In Sermon Illustrations:

Govern A Family As You Would Cook A Small Fish ...

Contributed by Noel Atkinson on Jan 5, 2011

"Govern a family as you would cook a small fish -- very ...read more

Tags: Parenting

Denomination: Baptist

Limited Understanding

Contributed by Bret Toman on Jan 4, 2011

LIMITED UNDERSTANDING Suppose I take my 2 year old to the doctor and he gets a shot in the arm and it really hurts. He doesn’t understand that the shot is to help him get better. All he knows is that shot hurt. And daddy just stood there. Doesn’t dad know how bad a shot hurts? Was he unable to ...read more

Tags: Humility

Denomination: Baptist

Cruel Grace  PRO

Contributed by Bret Toman on Jan 4, 2011

CRUEL GRACE "Thirty years ago, many people chose churches based on whether the church believed and taught the truth. Today, many choose churches based on whether the church makes them feel comfortable. If a church tells the truth, it will gain some people but lose others. One out of five women ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:6

Tags: Grace

Denomination: Baptist

Redefining Sin

Contributed by Bret Toman on Jan 4, 2011

REDEFINING SIN "In recent years, and especially since the 1960s, the democratic societies of the West have been enlarging the boundaries of acceptable behaviour, in effect redefining sin. The sexual revolution of my youth dismantled barriers against premarital sex and encouraged open marriages. ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:1-11

Tags: Sin Exposed

Denomination: Baptist

Don't Hurt Yourself

Contributed by Bret Toman on Jan 4, 2011

James McDonald has a couple of sayings I like: "Choose to sin, choose to suffer." "When God says ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:11

Tags: Sin Exposed

Denomination: Baptist

What Do You Mean "I Love You"?

Contributed by Bret Toman on Jan 4, 2011

WHAT DO YOU MEAN "I LOVE YOU"? Dennis Rainey interviewed a man who had been stung by his father’s filthy heart, his failure to love. As a boy his dad decided to leave his mom for another woman. The Dad kissed his son on the forehead, said “I love you,” and walked out the door. What could he ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:6

Tags: Christian Love

Denomination: Baptist

The Lecherous Heart

Contributed by Bret Toman on Jan 4, 2011

THE LECHEROUS HEART Malcolm Muggeridge, the famous British philosopher and journalist who converted to Christianity late in life, once told the story of when he was working in India as a young man. One evening, he went down to the river for a swim. As he entered the water, he saw across the ...read more

Tags: Sin Exposed

Denomination: Baptist

Buried Chickens, Buried Sin

Contributed by Aaron Kilbourn on Jan 4, 2011

BURIED CHICKENS, BURIED SIN One of our youth, Andrew Plasier, shared this true story about an uncle of his in South Dakota and what happened a few summers ago. His uncle raised chickens, about 1200 of them, year round. In July the fans to the chickenhouse malfunctioned and stopped fanning the ...read more

Scripture: Luke 12:1-3

Tags: Sin Exposed

Denomination: Baptist

Recovery Is Connection

Contributed by Bret Toman on Jan 3, 2011

RECOVERY IS CONNECTION Henry Cloud in How People Grow writes, "Virtually every emotional and psychological problem, from addictions to depression, has alienation or emotional isolation at its core or close to it. Recovery from these problems involves helping people get more connected to each other ...read more

Tags: Church Small Groups

Denomination: Baptist

Response To Hurting People  PRO

Contributed by Bret Toman on Jan 3, 2011

RESPONSE TO HURTING PEOPLE In his book Soul Talk, Larry Crabb writes: "Which is worse? A church program to build community that doesn’t get off the ground or one person sitting every Sunday in the back of the church who remains unknown? A Sunday school class that once drew hundreds but has now ...read more

