In Sermon Illustrations: "Call To Salvation"

Humility: The Balloon Game  PRO

Contributed by Davon Huss on Nov 26, 2012

HUMILITY: THE BALLOON GAME Robert Roberts writes about a fourth grade class in which the teacher introduced a game called "balloon stomp." A balloon was tied to every child's leg, and the object of the game was to pop everyone else's balloon while protecting one's own. The last person with an ...read more

Scripture: 1 Peter 5:5

Tags: Humility

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Jesus: Soft To Us

Contributed by Greg Nance on Dec 20, 2012

Why did Jesus come to us as a baby? To fulfill prophecy? To be one with us, one of us, one we could know and understand, one we could see and believe in, one who takes away our sins through his own body and blood? All this and much more! Let me share an insight from Brisa, my three year old ...read more

Tags: Christmas, Incarnation

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

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

Selling Your Cow  PRO

Contributed by Davon Huss on May 31, 2014

Daniel Overdorf: One of my older sisters and her husband served for 12 years as missionaries to Haiti. Among various other ministries, such as church plants, a school and feeding programs, they discipled a few young men who today lead various churches and ministries. One participant in this was ...read more

Scripture: 1 John 3:16-18

Tags: Help The Needy, Christian Giving, Sharing God's Bounty

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Fatherhood Tips: Cherish Your Time With Them.

Contributed by Eduardo Quintana on Oct 4, 2015

FATHERHOOD TIPS 1.- Cherish your time with them. When we adopted our first child, we decided that it was outright important for the child to have a mom and a dad that were there for them. My wife quit her job and became a stay at home mother. She is amazing! And I also had to find a job that ...read more

Scripture: Malachi 4:6

Tags: Fatherhood, Cherish

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Hugging

Contributed by Don Berry-Graham on Mar 1, 2016

Once at a young girl’s funeral, I had to make just such a decision. The girl’s father was a member of our church and an air force serviceman. He was an aide on Air Force One and had flown with the president many times. A few generals and lots of upper-crust brass attended the funeral. When it came ...read more

Scripture: Luke 15:20

Tags: Touch, Healing Touch, Hugging

Denomination: Baptist

God Knows How To Get Us There...

Contributed by Wade Martin Hughes, Sr on May 20, 2016

SOMETIMES LIFE KNOWS WE NEED A PIT STOP --- LIFE MAY GIVE US WHAT WE NEED --- NOT WHAT WE WANT... Did you hear about the KING that loved his people so much? This KING loved his family. The King had the most beautiful palace, and to protect his family he had a huge MOTE dug around the palace. He ...read more

Scripture: John 15:11

Tags: Trust God, God Can

Denomination: Assembly Of God

Second Chances

Contributed by Tim Smith on Sep 25, 2016

David Emory tells the story of baptizing a young father who had a 7 year old and 5 year old. They were close friends of his family and had never been a part of a church. But one Sunday, they came to worship, he gave his life to Christ and was baptized. At the end of the service, after everyone else ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 6:1-8

Tags: Sin, Repentance, Woe, Second Chances

Denomination: Methodist

World Trade Center Hero

Contributed by Tim Smith on Sep 25, 2016

Matt Chandler tells the story of Dave Karnes. When the World Trade Center tumbled to the ground on that dreadfully dark day, more than 3000 people lost their lives. But a few who were buried beneath the rubble miraculously survived. Two of these were Will Jimeno and John McLoughlin, a pair of Port ...read more

Scripture: Luke 15:1-10

Tags: Evangelism, 911, Incarnation Of Jesus, Saving Others

Denomination: Methodist

A Teaching On Hospitality  PRO

Contributed by Richard L. Brown on Oct 1, 2016

My wife’s grandmother was a real character. Her name was Ora Gee Craycraft . Everyone in the family just called her Mom. She was a loving lady, always smiling, full of compassion, always putting others before herself. Her strong suit was nurturing. If you were sick, or someone hurt your ...read more

