A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | R | S | T | U | V | W | Y | Z

Sermon Illustrations: Tongue

On one occasion Brother Masseo, looking earnestly at St. Francis of Assisi, began to say: "Why you? Why you?" "What are you saying?" cried Francis at last. "I am saying that everybody follows you, everyone desires to see you, hear you, obey you, and yet for all that, you are neither beautiful, nor learned, nor of noble family. Whence comes it that it should be you whom the world desires to follow?" When Francis heard these words, he was filled with joy, raised his eyes to heaven and, after remaining a long time absorbed in contemplation, knelt praising and blessing God with extraordinary fervour. Then he turned to Brother Masseo. "You wish to know? It is because the eyes of the Most High have willed it so, He continually watches the good and the wicked, and as His most holy eyes have not found among sinners any smaller man, nor any more insufficient and sinful, therefore He has chosen me to accomplish the marvellous work which God has undertaken; He chose me because He could find none more worthless, and He wished to confound the nobility and grandeur, the strength, the beauty and the learning of this world."

The bone of contention is the jaw bone.

Better a bridle on the tongue, than a lash upon the conscience.

The tongue is the ambassador of the heart.

If you never stop talking, you won't learn anything new because you've heard it all before.

One good thing about a compliment is that it doesn't cost a cent more than it used to. Al Bernstein

Wit should be used as a shield for defence rather than a sword to wound others. Thomas Fuller

You will never stamp out a church grapevine, so feed it with the right information.

Don't be like New Jersey's former governor, Robert B. Meyner. One restaurant owner put a picture of him in the window. He had his mouth open, and immediately above was a sign saying, "Open 24 hours a day."

It's pretty difficult to put your foot in your mouth if you keep it shut.

"The boneless tongue, so small and weak, can crush and kill," declares the Greek. "The tongue destroys a greater horde," the Turk asserts, "than does the sword." "The tongue can speak a word whose speed," say the Chinese, "outstrips the steed." While Arab sages this impart: "The tongue's great storehouse is the heart." From Hebrew wit the maxim sprung, "The feet should slip, ne'er let the tongue." The sacred writer crowns the whole: "Who keeps his tongue doth keep his soul."

It takes 47 positive comments to negate one negative comment.

Four pastors got away from it all on a fishing trip. One night, around the camp fire as the fire was getting low one said, "We're a long way from home and from our church members. What do you say we let our hair down, and each of us tell what our secret sin is? I'll start it off by letting you know what mine is." "Okay, go ahead," the others agreed. "Well," he volunteered, "nobody in my church knows this, but occasionally I slip down to the track and place a $2 bet on a horse. So my secret sin is, I play the ponies." Another pastor spoke up. "I'll take my turn now and tell you that an uncontrollable temper is my secret sin. Every once in a while I get so mad at my wife that I haul off and hit her." The third preacher gulped and offered, "I never thought I would tell anybody this, but here goes. I keep a bottle of wine in the cellar. Every time I get into a hassle with the deacons at our board meeting. I hurry back to the parsonage, go down to the cellar, and take a nip of wine." Silence followed the third pastor's story. The three confessors waited to hear what the fourth pastor would relate. Finally he broke the silence. "Brethren," he announced, "I guess I have to tell you my secret sin. It is gossip. And man oh man, I can't wait to get home to talk to your church members."1

Listening is not waiting your turn to speak. Bob Orr

If you haven't struck oil in 10 minutes stop boring. (on boring speakers)

Einstein was asked his formula for success. "If A is success, I should say the formula is A = X + Y + Z, X being work and Y being play." "And what is Z?" "Keeping your mouth shut."

A married couple, both 60 years old, were celebrating their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary. A fairy appeared to congratulate them and granted them each one wish. The wife wanted to see the world. The fairy waved her wand, and poof! The wife had tickets in her hand for a world cruise. Next, the fairy asked the husband what he wanted. He said, "I wish I had a wife thirty years younger than I am." The fairy waved her wand, and poof! He was ninety years old.

