Remember Lot\u2019s wife. <\/i><\/p>\n
\u2014Luke 17:32<\/i><\/p>\n
7516<\/b> Typical American<\/b><\/p>\n
A United Press survey found that the \u201ctypical American\u201d is a twenty-seven-year-old who does not read one book a year. He is materialistic, satisfied with small pleasures, bored with theological disputations. Although he may attend church twenty- seven times a year, he is not interested in the supernatural. He is concerned with neither heaven nor hell. In fact, he has no interest whatever in immortality. His principal interests are football, hunting, fishing, and car-tinkering. <\/p>\n
\u2014Lon Woodreum<\/p>\n
7517<\/b> Cold Worship <\/b><\/p>\n
A Kansas Baptist church advertises the comfort of its sanctuary thus:<\/p>\n
Worship in Comfort<\/p>\n
You can worship in our latest scientifically controlled air-conditioned sanctuary. It has refrigerated cooling. No stuffy water coolers to infect your sinuses, stir your hay fever, or give you a cold. The air is dehumidified, well-circulated, and changed completely every five minutes. COOL Sunday services. <\/p>\n
7518<\/b> \u201cI Don\u2019t Want Christ To Come\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
I remember one night in Stockton, Calif, \u2026 I was preaching about the coming of Jesus. As I was in prayer I was conscious of a woman getting up and going out, for in those days the skirts would swish whenever a lady walked. It seemed to me that this lady must have gone out in a hurry. When I finished my prayer and went to greet the friends at the door, I found a woman pacing back and forth in the lobby. The moment I came, she said to me, \u201cHow would you dare to pray like that\u2014\u201cCome Lord Jesus?\u201d I don\u2019t want him to come. It would break in on all my plans. How dare you!\u201d I said, \u201cMy dear young woman, Jesus is coming whether you like it or not.\u201d Oh, if you know Him and love Him, surely your heart says, \u201cCome, Lord Jesus!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014H. A. Ironside<\/p>\n
7519<\/b> TV\u2019s \u201cForstyle Saga\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
In England, \u201cThe Forstyle Saga\u201d TV series was so popular that ministers changed the hours of Sunday-evening services because they conflicted with the program. One man, whose home was flooded with seven feet of water, refused to come to the window to be rescued by a helicopter because he was watching an episode. <\/p>\n
\u2014New York Times<\/i><\/p>\n
7520<\/b> Preferring \u201cHowdy-Doody\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
A family sat eagerly before their television set, waiting to see the pictures of the first U.S. moon rocket firing. They heard the rockets hissing roar and saw it begin to lift off toward the moon. <\/p>\n
Suddenly the tension was interrupted by the voice of a child who had just entered the room. \u201cI want to see Howdy Doody!\u201d The family laughed. \u201cHowdy Doody\u201d was on another channel. <\/p>\n
But to the little girl, \u201cHowdy-Doody\u201d was more important than man\u2019s dream of centuries. <\/p>\n
7521<\/b> Whom Is He Kidding? <\/b><\/p>\n
When a man says he can\u2019t keep awake through a thirty-minute sermon, and stays home with his 700-column newspaper, whom is he kidding? <\/p>\n
When a man says Sunday is his only day to rest, and gets up at 4:30 a.m. to go fishing, or spends the day on a golf course, whom is he kidding? <\/p>\n
When a man says church seats are too hard and uncomfortable, then goes some Saturday to sit on a bleacher for hours in a drizzle watching 22 men push one another back and forth across a mud lot, whom is he kidding? <\/p>\n
When a man says he doesn\u2019t have time for Christ and His church, then spends evenings shopping, bowling, watching television, going to clubs, playing cards and having evenings out, whom is he kidding? \u2026 Not God! <\/p>\n
\u2014Spire<\/i><\/p>\n
7522<\/b> Something You Should Know<\/b><\/p>\n
5% of reported church members do not exist; <\/p>\n
10% cannot be found; <\/p>\n
20% never pray; <\/p>\n
25% never read the Bible; <\/p>\n
30% never attend church; <\/p>\n
40% never give to any cause; <\/p>\n
50% never go to Sunday school; <\/p>\n
60% never go to church Sunday nights; <\/p>\n
70% never give to Missions; <\/p>\n
75% never engaged in any church activity; <\/p>\n
80% never go to prayer meeting; <\/p>\n
90% never have family worship; <\/p>\n
95% never win a soul to Christ. <\/p>\n
\u2014Crusade Contact<\/i><\/p>\n
7523<\/b> Youth Opinions<\/b><\/p>\n
The National Sunday School Association surveyed 3,000 teens in evangelical churches for their opinions on amusements. <\/p>\n
\u201476% approved watching late shows on TV. <\/p>\n
\u201469.2% approved attending movies at theaters. <\/p>\n
\u201454.2% approved of social dancing. <\/p>\n
\u2014Only 12.4% approved of smoking. <\/p>\n
