THE PRESENT INHABITANTS OF HEAVEN Of all the supernatural beings mentioned in the Scriptures, it is the angels who are constantly depicted as being identified with heaven. When the angel of God called to Hagar…
Sermon Illustrations
OUR ARMY IS BIGGER -- OPEN HIS EYES! One night the king of Syria sent a great army with many chariots and horses to surround the city. When the prophet's servant got up early the…
TO RUN WITH PATIENCE Bob Wieland finally crossed the finish line on Thursday, November 6, 1986, the New York City Marathon's 19,413th and final finisher . . . and the first to run a marathon…
HEAVEN A class of third-graders from a school in Union City, Tennessee, was asked this question: "What is heaven like?" One girl replied: "Heaven is where I will meet the man of my dreams." A…
HOW SHOULD DRUNK DRIVERS BE TREATED? The following was taken from a recent "Advice To You" column by Ann Landers in which one of her readers wrote: The Minnesota Licensed Beverage Association put out some…
THE MINISTRY OF SPREADING THE GOOD WORD A woman was heartbroken when her dog disappeared. She put an ad in the paper offering a reward for its return. The next morning the phone rang --…
GOING HOME There is the delightful story of a priest's mother, 91 years old, who was taken to the hospital with a number of physical problems. Her son visited her and tried to cheer her…
PREACHING AND TEACHING Martin Marty recounts a story from Walter Wangerin in Context. It comes from a time when Wangerin was pastor of an inter-city church in Evansville, Indiana: Lillian Lander, an old black woman,…
IN ON A DECISIVE MOMENT IN HISTORY Former Secretary of Labor Raymond Donavan tells the story of one time being on Air Force One. He was in the back compartment of the jet while President…
SHARP AND OPEN FOR THE FUTURE A woman in a convalescent home was given a party to celebrate her one hundredth birthday. Her pastor came to offer his congratulations. Later, the pastor said, "Her mind…
REGENERATION While visiting some patients at the Children's Hospital of Orange County, I met a special young boy named Carlos. Having been treated for ten years for leukemia, he was now on his death bed,…
COMPLETING THE ACT OF FORGIVENESS About the year 1830, a man named George Wilson killed a government employee who caught him in the act of robbing the mails. He was tried and sentenced to be…
EPITAPH FOR A GODLESS PEOPLE A cry from the North, from the West, from the South Whence thousands travel daily to the timekept City; Where My Word is unspoken, In the land of lobelias and…
WE PLAY THE GAME UNFAIRLY A Hassidic story tells of a little boy playing hide-and-seek with his friends. For some unknown reason they stopped playing while he was hiding. He began to cry. His old…
A VOW -- ALBERT SCHWEITZER In the '50's, Dr. Schweitzer was on his way to speak to a Conference in Aspen, Colorado, but had to change trains in Chicago. As he was standing on the…
I KNOW JUST HOW HE FEELS Our family had gathered around the television to witness the arrival of Pope John Paul II. As we watched the Pontiff step from the plane and symbolically kiss the…
TOTAL COMMITMENT The mother of the family was celebrating a birthday and the rest of the family was treating her to a party. When the time for the presentation of the gifts arrived, she was…
NO P.S. The owner of a photographic studio tells the story of a college boy who came in with a framed picture of his girl friend. He wanted the picture duplicated. Therefore it had to…
THE WORD OF GOD IS LIVING AND POTENT The book of Hebrews is difficult to translate because so much of the content concerns the Jewish culture and religious rituals that are totally foreign to the…
IT'S WHAT COMES NEXT THAT COUNTS It is not what men eat but what they digest that makes them strong; not what we gain but what we save, that makes us rich; not what we…
