Pastor, scan through these offerings and see if you find anything of use as illustrations for sermons. Or, just as good, perhaps they will spark an idea inside you.

UNREQUITED LOVE

In 1964, a hitchhiker was picked up on the highway and given a ride by an 18- year-old woman. They chatted, she dropped him off, and they each went on their way. Within minutes, the man decided that he was in love with her. I mean, seriously, head over heels, a real goner.

The problem was that he had no way to contact her. She was gone. But he never forgot her.

Thirty-one years later, he came across her name in the newspaper in the obituary of her mother. So he sent her 5 dozen roses–alongwith all the letters he had written her over 31 years.

Thirty-one years of letters.

The police found in his house stacks of Christmas cards and boxes of birthday prsents for every one of those 31 years. Of course, by now she was 48 years old.

I said the police found them, because the woman had him arrested for misdemeanor harassment after he kept hounding her.

That’s the thing about love…

a) you love someone and they may not know it. Think of Charlie Brown and the little red-headed girl.

b) you love someone and they do not want it. So the love is not returned.

c) you love someone and they are not worthy.

“God demonstrated His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). We weren’t worthy, were we?

“We love Him because He first loved us” (I John 4:19). We return His love when we turn to Christ in salvation.

WHO IS THE GREATEST?

The radio preacher I was listening to told his audience that the greatest orator in the ancient world was Cicero. The second was Julius Caesar. And coming in third was Apollos.

My question is: who decided this? And how did he know?

Since no one living has heard either of them, we honestly have no basis for comparison. And yet, here we have them ranked in order of effectiveness in oratory.

The man of God put this forth as fact, but I think we can agree that he was not the scholar who made this determination. But somebody did.

My problem is pastors who pontificate on matters they have no right or business or background for doing so. He did not cite an authority but laid that line before his audience as accepted fact.

Standing at the pulpit with the eyes of hundreds of people upon you presents a huge temptation for any minister. It can be a heady experience. One has to keep his wits about him and pray constantly for the Lord to “set a guard upon my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips” (Psalm 141:3).

THE LORD’S PRESENCE

“Where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them” (Matthew 18:20).

There is nothing else like this statement in all Scripture. It is wonderfully unique.

a. This is the special reason why Christians gather:

–it is commanded.

–the numbers do not have to be big for Christ to show up.

–we are there to honor Him.

–to encourage each other.

–but the big reason is because of the unusual promise of the presence of Christ.

b. This is the special way Christians gather: “in my name”

–for my purpose

–for worship

–to honor and obey Him.

c. This is the special promise to Christians gathered: He will be there.

–Pastor, give worship-leadership your best effort; the Lord is here today.

–Do not cut things short if only a few come; He is here.

–Those who know your Bible are aware that the Lord is under the impression His presence makes a world of difference. When Moses protested his assignment, God said, “I will be with you.” To Joshua, He said, “As I was with Moses, I will be with you.” To Gideon, “I will be with you.” Same with so many others, including Jeremiah.

HOW THE MINISTRY (FOR SOUTHERN BAPTISTS) WAS DIFFERENT IN THE 1960S AND 1970S FROM NOW (my own observations)….

1) The denomination was looser then.

–and was drifting.

–we actually prided ourselves on our rudderlessness. “A Rope of Sand” was the title of a film our leaders made about our denomination.

2) The denomination was becoming liberal at a swift pace.

–You can argue with me on this but I was there. I saw it.

–In my beloved New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, I saw a popular professor laughing at a tract telling how to be saved. Another professor taught “the Bible contains the Word of God, but is not the Word of God.” A friend who was attending our seminary in Louisville said he heard several of his professors teach that Jesus did not physically rise from the dead.

3) Each agency was basically doing its own thing.

I was a member of the Foreign Mission Board’s trustees in the late 1970s. Matters were loosely controlled at the mission station level. There was much waste and inefficiency. I’m confident this was the pattern across the denomination for other agencies.

4) SBC churches talked a better game of soulwinning and missions that we were doing.

–There was no soulwinning/witnessing training at all in the ’60s.

–Only in 1976 did we begin to get serious about sending volunteers from our churches for hands-on missions overseas. Until then, there was little direct mission involvement. The truth is, the missionaries resented the interruption.

5) There were abuses on both sides, by liberals and conservatives. Anyone who blames all the turmoil of the decades on one side is not living in the real world.

–I know for a fact that some of our most highly respected leaders on both sides told blatant lies to the press about what they were doing or what they had done.

–A newly appointed conservative trustee of NOBTS called up one of our finest professors, whom he had never met and had only heard of, and said, “When I get to that seminary, you are in a lot of trouble, friend.” Another conservative went on the board of the Executive Committee in Nashville and when the national WMU director was mentioned, he rose to ask who she was. These were not some of the better moments for us conservatives.

The SBC is trying to find its way today. Listen to some people and you would think the 50s, 60s, 70s were the golden age of our denomination. My own feeling is we have always been searching for our proper identity. It seems to be a moving target.

I tell young pastors to go to the annual conventions (state and national). Stay informed and take part. But do not put any leader upon a pedestal and do not let anyone con you into thinking the Holy Grail was the 1950s. Pray for your leaders, stay informed, and stay faithful.

PEGGY NOONAN ON “THE BLOCKBUSTER SPEECH”

This speechwriter for President Reagan has much to say that can help those of us who stand before God’s people every Sunday. About effective speech-making she says….

