In Sermon Illustrations: "First"

You Think You Can Do Better?

Contributed by Christian Cheong on Feb 4, 2011

YOU THINK YOU CAN DO BETTER? A young boy complained to his father that most of the church hymns were boring to him. They were far too behind the times, tiresome tunes and meaningless words. He kept talking about it, for many weeks. One day his father put an end to the discussion by saying, "If ...read more

Tags: Doing God's Will

Denomination: Independent/Bible

Trapped On A Tram

Contributed by Tim Hinrichs on Jun 1, 2011

TRAPPED ON A TRAM It was a beautiful sunny day in Ostrava, Czech Republic, a city of 300,000. It was 1995, and I had just moved there to take an intense Czech language course. After half a day of Czech grammar, I was tired. I got on the tram and spaced out for my 20-minute ride to the suburbs ...read more

Tags: Trials And Difficulties

Denomination: Lutheran

King Rat

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Jul 2, 2011

KING RAT James Clavell, King Rat: about a Japanese POW camp in which one prisoner, a pathetic loser before the war, who became the most powerful man in the camp by trading with the enemy and exploiting the misery of his fellows. He used to try to pressure the other prisoners to join him, calling ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 18:9-15

Tags: Apocalypse

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

If You Want It Bad Enough

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 10, 2011

IF YOU WANT IT BAD ENOUGH When a person first comes to faith in Christ and gets a taste of His grace, they can’t get enough of the Bible. Pat Summerall, the well-known sports announcer, trusted Christ with his life and overcame alcohol in the late 60’s. As he describes his life with Christ, he ...read more

Scripture: 1 Peter 2:2-3

Tags: Growth In Christ

Americans: Flabby Faith  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 16, 2011

AMERICANS: FLABBY FAITH A dozen or so years ago, a Romanian pastor came to visit the church I belonged to. He had gotten to know my pastor, John Vawter, who had been involved in a Bible-smuggling ministry when the Iron Curtain was still up. John asked him what he thought of our country, and of the ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 5:11-16, Romans 12:1-6

Tags: Discipleship

Maskepetoon

Contributed by Donnie Martin on Aug 29, 2011

MASKEPETOON When the first missionaries came to Alberta, Canada, they were savagely opposed by a young chief of the Cree Indians named Maskepetoon. But he responded to the gospel and accepted Christ. Shortly after ward, a member of the Blackfoot tribe killed his father. Maskepetoon rode into the ...read more

Tags: Forgiveness For Others

Denomination: Baptist

Diocletian

Contributed by Gordon Curley on Sep 4, 2011

DIOCLETIAN In its first 300 hundred years the Christian church endured repeated waves of persecution. But perhaps the worst came while Diocletian was emperor of Rome (A.D.284-305). Convinced that the Christians were conspiring against him, Diocletian sought to annihilate them throughout his ...read more

Tags: God's Sovereign Will

Denomination: Brethren

Sure You Want To Win The Lottery?

Contributed by Ed Vasicek on Jun 1, 2012

SURE YOU WANT TO WIN THE LOTTERY? When William "Bud" Post won $16.2 million in a 1988 lottery, one of the first things he did was try to please his family. Unfortunately, his kin was of the unfriendly sort. Post's brother hired a hit man to kill him, hoping to inherit some money. Other family ...read more

Tags: Money

Denomination: Independent/Bible

Maybe You’ve Heard The Story Of The Sheep ...

Contributed by Perry Greene on Aug 8, 2012

Maybe you’ve heard the story of the sheep in New Zealand named Shrek. He had escaped and evaded capture and shearing for six years. When he was finally discovered in his high mountain cave by Ann Scanlan, he was almost unrecognizable as a sheep. The first thing she did was to pin back his wool so ...read more

Tags: Sin Separates From God

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Blind Man Climbs Everest

Contributed by Perry Greene on Dec 3, 2012

Erik Weihenmeyer has led a remarkable life. He is the first blind person to reach the summit of Mt. Everest (2001). In 2008, he climbed his seventh summit highest peak on each continent). He has written books and produced a film of some of his accomplishments entitled, “Farther Than the Eye Can ...read more

