In Sermon Illustrations: "Absent From The Body"

Commitment Or Contentment?

Contributed by Don Jones on Mar 10, 2009

COMMITMENT OR CONTENTMENT? Four masked men came in with assault rifles screaming at the preacher and members during the worship service. They said that anyone who would deny their faith could leave safely, but the pastor had to stay and face the outcome. Silence fill the church, and finally, ...read more

Tags: Commitment To Christ

Denomination: Baptist

I Am One Of Them

Contributed by Sermon Central on Mar 13, 2009

I AM ONE OF THEM As a third-century man was anticipating death, he penned these last words to a friend: "It’s a bad world, an incredibly bad world. But I have discovered in the midst of it a quiet and holy people who have learned a great secret. They have found a joy, which is a thousand times ...read more

Tags: Christian Witness

Marked Men

Contributed by Sermon Central on Mar 17, 2009

MARKED MEN There is a professor at Howard University Divinity School, a teacher and scholar, with an unusual name. A name that tells this very story. The distinguished professor of New Testament, the author of the book Troubling Biblical Waters, is named Cain Hope Felder. Dr. Felder tells his ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 4:10-26

Tags: Forgiveness In Jesus

If I Didn't Love Them...  PRO

Contributed by Terry Blankenship on Mar 31, 2009

"IF I DIDN'T LOVE THEM..." A man visited a home where there were five children. He was supposed to be a kind of "godfather" to them and was trying to get involved with them on their level. He asked one of the little girls about her doll collection: "Which one is your favorite?" "Promise you ...read more

Tags: Grace, Love, Mercy, God

Denomination: Baptist

Hybels: "Totally Devoted" To Christ  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 8, 2009

HYBELS: "TOTALLY DEVOTED" TO CHRIST Bill Hybels, Pastor of Willow Creek Community Church, was talking with one of his members about some of the "tough topics" he had taught on over the years—-hell, money, sex, relational confrontation, self-discipline. The man asked, "Of all the topics you’ve ...read more

Tags: Discipleship

One Mistake, And You're Finished

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 9, 2009

ONE MISTAKE, AND YOU’RE FINISHED When I was chaplain at the University of Maryland, there was a religious group on campus which left no room for mistakes. If you didn’t measure up, out you went. We heard that one of the students had been sent out of that group for drinking. Then we heard that ...read more

Tags: Judgment

Alec ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 9, 2009

ALEC SHEAR Alec Shear has spent the last twenty-five years of his life collecting stuff. He has 6 stars and stripes lunch boxes, 400 transistor radios that look like name brand products, 10,000 match books, and countless other items of vintage Americana. When his wife divorced him over his ...read more

Tags: Materialism

Most Of Us Have Never Been To Nisswa, Minnesota, ...

Contributed by Johnny Creasong on Apr 23, 2009

Most of us have never been to Nisswa, Minnesota, but I, for one, would like to go there someday. And when I go, I need to plan to stay over for Wednesday night. Not that I want to go to church there (Sorry about that, Chief!). No, the reason I want to visit Nisswa is for the Turtle Races. Every ...read more

Tags: Worship General

Denomination: Church Of God

So In Case It Has, I'd Like To Read The ...

Contributed by Brian La Croix on Apr 27, 2009

So in case it has, I’d like to read the concluding paragraph from the NIV Application Commentary about this section of Scripture: On a different note, there is strong encouragement in Jesus’ statement. Even though at times opposition appears to be insurmountable, true Christianity will assert ...read more

Tags: Second Coming

Denomination: Wesleyan

Love Is Not Self-Seeking

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 28, 2009

LOVE IS NOT SELF-SEEKING I read a beautiful story that illustrates this truth. In December of 1971 the Daily News of Maryville, Tennessee, ran a brief story about a nine-year-old boy who did an inspiring and self-giving act. He loved his mother, who had been widowed, and wanted to buy her a ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:5

