Sunday's Comin' To Illustrate - Christianity Today

Mrs. Hawthorne’s Trust

Heartbroken Nathaniel went home to tell his wife he had been fired from his job. Sophia surprised him with an exclamation of joy. “Now, you can write your book!”

“Yes,” replied the man, with sagging confidence, “and what shall we live on while I am writing it?”

To his amazement, she opened a drawer and pulled out a substantial amount of money. “Where on earth did you get that?” he exclaimed.

“I have always known you were a man of genius,” she told him. “I knew that someday you would write a masterpiece. So every week, out of the money you gave me for housekeeping, I saved a little bit. Here is enough to last us for one whole year.”

From her confidence came one of the greatest novels of American literature, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

David Jeremiah, The Power of Encouragement (Vision House, 1994); submitted by Van Morris, Mt. Washington, Kentucky1 Corinthians 13; Encouragement, Marriage

Rich Mullins’s Repentance

The late musician Rich Mullins taught me an invaluable lesson about the true meaning of repentance. One rainy day he got into a blistering argument with his road manager, Gay Quisenberry. Angry words were hurled back and forth, and Rich stormed out the door.

Early the following morning, Gay was awakened from a sound sleep by the loud buzz of a motor outside her house. Groggy, she looked out and saw Rich mowing her lawn!

Brennan Manning in Rich Mullins: His Life and Legacy, by James Bryan Smith (Broadman & Holman, 2000); submitted by Clark Cothern, Tecumseh, Michigan

Matthew 18:15-20; Repentance

Movie Clips to Show or Tell

Family Man
Rated PG-13 for sensuality and language
(Universal, 2000)
Scene begins: 2:34:00 Length: 2 minutes
Theme: Family, Love, Marriage, Self-sacrifice

Set-up: Jack Campbell (portrayed by Nicolas Cage) left his college sweetheart, Kate (Tea Leoni), to become a wealthy Wall Street executive. He has everything, or so he thinks, including a sports car and a beautiful girlfriend. But on Christmas morning he wakes to a “what if?” scenario. Like It’s a Wonderful Life in reverse, Jack is allowed a glimpse of what his life would have been like had he chosen to marry Kate and begin a family.

Several weeks pass as Jack lives his hypothetical life with his theoretical wife. He begins to feel trapped in this domestic life with its family responsibilities, so Jack tries to recapture his old life. In the process he discovers the emptiness of living for himself.

Synopsis of the scene (show or tell): Jack discusses with his wife a job opportunity that would revive some of his former glory. In her response, Jack hears the power and beauty of selfless love.

Kate declares, “Maybe I was being naïve, but I believed that we would grow old together in this house. That we’d spend holidays here and have our grandchildren come visit us here. I had this image of us all gray and wrinkly and me working in the garden and you repainting the deck.

“Things change. If you need this, Jack, if you really need this—I’ll take these kids from the life they love, and I’ll take myself from the only home we’ve ever known together, and I’ll move wherever you need to go. I’ll do that because I love you. I love you. And that’s more important to me than our address. I choose us.”

Concluding statement: We choose to make sacrifices for our dreams, hopes, and aspirations. But love is only found when we choose to sacrifice self-interests like these for someone else. This is the example Christ gave us, and the way Scripture says we will know what true love is.

—Submitted by Bill White, Paramount, California

New movie clips are available each week from PreachingToday.com, our online journal and illustration service.

First, Call Dad

While kayaking off the Isle of Wight in England, Mark Ashton-Smith, a 33-year-old lecturer at Cambridge University, capsized in treacherous waters. Clinging to his craft and reaching for his cell phone, Ashton-Smith’s first inclination was to call his father. It didn’t matter to the desperate son that his dad was training British troops in Dubai 3,500 miles away. Without delay, the father relayed his son’s mayday to the Coast Guard installation nearest to his son’s location. Ironically, it was less than a mile away. Within 12 minutes, a helicopter retrieved the grateful Ashton-Smith from the water.

When we are in peril, our first impulse should be to call our Father—the one we trust to help us.

Source: Reuters; submitted by Greg Asimakoupoulos, Naperville, IllinoisPsalm 46:1; Matthew 6:9; 1 Peter 5:7Crisis, Fatherhood of God, Trust

How Fathers Protect

Have you ever wondered whether a giant asteroid might hit our planet, like the one that may have wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth?

The planet Jupiter “is our first line of defense,” says Allan Boss, an astrophysicist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington. “It is something like 99.9 percent efficient at throwing dangerous space junk, asteroids, and meteorites back out to interstellar space.”

How does that happen?

Jupiter is 318 times heavier than earth. Because of its mass, Jupiter creates a huge gravitational field that acts as a giant cosmic vacuum cleaner, drawing the “junk” that floats into the gravitational field toward it and away from other planets.

Jupiter displayed its protective power six years ago when a monster comet broke into fragments and bombarded the planet Jupiter with more destructive power than all the atomic bombs on earth. Not all space particles get deflected by Jupiter, but living in Jupiter’s gravitational field minimizes the destructive forces that enter the Earth’s atmosphere.

