In Sermon Illustrations: "Blessed Life"

On My Recent Pilgrimage To Israel One Of The Many ...

Contributed by Chris Surber on Nov 14, 2009

On my recent pilgrimage to Israel one of the many profound experiences occurred on the airplane prior to even leaving JFK International in New York. After I was seated on the huge double Decker airplane which took us directly to Tel Aviv, I noticed a large Orthodox Jewish family making their way ...read more

Tags: God The Father

Denomination: Christian Church

Man Sentenced To Hang For Indian Massacre ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Nov 14, 2009

Man Sentenced to Hang for Indian Massacre Pardoned On March 22, 1824 an incident took place in Madison County, Indiana, which came to be known as the Fall Creek Massacre. Six white men murdered nine Seneca and Miami Indians and wounded another. Among the nine dead were three women and four ...read more

Scripture: John 8:1-11

Tags: Forgiveness, Forgiveness General

Man Learns To Forgive His ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Nov 14, 2009

Man Learns to Forgive His Enemy The apostle Paul said, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32). We don’t serve in order to merit God’s forgiveness. We serve because we have already received God’s forgiveness. And our service is ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 4:32

Tags: Forgiveness, Forgiveness For Others

Charlie Brown Learns The Hard Way That Lucy ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Nov 24, 2009

Charlie Brown Learns The Hard Way that Lucy Didn’t Repent Repenting means changing our minds about who God is. Secondly: repenting means changing our minds about the way we live our lives. If God is all powerful and all caring and all loving, then it’s in my best interests to live a life that’s ...read more

Scripture: Mark 1:15

Tags: Repentance

Billy Graham's Story About An African Mother Who ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 1, 2009

Billy Graham’s Story About An African Mother Who Prayed Let me share this story to show you the position we have with the Lord in prayer. Billy Graham shares this story of an African mother who came to Christ and grew in her commitment and devotion to the Lord. She was a woman that prayed all the ...read more

Scripture: Colossians 4:2

Tags: Prayer General

The Tin—untold Riches

Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 7, 2009

THE TIN--UNTOLD RICHES In the late nineteenth Century in South Africa, an old man was digging for gold in a river bed. He had been at it for many years. Every now and then he found a little bit of gold, not enough to make him rich – but just enough to maintain his interest. The part of river in ...read more

Scripture: Colossians 2:2-3

Tags: Christmas

Miss Bettye And Her All-Night Prayer Kitchen  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 1, 2010

MISS BETTYE AND HER ALL-NIGHT PRAYER KITCHEN Just this last September (2009), the Chicago Tribune ran a story about Bettye Tucker, a Christian cook who works the night shift at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago. She has been doing her job for 43 years -- 28 of them on the night shift. On ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 5:14-16

Tags: Christian Witness

Feeling Insignificant?

Contributed by Ross Cochrane on Feb 9, 2010

Feeling Insignificant? Last night I attended Hillsong's Church's Vision Night for leaders with my daughter and son-in-law. We were in the first 3 rows and the music was awesome. I somehow ended up sitting between them and felt a little conspicuous. Completely inspiring listening to Joel Houston ...read more

Tags: Encouragement

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

He Was Nicknamed "The Crocodile ...

Contributed by Ross Cochrane on Jun 1, 2010

He was nicknamed “THE CROCODILE HUNTER”, and he was a unique man with a smile as wide as fun itself and Australian to the core. You couldn’t help but remember STEVE IRWIN! He and his wife Terri owned and operated Australia Zoo in a little place called Beerwah on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. ...read more

Tags: John The Baptist

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

I Was Speaking With A Man Recently Who Had Been ...

