Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 76 to 100 of 538 results

76. Bringing The Blind

Illustration

Michael P. Green

A Chinese farmer, after having cataracts removed from his eyes, made his way from the Christian compound to the far interior of China. Only a few days elapsed, however, before the missionary doctor looked out of his bamboo window and noticed this formerly blind man holding the front end of a long rope. In single file and holding to the rope behind him several dozen blind Chinese whom the farmer ha...

77. Brotherly Rivalry

Illustration

Michael P. Green

On the American frontier, denominational differences were taken seriously. The story is told of a young Methodist minister who was asked to conduct a funeral for a Baptist. Since ministers were in short supply and he was the only one for miles around, he was unsure what to do. He performed the funeral and wrote to his bishop, asking if he had made the right decision and requesting some general gui...

78. Building a Cathedral

Illustration

Michael P. Green

There’s a well-worn story of a man who approached a laborer who was laying bricks and asked him, “What are you doing?” The laborer said, “Can’t you see I’m laying bricks?” The man then walked over to another bricklayer and asked, “What are you doing?” And the workman answered with pride, “I’m building a cathedral.” Both were physically doing the same thing. But the first laborer was occupied with...

79. Burning Bridges and Scuttling Ships

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Many men of the world have understood the necessity for commitment if they are to accomplish great things. For example, when Spanish explorer Cortez landed at Vera Cruz in 1519 to begin his conquest of Mexico with a small force of seven hundred men, legend has it that he purposely set fire to his fleet of eleven ships. Presumably, his men on the shore watched their only means of retreat sink to th...

80. Buying Echoes

Illustration

Michael P. Green

A man was on the practice golf course when the club pro brought another man out for a lesson. The pro watched the fellow swing several times and started making suggestions for improvement, but each time the pupil interrupted with his own version of what was wrong and how to correct it. After a few minutes of this interference, the pro began nodding his head in agreement. At the end of the lesson, ...

81. Caged By The Cross

Illustration

Michael P. Green

On a trip to the zoo, a boy and his father saw a huge lion. The lion prowled around his enclosure letting out chilling roars. The boy became very frightened and screamed grabbing his father's leg, but the father remained calm and unafraid. The boy saw only the lion; the father saw the lion but he also saw the cage. Christian’s view Satan as a fierce enemy caged by the cross.

82. Care of Vines

John 15:1-8

Illustration

Michael P. Green

The usual practice in viticulture, the care of vines, is for the branches to be pruned back each year in order to cleanse them. A vine produces certain shoots called “sucker shoots,” which start to grow where a branch joins the stem. If allowed to continue to grow, they would dissipate the life of the vine through so many branches that the vine would produce little or no fruit and would produce ma...

83. Careful What You Put In

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Anyone with a small child must feel as Cardinal Wolsey felt about Henry VIII: “Be well advised and assured what you put in his head, for ye shall never pull it out again."

84. Cell Division or Unity

Illustration

Michael P. Green

In any flesh-and-bones body, there are a variety of cells. There are nerve cells, blood cells, muscle cells, and many others, each having a distinct function. The body operates smoothly, not because the cells get together and vote on what to do, but because each one does what it was designed to do. It is the function of the head to bring all these different functions together, so that the body ope...

Your ideal is what you wish you were. Your reputation is what people say you are. Your character is what you are.

Michael P. Green

86. Children and Evangelism

Illustration

Michael P. Green

The great evangelist D. L. Moody was once asked, “How many converts did you have last night?” He answered, “Two and one-half.” “You mean two adults and a child?” “No,” he replied. “Two children and one adult.” A child converted is an entire life converted.

Understanding the workings of the atomic bomb is child’s play compared to understanding child’s play.

Michael P. Green

88. Christ Brings Holiness

Illustration

Michael P. Green

The great missionary David Brainerd, who spent his brief life (he died before the age of thirty) ministering to American Indians, wrote in his journal these words: “I never got away from Jesus and him crucified. When my people were gripped by this great evangelical doctrine of Christ and him crucified, I had no need to give them instructions about morality. I found that one followed as the sure an...

89. Christ, Incarnation of

Illustration

Michael P. Green

The story is told of Shah Abbis, a Persian monarch who loved his people very much. To know and understand them better, he would mingle with his subjects in various disguises. One day he went as a poor man to the public baths and in a tiny cellar sat beside the fireman who tended the furnace. When it was mealtime the monarch shared his coarse food and talked to his lonely subject as a friend. Again...

90. Christian Liberty

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Fire, depending on how it is used, can be either beneficial or destructive. When used correctly, it can warm a house, cook food, and create a romantic evening with your spouse. However, when fire is used incorrectly, it can lay waste to woodlands, destroy houses, or even devastate an entire city. Christian liberty is the same. When used correctly, it can be extremely beneficial, but when used inc...

Christian failure is seldom a blowout; it is usually a slow leak.

