Illustrations Unlimited: THE LONELY IN THE CROWD: A few years ago, the press carried a heartrending story of a young father who shot himself in a tavern telephone booth. James Lee had called a Chicago newspaper and told a reporter he had sent the paper a manila envelope outlining his story. The
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Evangelical/Non-Denominational
Contributed by Sermon Central on Sep 22, 2002
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Few men of this century have understood better the inevitability of suffering than Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He seems never to have wavered in his Christian antagonism to the Nazi regime, although it meant for him imprisonment, the threat of torture, danger to his own family and finally death. He was
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Contributed by Ronald Courtney on Sep 13, 2008
It is the first century a sunny day in Jerusalem, the “City of Peace” as its name implies, and you can hear the murmurs of ill contempt spreading through the fringes of the crowd as Stephen proclaims his message. Beginning with Abraham, describing his faith in Jehovah God to provide, guide, and
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Baptist
The psalmist, probably in similar trouble, feels like he’s in the depths of the pit, surrounded by darkness. The irony is that if you go to Bethlehem, as we did three years ago, you can celebrate Eucharist in St. Jerome’s cell, where he translated the Sacred Scriptures into Latin. To get there,
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Catholic
We’re going to study a book of the Bible that is often called the LETTER OF JOY. Paul uses the word JOY 20 times in the short little book of Philippians.
What makes that really impressive is that Paul wrote the letter from a prison cell. He was not only in prison; he was literally chained to a
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Christian/Church Of Christ
Jesus willingly put aside His divine glory and became the lowest of humans, a poor carpenter from a backwater town in Galilee. He suffered and because he obediently suffered the death of a slave, he was crowned with glory and honor. The idea was to bring many of God’s children to the same glory,
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Catholic
Contributed by Bruce Howell on Jan 22, 2009
A body is not crippled ’til its heart has ceased to praise. Louis Albert Banks tells of an elderly Christian man, a fine singer, who learned that he had cancer of the tongue and that surgery was required. In the hospital after everything was ready for the operation, the man said to the doctor, "Are
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Wesleyan
Job sat on his dunghill and reflected that he was not alone in his pain. Everyone awakes to the same reality–hard work or hard study and every day’s the same thing, and nothing you do ever seems to make a difference. The line is Bill Murray’s from Groundhog Day, but, especially in a tough
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Catholic
Contributed by Paul Carlson on Feb 16, 2009
Some of you know Helen Schaaf. I shared with the church her current physical struggles a few weeks ago. She had debilitating back pain that was making walking excruciatingly painful; finally, her doctor diagnosed a treatment for her. She had an injection in her spine so that she could walk
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Baptist
St. John of the Cross was right: "it is quite impossible to reach the thicket of the riches and wisdom of God except by first entering the thicket of much suffering, in such a way that the soul finds there its consolation and desire. The soul that
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Catholic
Contributed by Clark Tanner on Mar 16, 2009
“Everyone dies…all flesh is grass…what did you expect? Did you really think that Christ would blunt the spear-points, deflect the lash, cause the chains to melt away when they touched your skin? Did you expect to walk in sunlight and not feel the heat, or to go without water and not grow thirsty?
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Orthodox
Contributed by Matthew Kratz on May 31, 2009
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Under Or Above Circumstances
There is a story of a lady who was severely depressed by a series of disheartening events. When asked how she was weathering the storm of adversity, she answered, “Quite well, under the circumstances.” “Sister,” he replied kindly yet firmly, “you’ll never make it that
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Contributed by Matthew Kratz on May 31, 2009
No House Without Sorrow
Among the parables that Chinese teachers use is the story of a woman who lost an only son. She was grief-stricken out of all reason. She made her sorrow a wailing wall. Finally she went to a wise old philosopher. He said to her, “I will give you back your son if you will
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