\u2014Only 8.9% approved of drinking alcoholic beverages. <\/p>\n
\u2014Christian Youth<\/i><\/p>\n
7524<\/b> Which Disturbs You Most? <\/b><\/p>\n
A soul lost in Hell \u2026 or a scratch on your new car? <\/p>\n
Your missing the worship service \u2026 or missing a day\u2019s work? <\/p>\n
A sermon 10 minutes too long \u2026 or lunch half hour late? <\/p>\n
A church not growing \u2026 or your garden not growing? <\/p>\n
Your Bible unopened \u2026 or your newspaper unread? <\/p>\n
The church work being neglected \u2026 or housework neglected? <\/p>\n
Missing a good Bible study \u2026 or your favorite TV program? <\/p>\n
The millions who do not know Christ \u2026 or your inability to keep up with the neighbors? <\/p>\n
The cry of the multitude for bread \u2026 or your desire for another piece of German chocolate cake? <\/p>\n
Your tithes decreasing \u2026 or your income decreasing? <\/p>\n
Your children late for Sunday school and Church \u2026 or late for public school? <\/p>\n
Which really disturbs you most? <\/p>\n
\u2014The Bible Friend<\/i><\/p>\n
7525<\/b> Priest Recruits From \u201cPlayboy\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
Father Joseph F. Lupo of the Most Holy Trinity Fathers in Garrison, Maryland, got a lot of press attention after he placed a $9,000 ad in the January 1972, issue of Playboy<\/i>. The ad was aimed at attracting recruits to the priesthood. <\/p>\n
Playboy<\/i> used the ad as the basis for full-page ads in several large dailies to promote the magazine. Downright irreverent, scolded Lupo. And also in error. The Playboy<\/i> display boasted that Lupo\u2019s ad had produced some 600 applicants within a few weeks\u2019 time. While the ad generated a number of inquiries on a variety of topics, explained Lupo, the number of applicants within a year\u2019s time was only thirty-five. <\/p>\n
\u2014Christianity Today<\/i><\/p>\n
7526<\/b> Embarrassed Baptists<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cIn the 24 years I\u2019ve lived in Louisiana,\u201d said Dr. J. D. Grey, \u201cwe\u2019ve had Baptists in the governorship for 16 years. They\u2019ve been the sorriest years that our state law enforcement has ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pastor of the First Baptist Church of New Orleans was addressing some 2,000 men attending the annual Louisiana Baptist Brotherhood Convention. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not mad,\u201d added Grey, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, \u201cI\u2019m embarrassed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grey singled out Jimmie H. Davis, ballad-singing governor of Louisiana, as \u201cthe shame of Louisiana Baptists\u201d for failing to act against \u201corganized and commercialized gambling and corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n
Davis is a Baptist and once taught school in a Baptist college in Shreveport. He has written a number of songs, such as \u201cYou Are My Sunshine,\u201d and has made recordings of Gospel songs. <\/p>\n
7527<\/b> Praise God And Dance! <\/b><\/p>\n
While five soloists from the Duke Ellington band danced in the aisles of the National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., a largely black-tie audience of 1,000 clapped hands to the tune of $12,000 at a musical fund-raiser. <\/p>\n
\u201cPraise God and dance!\u201d exhorted mellow jazz musician Ellington, and the last section of his Sacred Concert No. 2 began. Band members clapped, thrusting their hands heavenward toward the ceiling high above the arrow-like ribs of the sanctuary. Soon clumps of clappers in the audience joined in, timidly at first, then raising their hands straight up in a fervor of rhythm. <\/p>\n
Tickets cost $25; $50 included the concert plus a champagne reception at the Belgian Embassy afterwards. <\/p>\n
The concert was performed under the patronage of Mrs. Richard Nixon and Mrs. Dwight D. Eisenhower to benefit the Eisenhower Memorial Arts Fund, a project of the United Presbyterian Church\u2019s World Arts Foundation. Chairman Kenneth G. Neigh presented a check for $12,000 to Dr. Lowell R. Ditzen, director of the National Presbyterian Center, to launch the fund. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the church\u2019s St. Paul window was dedicated to the late Frank Paul Morris, a theology professor at Asbury Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, under whom National Presbyterian Church pastor Edward L. R. Elson studied in the 1920s. <\/p>\n
\u2014Christianity Today<\/i><\/p>\n
7528<\/b> A Greater Enemy<\/b><\/p>\n
Long ago, William Law warned that the world is now a greater enemy to the Christian than it was in apostolic times:<\/p>\n
It is a greater enemy, because it has greater power over Christians by its favours, riches, honours, rewards, and protection than it had by the fire and fury of its persecutors. <\/p>\n