Considering Jupiter’s protective role, the ancient Romans unknowingly named the mighty planet well. In Old Latin, Jupiter means “Sky-Father.”

Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press; submitted by Per Nilsen, Burnsville, MinnesotaMalachi 4; Ephesians 6:4Children, Fatherhood, Protection

More Favor Legal Pot

One-third of American adults favor legalizing marijuana, the highest support in 30 years, according to a Gallup poll. When the question was first posed in 1969, only 12 percent favored legalization; today 34 percent. The only dip in the rising approval was during the “Just Say No” campaign of the early 1980s.

Source: USA Today (8/24/01)

Romans 6:16, 8:5; 1 Peter 1:13-16; 2 Peter 2:19 Addiction, Drugs

A Painful Rescue

One of the most powerful images of my wife’s childhood came when she and a neighbor girl were playing in some woods behind their homes. The neighbor girl wandered from the path and stepped into a nest of ground bees. As the bees began to swarm and sting, the girls began to scream for help. Suddenly, out of nowhere—like Superman, my wife says—her dad came crashing through the woods, leaping over fallen logs, hurdling vines and bushes. He swooped up a girl under each arm and tore through the woods at full speed to get away from the bees. As he ran, the father’s grip bruised the children’s arms, branches scratched their thighs, and thorns grabbed at their clothes and skin. The rescue hurt, but it was better than the bees.

The image is not so unlike our heavenly Father’s work. He sees the danger and, at times even before we call out, comes crashing into our worlds. From some throne above the universe, he hurdles galaxies and the infinite expanse of time to enter our realities and take us from spiritual danger. His rescue may hurt us, but the goal is always our safety, and the motive is always his love.

Source: Bryan Chapell, Holiness by Grace (Crossway, 2001)

Job 19:23-27; Psalm 98; Colossians 1:13-14; 2 Timothy 4:18 Fatherhood of God, Redemption, Rescue

“The point of an open mind,
like having an open mouth,
is to close it on something solid.”

—G. K. Chestertonsubmitted by Bill White, Paramount, California / Proverbs 2:1-6; 1 John 5:20 / Discernment, Understanding, Wisdom

Honor Thy Mom and Dad

For their special day, create a tribute to be treasured forever.

When I heard James MacDonald, pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, preach last summer, he shared how he honored his father and mother. Inspired by his story, I created a treasure.

I wrote each parent a letter filled with memories of ways they influenced me as I was growing up. I thanked them particularly for things I didn’t appreciate when I was younger, namely discipline and sacrifices they made. I thanked Mom for supporting Dad, for eating the leftovers no else wanted, and for crying when I left for college. I thanked Dad for all the things he gave up to afford my piano, and for refusing to let me quit my lessons. I thanked him for taking me to church and told him it was a big part of my decision to become a pastor.

I formatted the pages attractively and printed them on a color laser printer. I had the tributes framed with pictures of us standing together and presented them as gifts.

The last time I wrote my parents a letter of appreciation, they put it in the safe with their valuables. That should have been a clue to how they would respond.

When they unwrapped the tributes, they were overwhelmed, especially Dad. He could barely speak. They took the tributes to a family gathering to show to the rest of the family. My sister and I are my parents’ largest life’s work; being honored in a tangible way floods the years of sacrifice with meaning and stands as a bulwark against regrets.

—Mike Warnock, Country Club Hills, Illinois

Cutting Edge Worship Songs

From the Web site WorshipTogether.com (worship resources for the next generation), here are the ten most downloaded songs.

Forever Chris Tomlin
You Are My King (Amazing Love) Billy James Foote
Let My Words Be Few Matt Redman and Beth Redman
Your Grace Still Amazes Me Shawn Craig and Connie Harrington
Breathe Marie Barnett
The Heart Of Worship Matt Redman
Pour My Love On You Dan Dean and Gary Sadler
Give Us Clean Hands Charlie Hall
The Wonderful Cross Chris Tomlin, J.D. Walt, and Jesse Reeves
Here I Am To Worship Tim Hughes

Ideas That Work

Good Response

The pastor reads, the people respond, and life goes on. Here are three ways to get more from your responsive reading:

Instruct the husbands and wives of the congregation to take turns. Try 1 Corinthians 13.
Have the people on the left and the people on the right read alternate verses of Psalm 150 to call one another to worship.
Allow the children to respond to the adults as they share reading Deuteronomy 6:1-9.

Or, choose your own groups and verses!

—from Kevin J. Navarro, The Complete Worship Leader (Baker, 2001)

Mighty Mites

Let the children be an example of pure-hearted giving.

Whether in children’s church or in the full worship community, ask the children to bring offerings, specially prepared for this day, before God. Not nickels and dimes-have the children read poems written to God, sing a song of praise, give to God pictures they’ve drawn, or present any gift of adoration they wish. You can even collect the pictures and poems to display as a continuing reminder of the joy of giving.

—adapted from Holly Nauss on www.worshiptogether.com