Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 426 to 450 of 538 results

426. The Kiss Consecration

Illustration

Michael P. Green

When he was a young boy the great painter Benjamin West decided to paint a picture of his sister while his mother was not at home. He got out the bottles of ink and started, but soon had an awful mess. His mother eventually returned and of course saw the mess. Instead of scolding him, she picked up the portrait and declared, “What a beautiful picture of your sister!” Then she kissed him. Later in ...

427. The Language of Suffering

Illustration

Michael P. Green

There are many benefits in knowing a foreign language. One of the chief benefits lies in the increased ability to understand and be understood. If a person knows only one language, he is tempted to think that everything he communicates is understood. However, if forced to translate an idea into another language, he must consider various possible words to use and their shades of meaning as well as ...

428. The Last Word

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Do you know what is the best way to have the last word in an argument? Apologize!

429. The Law of Chocolate

Rom 7:7-12

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Many people are physiologically sensitive to chocolate. Certain of the larger benzene compounds present in chocolate are resisted by their bodies through an allergic reaction. Depending on the individual, this reaction may range from very mild, producing a minor skin rash, to very severe, producing medical shock and death. Chocolate is fatal for some persons not because chocolate is poisonous in a...

430. The Law Spoon

Illustration

Michael P. Green

If you set aside a glass of water with dirt in it and left it undisturbed for a few days, the particles would settle to the bottom of the glass so that the water would begin to look drinkable. However, we all know that it would still be dangerous to drink, even though that wasn’t readily evident. If you took a claen spoon and stirred the water, it would become readily evident that the water was no...

431. The Life We Have Lost

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Man’s wisdom is not enough. It is limited, partial wisdom. T. S. Eliot put it so beautifully when he said in “The Rock”: All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance, All our ignorance brings us nearer to death, But nearness to death no nearer to God. Then he asks the question that hangs over this whole generation: Where is the Life we have lost in living?

432. The Limit Load

1 Cor 10:13

Illustration

Michael P. Green

The large tractor-trailer trucks that travel the highways of the nation are subjected to a load limit. This means that there is a limit as to how much weight each truck is allowed to carry. There is a good reason for establishing such limits. If the trucks were allowed to exceed their weight limit, the roads would eventually fall apart, because a given road is designed to support vehicles only up ...

433. The Marital Law of Thermodynamics

Illustration

Michael P. Green

There is a scientific law called the Second Law of Thermodynamics. This law states that any closed system left to itself tends toward greater randomness; that is, it breaks down. It takes an ordered input of energy to keep anything together. This is readily seen with a house. Any homeowner knows that to maintain a house, one must daily, monthly, and yearly invest time and energy to keep the house...

434. The Master's Approval

Illustration

Michael P. Green

A young man once studied violin under a world-renowned master. Eventually the time came for the student’s first recital. Following each selection, despite the cheers of the crowd, the performer seemed dissatisfied. Even after the last number, with the shouts louder than ever, the talented violinist stood watching an old man in the balcony. Finally the elderly one smiled and nodded in approval. Imm...

435. The Master's Tools

1 Corinthians 12:12-31

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Imagine the Master Carpenter’s tools holding a conference: Brother Hammer presides, but several suggest he leave the meeting because he is too noisy. Brother Hammer replies, “If I have to leave this shop, Brother Screw must go also. You have to turn him around again and again to get him to accomplish anything.” Brother Screw then speaks up. “If you wish, I’ll leave. But Brother Plane must leave,...

436. The Materials You Send Up

Matthew 6:19-21

Illustration

Michael P. Green

There is a story of a wealthy woman who, when she reached heaven, was conducted to a very plain house. She objected. “Well,” she was told, “that is the dwelling-place prepared for you.” “Whose is that fine mansion across the way?” she asked. Her guide replied, “It belongs to your gardener.” “How is it that he has a house so much better than mine?” “The houses here are prepared from the materia...

437. The Mighty Have Fallen

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Anyone who has witnessed the felling of a giant redwood tree is left with a feeling of sadness. As the saw moves through the heart of the giant, it begins to sag down on the side where the wound is gaping. Presently, it is apparent that the tree is beginning to lean away from the cutters. They continue their work a moment longer; then is heard the cracking of wood fibers in front of the saw’s teet...

438. The Most Important Occupation

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Here is a paragraph by Ashley Montague from “The Triumph and Tragedy of the American Woman,” which appeared in the Saturday Review: Women have great gifts to bring to the world of men, the qualities of love, compassion and humanity (that is, beauty of spirit). It is the function of woman to humanize, since women are the natural mothers of humanity. Women are by nature endowed with the most import...

439. The Obituary Column

Illustration

Michael P. Green

A businessman had an angel come to visit him who promised to grant him one request. The man requested a copy of the stock-market quotes for one year in the future. As he was studying the future prices on the American and New York stock exchanges, he boasted of his plans and the increased riches that would be his as a result of this “insider” look into the future. He then glanced across the newspa...

440. The Pain of Crucifixion

Illustration

Michael P. Green

The unnatural position used in crucifixion made every movement painful; the lacerated veins and crushed tendons throbbed with incessant anguish; the wounds, inflamed by exposure, gradually gangrened; the arteries—especially at the head and stomach—became swollen and oppressed with surcharged blood; and while each variety of misery went on gradually increasing, there was added to them the intolerab...

