I don’t know when it began, but the symbol has been a pervasive one for a long time “The Lions’ Den”. It is a symbol for the conflicts in life. “They threw him to the lions,” we say of those who cruelly thrust an innocent, unsuspecting person into the most difficult of all situations. “The Lions’ Den” is the place where our testing comes, where we struggle to keep our integrity; where we wage the fiery battle with ourselves as well as with others and/or forces outside ourselves. It may be the arena where ...
My dad is 75 years old and lives with my 76 year old Mom in Perry County, Mississippi. Now if you have not been to Perry County, you haven’t really missed anything n the way of exciting life or beautiful geography. But you’ve missed a unique culture. More than that, you’ve missed knowing two great people. My dad didn’t even go to high school, yet I’ve moved among the high and mighty of the land, and have hobnobbed with some of the brilliant people of the country, but I’ve met few people whose wisdom ...
I delight in hearing a great sermon. I relish reading the creative writing, of other preachers. I have a sort of insatiable appetite for preachers. I heard recently of a man who was telling of his surgery. A lot of people like to tell about their operations, though not many people like to hear about them. This fellow said that when the doctor sewed him up after surgery, he left the sponge inside. His sympathetic listener asked him if he had any pain. “No,” said the fellow, “but I sure do get thirsty.” I ...
Almost every Christmas pageant has the procession of the three wise men bearing their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. I’m going to preach about those three wise men next Sunday. But today, I’m talking about three wise women. There were many significant women in Jesus’ life. In fact, someday I’m going to do a series by that title - “The Women in Jesus’ Life.” Today I want to focus upon three of those women – Three wise women, and simply highlight what they have to teach us and the inspiration they ...
Some verses in the Bible are like beacons in the sea of scripture – buoys that mark the channel of God’s activity in history, God’s intervention in our lives, God’s relationship to persons. Genesis 1: 1: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Psalm 8: 4-5: “When I look at the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained; what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the Son of Man that thou dost care for him? Yet thou hast made him a little less than ...
It was in the newspaper back in the late 1950’s, at the height of the civil rights movement - an unforgettable picture which captured not only the emotion of one man, but the deep sense of freedom and joy and release and affirmation of a whole people. A black man, who must have been over 100 years old, was being carried on the shoulders of a group of young men. They were taking him up the steps of a courthouse in a Southern town to register to vote. The caption beneath the picture said he was born a slave ...
A young man awakens in the morning and hears the birds singing. He realizes how fortunate he is. It is summer time and he is back home in his father’s parsonage in Gunsbach, Germany. Recently, he has been reading about Jesus’ call in the gospels: “Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” “From everyone to whom much is given, much will be required.” Whoever would save his life shall lose it, and whoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel shall save it.” What do ...
Most sermons on this text deal with one of two things: either a detailed account about the four men who carried their paralytic friend to Jesus and, because of the crowd, were forced to open up the roof and lower him into the healing presence of Jesus, or the relationship between forgiveness and healing. But I want to focus our attention on that Capernaum crowd. It was a warm autumn morning in September and I was driving from Atlanta to Warm Springs, Georgia. I was traveling south on state road 18. The ...
On All Saints, we are visited through the Hebrew Scripture by Daniel. For most of us, Daniel is a book to either be avoided altogether or used sparingly. It falls into that category of books, like the book of Revelation, that is difficult to understand and is often misrepresented. Daniel is not included in that list of books known as prophets because the authors of the prophetical books were men who occupied a special place in biblical history because of their special relationship with God. Prophets were ...
How familiar Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 1 sound! Chloe's people had reported quarreling among the believers. Imagine that — disagreements in a church! There were rivalries and backstabbing even in the very earliest days of the Christian community. Paul's words are worth examining because factionalism is a perennial issue in the Christian community, found not just within modern day congregations, but between local congregations within a denomination, between churches in a given community, among religious ...
There is a story told about two men sitting together on an airplane. As some are wont to do, when strapped together 30,000 feet above where they ought to be, they begin to get acquainted. One man was an astronomer, the other a theologian. After a while, each began to share his understanding of the other’s discipline. The astronomer said, “I believe that all religion can be summed up in the phrase, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” The theologian, somewhat miffed at this simplistic ...
Edward DeBono is a man who travels all over the world, giving seminars on how to think. He teaches what he calls “lateral thinking,” and he illustrates what he means by that from an experience in an early life. Some thirty years ago he was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. One night he attended a party in London. The party lasted late, and he got back to Oxford after the gates were closed. Traditionally in that college the gates were locked at twenty minutes past midnight. So, in order to get to his room, he had ...
Listen! We cannot raise people from the dead as Jesus did, but we share in the deliverance of those he has raised! Death and what is done about that — is in Jesus’ hand. It is He who can say with power: “Come forth! Come forth from your tomb.” But deliverance — that’s in our hands. “Unbind him” Jesus said, “unbind him that he might live.” So, we talk today about the ministry of unbinding. I Rehearse the story, so that our focus will be clear and we will not be questioning something that we think has been ...
