A HELPFUL RESOURCE I often find good stories in Wilde's Illustration Service For Ministers, printed by W. A. Wilde Co., Holliston, MA. Here's one I liked that they quoted from Martin Huyett, executive director of…
Sermon Illustrations
MAN -- A DIFFERENT VIEW What is a man? Man is a self-balancing, 28-jointed adpater-base biped with the following: . . . Millions of warning signal, railroad and conveyor systems . . . Crushers and…
FOOT IN MOUTH DISEASE Our readers often send in items which tell about their experience in putting their foot in their mouth. Scott Widmer, Methodist pastor from Morgantown, Pennsylvania, sends in the following true foot/mouth…
STEWARDSHIP NOTE At Presbytery, yesterday, one of my colleagues passed along this definition of the seven decades of man: Spills, Drills, Thrills, Bills, Ills, Pills and Wills. His point was, we really shouldn't put off…
INTERPRETIVE BIAS Whenever we interpret Scripture, we tend to lean towards our own bias. We need to recognize the reality of such biases that we all have. I loved the story I read in Sunday…
GIFTS -- ASSESSING THE BLAME A young man got up before the congregation and began to sing a hymn. He never hit one note correctly. After the service people really didn't know how to react…
GIVING Years ago, a young mother was making her way across the hills of South Wales, carrying her tiny baby in her arms, when she was overtaken by a blinding blizzard. She never reached her…
NEW SOURCES OF FUNDS For a number of years, Andrew Carnegie, whose wife loved classical music, made up the annual deficit of the New York Philharmonic Society. Then on year, at a meeting of the…
MEETING THE REQUIREMENTS TO DRIVE On his sixteenth birthday the son approached his father and asked, "Dad, I'm sixteen now. When I get my license can I drive the family car?" His dad looked at…
THE RECESSION A Mayor, who was very proud of his city, was asked how the recession had affected it. He answered, "We don't have a recession here, but I will admit we are having the…
THE SIN OF WRONG PERSPECTIVE Old Herb was the thrifiest farmer in the area. One day he stood on the bridge idly gazing down at the water. A canoeist coming down the river suddenly overturned.…
MOTIVATING STEWARDSHIP One year the pastor took drastic action to get a more generous response from the congregation at stewardship time. He called in an electrician and wired the pews. Next day, when the collection…
PERSPECTIVE Linus is watching a football game on TV. He's really into it, cheering "GO! GO! GO!" and finally jumps up and hollars "Fantastic." Then he runs outside and finds Charlie Brown to tell him…
JUDGED Fred Hintz writes us from Syracuse, New York about a news story he read regarding a new law on drunken driving in Louisiana that is now one of the toughest in the nation. There…
HOUSING IN HEAVEN There once was a bus driver and a minister standing in line to get into Heaven. The bus driver approaches the gate and St. Peter says, "Welcome, I understand you were a…
FOCUSED DIRECTION Oliver Wendell Holmes, the eminent Supreme Court justice, was on a train reading his paper when the conductor came by punching tickets. The justice searched his coat pockets for his ticket. Then he…
THE GIFT OF MOTIVATION Richard Halvorson tells the story in Leadership about the frog who fell in the pothole and couldn't get out. Even his friends couldn't get him to muster enough strength to jump…
MOTIVATION One day Linus is on his way to school with a bunch of spring flowers in his hand. Charlie Brown meets him along the way and immediately figures out what's going on -- Linus…
DON'T MISTAKE BLEMISHES FOR SINS Someone took the time to analyze the faces of 90 famous people who had been photgraphed by Yousoff Karsh and included in his book, The Faces of Greatness. According to…
CREDIBILITY According to Sydney Harris: "No one should pay attention to a man delivering a lecture or a sermon on his 'philosopy of life' until we know exactly how he treats his wife, his children,…