Tags: Unity

Denomination: Baptist

Get Up Stronger

Contributed by Bret Toman on Jan 3, 2011

GET UP STRONGER By the beginning of the nineteenth century, about three million African slaves had been transported to the Americas on British ships. People being stolen from their homes, ripped from their families, robbed of their dignity, transported on ships 3 decks deep, squalid conditions, ...read more

Tags: Endurance

Denomination: Baptist

Miss Gad-About

Contributed by J.d. Tutell on Jan 3, 2011

MISS GAD-ABOUT Years ago a man named Phillip Keller went from being a shepherd to a pastor, in his book on the 23rd Psalm he talks about one particular sheep that he had. Phillip took great pride in maintaining his fields, they were far greener than that of his neighbor, much better then the ...read more

Tags: God's Provision

Denomination: Baptist

Tear Down The Castle To Build The Wall

Contributed by Bob Joyce on Dec 28, 2010

TEAR DOWN THE CASTLE TO BUILD THE WALL The story is told that years ago in Ireland a certain castle was one of the architectural gems of the Emerald Isles. It was called Castle Wray. The structure fell into disrepair and finally was uninhabited. As often happens, peasants from nearby began to ...read more

Tags: Church Body Of Christ

Denomination: Baptist

On Melkarth

Contributed by Donnie Martin on Dec 4, 2010

ON MELKARTH Melkarth was the kind of god that required the burning of innocent children as oblations upon his altar. One of the underlying reasons why Baal was worshiped was that he was believed to be lord of the land. To induce him to send rain upon the earth, fertility cult practices were ...read more

Tags: Idolatry

Denomination: Baptist

Paul Powell Wrote In His Book The Complete ...  PRO

Contributed by Terry Blankenship on Dec 1, 2010

Paul Powell wrote in his book The Complete Disciple: "Many churches today remind me of a laboring crew trying to gather in a harvest while they sit in the tool shed. They go to the tool shed every Sunday and they study bigger and better methods of agriculture, sharpen their hoes, grease their ...read more

Tags: Evangelism Urgency

Denomination: Baptist

How's My Driving?  PRO

Contributed by James Lee on Dec 1, 2010

HOW'S MY DRIVING? Mat 5:16 "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." A lot of trucks have a sticker on the back that says, "How's my driving? Call xxx-xxxx to report." This is supposed to make the driver accountable. I read that in ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 5:16

Tags: Attitude General

Denomination: Baptist

The Bouquet Of Love

Contributed by Jimmy Haile on Nov 23, 2010

THE BOUQUET OF LOVE In A Second Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul, Rev. John R. Ramsey tells how in one church a certain person provided him with a rose boutonniere for the lapel of his suit every Sunday. At first he really appreciated it but then it sort of became routine. Then one Sunday it ...read more

Tags: Gratitude

Denomination: Baptist

Finishing The Race

Contributed by Chris Supper on Nov 3, 2010

FINISHING THE RACE August 1992. Derrick Redmond from Great Britain was favored to win the 400-meter race during the summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, but as he powered around the backstretch, his hamstring snapped. Redmond tried desperately to finish the race, but he still had half the ...read more

Tags: Endurance

Denomination: Baptist

Una Historia Impactante La De Charles Templenton, ...

Contributed by Fernando Ocampo on Oct 27, 2010

Una historia impactante la de Charles Templenton, un elocuente predicador, compañero de púlpito y amigo de Billy Graham quien, en el recorrido de la vida cristiana y el ministerio, llegó a un momento en donde sus cuestionamientos acerca de Dios tornó su corazón hacia la dureza. Templenton no ...read more

Tags: Religion, Doubts

Denomination: Baptist

Jesus' Frustration

Contributed by Timothy Dolan on Oct 17, 2010

JESUS' FRUSTRATION Living our lives, trusting Jesus, does not mean that we will never feel futility or pointlessness. The clear implication of Isaiah 49: verse 4 is that Jesus felt this way. How many times did Jesus have to say, "ye of little faith." "When the disciples failed to grasp the ...read more

Tags: Jesus Life

Denomination: Baptist