THE DIFFICULTY OF BEING RIGHT A passenger on a dining car looked over the luncheon menu. The list included both a chicken salad sandwich and a chicken sandwich. He decided on the chicken salad sandwich,…
Sermon Illustrations
MISSED OPPORTUNITY Chuck Sawyer, Pastor of the Salem United Methodist Church of Thomson, Georgia 30824 sent in the following story he gleaned from William Barclay's tape on Introduction To The Bible (Abingdon): One of the…
ABOVE AVERAGE This past Thanksgiving the Rev. Dr. Ian Chapman who is pastor of the Third Baptist Church in St. Louis, Missouri, was our guest speaker. The service was well-planned and we had a standing-room-only…
PHILOSOPHY OF DREAD I have a new philosophy. I'm only going to dread one day at a time. Charles Schulz, Peanuts
DO AS I DO An old lady was leaving church after a service which was very well attended. Getting out the door was taking a bit of time because of the large numbers. She was…
JUDGMENT (THROUGH WHOSE EYES?) A pastor was visiting one of his parishioners, and as they were talking the conversation began to lag. The lady of the house, wanting to pick up the conversation, pointed out…
JOHN WESLEY The denying ourselves, and the taking up of our cross, is the full extent of the expression, is not a thing of small concern; it is not expedient only, as are some of…
OUNCE OF PREVENTION One of the most fascinating biographies I ever read was that of Irene Webster Smith by Russell Hitt. The title of the book is Sensei which means "Teacher" in Japanese. Irene Smith…
FAITHFUL? Father Richard J. Pentello of Holy Family Church in Poland, Ohio sent us this anonymous bit on the theme of Faithful Attendance at Worship Services" A pastor was once asked to define "Faithful Attendance…
NOTHING COULD BEAT ME This happened in the 10,000 meter race in the Munich, Olympics. Entered in this race was a young man from Finland by the name of Lasse Viren. Nobody expected him to…
THE MASTER IS ALWAYS IN The father of a small boy would occasionally sneak into a neighbor's orchard and pluck some of the choicest fruit. He always made sure, however, that "the coast was clear."…
WHO KNOWS? -- LOVE FROM THE HEART Love affairs are not unusual for young teenagers today. It's not particularly surprising when such love affairs are broken for some reason or another. Normally, teenagers get over…
INITIATIVE He was born in Columbus, Ohio, 1890, the third of eight children. At eleven he quit school to help with the family expenses, and got his first full-time job at $3.50 per week. At…
MOTIVATION A little town in west Texas had their only oil well to catch fire. Every effort to put it out was uneventful and they didn't have the money to bring in a professional. In…
WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW JUST MIGHT HELP YOU And, speaking of famous people who did poorly at Math as youngsters, another well-known person who didn't shine there was Robert Schuller of Crystal Cathedral fame. Bob…
THE 'ONE HOLY NATION' PRINCIPLE In Charles Colson's book, Loving God, he has a chapter on the topic "One Holy Nation," in which he speaks of the awareness of the church as one inter-related, organic…
THE GOOD SAMARITAN AND THE FAST LANE RELIGIOUS LEADERS Fellow Presbyterian Pastor Charlie Webster recently shared this story about his days at Princeton Seminary. An Ethics professor asked for volunteers for an extra assignment. At…
IF YOU ONLY KNEW Napoleon often referred to Marshal Ney as the bravest man he had ever known. Yet Ney's knees trembled so badly one morning before battle that he had trouble mounting his horse.…
DARING TO ACT I was reminded of this inspiring quotation from Theodore Roosevelt in a recent issue of Sunday Sermons: It is not the critic who counts, not the person who points out where the…
PRAYER Prayer is one of those topics that gathers so many marvelous stories to illustrate its many facets. In particular I like the story that William Gladstone told that illustrates prayer coupled with a sort…
