What Type of Literature is This?

In a Preface to Paradise Lost, C. S. Lewis writes:

“The first qualification for judging any piece of workmanship from a corkscrew to a cathedral is to know what it is - what it was intended to do and how it is meant to be used. After that has been discovered the temperance reformer may decide that the corkscrew was made for a bad purpose, and the communist may think the same about the cathedral. But such questions come later. The first thing is to understand the object before you: as long as you think the corkscrew was meant for opening tins or the cathedral for entertaining tourists you can say nothing to the purpose about them. The first thing the reader needs to know about Paradise Lost is what Milton meant it to be.” ....

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The Journey to Freedom: A Fresh Look at the Beatitudes

BY KAREN HINCKLEY

For most of the unbelievers I know, repentance conjures up an image of a thin-lipped man in a black suit pointing a bony finger and hissing, "Repent, sinner!" They see Christians as masochists groveling at an angry God's feet, flogging themselves bloody and staggering under impossible loads of responsibility. I've done my time in the grit-your-teeth school of repentance, so I understand where outsiders get their misconceptions. But how can I tell them what repentance really means?....

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Is The Bible Really God's Word?

BY E. CALVIN BEISNER

When the Apostle Paul sought to answer the objections of the Jews in Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:13-48), he referred repeatedly to Scripture as a reason for his faith. When he found a promise of the coming of the Messiah in the Testament, he attributed that promise to God Himself, believing the Old Testament to be God’s own Word....

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How to Speak About God When He Hurts Us

The book of Lamentations is the heart-cry of Jeremiah when he and his people were being hurt by God, and by their enemies, and by their own sin. How he speaks of this divine hurting shows us some of the various ways speak about God in our own pain. If we affirm them all, then not one of them will be taken amiss....

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If there is a God, why is there so much suffering?

Few questions have exercised the minds of people down the ages more than the question of suffering. In an otherwise beautiful world, why is there suffering? The problem at times touches all of our lives.

In these days of instant communication we are confronted regularly with unbelievable suffering caused by the major horrors of famine and war. Who can imagine the suffering experienced by a woman in Croatia who has been raped many times, whose husband had been hacked to pieces and brothers also brutally murdered, and whose house, with all her possessions, has been burned to the ground. Even though we may become immune to such things that happen at a distance, sooner or later suffering strikes closer to home, whether in our own lives or in the lives of those who are close to us.

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The Gospel in the Workplace

My first attempts at sharing my faith were dismal failures. I was the classic Bible-thumper, the gospel grenadier. On one occasion, heading home from a meeting of dynamic Christian businessmen, I was so enthused that I felt compelled to tell someone about Christ before getting off the plane.

My seat assignment put me next to another businessman. Our conversation consisted of the usual small talk of strangers who find themselves seatmates. Our flight was ending and it was evident the man did not know Jesus....

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Taking Men Alive

BY CHARLES G. TRUMBULL

Though Charles G. Trumbull's Taking Men Alive was written seventy-five years ago, this selection from it offers us timeless help in answering these questions: What should I be thinking about when I am trying to help a non-Christian become a believer? How can I develop tact in speaking about Christ? What do I say about sinful habits in a non-Christian's lifestyle? How can I help him be interested in my message?....

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No Fail Witnessing

BY BILL BRIGHT

On a bright, hot day in Oklahoma many years ago, I had concluded a visit with my parents and was driving toward the airport in a rented car. Ahead, I saw a big truck pulling out from a side road, preparing to enter my lane of the highway.

In a flash, I thought, I have the right-of-way — surely, he's going to stop till I've gone past. I was wrong. He pulled right in front of me, and there was no way I could stop or swerve to avoid him...

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Corinthian Grid

Do you often wonder how God feels about drinking, smoking, music, relationships, chewing tobacco, drugs, kissing, bars, thoughts, speech, and other areas of your life? Many times we are tempted to classify these areas in a category sometimes referred to as “gray areas”. Gray is a combination of two totally opposite and distinct colors: black and white. Since gray falls somewhere between black and white in color, and is neither clearly black nor white, we have a tendency to categorize areas of unclarity as gray. This causes us to be unsure of ourselves in these areas...

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Building Convictions

Matthew 7:24-27

24. Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on a rock. 25. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. 26. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell — and great was its fall.

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Making Plans

1. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, not wealth or providing for felt needs.

Matthew 6:19-34

Do my plans reflect that growing in righteousness and contributing to God’s kingdom are of first priority?

2. Labor in the harvest

Matthew 9:36-38

Will my plans help me to become more of a contributor to the needs of the harvest (the lost world)?

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The Basis for Goal Setting

If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time. New Year’s resolutions. The beginning of the semester vow to attend all classes. The diet that starts tomorrow. All of these are examples of goals we set for ourselves. Everyone sets goals in one form or the other. Most goals are merely pleasant, ambitious thoughts or dreams. The difference in a goal and a dream is accomplishment. Therefore, we must set goals with an intention and commitment to accomplish them....

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Attributes of God

SELF-EXISTENCE

God has no origin. He has always existed and always will. Colossians 1:15-17 He is The image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,

SELF-SUFFICIENCY

Everything that God is, and all that God is, He is in Himself. All life is in and from God. John 5:26 For as The Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself....

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The Gospel

There is a lot of confusion in Christendom today even within the Campus Outreach ministry over the questions, what is the gospel, and what is the proper response to the gospel. It is obvious that confusing the gospel is one of Satan's main ploys to hinder people from entering the kingdom. Therefore, the challenge before us is to present with clarity the message which we have been entrusted.....

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The Two Prodigal Sons

BY TIM KELLER

This parable is nearly always called, "The Parable of the Prodigal Son," but not by Jesus. When he begins the story, he says, "A man had two sons" (v.11); the story is a comparison and contrast of both brothers. We have sentimentalized this parable because of our almost complete concentration on the middle of the story regarding the younger brother. We imagine that the hearers' eyes welled with tears as they heard how God will always love and welcome us, no matter what we've done. But if we truly come to understand why Jesus told this parable and what he meant, we will come to see that the listeners were actually thunderstruck, offended, and furious....

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Praising the Names of Christ

Author and Perfecter of our Faith

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:2

Bread of Life

"I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." John 6:35 ....

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