Temptation
Planning Ahead to be Tempted
One day
little Richard was told by his mother to come straight home after school and not
stop at the baseball field. After school, Richard decided to carry his ball
glove with him just in case he was tempted. (Kent Crockett, The 911 Handbook,
Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2003, 30)
Open for a Left Hook
On May 21, 2005, Andrew
Golota fought Lamon Brewster for the WBO heavyweight boxing title. Golota, a
strong fighter with a powerful punch, had 38 wins, 5 loses, and 31 knockouts. In
preparation for the fight, Brewster studied tape of Golota's boxing, looking for
an opening. He noticed that the way Golota held his hands left him open for a
left hook.
Within seconds after the
first round began, Brewster found the opening and threw a left hook. Golota went
down to the mat and got up. Brewster threw another left hook and Golota went
down again. He stood up and the fight resumed. Brewster threw another left hook
to the same opening, and Golota went down for the 3rd time, which counted as a
knockout. Lamon Brewster won the fight in the first round because he was the
smarter fighter. All he had to do pound on his opponent's weakness.
In a similar way, Satan
is looking to pound on our weakest areas. When we leave an opening by yielding
to temptation, he'll take advantage and throw a left hook. But if we'll not
yield to temptation, we'll close off the area and cut off his opportunity. The
Apostle Paul said it this way: "Do not give the devil an opportunity" (Eph. 4:27
NAS).--Kent Crockett
Kent Crockett's Sermon Illustrations, www.kentcrockett.com
Your Head is Made of Butter
Martin Luther once said, "Don't sit near the fire if your head is made of butter." The closer we get to the fire, the hotter the fire feels to us. Even though the fire remains at the same temperature, the heat affects us according to how close we are to it. The closer we are to the temptation, the more it influences us. (Kent Crockett, The 911 Handbook, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2003, 33)
Picking Forbidden Fruit
It is hard to pick forbidden fruit if you are a hundred yards away, but it is easy if you are at an arm's length. (Kent Crockett, The 911 Handbook, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2003, 33)
Get Out of the Corral
A couple of
boys tried to walk through a corral when a bull saw them and began to charge.
One of the boys said, "Let's stop and pray." The other boy said, "No, let's run
and pray!" They didn't need to resist the bull inside of the corral. They needed
to run out of the area where they were vulnerable. That's what we need to do
when we are being tempted. We need to flee from the temptation. (Kent Crockett,
The 911 Handbook, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2003, 35)
Stay Away from Kryptonite
Just like Superman weakens as he gets near the Kryptonite, we weaken when we get near the temptation. (Kent Crockett, The 911 Handbook, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2003, 33)
The Devil Looks Like a Nice Guy
A cartoon in the New
Yorker magazine showed some pigs feeding at a trough. As the farmer filled
the trough with food, one hog asked the others, "Have you ever wondered why he's
so good to us?"
When Satan tempts people,
he's like the farmer fattening up the pigs for the slaughter. Temptation looks
appealing at first, but it always drags its victims into misery, bondage, and
heartbreak. --Kent Crockett
Thankfulness
The Value of a Diamond
One
afternoon my wife Cindy called me from the bank where she worked. “The diamond
fell out of my wedding ring!” she sobbed. “It broke loose from the ring prongs
and I don’t know where it is!”
My mind
flashed back two decades, while as a poor seminary student surviving on peanut
butter and jelly sandwiches and cheap buffets, I saved $750 to purchase the most
beautiful diamond ring in the world for my future wife.
Diamond
appraisers wouldn’t describe it that way, of course. Less than half a karat.
Small carbon flaw. However, the true worth of a diamond isn’t determined by
karats and clarity, but by the love with which it’s purchased.
The chances
of finding it were slim to none. We had no earthly idea where it could be
hiding. Cindy could have lost it in our house while getting ready for work, at
the restaurant where she had gone for lunch, or somewhere in the bank.
Lord, I
prayed, You know where Cindy lost her diamond. Please show me where it is.
Immediately
I felt prompted to go to the bank parking lot to begin my search. When I
arrived, the first place I looked was inside my wife’s minivan. Nothing in
there. When I turned around to scan the lot, I saw something glisten. Tiny rocks
and small chunks of gravel covered the parking lot. As I drew closer to
investigate, my heart leaped when I discovered Cindy’s diamond lying in a crack
in the pavement. I snatched up the diamond and ran into the bank lobby holding
it high for everyone to see.
