In this category, you will find many inspirational stories to be used for your Church Bulletins, Church Newsletters and/or Inspirational E-mails.
One of the more difficult things for someone on a weekly basis is to prepare content for the church bulletin or newsletter.
Usually, it’s a tug-of-war trying to get information from department or ministry leaders concerning the events taking place soon. Plus, the attempt to get an article from the Pastor can be an adventure due to the busy-ness of their schedule.
We want to do our part by adding a new category called “Church Bulletin Articles”. These will be brief and inspirational and may be used within the context of the church communications to the congregation via e-mail, bulletin or newsletter.
Perhaps some of them would even work as Sermon Illustrations! Stop back often as we plan to build the selection in the weeks and months ahead.
In reality, all our letters can be easily modified for that purpose. So, some of the content will be similar to our letters, while most of it will be new stories.
Are you a member of our site yet? If not, join here today!
We in the church don't make much of St. Patrick's day. The March holiday conjures up images of green beer, the green river in Chicago, parades, and shamrock cookies. Fun stuff for some. Dangerous for others, as victims of binge drinking might be able to tell you if they are still with us.
Why do we celebrate this day? Who was St. Patrick? Is there any message for the church in this story?
The hymn writer Anne Cousin wrote, “Jehovah lifted up His rod; O Christ, it fell on Thee! Thou wast sore stricken of Thy God; There’s not one stroke for me. Thy tears, Thy blood, beneath it flowed; Thy bruising healeth me.”
Why did Jehovah lift his rod and strike Christ? It was because Christ was our substitute on the cross. This is the heart of the cross. 1 Peter 3:18 says, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous”. Christ suffered for the unrighteous. This means that the punishment he received was the penalty they deserved. Paul, in 2 Cor. 5:21, tells us that Christ was made sin for us so we could be made the righteousness of God in him. Christ was made sin.
The Chronicles of Narnia have been a long time favorite for people of all ages. In this story, the Pevensie children are evacuated from London to the English countryside because of World War II. There they stay with Professor Digory Kirke, and in his house, they find a magical wardrobe. It is a door into another world, the wonderful world of Narnia. Full of dwarves, talking animals, and magic. Now, picture with me in your mind a huge mansion with thousands and thousands of rooms, each of them containing a magical wardrobe. Each of these wardrobes gives entrance into fantastic magical worlds full of sights and smells you never dreamed of. Then, let your imagination run a little further and imagine that each of these worlds contains mansions with magical wardrobes that give entrance into more magical lands, and on and on it would go. This is only a very unsatisfactory illustration of the vastness of God’s character and glory.
I remember driving with my Dad at night when it would rain hard, and as a kid, I was afraid. I thought to myself, “How could he see? What about all of the cars around him?” However, time and time again, I would drift off to sleep in the back of the car. You see, no matter how dark and stormy the road, my Dad had the wheel, and I trusted him.
I'm reminded of a story about the English Reformer martyr, Nicholas Ridley. Nicholas Ridley was a Bishop of London who lived during the times of the Marian persecution of Protestants. The night before Ridley was to be executed, we find recorded that when asked by some friends if he would like them to stay up with him that night, he said, “No, no, that you shall not. For I mind (God willing) to go to bed, and to sleep as quietly tonight, as ever I did in my life.”
1 Tim. 1:11 says, “in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.” The phrase “the Blessed God” could be translated as “the happy God.” In John 15:11, Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you.” Have you ever considered the fact that God is happy?
God is not gloomy or sad but is infinitely happy. He has been happy for eternity. The cup of his joy cannot be more full. Above all the uncertainties and anxieties of life, the calm smile of the happy God immutably shines. In what does God’s happiness consist? He is happy with the works of his hands. Psalm 104:31 says, “may the Lord rejoice in his works.” He is happy knowing that everything he has purposed will come to pass. He is happy in his people as Psalm 149:4 says, “For the Lord takes delight in his people.”