Frequently Asked Questions Part 2

Recently I wrote a sermon about Jesus being asked, "Which is the most important  commandment?"  Jesus responded by giving not only the most important commandment, but the second most important commandment as well. It reminded me of a recent post on this blog about the most frequently asked question I receive at Sermons4Kids. The most frequently asked question is, "Do we have permission to reprint the sermons and activities from the Sermons4Kids web site?"  Now that you know the answer to that question, it seems appropriate that I now deal with the second most frequently asked question.

The second most frequently asked question received at Sermons4Kids is, "Do you have a sermon about _____?"  You can fill in the blank with any subject you might imagine.  Whenever I receive such a question, the first thing I do is to go to our Site Search Tool.  You will find this valuable tool in the left column of all main pages on the web site.  Every Monday morning our entire web site is indexed to insure that the most recent sermons will be included in the search results.  So, if someone writes and asks if I have a sermon about communion, I type communion in the search box, click the search button and a page opens showing that we have six sermons about communion!

It is very helpful to know something about how a search engine works. If you use our site search tool to search for the word love, it will yield a list of 356 documents!  Not very helpful, is it?  If you search for "love your neighbor" with the phrase in quotation marks, it will find only those pages with that exact phrase.  The results will yield 12 documents.  Now, that's more like it!  Looking for a sermon for Mother's Day? Search for mother's day without quotation marks and you will find 495 documents because it will find every sermon that has the word mother or the word day.  Search for "Mother's Day" in quotation marks and you will find 7 documents.

To help you know how to get the best results from your searches, we have a Search Tips page on our web site.  It will give you many suggestions on how to make your searches more productive.  Oh, by the way, these tips will work on Google, Yahoo, Bing or just about any search tool. I hope after reading this post you will visit our web site and try our "Site Search" tool. Play with it! Type in "John 3:16" and see how many sermons you find.

It's What's Inside that Counts

Ray Cassle

My friend, Ray Cassle, was a rock collector and lapidary. Out behind his house he had a shop where he worked on the rocks he had gathered on his many rock hunting expeditions. What a mess! Rocks piled everywhere!  I wouldn't make a very good rock collector. If I saw a rock on the ground like many of the rocks found in Ray's shop, I wouldn't even stop to pick it up.  Ray knew that you can't judge a rock by what it looks like on the outside.  He knew that a skilled lapidary can take what appears to be an ordinary rock, cut away the rough and rugged exterior, and polish it into a thing of extraordinary beauty,

Ray was a lot like his rocks.  On the surface, he was a little rough. He was outspoken and at times his tone could be a little gruff, but inside there was a heart of gold.  Even in his manner of dress Ray was a bit unpolished.  His idea of "dressing up" was a pair of Wrangler jeans, suspenders, a pocket t-shirt, and a bandana tied loosely around his neck.  Not exactly sartorial splendor from the pages of "Dress for Success," but that was his style.

Ray had a heart for children.  He served on the Sermons4Kids Board of Directors from its beginning and he always had the attitude that no task was too big if God was in it.  He also had a heart for missions and spent money out of his own pocket to support a mission effort in Mexico.  He collected toys and personally took them to Mexico to insure that the children of the mission had a Merry Christmas.

Most people, if they had passed Ray on the street, wouldn't have given him a second look.  They would never have recognized that beneath that rough exterior was a heart filled with love.  God saw what they did not see.  He didn't see Ray for what he was, he saw him for what he could become.  We should know that "The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7)

As a lapidary, Ray cut, formed, tumbled, and polished many very ordinary-looking rocks until they were a thing of beauty and that is what God did with Ray.  "I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6)

In memory of Ray Cassle.

Frequently Asked Questions

By far, the most frequently asked question I receive is, "Do we have permission to reproduce your lessons for use in our church?"  The answer is, "Yes,"  Any material on our web site which bears our Copyright © Sermons4Kids, Inc.notice may be used for ministry purposes as long as there is no charge for their use.  That includes sermons, puzzles, activities, and PowerPoint presentations.  The copyright notice should remain intact on any Sermons4Kids materials reproduced.  This permission extends to use in churches, schools, home schools, and other non-profit organizations.

What about coloring pages?  Can they be reproduced?  Sermons4Kids does not own the copyright to any coloring pages. We have been granted permission by the copyright owners to provide these coloring pages for use with our lessons. Coloring pages may be reproduced for classes in your church or other non-profit, but cannot be sold or distributed to others by any means. Neither can they be reproduced for inclusion in other media such as coloring books, church newsletters, or web sites.

Most of the images like the one used with this post which I use to represent the subject our sermons are provided by with permission of Dream Maker Software.  You will find their copyright notice at the bottom of the page along with a link to their web site.  Permission is not granted to download those graphics or save them to your computer.  They may be printed as an integral part of a sermon for your personal use.

That covers the single most asked question I receive.  If you ever have a question,  please feel free to ask, but it might save us both a little time if you would first check our FAQ Page.