Sermon and Worship Resources

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1. Catch Me!

Illustration

Tim Hansel

One day, a father took his son Zac out to the country. As they were climbing around some cliffs, the father heard a voice from above yell, "Hey Dad! Catch me!" He turned around to see Zac joyfully jumping off a rock straight at him. He had jumped and then yelled "Hey Dad!" The father became an instant circus act, catching him, and then both falling to the ground. For a moment after he caught him t...

2. Crucifixion is Slow

Illustration

Tim Hansel

It's only by cracking our very nature that God is able to even begin to make us vessels for His living word. We are called to be crucified with Christ. When I was younger and struggling hard with that concept, I asked a saintly, elderly woman, "Why, if my old nature has been crucified with Christ, does it continue to keep on wiggling?" She smiled and said in a quiet voice, "You must remember, Tim...

3. Front Row Heroes

Illustration

Tim Hansel

There's a wonderful story about Jimmy Durante, one of the great entertainers of the 20th century. He was asked to be a part of a show for World War II veterans. He told them his schedule was very busy, and he could afford only a few minutes, but if they wouldn't mind his doing one short monologue and immediately leaving for his next appointment, he would come. Of course, the show's director agreed...

4. Many Ways To a Good Grade

Illustration

Tim Hansel

Here's an example of uncommon creativity in a story, actually a modern parable, originally told by Alexander Calandra: Sometime ago, I received a call from a colleague who asked if I would be the referee on the grading of an examination question. He was about to give a student a zero for his answer to a physics question, while the student claimed he should receive a perfect score and would if the...

5. Put Through the Fire

Illustration

Tim Hansel

Most of the Psalms were born in difficulty. Most of the Epistles were written in prisons. Most of the greatest thoughts of the greatest thinkers of all time had to pass through the fire. Bunyan wrote Pilgrim's Progress from jail. Florence Nightingale, too ill to move from her bed, reorganized the hospitals of England. Semi-paralyzed and under the constant menace of apoplexy, Pasteur was tireless i...

6. Reveal the Way

Illustration

Tim Hansel

The famous inventor Samuel Morse was asked if he ever encountered situations where he didn't know what to do. Morse responded, "More than once, and whenever I could not see my way clearly, I knelt down and prayed to God for light and understanding." Morse received many honors from his invention of the telegraph but felt undeserving: "I have made a valuable application of electricity not because I ...

7. Rising From the Ashes

Illustration

Tim Hansel

Clarence Jordan was a man of unusual abilities and commitment. He had two Ph.D.s, one in agriculture and one in Greek and Hebrew. So gifted was he, he could have chosen to do anything he wanted. He chose to serve the poor. In the 1940s, he founded a farm in Americus, Georgia, and called it Koinonia Farm. It was a community for poor whites and poor blacks. As you might guess, such an idea did not g...

8. Risking Failure is Growth

Illustration

Tim Hansel

One of the reasons why mature people stop growing and learning, says John Gardner, "is that they become less and less willing to risk failure."

9. The Buddy System

John 15:12

Illustration

Tim Hansel

In Ernest Gordon's true account of life in a World War II Japanese prison camp, Through the Valley of the Kwai, there is a story that never fails to move me. It is about a man who through giving it all away literally transformed a whole camp of soldiers. The man's name was Angus McGillivray. Angus was a Scottish prisoner in one of the camps filled with Americans, Australians, and Britons who had h...

One of the greatest tragedies of our modern civilization is that you and I can live a trivial life and get away with it.

Tim Hansel

Showing 1 to 10 of 10all results

Showing all results

1. Catch Me!

Illustration

Tim Hansel

2. Crucifixion is Slow

Illustration

Tim Hansel

3. Front Row Heroes

Illustration

Tim Hansel

4. Many Ways To a Good Grade

Illustration

Tim Hansel

5. Put Through the Fire

Illustration

Tim Hansel

6. Reveal the Way

Illustration

Tim Hansel

7. Rising From the Ashes

Illustration

Tim Hansel

8. Risking Failure is Growth

Illustration

Tim Hansel

One of the reasons why mature people stop growing and learning, says John Gardner, "is that they become less and less willing to risk failure."

9. The Buddy System

John 15:12

Illustration

Tim Hansel

One of the greatest tragedies of our modern civilization is that you and I can live a trivial life and get away with it.

Tim Hansel

Showing 1 to 10 of 10all results