Sermon Illustrations
Money Talks
If money talks – what does it say?
Do we value other people by the size of their pay packet? If so, what does that say about the level of ministerial stipends and payments to lay workers?
Do we measure our committment to a cause by the ammount of money we give to it? If so, what does that say about our committment to the Church?
Spirit Level by Ann Bird, Methodist Publishing p5Bible References
There are approximately 700 direct references to money in the Bible and hundreds more indirect references. Nearly two thirds of the parables of Jesus dealt with the use of money.
Spirit Level by Ann Bird, Methodist Publishing p5Descriptions of Money
Money has been described as power that is portable, transferable and storable.
Spirit Level by Ann Bird, Methodist Publishing p5Love Hate and Money
Christians tend to have a love/hate relationship with money – we hate to talk about it, but talk about it more than any other subject.
Spirit Level by Ann Bird, Methodist Publishing p5What Some People Will Do For Money
What some people will do for money. In an attempt to collect 40,000 euros ($44,780) in insurance payments, a 58-year-old German landscape gardener had a friend cut off his thumb and forefinger with a chainsaw.
According to authorities, the gardener held onto a cutting board while his accomplice, a 28-year-old trucker, sawed off his friend’s fingers. The gardener then threw the severed digits away before claiming money from two different insurance companies. The police arrested both men after one of them was overheard bragging about the ruse.
Both men were convicted in a Wuerzburg, Germany, courtroom. The eight-fingered gardener was given a probationary sentence of one-and-a-half-years, while his chainsaw-wielding accomplice (because of a previous criminal record) received a jail sentence.
Reuters (15-09-03)
Money Will Buy
Money will buy
A bed but not sleep;
Books but not brains;
Food but not appetite;
Finery but not beauty;
A house but not a home;
Medicine but not health;
Luxuries but not culture;
Amusements but not happiness;
Religion but not salvation;
A passport to everywhere but heaven.Original source unknown
What Is A Missionary?
We think a missionary is someone who crosses the sea. Rather, a missionary is someone who sees the cross!
J John – New Wine 1995Mission Quotes
If everything is Mission then nothing is mission.
– this empties the word mission of all meaning.A bird with only one wing won’t fly
A pair of scissors needs two blades not one.
Mission is discerning what God is doing in the world and trying to do it with Him.
– John Taylor.Colin Chapman – SDMTS Summer School 1995
Danny Tells His Version Of Sunday School
Nine-year-old named Danny came bursting out of Sunday school like a wild stallion. His eyes were darting in every direction as he tried to locate either mom or dad. Finally, after a quick search, he grabbed his Daddy by the leg and yelled, “Man, that story of Moses and all those people crossing the Red Sea was great!” His father looked down, smiled, and asked the boy to tell him about it.
“Well, the Israelites got out of Egypt, but Pharaoh and his army chased after them. So the Jews ran as fast as they could until they got to the Red Sea. The Egyptian Army was gettin’ closer and closer. So Moses got on his walkie-talkie and told the Israeli Air Force to bomb the Egyptians. While that was happening, the Israeli Navy built a pontoon bridge so the people could cross over. They made it!
By now old dad was shocked. “Is THAT the way they taught you the story?”
Well, no, not exactly,” Danny admitted, “but if I told you the way they told it to us, you’d never believe it, Dad.”
Charles Swindoll – Growing Strong In The Seasons of Life p101
A Woman Without Her Man Is Nothing
An English professor wrote the words, “A woman without her man is nothing” on the blackboard and directed the students to punctuate it correctly.
The men wrote: “A woman, without her man, is nothing.”
The women wrote: “A woman: without her, man is nothing.”
From net153.com internet email list.