Scripture: Luke 14:1-14, Hebrews 13:2

Tags: Compassion, Practicing Faith, Faith And Obedience

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

The Living Word

Contributed by Tim Smith on Aug 13, 2017

Ravi Zacharias tells of ministering in Vietnam in 1971, and one of his interpreters was Hien Pham, an energetic young Christian. He had worked as a translator with the American forces, and was of immense help both to them and to missionaries such as myself. Hien and I traveled the length of the ...read more

Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:16

Tags: Scripture, Romans, Living Word, The Bible, Persevering Grace  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Methodist

A Modern Day (Sports) Parable

Contributed by Dr. Fred W. Penney on Aug 21, 2019

The Parable Of The Free Agent Hockey Players “For the kingdom of heaven is like a rich sports owner who went out at 6 AM on July 1st , free agency day, to find players for his hockey team. At the local Starbucks he found a Superstar player. He said, “I’ll make you a good offer. - $5 million per ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 20:1-16

Tags: Grace, Gospel, Kingdom Of God

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Biblical Principles Of Work

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Oct 15, 2019

1) Work is ordained by God. It was His creative invention from the beginning. By working, we resemble God. Like God, you have the ability to work, make plans, implement them, and be creative. Additionally, God gave us the task of ruling over and taking care of His creation (Genesis ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 1:28

Tags: Work, Business

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

A Lesson From A Pair Of Brothers

Contributed by Jonathan Spurlock on Dec 3, 2019

Scripture: Mat 18:1-3, NASB 1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" 2 And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, 3 and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 18:1-3

Tags: Children, Wonder

Denomination: Baptist

The First Thing Bartimaeus Saw

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Jan 30, 2020

Think of what Bartimaeus saw when he received his sight! Think of the wonders of seeing for the first time a crowd of human beings just like himself, the walls and palm-tree groves of Jericho, the sky, so blue above him, and the hills of Moab in the distance. But that was not the first thing that ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 21:1-7

Tags: Death, Heaven, Miracles

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

In 1997, Reilly Rankin, Was An All-American ...

Contributed by Rob Culler on May 1, 2007

In 1997, Reilly Rankin, was an all-American golfer as a freshman at the University of Georgia. In her sophomore year, she was set back by an appendectomy, hernia repair and treatment for endometriosis. Having recovered from these procedures, her and a group of friends ventured out onto Lake ...read more

Denomination: Assembly Of God

The Apostles Were A Great Example Of The ...

Contributed by Austin Mansfield on Jun 3, 2007

The apostles were a great example of the difficulties of loving one another, and Jesus knew it. There’s a scene in the epic Franco Zefferelli movie, Jesus of Nazareth, in which Jesus arrives at the house of Matthew, the tax collector, for dinner as he told Matthew he would. Peter and the other ...read more

Denomination: Episcopal/Anglican

Dr. Maurice Rawlings, Is A Cardiologist And ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

Dr. Maurice Rawlings, is a cardiologist and professor of medicine at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in Chattanooga, and his colleagues are constantly treating emergency patients, many of whom have had near-death experiences. A study of these cases by Dr. Rawlings was reported in ...read more

Scripture: Luke 16:13-31, Luke 16:19-30, Luke 16:22-31

Tags: Hell

Throughout The History Of Major League Baseball, ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

Throughout the history of Major League Baseball, and certainly that of the Minnesota Twins baseball team, few characters have achieved the iconic status as that of former major-leaguer Kirby Puckett. His life started in the world’s largest housing projects -- Chicago’s Robert Taylor Homes -- a ...read more

Tags: Doing God's Will

At The Time Of This Writing, The Story ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

At the time of this writing, the story dominating the national news involves the execution of former Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein. On December 30, 2006 the gun-toting dictator, who ruled Iraq with an iron fist for 24 years, was taken to the gallows. This 69-year-old despot, who ruled in ...read more

Tags: Guilt