In Sermon Illustrations: "Love Of World"

Lead By Example

Contributed by John Bright on Oct 3, 2025

Lead by example. This is different than ordering folks around. When James and John ask for places of authority, Jesus warns them against acting like the world. Jesus describes what it will look like in the church: Mark 10:43-45 “43 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become ...read more

Scripture: Mark 10:43-45

Tags: Jesus, Example, Authority

Denomination: Methodist

April 21, 2005 "Give Me A Shrub With Character!" ...  PRO

Contributed by Mark Brunner on Apr 19, 2005

April 21, 2005 “Give Me A Shrub With Character!” Proverbs 12:3 Key verse(s) 3:“A man cannot be established through wickedness, but the righteous cannot be uprooted.” There are some plants that you can’t kill! I have long been fascinated by the differences exhibited in hardiness among the many ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 12:3, Proverbs 6:18

Tags: Faith

Denomination: Lutheran

What Would My Life Be Without A Cookie.

Contributed by James Snyder on Jan 21, 2023

This past week was about as crazy as they get. When I think it can't get any crazier, somebody hears me and makes it crazier just for me. One morning I had to go across town to get some office supplies and other things. I try to ensure that when I go, it's for several things, not just ...read more

Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:16

Tags: Cookie, Refreshing

Denomination: Christian Missionary Alliance

To One It’s Monday To Another It’s Wednesday

Contributed by James Snyder on Jan 11, 2020

Time goes so fast at times that I do not always remember what day it is. I get so busy trying to get my work done that I forget if it’s Monday or Friday. It is a good thing I am getting older because I have a built-in excuse for forgetting what day it is. Recently, the Gracious Mistress of the ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 15:13

Tags: Happiness, Joy

Denomination: Christian Missionary Alliance

The Harmonious Melody Of Hummingbirds

Contributed by James Snyder on Aug 27, 2022

A few months ago, The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage bought a harp and began teaching herself how to play it. She can play the piano, organ, flute, and sometimes me. Now she has graduated to the harp. So I guess she’s preparing for heaven, where she’ll play a heavenly harp. She was quite quick ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 20:12

Tags: Music, Hearing

Denomination: Christian Missionary Alliance

In The Book

Contributed by Ken Pell on Oct 19, 2009

In the book “101 Romantic Ideas” Laura Jeanne Allen tells the following story. My Grandfather and Grandmother were married for over half a century, and played their own special game from the time they had met each other. The goal of their game was to write the word "SHMILY" in a surprise place ...read more

Tags: Marriage, Marriage General

Denomination: Nazarene

[022] A Message From A Poem - At His Feet

Contributed by Ron Ferguson on Jul 3, 2024

[022] A MESSAGE FROM A POEM - AT HIS FEET This poem looks at certain events focussed on being at the Lord’s feet. Those feet that today bear the scars of Calvary, walked this earth in ministry and teaching as God among us. The best known story about the feet of Jesus is this one – {{Luke ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 2:9-11, Luke 10:39-42, Luke 7:37-38

Tags: Worship, Feet, Devotion, Mary And Martha, At His Feet, Bow At His Feet, Wiping Jesus Feet  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

A Man By The Name Of Max Depree Related The ...  PRO

Contributed by Mark Beaird on Nov 2, 2000

A man by the name of Max DePree related the following heart-touching story: Esther, my wife, and I have a granddaughter named Zoe, the Greek word for life. She was born prematurely and weighed one pound, seven ounces, so small that my wedding ring could slide up her arm to her shoulder. The ...read more

Tags: Forgiveness In Jesus, Humanity Of Christ, Descriptions Of God

Denomination: Pentecostal

Tevye, The Jewish Dairy Farmer In The Fiddler On ...  PRO

Contributed by Davon Huss on Feb 5, 2001

Tevye, the Jewish dairy farmer in the Fiddler on the Roof, lives with his wife and five daughters in czarist Russia. Change is taking place all around him and the new patterns are nowhere more obvious to Tevye than in the relationship between the sexes. First, one of his daughters announces that ...read more

Tags: Commitment To Christ, Faith, Discipleship, Disciples, Plan  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

More Than 3,000 Fans Packed San Francisco’s ...  PRO

Contributed by Brian Mavis on Aug 27, 2001

More than 3,000 fans packed San Francisco’s Masonic Auditorium. Many had driven for hundreds of miles to see their idol. Others held up signs reading, "We Love You John!" Then the man they came to see strode onto the stage - - an unlikely superstar, to say the least. As the Washington Post put it, ...read more

