[Propertalk] Sermon Illustrations for Proper 12 | OT 17

[Joe Parrish]

Free Sermon illustrations from 
                        Emphasis Preaching Journal 
                        Sermon Illustrations for Proper 12 | OT 17
excerpted from Emphasis Preaching Journal
Genesis 29:15-28
                        I don't usually watch TV while I work out at our local YMCA, but I happened one day to notice a story on ESPN that grabbed my attention while I was on the treadmill. It was about Gary Neal, a 26-year-old rookie guard for the San Antonio Spurs, which was funny because I don't really follow basketball. At LaSalle University, Neal had won the Atlantic-10 Conference Rookie of the Year award, and seemed well on his way to a successful college career and possibly the NBA. However, a rape allegation of which he was later exonerated led to his dismissal from LaSalle. He took out student loans and applied at Towson University in Maryland. After he was cleared of wrongdoing, Neal went on to be fourth in the nation in scoring his senior year. Yet he was unsigned by any NBA team. After playing successfully in Turkey, Italy, and Spain, he was invited to a Spurs tryout, and after impressing them during the summer, he was signed and has gone on to lead all NBA rookie s in 3-point shooting percentage, as well as crack the top 20 in the entire league in that category.
                        
                        When I read this passage, I think of that story. Jacob agrees to work for Laban for seven years to win the hand of the woman he loves, but when the time comes and he is cheated out of that marriage, he continues to work hard, overcome obstacles, and finally realizes his dream of marrying Rachel, eventually fathering what would become the entire nation of Israel.
                        Craig K.
                        
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                        Genesis 29:15-28
                        Mark Feldmeir in his Testimony to the Exiles tells the story of Lance Armstrong.  In 1995 this young man was the greatest cyclist in North America. Then he was hit with the news that threatened his life as well as his career. He had testicular cancer that had spread swiftly to his brain and his lungs. The doctors gave him little hope for survival.
                        
                        Two years after countless surgeries and much radiation and chemotherapy, he began training once again. In 1999 he won the Tour de France. What persistence and endurance! In summarizing his feat, Armstrong said, "I was meant for a long, hard climb."
                        
                        Jacob also was "meant for the long, hard climb." His love for Rachel enabled him to work an additional seven years for her after he had been tricked by Laban to work for seven years only to get Leah for a wife, someone he didn't love.
                        Richard H.
                        
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                        Romans 8:26-39
                        Everyone in the village believed Pendle Hill was haunted by demons. In 1652 George Fox courageously walked up that hill to exorcise Satan and call for the saints in the name of Christ. While in prayer, a vision appeared before Fox he described as "a people in white raiment, coming to the Lord." The vision signified that proclaiming Christ's power over sin would gather people to the kingdom. And it did. By 1660 Fox had 50,000 followers. At first they called themselves "children of the light," "publishers of Truth," or "the camp of the Lord." Gradually they came to prefer the term "Friends," in accord with Jesus' words recorded in John 15:14: "You are my friends if you do what I command you." Today the group is often referred to as the "Quakers."
                        
                        In climbing that hill, George Fox knew that nothing could separate h
 


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