In Sermon Illustrations:

Abraham Lincoln: Merit Your Freedom  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 8, 2013

ABRAHAM LINCOLN: MERIT YOUR FREEDOM In the last days of the Civil War, the Confederate capital, Richmond, Virginia, fell to the Union army. Abraham Lincoln insisted on visiting the city. Even though no one knew he was coming, slaves recognized him immediately and thronged around him. He had ...read more

Scripture: John 21:3-14, Romans 6:1-23, Galatians 5:13-15

Tags: Christian Liberty

The Trouble Telescope  PRO

Contributed by Perry Greene on May 8, 2013

THE TROUBLE TELESCOPE Most of you have seen the wonderful images from the Hubble Space Telescope. From the far reaches of space, we're able to see God's most breathtaking creations. Do you remember that in the beginning the Hubble Space Telescope was not the wonderful machine that it is today. ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:12

Tags: Self

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

The Donkey And The Complaining Wife

Contributed by Shine Thomas on May 7, 2013

THE DONKEY AND THE COMPLAINING WIFE I once heard of a farmer who had a complaining wife. From morning till night she would complain about something or the other. The only time he got relief was when he went to the farm with his donkey. One day as he was plowing, his wife brought him lunch. He ...read more

Tags: Complaining

Denomination: Assembly Of God

Is There Hope For The Next Generation Of ...  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 7, 2013

IS THERE HOPE FOR THE NEXT GENERATION OF EVANGELICALS? Russell Moore recounts a conversation with the evangelical theologian Carl Henry. As Moore and some of his friends were lamenting the miserable shape of the church, they asked Dr. Henry if he saw any hope in the coming generation of ...read more

Scripture: Acts 9:1-15, Acts 2:47, Romans 8:31-36, Proverbs 20:21, Luke 8:22-25, Matthew 16:18  (view more)  (view less)

Tags: God Brings Hope

An Old Feud And A New Bridge  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 6, 2013

AN OLD FEUD AND A NEW BRIDGE There were two old geezers living in the backwoods of the Ozarks: Rufus and Clarence. They lived on opposite sides of the river and they hated each other. Every morning, just after sunup, Rufus and Clarence would go down to their respective sides of the river and yell ...read more

Scripture: Numbers 13:1-33

Tags: Fear And Worry

Destiny...?

Contributed by Perry Greene on May 6, 2013

DESTINY...? During a momentous battle, a Japanese general decided to attack even though his army was greatly outnumbered. He was confident they would win, but his men were filled with doubt. On the way to the battle, they stopped at a religious shrine. After praying with the men, the general took ...read more

Tags: Goals

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

John The Baptist And The Mandaeans

Contributed by Ed Vasicek on May 6, 2013

JOHN THE BAPTIST AND THE MANDAEANS One religion exists to this day that reveres John as their main prophet: The Mandaeans were originally native speakers of Mandaic, a Semitic language that evolved from Eastern Middle Aramaic, before switching to colloquial Iraqi Arabic and Modern Persian. ...read more

Tags: John The Baptist

Denomination: Independent/Bible

You Promised Me  PRO

Contributed by Ken Pell on May 6, 2013

"YOU PROMISED ME" Love always perseveres. Love never Fails. In 1989, an 8.2 earthquake almost flattened Armenia, killing over 30,000 people in less than four minutes. Surprisingly, such tragedies often bring out the best in people. Let me show you the loving heart of a father. In the midst of ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, Leviticus 6:12-13

Tags: God's Love, Bearing God's Image

Denomination: Nazarene

You're Not From Around Here.

