In Sermon Illustrations: "Belief In God"

Renewal And New Life

Contributed by Perry Greene on Apr 1, 2013

RENEWAL AND NEW LIFE Henry David Thoreau, in his classic book, Walden, told of a powerful custom of the Mucclasse Indians. Once each year, they had a village clean up called a "busk." First they would make new clothes for themselves as well as furniture and cooking utensils. They would keep all ...read more

Tags: God Brings Hope

Denomination: Independent/Bible

Is There Hope For The Next Generation Of ...  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 7, 2013

IS THERE HOPE FOR THE NEXT GENERATION OF EVANGELICALS? Russell Moore recounts a conversation with the evangelical theologian Carl Henry. As Moore and some of his friends were lamenting the miserable shape of the church, they asked Dr. Henry if he saw any hope in the coming generation of ...read more

Scripture: Acts 9:1-15, Acts 2:47, Romans 8:31-36, Proverbs 20:21, Luke 8:22-25, Matthew 16:18  (view more)  (view less)

Tags: God Brings Hope

We Are Meant To Struggle

Contributed by Spencer Miller on May 13, 2013

WE ARE MEANT TO STRUGGLE You remember the story of the little boy who was playing outdoors and found a fascinating caterpillar. He carefully picked it up and took it home to show his mother. He asked his mother if he could keep it, and she said he could if he would take good care of it. The ...read more

Tags: God Brings Purpose

Denomination: Baptist

Be Holy?

Contributed by John Kilough on Apr 24, 2014

"Be holy, for I am holy." For most people this can be a very intimidating statement. The Lord God says, "Be holy, for I am holy." The issue with that is, well God is God and I am not. It is easy for Him to say be holy, but I just have way too many faults. However, we love the Lord and we are ...read more

Scripture: 1 Peter 1:16

Tags: Holiness, God's Commandments

Denomination: Assembly Of God

Beholding The Night Sky

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on Jan 2, 2015

When our daughter was in Junior High School, she made friends with a group of girls from Olney, Texas, a community about forty minutes to the south of us. And they invited her to a function their school was having on a certain Friday night. So, I drove her over, and, when the time came, I went ...read more

Scripture: Romans 1:18-23

Tags: Creation, Doctrine Of God

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

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

The Power Of Silence

Contributed by Michael Deutsch on Jun 4, 2016

They say silence is golden – but is it possible that too much silence is not such a good thing? There’s a room in the United States that’s so quiet it becomes unbearable after a short time. The longest anyone has survived in the ‘anechoic chamber’ at Orfield Laboratories in South Minneapolis is ...read more

Scripture: John 10:4-5

Tags: Silence, Listening To God

Denomination: Baptist

Free For The Taking: Grace

Contributed by Richard Tow on Jul 18, 2017

Joseph Cooke was a missionary to Thailand a generation ago. He illustrated grace this way. Picture a happily married couple in which both husband and wife are all that either could ever wish the other to be. The husband always respects his wife’s feelings, always treasures her individuality, is ...read more

Scripture: 1 Timothy 1:8-9, Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 5:8

Tags: Grace, Love Of God

Denomination: Charismatic

Is There A Limit To My Power?

Contributed by Martin Spoelstra on Apr 19, 2018

Mark Batterson in his book "The Circle Maker" asks a very provocative question based upon a question that God asks Moses; "Is there a limit to my power?" (Numbers 11:23) GNT. "Are your problems bigger than God, or is God bigger than your problems? Our biggest problem is our small view of God. ...read more

Tags: Prayer, Omnipotent God

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

It’s Closer Than I Thought!

Contributed by Jonathan Spurlock on Feb 7, 2020

My wife and her parents used a certain brand of ketchup for many things over a long period of time. They hadn’t had any of it, though, in maybe 30 years or so. They believed this brand wasn’t available, locally, so they never got around to finding any more of it. Now, I grew up in a different part ...read more

Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 4:3, 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Tags: God's Will, Discovery, Sharing

Denomination: Baptist

They Took It Away!

