His name was Paul. He lived in a small town in the Pacific Northwest some years ago. He was just a little boy when his family became the proud owners of one of the first telephones in the neighborhood. It was one of those wooden boxes attached to the wall with the shiny receiver hanging on the side of the box… and the mouthpiece attached to the front. Young Paul listened with fascination as his mom and dad used the phone… and he discovered that somewhere inside the wonderful device called a telephone lived ...
David McKechnie tells a great story about a rather unlikely speaker who came to Bob Jones University sometime back. Bob Jones is a stronghold of fundamentalism. According to the story the speaker told the young people, "You are naive. You cannot continue to take the Bible and apply literalism to it. For example," he said, "take the Old Testament. The Hebrew for `red' and `reed' is the same word. When it talks about Moses leading the children of Israel through the Red Sea with the Egyptian army in pursuit, ...
Pastor Phil was sitting quietly in his office going over some last minute notes on his Sunday sermon when his wife, Connie, appeared in the doorway and stated, "We have to talk!" Phil, knowing his wife was usually a very calm person, sensed that something disturbing had happened, and so asked his wife to come in and close the door. Connie, looking deeply concerned, came into the office, closed the door and sat down. "We have a problem," she sighed, and then handed a crumpled up piece of note paper across ...
Philip and Joan Gulley are no different from most of us. Before they had children, they thought they knew exactly how they would handle every situation. They imagined sharing pearls of timeless parental wisdom with their children and guiding them gently along life's paths. But it didn't turn out like that. Philip remembers one Christmas when the Gulley's toddler son, Spencer, became fascinated with the family Nativity set. One day, he dipped one of the figurines in ketchup and proceeded to lick it off. ...
A seminary student (not one of you) preached his senior sermon in a homiletics class. When he got through, the professor gave him his critique. “John, I’ll give you an A- on the sermon. It was a good one. But I must give you an F on the title.” “An F?” said John. “I don’t understand. What’s wrong with my title?” “Well,” said the professor, “the title is one of the most important parts of the sermon. It should be so compelling and captivating that if a busload of people pass by your sign on Sunday morning, ...
You may know the story of a young minister who was asked by a funeral director to hold a graveside service for a homeless man who had died while traveling through the area. The service was to be held at a new cemetery way back in the country. This man would be the first person laid to rest there. As he was not familiar with the back woods area, the young minister soon became quite lost and finally arrived over an hour late. He saw the backhoe by the grave and noticed that the crew was eating lunch under a ...
"I will pay more for the ability to deal with people than any other ability under the sun." John D. Rockefeller1 Relationships: we all have them. John Donne was right: "No man is an island..."2 I have learned early on that one of the most important lessons a father can teach his children is how to establish and maintain proper relationships with the right people. According to a report by the American Management Association, an overwhelming majority of the two hundred managers who participated in a survey, ...
There was a Gypsy in England who stopped a preacher one day; not knowing he was a preacher, she said she would tell his future for $500. The preacher said, "You mean you can tell me what I will be doing a year from now if I give you $500?" The fortune-telling Gypsy said, "I can tell you exactly what you will be doing a year from now." The preacher then asked, "You mean you can tell me what I'll be doing this time tomorrow?" The Gypsy said, "Absolutely." The pastor then said, "If you will tell me what I was ...
Have you ever said something to somebody that you later regretted? A man named Bob Monkhouse says he got angry at the manager of his local dry cleaners and expressed his anger quite forcefully. He realizes now that he probably did not leave the manager with a very favorable impression. He knows that because recently he put a red ballpoint pen in the breast pocket of his white shirt and forgot to put the cap on it. It made a ghastly red stain with a dark center all over the pocket. His wife said, “It won’t ...
Malcom Uggeridge closed his biography of Mother Theresa of Calcutta with this word: “It will be for posterity to decide whether she is a saint. I only say of her that in a dark time she is a burning and shining light; in a cruel time, a living embodiment of Christ’s Gospel of love; in a godless time, the Word dwelling among us, full of grace and truth” (Something Beautiful for God, p. 146). I assume Muggeridge is using the word saint in a specialized way. For me there is no question left for posterity. ...
At the tender age of 11, I stood before a crippled preacher in a tiny country church, professed my faith in Jesus Christ and became a full member of that congregation. My devout mother doubted I was old enough to know what I was doing. A few skeptics seemed sure I was not sincere. That was 49 years ago. I still love Jesus and I still believe the local church is God's best hope for humanity. So on this Sunday that we have set aside for membership and confirmation, I want to talk about the power of belonging ...
I might as well get this off my chest. I have an abiding dislike for alarm clocks. Truth be told, more than a few of them have met an untimely demise as they have flown across the room after daring to interrupt my sleep. It's true. There is nothing quite so grating, so unpleasant as the electronic wheezing that emerges from the clock by my bedside every morning at 6 a.m. It doesn't matter if I'm dreaming or not. I could even be laying there half awake and thinking about getting up a little early. Sometimes ...
For the above title, I reach back across Matthew's more detailed record of the same message where he recalls that Jesus specified the right hand, "If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off" (Matthew 5:30). That might be significant because research indicates the somewhere around 85% of humans are right-hand dominant, and it could mean that Jesus is not just saying that a sinning hand should be excised but that even if it is the dominant hand that sins it must go! Let us think about it, and ...
