ORIGINS OF MONEY The origin of the word "money" has an interesting history. In Roman mythology, Juno Regina was supposed to be the wife of Jupiter, and the queen of the heavens. Juno assumed many…
Sermon Illustrations
KEEP WHAT YOU GIVE AWAY There is a story about a Methodist layman who gave $100,000 to build a college in Liberia in the early 1920's. By the 1940's the college had grown and was…
THE UNWILLING GIVER From my vantage point on the platform during the worship service, I viewed the struggle from start to finish. At first I quietly chuckled, but then realized I was observing a more…
GIVING, HOPE AND APPRECIATION In Lee Iacocca Talking Straight, he shares a number of stories about raising funds for the Statue of Liberty project on the occasion of the 100th birthday of the lovely lady…
LEADERSHIP PROVERBS Better a poor man with faith in Christ than a rich fool with confidence in money. From The Encourager, Friends Church, Charles Mylander
A DEAL YOU CAN'T REFUSE The story is told (though not fully authenticated), that some years back Colonel Sanders went to Rome and arranged for private audience with the Pope. When he finally got him…
CHARITY Without charity, the outward work provideth nothing; but whatever is done out of charity, be it ever so little and contemptible, it is all made fruitful, inasmuch as God regardeth more out of how…
JUST ADD WATER In his book called America on Six Rubles a Day, the comedian Yakov Smirnoff writes: Coming from the Soviet Union, I was not prepared for the incredible variety of products available in…
FRIENDSHIP - SERVICE OVER SHOWING OFF I like the story told about Sam Rayburn who was Speaker for the House of Representatives longer than any other man. One of his friends lost a teenage daughter…
ON THE CHEAP A minister was exhorting his flock to support foreign missions. One man loudly objected, "I don't approve of foreign missions." "But surely," the minister countered, "You know the Bible tells us to…
THE OPTIONS "Why do we give so much to missions while we are paying such high interest on the building debt?" That is a good, fair question. Here is the best answer I can give:…
WEALTH We are told we must work and use our talents to create wealth. "If a man will not work he shall not eat," wrote St. Paul to the Thessalonians. Indeed, abundance rather than poverty…
FROM THE PORTABLE CURMUDGEON Gentility is what is left over from rich ancestors after the money is gone. John Ciardi. The earth has a skin and that skin has diseases; one of its diseases is…
WAITING ON GOD Here is another version of a story you may have heard before. . . Several pastors were telling each other how his church determined how the offerings were received and distributed. One…
ON PRAYER Are we so substandard to New Testament Christianity that we know not the historical faith of our fathers (with its implications and operations), but only the hysterical faith of our fellows? Prayer is…
A GOOD BET The minister felt sorry for the old man he saw in the park through which he walked to his office every morning. It seemed the world had been hard for him. One…
SIGN IN A BANK Don't kiss our girls. . . they're tellers!
MAY I CHECK YOUR WALLET, SIR? Pat Williams, Orlando Magic general manager, on NBA commissioner David Stern's new five year, $27.5 million contract: "All I know is that on airplane trips, David's wallet will be…
WHAT ARE YOU MAKING? While visiting a Swiss town, an American businessman watched a man painstakingly carving the casing for one of the fine cuckoo clocks made in that region. Noting the slow rate of…
THE HIGH COST OF LOVE The rancher's daughter had just broken off her engagement with a young doctor. "Do you mean to tell me," exclaimed her girl friend, "that he actually asked you to return…