Tags: Christian Love

Love Your Neighbor's Broccoli

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 28, 2009

LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR’S BROCCOLI A little girl stayed for dinner at the home of her friend. The vegetable was buttered broccoli, and the mother asked if she liked it. The child replied very politely, "Oh, yes, I love it." But when the bowl of broccoli was passed, she declined to take any. The hostess ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 5:43-48

Tags: Christian Love

Psalm 1 And Gambling

Contributed by Marianne Unger on May 22, 2009

PSALM 1 AND GAMBLING If you go to the casino to find fulfillment and play craps, you’ll find when the dice are rolled, there are a possibility of 64 combinations for which you desire the outcome to be a 7 or 11 or snake eyes, depending on how you’ve placed your bets. The roulette wheel gives ...read more

Tags: Assurance Of Salvation

Denomination: *other

Odd Disciplines & Behaviors

Contributed by Ed Vasicek on May 28, 2009

ODD DISCIPLINES & BEHAVIORS What idiosyncrasies might you need to sometimes sacrifice? What rules have you made up that you will not break for anything? In ministry, you often do what needs to be done--period! Alexandre Dumas, the elder, ate an apple at 7 a.m. each morning under the Arc de ...read more

Tags: Christian Disciplines

Denomination: Independent/Bible

Live Like You Were Dying: The Bucket List

Contributed by Matthew Sickling on Jun 5, 2009

LIVE LIKE YOU WERE DYING: THE BUCKET LIST A couple of years ago my wife and I saw a movie entitled “The Bucket List” starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Both men discovered that they had incurable diseases and wound up being roommates in the hospital. They became good friends and ended ...read more

Tags: Death

Denomination: Baptist

Inside And Outside

Contributed by Rev Dr Randall M Deal Sr on Jun 7, 2009

INSIDE AND OUTSIDE The little girl one Sunday as her family drove home from church, she turned to her mother and said, "Mommy, there’s something about the preacher’s message this morning that I don’t understand." The mother said, "Oh? What is it?" The little girl replied, "Well, he said that God ...read more

Tags: Evangelism How To

Denomination: Baptist

A Vow To Cherish

Contributed by Dale Pilgrim on Jun 20, 2009

A VOW TO CHERISH In the movie A Vow to Cherish a husband struggles with his wife’s Alzheimer's. The most difficult thing is the fact that she doesn’t know him and he is a complete stranger to her. He kneels in front of her and pledges he will love her till the day they die. He recites the vows ...read more

Tags: Commitment To Christ

Denomination: Salvation Army

Suffocating Fear

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 13, 2009

SUFFOCATING FEAR During his years as premier of the Soviet Union, Nikita Kruschev denounced many of the policies and atrocities of Joseph Stalin. In the midst of his speech a heckler shouted "You were one of his colleagues why didn’t you stop him?" Kruschev screamed, "Who said that?" There was a ...read more

Scripture: Joshua 1:9

Tags: Fear And Worry

Hell: A Doctor's Testimony  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 13, 2009

HELL: A DOCTOR’S TESTIMONY Dr. Maurice Rawlings, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at the University Of Tennessee College Of Medicine, was also a devout atheist. But in 1977, while trying to resuscitate a man who had been screaming in terror, something happened that changed his thinking. He ...read more

Scripture: Luke 12:5, Luke 12:49-50, Luke 12:49-53

Tags: Hell

Pocket God  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 13, 2009

POCKET GOD Have you heard about Pocket God? It’s one of the top-selling video game applications for Apple’s iPhone. Here’s the game description found on iTunes: "What kind of god would you be? Benevolent or vengeful? Play Pocket God and discover the answer within yourself. On a remote island, you ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 6:2

Tags: God The Father

Looks Can Be ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 14, 2009

LOOKS CAN BE DECEIVING Girolamo Savonarola was one of the great preachers of the fifteenth century. He preached in the great cathedral of Florence, Italy, which contained a magnificent marble statue of Mary. One day he noticed an elderly woman praying before this statue and then realized it was ...read more

Scripture: John 4:23-24

Tags: Worship, Worship Definition