Illustration results for brokenhearted
Free Memorial Day Resources
Sermons & Illustrations: Top SermonsTop Illustrations
Sermon & Worship Packages: Time to Remember
Have you ever been in a service where the music and the message were so powerful, so uplifting that you sensed the glory of His presence? A.H. Ackley wrote about it once:
In my failure, sin, and sorrow, brokenhearted,
crushed and torn,
I have felt His presence near me, He has all
my burdens born.
I have seen Him, I have known Him, for He
deigns to walk with me;
And the glory of His presence will be mine eternally.
O the glory of His presence, O the beauty of His face;
I am His and His forever, He has won we by His grace.
During the conversation the tramp said, ’I wish there were more people like you in the world." Whereupon his mother replied, "Oh, there are. But you must look for them." The old man simply shook his head, saying, "But, lady, I didn’t need to look for you. You looked for me." When that mother reflected her Christian kindness toward the tramp, she did something more than simply offer him welfare. It was a compassion that went out of its way to love the unlovely. And that’s the story of our Savior’s life, death, and resurrection. He came looking for us in the sick, the maimed, the lame, the bruised, the brokenhearted, the wretched wanderer, the poor and forgotten, the prisoner, and the lonely rich.
LOVED, TO BE LOVE
One of the neatest gifts I've ever received was this little, hand towel. I was given this during my seminary commencement, and have cherished it ever since. The towel has a little saying on it: "Blessed to be a blessing" Isaiah 61:1. Isaiah 61:1-2 says: "The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives... to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn."
Days after we arrived here, I unpacked my boxes, and placed this towel on my bookshelf. I've kept it there to serve as a reminder of God's calling on my life. And, as I gazed upon this towel these last, few days, I've thought, Yes, I am blessed, and for that I need to be a blessing to others. But more than this, I am also so loved by God, and because I am loved by him, I need to love because of him. For, without the love of Christ, what does it mean to be a blessing anyway?
You know, in some ways, I think it would be equally fitting if the towel read, "Loved, to be love" (John 13:34).
Several years ago the American Heart Association published the results of a remarkable scientific study. In 1998 Dr. Randy Bird did a study of 393 coronary care patients at Duke University Hospital. Dr. Bird is not a Christian and this is not a Christian study. But it asked the question: “Does prayer have any impact on patient’s healing?” Without the patients knowing it, people were asked to pray for only half of the heart patients. The groups were comparable in age & severity of medical conditions. The people praying were given the names of the patients and their diagnosis and were asked to pray everyday for their healing and recovery. Dr. Bird compared the outcome of each group and found those patients who were prayed for did better than those who were not. It was amazing! Everything from recovery rates, hospital stay, length of medication, type of procedure needed, was better for the group that was prayed for. Just to prove this was not a Christian study they observed that distance of those praying for the patients made no difference. Duh!...
(Elapsed time: Measured from the beginning of the opening credit, this scene begins at 01:46:50 and ends at 01:49:00. Content: In Love and War is rated PG-13 for sensuality and graphic portrayal of war injuries.)
The movie In Love and War is based on the WWI experiences of author Ernest Hemingway. The 18-year-old Hemingway (Chris O’Donnell) is a Red Cross volunteer in Italy just before the end of the war. While stationed there, he meets, falls in love with, and proposes to Red Cross nurse Agnus von Kurowsky (Sandra Bullock). But Agnus, unbeknownst to Hemmingway, accepts a marriage proposal from an Italian doctor after Hemingway returns to America. When Hemingway finds out, he is brokenhearted. Agnus later cancels the wedding, realizing she really loves Hemingway.
Agnus travels to Hemingway’s lakeside cottage to declare her love for him. As they stand on the veranda, Hemingway, bitter over Agnus’ previous rejection of him, turns his back on her. He says nothing. Agnus slides next to him and declares, "I’ll love you as long as I live." But Hemingway does not reciprocate. Instead, he walks into the cottage, bangs his hand on the table in frustration, and covers his eyes in anguish. Agnus sadly walks away.
Agnus narrates the film’s conclusion:
I never saw Ernie again after Waloon Lake. I often wonder what might have happened if he had taken me in his arms. But I guess his pride meant he wasn’t able to forgive me. Some say...
THE GIFT OF THE SKATES
So how do we recognize His authority in our lives? How do we express our faith and our love to Him? By committing ourselves to His mission. Jesus doesn’t say anything about saving sinners and getting them into heaven. The primary priority of his mission is to preach good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.” So why do we do what we do? Not just because it’s a good thing but because Jesus is the mashach, the Messiah. The way we recognize His Messiahship is that we give ourselves to him and his mission.
Elizabeth English tells the story of Christmas 1949 when she and her husband Herman locked the doors to their small town appliance store at 11 PM. They were dead tired and had sold out of everything including record players, bicycles, dollhouses and games. They had only one lay away package left and the person never came for it.
The next morning, Elizabeth, Herman and their 12 year old son Tom woke up and opened their gifts. But it just wasn’t the same. Tom was growing up and all he asked for was clothes and a few games. His childish exuberance of past years was gone.
As soon as breakfast was over, Tom went next door to play, Herman mumbled that he was going back to sleep and Elizabeth found herself cleaning up the aftermath of breakfast and the opened gifts. And the holiday doldrums set in.
It began to sleet with snow mixed in and the wind rattled the windows. Suddenly, she had a feeling hit her that she should go on a walk. "That's crazy," she thought, looking out the window and she fought it for an hour but finally gave in. She told her husband she was going to walk to the store. "That was crazy," he said, but she put on her coat, gloves and scarf and went anyway.
She shivered as she tucked her hands in her pocket. When she got to the store, she was surprised to see two small boys, exclaiming, "There she is. See, I told you she would come." They were half-frozen and one of the boy’s face was wet with tears.
"What are you children doing here? You should be home on a day like this!" They were poorly dressed with no hats or gloves and shoes that barely fit.
"We’ve been waiting for you. My little brother Jimmy didn’t get any Christmas gifts and we want to buy skates. We have $3, see." It broke Elizabeth’s heart to tell them that they had sold out of everything. But then the layaway package came to mind. "Wait a minute" as she went to the shelf praying that they would be the right size. And miracle upon miracle, they were. They...
Pastor's MediaVault
