Loading...
Loading...
20 illustrations for sermon preparation
Matthew Henry observed her strategy: she calls them "simple" and "wanting understanding," inviting them to her school under pretense of refinement.
We treat the present as though it shall never end, and eternity as though it shall never begin.
Yet Scripture is unambiguous: the heart (*leb* in Hebrew, the seat of will and intention) cannot be good while its practice remains evil.
Life and health form the foundation of all other enjoyments.
Thomas Carlyle observed with prescience: "There is a great necessity indeed of getting a little more silent than we are.
It is through blindness and inconsonsideration that any man becomes entangled in the snares of the foolish woman.
The latter we enjoy now through faith and hope; but the former is present with us, the certain consequence and necessary attendant upon a mind truly virtuous and religious.
Temporal possessions obtained in harmony with God's will and employed in benevolence produce genuine happiness.
Exell observes a crucial two-fold aspect in this verse: the same divine way operates as *strength* (Hebrew *maoz*, fortress) to the righteous and as ruin to the wicked.
Proverbs 10:24 unveils two destinies: "The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him; but the desire of the righteous shall be granted." Who are the wicked?
We may lawfully wish for one another extended years; this desire is no infirmity.
The Son of God, represented throughout Proverbs as *Wisdom* (Chokmah), extends this invitation universally: Elohim shows no partiality of persons.
The wise *thirsty ground* drinks in rain; likewise, the wise in heart long for and live upon God's Word.
Elohim ordained that man should labour—not as punishment, but as partnership with the Divine Husbandman in cultivating the field of life.
Exell (1887) offers this Victorian meditation: We are not to expect permanence in our acquisitions.
The mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom.—Piety a peculiar ornament to the aged. I. Who may properly be called old people? Old and young are relative terms admitting different significations. Children always think their parents are old. Those who...
The genuinely wise person possesses three defining characteristics: he pursues rational ends with deliberate purpose; he recognizes that true wisdom and moral goodness are inseparable; and he submits his pursuits to Divine direction rather than personal preference.
Exell's *Biblical Illustrator* identifies three marks of temptation as she conducts her ministry of ruin.
Love is no sentimental weakness; it is the ardent, sagacious, far-sighted virtue that Scripture commends.
An Intellectual Contrast: The intelligent man communicates wisdom; when he speaks, men are enlightened, their minds set to thinking, their spirits refreshed.
SermonWise.ai generates complete sermon outlines for any passage across 17 theological traditions. Try it with Proverbs 9.
Generate a sermon →