Sermon Illustrations on Fathers And Sons

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“Dear Paco,”

Author

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 3:13, Matthew 6:14-15, Ephesians 4:31-32, Romans 5:10, Colossians 1:20, 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

Ernest Hemingway grasped some of the difficulty that characterizes relationships between fathers and sons in his short story, The Capital of the World . The story revolves around a father and his t...

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Surrounded by Possessions

Author

Jeff Manion

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 6:19-21, Luke 12:33-34, Luke 12:15, Hebrews 13:5, 1 Timothy 6:6-8, Luke 16:13, Matthew 6:24

Members of the Natomo family sit on the flat roof of their mud house in Mali, Africa, posing for their early morning photograph. Their earthly belongings are arrayed in front of them. Two kettles, pla...

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Considering His Wonderful Goodness Towards Us

Author

John Calvin

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 6:26, Acts 17:24-25, Job 12:10, Matthew 10:29-31, James 1:17

We ought in the very order of things [in creation] diligently to contemplate God’s fatherly love . . . [for as] a foreseeing and diligent father of the family he shows his wonderful goodness toward us...

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An Analogy of Childlike Prayer

Author

M. Basil Pennington

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 18:3, Mark 10:14-15, Matthew 6:9, Psalm 131:2, Romans 8:15

A father is delighted when his little one, leaving off her toys and friends, runs to him and climbs into his arms. As he holds his little one close to him, he cares little whether the child is looking...

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Dysfunctional Greeting Cards

Author

Wayne Stiles

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 5:8, Ephesians 2:4-5, Matthew 6:6-8, Matthew 6:6-8, Galatians 50:20

I’m convinced some company today could make a killing if it had the guts to market dysfunctional greeting cards. Most birthday or holiday cards gush with flowery sentiments such as, “To the greatest f...

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The Echo of an Argument

Author

John Ortberg

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 5:18, Psalm 34:18, Romans 12:18, James 1:19-20, Proverbs 15:1, Matthew 6:14-15, Colossians 3:13

Philip Yancey writes of a friend whose marriage was choked by hostility. One night the friend reached the breaking point: “I hate you!” he screamed at his wife. “I won’t take it any more. I’ve had eno...

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Modern Parents Need Help with Technology

Author

Andy Crouch

Keywords

Scripture

Deuteronomy 11:18-19, Proverbs 22:6 , Exodus 20:8-10, Matthew 6:33, Romans 12:2, Psalm 119:37

If there is one word that sums up how many of us feel about technology and family life, it’s Help! Parents know we need help. We love the way devices make our lives easier amid the stress and busy...

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Holding on to Earth

Author

John Shea

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 19:29, Revelation 21:1-2, 1 Corinthians 2:9, Hebrews 11:16, Philippians 3:20, John 14:2-3, Matthew 6:19-21

There once lived a peasant in Crete who deeply loved his life. He enjoyed tilling the soil, feeling the warm sun on his naked back as he worked the fields, and feeling the soil under his feet. He love...

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The Two Runners

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 6:33, Colossians 3:23, Psalm 39:6, Luke 12:15, Acts 15:29, Matthew 5:14-16, Ephesians 2:10, 1 Corinthians 10:31, Jeremiah 9:23-24, Matthew 16:24, Luke 9:62, 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, James 1:12, Romans 8:16-17, Galatians 2:20

The true story of Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams, two British sprinters who qualified for the 1924 Olympic Games, illustrates two contrasting approaches to life and identity. Abrahams was driven by ...

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When Success looks like Failure

Author

Donna Barber

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 6:19-21, Matthew 16:26, Philippians 3:7-8, Proverbs 16:8, Luke 12:15, Proverbs 23:4-5, Ecclesiastes 4:7-8

Sometimes our successes can be more devastating than our failures. We fight, strain, and struggle in pursuit of something or someone that looks to be good, and after days or months or years, we obtain...

