Grace
We Stand by Grace
A pastor
was traveling on a bus down a bumpy road. Seated next to him was a college
student who noticed that the minister was reading his Bible. The minister asked,
“Are you spiritually ready for the temptations that you will face in college?”
"I don’t
have a problem with temptation," the young man told the minister. "I have strong
willpower."
The
minister took a pencil from his pocket and said, "I can make this pencil stand
up on the cover of this Bible even though the bus ride is bumpy."
The young
man said, "I’ll believe it when I see it. I don't think you can do it."
"Look, I’m
doing it," he replied as the young man watched.
"Yeah, but
you didn't tell me you would hold the pencil up with your hand."
"I didn't
have to tell you," the pastor remarked. "Have you ever seen a pencil stand up on
its own without someone holding it?"
The
minister then let go of the pencil, which instantly fell over. "The only reason
you stand," he continued, "is because God is holding you up with His hand."
If God were to remove His hand of protecting grace, we would immediately fall into sin. Humility is depending completely on God, realizing that He upholds us by His grace (Romans 5:2). (Kent Crockett, Making Today Count for Eternity, Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers, 2001, p. 123)
Cannot add your works
If you add your works to the cross, you
subtract God's grace from the cross. Salvation is 100% grace. --Kent Crockett
(Kent Crockett's Sermon Illustrations,
www.kentcrockett.com )
Guidance
Making Plans
Imagine
going on an ocean cruise to an island. After you have been out on the ocean for
a week, you say to the captain, "It sure seems like we should have arrived by
now. When do we plan to arrive?" The captain answers, "Plans? I don't make any
plans. I just trust God to guide the boat through the wind and waves to the
right destination."
That sounds ridiculous, but many people drift through life in the same way. They make no plans, yet believe they will reach their destination on time. If we fail to plan, we plan to fail. Making plans will cause us to act rather than react. (Kent Crockett, The 911 Handbook, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2003, 139)
Guilt
The Definition of Guilt
Guilt is
your refusal to allow Jesus Christ to pay for your sins. (Kent Crockett, The
911 Handbook, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2003, 49)
Feeling Bad
One little boy was asked to define guilt. He said he wasn't quite sure what it was, but he thought it had something to do with feeling bad when he kicked girls. (Kent Crockett, The 911 Handbook, Peabody MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2003, 49)
But I Am Innocent
A man in Texas was
charged with horse stealing, but he claimed to be innocent. He was asked if he
preferred to be tried by the judge or a jury of his peers.
"What's 'peers'?" he
asked.
They explained it means
somebody just like you.
"Oh, I'll take the
judge," he replied. "I don't want to be tried by a bunch of horse thieves."
Kent Crockett's Sermon
Illustrations, www.kentcrockett.com
Gullible
The Grocery Store
A man walked into a small
grocery store to buy a box of cereal. He was amazed to see every shelf in the
store filled with jars of mayonnaise. He told the owner of the store, “I want to
buy a box of cereal but I can’t find any.” The grocer said, “It’s in the
basement. Follow me.”
They went down into the
basement and it too was filled with cartons and cartons of mayonnaise. The man
said, “Wow, you must sell a lot of mayonnaise!” The grocer said, “No, I don't
sell much mayonnaise. But the guy who sells me mayonnaise—boy, can he sell
mayonnaise!”
Some people will buy
anything if the salesman is convincing enough. Satan can't make temptation work
unless he can convince us to buy into the deception that yielding won't hurt us.
Kent Crockett's Sermon
Illustrations, www.kentcrockett.com
Quacks Me Up
When a
caller informed the Humane Society in Battle Creek, Michigan, about two ducks
trapped by the ice on a frozen pond, shelter manager Mike Pearson rushed right
over. He timidly inched his way out on the ice, carefully grabbed the ducks, and
made his way back to safety.
Both of the
wooden decoys are expected to survive.
--From Mark
Mail, http://mrhumor.net/
Habits
The Second Half of Your Life
"The second half of a man's life is made up of the habits he acquired during the first half." --Dostoyevski
28 Days to Form a Habit
A Princeton University study claims if you do the same thing every day for 28 consecutive days it will become a habit. (SBC Life, April 1997)
Old Habits Die Hard
There is a true story
about a TV announcer who had been doing coffee commercials for several years;
then he changed sponsors. This time he was doing a commercial for a cigarette
company.