It is a more dangerous enemy, by having lost its appearance of enmity. Its outward profession of Christianity makes it no longer considered as an enemy, and therefore the people are easily persuaded to resign themselves up to be governed and directed by it. <\/p>\n
\u2014Robert H. Lauer<\/p>\n
7529<\/b> No Light In Trainman\u2019s Lantern<\/b><\/p>\n
Several years ago I read of a terrible accident in which several youth were killed when their car was struck by a train. At the trial the watchman was questioned: \u201cWere you at the crossing the night of the accident?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, your Honor.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWere you waving your lantern to warn of the danger.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, your Honor,\u201d the man told the judge. <\/p>\n
But after the trial had ended, the watchman walked away mumbling to himself, \u201cI\u2019m glad they didn\u2019t ask me about the light in the lantern, because the light had gone out.\u201d<\/p>\n
God sees it, when our light has gone out. <\/p>\n
\u2014Selected<\/p>\n
7530<\/b> Weight And Size Of Earth<\/b><\/p>\n
Sir Robert Ball, the great astronomer, said that a man who carries a sack of corn on earth could as easily carry six sacks of corn on a globe the size of the moon. But in a world as vast as the sun, even to pull out a watch from the pocket would be to tug at a weight of five or six pounds. It would be impossible to lift an arm, and if once a man were to lie down there, he could never get up again. So, in the spiritual realm, the weight of our burdens depends upon the attraction of earth. If the world is all to us, alas, how true it is that its burdens crush us! <\/p>\n
\u2014Sunday at Home<\/i><\/p>\n
7531<\/b> Plastic Gods And Robot Men<\/b><\/p>\n
A church group in Chattanooga, Tennessee, stood around a muddy pit. The pastor read a passage from the thirty-fifth chapter of Genesis: \u201cThen Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garment.\u201d<\/p>\n
The group began tossing various objects into the pit. Among the \u201cstrange gods\u201d was a big alarm clock that went jangling into the hole: this was a sign that the church was done with clock-watching during future services. <\/p>\n
In went an old television set; also a rock-and-roll record with the impressive title \u201cOoba-Ooba-Ooba,\u201d followed by several famous novels by popular modern authors. Women\u2019s shorts and toreador pants landed on top of the stack, along with cigarette packs. <\/p>\n
The minister of the church assured the newspaper reporters that these folk weren\u2019t snake-handlers or weird cultists; they were plain Southern Baptists who wished to put away their idols and strip for the race on the gospel road. <\/p>\n
\u2014Selected<\/p>\n
7532<\/b> \u201cWorld Will Give You Up\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
A man once said to D. L. Moody, \u201cNow that I am converted, must I give up to the world?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d answered the evangelist, \u201cyou need not give up the world; if you give a ringing testimony for the Son of God the world will give you up pretty quick. They will not want you around.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u2014Al Bryant<\/p>\n
7533<\/b> Siam\u2019s \u201cWhite Elephant\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
When the kings of Siam wanted to ruin a man in their kingdom they would present him with a white elephant. The unfortunate man couldn\u2019t get rid of the elephant for it was \u201csacred,\u201d and it was a gift from the king\u2014and then the expense of keeping the useless thing soon put him in the bread line. Beware of the \u201cwhite elephants\u201d the world has to give! <\/p>\n
\u2014Christian Victory<\/i><\/p>\n
7534<\/b> Epigram On Worldliness<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 Anything that cools my love for Christ is the world. <\/p>\n
\u2014John Wesley<\/p>\n
\u2022 Some folks take up religion as a kind of insurance against hell\u2014and then are not willing to pay the premiums. <\/p>\n
\u2014Christian Cynosure<\/i><\/p>\n
\u2022 Sign in a church vestibule: \u201cIf you were on trial for being Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?\u201d<\/p>\n
See also:<\/b> Backsliding ; Lukewarmness ; Money ; Jas. 4:4.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Remember Lot\u2019s wife. \u2014Luke 17:32 7516 Typical American A United Press survey found that the \u201ctypical American\u201d is a twenty-seven-year-old who does not read one book a year. He is materialistic, satisfied with small pleasures, bored with theological disputations. Although he may attend church twenty- seven times a year, he is not interested in the … Continue reading “WORLDLINESS”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5403\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}