In Sermon Illustrations:

The Danger Of Spiritual Procrastination  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 24, 2011

THE DANGER OF SPIRITUAL PROCRASTINATION There is a fable which tells of three apprentice devils who were coming to this earth to finish their apprenticeship. They were talking to Satan, the chief of the devils, about their plans to tempt and to ruin men. The first said, "I will tell them that ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 25:1-13, Romans 13:11-14, Romans 13:12

Tags: Second Coming, Coming, Second

Don't Find Us Lacking!

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 24, 2011

DON'T FIND US LACKING! Mexican jails are not known for their tidiness or orderliness. Shortly after having taken office, the then President of Mexico, Luis Echeverria, decided to do something about this. Without giving any advance notice, he chose to visit the jails at midnight. He found guards ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 25:1-13

Tags: Second Coming

Radical Faith  PRO

Contributed by Ken Pell on Jan 24, 2011

RADICAL FAITH I want to read to you the opening story from David Platt's book "The Radical Question" (Multnomah Press). Imagine a scene that took place in Asia not so long ago: A room in an ordinary house, dimly lit, all the blinds on the windows closed. Twenty leaders from churches in the ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 12:10-17

Tags: Persecution, Better Together

Denomination: Nazarene

Waiting Vs. Watching For Him

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 23, 2011

WAITING VS. WATCHING FOR HIM The Lord told us not only to wait for him but to watch for him, and he has pronounced a special blessing on those who watch. The difference between waiting and watching is illustrated in a story told of a Scotch fishing village. After days at sea, the skipper of a ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 25:1-13

Tags: Second Coming

Because I'm A Gentleman  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 23, 2011

BECAUSE I'M A GENTLEMAN A middle-aged business executive once approached the front entrance of the office building in which he worked. A young feminist came up at the same moment, so he stepped back and held the door open for her to pass on through. She looked at him and said with annoyance, ...read more

Scripture: 1 Peter 3:7

Tags: Character

A Flat Tire Saves A Life  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 23, 2011

A FLAT TIRE SAVES A LIFE On May 11, 1996, Demingo Pacheco had a major problem. He was on a tight schedule to catch his plane out of Miami when the left rear tire of his Cadillac blew out on the Palmetto Expressway. For more than hour he sweated under that broiling Florida sun changing that tire. ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 50:20

Tags: God's Provision

Lucado On Alcoholism

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 23, 2011

LUCADO ON ALCOHOLISM Max Lucado, one of America's great Christian leaders, found that out earlier in his ministry. He once said, "I come from a family of alcoholism. If there's anything about this DNA stuff, I've got it." For more than 20 years, drinking was not a major issue for Lucado, but about ...read more

Scripture: 1 Timothy 3:1-5

Tags: Alcohol

Reunited

Contributed by Ed Vasicek on Jan 23, 2011

REUNITED This week (1-11) an interesting story hit the presses: A woman who was kidnapped as a newborn 23 years ago says finding her real mother "felt like a dream." Carlina White was just 19 days old when she disappeared from Harlem Hospital in New York. She tells the New York Post that when ...read more

Tags: Salvation

Denomination: Independent/Bible

Why Polygamy Is Wrong

Contributed by Gordon Curley on Jan 23, 2011

WHY POLYGAMY IS WRONG Mark Twain once debated with some Mormons that polygamy was wrong. Polygamy is a form of marriage in which a person has more than one wife at the same time. When asked to prove it from the Bible, Mark Twain ...read more

Tags: Marriage Struggle

Denomination: Brethren

A Sentence Can Change A Life

Contributed by Fr Mund Cargill Thompson on Jan 22, 2011

A SENTENCE CAN CHANGE A LIFE When I was thirteen, a young lad only three years older than me said something that would change my life for ever. A single sentence of his is the reason I am a Christian today. What could you say in just ONE sentence that could switch someone from being an agnositic ...read more

Tags: Evangelism How To

Denomination: Anglican

Subway Superhero

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 22, 2011

SUBWAY SUPERHERO Just a few years ago, an astonishing thing happened in New York City. A construction worker named Wesley Autrey was standing on a subway platform with his two young daughters waiting on a train. Suddenly another man on the platform, apparently suffering from a seizure, stumbled ...read more

Scripture: Luke 10:25-37

Tags: Heroism

The Prayer And The Chair

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 22, 2011

THE PRAYER AND THE CHAIR A woman called a pastor to come to the house to see her father. He goes to the house not knowing whether the man is Christian or not but he notices as he talks to him and the man answers back that he must be a Christian and there is a chair sitting close by. An empty ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 6:5-15

Tags: Prayer How To

But He Is My Father

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 22, 2011

BUT HE IS MY FATHER There is an old Roman story which tells how a Roman emperor was once enjoying a great victory. He had the privilege of marching his troops through the streets of Rome with all of his captured trophies, and his prisoners behind him. This emperor was marching with his troops; the ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 4:1-7

Tags: God The Father

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

It Has Always Been Clear That The Goal Of The ...  PRO

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Jan 22, 2011

It has always been clear that the goal of the Eucharist is our own transformation, so that we become "one body and ...read more

Tags: Worship Purpose

Denomination: Catholic

No Other Plans

Contributed by Revd. Martin Dale on Jan 22, 2011

NO OTHER PLANS There is an ancient legend about Jesus’ ascension into heaven. He is met by the angel Gabriel who asks him, "Now that your work is finished, what plans have you made to ensure that the truth that you brought to earth will spread throughout the world?" Jesus answered, "I have ...read more

Tags: Evangelism Urgency

Denomination: Anglican

The Colonel Who Served As Inspector General In A ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 21, 2011

The colonel who served as inspector general in a particular base paid close attention to how personnel wore their uniforms. On one occasion he spotted a junior airman with a violation. "Airman," he bellowed, "what do you do when a shirt pocket is unbuttoned?" The startled airman replied, "Button ...read more

Scripture: Romans 12:3-8

Tags: Humility

Tozer: God's Tools

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 21, 2011

TOZER: GOD'S TOOLS A.W. Tozer once talked about God's tools: "The HAMMER is a useful tool. But the nail, if it had feeling and intelligence, could present another side of the story. For the nail knows the hammer only as an opponent a brutal, merciless enemy who lives to pound it into submission, ...read more

Scripture: Jeremiah 51:20-24

Tags: Discipleship

Chrysostom On Ecclesiastes  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 21, 2011

CHRYSOSTOM ON ECCLESIASTES Eutropius had fallen into disgrace. As the highest-ranking official in the Byzantine Empire (late fourth century), he served as the closest adviser to the emperor Arcadius, then ruling in Constantinople. But Eutropius abused his imperial power and aroused the anger of ...read more

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 1:2, 2 Kings 16:10-16

Tags: Evangelism How To

A Shipwreck Motivates Success

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 21, 2011

A SHIPWRECK MOTIVATES SUCCESS In 1845 Royal Navy Rear Admiral Sir John Franklin and 138 specially chosen officers and men left England to find the Northwest Passage. They sailed in two three-masted ships with the daunting names the Erebus (the dark place, according to Greek mythology, through ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 19:21, Proverbs 4:1-25, Proverbs 4:1-27

Tags: Wisdom