In Sermon Illustrations: "Absent From The Body"

I Read The Book By Robert Bellah Habits Of The ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

I read the book by Robert Bellah Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life not long after it came out in 1985. It is about the rise of radical individualism in our culture which is committed only to the self. It is even more relevant today than when it was written. He ...read more

Tags: Church Body Of Christ

Responsibility Comes With The Gift

Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 16, 2008

RESPONSIBILITY COMES WITH THE GIFT As Clayton J. Schmit put it in his commentary on our text: The moment of birth is one of unspeakable joy. Yet, if parents stopped to count the cost of taking a child home (which, fortunately, they never do) they might be tempted to turn the gift down. The cost ...read more

Tags: Church Body Of Christ

What's The Big Deal About The Church?

Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 28, 2008

WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL ABOUT THE CHURCH? A little girl became restless as the preacher's sermon dragged on and on. Finally, she leaned over to her mother and whispered, "Mommy, if we give him the money now, will he let us go?" I'm sure that's probably how some people feel about most preachers and ...read more

Tags: Church Body Of Christ

The Church: We Need One Another

Contributed by Mark Eberly on Apr 6, 2009

THE CHURCH: WE NEED ONE ANOTHER A pastor received a call from a chronic alcoholic. He just couldn't seem to stay sober. He had tried several other churches, but they didn't seem to have anything to help him. Finally he called this pastor whose church had a reputation for not giving up on people. ...read more

Tags: Church Body Of Christ

Denomination: Church Of God

Not Why, But What  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Sep 2, 2001

NOT WHY, BUT WHAT Technically speaking, David Ring was born dead. Quick acting medical personnel were able to get him breathing, but oxygen deprivation left him with cerebral palsy. He suffered from a speech impediment, hands that don’t cooperate, and a limp. As if that wasn’t enough adversity for ...read more

Tags: Endurance, Human Body

Know-It-All Christians

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 13, 2009

KNOW-IT-ALL CHRISTIANS Chuck Yeager, the famed test pilot, was flying an F-86 Sabre over a lake in the Sierras when he decided to buzz a friend’s house near the edge of the lake. During a slow roll, he suddenly felt his aileron lock. Says Yeager, "It was a hairy moment, flying about 150 feet off ...read more

Tags: Church Body Of Christ

Common-Ism In The Church  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 16, 2009

COMMON-ISM IN THE CHURCH Years ago I ran across this following definition of the various forms of government. They compared capitalism (the economic model we try to follow in our country) with communism and socialism, and they used a simple illustration to drive their point home. In a capitalist ...read more

Scripture: Acts 2:42-48

Tags: Church Body Of Christ

No-Cut Auditions

Contributed by Anne Benefield on Mar 5, 2009

NO-CUT AUDITIONS Dick Sanderson is kind enough to give me a subscription to Leadership, Real Ministry in a Complex World. It is an exceptional magazine. This quarter there was an insert that carried a story called "A Cast of Thousands" by Lillian Daniel. She writes: "At my daughter’s ...read more

Tags: Church Body Of Christ

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Contractor

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

Contractor There was once a contractor who built homes in a small town somewhere in Europe. He built most of the homes for the people who lived in the village and was a gifted carpenter. Unfortunately, he was never able to afford a home of his own. One day, the wealthiest man in town came to the ...read more

Tags: Church Body Of Christ

Flawed Individuals On A Rescue Mission  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Sep 2, 2008

FLAWED INDIVIDUALS ON A RESCUE MISSION The author of the book entitled, "The Word and Power Church: What Happens When A Church Seeks All God Has to Offer," Doug Banister, writes, "The Spring of 1940 found Hitler’s panzer divisions mopping up French troops and preparing for a seige of Great ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 3:7-12

Tags: Church Body Of Christ

Diversity In The Church  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 8, 2009

DIVERSITY IN THE CHURCH Philip Yancey put it this way in an article in Christianity Today just this last November. He writes, "As I read accounts of the New Testament church, no characteristic stands out more sharply than [diversity]. Beginning with Pentecost, the Christian church dismantled the ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 3:28

Tags: Church Body Of Christ

The Modeler And The Modeled

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 6, 2010

THE MODELER AND THE MODELED Michael Chesko describes himself as an eccentric mix of engineer, model maker, unofficial cartographer, and most of all, artist. When he was a little boy living in Arizona he would make maps of fictitious landscapes of places like Arizona and then he started to model ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:12

Tags: Church Body Of Christ

A Mouse Looked Through The Crack In The Wall To ...  PRO

Contributed by Bobby Scobey on Mar 20, 2007

A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package. "What food might this contain?" The mouse wondered - he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap. Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning. "There is a mousetrap in the house! There ...read more

Tags: Church Body Of Christ

Denomination: Pentecostal

A Mouse Story

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

A Mouse Story. A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package. "What food might this contain?" The mouse wondered - he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap. Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning. "There is a mousetrap in ...read more

Tags: Church Body Of Christ

[241]. A Message From A Poem – Christmas Glory

Contributed by Ron Ferguson on Dec 22, 2025

[241]. A MESSAGE FROM A POEM – CHRISTMAS GLORY This little poem was written for a short Christmas Meditation that is on SermonCentral. As you can see it is an acrostic. I have always been thrilled with this verse from Luke – {{Luke 2:9 “An angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them and THE ...read more

Scripture: Luke 2:9, Matthew 17:1-3, Acts 9:3, Philippians 3:21

Tags: Christian Poems, Moses On Sinai, An Acrostic Poem, Christmas, Meditation, Glory Of The Lord, Shepherds, Mount Of Transfiguration  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

A Legend From India Tells About A Mouse That Was ...  PRO

Contributed by David Yarbrough on Jan 28, 2002

A legend from India tells about a mouse that was terrified of cats until a magician agreed to transform him into a cat. That resolved his fear…until he met a dog, so the magician changed him into a dog. The mouse-turned-cat-turned-dog was content until he met a tiger-so, once again; the magician ...read more

Scripture: 2 Samuel 1:1, Genesis 1:1, 2 Samuel 1:1

Tags: Endurance, God Brings Hope

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

The Impact Of Attitude  PRO

Contributed by Brian Mavis on Apr 4, 2001

THE IMPACT OF ATTITUDE The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of Attitude on life. Attitude to me is more important: than facts, than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do, than appearances, than ...read more

Tags: Joy, Human Body

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Missing Out  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 16, 2001

MISSING OUT Leith Anderson, a pastor, shares an experience of disappointment. As a boy, he grew up outside of New York City and was an avid fan of the old Brooklyn Dodgers. One day his father took him to a World Series game between the Dodgers and the Yankees. He was so excited, and he just knew ...read more

Tags: Human Body, Emotions

Let Me Share Story With You About Some Church ...  PRO

Contributed by Mike Dubose on Feb 6, 2002

Let me share story with you about some church people… It’s about 4 people in the church whose names were Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody… The church had some financial responsibilities and Everybody was asked to help… Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it… Anybody could have ...read more

Scripture: Haggai 1:1-11

Tags: Church Body Of Christ

Denomination: Methodist

Remember The Story Of The King That Had A Great ...  PRO

Contributed by Wade Martin Hughes, Sr on Apr 1, 2002

Remember the story of the King that had a great feast, he would provide all the meat, vegetables, the fruits, and the desserts. Each servant was to bring the best wine, one quart, and pour it into a 500 gallon wine vat. A little servant thought my quart can’t matter that much in 500 gallons. So he ...read more

Tags: Church Body Of Christ

Denomination: Assembly Of God