–Boil it down to one sentence.

–Tell a story.

–Talk about you.

–Think and write. Put your points and stories in proper order.

In order to speak with power, Noonan suggests:

–don’t be smooth; be authentic

–do a sound check; be prepared

–make a connection with the audience

–build a group within the audience.

Before her speech, as people are gathering, Noonan says she deputizes some in the audience to be on her team. “If I fall flat or lose my voice, do something!” In a speech, if her joke falls flat, she’ll say, “Okay, Joe at Table 2–get ready!”

(Want more? Google her. This is all I have from my notes.)

THOMAS MORE, THE “MAN FOR ALL SEASONS”

I’ve gone on record as calling “A Man for All Seasons” one of my two or three favorite movies. I bought Robert Bolt’s script so I can quote some of the most memorable lines. Much of it seems to have been completely created from Bolt’s imagination.

Born in 1478, Thomas More became Lord Chancellor of England. In that role, he sought out heretics, put them on the rack and tortured them. As they were burned alive, he rejoiced and predicted they would roast in hell for all eternity. These victims were not criminals. They were normal people guilty of nothing more serious than differing from Catholic doctrine and wanting to read the Bible in their own language.

John Carey, writing for the Sunday Times Bookshop (Feb 22, 1998), wrote, “Relentless ambition and monastic simplicity co-existed within him. Beneath the chancellor’s robes he wore a hair shirt. He kept a whip for religious self-flagellation. He scorned the world as a passing show–and yet amassed great wealth and estates for himself and his family.

More married Jane Colt when she was 16. She bore him 4 children and died at 22. One month later, he married a rich widow.

Carey writes, “He was neither a thinker nor a visionary–just an inflexible administrator, adamant about obeying the old rules… So far was he from being a man for all seasons, that the first gust of the English Reformation blew his head off.”

We pastors should be careful in making saints of historical characters without knowing more about them. Some of them were sanctified scoundrels.

TESTS FOR INTEGRITY IN YOUR MINISTRY

(These are fragmentary notes that may spark something within you.)

–Exposure: what if everyone knew?

–Censure: does your own spirit condemn it?

–Nurture: does it help people?

–Perjure: Is it the truth?

–Pure: any mixture of falsehood with it?

–Scripture: what does the Word have to say on the subject?

–Cure: anyone being healed by it?

I love the word “sincere.” Our English word comes from the Latin “sine cera” which literally means “without wax.” A sculptor is working on a commission for a customer when he discovers a crack in the marble. He fills it in with wax and hopes no one notices. The customer pays him, takes it home and parks it near the fireplace. Bingo, the wax melts and the ruse is discovered. The artist is in trouble.

The Greek word translated as “sincere” or “pure” is “heilikrine.” (Found in Philippians 1:10 and II Peter 3:1 only.) “Helios” is the sun or its light, and “krino” means to judge. So, the Greek word means “tested by the light of the sun.”

Great stuff, huh? This is all about transparency and faithfulness. Turn up the heat, get it out in the light, and let us see what you’re really made of.

WHAT IF WE HELD THEIR FUNERAL AT THEIR FAVORITE HAUNT?

I was musing about holding funerals for this guy at the bowling alley since he had basically lived there. That’s when it occurred to me, what if we did that for everyone–held their services at the place where they lived life to the fullest. One would have his services at the lodge hall, another at the bingo parlor, the casino, the tavern.

What is the point in having the memorial service at a church when the guy never darkened the door? So, let’s be honest here….

–In the bowling alley, the minister might say, ‘It takes a score of 300 to get into Heaven. And Old Tom threw lots of gutter balls, had more than his share of spares and 7-10 splits. Pray for Old Tom’s soul.”

–in the bingo parlor, the minister would say, “Old Tom tried to play several cards at once. He was always glad to get the free square. Let’s finish his card for him, shall we? Under the B, believe. Under the I, invite Jesus into your heart. Under the N, there is no other name. Under the G, give your heart and life to Him. And under the O, obey the Lord from now on. See you in church.”

–at the casino, the minister: “Old Tom bet it all on the red square. So sorry, Tom. You knew the odds of winning in this place when you entered. You should have gone to church, friend. There the odds are ‘whosoever will’ may come.”

–Well, that’s the idea. Have those funerals at the restaurant for the overeaters, at the theater for the celebrity hound, at the ball park for the sports nut, at his office for the workaholic, and at the mall for the shopaholic.

THE TRUTH ABOUT DIOGENES

Legend has it that this Greek philosopher (412 – 323 B.C.) walked about the streets carrying a lamp in search of an honest man.

That probably is not true, but he was one interesting character. His school of philosophy taught self-control and the subjugating of all desire for pleasure and things. Carrying this to extremes, he lived in a tub and walked the streets barefoot.

During a journey from Athens to Aegina, Diogenes was captured by pirates who tried to sell him as a slave. He told his captors he knew only one trade, governing men. He pointed out a rich Corinthian. “Sell me to this man. He needs a master.” Oddly enough, the Corinthian bought him and put him to work tutoring his sons.

Alexander the Great came to see Diogenes. The philosopher was sunning himself at the time. Alexander stood over him and said, “Ask me any favor.” Diogenes: “Get out of my sunlight.” Later, Alexander said, “If I were not Alexander, I would like to be Diogenes.” Go figure.

Well, that’s it for now. I have more stuff, but I suspect you’ve had enough for the moment.