Youth Illustrations: Ken’s favorite Quotes, Anecdotes, Real-Life Events, Modern Parables, Sermon Illustrations, Jokes, Humor and other stories to add a little punch to your Bible Studies, Sermons, Youth Ministry talks and Children’s sermons.
Grandmas are for stories about things of long ago.
Grandmas are for caring about all the things you know…
Grandmas are for rocking you and singing you to sleep.
Grandmas are for giving you nice memories to keep…
Grandmas are for knowing all the things you’re dreaming of…
But, most importantly of all, Grandmas are for love.
Author Unknown
4 years old: My Mommy can do anything!
8 years old: My Mom knows a lot! A whole lot!
12 years old: My Mother doesn’t really know quite everything.
14 years old: Naturally, Mother doesn’t know that, either.
16 years old: Mother? She’s hopelessly old-fashioned.
18 years old: That old woman? She’s way out of date!
25 years old: Well, she might know a little bit about it.
35 years old: Before we decide, let’s get Mom’s opinion.
45 years old: Wonder what Mom would have thought about it?
65 years old: Wish I could talk it over with Mom
Holiday CollectionCreative Holiday Ideas has over 300 pages of ideas to help you plan your next Mother’s Day Celebration or event honoring mothers. If you’ve ever wondered what you’re going to do for the various common holidays and how you’re going to do it, this resource is for you.
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“A small child waits with impatience the arrival home of a parent. She wishes to relate some sandbox experience. She is excited to share the thrill that she has known that day. The time comes; the parent arrives. Beaten down by the stresses of the workplace the parent often replies: “Not now, honey, I’m busy, go watch television.” The most often spoken words in the American household today are the words: go watch television. If not now, when? Later. But later never comes for many and the parent fails to communicate at the very earliest of ages. We give her designer clothes and computer toys, but we do not give her what she wants the most, which is our time. Now, she is fifteen and has a glassy look in her eyes. Honey, do we need to sit down and talk? Too late. Love has passed by.”
Author: Robert Keeshan, better known to America as Captain Kangaroo.
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A man stopped at a flower shop to order some flowers to be wired to his mother who lived two hundred miles away. As he got out of his car he noticed a young girl sitting on the curb sobbing.
He asked her what was wrong and she replied, “I wanted to buy a red rose for my mother. But I only have seventy-five cents and a rose costs two dollars.”
The man smiled and said, “Come on in with me. I’ll buy you a rose.” He bought the little girl her rose and ordered his own mother’s flowers.
As they were leaving he offered the girl a ride home. She said, “Yes, please! You can take me to my mother.”
She directed him to a cemetery, where she placed the rose on a freshly dug grave.
The man returned to the flower shop, canceled the wire order, picked up a bouquet and drove the two hundred miles to his mother’s home.
Holiday CollectionCreative Holiday Ideas has over 300 pages of ideas to help you not only to plan your Valentine’s Day, but also to plan events for other common holidays. If you’ve ever wondered what you’re going to do for the various common holidays and how you’re going to do it, this resource is for you.
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A little boy was told by his doctor that he could save his sister’s life by giving her some blood. The six-year-old girl was near death, a victim of disease from which the boy had made a marvelous recovery two years earlier.
Her only chance for restoration was a blood transfusion from someone who had previously conquered the illness. Since the two children had the same rare blood type, the boy was the ideal donor.
“Johnny, would you like to give your blood for Mary?” the doctor asked.
The boy hesitated. His lower lip started to tremble. Then he smiled, and said, “Sure, Doc. I’ll give my blood for my sister.”
Soon the two children were wheeled into the operating room – Mary, pale and thin; Johnny, robust and the picture of health. Neither spoke, but when their eyes met, Johnny grinned. As his blood siphoned into Mary’s veins, one could almost see new life come into her tired body.
The ordeal was almost over when Johnny’s brave little voice broke the silence, “Say Doc, when do I die?” It was only then that the doctor realized what the moment of hesitation, the trembling of the lip, had meant earlier.
Little Johnny actually thought that in giving his blood to his sister he was giving up his life! And in that brief moment, the final decision that he had made was the greatest love of all… the unconditional sacrificing love..
MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”
200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.
Mark 2:5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
As I was getting ready to start my day today I began thinking about this story in the Bible where Jesus was at a house in Capernaum. So many people from the area had heard he was there and they began to show up in droves. The house was full as well as all around the outside of the house and Jesus was preaching the word to them.