Tags: Paranormal

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

I Refuse To Be Discouraged  PRO

Contributed by Paul Fritz on Sep 1, 2001

To Think About:   I Refuse to be Discouraged. I refuse to be discouraged, To be sad, or to cry; I refuse to be downhearted, and here’s the reason why . . . I have a God who’s mighty, Who’s sovereign and supreme; I have a God who loves me, and I am on His team. He is all wise and powerful, Jesus ...read more

Scripture: Judges 6:11-30

Tags: Endurance

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Earlier That Same Year, 1885, Three Christian ...  PRO

Contributed by Steve Hereford on Oct 30, 2001

"Earlier that same year, 1885, three Christian boys had shed their blood for Christ in Uganda. The king had ordered the arrest of these page boys in an effort to stamp out Christianity. The eldest was fifteen and the youngest was eleven-year-old Yusufu. They held fast their faith and staked their ...read more

Scripture: John 14:1-12, John 14:12, 2 Timothy 4:7-8

Tags: Christian Disciplines, Forgiveness In Jesus

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

The Story Is Told - Out Of Ww 2 & The ...  PRO

Contributed by Tony Klinedinst on Aug 9, 2002

ILL. The story is told - out of WW 2 & the holocaust that took the lives of millions of people - of Solomon Rosenberg & his family. It is a true story. Solomon Rosenberg & his wife & their 2 sons & his mother & father were arrested & placed in a Nazi concentration camp. It was a labor camp, & the ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

I Know You Have Heard The Phrase "Remember The ...  PRO

Contributed by Dale Harlow on Jun 19, 2003

I know you have heard the phrase “remember the Alamo.” It is a story that illustrates what we, as men are all about. 187 men against the Mexican army of over 6000. They were extraordinary men, but they knew they couldn’t win with those odds. They had sent out pleas for help, but they had gone ...read more

Tags: Independence Day, Men And Women

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Live Churches Verse Dead Churches! (Adapted, ...  PRO

Contributed by Wade Martin Hughes, Sr on Jul 10, 2003

LIVE CHURCHES VERSE DEAD CHURCHES! (adapted, WRITER UNKNOWN) Live churches constantly change, --- dead churches resist and refuse change... Live churches love to try, dead churches feel they don’t have to... Live churches have youth that are noisy and can’t be still, dead churches are very ...read more

Tags: Leadership General, Church General

Denomination: Assembly Of God

Annie Johnson Flint's Life On Earth Could Never ...  PRO

Contributed by Paul Fritz on Aug 6, 2004

Annie Johnson Flint’s life on earth could never be measured in any degree by comfort and ease; quite the contrary, from childhood her body endured the onslaught of Rheumatoid Arthritis until she could no longer rise from bed. Over the years the affliction took a great toll, leaving her with no ...read more

Tags: Hardship Of Life, Human Body, Perseverance, Mercy, Affliction, Struggles  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

The Bible Tells The Story Of Absalom. He Was ...  PRO

Contributed by Rodney Buchanan on Aug 28, 2005

The Bible tells the story of Absalom. He was the son of King David — Israel’s greatest king. Through a series of circumstances, Absalom began to despise his father and made plans to become king in his father’s place. He surreptitiously sowed seeds of division and rebellion in his father’s ...read more

Scripture: 2 Samuel 18:1-33

Tags: Salvation, Repentance

Denomination: Methodist

Dallas Willard In His Wonderful New Book The ...

Contributed by Rodney Buchanan on Sep 10, 2006

Dallas Willard in his wonderful new book The Great Omission, surprised me by making a candid confession. He says, “Some time ago I came to realize that I did not love the people next door. They were, by any standards, dangerous and unpleasant people — ex-bikers who made their living selling ...read more

Denomination: Methodist

Finally Christmas

Contributed by Steve Smith on Dec 4, 2006

ILL: FINALLY CHRISTMAS Senator John McCain of Arizona was a prisoner of war during the Vietnam conflict. He was shot down and held as a prisoner of war in Hanoi for 5 ½ years, 1967-1973, spending much of it in solitary confinement. John McCain said this, “When I was being mistreated by the North ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

There Is A Crew At Our House In Thomasville. ...

Contributed by Russell Brownworth on Jun 18, 2007

There is a crew at our house in Thomasville. They’ve been working for the past few months putting two new rooms on the back of our house for Mom and Dad to come live there. Next to the house is a dumpster…it is about 8’ x 25’ and full of scrap wood, shingles, discarded Pepsi bottles and sandwich ...read more

Denomination: United Methodist