Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 51 to 75 of 538 results

51. Arrested Development

Illustration

Michael P. Green

As a Christian, you have everything you need to be what you ought to be. Spiritual maturity is not a process of gaining things that you did not have when you became a believer. For example, consider a newborn baby. It isn’t born without arms, and then gets them later. It’s not a pollywog. It doesn’t develop into a frog. When a baby is born, it has all the physical equipment it will ever have. In ...

52. Arrived Safely Home

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Eric Barker was a missionary from Great Britain who had spent over fifty years in Portugal preaching the gospel, often under adverse conditions. During World War II, the situation became so critical that he took the advice to send his wife and eight children to England for safety. His sister and her three children were also evacuated on the same ship. Barker remained behind to conclude some missio...

53. Aspirins Don't Work On Sunday

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Dear Sir: You manufacture aspirin tablets that relieve sufferings, colds, and fevers. The mixture used in your tablets makes it possible for people to get out of bed and fight off headaches, bad nerves, and muscle spasms. I have noticed that these tablets work wonders on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and especially well on Saturday. But people who take them on Sunday seem to get n...

54. Babies Wanted

Illustration

Michael P. Green

We live in a time of social decay, expansion of evil in the world, and worsening trends. Have we therefore reached a point where we should call it quits on having a family? No, absolutely not! Remember history’s lessons. Pharaoh was throwing Hebrew babies into the Nile River when Moses was born. The finest of Israel’s youth were led into captivity to serve a pagan and evil empire in Daniel’s day....

55. Baby Rattlesnake Legend

Illustration

Michael P. Green

A workman on a road construction crew told this story of a time when he was working on a project deep in the mountain area of Pennsylvania. Every morning as he drove to work in his pickup, he would see a young boy at a fishing hole near the road. He would wave and speak to the boy each day. One day, however, as he drove slowly past the fishing spot and asked how the boy was doing, he got a strange...

56. Baptism Is A Shadow

Illustration

Michael P. Green

A minister was seeking to explain the significance of baptism to a new convert. He was gesturing as he talked and noticed that as he was using his hand its shadow fell on the ground. So he said to the convert, “Do you see the shadow of my hand on the sand? Now this is just a shadow. The hand is the real thing. And when you came to Jesus, when you believed in Jesus, that was the real baptism. You w...

57. Baptism Is Like a Wedding Ring

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Baptism is like a wedding ring: they both symbolize transactions. A wedding ring symbolizes marriage, just as baptism symbolizes salvation. Wearing a wedding ring does not make you married any more than being baptized makes you saved. To extend the parallel, if a person, especially a woman, does not wear a wedding ring you can almost always assume that the person is not married. So it was in New ...

58. Barking Like A Seal

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Some time ago, the Saturday Evening Post ran a humorous article that traced the tendency for marriage partners to drift from a height of bliss into the humdrum of routine attitudes. Called “The Seven Ages of the Married Cold,” the article likens the state of the marriage to the reaction of a husband to his wife’s colds during seven years of marriage. The first year: “Sugar dumpling, I’m worried a...

59. Be Faithful Where You Are

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Legend has it that the eleventh-century German king and Roman emperor, King Henry III, who, having grown tired of court life and the pressures of being a monarch, applied to a monastery to be accepted for a life of contemplation. The religious superior of the monastery, Prior Richard, is reported to have said, “Your Majesty, do you understand that the pledge here is one of obedience? That will be ...

60. Be Nice

Illustration

Michael P. Green

After a session with his parents, a little boy taped to his parents’ door a note that read: “Dear parents, Be nice to your children and they will be nice to you. Love, God.”

61. Because Their Mine

Illustration

Michael P. Green

One day a single friend asked a father of four, “Why do you love your kids?” The father thought for a minute, but the only answer he could come up with was “Because they’re mine.” The children had no need to do anything to prove themselves to this father. He took them just as they were. So it is with God’s love for us. He loves us as we are, and it is his love that motivates us to trust and obey h...

62. Before and After We Exist

Illustration

Michael P. Green

A child does not begin to exist when he (or she) is born. The child has already existed for nine months prior to this in the mother’s womb. At the point of birth, only the conditions in which the child exists change. Before, he lived internally; now, he lives externally. Before, he was fed internally; now, he feeds externally. He does not begin to live at birth: he has lived all the time since con...

63. Belt Evidence

Illustration

Michael P. Green

In addition to being one of the most successful baseball manager of his day, John J. McGraw may have been responsible for there being a third-base umpire. Long before he became a famous manager of the New York Giants, as a young third baseman with the old Baltimore Orioles the intensely competitive McGraw had a habit of hooking his finger in the belt of a base runner who was tagging up to score af...

64. Better Than Last week

Illustration

Michael P. Green

As young Johnny reached for the ringing phone one Saturday, his dad sighed through his teeth: “If it’s the guy from the office, tell him I’m not home.” That evening the family went out for dinner. Before leaving the restaurant, Johnny’s mother looked at the check and mentioned that the waitress had undercharged them. “That’s their tough luck,” mumbled the father. On the way home, they joked about ...

65. Beyond the Gate

Illustration

Michael P. Green

A farmer repeatedly invited a friend into his apple orchard to taste the fruit and make some fresh cider. But, just as often, the friend said, “No, I would rather not.” Finally, the farmer said, “I guess you are prejudiced against my apples.” “Well, to tell the truth,” his friend said, “I have tasted a few of them and they are very sour.” The farmer then asked which apples his friend had eaten....