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“Chancing One’s Arm”

Author

Diana Garland

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 16:7, James 3:17-18, Matthew 6:14-15, Colossians 3:13, 2 Corinthians 5:18-19, Romans 12:18

In her book Family Ministry, Diana Garland relates the following account by R.L. Honeycutt on the origin of the Irish expression “Chancing one’s arm”: On display in St. Patrick’s cathedral in Dublin...

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Watching the Same Movie Over and Over Again

Author

James Bryan Smith

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 73:25-26, Matthew 6:21, 1 John 2:17, Colossians 3:1-2, Psalm 63:1

I met a man who watches The Lord of the Rings movies every night. When he told me this I pushed back: “Every night?” He said that when he gets off work he goes home, fixes his dinner, turns on the m...

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What Drives Success?

Author

Donald Miller

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 6:25-34, Galatians 1:10, Philippians 2:3-4, Matthew 23:1-12, Romans 12:2

In his book, Scary Close , Donald Miller acknowledges that over time he developed a mask, or a persona that kept even those closest to him from experiencing with him. As he began to peel back layers ...

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The #1 Disciple

Author

John Ortberg

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 6:25-34, Galatians 1:10, Philippians 2:3-4, Matthew 23:1-12, 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12, James 4:1-10, 1 Peter 5:1-11

Harold Kushner wrote about a very bright, driven pre-med student at a very competitive college. While traveling in the East the summer before his junior year, he met a guru who said, “Don’t you see yo...

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Lacking a Clear Path to Faith

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Scripture

1 Kings 20:40, Matthew 6:34, Romans 7:19, Romans 8:11-14

One common mistake is assuming that everyone else finds faith easy, while we alone struggle. Yet there is comfort in recognizing that we are not alone in our pursuit of Christ in the midst of a broken...

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Thinking Critically about Power

Author

Jamin Goggin and Kyle Strobel

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 6:42, Matthew 6:12

For years Kyle and I [Jamin Goggin] had no trouble looking critically upon others in their quest for power. We bemoaned the rock-star pastors who were in the spotlight, whose churches appeared to be m...

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Gardenias & Shasta Daises

Author

Richella J. Parham

Keywords

Scripture

Ecclesiastes 3:11, Galatians 6:4, Romans 12:6, Matthew 6:28-29, 1 Corinthians 12:17-18, Psalm 104:24

Recently, I was working in my yard when the blooms on my gardenia plant caught my eye. I took off my gloves, laid my clippers aside, and allowed my mind to linger on those flowers. Inhaling the intoxi...

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My Brother BIrds

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 148:7, 10-13, Matthew 6:26, Job 12:7-10, Genesis 1:20-21, Psalm 104:12, 24, Mark 16:15, Colossians 1:16-17

Unlike most of us, Francis of Assissi's love of preaching extended beyond just human beings. On one of his journeys through the valley of Spoleto, near Bevagna, Francis of Assisi came upon a large...

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Henry Ford Is Taken In

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 25:35-40, Luke 6:38, Isaiah 58:10, Proverbs 22:1, Matthew 6:1-4, 2 Corinthians 9:6-7, 1 Timothy 6:17-21, Matthew 6:19-21, Proverbs 17:22

Henry Ford Sr. the car magnate, having already become massively wealthy, had decided to visit Cork, Ireland, the hometown from which his father had emigrated to the states. Upon arrival, he was warmly...

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Listen to your Life

Author

Frederick Buechner

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 118:24, Colossians 3:17, Matthew 6:34, 1 Corinthians 10:31, Proverbs 3:6, James 1:17

Listen to your life. All moments are key moments. I discovered that if you really keep your eye peeled to it and your ears open, if you really pay attention to it…Taking your children to school and ki...

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The Little Things

Author

Scott Dudley

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 6:25-34, Galatians 5:1, 1 Peter 5:7, Colossians 3:12-13, Isaiah 40:29, Hebrews 12:1, Philippians 2:4

One time, back when I was doing college ministry, I took a group of students camping. My wife came along with us. I had selected this really, really difficult hike. It was about ten miles long and alm...