“Look—I
found it!" I yelled.
Bank
customers turned around to find out why I was causing such a commotion. Cindy
looked up from behind her teller window, burst into tears, and came running
through the lobby into my arms. As we hugged in the middle of the bank in front
of the customers, we looked like the final scene of a romantic movie.
Although we
hadn't noticed the diamond that morning, it became the center of our attention
that evening. We called our friends and relatives to tell them how our lost
diamond had been found and then went out to dinner to celebrate.
Our lost
diamond incident bore an uncanny resemblance to the parable of the lost coin
(Luke 15:8-9). The woman in the parable lost a silver coin, searched diligently,
and found it. She was so excited that she called all her friends and neighbors
to share her joy. After finding the lost jewel, Cindy and I had unwittingly
followed the same script as the woman in the parable.
Had the
value of the diamond changed? No.
What had
changed? Our perception of its value.
I learned
one of the great secrets of thankfulness through this adventure. The value of
something isn’t determined by how much it appreciates, but by how much it is
appreciated.
(Kent
Crockett, I Once Was Blind But Now I Squint, Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers,
2004, 157-159)
A Reference Point for Thankfulness
I know a
man who has always been thankful for his shoes. When I asked him why, he
replied, "When I was a boy during the Depression, my parents couldn’t afford to
buy new shoes for me. I put cardboard in my shoe bottoms whenever they got
holes. When I walked through rain and snow, I had to keep replacing the
cardboard. I’ve always been thankful for shoes because I've never forgotten
wearing those shoes with holes in the soles.”
His
reference point for thankfulness was his childhood memory of worn-out shoes. If
we will think of times when we did without, we’ll become thankful for what we
have. That’s why God told the children of Israel to remember how He brought them
out of the house of slavery (Deut. 8:14). He wanted that experience to be a
reference point in their minds for thankfulness.
(Kent
Crockett, I Once Was Blind But Now I Squint, Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers,
2004, 163)
Eating Tasteless Food
My father
had to undergo radiation treatments for throat cancer. The therapy damaged his
taste buds so that he couldn’t taste food. His inability to enjoy a meal made
eating a dreaded duty. The doctors told him his taste might return after the
treatments were finished, but no one could say for certain.
Weeks
passed, then months. Every meal became a forced feeding to keep him alive. After
eating flavorless food for over a year, he sat down for dinner one evening.
Reluctantly, he forced the fork inside his mouth and discovered that his taste
had returned. What most people would call a bland dinner became the best meal he
had eaten in his life.
Through
losing his taste and then regaining it, my father learned to relish each morsel
as never before. He became thankful for the ability to taste because he now had
a reference point. He would never forget what it was like to eat tasteless food.
You don’t
have to lose something in order to be thankful. You can develop a “taste” for
your blessings by simply realizing what life would be like without them.
(Kent
Crockett, I Once Was Blind But Now I Squint, Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers,
2004, 164)
Far More Blessings
God has
given us far more blessings than we’ve ever thanked Him for.
(Kent
Crockett, I Once Was Blind But Now I Squint, Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers,
2004, 166-167)
We Can Thank God More Than Once
Little
Jenny sat down to eat dinner with her family. She looked at the leftovers and
said, “Hey, wait a minute. We thanked God for this last night!”
Just
because we’ve thanked God once for something doesn’t mean we can’t thank Him
again.
(Kent
Crockett, I Once Was Blind But Now I Squint, Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers,
2004, 169)
The Attitude of Gratitude
The
attitude of gratitude is important for several reasons:
§
Thankfulness acknowledges that God is our provider.
§
Thankfulness prevents a complaining spirit.
§
Thankfulness creates a positive outlook on life
§
Thankfulness invites joy to dwell in our hearts.
(Kent
Crockett, Making Today Count for Eternity, Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers,
2001, pp. 161)
Thinking
Ingrained in Your Mind
In the
middle of a wedding ceremony, a jewelry store manager exchanged rings with his
soon-to-be spouse. As he slipped the ring onto his bride’s finger, he said,
“With this ring—we guarantee a full refund if the customer is not completely
satisfied.” His sales pitch was so deeply ingrained in his mind that the words
came out automatically.
