Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 401 to 425 of 538 results

401. The Empress of Ireland

Illustration

Michael P. Green

This incident illustrates how the child of God can face the last enemy with confidence and courage: Many years ago, the ship known as the Empress of Ireland went down with 130 Salvation Army officers on board, along with many other passengers. Only 21 of those Christian workers’ lives were spared—an unusually small number. Of the 109 workers who drowned, not one body had on a life preserver! Many...

402. The Empty Bag

Col 2:8, 23

Illustration

Michael P. Green

A deception is often something that looks good on the outside and makes great promises, but on the inside you find it is empty—and there is really not much to it. We've all bought into an empty deception. You've put money into a machine and pushed a button for a bag of potato chips that, judging from the appearance of the package, looked as if it were full of chips. When the bag comes out and we ...

403. The Eye Needs the Finger

Illustration

Michael P. Green

When a speck of dust blows into an eye, instinctively the eye is rubbed with a finger. There is no debate with the finger about whether to help the eye. Later, after pulling down the lid, causing the eye to water, the speck is washed out. In a short time the eye is back to normal. But without the hand, including its specially functioning fingers, the irritant would have remained. Each member in th...

404. The Faucet of Evil

Illustration

Michael P. Green

The story has been told of a mental hospital that many years ago devised an unusual test to determine when their patients were ready to go back into the world. They brought a candidate for release to a room where a water faucet was left on so that the sink overflowed and was pouring water all over the floor. Then they handed the patient a mop and told him to mop up the water. If the patient had en...

405. The Finger and Thumb

Illustration

Michael P. Green

One of the famous Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post covers showed a woman buying a Thanksgiving turkey. The turkey was on the scales and the butcher was standing behind the counter. The customer, a lady of about sixty, stood watching the weigh-in. Each had a pleased look, but a quick glance at the painting shows nothing unusual going on. Then we look closely. The butcher is pressing down on t...

406. The First Christmas

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Sherwood Wirt captured the mood of that first Christmas in this description: The people of that time were being heavily taxed, and faced every prospect of a sharp increase to cover expanding military expenses. The threat of world domination by a cruel, ungodly, power-intoxicated band of men was ever just below the threshold of consciousness. Moral deterioration had corrupted the upper levels of s...

407. The Freedom Fall

Illustration

Michael P. Green

When a man decides to exercise his freedom to break God’s laws, he is like a person who ascends to the top of a tall building and jumps off. For the first several stories he feels great. There are no restraints, no restrictions, no hang-ups. But suppose, ten stories from the ground, he realizes that a sudden stop awaits him and that he doesn’t want to endure its consequences. Can he reverse the fa...

408. The Gardner's Lawn

Illustration

Michael P. Green

If you hired a gardener to take care of your lawn and then went past his house and saw that his own yard was sloppy and unkempt, would you trust him with the care of your lawn? Or, if you went to the dentist to get your teeth checked and sat down in the chair only to look up to see that the dentist had a mouthful of rotten teeth, would you trust him to work on your teeth? How can a minister expect...

409. The Garrison Church

Illustration

Michael P. Green

A generation ago, Dr. F. B. Meyer said this about the local church: “It is urgently needful that the Christian people of our charge should come to understand that they are not a company of invalids, to be wheeled about, or fed by hand, cosseted, nursed, and comforted, the minister being the Head Physician and Nurse; but a garrison in an enemy’s country, every soldier of which should have some post...

410. The GI MRE

Illustration

Michael P. Green

The story has been told of a South Sea Islander who proudly displayed his Bible to a G.I. during World War II. “We’ve outgrown that sort of thing,” the soldier said. The native smiled back, “It’s a good thing we haven’t. If it weren’t for this book, you’d have been a meal by now!”

411. The Giving Purpose

Illustration

Michael P. Green

A missionary returned to his home city, where he announced a collection for foreign missions. A good friend said to him, “Very well, Andrew, seeing it is you, I’ll give five hundred dollars.” “No,” said the missionary, “I cannot take the money since you give it, seeing it is me.” His friend saw the point and said, “You are right, Andrew. Here is a thousand dollars, seeing it is for the Lord Jesus...

412. The Government is My Shepherd

Psalm 23:1-6, John 10:1-21

Illustration

Michael P. Green

The following parody was written by two Englishmen after converting to Christianity from Communism. The Socialist’s 23rd Psalm The Government is my shepherd, Therefore, I need not work. It allows me to lie down on a good job; It leads me beside still factories. It destroys my initiative; It leads me in the path of a parasite for politics’ sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of laziness a...

413. The Gravity of Sin

Romans 6:6

Illustration

Michael P. Green

How can sin be rendered powerless, as Paul says in Romans 6:6? Consider the effect of gravity on a book. Gravity would cause an unsupported book to fall, but gravity can be rendered “powerless” against the book by simply placing a table under it. As long as the table is under the book, gravity cannot cause it to fall. Of course gravity has not really lost its power nor is it no longer present. It ...

414. The Great Blondin

Illustration

Michael P. Green

It was a bright, clear morning. A large crowd had gathered at Niagara Falls to see the famous Charles Blondin walk over it on a tightrope. The sun glistened on the cascading torrent as it rushed over the precipice. From below came the ceaseless thunder of the plunging cataract. The world’s greatest tightrope walker briefly tested the taut strand that reached across to the opposite bank. Then he t...