While he was preaching some men showed up (four to be exact) and they were carrying a paralytic. They tried their best to get this man to Jesus because they had heard of his great healing power. They truly believed that Jesus could heal their friend. They just had one problem, trying to get through the crowd was like trying to cut through a stone wall. They’re were just way to many people and I’m sure none of them wanted to move out of the way. They all came to see the man that everyone was talking about. Maybe he would perform some miracle. They were not about to miss a miracle all because they took some time to let a paralytic and his friends through.
These men were not about to give up though instead they worked their way to the top of the house onto the roof. They began to dig a hole in the roof until finally they broke through. Slowly they lowered their friend down to the ground right in front of Jesus.
I can’t help but wonder what was going through the mind of the owner of this house. I mean if it was my house I think I would have been really mad because these guys just tore my roof apart but we don’t know because the owner is never mentioned. Maybe his anger was deterred by his curiosity. Maybe he was more anxious about seeing how Jesus would respond to the man who was lowered in front of him.
I’m sure everyone around was filled with excitement as this paralytic was put before Jesus. Now they would all get what they came for A Miracle! I’m sure the room got quiet as Jesus looked at this man and his friends. You could probably hear a pin drop as Jesus looked at the paralytic and said with all confidence “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
I can almost sense the mood change in the crowd after he said those words. I can imagine some of them feeling upset because all he said was your sins are forgiven. What your sins are forgiven! where’s the miracle?! we came here to see a miracle and all your offering is forgiveness. What if the story ended there? What if all Jesus did was forgive the man? I wonder what the outcome would have been then. They probably would have drug him from the house and stoned him to death. But it didn’t end there. Most of us know the ending. Jesus heals the man, he gets up and takes his mat and goes home and the people praise God.
The story just makes me wonder though…what if all Jesus had to offer us was that one act on the cross. What if all he ever did for us was offer his forgiveness? Would that be enough or would we like some of the people in the story above need more. I mean how much is enough? So many of us are happy Christians as long as we feel God is doing things in our lives or as long as we feel God is providing or giving us stuff. But what if all that stopped today. What if for whatever reason God just stopped giving. Would the cross still be enough? He really doesn’t have to give us anything else. But is what was already given enough?
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Robbie Heverling (robhev@yahoo.com)
Used by Permission
MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”
200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.
He carried His cross despising the shame
To the place of the skull, Golgatha by name
And there with two thieves, His friends’ hopes all lost,
Was man’s greatest error now hung on a cross
He held back His power, His glory was veiled
He silenced His tongue as accusations were railed
He submitted His body to torture and pain
And saw through it all a glorious gain
Oh what sight could hold Him, this King of all Kings
What glory awaited that only shame brings?
The One who spoke galaxies, wisdom and life
Laid aside all His power without any strife
And WHY would He do it? The question looms large
Accept accusations, absorb every charge
The smoke finally clears as the veil rips away
And eyes filled with tears see truth bright as day
Humbled and willing I bow to my knee
Jesus! Oh Jesus! You did it for me…..
By Cindy Blackamore
03-31-09
Used by Permission
MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”
200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.
The donkey awakened, his mind still savoring the afterglow of the most exciting day of his life. Never before had he felt such a rush of pleasure and pride.
He walked into town and found a group of people by the well. “I’ll show myself to them” he thought.
But they didn’t notice him. They went on drawing their water and paid him no mind.
“Throw your garments down,” he said crossly. “Don’t you know who I am?”
They just looked at him in amazement. Someone slapped him across the tail and ordered him to move.
“Miserable heathens!” he muttered to himself. “I’ll just go to the market where the good people are. They will remember me.”
But the same thing happened. No one paid any attention to the donkey as he strutted down the main street in front of the market place.
“The palm branches! Where are the palm branches!” he shouted. “Yesterday, you threw palm branches!”
Hurt and confused, the donkey returned home to his mother.
“Foolish child,” she said gently. “Don’t you realize that without Jesus, you are just an ordinary donkey?”
Just like the donkey who carried Jesus in Jerusalem, we are most fulfilled when we are in the service of Jesus Christ. Without him, all our best efforts are like “filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6) and amount to nothing. When we lift up Christ, however, we are no longer ordinary people but key players in God’s plan to redeem the world.
Edited from Hot Illustrations for Youth Talks by Wayne Rice. Copyright1994 by Youth Specialties, Inc.
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Author and source UNKNOWN
Our house was directly across the street from the clinic entrance of John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. We lived downstairs and rented the upstairs rooms to out patients at the clinic.
One summer evening as I was fixing supper, there was a knock at the door. I opened it to see a truly awful looking man. “Why, he’s hardly taller than my eight-year-old,” I thought as I stared at the stooped, shrivelled body. But the appalling thing was his face — lopsided from swelling, red and raw.