Contributed by Jonathan Spurlock on Mar 3, 2020

My parents used to operate a true “Mom and Pop” grocery store before I started school. I still remember some of the good times—and some of the bad times, too, unfortunately—from those days gone by. Some of the items they had for sale were plastic models. These were mostly Revell, Lindberg, or ...read more

Scripture: 1 John 3:22, 1 John 5:18

Tags: The Will Of God, Take It Or Leave It

Denomination: Baptist

Obedience

Contributed by Anitha Jabastion on Jan 2, 2021

There was a boy who went trekking on the mountain. He reached a great height when he realized that it was getting dark and he had to reach the bottom soon. He began climbing down. It was getting darker and darker, so dark that he could barely see. He was somehow managing to get down the mountain ...read more

Scripture: 1 Samuel 15:22

Tags: Obedience, Listening To God

Bless Assurance: Fanny Crosby

Contributed by Wade Martin Hughes, Sr on Jan 16, 2021

ASSURANCE: free from doubt, a positive declaration intended to give confidence, a sure promise, in a religious sitting it means salvation by the inner witness of the Holy Spirit that we are justified. No harm will come, with great faith. FANNY JANE CROSBY was born in 1820 and died in 1915 at the ...read more

Scripture: John 3:16, John 14:27, John 14:1-3

Tags: Assurance, God Can

Denomination: Assembly Of God

Old Bible

Contributed by John Bright on Jan 17, 2021

A collector of rare books ran into an acquaintance who told him he had just thrown away an old Bible that he found in a dusty, old box. He happened to mention that Guten-somebody-or-other had printed it. "Not Gutenberg?" gasped the collector. "Yes, that was it!" "You ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 4:12

Tags: Bible, Word Of God

Denomination: Methodist

Where Can I Find Joy In Life?

Contributed by Garris Hudson on Jan 31, 2022

People have pursued joy in every avenue imaginable. Some have successfully found it while others have not. Perhaps it would be easier to describe where joy cannot be found: • Not in Unbelief — Voltaire was an infidel of the most pronounced type. He wrote: “I wish I had never been born… (and at his ...read more

Tags: Trusting God, Joy

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Hope And A Grateful Heart  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Mar 24, 2009

HOPE AND A GRATEFUL HEART There is an old legend of a man who found the barn where Satan kept his seeds ready to be sown in the human heart. On finding the seeds of discouragement more numerous than others, he learned that those seeds could be made to grow almost anywhere. When questioned, Satan ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 12:27-29

Tags: God Brings Hope

Jesus' Words

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 8, 2009

JESUS’ WORDS There is a hopefulness in life as we hear and become empowered by Jesus’ words. A Sunday School teacher illustrated this concept of hopefulness in life by drawing on the blackboard two pathways. In the middle of one she placed a large rock, covering the entire path. At the end of ...read more

Tags: God Brings Hope

We Can Overcome

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 8, 2009

WE CAN OVERCOME Take for example Egyptian hieroglyphics. In seminary I had plenty of brilliant folks for classmates, just amazing people. One man, Kevin was with us on our trip to the Holy Land. Kevin finishing his M.Div at Princeton and was soon on his way to Harvard for a Ph.D. in biblical ...read more

Scripture: 1 John 5:4-5

Tags: God Brings Hope

Ralph's Ultimate Purpose

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 9, 2009

RALPH’S ULTIMATE PURPOSE John Matters and I visited Ralph Drennan Thursday. You know, since he came back from WWII, Ralph has run a business of re-binding books. He’s in his 90’s now, so Ralph has cut his hours back a little. He still gets work sent to him from all across the US, because there ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 138:8

Tags: God Brings Purpose

Seasick Hope  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 28, 2009

SEASICK HOPE A passenger on an ocean liner was enduring a rough Atlantic crossing. As he leaned over the rail, his face a shade of green, a steward came along and tried to encourage him: "Don’t be discouraged, sir! No one’s ever died of seasickness yet!" The nauseous passenger looked up at the ...read more

Scripture: John 16:33

Tags: God Brings Hope