415. The Greatest Teacher

Illustration

Michael P. Green

A London editor submitted to Winston Churchill for his approval a list of all those who had been Churchill’s teachers. Churchill returned the list with this comment: “You have omitted to mention the greatest of my teachers—my mother.”

416. The Grip of Strong Currents

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Sailors in the northern oceans have frequently observed icebergs traveling in one direction in spite of strong winds blowing in the opposite direction. The icebergs were moving against the winds, but how? The explanation is that the icebergs, with eight-ninths of their bulk under the water surface, were caught in the grip of strong currents that moved them in a certain direction, no matter which w...

417. The Hanging Liar

Humor Illustration

Michael P. Green

In Mark Twain’s book about his travels in the West and Hawaii, Roughing It, there is an account of a man, a notorious liar, who was known in the community to be a spinner of tall tales. No one ever believed anything he said. One day they found him hanging dead, with a suicide note pinned on him, written in his own hand, and saying that he had taken his own life. But the coroner’s jury pronounced i...

418. The Happy Shirtless Man

Illustration

Michael P. Green

A story is told of a king who was suffering from a mysterious malady and was advised by his astrologer that he would be cured if the shirt of a contented man was brought for him to wear. People went out to all parts of the kingdom looking for such a person, and after a long search they found a man who was really happy, but he did not possess a shirt.

419. The Hollowness of Hypocrisy

Illustration

Michael P. Green

In any great forest you will find many huge trees. They tower above other trees and appear to be the very picture of strength and maturity. However, loggers will sometimes not even bother to cut down these huge trees. At first one wonders, “Why leave them? After all, a tree that big must contain twice or thrice the amount of lumber as a smaller tree.” The reason is simple. Huge trees are often ro...

420. The Immortal David Livingstone

Illustration

Michael P. Green

When David Livingstone was asked if he didn’t fear that going into Africa was too difficult and too dangerous, he answered, “I am immortal until the will of God for me is accomplished.”

421. The Impact of Divorce

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Dissolving a marriage is not like dissolving a business partnership, or even like deserting from the army. Indeed, many psychologists have stated that it is second in emotional impact only to the death of a spouse.

422. The Intelligent Application of Failure

Illustration

Michael P. Green

In August 1978, the first successful transatlantic balloon flight became a reality when Double Eagle II touched ground in a barley field in the small village of Miserey, France. But success in this accomplishment did not come easy. During the years from 1873 through 1978, thirteen attempts had been made—all ending in failure. After an unsuccessful attempt in 1977, in which Double Eagle ended up in...

423. The Jigsaw Church

Illustration

Michael P. Green

As members of the body of Christ, we can be compared to pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. Each piece has protrusions and indentations. The protrusions represent our strengths (gifts, talents, abilities), and the indentations represent our weaknesses (faults, limitations, shortcomings, undeveloped areas). The beautiful thing is that the pieces complement one another and produce a beautiful whole. Just as...

424. The Judas Goat

Illustration

Michael P. Green

The major reason for teenage suicide, drug addiction, and alcoholism is that most young people are conformists. They, like their parents, do what “everybody else” does, feeling instinctively that if most people are doing it, then “it” must be good to do. In effect, we act like sheep. In a packing house where sheep are slaughtered, the sheep walk from their large pen up a narrow ramp and turn righ...

425. The Kings Golden Tomb

Illustration

Michael P. Green

When Howard Carter and his associates found the tomb of King Tutankhamen, they opened up his casket and found another within it. They opened up the second, which was covered with gold leaf, and found a third. Inside the third casket was a fourth made of pure gold. The pharaoh’s body was in the fourth, wrapped in gold cloth with a gold face mask. But when the body was unwrapped, it was leathery and...

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Showing 401 to 425 of 538 results

401. The Empress of Ireland

Illustration

Michael P. Green

402. The Empty Bag

Col 2:8, 23

Illustration

Michael P. Green

403. The Eye Needs the Finger

Illustration

Michael P. Green

404. The Faucet of Evil

Illustration

Michael P. Green

405. The Finger and Thumb

Illustration

Michael P. Green

406. The First Christmas

Illustration

Michael P. Green

407. The Freedom Fall

Illustration

Michael P. Green

408. The Gardner's Lawn

Illustration

Michael P. Green

409. The Garrison Church

Illustration

Michael P. Green

410. The GI MRE

Illustration

Michael P. Green

411. The Giving Purpose

Illustration

Michael P. Green

412. The Government is My Shepherd

Psalm 23:1-6, John 10:1-21

Illustration

Michael P. Green

413. The Gravity of Sin

Romans 6:6

Illustration

Michael P. Green

414. The Great Blondin

Illustration

Michael P. Green

415. The Greatest Teacher

Illustration

Michael P. Green

416. The Grip of Strong Currents

Illustration

Michael P. Green

417. The Hanging Liar

Humor Illustration

Michael P. Green

418. The Happy Shirtless Man

Illustration

Michael P. Green

419. The Hollowness of Hypocrisy

Illustration

Michael P. Green

420. The Immortal David Livingstone

Illustration

Michael P. Green

When David Livingstone was asked if he didn’t fear that going into Africa was too difficult and too dangerous, he answered, “I am immortal until the will of God for me is accomplished.”

421. The Impact of Divorce

Illustration

Michael P. Green

422. The Intelligent Application of Failure

Illustration

Michael P. Green

423. The Jigsaw Church

Illustration

Michael P. Green

424. The Judas Goat

Illustration

Michael P. Green

425. The Kings Golden Tomb

Illustration

Michael P. Green

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