North Douglas Church

A number of years ago, there was a woman in Kansas City who walked into a Haagen-Dazs ice cream shop. While she was waiting in line, she turned around to find actor Paul Newman standing behind her.  He was in town filming the movie Mr. & Mrs. Bridge, and he didn’t realize it, but he was standing behind one of his biggest fans.

Paul Newman smiled at her and said "hello."  She took one look at those blue eyes and her knees almost buckled.  She tried to speak, but nothing came out.  Mortified, she turned back around, paid for her ice cream, then quickly walked out of the store.

When she was outside, she sat down on a bench and took a moment to catch her breath.  As she calmed down, she realized she didn't have her ice cream cone.  She was getting ready to walk back in to get it when Paul Newman walked out. He asked her, "Are you looking for your ice cream cone?" She was still speechless but she nodded.  He said, "You put it in your purse with your change."

Someone has said that by February most of the resolutions people made in January have fallen by the wayside – someone else has said that a New Year's resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other!

In January, a lot of people resolve to lose weight. By February, that's an easy resolution to abandon. Of course, the older you get the tougher it is to lose, because your body and your fat have come to be really good friends. One lady noted that if she could watch her life story played backwards she'd see a great weight loss success story!

Health and lifestyle improvement aren't always in the eyes of the beholder. The other day I pointed to a couple across a restaurant and said to my wife, "That's us in ten years." She replied, "That's a mirror."

Then there was the little boy who watched with fascination as his mother rubbed a revitalizing beauty cream into her skin. He asked, "Mommy, why are you rubbing that stuff all over your face?" She explained that it would make her look younger and more beautiful. After a few minutes, she took a tissue and began removing the cream. Her son asked, "What's the matter, Mommy? Are you giving up?"

According to the Pew Forum's U.S. Religious Landscape
Survey, 57 percent of self-identified Evangelical
Christians agreed with this statement: "Many religions
can lead to eternal life."

Think about the staggering implications of what you
just heard: 57 percent of Evangelicals believe that
many religions can lead to eternal life!

Yet Jesus Himself was very clear. "I am the way and
the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through me" (John 14:6). Either Jesus was
right, or he was wrong. What Christians, Muslims, and
Jews say about the person and work of Jesus Christ
can't be reconciled. They may all be false, but they
cannot all be true.1

Most Jews today still do not believe that Jesus Christ
was or is their promised Messiah. Muslims are
anti-the-real Christ; to them Jesus is not the Son of
God, he didn't die for the sins of mankind, and he is
not the Savior of mankind. They say that Jesus was a
prophet but that below Mohammed. Christians stand
alone in that they believe that Jesus Christ is the
Son of God, that he did die on the cruel Roman cross

"And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing.
Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and
right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think
about things that are excellent and worthy of
praise." Philippians 4:8 (NLT).

In his article, "Today I Will Make a Difference," Max
Lucado wrote, "Today I will make a difference. I will
begin by controlling my thoughts. A person is the
product of his thoughts. I want to be happy and
hopeful. Therefore, I will have thoughts that are
happy and hopeful. I refuse to be victimized by my
circumstances. I will not let petty inconveniences
such as stoplights, long lines, and traffic jams be my
masters. I will avoid negativism and gossip. Optimism
will be my companion, and victory will be my hallmark.
Today I will make a difference."2

The reality is that we eventually become what we
constantly think about for "what the mind dwells on
the body acts on."

Through the years I have sought to curry a positive
attitude in the ministry, and in my home. Folks, it
works! The Lord teaches us to maintain a healthy,

Years ago in Detroit,
Michigan, the well-known evangelist, Dr. Charles Finney, preached on the text,
“The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanseth us from all sin,” from 1 John
1:7. After the service a stranger asked Dr. Finney to walk home with him. Some
of the church officials knew this man, and advised Dr. Finney not to go with
him. But he went anyway.

They walked down the
street, and the man stopped and unlocked a door, ushering Dr. Finney inside. He
then turned and locked the door, put the key in his pocket and said, “Don’t be
afraid. I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to ask you a few questions. Do
you believe what you preached tonight?” Dr. Finney said, “I certainly do.”