In Sermon Illustrations: "2 Timothy 1:1-12:1"

Christian Missionaries First Went To Africa 200 ...

Contributed by W F on Mar 24, 2007

Christian missionaries first went to Africa 200 years ago. One of the groups they sought to "convert" there were these bushmen of the Kalahari desert. However, this article pointed out that the bushmen of the Denui village in particular, consistently refused to become Christians. Instead they have ...read more

Denomination: *other

The Devil's Beatitudes  PRO

Contributed by Matthew Sickling on Apr 3, 2007

THE DEVIL'S BEATITUDES 1. Blessed are those who are too tired, too busy, too distracted to spend even an hour once a week with their fellow Christians – they are my best workers. 2. Blessed are those Christians who wait to be asked and expect to be thanked -- I can use them. 3. Blessed are the ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 5:1-12, John 16:33, 1 John 4:4

Tags: Satan, Church Small Groups, Discouragement, Devil, Beatitudes  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Baptist

To Win Them, You Must Weep For Them  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 27, 2009

TO WIN THEM, YOU MUST WEEP FOR THEM A woman went to her pastor and said, "I’ve been a Christian for 20 years. I’ve read books on how to win souls. I’ve memorized scripture. I’ve taken courses on how to win the lost. And yet I haven’t won one person to the Lord. Why?" The pastor’s answer ...read more

Scripture: Luke 19:41-44

Tags: Evangelism How To

Get On With It, You Old Goat

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 28, 2009

"GET ON WITH IT, YOU OLD GOAT." I heard the story about a college choir which was all set to present a concert in a large church which was to be carried live by a local radio station. When everything appeared to be ready, the announcer made his final introduction and waited for the choir director ...read more

Scripture: James 1:22-24

Tags: Action

Love In The Driveway  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 25, 2009

LOVE IN THE DRIVEWAY One young boy said, "Love is when his daddy reads me a bedtime story. True love is when he doesn’t skip any pages." I remember when my son Shawn was in high school. Several times he parked his truck in the middle of the driveway. That got my dander up, because I could not get ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Tags: Christian Love

Ignoring The ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 25, 2009

IGNORING THE WARNINGS On Sep. 28, 1986 heavy rains flooded many low-lying areas of the Midwest. Two years before, there was a flood that many remember as the "Memorial Day Massacre" that claimed the lives of twenty people in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as small creeks and drainage ditches became killer ...read more

Scripture: Ezekiel 18:30-32

Tags: Evangelism, Evangelism Urgency

Silence: Taking Your Soul With You  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 25, 2009

SILENCE: TAKING YOUR SOUL WITH YOU Author Kathleen Norris used to play a game with elementary-school children in which she would make a deal with them. "First you get to make noise," she would bargain, "and then you’ll make silence." The time of noise was always predictably chaotic -- shouting, ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 46:10

Tags: Maturity, Disciplines Silence

The Miracle In A Bug  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 25, 2009

THE MIRACLE IN A BUG Shortly before his death, the legendary film producer Cecil B DeMille wrote this beautiful meditation: "One day as I was lying in a canoe, a big black beetle came out of the water and climbed up into the canoe. I watched it idly for some time. Under the heat of the sun, the ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 1:26

Tags: Creation

George Barna Has Shown His Skill In Taking The ...

Contributed by Charles Wilkerson on Jul 7, 2009

George Barna has shown his skill in taking the pulse of the church in the US for years. April 2 of this year he published a new book titled The Seven Faith Tribes: Who They Are, What They Believe, and Why They Matter. The tribes Barna identify are the seven tribes include Casual Christians, Captive ...read more

Tags: Salvation

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Kingdom In My Heart

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 10, 2009

KINGDOM IN MY HEART Alistair MacLean quotes a story from Tauler, the German mystic: One day Tauler met a beggar. "God give you a good day, my friend." he said. The beggar answered, "I thank God I never had a bad one." Then Tauler said, "God give you a happy life, my friend." "I thank God," said ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 4:11-13