441. The Parable of the Polished Boots

Illustration

Michael P. Green

There's a parable about a Christian who formed the habit of praying beside his bed before he went to sleep. Later, when he joined the army, he kept up this practice, though he became an object of mockery and ridicule in the barracks. One night, as he knelt to pray after a long, weary march, one of his tormentors took off his muddy boots and threw them at him one at a time, hitting him on each side...

442. The Parable of Wings

Illustration

Michael P. Green

The legend is told about how birds got their wings. They were first wingless creatures. Then God made wings, put them in front of the wingless birds, and said to them, “Come, take up these burdens and bear them.” The birds hesitated at first, but soon obeyed and picked up the wings in their beaks. Because the wings were heavy, the birds laid them on their shoulders. Then, to their amazement, the w...

443. The People Are the Cheese

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Thomas Monaghan was founder, president, and chief executive officer of Domino’s Pizza. Domino’s grew from a small debt-ridden chain to the second largest pizza company in America, with sales of over one billion dollars. When asked to account for the phenomenal growth of the company, Monaghan explained, “I programmed everything for growth.” And how did he plan for growth? “Every day we develop peop...

444. The Perfect Pastor

Illustration

Michael P. Green

After years of research, the profile of the “perfect pastor” has been developed. The perfect pastor preaches exactly fifteen minutes. He condemns sin, but never embarrasses anyone. He works from 8:00 a.m. until midnight and is also the church janitor. He makes $60 a week, wears good clothes, drives a new car, and gives $50 a week to the poor. He is twenty-eight years old and has been preaching for...

445. The Plumb Line Law

Illustration

Michael P. Green

A plumb line can only prove that a crooked wall is crooked. No matter how you use it, a plumb line can’t make a crooked wall straight. The law was God’s plumb line, designed to show all people that they are crooked, or sinful. It was never intended to make us straight or righteous—and, indeed, it never could.

446. The "Potential" Monarch

2 Timothy 2:12

Illustration

Michael P. Green

“What’s it like to know you will one day wear the crown of England?” An American news reporter put that question to Prince Charles. Without hesitation, Charles replied, “Rough!” The future king expanded on this by describing the almost unbelievable discipline needed to groom a person for the throne. He had to become fluent in a number of languages, master history, mathematics, and the sciences, be...

447. The Power of Nature

Illustration

Michael P. Green

On May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens in the Cascade Range of Washington exploded with what is probably the most visible indication of the power of nature that the modern world has ever seen. At 8:32 A.M. the explosion ripped 1,300 feet off the mountain, with a force of ten million tons of TNT, or roughly equal to five hundred Hiroshimas. Sixty people were killed, most by a blast of 300-degree heat ...

448. The POW's Hope

Illustration

Michael P. Green

In 1965, naval aviator James B. Stockdale became one of the first American pilots to be shot down during the Vietnam War. As a prisoner of the Vietcong, he spent seven years as a P.O.W., during which he was frequently tortured in an attempt to break him and get him to denounce the U.S. involvement in the war. He was chained for days at a time with his hands above his head so that he could not even...

449. The Prince's Devotion

Ephesians 5:22-33

Illustration

Michael P. Green

There is an old story of a prince and his family who were captured by an enemy king. When brought before the enemy king, the prisoner was asked, “What will you give me if I release you?” “Half of my wealth,” was the prince’s reply. “And if I release your children?” “Everything I possess.” “And if I release your wife?” “Your Majesty, for her I would give myself,” said the prince. The king was ...

450. The Process of Becoming

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Some flowers, such as the rose, must be crushed if their full fragrance is to be released. Some fruits, such as the sycamore, must be bruised if they are to attain ripeness and sweetness. Some metals, such as gold, must be heated in the furnace if they are to become pure. The attaining of godliness—the process of becoming a mature Christian—requires similar special handling. It is often through pa...

Showing results

Showing 426 to 450 of 538 results

426. The Kiss Consecration

Illustration

Michael P. Green

427. The Language of Suffering

Illustration

Michael P. Green

428. The Last Word

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Do you know what is the best way to have the last word in an argument? Apologize!

429. The Law of Chocolate

Rom 7:7-12

Illustration

Michael P. Green

430. The Law Spoon

Illustration

Michael P. Green

431. The Life We Have Lost

Illustration

Michael P. Green

432. The Limit Load

1 Cor 10:13

Illustration

Michael P. Green

433. The Marital Law of Thermodynamics

Illustration

Michael P. Green

434. The Master's Approval

Illustration

Michael P. Green

435. The Master's Tools

1 Corinthians 12:12-31

Illustration

Michael P. Green

436. The Materials You Send Up

Matthew 6:19-21

Illustration

Michael P. Green

437. The Mighty Have Fallen

Illustration

Michael P. Green

438. The Most Important Occupation

Illustration

Michael P. Green

439. The Obituary Column

Illustration

Michael P. Green

440. The Pain of Crucifixion

Illustration

Michael P. Green

441. The Parable of the Polished Boots

Illustration

Michael P. Green

442. The Parable of Wings

Illustration

Michael P. Green

443. The People Are the Cheese

Illustration

Michael P. Green

444. The Perfect Pastor

Illustration

Michael P. Green

445. The Plumb Line Law

Illustration

Michael P. Green

446. The "Potential" Monarch

2 Timothy 2:12

Illustration

Michael P. Green

447. The Power of Nature

Illustration

Michael P. Green

448. The POW's Hope

Illustration

Michael P. Green

449. The Prince's Devotion

Ephesians 5:22-33

Illustration

Michael P. Green

450. The Process of Becoming

Illustration

Michael P. Green

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