A gossip is one who talks about you to others; a bore is one who talks to you about himself; a brilliant conversationalist is one who talks to you about yourself. Lisa Kirk

Mr Speaker, I withdraw. Half the Cabinet are not asses. Benjamin Disraeli on being asked to withdraw his comment that half the Cabinet were asses.

I hate to spread rumours - but what else can you do with them? Amanda Lear

Never tell anyone anything that you're not prepared for everyone to know.

Gossip: To sit and discuss the issues and the person causing them, is not considered gossip or wrong when it is being dealt with by leadership. Gossip is when people discuss a matter or a person, but they are not part of the solution and do not possess the authority to resolve the issue. Malicious gossip is when people talk about others to purposely do them harm. Mark T. Barclay IC Life Autumn 2004, p7

The nice thing about egotists is that they don't talk about other people. Lucille Harper

Gentle speech: Water (a soft substance) shapes rock (a hard substance). Proverbs 15:1

A man who was a very tough boss went to a business lunch. Despite the fact that he didn't know anyone there, one of the men present was badmouthing him. He said nothing, but at the end of the meeting the loudmouth came up and introduced himself. The said visitor, "Thank you for telling me about this person. Here's my card."

In later life, women can speak 20,000 to 25,000 words a day compared to a man's 7,000 to 10,000. Reader's Digest April 2005 p 18

"Mum," said the little boy, "if I promise to be good, can I have five dollars?" "Why can't you be good for nothing like your father?" his mother replied.

After pulling over a speeding car, a police officer asks the driver, "Can you tell me why you were doing 110 kilometres an hour?" "I think your radar is broken," says the driver, "I had my car in cruise control at way below that." "Now don't be silly, dear," says the driver's wife. "You know we don't have cruise control." As the officer writes out the ticket, the man growls at his wife, "Can you keep quiet for once?" The woman smiles and says, "You should be thankful your radar went off when it did." As the officer writes out another ticket for an illegal detector, the man shouts at his wife, "Will you button up?" The officer frowns and says, "I also see you're not wearing your seat belt." "I was," says the driver, "But I took it off when you stopped me." "Now dear, you know very well you never wear your seat belt," says his wife. As the officer writes out a third ticket, the man shouts, "For the last time, shut up, you silly woman!" "Does your husband always talk to you like this?" the policeman asks the wife. "Oh, no," she says, "Only when he's been drinking a lot." Reader's Digest June 2005 p 92-93

A boy asked his father, "What's a monologue, Dad?" "That's a conversation with your mother, son," he replied.

The record for most profanities uttered in a film to win the Best Picture Oscar is held by Vietnam war drama Platoon, with 329. This year's Best Picture winner Crash had 182 expletives. Reader's Digest May 2006 p 18

Even the merest hint of praise or scorn can affect our performance. A recent study, published in the journal Perceptual and Motor Skills, demonstrated how powerful a few words can be. Forty competitive tennis players were shown digital images of balls coming their way. Just before each ball appeared, the players saw or heard comments like "good shot" or "bad shot". The reaction times of platers hearing negative remarks were measurably slower. Reader's Digest June 2006 p 127

Gossip: A person who will never tell a lie if the truth will do more damage.

Secret: Something you tell to one person at a time.

The best way to save face is to keep the lower part shut.

A closed mouth gathers no foot.

In 1987, when Pope John Paul II went to Miami, one man thought he'd make some money by selling T-shirts with the phrase "I saw the Pope" in Spanish. But instead of saying el Papa (which means the Pope), he said la Papa which meant that the T-shirt read, "I saw the Potato."

Words are like arrows; they can be love arrows or poison arrows.

When you go to a restaurant, you are handed a menu (the Bible is our menu for life). You give your order to the waitress, she writes it down and records it as you said it. Then the order is taken to the kitchen and served up just as you ordered it. The same happens in life as life gives back to us as we speak. See Numbers 14:28

Did you know you speak over nine million words a year … Word For Today 11-2-08

Light travels faster than sound. That's the reason most people appear to be bright till you hear them speak.

1 Radmacher, Earl D You And Your Thoughts