Sermon Illustrations

Reporters have come up with a new term to describe the lack of reaction to disasters. They call it compassion fatigue. We are constantly inundated with stories of human distress: famine, genocide, and earthquakes. Some say that since we cannot help them all, we sometimes tune out such news. Certainly no one can accuse ...

Both were men of prayer. Both of them prayed when they were dying. Both of them prayed for forgiveness when they were dying. But there is a very significant difference. When Mohammed was dying he prayed for his own forgiveness. When Jesus was dying He prayed for the forgiveness of others. In fact, not once it is it...

Just south of Naples and overlooking its famous bay is the small city of Pozzuoli. It has a claim to fame. It is the most earthquake prone place on planet earth. Every year the people experience 4,000 earth tremors! In no other place is terra firma so unstable. Of course, no place is exempt from earthquakes -- and no person is...

Optimism

The incredibly wealthy Malcolm Forbes, Sr. once said, "By the time that we've made it, we've had it." What a dismal view of life and death. Far better is the view of that unknown man who said, "Any day above ground is a good one." And best of all the viewpoint of one who said, "Death is not extinguishing the light. It is...

Mark Twain compared himself favorably to George Washington. He noted that he had a higher standard than the first President. George Washington could not tell a lie. Twain said that he could tell a lie but he wouldn't!

The minister was early for the service, but there was one person already there. She was sitting in the back pew, at the end of the pew, half asleep. He went over and teased her about getting her nap finished before he began to preach. "This is the only place I can get any rest," she said. At first he thought she meant she had...

In 1799, fifty years before the California gold rush, gold was discovered in North Carolina. At Stanfield in Cabbarus county a 12 year old boy found a nugget weighing 17 pounds. His father, John Reed, not knowing what it was, used it as a doorstop. In 1802 he took it to a market in Fayetteville. A jeweler recognized that the...

One of the most difficult and exciting highways in North America is in Glacier National Park in Alberta. Vehicles more than 21 feet long or more than 8 feet wide are prohibited. The narrow, winding highway climbs up, up, up to the Logan Pass. It is called "The Going-to-the-Sun Road." That's S-u-n. Change one letter and you...