The late Rev. Dr. John Rowan Claypool IV served as a pastor for 47 years, first in Southern Baptist Congregations in the South and then from 1986 to 2000 as the Rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Birmingham, Alabama. In his sermon entitled “The Future and Forgetting,” he shares this
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Methodist
Contributed by Alan Tison on Feb 21, 2008
based on 1 rating
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John Ortberg In his book, “Everyone is normal until you get to know them” speaks of this dilemma of getting close to one another without getting hurt. With the following illustration; The North American Porcupine is a member of the rodent family and has about thirty thousand quills attached to his
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Christian/Church Of Christ
Contributed by Ajai Prakash on Feb 21, 2008
Christian Herter was the governor of Massachusetts in the 1950’s the story is told of a time when he was campaigning, when he came across someone whom he was about to ignore, but found himself having to notice. Apparently, he was having a really hard day campaigning, missed his lunch and came in
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Evangelical/Non-Denominational
Contributed by Aubrey Vaughan on Feb 24, 2008
based on 5 ratings
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• I want to tell you a story about Paul Morphy was the world’s champion chess player in the 19th century. One day he was invited by a friend to look at a valuable painting titled, “the chess player.” in the painting, Satan was represented as playing chess with a young man, the stake being the young
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Baptist
Contributed by Doug Lyon on Jun 22, 2008
Do you desire God’s honor above your own?
My first ministry after seminary was back home in Rochester, NY. I was one of two chaplains at the Monroe County Jail. Every Saturday evening we would hold a worship service in the auditorium at the jail for the inmates. One of the deputies was
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Independent/Bible
Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 31, 2008
based on 2 ratings
| 3,263 views
COLVER'S MINISTRY
Nathaniel Colver was born on May 10, 1874 and lived in Champlain, New York; his family was one of thirteen families to reside there at the time. He was born into a Christian home and spent the vast majority of his youth learning to read from three books: The Bible, a Psalm book,
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Contributed by Dean O'bryan on Aug 25, 2008
based on 3 ratings
| 9,111 views
Kierkegaard's Complacent Duck
There was a Danish philosopher named Kierkegaard whose writings are weighty and tough to read. But that deep thinker one time told a simple parable that describes how easy it is to slide into complacency.
According to his parable, one Spring, a duck was flying
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Baptist
Contributed by Bobby Scobey on Sep 11, 2008
Myron
Do you need encouragement on a smaller scale for a person with lesser abilities? Kenneth Dodge, San Leandro, California:
In a small town in the Midwest where I spent six years of my early youth, there lived a mentally retarded adult named Myron. It was during depression years and there was
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Pentecostal
Contributed by Johnny Wilson on Feb 27, 2009
I am reminded of Herman Melville’s description of the pulpit in Moby Dick. It’s actually a description of a real pulpit in the Whaler’s Chapel that a Jewish friend went out of his way to show me in New Bedford, Massachusetts. It reads:
Its paneled front was in the likeness of a ship’s bluff bows,
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*other
One last story: years, ago, an executive from a soap company and a famous pastor were walking down the street together. They were to attend a meeting where they were going to be honored by their city for their contributions. With a snide sort of smirk, the soap manufacturer off handedly said,
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Lutheran
Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Nov 10, 2007
based on 3 ratings
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ILLUSTRATION: “No Use but Useful”
Elderly Sister Ann in China was born into quite an educated family. She had four brothers who all became doctors. She, however, was not even taught how to read and write. She began to train as a nurse, but her father fell ill and she was required to nurse him.
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Other
Contributed by Jeffery Lindsay on Aug 11, 2001
based on 61 ratings
| 5,718 views
In the foreward of his book, Inside Out, Larry Crabb writes this: “Modern Christianity, in dramatic reversal of its biblical form, promises to relieve the pain of living in a fallen world. The message, whether it’s from fundamentalists requiring us to live by a favored set of rules or from
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Michael Elmore on Nov 29, 2001
based on 6 ratings
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A wonderful illustration of how our lives can be transformed by God’s peace is found in the life of Archbishop of the Chicago diocese, Joseph Cardinal Bernardin’s. In his little book, The Gift of Peace, which he was working hard to complete just a year ago, there is a gripping and moving account of
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Methodist
Contributed by Sermon Central on Mar 11, 2002
based on 26 ratings
| 4,696 views
CROSSES ARE HEAVY
In March of 1997, Scott Mathews wanted the young people of Carthage, Missouri to understand the love of God. The theme for youth group that month was, “The Cross.” So they built a 500 lb, 8 by 14 foot redwood cross. It took ten students to move it. Crosses are heavy, you
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