FRIENDSHIP Thank you, Lord, for giving me a friend whose special ways bring so much warmth and beauty to my heart. Whose gentleness and kindness brighten up so many days and make so many happy…
Sermon Illustrations
WHY THE BIG SECRET The temptation of Jesus was to equate the satisfaction of the crowd with the fulfillment of his mission. And maybe Mark knows that the Church is going to be faced with…
HYPOCRITE A hypocrite is a man who writes a book praising atheism and then prays that it will sell. Leighton Ford
PRAYER It was 1945. The U. S. Army's 35th Infantry Division, 137th Infantry, Company I, of which 24- year-old Spencer January was a member, along with several other companies of American troops, was pushing through…
THE COMPANION IN THE CHAIR There was once a pastor who was called to an elderly man's deathbed. The pastor went to sit in the armchair next to the bed, but the elderly man waved…
THE ENIGMA OF SUFFERING AND GLORY I got my inspiration for this month's theme from reading Harold Myra's new book Living By God's Surprises (Word, Waco, TX, 1988). Myra is the president of Christianity Today,…
HIS PERSECTIVE God at work in the worst of events. I am sitting at the table looking at the bowling-pin lamp Richie made as a schoolboy. It reminds me of the phone call more than…
HOW TO GET RID OF YOUR PASTOR You may want to put this piece in your weekly newsletter or bulletin, if not used in a sermon: 1. Look the pastor straight in the eye while…
PRAYER CHANGES PERSPECTIVE Once upon a time - that's the way all good stories used to begin for children - a monk was walking down a country road. It was early in the morning, and…
PRAYER Teach me, good Lord: Not to murmur at multitude of business or shortness of time. Not to magnify undertaken duties by seeming to suffer under them, but to treat all as liberties and gladnesses.…
ONE IMPORTANT GIFT A little girl was saying her prayers a few nights before Christmas when she stopped suddenly and asked her mother a question with a worried look: "What are we giving God for…
A CHRISTMAS BENEDICTION May you, wherever you are in this golden hour, know joy. May your hearthfire be surrounded with those near and dear to you; the happiness of your children re-echo the gladness heaven…
PRAYER IN KIND It was the Christmas season and a meeting was held in a small church for the announced purpose of praying for a local family that was having a tough time of it.…
TOUCHE ON WRITTEN PRAYERS The occasion was one of those community inter-faith Thanksgiving services where all the local pastors were participating -- including the Episcopal rector and the Baptist preacher. The Baptist preacher wasn't really…
COME BOLDLY When I was a young boy in public school, my father supported our family by holding down two jobs. His full-time work was a foreman at the Imperial Oil refinery in Ashbridges Bay,…
YOU NEED SONLIGHT Scientists have discovered that some people are affected adversely when deprived of light. This is called "seasonal affective disorder", better known as SAD. When susceptible people are deprived of light, their bodies…
GET READY When the farmer prays for a good crop, God expects him to say amen with a hoe. J. Vernon McGee
BREAKFAST FROM GOD Things looked bleak for the children in George Mueller's orphanage at Ashley Downs in England. It was time for breakfast, and there was no food. A small girl whose father was a…
KNOWLEDGE V S. EXPERIENCE John R. Mott, a great Christian layman who was the first Honorary President of the World Council of Churches, said that in his early years at university he began to have…
PRAYING FOR ENDURANCE Studdert Kennedy, a great chaplain in the First World War, used to tell of listening to two frightened soldiers during a heavy bombardment on their trench. In occasional pauses between the immense…