Tags: Affliction

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Grace And Matthew

Contributed by Kevin Karhoff on Mar 12, 2013

GRACE AND MATTHEW These days people don't know Matthew as a failure and embarrassment who sold his soul to the Romans for a job. We know Matthew as a follower of Jesus who wrote the first book of the New Testament. It's important to understand that the grace of God doesn't simply invite us to ...read more

Scripture: Luke 5:27-31

Tags: Grace, Jesus Christ

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

What I Saw At The Abortion Clinic

Contributed by Davon Huss on Jan 20, 2014

"What I Saw at the Abortion Clinic" by Richard Selzer. In this article he talks about witnessing a 19 week old fetus being aborted by an injection procedure no longer in use. He described the abortionist sliding the needle of the syringe into the woman's belly, and then, he writes, "I see ...read more

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 11:5

Tags: Abortion, Womb

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

The King Has One More Move  PRO

Contributed by Dwayne Brown, Phd on Apr 9, 2015

This story has been told by Christian speakers as far back as 1955 when Billy Graham told a variation of it early in his ministry. Two men are standing in front of a painting called Checkmate in an art gallery. In the painting, a man is playing chess with the devil. The devil is grinning ...read more

Tags: Don't Quit, God Is In Control

Denomination: Baptist

Clean Conscience

Contributed by Shine Thomas on Jul 24, 2017

Xaviera Hollander wrote a book with a title: The Happy Hooker. Hollander, a prostitute, sought to silence the people who believe that no prostitute could find joy in what she was doing. In her book, Hollander celebrates the joy that she experienced in her profession, saying that she never felt ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 32:1-6

Tags: Guilt, Conscience, Pure Heart

Denomination: Assembly Of God

The Smelly Man

Contributed by Daniel King, D. Min. on Jul 25, 2018

Main Idea: The only thing that can wash away sin is the blood of Jesus. Verse: “But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6 NKJV). Illustration: A smelly man came to visit me. He needed a bath so bad. He wanted to hug me and talk to me. I ...read more

Tags: Sin, Blood Of Jesus, Wash Away Sin

Denomination: Charismatic

Complaint Department

Contributed by Dr. Fred W. Penney on May 29, 2019

A gentleman decided to withdraw from society and its busyness. He joined a monastery and took a vow of silence.At the end of each year he could say two words. At the end of the first year of absolute silence, he met with his supervising monk and was given the opportunity to say two words. With ...read more

Scripture: James 3:1-12, James 1:19-21, James 1:26

Tags: Words, Complaining, Tongue

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Marriage Insight

Contributed by Dr. Fred W. Penney on Nov 15, 2021

Destructive to marriage is the self fulfillment ethic that assumes marriage and the family are primarily institutions of personal fulfillment, necessary for us to become whole or happy. The assumption is that there is someone just right for us to marry and that if we look closely enough we will ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 5:22-33

Tags: Relationships, Love, Marriage

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Church Attendance In The Usa At An All-Time Low

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Mar 5, 2022

During the First Great Awakening, 20 percent of the colonial population came to Christ and joined churches. Today, less than 20 percent regularly attend church. Discussed at length in his book The American Church in Crisis, David Olson conducted research showing that only 17.5 percent of the ...read more

Scripture: 2 Chronicles 7:14

Tags: America, Revival, Church Attendance, Evangelism, Church, Worship  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Pressing Through The Pain

Contributed by Brian Matherlee on Sep 4, 2008

Pressing Through the Pain Too many young Christians expect endurance to come quickly and easily. We bought a trampoline this summer for the girls. I love it too. The first time I got on that thing I thought I would have a heart attack. I've been using my legs for 40 years, but they were on ...read more

Tags: Endurance

Denomination: Wesleyan

Often Times We Are Like The Children On The ...

Contributed by Brian Harvison on Sep 30, 2008

Often times we are like the children on the Candid Camera episode Years ago on Candid Camera, children were used in an experiment about generosity. The children were placed by themselves in a room with a plate of cookies. On the plate were at least two cookies, there may have been more, but one of ...read more

Tags: Giving General

Denomination: Baptist