In Sermon Illustrations: "Chosen People"

Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Nov 10, 2009

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst Judith Viorst wrote a popular children’s book called Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. It’s about a little boy whose day starts out bad and goes downhill from there. He gets gum in his hair and ...read more

Scripture: Jonah 4:1-11

Tags: Jonah

Mr. And Mrs. ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Nov 24, 2009

"Mr. and Mrs. Thing" John MacArthur, in his book titled Overcoming Materialism, offers this analysis: Mr. and Mrs. Thing are a very pleasant and successful couple. At least, that’s the verdict of most people, who tend to measure success with a “thingometer.” And when the “thingometer” is put to ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 6:19-21

Tags: Materialism

Little Boy Sees The Parade But Misses The ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 16, 2009

Little Boy Sees the Parade but Misses the Circus Lowell Ogden tells the story of a little boy who lived out in the country around the turn of the century. He had never seen a traveling circus, and one was coming to his town on Saturday. The lad asked his father for permission to go and his dad said ...read more

Scripture: Luke 1:46-55

Tags: Worship Definition

Christmas Celebrations Around The World  PRO

Contributed by Bruce Rzengota on Dec 28, 2009

CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS AROUND THE WORLD As Americans, we pride ourselves in "doing Christmas up right." Tons of gifts, big holiday feasts, huge trees, Lights on the houses. USA! Here are some of the other ways people prepare for the celebration of Christmas. * In Italy they have no Christmas ...read more

Tags: Christmas

Denomination: Christian Missionary Alliance

History Of The Ship Mv ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 27, 2010

History of the ship MV Doulos When built for the White Star Line in 1912 the Titanic was the marvel of her age. At nearly 883 feet in length, Titanic was longer than the tallest structures on Earth at the time. Over 1800 people left England on the “unsinkable ship”, but only 675 arrived. After ...read more

Scripture: John 6:1-13

Tags: God Brings Purpose

I Worry About...  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 13, 2010

I WORRY ABOUT... Percentage of people who at least occasionally worry about: Having their car stolen or broken into: 42 Home burglarization when they are not at home: 45 Being the victim of terrorism: 38 Having a school-aged child physically harmed at school: 29 Your home being burglarized when ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 4:6-7

Tags: Anxiety

Get Up Stronger

Contributed by Bret Toman on Jan 3, 2011

GET UP STRONGER By the beginning of the nineteenth century, about three million African slaves had been transported to the Americas on British ships. People being stolen from their homes, ripped from their families, robbed of their dignity, transported on ships 3 decks deep, squalid conditions, ...read more

Tags: Endurance

Denomination: Baptist

Radical Faith  PRO

Contributed by Ken Pell on Jan 24, 2011

RADICAL FAITH I want to read to you the opening story from David Platt's book "The Radical Question" (Multnomah Press). Imagine a scene that took place in Asia not so long ago: A room in an ordinary house, dimly lit, all the blinds on the windows closed. Twenty leaders from churches in the ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 12:10-17

Tags: Persecution, Better Together

Denomination: Nazarene

The Train Whistle

Contributed by Davon Huss on Mar 7, 2011

THE TRAIN WHISTLE "I lived in Germany during the Nazi holocaust. I considered myself a Christian.  I attended Church since I was a small boy.  We had heard the stories of what was happening to the Jews, but like most people we tried to distance ourselves from the reality of what was really ...read more

Tags: Compassion

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Works-Driven Rituals

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 4, 2011

WORKS-DRIVEN RITUALS Every year a great throng of people make pilgrimage to the Shrine of Guadalupe in Mexico, a site where supposedly the Virgin Mary once stood...however unlikely that is. They go there hoping to get her attention, and to get her to intervene for them with her son Jesus. They ...read more

Scripture: 1 John 1:7-10

Tags: Action

It Is Not Good...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 6, 2011

IT IS NOT GOOD... God made a woman to keep him company and to be his companion. The fact is we men don't do too well without such a companion. Researchers from the Universities of Utah and South Carolina recently collected data from 148 different studies, conducted over three decades, involving ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 2:18