Contributed by Ken Pell on May 6, 2013

"YOU'RE NOT FROM AROUND HERE." There is not much you can do about it. Once you have been around it everybody else knows. I’m talking about the red dirt of western Oklahoma. It’s caused by the iron in the soil that, after being oxidized, turns to rust. It seems that nothing can erase or clean ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Tags: God's Love

Denomination: Nazarene

Transformed Versus Conformed -- The Case Of The ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 5, 2013

TRANSFORMED VERSUS CONFORMED -- THE CASE OF THE JAPANESE WATERMELON Farmers in Zentsuji, Japan, are preparing full-grown watermelons for shipment -- only these are no ordinary melons: they're square! They were placed in tempered-glass cubes while they were still growing. Why would anyone want a ...read more

Scripture: James 12:1-2

Tags: Sanctification

Power And Discipline  PRO

Contributed by Jeff Strite on May 5, 2013

POWER AND DISCIPLINE Over here is a wall socket. There is power in that socket. Because of that power, I can plug lamps, fans, microwaves and phone chargers into it and magically empower those devises. I can even plug a car charger into a wall socket and revive a dead car battery (like I’ve had to ...read more

Tags: Experience

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Genuine Repentance--The Case Of Genelle Guzman ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 4, 2013

GENUINE REPENTANCE--THE CASE OF GENELLE GUZMAN MCMILLAN Genelle Guzman McMillan was the last person to be rescued from the collapse of the twin towers of the World Trade Center. She had been trapped in the rubble for 27 hours when at last firefighters heard her calling and pulled her out. This ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 21:28-32

Tags: Repentance

How Not To Build

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 4, 2013

HOW NOT TO BUILD I grew up around construction and building material people. My family, for several generations, was in lumber and building materials. In 1998 we opened a new hardware store in Lake Mary. I ran it from the time it opened, until I went to seminary. Part of my responsibility was to ...read more

Scripture: Luke 6:46-49

Covetousness And The Emperor's New Grove

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 3, 2013

COVETOUSNESS AND THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROVE In Disney's thirty-ninth animated film, "The Emperor's New Groove," self-proclaimed "King of the World" Kuzco (COOS-coh), who had an evil female advisor named Yzma (EEZ-muh), made plans to demolish an entire village to build a new water park. At the highest ...read more

Scripture: 1 Kings 21:1-29

Tags: Greed

Quotations On Attitude

Contributed by Lalachan Abraham on May 3, 2013

"Places and circumstances never guarantee happiness. You must decide within yourself whether you want to be happy." (Robert J. Hastings) "The last of human freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances." (Victor Frankl) "Let this same attitude and purpose and [humble] ...read more

Tags: Attitude General

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

A Knock On The ...  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 3, 2013

A KNOCK ON THE DOOR An old woman ran out of money, and couldn't pay any of her bills. The landlord was threatening to throw her out if she didn't pay her rent soon. She had only a few candles to keep her warm. And one cold day she was warming her hands over a candle. Just then a knock came at her ...read more

Scripture: Luke 18:18-30

Tags: Debt

Overloaded

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 3, 2013

OVERLOADED In the book, Overload, by Dr. Richard Swenson, he discusses one of the main reasons our lives have too much anxiety and stress. He says that most of us are just plain overloaded. Think about it. (1) We are overloaded with commitments. We don’t know how to say no. And as a result we meet ...read more

Scripture: Luke 10:38-42

Tags: Stress, Time Management

Who Shot The ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 3, 2013

WHO SHOT THE DEER? A lawyer, a doctor, and a preacher went deer hunting together when along came a big buck. The three of them all shot at the same time, and immediately the buck dropped to the ground. They all rushed up to examine the deer, but couldn't determine whose shot had actually killed ...read more

Scripture: John 8:42-47

Tags: Preaching

Dads: Out Of The ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 2, 2013

DADS: OUT OF THE FRAME A little boy whose father was away from home a great deal because he was a high ranking military official with great national security duties, was seen standing staring at his father's picture on a shelf at home. The little boy's mother had placed several pictures of her ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 6:4

Tags: Father's Day

The Cost To Cure Rebellion

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 2, 2013

THE COST TO CURE REBELLION "It cost God nothing, as far as we know, to create nice things, but to convert our rebellious wills, it cost Him crucifixion." C.S. Lewis (From a sermon by ...read more

Scripture: 1 Peter 1:13-21

Tags: Salvation