Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 476 to 500 of 538 results

476. They Needled Each Other

Humor Illustration

Michael P. Green

Two porcupines found themselves in a blizzard and tried to huddle together to keep warm. But because they were pricked by each other’s quills, they moved apart. Soon they were shivering again and had to lie side by side once more for their own survival. They needed each other, even though they needled each other! There are many “porcupine” Christians running around. They have their good points, b...

477. This Too Shall Pass

1 John 2:17

Illustration

Michael P. Green

In an address to the Wisconsin State Agriculture Society in 1859, Abraham Lincoln illustrated the profound and tempering effect that change can have on us. He told of an Eastern monarch who gave his counselors an assignment to come up with a truth that would apply to all times and situations. After careful consideration, they returned with this sentence: “And this too shall pass away.” Said Lincol...

478. Time Spent

Mt 16:26

Illustration

Michael P. Green

A study revealed that an average seventy-year-old man has spent twenty-four years sleeping, fourteen years working, eight years in amusements, six years at the dinner table, five years in transportation, four years in conversation, three years in education, and two years in studying and reading. His other four years were spent in miscellaneous pursuits. Of those four years, he spent forty-five mi...

479. Too Close To Temptation

Illustration

Michael P. Green

A wealthy couple desired to employ a chauffeur. The lady of the house advertised, the applicants were screened, and four suitable candidates were brought before her for the final selection. She called the prospective chauffeurs to her balcony and pointed out a brick wall alongside the driveway. Then she asked the men, “How close do you think you could come to that wall without scratching my car?” ...

480. Trading Pain For Gold

Illustration

Michael P. Green

In the 1976 Summer Olympics, Shun Fujimoto competed in the team gymnastics competition for Japan. In a quest for the gold medal, Fujimoto suffered a broken right knee in the floor exercise. But his injury did not stop him, for during the next week he competed in his strongest event, the rings. His routine was excellent, but he astounded everyone by squarely dismounting with a triple somersault twi...

481. Trading Places

Illustration

Michael P. Green

After the U.S.S. Pueblo was captured by the North Koreans, the eighty-two surviving crew members were thrown into a brutal captivity. In one particular instance thirteen of the men were required to sit in a rigid manner around a table for hours. After several hours the door was violently flung open and a North Korean guard brutally beat the man in the first chair with the butt of his rifle. The ne...

482. Tried Every Possibility

Illustration

Michael P. Green

A young boy was doing his best to lift a rock that was too large for someone his size. He grunted and puffed as he tried various methods for lifting the rock. But, in spite of all his efforts, the rock wouldn’t budge. His father walked by and, after watching his son’s struggle, asked if he was having trouble. The boy answered, “Yes, I’ve tried everything, and it won’t move.” The father replied, “A...

483. Triumph of Christianity

Illustration

Michael P. Green

One of the most famous books of all time is Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, in which this eighteenth-century historian traces what happened to that mighty empire and how it disintegrated from within. In that book is a passage that Winston Churchill memorized because he felt it so descriptive. Gibbon says this concerning the church within the empire: “While that great body [R...

484. Triumph of Laws

Rom 8:2

Illustration

Michael P. Green

A law is a set pattern of how things happen; it is a rule. The law of gravity deems that a heavy slab of concrete will remain where it is placed. Thus sidewalks stay in place. But we all have seen a sidewalk that is heaved up and twisted because once a small acorn fell between the slabs of the sidewalk and now has grown into a massive oak tree whose roots are powerful enough to move great weights....

485. Truly Knowing One Another

Luke 20:27-40

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Dr. W. A. Criswell, the beloved pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, was once asked, “Will we know each other when we get to heaven?” His answer: “We won’t really know each other until we get to heaven.”

486. Trust The Equipment

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Pole climbing is an art. In order to climb, one must have a belt that goes around the pole and wear spiked shoes. The secret is to lean back and depend on the belt so the spikes can dig into the pole. Depending on the belt is hard to learn; often a beginner slides down the splintery pole because he won’t depend on his equipment. It only takes a few such experiences to convince the beginner that it...

487. Try Lefthanded

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Everyone who raises a child has times of intense frustration over the task. There are days when it seems as if the child will never learn, never respond correctly, never get things right. Perhaps it would raise your patience threshold to try to write with your left hand—and then remember that a child is all “left hand” while he or she is learning.

488. Trying to Get More

Illustration

Michael P. Green

If lasting happiness could be found in having material things and in being able to indulge ourselves in whatever we wanted, then most of us in America should be delirious with joy and happy beyond description. We should be producing books and poems that describe our state of unparalleled bliss. Our literature and art should rival that of the ancient Greeks and Romans and Renaissance craftsmen. In...

489. TV is the Opiate of the People

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Karl Marx said that religion was the opiate of the masses. He could not say such in our day, for it is television that is now both the opiate and pagan religion of the masses. Think about it for a moment. Television’s priests are its celebrities. Its denominations are the networks. Its morality is found in the ratings. Its shrines are the millions of flatscreens that occupy the altars in our home...

490. Twice Mine

Illustration

Michael P. Green

There was a young boy who lived in a New England seaport and loved to watch the boats come in from their daily catch. One day he decided to build a little sailboat all of his own. He worked for weeks, making sure each detail was just right. Finally the big day arrived. He went down to the wharf and proudly put his boat into the water. As he triumphantly observed his new sailboat, he noticed that t...