Contributed by Ross Cochrane on Jun 13, 2010

I was speaking with a man recently who had been in a near fatal car accident and he said that God didn’t seem to care about His injuries. I asked him if he blamed God and He said something to the effect of "Yes, GOD IS TO BLAME. Why didn’t He intervene when I had that car accident, or when my ...read more

Tags: Lordship Of Christ

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Thought Control.  PRO

Contributed by Andrew Moffatt on Jun 2, 2010

Thought Control. What thought? Every thought. The one I have about the Ford Mark One Zephyr that I would like to one day own, the one about how angry I get with repeating a request that someone shuts the door behind them, the thought about how I’d like that last slice of chocolate cake that is for ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 10:5

Tags: Temptation General

Denomination: Salvation Army

Take A Young Man From A Wealthy Family, Strip Him ...

Contributed by Tobin Crenshaw on Aug 15, 2010

Take a young man from a wealthy family, strip him of all of his money until he finds himself homeless and has to beg on the street, hold him in a cell as a prisoner of war in a foreign land, and turn his family against him and what are the odds you would give for him to impact the world? Or ...read more

Tags: Sports, Trust God

Denomination: Brethren

The Son And The Rose

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 22, 2011

THE SON AND THE ROSE Arnold Prater, in his book You Can Have Joy! tells about a man in a little English village named John Deckard. He was a clerk in a textile factory. A modest and quiet man, he lived in an ordinary little house at the edge of town with his wife and his six-year-old son, Rob. ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 6:4

Tags: Parenting

I Thought We'd Talk More About God

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on Feb 11, 2011

I THOUGHT WE'D TALK MORE ABOUT GOD Some years ago, a woman came to me for counseling. Her husband had died suddenly from a rapidly growing cancer, and she was overcome not only with grief but with fear regarding her future. She did not now know who she was or where she was to go. She was beside ...read more

Tags: Discipleship

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Eileen's Story  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Mar 25, 2011

EILEEN'S STORY "In an article in Campus Life a young nurse writes of her pilgrimage in learning to see in a patient the image of God beneath a very 'distressing disguise.' "Eileen was one of her first patients, a person who was totally helpless. 'A cerebral aneurysm (broken blood vessels in the ...read more

Scripture: Luke 9:10-17, Luke 18:18-30, Mark 12:38-44

Tags: Compassion, Sanctification, Impossible

God: "I Have Time For You"

Contributed by Sermon Central on Mar 28, 2011

GOD: "I HAVE TIME FOR YOU" There’s a great story about a California lady named Francis Green. She was 83 years old. She lived on Social Security. She had little money, but for eight years she’d been sending one dollar a year to the Republican National Convention. Then one day Frances got an RNC ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:14-26

Tags: Gratitude

The Empty Gift

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 26, 2011

THE EMPTY GIFT God offers us more than this world does, but most of us never take the time to see it. There was a 15-year old boy named Joey, whose mother died at birth. She was a severe alcoholic, and that had affected his pre-natal development. The result was that he was slightly ...read more

Scripture: Luke 2:1-20

Tags: Christmas

How Much Land?

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 4, 2011

HOW MUCH LAND? In his 1886 short story "How Much Land Does a Man Need?" Leo Tolstoy shows how a continual desire for more can ultimately cause us to lose everything. The main character of the story is a peasant named Pahóm, who at the beginning can be heard complaining that he does not own ...read more

Scripture: 1 Timothy 6:6-10

Tags: Greed

The Lost Son

Contributed by Brent Kirby on May 27, 2011

THE LOST SON A young boy, around the age of eight, lived in Alaska with his parents. His dad was the Boy Scout leader of the area. The troop of the young boy decided to go mountain climbing up a two mile high mountain called Bald Eagle. The boy loved to climb and made a competition with the other ...read more

Tags: Parable Prodigal Son

Denomination: Wesleyan

Never Go Hungry Again

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 14, 2011

NEVER GO HUNGRY AGAIN Fred and Cheryl went to Haiti in 1985 to bring a child home that they had adopted. Addie was five years old. Her parents had been killed in a traffic accident that left her without a family, but as she walked across the tarmac to board the plane, the tiny orphan reached up ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 4:19

Tags: God's Provision