What’s
ingrained in your mind? “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is
right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if
there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on
these things” (Phil. 4:8).
(Kent
Crockett, I Once Was Blind But Now I Squint, Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers,
2004, 135)
Treasure
You Cannot Take It With You
Tutankhamen, the boy
king, was only 17 when he died. He was buried with solid gold chariots and
thousands of golden artifacts. His gold coffin was found within gold tombs
within gold tombs within gold tombs. The burial site was filled with tons of
gold.
The Egyptians believed in
an afterlife--one where they could take earthly treasures. But all the treasures
intended for King Tut's eternal enjoyment stayed right where they were until
Howard Carter discovered the burial chamber in 1922. They hadn't been touched
for more than three thousand years. 1 Timothy 6:7 says, "For we brought nothing
into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out" —Randy Alcorn.
cited in KneEmail
Trash or Treasure?
Craig Randall drove his
garbage truck to Wendy's restaurant to pick up their trash and drove away
$200,000 richer. The previous week when he stopped at Wendy's, he rummaged
through the garbage and pulled a contest sticker off a cup. That time he won a
free chicken sandwich. This time he found a cup and figured, "Hey, I'd like to
get some free fries to go with it."
When he pulled the
sticker off, it read: "Congratulations! You have won $200,000." Someone who had
eaten in the restaurant hadn't taken the time to pull off the sticker before
throwing it away. To one person it was trash. To another, treasure.
The riches of God's Word
are available to all who will take the time to read it. But first you must
recognize its value.
Kent Crockett's Sermon
Illustrations, www.kentcrockett.com
Trials
God Sends Mercy During Trials
"Sometimes God sends His
mercies in a black envelope." --Charles Spurgeon
Kent Crockett's Sermon Illustrations, www.kentcrockett.com
Never More Than You Can Handle
"I know God will not give
me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much."
--Mother Teresa
Kent Crockett's Sermon Illustrations, www.kentcrockett.com
Up To Your Neck In Alligators
"When you are up to your
neck in alligators, it's hard to remember that your job is to clean the swamp."
--Swamp Philosopher
Kent Crockett's Sermon Illustrations, www.kentcrockett.com
How Eyes Are Opened to Understand
"Were it not for
tribulation, I would not understand the Scriptures." --Martin Luther
Kent Crockett's Sermon Illustrations, www.kentcrockett.com
Hope Through Trials
No rut is so deep you
can't leave it.
No dream is so lost you
can't retrieve it.
No pain is so great you
can't endure it.
No sin is so bad God can't cure it. --Gerald Mann
If You Want to Blossom . . .
Every flower that ever blossomed had to go through a lot of dirt to get there. --Unknown
Imagining the Opposition
"There are always more of
them (the enemy) until they are counted." --Ulysses S. Grant
Trinity
Theological Mathematics
"The mathematics of the Trinity doesn't make sense. How can three be one? But that's the trouble with trying to understand the triune God by mathematics--He can't be reduced to a formula." --unknown
Little Minds Trying to Understand a Big God
"The first thing the doctrine of the Trinity says to us is that there are some things in life too big for us to get into our little skulls." --unknown
Trust
At the End of Your Rope
During the
1930s, 250 men were holding the ropes to a dirigible (an airship similar to a
blimp) to keep it from floating away. Suddenly a gust of wind caught one end of
the dirigible, lifting it high off the ground.
Some of the
men immediately let go of their ropes and fell safely to the ground. Others
panicked, clinging firmly to the end of their ropes as the nose of the dirigible
arose to greater heights. Several men who couldn’t keep holding on fell and were
seriously injured. One man, however, continued to dangle high in the air for
forty-five minutes until he was rescued. Reporters later asked him how he was
able to hold on to the rope for so long.
“I didn’t
hold on to the rope,” he replied. “I just tied it around my waist, and the rope
held on to me.”
Instead of
trying to hold on to God, let God hold on to you.
