In Sermon Illustrations: "Choice Is Yours"

Anibal Sat In A Brazilian Jail Cell, Guilty Of ...

Contributed by Bret Toman on Dec 22, 2011

Anibal sat in a Brazilian jail cell, guilty of murder. He was a weightlifter, with bulging biceps, a leathery face and a tattoo of an anchor on his forearm that seemed to symbolize his personality. But he appeared to soften as the preacher talked with him about guilt, forgiveness, a God who knew ...read more

Tags: Discipleship

Denomination: Baptist

Who Influences Whom?

Contributed by Perry Greene on Feb 15, 2012

WHO INFLUENCES WHOM? I heard a joke about Bill and Hillary Clinton recently. It seems they were on vacation one weekend, and decided to go for a drive to see the beautiful countryside. After a while, they needed to stop for gas. They pulled into a tiny gas station, and out walked a man to help ...read more

Tags: Worldliness

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Tempered For Christ

Contributed by Curry Pikkaart on Apr 4, 2012

TEMPERED FOR CHRIST A blacksmith, about 8 years after his conversion to Christ, was asked by an unbeliever, "Why is it you have so much trouble? I have been watching you since you trusted Christ as your Savior and began to 'walk square' and seem to love everybody, and you seem to have twice as ...read more

Tags: Holiness

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Faith Connection  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 18, 2012

FAITH CONNECTION Spurgeon use to tell a story about two men in a boat. They were caught in a very, very severe rapids and they were going to a place where there was a waterfall and even worse rapids and there was really no way, if they ever hit those rapids, that they would ever live. And they ...read more

Scripture: Colossians 1:3-8

Tags: Faith

Labor Day And Our Divine Union

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 4, 2012

LABOR DAY AND OUR DIVINE UNION I’ve heard that Labor Day was first celebrated in Boston on Sept 5, 1882. It wasn’t until 1894 that it became a federal holiday. That was an effort encouraged by President Grover Cleveland to reconcile with the labor movement and prevent further violence. You see, ...read more

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Tags: Holidays Civic

Where Is The Church When It Hurts?

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 13, 2012

WHERE IS THE CHURCH WHEN IT HURTS? Where is God in the midst of the storm? One author answered that question with this incident: "In Washington and Chicago, as I talked about the special edition of Where Is God When It Hurts?, inevitably the interviewer would turn the question back on me. 'Well, ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 14:22-36

Tags: Comfort

House ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 9, 2012

HOUSE FIRE A story is told of a family awakened by their smoke detector in the middle of the night to discover that their house was on fire. The father ran into the upstairs bedroom of his children and carried his 18 month old baby in his arms while dragging his 4 year old son by the hand. They ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 41:10

Tags: Father's Day, God's Omniscience

The Truth Of The Book  PRO

Contributed by Michael Mccartney on Oct 23, 2012

THE TRUTH OF THE BOOK John Ortberg states "It’s a strange thing: the book has never been so accessible. According to Guinness Book of Records, L. Ron Hubbard’s writings of scientology have been translated into 65 languages; the Koran is supposed to be read in Arabic so it hasn’t been translated ...read more

Scripture: John 3:16-17, 1 Corinthians 13:1-7

Tags: Bible Truth

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Is There Anyone Up There?

Contributed by Darrin Fish on May 15, 2013

IS THERE ANYONE UP THERE? There once was a tourist who came too close to the edge of the Grand Canyon, lost his footing and plunged over the side, clawing and scratching to save himself. After he disappeared out of sight; and, just before he fell into open space, he stumbled upon a scrubby bush ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 4:1-13

Tags: Faith

Denomination: Christian Church

Women And Proverbs

Contributed by Michael Mccartney on May 16, 2013

WOMEN AND PROVERBS From Chronological Life Application Bible: "Proverbs has a lot to say about women. How fitting that the book ends with a picture of a woman of strong character, great wisdom, many skills, and great compassion. Some people have the mistaken idea that the ideal woman in the ...read more