On camera for his first
new commercial, he took a long draw on his sponsor's cigarette, blew a big smoke
ring, looked into the camera and said, "Man, that's good coffee!"
Old habits die hard.
(Dynamic Preaching, Vol. X, Nov. 1995)
Happiness
Happy in a Shack
A man and
wife enjoyed playing “Here’s How I’d Remodel That House” game as they traveled.
They would take turns picking out certain houses and explain how they would
remodel them. One day as they were driving, they saw an old, dilapidated house
that looked like it had been abandoned. The husband stopped in front of the
house and said, “I tell you what I’d do with that shack. I’d bulldoze it down
and start over.”
At that
moment, an elderly man stepped out of the house onto the front porch. With a big
smile on his face, the old man waved at them as though they were long-lost
friends. The couple waved back and then drove on down the road.
The husband
said, “Do you think he would have been that friendly if he knew what I said
about his house?”
After a
long pause the wife replied, “Probably so!”
The
happiest people in the world are those who don’t allow anything or anyone to
steal their joy.
(Kent
Crockett, I Once Was Blind But Now I Squint, Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers,
2004, 30)
It Depends On You
"Happiness often depends on being able to enjoy the scenery when you have to take a detour." --Unknown
Getting It Together
Boxing champion George
Foreman, in his book God in My Corner, explains the irony of envy. He
writes:
A friend told me,
“George, one day you’re going to have it all. You’ll have money, fleets of cars
. . .” I envisioned everything he was describing. “Wow,” I replied, “I’m going
to feel good when that happens.”
My childhood hero,
football sensation Jim Brown, once came to my ranch to do a television interview
with me. I always wanted to be just like Jim. By now, I was a successful world
champion boxer and my idol actually came to my house. After gawking at my
manicured lawn, beautiful home, and exquisite furniture, Jim Brown said,
“George, you’ve got it made. I just hope one day I can get it together like
you.”
Get it together like me?
I was trying to get it together like him! (George Foreman, God in My Corner,
Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2007, p.32.)
More Stuff Means More Maintenance
"Guys, just remember, if
you get lucky, if you make a lot of money, if you get out and buy a lot of
stuff--it's gonna break. You got your biggest, fanciest mansion in the world. It
has air conditioning. It's got a pool. Just think of all the pumps that are
going to go out. Or go to a yacht basin any place in the world. Nobody is
smiling, and I'll tell you why. Something broke that morning. The generator's
out; the microwave oven doesn't work . . . Things just don't mean happiness."
--Ross Perot (Billionaire and former Presidential candidate) in Fortune
magazine.
Hearing
The Signal Gets Weaker
I listen to my local
radio station while I'm driving in my car. When I drive away from the radio
tower, the signal gets weaker and weaker. But if I turn the car around and drive
back into town, the signal becomes stronger and I can hear it again.
In the same way, we stop
hearing God when we drift away from Him. But if we will turn around and come
back to Him, we'll hear His voice again. The closer we are to God, the clearer
we can hear Him. "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you" (James 4:8).
Kent Crockett's Sermon Illustrations, www.kentcrockett.com
You Can Say That Again
A man bragged that he had
the finest hearing aid available.
A friend asked, "What
kind is it?"
He replied, "About 2:30."
Are You Listening?
"I was once walking
through the forest alone. A tree fell right in front of me -- and I didn't hear
it."--Comedian Steven Wright
Heart
Hardening of the Heart
When I
first enrolled in seminary, I found an apartment room next to a railroad
crossing. I wondered why the apartment rent was so cheap—and found out the first
night. A train came through in the middle of the night, blasting its horn. It
didn’t just wake me up, but also nearly gave me a heart attack!
Every night
when the train came through, it blew the horn. At first I thought about changing
apartments, but then I started getting used to the nightly awakenings. I would
wake up for a few seconds, then go right back to sleep. Eventually I got where
the train horn didn’t even wake me up. I hardened my heart to the train and
couldn’t hear it any more.
The same
hardening process occurs when God speaks to our hearts and we don’t respond.
Eventually, we stop hearing His voice because our hearts have become hard.
“Today if
you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts” (Hebrews 4:7).
Kent
Crockett’s Sermon Illustrations