Sermon Stories

"The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God'" ( Psalm 14:1 ). Yet many of the most thoughtful people in history have wrestled honestly with whether God exists, and some of the sharpest questions about faith have come from atheists themselves. These nine stories about atheism and belief in God, retold in our own words, range from a philosopher's parable and a famous conversion to a couple of jokes that have been told from pulpits for years. Some are true stories, some are parables, and we say which is which. Each ends with a takeaway for sermons or reflection. Stories in this collection: The Madman: Nietzsche's Parable of a World Without God An Atheist Changes His Mind: Antony Flew The Atheist Professor and the Grizzly Bear "No Need of That Hypothesis": Laplace and Napoleon Dr Karl and the God Who Finds Parking Spaces Get Your Own Dirt: The Scientist Who Challenged God Galileo's Telescope and Our Place in the Universe Gabrielle Carey: From Puber...

"Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect" ( 1 Peter 3:15 ). Apologetics is the work of explaining and defending that hope. Sometimes it means wrestling with suffering; sometimes it means admitting the limits of what our minds can grasp. These two stories about apologetics, retold in our own words, do both. The first comes from a Scottish preacher who climbed back into his pulpit after his wife's sudden death. The second is a famous thought experiment about a world with only two dimensions. Each ends with a takeaway for sermons or reflection. Stories in this collection: When Life Tumbles In: Arthur John Gossip's Sermon of Faith The Flatlanders: Faith and the Limits of Our Understanding ──────── ✝ ──────── When Life Tumbles In: Arthur John Gossip's Sermon of Faith In 1927, as the story is usually dated, the wife of the Scottish minister Arthur John Gossip die...

"The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them" ( Psalm 34:7 ). The Bible speaks of angels as God's messengers and protectors, mostly unseen, sent to serve those who will inherit salvation ( Hebrews 1:14 ). This story about angels, retold in our own words, is one of the best known in Christian circles. Billy Graham included it in his book on angels. It is set on the islands of the South Pacific in the nineteenth century and ends with a takeaway for sermons or reflection. Story in this post: Angels All Around: John Paton and the Night of Fire ──────── ✝ ──────── Angels All Around: John Paton and the Night of Fire This story is told by Billy Graham in his book Angels: God's Secret Agents (first published in 1975 ). We have not been able to confirm it from an independent source, so the details rest on Graham's account. John G. Paton was a Scottish Presbyterian missionary. In 1858 he sailed to the New Hebrides, the island chain in the...

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" ( Matthew 6:33 ). Ambition is not the enemy of faith. The question is what we are ambitious for, and whether we are willing to settle for less than the real thing. These three stories about ambition, retold in our own words, follow a child prodigy who refused a toy violin, a young entrepreneur who asked a soft-drinks executive one unforgettable question, and a struggling actor who turned down a fortune to keep hold of his dream. Each ends with a takeaway for sermons or reflection. Stories in this collection: I Want Nothing to Do With It: Yehudi Menuhin and the Toy Violin Stop Selling Sugared Water: Steve Jobs and John Sculley Sylvester Stallone's Amazing Story: The Script He Would Not Sell ──────── ✝ ──────── I Want Nothing to Do With It: Yehudi Menuhin and the Toy Violin Yehudi Menuhin became one of the most celebrated violinists and conductors of the twentieth century,...

"Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God" ( Romans 15:7 ). Acceptance is one of the quietest forms of love. It does not excuse what someone has done, but it refuses to leave them standing alone. This story about acceptance, retold in our own words, comes from a funeral in Washington in January 1978, when a disgraced former president walked into a room full of people who did not know what to say to him. It ends with a takeaway for sermons or personal reflection. Story in this post: Welcome Home, Mr. President: Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon ──────── ✝ ──────── Welcome Home, Mr. President: Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon This story is widely told in sermons and is usually credited to the Methodist preacher Maxie Dunnam, who cites a report in Newsweek . The setting is well documented; we have not been able to locate the original magazine report or confirm the exact words of the greeting, so they are given here as the story tells them...

The best stories about empathy show something sympathy alone cannot: what it looks like to step inside another person's pain and stay there for a while. Paul put it simply: "Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn" ( Romans 12:15 ). Empathy is not fixing people. Very often, it is just refusing to leave them alone. Below are five sermon illustrations about empathy, each retold in full in our own words. You will meet the twelve people who refused to look away from the slave trade, a rabbi who raised his son in silence so he would learn to hear suffering, a little girl who could not fix a bicycle, a Holocaust survivor who found an unexpected companion in Jesus, and a soldier who finally saw his enemy's face. Each story ends with a takeaway for preaching or reflection. Stories in this post: The End of Slavery: Twelve People Who Refused to Look Away In the Silence, Hearing the World Cry "I Stopped to Help Her Cry" "After All, He Was a J...