Preach "The King Has Come" 3-Part Series this week!
Preach Christmas week

Sermon Illustrations

Napoleon—when he conquered Europe took his family and he sat them every one in great places over the many kingdoms and states and nations of Europe that he’d conquered. Whenever he’d conquered a country, he’d put his relative over it to be ruler. He took his entire family and spread them around over all of those conquered nations of Europe. Well, in the days of his glory, Napoleon heard of an uncle that he had never known. He was a humble preacher of little church miles from Florence and the town in which he ministered had less than a hundred people in it.

And when Napoleon heard of that humble preacher, his uncle, in that little place, he called his general in and sent him, with twenty men, to that little town and said, “When you see him, you tell him that no kinsmen of Napoleon Bonaparte ever is to be in a humble ministry, but he’s to be the leader, to walk in aristocracy and in pride and in glory. And when you see my uncle, you bring him to Paris and you tell him we will make of him a bishop. In time we will make of him a cardinal in the church.”

So the general went, with his twenty men, and came up to this humble place, this humble cottage where that preacher lived in a little town of a hundred people, and said to him, “The great Napoleon has asked me to come to you and to bring you to Paris. You can be a bishop of any diocese that you choose. In time we shall make you a cardinal and give you a cardinal’s hat.”

And the humble preacher replied, “No. These are my people and I am their shepherd and I’ll not leave them.”

The general pressed it upon him and the humble preacher said, “No. These are my people, my sheep, and I’m their shepherd.”

And the great...

Continue reading this sermon illustration (Free with PRO)

Related Sermon Illustrations

Related Sermons

  • The Eye Of The Tiger

    Contributed by Ricky Nelms on Jul 22, 2010
    based on 5 ratings
     | 17,576 views

    This is a Youth Day/Teen Day sermon (but good for adults as well) which talks about how Satan is a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour and uses a real-life illustration of actor Roy Horn, who was bitten by his beloved tiger in Los Vegas.

  • Spiritual Warfare

    Contributed by Dr. Jerry N. Watts on Jan 19, 2009
    based on 5 ratings
     | 13,352 views

    Peter’s view of handling Spiritual Warfare

  • Perverse People Spread Strife Series

    Contributed by Dennis Davidson on Oct 13, 2011
    based on 8 ratings
     | 11,554 views

    The emphasis of the passage is on the dangers of perversity and the disastrous fate of its perpetrator. We here have a description of a person who deceives and stirs up strife & how to spot the scoundrel.

  • Breaking The Chain, Part Iii Series

    Contributed by Eloy Gonzalez on Mar 13, 2009
    based on 6 ratings
     | 10,999 views

    Lent 3: Part three of a three part sermon series dealing with temptation. In this sermon, we consider Scriptural approaches to overcoming temptation by looking at how to break the chain of events that takes one from temptation to committing sin.

  • Breaking The Chain - Part Ii Series

    Contributed by Eloy Gonzalez on Mar 7, 2009
    based on 5 ratings
     | 10,896 views

    Lent 2: A continuing sermon series this part focusing on temptation. This sermon is focused on the sources of temptation: the devil; the world and our own sinful nature. Our help comes from only one place - Jesus - our Lord who has already conquered sin