Back in 1981, the attention of the world was focused on the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana. My wife, an almost hopeless romantic, (I really praise God for that) became tremendously involved in that event. We were traveling when the wedding took place, and I remember she stayed up almost all night in a hotel room where we were, watching the live television presentation. She also read all the newspaper accounts, and she even gave our two daughters beautiful color picture albums that recaptured this ...
A certain society matron took a course in First Aid. A few days after completing the course, she was an on-the-spot witness of a bad auto accident. Occupants of the car were thrown out by the impact and lay seriously wounded on the street. Later, describing the accident to a friend, the matron said, “It was awful, awful — and it happened so fast, right there in front of me. Tires squealed, breaks screeched, and all of a sudden there was the grinding crash. The next thing I knew people were lying in the ...
Have you ever had something backfire on you, making you feel as though you had spit into the wind? Leo Buscaglia tells about a man who was driving his car on a narrow, winding country road. He came to a hairpin curve and accidentally crossed the center dividing line a bit. A woman driving in the opposite way had to swerve to avoid hitting him. As they passed, she yelled out her window, “Pig!” Why that - that so-and-so the man thought. Instantaneously, he shouted back, “Sow! Then he rounded the curve and ...
One of my favorite plays is “Harvey” by Mary Chase. I’ve seen it stage, on TV and in movie. It is a delight in any medium, more than a delight; it is a challenge, a challenge to our unimaginative, prosaic, living ruts. You may recall that this play is about Elwood P. Dowd, an eccentric, drinking man whose closest friend was an enormous rabbit called Harvey (who was unseen for the most part by anyone but Elwood.) In fact, because Harvey was unseen, yet so real to Elwood, his family hired Dr. Chumley, a ...
I’ve told you this story before I think, but it’s the most appropriate story with which we can begin the sermon today. A man had an awful day at work. Everything had gone wrong. There was one interruption after another, and he was never able to complete his work. When he entered the door at home that evening, he knew that his wife must have had a similar day. You could see it on her face. So, to set the process straight he began, “I’ve had the worst day of my life; it’s been bad news, bad news, bad news. I ...
I’ve told you this story before, but it’s such a good one, it deserves repeating. And it’s the best story I know to introduce the sermon this morning. A business man’s wife was experiencing depression. She began to mope around and be sad, lifeless - no light in her eyes - no spring in her step - joyless. It became so bad that this “man of the world” did what any sophisticated person would do. He made an appointment with the psychiatrist. On the appointed day, they went to the psychiatrist’s office, sat ...
To be honest is a mark of maturity. Dishonesty has within it its own destructive seeds. Most of us know the huge amount of energy deceit requires. And many of us have discovered the awful devastation of living a lie. Our sermon today addresses an issue about which we need to be honest. I’m talking about coping with compassion fatigue - “When being Christian has Worn You Down”. A mild little boy, not known for being ugly or mean, was being chastised and about to be punished for pulling a little girl’s hair ...
Robert Lewis Stephenson, on one of his voyages to the South Seas, told about a terrific storm that frightened all the passengers. One man finally went out on deck and watched the captain pace the bridge, calm and undisturbed. He came back to the cabin where the passengers were huddled together and said to them: “I have seen the captain’s face, and all is well.” It was that kind of word that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary carried back to the disciples on that first Easter morning. How remarkable that, in ...
Many of you here this morning will remember Edward Sanford Martin’s poem, “My name is Legion.” Some of you may have memorized those poignant lines. Within my earthly temple there’s a crown; There’s one of us that’s humble; one that’s proud, There’s one that’s broken-hearted for his sins, There’s one that unrepentant sits and grins; There’s one that loves his neighbor as himself and one that cares for naught but fame and self From much corroding care I should be free. If I could once determine which is me. ...
Some of you may know the name Roy Riegels. Many who don’t know his name will identify him as I tell his story. The year was 1929. The University of California was playing Georgia Tech in the Rose Bowl. Stumpy Thomason, Georgia Tech’s halfback, had the ball and was hit hard by Bennie Lom, so hard that he “coughed up the ball,” - that’s the way the sportswriters would say it. He fumbled and Roy Riegels picked it up, which you could do in college ball in those days. Riegels began to run. But Stumpy Thomason, ...
Would you ever consider naming one of your children Judas? We name our children James and John and Matthew and Peter and Andrew and Thaddeus. You may not have thought of the apostles of Jesus when you gave these names to your sons. You may have been thinking of a father, or grandfather, but the names go beyond that, back to those disciples of Jesus. But Judas! The name is not in our repertoire of treasured names for our sons. Yet, the name was common among the Jews. There are several Judas’ in the Bible. ...
Whenever I think of a rich man I think of Howard Hughes. He was not only extremely wealthy but also extremely eccentric. Hughes once bought a Las Vegas television station for little less than four million dollars simply because he wanted to watch cowboy movies all night, and this station had cowboy movies but not playing all night. Hughes wanted to watch them up until 6 a.m. That is what you do if you are an eccentric millionaire.[1] Hughes has helped me to understand the rich man in Jesus’ parable. The ...