Sermon Illustration

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant? Who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just some of us: it's everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. Source: Marianne Williamson

In 1982, Disney World in Orlando, Florida finished work on the Epcot center. Walt Disney had recently passed away, so the Disney executives asked his wife to cut the ribbon and say a few words. When the MC called her up to the podium, he smiled and said," "Mrs Disney, I just wish Walt could have seen this!" She smiled and responded by saying, "He did."

I heard the story about a king in Africa who had a close friend with whom he had grown up. The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that occurred in his life (positive or negative) and remarking, "This is good!" One day the king and his friend were out on a hunting expedition. The friend would load and prepare the guns for the king. The friend had apparently done something wrong in preparing one of the guns, for after taking the gun from his friend, the king fired it and his thumb was blown off. Examining the situation the friend remarked as usual, "This is good!" to which the king replied, "No, this is NOT good!" and proceeded to send his friend to jail. About a year later, the king was hunting in an area wherein he should have known not to hunt. Cannibals captured him and took them to their village.They tied his hands, stacked some wood, set up a stake and bound him to the stake. As they came close to set fire to the wood, they noticed ...

Once a man was walking along a beach. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. Off in the distance he could see a person going back and forth between the surf's edge and and the beach. Back and forth this person went. As the man approached he could see that there were hundreds of starfish stranded on the sand as the result of the natural action of the tide. The man was stuck by the the apparent futility of the task. There were far too many starfish. Many of them were sure to die. As he approached the person continued the task of picking up starfish one by one and throwing them into the ocean. As he came up to the person he said, "You must be crazy. There are thousands of miles of beach covered with starfish. You can't possibly make a difference." The person looked at the man. He then stooped down and pick up one more starfish and threw it back into the ocean. He turned back to the man and said, "It sure made a difference to that one!"

"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven played music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well." Martin Luther King Jr. American Civil Rights Leader

The folklore surrounding Poland's famous concert pianist and prime minister, Ignace Paderewski, includes this story: A mother, wishing to encourage her young son's progress at the piano, bought tickets for a Paderewski performance. When the night arrived, they found their seats near the front of the hall and eyed the majestic Steinway waiting on the stage. Soon the mother found a friend to talk to, and the boy slipped away. When 8pm arrived, the spotlights came on, the audience quieted, and only then did they notice the boy up on stage sitting at the bench, innocently picking out, "Twinkle, twinkle little star." His mother gasped, but before she could retrieve her son, the master appeared on the stage and quickly moved to the keyboard. "Don't quit - keep playing," he whispered to the boy. Leaning over, the master reached down with his left hand and began filling in the bass part. Soon his right arm reached around the other side, encircling the ...

We forget Lincoln's road to the White House: Failed in business in 1831, defeated for legislature in 1832, second failure in business in 1833, suffered nervous breakdown in 1836, defeated for Speaker in 1838, defeated for Elector in 1840, defeated for Congress in 1843, defeated for Congress in 1848, defeated for Congress in 1848, defeated for Senate in 1855, defeated for Vice-President in 1856, defeated for Senate in 1858, elected President in 1860.

To: Jesus, son of Joseph Woodcrafter, Carpenter shop, Nazareth. From Jordan Management Consultants Dear Sir Thank you for submitting resumes of the 12 men you have picked for management positions in your new organization. All of them have now taken our battery of tests; we not only ran the results through our computer, but also arranged personal interviews for each of them with our psychologist and vocational aptitude consultant. It is our opinion that most of your nominees are lacking in background, education, and vocational aptitude for the type of enterprise you are undertaking. They do not have the team concept. We would recommend that you continue your search for persons of experience in managerial ability and proven capability. SIMON PETER is unstable and given to fits of temper. ANDREW has absolutely no qualities of leadership. The two brothers, JAMES AND JOHN, the sons of Zebedee, place personal interest above company loyalty. THOMAS demonstrates a questioning ...

Next fall, when you see geese heading north for the winter, flying along in V formation, you might be interested in knowing what science has discovered about why they fly that way. It has been learned that as each bird flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the bird immediately following. By flying in a V- formation, the whole flock adds at least 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own. (Christians who share a common direction and a sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier, because they are travelling on the thrust of one another). Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go it alone, and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front. (If we have as much sense as a goose, we will stay in formation with those who are headed the same way we are going). When the lead goose gets tired, he rotated back in the wing and anoth...

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the LORD. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand: one belonging to him, and the other to the LORD. When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life. This really bothered him and he questioned the LORD about it: "LORD, you said that once I decided to follow you, you'd walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints. I don't understand why when I needed you most you would leave me." The LORD replied: "My son, my precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of tria...