In Sermon Illustrations: "Being Different"

Examples Of Famous People Who Tithed Before They ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Nov 30, 2009

Examples of Famous People Who Tithed Before They Became Rich A young man accepted the call to become an African missionary but found on further examination that his wife could not stand the climate of Africa. It made her very sick. He was heartbroken, but he prayerfully returned to his home and ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Tags: Tithes

A Farmer Plants Sour Apples Near Edge Of Orchard ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 3, 2009

A Farmer Plants Sour Apples Near Edge of Orchard To Camouflage The Sweet Ones in the Middle A farmer repeatedly invited his neighbor to come over to his orchard and pick some apples and make fresh, sweet apple cider. The neighbor kept turning down the offer. Finally, the farmer asked why the ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 23:1-6

Tags: Commitment To Christ

Hearing The Crickets

Contributed by Chris Kelly on Sep 29, 2010

HEARING THE CRICKETS An American Indian left the reservation to visit downtown New York. Walking down a busy street with his friend, he suddenly stopped and said, "I hear a cricket". His friend said, "You're crazy! There's no way you could hear a cricket in all this noise!" The Indian ...read more

Tags: Doing God's Will

Denomination: Wesleyan

D.l. Moody And The Shoes  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Mar 25, 2011

D.L. MOODY AND THE SHOES A large group of European pastors came to one of D. L. Moody’s Northfield Bible Conferences in Massachusetts in the late 1800s. Following the European custom of the time, each guest put his shoes outside his room to be cleaned by the hall servants overnight. But of course ...read more

Scripture: John 13:1-17

Tags: Servanthood

Colossian Philosophy: "Borrowed" Features

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 6, 2011

COLOSSIAN PHILOSOPHY: "BORROWED" FEATURES I used to collect basketball cards. This was way back in the early 90s, though I still have held on to them. Basketball cards took off well after baseball cards, and each brand over time had its own unique features. Some were UV coated, others had gold ...read more

Scripture: Colossians 1:15-23

Tags: False Teaching

The Spirit Of The Law

Contributed by Sean Harder on May 11, 2011

THE SPIRIT OF THE LAW I knew a woman who stopped for a few drinks every night after work to let traffic die down, then drove home, about a 45 minute drive in lower mainland traffic. She would say, "I'm fine, I've never had an accident and there are never any roadblocks on my route home. It's not ...read more

Tags: Obedience

What Occupies Your Heart

Contributed by Scott Carroll on May 20, 2011

WHAT OCCUPIES YOUR HEART I squirmed a bit as I forced myself to listen to my friend cataloging her problems. After three hours, I interrupted her gently to ask, "If you were to draw a circle to represent your life, what would be in the center? She thought a moment, then said, "My problems." My ...read more

Tags: Joy

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Rescue Effort

Contributed by Michael Walther on May 25, 2011

RESCUE EFFORT On August 30, 2005 Coast Guard Lieutenant Iain McConnell was ordered to fly his H46 helicopter to New Orleans and to keep that machine flying around the clock for what would turn out to be a heroic rescue effort. None of his crew were prepared for what they were about to see. They ...read more

Tags: Unbelief

Denomination: Lutheran

Spurgeon On Truth And The Spirit

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 20, 2011

SPURGEON ON TRUTH AND THE SPIRIT The great 19th century British preacher, Charles Spurgeon, made a wonderful analogy about the Holy Spirit’s role in leading us into God’s truth: "Truth may be compared to a cave or grotto, with wondrous stalactites reaching from the roof, and others reaching from ...read more

Scripture: John 16:5-15

Tags: Holy Spirit In Believers

The Spirit Of The Law

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 9, 2011

THE SPIRIT OF THE LAW I knew a woman who stopped for a few drinks every night after work to let traffic die down, then drove home, about a 45 minute drive in lower mainland traffic. She would say, "I'm fine, I've never had an accident and there are never any roadblocks on my route home. It's not ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 20:1

Tags: Alcohol

Anger Vs. Annoyance  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 3, 2012

ANGER VS. ANNOYANCE A young girl who was writing a paper for school came to her father and asked, "Dad, what is the difference between anger and annoyance?" The father replied, "It is mostly a matter of degree. Let me show you what I mean." With that the father went to the telephone and dialed a ...read more