The telephone rang in my office one day, and a mother, a member of my parish, blurted out, "Oh, pastor, they just found the body of my son, Kenneth. He drowned in the Missouri River over at Chamberlain!" I was stunned, and then I heard her sob. "It had been a hot day. Kenneth, driving gravel truck all day, decided to take a swim to cool off. And he didn't make it back to shore. Pastor, what'll I do?" I remember swimming at that very beach with my family over the years. As I drove over to Erna's house, I ...
In the movie, Cast Away, Tom Hanks' character, Chuck, is stranded on a desert island in the Pacific Ocean. To keep himself company, he finds a volleyball that has washed up from the wreckage of the plane he had been flying in before becoming stranded. Chuck paints a face on the volleyball with his own blood and names him "Wilson." Wilson becomes Chuck's only companion while he remains on the island. He talks to and sometimes even for Wilson to keep himself company during the lonely months. After four years ...
In a world more inclined to take up the sword than take up the cross, let’s begin today with a recognition of the power of the cross, the most recognizable symbol of Christianity. When you think of Islam you think of a crescent, even though technically Islam does not have a symbol – the crescent is the symbol of Pakistan. But still, when you think of Islam, you think crescent. When you think of Judaism, you think star of David. When you think of Christianity, you think . . . cross. The Logos has a logo ...
The Old and the New Life Up to this point in the epistle there have been only occasional references to the ethical life of the Christian (2:10; 4:1–3, 15). In 4:1 it appeared that the apostle was preparing a lengthy description of the new life in Christ, but this led, instead, into a further exposition of the unifying elements of the church (4:4–16). At 4:17, however there is a clear break from the theological aspects of unity to an emphasis upon the ethics of unity and how that unity can be maintained ...
George died in May. He was only 37 years old. The cancer appeared seemingly out of nowhere, instantaneously, over night. It was diagnosed in January—and by May he was gone. So little time, so shocking, so devastating to his wife, Ann, and their three children. Christmas came. Ann, alone at Christmas with her three little girls, sent a card to her pastor. The familiar handwriting on the envelope brought a lump to the pastor’s throat. As he held the card, he asked himself again the same kind of questions ...
There is a story of a Vermont farmer who was sitting with his wife one evening on the porch, looking at the beautiful valley laid out before them. Everything about the moment was filled with peace. At last the farmer spoke quietly, as if reluctant to break the spell. “Sarah,” he said, “we’ve had a lot of ups and downs together during these forty years, and when I’ve thought of all you’ve meant to me, sometimes it’s been almost more than I could do to keep from telling you.” Sometimes things just “leak” out ...
In the 1991 movie, “Defending Your Life,” lives of the deceased are examined in a court-like setting to see how they have successfully overcome their difficulties in life, especially their fears. The movie suggests that life on earth is a kind of practice ground that teaches us how to successfully navigate ourselves, our responsibilities, and our relationships. While the movie is fictional, it does sound strikingly close to some of Jesus’ most famous parables, particularly the parables of the vineyard. In ...
There are few things more exciting in life than the birth of a baby. That is true whether you are a commoner or a controversial member of a royal family. We all share the joy when friends or family announce that they are expecting. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have become household names to Americans over the past couple of years, but their lives have not been totally without good cheer. For example, when they gave birth to their first child, Archie, there was such keen public anticipation that Whole ...
[Note: While King Duncan is enjoying a well deserved retirement we are going back to his earliest sermons and renewing them. The newly modernized sermon is shown first and below, for reference sake, is the old sermon. We will continue this updating throughout the year bringing fresh takes on King's best sermons.] Original Title: Preparing for a Royal Visit New Title: Getting Ready Mark 1:1-8 January 7, 2024 (Baptism of the Lord) A little boy attended his first symphony concert. He was excited by the ...
Several years ago in one of her columns, Erma Bombeck described the complex task God had in creating mothers. After all, he had to build a creature who "would run on black coffee and leftovers...Have a lap that disappears when she stand up...A kiss that can cure anything from a broken leg to a disappointed love affair...And six pairs of hands." Also, "three pairs of eyes." An angel pleaded with God not to work so hard. "Lord," said the angel touching His sleeve gently, "Come to bed..." "I can't," said the ...
We have before us two stories, the story of a sick woman with a twelve-year-old hemorrhage and the story of a twelve-year-old girl who has died. The stories are integrated by one theme -- the compassionate healing of Jesus. The Sick Woman Our stories start out with Jairus, a synagogue leader, approaching Jesus with a request to come and heal his sick daughter. On his way to the home of Jairus, Jesus was met by a woman who had been sick with bleeding for twelve years. In terms of modern medicine, she ...
Memorial Day Today, Creator God, we remember. We remember the courage of our forefathers who decided they could no longer bow to England's crown, so they went to war to gain our country's independence. We remember the agony and blood-letting of that war that pitted American against American, the north against the south. Even to this day the wounds of that fighting are yet to be healed. We remember that many years ago we sent our troops to "fight the Kaiser" in a war that was to end all wars. Then less than ...