Great preaching

Those who have preached for many years may not always be considered great preachers but they know what is considered great preaching and they realise that it usually either involves a preacher taking a familiar text and saying something unusual and profound or taking an unfamiliar text and saying something less unusual and profound. Meanwhile most of us preach what is not profound or unusual from familiar texts.  

Matters spiritual and practical

There is no spiritual matter that does not have a practical dimension.

There is no practical matter that does not have a spiritual dimension.

(And so although a well run church will have elders and deacons, the elders being the spiritual leaders and the deacons dealing with practical matters, the intermingled nature of things will always be borne in mind)

Dreams

No-one can be held responsible for what they do in someone else's dreams but there is surely a measure of responsibility upon as to what we do in our own dreams.

Real Christians

See, to have a Christian name
That cannot be the same
As to be a Christian true,
A Christian through and through.

Flattery

Flattery like flatulence is a mere matter of odorous air,
Flattery like shaken lemonade will soon leave you flat.

Make war make peace

War against the devil is the only way to lasting peace.

Christianity like a rugby team

True Christianity is a bit like a good rugby team - always looking backwards, while always going forwards

Riches and poverty

Poverty does not guarantee blessing and riches do not preclude it.

Inconsistency

Being inconsistent is okay, as long as you don't do it all the time.

Stating the obvious

Doing things is the way to get things done.

Starting again

It's always difficult to begin again,
To get up once more after falling is a pain.
What good is progress when you lose all that gain?
Success if blown will adversely drain the brain.

(Written after losing a lot of weight and then putting a lot of it back on again over Christmas but it has wider applications)

Preaching

Don't assume that anyone who hears you preach
Will get the opportunity again

Thinking and doing

To think a thing may take a moment
To do it a lot longer than that.

In the time it takes to let a thing go round your mind a few times
You could already have it done.

Squeezing out prayer

The easiest thing to squeeze out of a busy day is prayer - Don't!

Easy option

Switching on the TV or computer is always the easy option

Retrace your steps

As soon as you're aware things have gone awry
Trace your steps backwards to see the reason why

Ministers and September

September - the minister's back to it month

Getting things done

Doing a thing often takes a lot longer than thinking about it.

Corollary
Doing a thing often takes a lot less time than you spend thinking about doing it.

Who pastors the pastor?

Who pastors the pastor? The pastor.
If he can't pastor himself he won't be able to pastor anyone else.

Time

Guard your mornings - and your evenings too