491. Two Dimes

Illustration

Michael P. Green

During the season of Super Bowl I, the great quarterback Bart Starr had a little incentive scheme going with his oldest son. For every perfect paper Bart Junior brought home from school, Starr gave him ten cents. After a particularly rough game against St. Louis, in which Starr felt he had performed poorly, he returned home weary and battered, late at night after a long plane ride. But he couldn’t...

492. Two Pats of Butter

Illustration

Michael P. Green

The story has been told of a bank employee who was due for a good promotion. One day at lunch the president of the bank, who happened to be standing behind the clerk in the cafeteria, which charged small fees for condiments, saw him slip two pats of butter under his slice of bread so they wouldn’t be seen by the cashier. That little act of dishonesty cost him his promotion. Just a few pennies’ wo...

493. Two Rivers Become One

Illustration

Michael P. Green

All of us have seen two rivers flowing smoothly and quietly along until they meet and join to form one new river. When this happens they clash and hurl themselves at one another. However, as the newly formed river flows downstream, it gradually quiets down and flows smoothly again. And now it is broader and more majestic and has more power. So it is in a marriage: the forming of a new union may be...

494. Two Tear Drops

Phil 4:12

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Two teardrops were floating down the river of life. One teardrop asked the other, “Who are you?” “I am a teardrop from a girl who loved a man and lost him. But who are you?” The first teardrop replied, “I am a teardrop from the girl who got him.” Life is like that. We cry over the things we can’t have, but we might cry twice as hard if we had received them. Paul had the right idea when he said,...

495. Unbelief or Neglect, Same Thing

Illustration

Michael P. Green

A story is told of a devout father whose son was studying for the ministry. The son decided to go to Europe for an advanced degree, and the father worried that his simple faith would be spoiled by sophisticated, unbelieving professors. “Don’t let them take Jonah away from you,” he admonished, figuring the swallowed-by-a-great-fish story might be the first part of the Bible to go. Two years later ...

496. Unconditional Puppy Love

Illustration

Michael P. Green

One Sunday a little boy looked up at his dad and asked, “Daddy, how does God love us?” His father answered, “Son, God loves us with an unconditional love.” The lad thought for a moment and then asked, “Daddy, what kind of love is unconditional love?” After a few minutes of silence his father answered, “Do you remember the two boys who used to live next door to us and the cute little puppy they go...

497. Unforgiveness is What Ails Us

Illustration

Michael P. Green

The famous psychiatrist Karl Menninger said that if he could convince the patients in his psychiatric hospitals that their sins are forgiven, 75 percent of them could walk out the next day. So often we do not take God at his word!

498. Unwanted to Wanted

Illustration

Michael P. Green

In 1944, a forty-one-year-old woman sought an abortion from her doctor. He firmly refused, asserting that abortion was just not right, morally, ethically, or legally. The woman later gave birth to a baby boy and named him James Robison. This unwanted child grew up to become a well-known evangelist. God has a plan for every human life, even those who are not wanted.

499. Urim and Thummim

Illustration

Michael P. Green

The story has been told of a young man who was a recent graduate of a theological seminary. Educated beyond his intelligence, he had arrived at the spot where he thought he knew all the answers to all the theological problems and was eager to parade his knowledge. He came to a certain town where lived an elderly Christian layman who had never been to a Bible school or seminary but had taught himse...

500. Use A Rod Not A Net

Illustration

Michael P. Green

“It is better for most of us to fish with the rod than with the net. To angle for single souls rather than to try and enclose a multitude at once. Preaching to a congregation has its own place and value; but private and personal talk honestly and wisely done will effect more than the most eloquent preaching” (attributed to Alexander Maclaren, a widely known preacher).

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Showing 476 to 500 of 538 results

476. They Needled Each Other

Humor Illustration

Michael P. Green

477. This Too Shall Pass

1 John 2:17

Illustration

Michael P. Green

478. Time Spent

Mt 16:26

Illustration

Michael P. Green

479. Too Close To Temptation

Illustration

Michael P. Green

480. Trading Pain For Gold

Illustration

Michael P. Green

481. Trading Places

Illustration

Michael P. Green

482. Tried Every Possibility

Illustration

Michael P. Green

483. Triumph of Christianity

Illustration

Michael P. Green

484. Triumph of Laws

Rom 8:2

Illustration

Michael P. Green

485. Truly Knowing One Another

Luke 20:27-40

Illustration

Michael P. Green

486. Trust The Equipment

Illustration

Michael P. Green

487. Try Lefthanded

Illustration

Michael P. Green

488. Trying to Get More

Illustration

Michael P. Green

489. TV is the Opiate of the People

Illustration

Michael P. Green

490. Twice Mine

Illustration

Michael P. Green

491. Two Dimes

Illustration

Michael P. Green

492. Two Pats of Butter

Illustration

Michael P. Green

493. Two Rivers Become One

Illustration

Michael P. Green

494. Two Tear Drops

Phil 4:12

Illustration

Michael P. Green

495. Unbelief or Neglect, Same Thing

Illustration

Michael P. Green

496. Unconditional Puppy Love

Illustration

Michael P. Green

497. Unforgiveness is What Ails Us

Illustration

Michael P. Green

498. Unwanted to Wanted

Illustration

Michael P. Green

499. Urim and Thummim

Illustration

Michael P. Green

500. Use A Rod Not A Net

Illustration

Michael P. Green

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