INVOLVED & RESPONSIVE There are two basic ingredients that a parent must demonstrate in her relationship with her teen to give him an authentic taste of what God is like: unconditional involvement and uncompromising responsiveness…
Sermon Illustrations
PREVENTING CHILD ABUSE Education is your child's best defense against sexual abuse. Teach your child the following: --Physical autonomy. Our bodies are private, and no one has the right to invade that private zone. --Appropriate…
THEY DID NOT LOOK A disgruntled boy was talking to his pastor about his troubled home life. "I ran away last year, and it took them six weeks to find me." The pastor asked why…
THE FLAG OF JOY IN THE HOME A headmaster of a boarding school in London, England had such a joyful countenance that one child asked him how he could always be so joyful. The headmaster…
GIVE-AND- TAKE IN MARRIAGE As a young girl in grammar school, I was sitting in class enjoying a flavorful piece of gum when my teacher walked up to me and said, "Well young lady, did…
THE SHORT LIST OF PRESIDENTS After reviewing the dismal results of his son's test on the American presidents, the father turned to his son and said, "I am ashamed of you! When I was your…
KIDS DESCRIBE LOVE Here is an assortment of ways children have described love and romance: CONCERNING THE ORIGINS OF LOVE "Cupid kissed God and that got the ball rollin'." Julio, age 9 "One of the…
WHAT NOT TO DO Never do anything that someone else will or can do when there is so much to be done that no one else can or will do. -- Dawson Trotman, founder of…
HEALTHY FAMILY HONESTY It is good to have a healthy honesty on the part of those married longer years, as they relate that awful moment of anger when the wedding ring was thrown on the…
AGING PRIVACY An elderly couple recalled the many vacations they had taken with another couple. For many years they had shared the same single-room cabin with this couple. When asked how they were able to…
FAMILY FORGIVENESS Richard Exley tells of an account when his daughter brought home the man who would later become her husband. She carelessly caught a fringed kitchen towel on fire when she tried to use…
LISTENING OR IMITATING Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them. From Nobody Knows My Name, by James Baldwin
CONNECTING PAST WITH FUTURE Those individuals who do not look upon themselves as a line connecting the past with the future, do not perform their duty to the world. -- Daniel Webster
FELLOWSHIP OF SEEKERS A broken-hearted dog owner placed an ad in the paper, promising one million dollars to the person who found his missing puppy. One day later, he decided to visit the newspaper to…
SHAPE AN APE Start with a cage containing five apes. In the cage, hang a banana on a string and put stairs under it. Before long, an ape will go to the stairs and start…
LOVE RELATIONSHIPS The best ministry is one that is based on love relationships. Love God first. Build strong, loving relationships within your family. Build loving relationships with your staff members. Build loving relationships with your…
MEXICAN IMPRESSIONS Two guys are bungee-jumping one day. The first guy says to the second: "You know, we could make a lot of money running our own bungee-jumping service in Mexico." The second guy thinks…
FRIENDSHIP UNNECESSARY "Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art, like the universe itself (for God did not need to create). It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value…
THE CHURCH'S TEN BAD HABITS George Barna identifies ten activities that are present in many Protestant churches in America but are not present in healthy, growing churches. Successful churches do not: 1. Limit God by…
SMALL GROUPS OR CLIQUES . . . In addition to recognizing the value of groups to reach and assimilate new members, it is important to understand that becoming a member of a small face-to-face primary…
