friends. GOOD has but one enemy - evil. EVIL has three enemies - evil, good, and God. It's much easier to be good than evil!

Devil's food cake
You have heard it said that sin is ugly. Not true, buffalo breath! The evil one won't sprinkle arsenic on a pile of dog poop, then try to tempt you to eat it. No, the evil one will offer you the most delicious-looking chocolate cake you have ever feasted your eyes upon. If you take a bite it will taste heavenly. But mixed into that delicious fudge frosting will be just a tiny smidgen of deadly poison -- just barely enough to kill you.		So when Eve saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Gen 3.6 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works. 2 Cor 11.14-15
Sin will take you farther than you wanted to stray. Sin will keep you longer than you wanted to stay. Sin will cost you more than you were willing to pay.
"Sheep do not wallow" Being a parable wherein... mud is sin pigs are worldly folks sheep are God's people
Know ye that the LORD, He is God. It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves. We are God's people and the sheep of His pasture. Psalm 100.3
There was once a lamb and his mother. Each morning the lamb and his mother passed a pig pen on the way to pasture. Watching the pigs wallow in the mud seemed like fun to the lamb. On an especially hot day the lamb asked his mother if he could jump the fence and wallow in the cool mud. She replied, "No." Then the lamb asked the question, "Why?" The mother just said, "SHEEP DO NOT WALLOW." continued ==>		This answer did not satisfy the lamb. So, as soon as the mother was out of sight, the lamb ran to the pig pen and jumped the fence. He was soon feeling the cool mud on his feet, his legs, and his stomach. After a few moments he decided he had better return to his mother, but he could not. He was stuck! Mud and wool do not mix. His pleasure had become his prison. Remember, little lamb... "Sheep do NOT wallow!"

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