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The Origins of “Servant Leadership”

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 2:5-8, Mark 10:45, John 13:3-5, 12-15 , Matthew 25:21, Colossians 3:23-24, Matthew 6:3-4, 1 Peter 5:5-6

The Swiss-German novelist Hermann Hesse published a short story in 1932 called "Journey to the East." In it, a group of men go on a long journey. Throughout their trip, they are accompanied ...

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Playing for His Master

Author

Steven C. Roy

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 3:23-24, Galatians 1:10, 2 Corinthians 5:9, 1 Corinthians 4:3-4, Romans 12:1, John 12:43, Matthew 6:1

A story is told of a young violinist who lived in London many years ago. He was a superb musician. He loved his music and enjoyed playing before small groups of people in the homes of friends. But he ...

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Various Types of Invitations that Keep us from the Kingdom Banquet

Author

Adele Ahlberg Calhoun

Keywords

Scripture

Exodus 18:13-24 , Nehemiah 6:1-4, Ruth 1:16-17 , Matthew 6:24, Luke 10:38-42, Psalm 127:1-2, Luke 14:16-23

Jesus’ parable [of the banquet in Luke 14:16-23] makes it clear that there are business and career invitations . Some people had real estate that demanded attention, and others had invested in ox...

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Made to See

Author

Jen Pollock Michel

Keywords

Scripture

Ezekiel 36:26, Mark 10:21-22, James 1:14-15, Jeremiah 17:9-10, Psalm 139:23-24, Matthew 6:22-24

In her engaging treatment, Teach us to Want , Jen Pollock Michel describes both the beauty and pain of seeing our own sinful nature: It is often true that once we are made to see, we don’t like w...

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Learning to Pray by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Author

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 18:22-33 , 1 Kings 3:5-14, Daniel 6:10-23, Matthew 6:9-13 , Luke 18:1-8 , Psalm 119:9-16

When our will wholeheartedly enters into the prayer of Christ, then we pray correctly. Only in Jesus Christ are we able to pray, and with him we also know that we shall be heard. And so we must learn ...

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Thoughts on “Let Go and Let God”

Author

Frederick Buechner

Keywords

Control

Scripture

1 Peter 5:7, Matthew 6:27, Psalm 46:10, Romans 15:13, Song of Solomon 2:11-13

If we want to turn in the direction of what is life giving, we are going to have to let go of Winter. “’Let go’ of the dark, which you wrap yourself in like a straitjacket, and let in the light. Stop ...

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The Arrogant General

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 27:2, Matthew 6:1-4, Ecclesiastes 1:14, Luke 18:9-14, James 4:14, Isaiah 14:12-15, Daniel 4:28-37, Luke 18:9-14, James 4:6, Obadiah 1:3-4

Abraham Lincoln’s sharp wit often surfaced, even in serious moments. At the funeral of a talented but overly vain Army General during the Civil War, Lincoln observed the large crowd that had gathered....

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More Value than a Coffee Pot

Author

Bradley Long

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 10:29-31, Luke 12:24, Matthew 6:26, Matthew 12:11-12, Romans 5:8

A missionary in a Muslim-majority country got a call one day from his wife. Their local house-helper (a common practice in that country) had accidentally dropped and broken their carafe from the coffe...

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The Sense of an Ending

Author

James Bryan Smith

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 3:23-24, 1 Corinthians 3:6-9, Matthew 6:19-21, 1 Corinthians 15:58, Galatians 6:9, 1 John 3:2, Romans 8:18, 2 Corinthians 4:17-18

Life is short, and we can accomplish only so much. Much of what we do will remain unfinished. For now. In one of my favorite short stories of all time, “Leaf by Niggle,” author J. R. R. Tolkien provid...

Sermon Illustrations on fathers and sons

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