(Kent
Crockett, I Once Was Blind But Now I Squint, Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers,
2004, 138)
Trust Fills the Gap
The Lord
doesn’t always let us in on what He’s doing. Trust fills the gap when we don’t
understand. We must give the Father the benefit of the doubt.
(Kent
Crockett, I Once Was Blind But Now I Squint, Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers,
2004, 150)
Trust Your Instruments
Inside
every airplane are instruments that are critical to flying the aircraft. The
instruments will give a true reading of how the aircraft is flying, even if a
pilot's mind may tell him differently. On a clear, sunny day a pilot may not
need some of these instruments, but at night or in poor visibility, these
instruments become vital to his survival. Many planes have crashed because the
pilot became disoriented and failed to trust his instruments.
While
attending Texas A&M, Jeff Patton and I became friends as members of the Corps of
Cadets. He is now Lt. Col. Jeff Patton and flew as an F-15 fighter pilot in
Desert Storm. On the first night of the war, his mission was to escort a large
formation of fighters in bombing a chemical weapons plant in northern Iraq. The
date for Desert Storm was chosen because the absence of moonlight and the high
clouds helped the attacking allied fighters from being detected by enemy
defenses. Flying in total darkness, the pilots became completely dependent upon
their instruments.
Shortly
after crossing into Iraq, Col. Patton's jet was "locked on" to by an Iraqi
surface-to-air missile radar. He violently maneuvered his aircraft to break the
radar's lock on him. His maneuver successfully broke the lock, but it created a
new problem. Those radical movements in the dark threw off the balance in his
inner ear (which is what happens when a person gets dizzy), causing him to
become disoriented.
His mind
was telling him his plane was in a climbing right turn, but when he checked his
instruments, they indicated he was in a 60 degree dive towards the ground! He
was sure he was in a climb instead of a dive, and his mind was screaming at him
to lower the nose of his F-15 to halt the climb. While his mind commanded him to
correct the plane in one direction, his instruments instructed him to do just
the opposite. Because he was flying in total darkness, he had to decide quickly
whether to trust his mind or his instruments. His life depended on making the
correct choice.
Even though
it took everything within him to overcome what his mind was telling him, he
decided to trust his instruments. He rolled his wings level and pulled his F-15
upward, which drew seven times the force of gravity, pulling the aircraft out of
its dive. It only took a few moments to realize he had made the right decision.
If he had lowered the nose of his jet like his mind had been telling him, he
would have crashed the plane. Trusting his instruments saved his life!
Immediately
he looked at his altimeter, which told him the elevation of his aircraft. He had
narrowly escaped colliding into the mountains of Iraq by just 2,000 feet.
Although he had made the correct decision by trusting his instruments, he
realized if he had delayed just three more seconds his plane would have crashed
into the mountains. Even right decisions can be wrong ones if they are made too
late.
God will
guide the "instruments" inside our hearts through his Spirit, even though our
minds may tell us to do just the opposite. "Trust in the Lord with all your
heart, and do not lean on your own understanding" (Prov. 3:5) (Kent Crockett,
The 911 Handbook, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2003, 17-18)
Truth
Changing The Truth
"The person
who won't change his mind to line up with the truth will change the truth to
line up with his mind" --Kent Crockett
The Whole Truth and Nothing But the Truth
A boy who was a witness
to a crime was testifying in court. The defense attorney asked him, "Did anyone
tell you what to say while you're on the witness stand?"
"Yes, sir," the boy answered.
"Who was it?" the attorney asked.
"My father."
Raising his voice, the attorney asked, "And what exactly did he tell you?"
"He said that some sleazy lawyer would try to trip me up, but if I told the
truth, I would be just fine."
Kent Crockett's Sermon Illustrations, www.kentcrockett.com
You will be hated for standing for truth
"It is better to be
divided by truth than to be united in error. It is better to speak the truth
that hurts, and then heals, than falsehood that comforts, then kills. It is not
love, and it is not friendship, if we fail do declare the whole counsel of God.
It is better to be hated for telling the truth than to be loved for telling a
lie. It is impossible to find anyone in the Bible who was a power for God who
did not have enemies and was not hated. It's better to stand alone with the
truth than to be wrong with a multitude. It is better ultimately to succeed with
truth than to temporarily succeed with a lie." --Adrian Rogers