I KNOW WHO HOLDS TOMORROW A few days before I left home to prepare for the ministry my gray-haired pastor, Rev. Temple, told me this story. I have told it many, many times since, especially…
Sermon Illustrations
BUILDING CHARACTER In the northeastern United States codfish are a big commercial business. Note the following facts: There is a market for eastern cod all over, especially in sections farthest removed from the northeast coastline.…
FOR SPRINGS OR SCRAP HEAP A blacksmith, about eight years after his conversion, was approached by an intelligent unbeliever with the question: "Why is it you have so much trouble? I have been watching you…
WHEN JESUS CALLS It's like the delightful story about the farmer and his mule. A farmer owned a mule that was very important to him because it was a good plowing animal. The mule got…
WHO'S BLAMED? A professional football coach was hired to manage the team. They had been experiencing a bad season. Like all football teams, if they don't win the coach is replaced. To succeed in football…
INFILLING The Scriptures often exhort us to be filled with various godly virtues - which means what? How do we know if we are "full of goodness" (Rom. 15:14), for example? Think a moment about…
GET READY FOR THE TOUGH TIMES I enjoyed an article in ML Journal (Vol. VI, No. 1, Word, Inc.) entitled "Get Ready for The River's Rising" by Vernon Grounds, President Emeritus of Denver Theological Seminary.…
THE SKILLED BLOWS OF GOD God's ways are past finding out, says the Scriptures. Sometimes we just do not understand why He operates the way He does. We become disillusioned and disappointed with God. But…
USING OUR BURDENS A biologist tells how he watched an ant carrying a piece of straw which seemed too heavy. The ant came to a crack in the ground which was too wide for it…
WORKING TOGETHER Charles Osgood tells the story of two ladies who live in a convalescent center. Each of these ladies had suffered incapacitating strokes. Margaret's stroke caused her left side to be restricted while Ruth's…
PRAYER WHEN IT SEEMS TOO LATE Lord, I'm drowning in a sea of perplexity, Waves of confusion crash over me. I'm too weak to shout for help. Either quiet the waves or lift me above…
BLOCKING THE LIGHT It was the summer before I entered 6th grade when I joined several other boys at a friend's house one afternoon. It was a beautiful day -- bright and sunny, a gentle…
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE Historian Arnold J. Toynbee at age eighty said: "To be mortal is not any means wholly disadvantageous. When I catch myself resenting not being immortal, I pull myself up short by asking whether…
WHEN YOU MEET YOURSELF Adversity introduces a man to himself.
DETERMINATION A stubborn four-year-old boy provides a good example of the persistence needed in the Christian life. Tommy's home in Green Forest, Arkansas, was only a block or two from the main street of the…
TWO KINDS OF DISCONTENT There are two kinds of discontent in this world: the discontent that gets to work and the dicontent that wrings its hands. The first gets what it wants and the second…
TEST OF FAITH Many Christians are hurt by even the slightest test of their faith. Yet God often uses attacks and slurs on one's faith to strengthen it. Madalyn Murray O'Hair was invited by the…
DEFENDING EXCELLENCE Every Good and Excellent Thing Stands Moment By Moment on the Razor's Edge of Danger and Must Be Fought For. H. Ross Perot
OUT OF TROUBLE Around the turn of the century, young Clarence took his girlfriend for an outing and picnic lunch at a nearby lake. He was dressed in a suit with a high collar. She…
PERSPECTIVE God has created a world in which many more good things than bad things happen. We find life's disasters upsetting not only because they are painful but because they are exceptional. Most people wake…