Michael P. Green

92. Church Strife

Illustration

Michael P. Green

In Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, there are named two ladies who could not get along with each other, Euodia and Syntyche (or, as it has been humorously rendered, Odious and Soontouchy). They obviously had trouble working together. Then and now, the church is too often described in this little jingle: To dwell above with saints we love, O that will sure be glory. But to dwell below with saints...

93. Closer To My Home

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Enoch lived to be 365 years old. The Bible says that he walked with God and God took him away. A little girl described this experience to her mother. “Mamma,” she said, “one day Enoch and God took a walk together. They walked and they talked, and they talked and they walked, until Enoch finally said, ‘Oh, my, dear Lord, it’s getting late. I’d better go home.’ And the Lord said, ‘Why, Enoch, we’ve ...

94. Compelle Intrare

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Two passages by C. S. Lewis illustrate the author’s esxperience with God’s grace: You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelented approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929, I gave in and admi...

95. Conditioned For The Journey

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Lord Joseph Duveen, American head of the art firm that bore his name, planned in 1915 to send one of his experts to England to examine some ancient pottery. He booked passage on the Lusitania. Then the German Embassy issued a warning that the liner might be torpedoed. Duveen wanted to call off the trip. “I can’t take the risk of your being killed,” he said to his young employee. “Don’t worry,” sa...

96. Conscience vs. Conscious

Humor Illustration

Michael P. Green

A mother was helping her son with his spelling assignment and came to the words conscious and conscience. When she asked him if he knew the difference between the two, he responded, “Sure, Mom, ‘conscious’ is when you are aware of something and ‘conscience’ is when you wish you weren’t.”

97. Consuming One Another

Gal 5:14-15

Illustration

Michael P. Green

A zookeeper tossed a hot dog into a snake pen. Two snakes immediately began to devour the stick of meat, one on either end. When the two met at the middle, the snake with the larger mouth kept on going and consumed the other! We are reminded in this passage that people are often like these snakes, consuming one another with unkind words when they disagree on an issue.

98. Could It Happen Again Here?

Illustration

Michael P. Green

To those individuals acquainted with the Holocaust of World War II, the name of Simon Wiesenthal is certainly a most familiar one. World-famous for his ceaseless pursuit of Nazi war criminals, he often speaks to college audiences about his activities. “Could it happen again, even in the United States?” Wiesenthal is asked by American college audiences. His reply is, “Yes. All you need is a govern...

99. Crying With One Another

Illustration

Michael P. Green

A little girl lost a playmate in death and one day reported to her family that she had gone to comfort the sorrowing mother. “What did you say?” asked her parents. “Nothing,” she replied. “I just climbed up on her lap and cried with her.”

100. C.S. Lewis on Gambling

Illustration

Michael P. Green

With typical insight, C. S. Lewis summed up the problem some Christians have with gambling and offered a simple solution for those who are encouraged by friends, co-workers, and others to participate in an office pool or “friendly wager.” Problem: “If it is a way in which large sums of money are transferred from person to person without doing any good (e.g., producing employment, goodwill, etc.),...

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Showing 76 to 100 of 538 results

76. Bringing The Blind

Illustration

Michael P. Green

77. Brotherly Rivalry

Illustration

Michael P. Green

78. Building a Cathedral

Illustration

Michael P. Green

79. Burning Bridges and Scuttling Ships

Illustration

Michael P. Green

80. Buying Echoes

Illustration

Michael P. Green

81. Caged By The Cross

Illustration

Michael P. Green

82. Care of Vines

John 15:1-8

Illustration

Michael P. Green

83. Careful What You Put In

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Anyone with a small child must feel as Cardinal Wolsey felt about Henry VIII: “Be well advised and assured what you put in his head, for ye shall never pull it out again."

84. Cell Division or Unity

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Your ideal is what you wish you were. Your reputation is what people say you are. Your character is what you are.

Michael P. Green

86. Children and Evangelism

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Understanding the workings of the atomic bomb is child’s play compared to understanding child’s play.

Michael P. Green

88. Christ Brings Holiness

Illustration

Michael P. Green

89. Christ, Incarnation of

Illustration

Michael P. Green

90. Christian Liberty

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Christian failure is seldom a blowout; it is usually a slow leak.

Michael P. Green

92. Church Strife

Illustration

Michael P. Green

93. Closer To My Home

Illustration

Michael P. Green

94. Compelle Intrare

Illustration

Michael P. Green

95. Conditioned For The Journey

Illustration

Michael P. Green

96. Conscience vs. Conscious

Humor Illustration

Michael P. Green

97. Consuming One Another

Gal 5:14-15

Illustration

Michael P. Green

98. Could It Happen Again Here?

Illustration

Michael P. Green

99. Crying With One Another

Illustration

Michael P. Green

100. C.S. Lewis on Gambling

Illustration

Michael P. Green

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