66. Bible Now or Psychiatrist Later

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Andrew Young, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, urged the graduating class of the University of Maryland’s Eastern Shore campus to “get a Bible” and read a chapter a day. “It won’t hurt you at all,” he said in his commencement address, “and it will give you more illumination and purpose in life. It’s better to invest fifteen dollars in a Bible now than twenty-five dollars an hour for a...

67. Big Needles

Illustration

Michael P. Green

A doctor had to give a painful shot to a four-year-old girl. When she learned what the doctor was about to do, her face showed her anxiety and her body tensed. As the doctor picked up what looked to the little girl to be a needle large enough to kill an elephant, she turned her eyes to her father, who then took her hand and fixed his eyes on hers. An expression of confidence and calmness came on h...

68. Billy The Father

Humor Illustration

Michael P. Green

Little Billy was allowed to sit in his father’s place at the dinner table one evening when his father was absent. His slightly older sister, resenting the arrangement, sneered, “So, you’re the father tonight. All right, how much is two times seven?” Without a moment’s hesitation, Billy replied nonchalantly, “I’m busy. Ask your mother!”

69. Bird Dog

Humor Illustration

Michael P. Green

Before the opening day of pheasant season, two city-dwellers who aspired to be hunters bought a bird dog, having heard that such a dog would make for much more enjoyable and profitable hunting. When the big day came, they were up bright and early. They hunted all day, but as dusk began to overtake them, they hadn’t fired a single shot. The hunters were exhausted and frustrated over the poor perfor...

70. Biting Oneself

Illustration

Michael P. Green

It is said that a rattlesnake, if cornered, will sometimes become so upset that it will bite itself. That is exactly what the harboring of hate and resentment against others is—a biting of oneself. We think that we are harming others in holding these grudges and hates, but the deeper harm is to ourselves.

71. Blinding Anger

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Alexander the Great was one of the few men in history who seemed to deserve his descriptive title. He was energetic, versatile, and intelligent. Although hatred was not generally part of his nature, several times in his life he was tragically defeated by anger. The story is told of one of these occasions, when a dear friend of Alexander, a general in his army, became intoxicated and began to ridic...

72. Bon Appetit

Humor Illustration

Michael P. Green

The story is told of two businessmen, an American and a Frenchman, who met on a transatlantic voyage. As the American was seated for lunch with the Frenchman, the latter raised his wine glass and said, “Bon appetit.” To which the smiling American replied, “Johnson.” Since neither spoke the other’s language, no other words were exchanged during the meal. After the same thing happened at dinner, an ...

73. Break A Leg

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Please see the note below this illustration. A woman visiting in Switzerland came to a sheepfold on one of her daily walks. Venturing in, she saw the shepherd seated on the ground with his flock around him. Nearby, on a pile of straw lay a single sheep, which seemed to be suffering. Looking closely, the woman saw that its leg was broken. Her sympathy went out to the suffering sheep, and she look...

74. Breaking The Pastor's Heart

Romans 9:1-29

Illustration

Michael P. Green

A man said to a friend, “I hear you dismissed your pastor. What was wrong?” The friend said, “Well, he kept telling us we’re all going to hell.” The first man then asked, “What does the new pastor say?” The friend replied, “The new pastor says we’re going to hell, too.” “So what’s the difference?” asked the first man. “Well,” said the friend, “the difference is that when the previous pastor said...

75. Bring The Parchments

Illustration

Michael P. Green

A. C. Gabaeline rates J. N. Darby as one of the great teachers of the Word of God. Dr. Darby for many years lived among the rustic country people of Ireland—preaching the gospel to these farm families and living at their modest level. One day an infidel who was very well-known in those times challenged Darby, saying, “You claim that all Scripture is profitable. What possible earthly value could a...

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Showing 51 to 75 of 538 results

51. Arrested Development

Illustration

Michael P. Green

52. Arrived Safely Home

Illustration

Michael P. Green

53. Aspirins Don't Work On Sunday

Illustration

Michael P. Green

54. Babies Wanted

Illustration

Michael P. Green

55. Baby Rattlesnake Legend

Illustration

Michael P. Green

56. Baptism Is A Shadow

Illustration

Michael P. Green

57. Baptism Is Like a Wedding Ring

Illustration

Michael P. Green

58. Barking Like A Seal

Illustration

Michael P. Green

59. Be Faithful Where You Are

Illustration

Michael P. Green

60. Be Nice

Illustration

Michael P. Green

After a session with his parents, a little boy taped to his parents’ door a note that read: “Dear parents, Be nice to your children and they will be nice to you. Love, God.”

61. Because Their Mine

Illustration

Michael P. Green

62. Before and After We Exist

Illustration

Michael P. Green

63. Belt Evidence

Illustration

Michael P. Green

64. Better Than Last week

Illustration

Michael P. Green

65. Beyond the Gate

Illustration

Michael P. Green

66. Bible Now or Psychiatrist Later

Illustration

Michael P. Green

67. Big Needles

Illustration

Michael P. Green

68. Billy The Father

Humor Illustration

Michael P. Green

69. Bird Dog

Humor Illustration

Michael P. Green

70. Biting Oneself

Illustration

Michael P. Green

71. Blinding Anger

Illustration

Michael P. Green

72. Bon Appetit

Humor Illustration

Michael P. Green

73. Break A Leg

Illustration

Michael P. Green

74. Breaking The Pastor's Heart

Romans 9:1-29

Illustration

Michael P. Green

75. Bring The Parchments

Illustration

Michael P. Green

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