Tags: Marriage General

A True Church Family

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 28, 2012

A TRUE CHURCH FAMILY Fred Sigle, preaching minister at Garfield Christian Church in Indianapolis tells about Mark Knutson. On August 28, 1993, he was diagnosed with an extremely aggressive form of cancer. When diagnosed, he was already in the late stages and was only given a short time to ...read more

Scripture: Acts 2:42-47

Tags: Church Body Of Christ

A Worry Satire  PRO

Contributed by Troy Borst on May 31, 2012

A WORRY SATIRE Luke 12:22-34 (New Revised Updated Modernization Version for the E-Pad with notes) (NRUMVEPwN) Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, about evil people hurting you your family, or random biological terrorist attacks, or how the stock ...read more

Tags: Worry

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

The Hobbit: Denying Yourself  PRO

Contributed by Ken Pell on Jun 15, 2013

The Hobbit: Denying Yourself In the movie “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” there is a scene where the Bilbo Baggins, the Hobbit who is accompanying 13 dwarves on a mission, unexpectedly disappears and seems to have abandoned the dwarves during a crucial battle. They were losing. Bilbo does ...read more

Scripture: Luke 9:23-25

Tags: Dying To Self, Deny Self

Denomination: Nazarene

Loving Neighbour

Contributed by Don Berry-Graham on Feb 29, 2016

A Little Pointer on Keeping a Balance Here’s a little bonus tip that I’ve found helpful to keep my wits about me as I live next to these wild Vikings we call sinners, pagans, and wacko unbelievers while keeping my vertical relationship with God strong. It’s called “whimsical holiness,” which is ...read more

Scripture: Luke 7:34

Tags: Witnessing Tools, Loving Neighbor

Denomination: Baptist

The Fear Of The Lord Is The Foundation Of Wisdom

Contributed by Martin Spoelstra on May 8, 2016

In a crazy move, a woman at the Toronto zoo who lost her hat at the tiger enclosure decided that she was going to retrieve it. She climbed the outer fence, dropped over the edge and scrambled around to find her hat. Fortunately for her there was a second fence between her and her hat. A ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 9:10

Tags: Wise Decisions, Fear, Foundation Of Wisdom

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Judging God's Mirror

Contributed by David Goering on Sep 1, 2018

Suppose a young couple woke up in the morning after a good night sleep and the husband looked in the mirror on the dresser and became very angry at the reflection because of what he saw... his hair was disheveled and he had a sleep wrinkle that ran down the one side of his face, so he took his ...read more

Scripture: James 1:23-25

Tags: Character, Reflection, Mirror, Gods Word

The Dimensions Of The New Heaven

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Oct 28, 2019

The exact dimensions of the New Heaven are measured by an angel and reported to be 12,000 stadia, the equivalent of 1,400 miles or 2,200 kilometers, in length, width, and height (Revelation 21:15-16). Even though these proportions may have symbolic importance, this doesn’t mean they can’t be ...read more

Scripture: John 14:1-6, Revelation 21:1-7

Tags: Revelation, Heaven, Second Coming, The New Heaven, The New Jerusalem  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Middle Eastern Gate

Contributed by Davon Huss on Apr 17, 2021

Derrick Johnson of the Regeneration singing group told a story about his daughter, Debbie. When Debbie was 4 years old, she got lost in a crowded supermarket. After an anxious search, she was found only one aisle over from her mother, but she was petrified. For a long time after that, she was ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 21:21, Revelation 21:25

Tags: Gates, Resurrection, Heaven

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

There Are Many Mysteries

Contributed by Roy Fowler on Aug 25, 2021

There are 12 or 13 diseases that Doctors know nothing about or very little. They are Mystery's. One such mystery disease is “the sleeping sickness”. From 1917 to 1928, half a million people were afflicted with a ghastly condition that could be part of the plot-line of a horror film. The ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 1:3-14

Tags: Mysteries, Mystery Of God Can Be Found

Denomination: Independent/Bible