Scripture: James 1:19-20, Ephesians 4:26

Tags: Anger

Horse Sense

Contributed by Ed Vasicek on May 7, 2012

HORSE SENSE I like horses okay, but I am not a horse-person. But for much of history, horses were crucial. As a result, we have developed a lot of idioms involving horses. "Many terms and phrases in the English language harken back to a time not so long ago when horses were of extreme ...read more

Tags: Wisdom

Denomination: Independent/Bible

Tarzan Story: Failure To Recognize

Contributed by Suresh Manoharan on Sep 3, 2012

TARZAN STORY: FAILURE TO RECOGNIZE Johnny Weissmuller, the champion Olympic swimmer who donned the role of Tarzan the Ape Man in the silver screen with as much aplomb in 1930s and 40s as he dominated the Olympic swimming lanes in 1920s, had "a close encounter of a different kind" with the ...read more

Tags: Second Coming

Denomination: *other

Absentees In The Upper Room

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Feb 9, 2014

ABSENTEES IN THE UPPER ROOM Written by Dr. Larry Petton One of the curious questions I have always had concerns the people who actually saw Christ after His resurrection. I would love to have been part of that group to see Jesus in His glorified, resurrected body! But, for some reason, that ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:1-15

Tags: Church, Holy Spirit, Resurrection, Power

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Authority Vs. Power  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 12, 2014

AUTHORITY VS. POWER There's a difference between power and authority. If you have authority, but no power, your authority is useless. A government man was taking geological readings for the Department of the Interior. He approached one farmer and said, "I've been authorized by the government to ...read more

Scripture: Acts 1:1-8

Tags: Great Commission, Authority

I Was Talking To A Young Man Just A Few Days ...

Contributed by Fred Parker on Jan 27, 2015

I was talking to a young man just a few days ago about our greatest gift. He guessed several different things such as health, strength, possessions (Cars, houses, plenty of money) and each time he would give me an answer I would tell him, “No.” He said, “If I only had plenty of money everything ...read more

Scripture: 1 Timothy 3:16

Tags: Gifts Of God, Greatest

Denomination: Pentecostal

In This Society Of Today People Are Fearful O...

Contributed by Chinita Richardson on Jun 22, 2016

In this society of today people are fearful of a lot of things. We are afraid to shake each other’s hands. Our cars, homes and work places are filled with sanitizing lotions of all brands. We are afraid to eat certain foods at certain times of the year according to what the trend is at the time. We ...read more

Scripture: Joshua 1:1-9

Tags: Moses, New Life

Denomination: Methodist

The Problem With Church 200 Years Ago

Contributed by Jim Butcher on Apr 11, 2018

I was recently reading an interesting book about life in America 200 years ago. One intriguing detail that the author shared was that back then most people only bathed once a year. It made me think of how unpleasant it would have been to gather on a sultry August Sunday morning in a sanctuary ...read more

Tags: Church, Worship, Sin, Sinfulness

Denomination: Baptist

Eduardo Escobar's Blessed Bats

Contributed by Matt Neace on Jun 13, 2018

In 2017, Minnesota Twins All-Star third baseman Miguel Sano when down with a stress reaction to his shin. So Eduardo Escobar filled in at third. He proceeded to belt 10 of his career-high 21 home runs as a fill-in starter. Speaking of the home runs, Escobar told the Star Tribune, "The 20 home ...read more

Tags: Faith, Prayer, Opportunity

Denomination: Baptist

Dual Citizenship In The Kingdom Of God And The Kingdom Of Darkness?

Contributed by Stephen Belokur on Feb 12, 2019

Try to imagine this. It is the year 1944 and Germany is at war with England. Now suppose you have dual citizenship in both Germany and England and you are living in Germany. How will you be treated? Conversely, suppose you have dual citizenship in both Germany and England and you are living in ...read more

Scripture: 1 John 3:4-10, Matthew 6:24, Romans 6:22-23, 1 John 1:6

Tags: Carnal Christian, Sinful Life, Holilness, Righteous Christian, Alive In Christ, Living In Sin, Living In Darkness, In Christ, Living In Christ  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Nazarene