Yet his voice was pleasant as he said, “Good evening. I’ve come to see if you’ve a room for just one night. I came for a treatment this morning from the eastern shore, and here’s no bus till morning.” He told me he’d been hunting for a room since noon but with no success, no one seemed to have a room. “I guess it’s my face…I know it looks terrible, but my doctor says with a few more treatments . . .”
For a moment I hesitated, but his next words convinced me: “I could sleep in this rocking chair on the porch. My bus leaves early in the morning.” I told him we would find him a bed, but to rest on the porch. I went inside and finished getting supper. When we were ready, I asked the old man if he would join us. “No thank you. I have plenty.” And he held up a brown paper bag.
When I had finished the dishes, I went out on the porch to talk with him a few minutes. It didn’t take long time to see that this old man had an oversized heart crowded into that tiny body. He told me he fished for a living to support his daughter, her five children, and her husband, who was hopelessly crippled from a back injury.
He didn’t tell it by way of complaint; in fact, every other sentence was preface with a thanks to God for a blessing. He was grateful that no pain accompanied his disease, which was apparently a form of skin cancer. He thanked God for giving him the strength to keep going. At bedtime, we put a camp cot in the children’s room for him. When I got up in the morning, the bed linens were neatly folded and the little man was out on the porch.
He refused breakfast, but just before he left for his bus, haltingly, as if asking a great favour, he said, “Could I please come back and stay the next time I have a treatment? I won’t put you out a bit. I can sleep fine in a chair.” He pause a moment and then added, “Your children made me feel at home. Grownups are bothered by my face, but children don’t seem to mind.”
I told him he was welcome to come again. And on his next trip he arrived a little after seven in the morning. As a gift, he brought a big fish and a quart of the largest oysters I had ever seen. He said he had shucked them that morning before he left so that they’d be nice and fresh. I knew his bus left at 4:00 a.m. and I wondered what time he had to get up in order to do this for us.
In the years he came to stay overnight with us there was never a time that he did not bring us fish or oysters or vegetables from his garden. Other times we received packages in the mail, always by special delivery; fish and oysters packed in a box of fresh young spinach or kale, every leaf carefully washed. Knowing that he must walk three miles to mail these, and knowing how little money he had made the gifts doubly precious. When I received these little remembrances, I often thought of a comment our next-door neighbour made after he left that first morning.
“Did you keep that awful looking man last night? I turned him away! You can lose roomers by putting up such people!” Maybe we did lose roomers once or twice. But oh! If only they could have known him, perhaps their illnesses would have been easier to bear. I know our family always will be grateful to have known him; from him we learned what it was to accept the bad without complaint and the good with gratitude to God.
Recently I was visiting a friend who has a greenhouse, As she showed me her flowers, we came to the most beautiful one of all, a golden chrysanthemum, bursting with blooms. But to my great surprise, it was growing in an old dented, rusty bucket. I thought to myself, “If this were my plant, I’d put it in the loveliest container I had!” My friend changed my mind. “I ran short of pots,” she explained, “and knowing how beautiful this one would be, I thought it wouldn’t mind starting out in this old pail. It’s just for a little while, till I can put it out in the garden.”
She must have wondered why I laughed so delightedly, but I was imagining just such a scene in heaven. “Here’s an especially beautiful one,” God might have said when he came to the soul of the sweet old fisherman. “He won’t mind starting in this small body.”
All this happened long ago — and now, in God’s garden, how tall this lovely soul must stand.
The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7b)
MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”
200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.
You may remember seeing cans of grocery items in your local store during the 1970s and 80s which had plain white and black labels. They were marked simply “Peaches” or “Peanut Butter” or “Soup,” and below that was a statement that the item was “suitable for its usual use.” The idea was that brand names were unimportant. Any can of generic “peaches” was as good as any other… they were all the same.
Today, society is selling another generic… religion. I’m sure you’ve heard it said: “Well, isn’t it enough just to believe in God? Aren’t all religions the same, anyway?” Today, many people have a generic “God” suitable for the usual uses, Christmas and Easter, funerals, and weddings.
Even the name of their “God” is generic. A cab driver I once rode with said, “Did you ever notice that people who aren’t Christians call God ‘God’ but the ones who are, call Him ‘Lord?'” The world’s “religion” is aware that there is some kind of God out there, but doesn’t acknowledge him as Creator, King or Savior, nor do they surrender to His Lordship.
Jesus says specifically that a generic faith will not do, “For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:17-18) And the Apostle Peter said it again, when he was arrested and brought in front of the high priests and scribes: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
Don’t buy into the generic. Salvation has a brand name, “Jesus Christ.” No substitute will do.
Source unknown – circulated by email
MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”
200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.