Tags: Women

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Humorous Hospital Charts

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 23, 2013

HUMOROUS HOSPITAL CHARTS I came across some notes supposedly found on hospital charts, and I thought you might enjoy them as I did: • The patient refused autopsy. • Note: Patient recovering from forehead cut. Patient became very angry when given an enema by mistake. • Patient has chest pain if she ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 18:1-27

Tags: Leadership General

Busyness  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 3, 2013

BUSYNESS Busyness is no sign of spirituality or any kind of a full life. In fact, it’s more likely the sign of an empty life. Tim Kreider, in an article he wrote for The New York Times called The Busy Trap put it this way: “If you live in America in the 21st century, you’ve probably had to listen ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 11:28-30

Tags: Complaining

Ivan The Terrible

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 11, 2014

THE BURIAL CLOTHES OF IVAN THE TERRIBLE In 1547 Ivan the IV became Grand Duke of Russia, and he proclaimed himself "Czar" which is a form of the word "Caesar." He actually claimed to be god on the earth. He later became known as Ivan the Terrible, because he was a cruel, vicious leader. He not ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 22:1-14

Tags: Righteousness, Jesus Parables, Wedding Banquet

C.s. Lewis On The Difference Between Heaven And Hell  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 11, 2014

LEWIS: THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL C. S. Lewis once provided a powerful image of the difference between heaven and hell. He described hungry people sitting at a huge banquet loaded with delicious food. Every person had a meter-long fork and knife attached to their hands (that’s about ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 22:1-14

Tags: Jesus Parables, Wedding Banquet, Heaven And Hell

Last Lap Of The Race

Contributed by Shawn Miller on Jul 4, 2014

May 29, 2011 it looked like it was destiny, the day Dale Earnhardt Jr. was rounding the last lap of the Charlotte Motor Speedway. You could just imagine the script that was being set; it was memorial day, he was being sponsored by the national guard, and He was going to finally win for the first ...read more

Scripture: 2 Timothy 4:7

Tags: Perseverance, Endurance, Finish The Race, Gas Tank

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

What's Wrong With Slandering Someone?

Contributed by Rev. Matthew Parker on Aug 29, 2014

I was speaking with someone this past week who has spent a great deal of his life travelling around the world, much of it for a mission agency. He spoke of a time when he visited an extremely remote, forested part of India where people live very primitively. He stayed there for a while. This fellow ...read more

Scripture: 2 Peter 1:5-7, 2 Peter 1:5

Tags: Godly Character, Transparency

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Is It Death Or Really Life?

Contributed by Tim Smith on Feb 11, 2015

Robin Norwood in her book, “Why Me? Why This? Why Now?” writes, “A very wise old fried of mine who has just celebrated his 100th birthday said to me about a recent news broadcast he recently heard about 73 people losing their lives in a plan crash: “Don’t they know we can’t lose our lives? We can ...read more

Scripture: Luke 23:32-43

Tags: Death, Eternal Life

Denomination: Methodist

Wife Died

Contributed by Davon Huss on Jul 3, 2015

Booth-Tucker preached in Chicago one day, and out from the throng a burdened laborer came and said to him, before all the audience, "You can talk like that about how Christ is dear to you, and helps you; but if your wife was dead, as my wife is, and you had some babies crying for their mother who ...read more

Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:10

Tags: Grief, God's Comfort, Christ's Sufficiency, The Comforter

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Novelist Herman Wouk Has Written Of A Meeting...

Contributed by Davon Huss on May 17, 2016

Novelist Herman Wouk has written of a meeting he had with David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first president. Ben Gurion urged him to move to the newly established nation. This was 1955, and terrorists were still bringing regular bloodshed to the citizens. Ben Gurion had left office and had begun his ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 5:1

Tags: Freedom, Free To Serve, Stop Playing It Safe, Freedom From Fear

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Being Crucified With Christ

Contributed by Glynda Lomax on Aug 11, 2016

As I was typing up the many pages of notes I would use for my weekly podcast sermon, I needed to replace some letters in a name in part of my document with "M-E," so it would read correctly as I recorded. I was trying to use the ’Find & Replace’ command, but it looked a little ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 2:20

Tags: Sin, Flesh, Self, Crucified With Christ, Crucify Flesh, Crucified  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Charismatic