POISON MALICE Malice sucks up the greatest part of its own venom, and poisons itself. -- Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592)
Sermon Illustrations
TOO MUCH KNOWLEDGE Nothing, with the possible exception of a fire or the whistle to quit work, can break up a discussion as quickly as a fellow who actually knows what he's talking about.
WHAT I CAN DO There is an old joke about a man who was asked if he could play a violin and answered, "I don't know. I've never tried." This is psychologically a very wise…
SEE WHAT HAPPENS A few years ago a teacher in Waukegan, Illinois laid down a seemingly impossible assignment for his high school students: "Sit down with one of your parents and say, "I'm lonely,'" "What…
TEENS GIVE WRINKLES On her forty-first birthday, a woman received, among other presents, an extravagantly expensive wrinkle-removing cream from her teen-age daughter. "And what did she give you last year?" a guest asked the mom.…
ALL BUT THREE QUALITIES In a newspaper cartoon recently a woman with folded arms and a superior expression on her face says to her husband, "A good husband needs to be strong, caring and sensitive.…
SUFFERING'S SIGNAL The story is told of a man who was washed ashore on an uninhabited island and in the days that followed, he painstakingly constructed a hut with the few things that he salvaged…
PIECES OF OURSELVES How hard it is to escape from places, however carefully one goes, they hold you -- you leave little bits of yourself fluttering on the fences -- little rags and shreds of…
WANT TO BE FIVE During his children's sermon, the pastor was speaking to the children about the need for unity within the church. The pastor looked at the children and emphasized, "God wants us to…
TAXI COURTESY A man was riding in a taxi in New York City when he noticed that the driver slowed down to avoid a pedestrian. Trying to compliment the driver's actions he said, "I noticed…
FROM THISTLES TO FLOWERS Kindness is the only service that will stand the storm of life and not wash out. It will wear well and be remembered long after the prism of politeness or the…
SCHOLARLY DECEPTION The scholars of the so-called Jesus Seminar remind me of Judas. Under the cover of scholarship they cash in on Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. Like Judas, their interest in Jesus is…
REAL OR CANNED Because it sounds so much like me, people are often fooled by my answering machine and often start to talk to it before they realize it's not me. The problem is that…
AMBROSE BIERCE DEFINES CLERGY Bierce elsewhere defines "clergyman" as "a man who undertakes the management of our spiritual affairs as a method of bettering his temporal ones." Ambrose Bierce
AMBROSE BIERCE ON CLERGY By plain analogy we're told Why first the church was called the fold: Into the fold the sheep are steered There guarded from the wolf and... sheared. Ambrose Bierce
DESTRUCTIVE HEALING One nice morning two men were out fishing on a large lake. It was a beautiful morning -- 78 degrees, Sunny, light breeze and the fish were biting. They had caught their limit…
SOURCE OF BAD DREAMS On a Sunday morning at First United Methodist Church in Pensacola, Florida, the young woman who is the Director of Christian Education, was discussing with the children about dreams during the…
WHICH FOOT IN MOUTH I don't mind so much saying something and putting my foot in my mouth as I do saying something and having someone else put his foot in my mouth.
TOXIC FAMILIES Toxic parents have toxic kids who become toxic parents and so on. In the end, forgiveness is the only place peace comes from. That doesn't mean overlooking the pain and harm -- it…
FREEDOM'S ANCHOR A kite is only free to fly when it is anchored by a string. Let go of that string, and the kite will plummet to the earth. We are free to live moral…
