Extravagant Love 
by Michael Hensley
John 12:1-11
Here is a true story about a nine-year-old boy who lived in a rural town in Tennessee. His house was in a poor area of the community. A church had a bus ministry that came knocking on his door one Saturday afternoon. The kid came to answer the door and greeted the bus pastor. The bus pastor asked if his parents were home and the small boy told him that his parents take off every weekend and leave him at home to take care of his little brother.
Full Sermon »

Thank You God! A Thanksgiving Message
by Steve Malone
Psalms 18:1-50
On Sept 16, 1620, two ships set sail from Plymouth England, The Speedwell and the Mayflower. The Speedwell encountered much difficulty as they began their journey springing many leaks in the ship. So when the two ships went to port in Plymouth England, the Speedwell decided to go no further, and 42 passengers from the Speedwell joined the 60 passengers and 30 crew members aboard the Mayflower.
Full Sermon »

Praying Like Jesus: Ten Principles of Prayer 
by Harvie Neatherlin
Luke 11:1-13
I read about a small Oklahoma town that had two churches and one distillery. Members of both churches complained that the distillery was giving the community a bad image. And to make matters worse the owner of the distillery was an outspoken atheist. He didn’t believe in God one bit. The church people had tried unsuccessfully for years to shut down the distillery.
Full Sermon »

Encountering Jesus in Our Life 
by John Tung
Luke 5:1-11
Tiger Woods had one of the most incredible first years of any professional golfer in 1997. He won the prestigious Masters Tournament by an unheard of 12 strokes. He went on to win 4 of the 15 tournaments, earning $1.8 million in prize money and $60 million in endorsements from Nike and other companies.
Full Sermon »

Angel

Dare to Be Different

Pathway

Playing With Fire

Walk By Faith

Great at Anything

One day a man met Spurgeon on the street, took off his hat and bowed, and said, “The Rev. Mr. Spurgeon—a great humbug!”

Spurgeon took off his hat and replied, “Thank you for the compliment. I am glad to hear that I am a great anything!”

Source:  Wycliffe Handbook of Preaching & Preachers, W. Wiersbe, p. 221

The Bridge

During the Great Depression, a man got a job on the edge of the Mississippi caring for one of those great, huge railroad bridges that cross that mighty river.

One day, he brought his 8-year-old son to work with him to see what he did all day. The little boy was wide-eyed with excitement, and he clapped his hands with glee when the huge bridge went up at the beck and call of his mighty father. He watched with wonderment as the huge boats steamed down the Mississippi.

Twelve o’clock came, and his father put up the bridge. There were no trains due for a good while, and they went out a couple of hundred feet on a catwalk out over the river to an observation deck. They sat down, opened their brown bag, and began to eat their lunch.

The time whirled by, and suddenly they were drawn instantly back to reality by the shrieking of a distant train whistle. John Griffith quickly looked at his watch. He saw that it was time for the 1:07, the Memphis Express, with 400 passengers, which would be rushing across that bridge in just a couple of minutes.

He knew he had just enough time, so without panic but with alacrity he told his son to stay where he was. He leaped to his feet, jumped to the catwalk, ran back, climbed the ladder to the control room, went in, put his hand on the huge lever that controlled the bridge, looked up the river and down to see if any boats were coming, as was his custom, and then looked down to see if there were any beneath the bridge.

And suddenly he saw a sight that froze his blood and caused his heart to leap into his throat. His boy! His boy had tried to follow him to the control room and had fallen into the great, huge gear box that had the monstrous gears that operated this massive bridge. His left leg was caught between the two main gears, and the father knew that as sure as the sun came up in the morning, if he pushed that lever his son would be ground in the midst of eight tons of whining, grinding steel.

His eyes filled with tears of panic. His mind whirled. What could he do? He saw a rope there in the control room. He could rush down the ladder and out the catwalk, tie off the rope, lower himself down, extricate his son, climb back up the rope, run back into the control room, and lower the bridge.

No sooner had his mind done that exercise than he knew--he knew there wasn’t time. He’d never make it, and there were 400 people on that train.

Suddenly he heard the whistle again, this time startlingly closer. And he could hear the clicking of the locomotive wheels on the track, and he could hear the rapid puffing of the train. What could he do? What could he do! There were 400 people, but this was ... this was his son, this was his only son. He was a father! He knew what he had to do, so he buried his head in his arm and he pushed the gear forward.

The great bridge slowly lowered into place just as the express train roared across. He lifted up his tear-smeared face and looked straight into the flashing windows of that train as they flashed by one after another. He saw men reading the afternoon paper, a conductor in uniform looking at a large vest-pocket watch, ladies sipping tea out of teacups, and little children pushing long spoons into plates of ice cream. Nobody looked in the control room. Nobody looked at his tears. Nobody, nobody looked down to the great gear box.

In heart-wrenching agony, he beat against the window of the control room, and he said, "What’s wrong with you people? Don’t you care? I sacrificed my son for you. Don’t any of you care?" Nobody looked. Nobody heard. Nobody heeded. And the train disappeared across the river.   

Contributed by: Russell Brownworth

Christ in the Flesh

A little girl was always scared to go to sleep alone in the dark. Oftentimes she would want to sleep with her parents, but they were trying to help her conquer her fear. Meaning well, they would say, “Don’t be frightened, Elizabeth, Jesus is with you; he will protect you; you don’t need to be afraid.” Elizabeth simply replied, “Yes, but Daddy and Mommy, I want a Jesus with skin on.” Many times evangelism is simply your obedience and mine to “be Jesus with skin on” to our friends who are hurting.

Bringing Them In

Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman, famous evangelist, said that New Testament records tell of 40 people, each suffering from the same disease, who were healed by Jesus.

Of this number, 34 were either brought to Jesus by friends, or he was taken to them. In only six cases out of 40 did the sufferers find the way to Jesus without assistance.

Of the vast number of people who find their way to Jesus today, most of them reach Him because the friends of Jesus are concerned about the welfare of their souls.

Source: Tan, P. L. Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations, 1996, c1979. Bible Communications: Garland TX.  |  Contributed by: David Schaal

No One Ever Told Us

Some time ago an 18-year-old girl from Washington state attended a worship service. For the first time in her life she heard the gospel message. The following Tuesday the members of the church received a letter from her. It read:

Dear Church members:

Last Sunday I attended your church, and I heard the preacher. In the sermon the preacher said that all men have sinned and rebelled against God. Because of their rebellion and disobedience they all face eternal damnation and separation from God.

But then he also said God loved men and sent his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to redeem men from their sins and that all those who believe in him would go to heaven and live with God eternally.

My parents recently died in rapid succession. I know they did not believe in Jesus Christ, whom you call the Savior of the world. If what you believe is true, they are damned.

You compel me to believe that either the message is true, that you yourself don’t believe this message, or that you don’t care. You see, we live only three blocks from your church, and no one ever told us.