“. . . all grow brighter and brighter as we are turned into the image that we reflect; this is the work of the Lord who is Spirit” (II Cor. 3:18). A young man was…
Sermon Illustrations
“…we should not go on sleeping, as everyone does, but stay wide awake and sober” (I Thessalonians 5:6). An old mountaineer was undergoing a physical examination. “Have you been sleeping well lately?” the doctor asked.…
“ . . . O God, Your goodness, Your great tenderness, wipe away my faults” (Psalms 51:1). A sixteenth-century legend has it that Francis de Sales was approached by a woman who asked, “Is it…
“…what will happen to the wicked and to sinners?” (I Peter 4:18). A man died after living a consistently sinful life. Consequently, he wasn’t really surprised when he found himself in a line waiting to…
“I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17). Robert Murray M’Cheyne is revered in Scotland as one of that nation’s great Christian Preachers. Although he died at an early age, his…
A pious woman had a dream one night in which one of the town’s best-known scoundrels died and was on his way to heaven. But, because of many misdeeds, the way to heaven wasn’t easy…
“. . . anyone who loves God must also love his brother” (I John 4:21). When Raisa Gorbachev was scheduled to visit a New York City elementary school in 1988, a kindergarten teacher asked her…
“Anyone who wants to become great among you must be your servant” (Mark 10:43). A pastor tells of a visit he once made to an old woman whom he had known for years. She was…
“Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?” (Heb. 1:14). Psychologist Alfred Adler once put an ad in the paper for his “Fourteen-Day…
“. . . he tried to reconcile them in peace, saying, ‘you are bretheren’” (Acts 7:26). A bright and cheerful young nurse was attending a new patient named Tom in the men’s ward of a…
“If I can touch even His clothes... I shall be well again” (Mark 5:28). In his bestselling book called “Fearfully and Wonderfully Made,” Dr. Paul Brand, a surgeon, says that “Of all the (bodily) organs,…
“…the greatest among you must behave as if he was the youngest, the leader, as if he were the one who serves” (Luke 22:26). Oscar Wilde wrote a fable, “The Happy Prince,” that begins, “High…
“The Word was the true Light that lightens all men” (John 1:9). Author Paula Duke asks us to picture, in our mind’s eye, a woman journeying through the Red Sea passage, carrying one bundle on…
“Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor” (Luke 18:22). Once upon a time a woman in tattered clothes and her sad-looking little boy stood on a big city street corner…
“We who are strong have a duty to put up with the qualms of the weak without thinking of ourselves” (Romans 15:1). There is an old Oriental legend about a woman whose son had died:…
“As the Father sent Me, so I am sending you” (John 20:21). The great French cleric, “Abbe Pierre,” known throughout the world for his tremendous life of service to others, one day was called upon…
“He must make himself last of all and servant of all” (Mark 9:35). Albert Schweitzer, the medical missionary who spent fifty years of his life serving his fellow human beings in the oppressive heat of…
“For I gave you an example that you should also do as I did to you” (John 13:15). In the middle of a snow storm, in midtown New York City, a woman stopped her car…
“The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve” (Mark 10:45). In Luke’s Gospel, we read the story of a rich young man who mistakenly believed that not being a murderer or…
“Jeremiah said to them, ‘Do not be afraid’” (Matthew 28:10). Famous cartoonist, Jules Pfeiffer, was discussing a certain cartoon strip he did for the newspapers. In it, a little boy doesn’t want to go to…