Tags: Fear And Worry

Talk To Jesus Like Your Daughter

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 10, 2009

TALK TO JESUS LIKE YOUR DAUGHTER I was reading about a grieving woman. She went to the Rev. F. B. Meyer looking for help. She said, "Pastor, my daughter died last year. I miss her so much. I made breakfast for her every morning. And even when I had to go to work, I knew that she would be there ...read more

Scripture: John 11:35

Tags: God In The Hardships

Don't Get Tangled ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 10, 2009

DON’T GET TANGLED UP A few years ago, at the 2002 Winter Olympics, there were five finalists for the Men’s 1000 Meter Speed Skating Race. During the final lap, the American and Chinese were out front with the Canadian and Korean skaters hot on their heels. Australia trailed behind obviously ...read more

Scripture: 1 Peter 5:8-10

Tags: Temptation, Temptation Resisting

Leaving A Message For ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 13, 2009

LEAVING A MESSAGE FOR GOD In March 2009, Dutch artist Johan van der Dong decided God needed a telephone number. So, he got him one, a cell phone number to be exact--to show that God was "available anywhere and anytime." In an interview, Dong said, "In earlier times you would go to a church to say ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 15:29

Tags: Prayer, Prayer General

The Cost Of ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Oct 16, 2009

The Cost of Salvation Several years ago, there was 14 year-old girl (Laura Montero) whose appendix burst while she and her family vacationed on a cruise ship off the Baja Coast. The ship was hundreds of miles from help, and the crew sent out a distress call looking for the nearest surgical ...read more

Scripture: John 3:16

Tags: Salvation, Gift Of Salvation

Christian Love Impacts A Heartless World  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Oct 18, 2009

CHRISTIAN LOVE IMPACTS A HEARTLESS WORLD We live in a heartless world. The last United States census missed at least 5.7 million people who were anonymous even to the census takers. Every year thousands of unidentified and even unidentifiable bodies are found across North America. And only one out ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 5:1-2

Tags: Christian Love

Rare Copy Of Declaration Of Independence ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Oct 28, 2009

Rare Copy of Declaration of Independence Discovered at Garage Sale As Stan Caffy and his fiancé prepared to get married, they cleaned out their respective garages and sold everything to Goodwill. Between the two of them, they sold an assortment of clothes, bicycles, tools, computer parts, and a ...read more

Scripture: Colossians 2:3

Tags: Discovery

The Jewish People Tried To Work Around Some Of ...

Contributed by Ed Vasicek on Nov 9, 2009

The Jewish people tried to work around some of the commands of the Torah that could not be practically enforced once the Jewish nation was no longer sovereign. One of those commands was the Sabbath Year. All debts were to be cancelled, but, under Roman rule, this could not work economically for ...read more

Tags: Law

Denomination: Independent/Bible

A Spiritual Rhythm

Contributed by Mark Eberly on Nov 16, 2009

A SPIRITUAL RHYTHM Developing a rhythm in your spiritual life means organizing your life around times of stopping to remember God. What is important is not the length of time but that you regularly stop to refocus on God. It could be five minutes or forty minutes. It could be your break time. ...read more

Tags: Disciplines General

Denomination: Church Of God

People Who Give Up Vs. Those Who Don't ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Nov 22, 2009

People Who Give Up vs. Those Who Don’t Quit Shannon Faulkner made headlines a few years ago as she crusaded to become the first female cadet at The Citadel, an all-male military academy. After a prolonged court battle, you’ll remember, she finally won the right to enroll. But she couldn’t endure ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 10:11-12

Tags: Endurance

Prejudiced Toward Attractive People

Contributed by Nathan Ingram on Nov 30, 2009

PREJUDICED TOWARD ATTRACTIVE PEOPLE In her book Better Than Ever, Dr. Joyce Brothers, popular psych, shows we are prejudiced toward attractive people. We consistently judge beautiful people to be more sensitive, kind, intelligent, interesting, sociable, and exciting than less attractive people." ...read more

Tags: Judgment

Denomination: Independent/Bible