In Sermon Illustrations: "commitment to church" showing 341-360 of 8,049

The Church Can Still Strike ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 11, 2008

THE CHURCH CAN STILL STRIKE FEAR In 1988, Wally Magdangal was pastoring an underground church in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He was a Filipino lay pastor of Christian foreign workers wishing to gather for worship. In 1992, soon after the conclusion of the Gulf War, the house church had grown to over ...read more

Tags: Persecution

Too Good For Your Church

Contributed by Sermon Central on Sep 2, 2008

TOO GOOD FOR YOUR CHURCH A good set of clothes makes all the difference. A Methodist church tried to get a man to attend, but he never did. "Why don't you come?" the minister asked, and the man finally admitted it was because he didn't have proper clothes. So a member of the congregation took him ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 4:17-24

Tags: Church Growth

Selflessness Sparks A Whole Church  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 28, 2008

SELFLESSNESS SPARKS A WHOLE CHURCH When Yoido Full Gospel Church in South Korea was building its prayer mountain, they struggled in raising the funds for its construction. Pastor David Cho challenged the people again and again and still they could raise the funds they needed for the project. Then, ...read more

Tags: Holy Spirit In Believers

The Rich Family In Church By Eddie ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 11, 2009

THE RICH FAMILY IN CHURCH by Eddie Ogan I’ll never forget Easter 1946. I was 14, my little sister Ocy was 12, and my older sister Darlene 16. We lived at home with our mother, and the four of us knew what it was to do without many things. My dad had died five years before, leaving Mom with seven ...read more

Tags: Money

How People Find A Church

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 16, 2009

HOW PEOPLE FIND A CHURCH 55% of unchurched people and 64% of church switchers find a church through recommendation from friends or family. 49% of unchurched people and 83% of church switchers do so from an in-person visit. 25% of unchurched and 21% of church switchers find or visit a churches ...read more

Tags: Evangelism How To

Ten Rules For Improving The Church

Contributed by David Parks on Jun 3, 2022

TEN RULES FOR IMPROVING THE CHURCH 1. Tell yourself over and over that since you are not perfect you would not fit into a perfect congregation, if one existed. 2. Instead of picking out the worldly members to point to, pick out the sincere, dedicated, spiritual members and thank God for them. You ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 6:1-2, 1 Peter 4:8, Matthew 7:1-5

Tags: Church, Encouragement, Judgementalism

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

The Church Is A Battleship, Not A Cruise Ship!

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Jan 2, 2023

Adrian Rogers said "We are in a spiritual war! And the Church is not a cruise ship with the Senior Pastor as the Master of Ceremonies! Indeed, the Church is not a showboat…...it is a battleship. We, in the Body of Christ, are called to see Satan's strongholds crumble under the ...read more

Tags: Victory, Satan, Revival, Spiritual Warfare, Strongholds, Prayer, Demons  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

When A Thief Was Surprised At Church!

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Nov 13, 2023

When I was pastoring in Texas, something strange happened one Christmas that I will never stop laughing about. Because it was a Christmas holiday, we were at home with our family taking a break from our normal ministry schedule. We did not go to the church campus for the weekend. But, while we ...read more

Scripture: Malachi 3:10-11, Proverbs 3:9-10, 1 Timothy 6:10, 1 Corinthians 16:1-2

Tags: Stealing, Surprises, Tithing, Robbing God, Pastors, Church, Giving, Humor  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

The Church That Voted God Out!

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Jan 28, 2024

The story is told about a poor woman who lived across the tracks and wanted to join a very fashionable church. She talked to the pastor about it, but he sought to discourage her. He suggested she go home and think about it carefully for a week. At the end of the week she came back. He said, “Go ...read more

Scripture: James 2:1-12

Tags: Church, Favoritism, Partiality, Pastors, Membership, Revival  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Tony Campolo Wrote A Book Called "The Kingdom Of ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

Tony Campolo wrote a book called “The Kingdom of God is a Party.” In chapter one, he tells the story of a trip to Honolulu in the mid 80’s. Having crossed far too many time zones from Philadelphia to Hawaii, he found himself awake and needing breakfast at 3:30am local time. He ended up in a greasy, ...read more

Tags: Commitment To Christ

What Happens When We Learn About A Really Bad ...  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

What happens when we learn about a really bad guy repenting? It happens all the time in prison ministry, yet many of us think those people aren’t worth saving. They had more chances than most of us are willing to give them, yet God hasn’t given up on them. Jeffrey Dahmer was a convicted murderer ...read more

Tags: Commitment To Christ

Jennifer M. Ginn Shares A Similar Experience, In ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

Jennifer M. Ginn shares a similar experience, in her article “Living by the Word,” published in Christian Century [February, 2004]. She begins by quoting the words of a song that was popular when she was at camp. “I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to ...read more

Tags: Commitment To Christ

Fan Or Follower?

Contributed by Tim Smith on Mar 17, 2011

FAN OR FOLLOWER? Kyle Idelman writes: It was a Thursday afternoon, and I was sitting in our sanctuary where 30,000 people would soon be coming to one of our Easter services. I had no idea what I was going to say to them. I could feel the pressure mounting. I sat there hoping that a sermon would ...read more

Tags: Commitment To Christ

Denomination: Methodist

New Barna Research Shows That Church Attendance ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 3, 2006

New Barna Research shows that church attendance bottoms out during the late 20s when the vast majority of students have transitioned from education to the workforce. Only 31% of 20-somethings attend church in a typical week, compared to 42% of those in their 30s and 49% of all adults 40 and older. ...read more

Tags: Church General

Gene Mims In Kingdom Principles For Church Growth ...  PRO

Contributed by R. Darrel Davis on Oct 27, 2001

Gene Mims in Kingdom Principles for Church Growth said, “The purpose of worship is to come before the Lord in obedience to praise Him, to hear from Him, to confess to Him, and to commit our lives to Him. Every worship service is to be an encounter ...read more

Tags: Church Practices, Worship General

Denomination: Baptist

Faith Without Church: Barna Research Reports That ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

Faith Without Church: Barna Research reports that in the U.S. about 10 million self-proclaimed, born-again Christians have not been to church in the last 6 months, apart from Christmas or Easter. Yet, nearly all born-agains say their spiritual life is very important. About a third of Americans are ...read more

Tags: Church General

A Chicken And A Pig Were Walking Past A Church ...  PRO

Contributed by Wincci Yin Chee on Jun 19, 2006

A chicken and a pig were walking past a church building one day when they noticed the Sunday morning sermon posted on the outside bulletin board, "Helping the Poor." They walked away when the chicken suddenly came across with a suggestion. "Brother pig, why don’t we give all the poor people a nice ...read more

Tags: Giving General

Denomination: Independent/Bible

The Church Is Expanding. 12 Disciple Grew To 120 ...  PRO

Contributed by Aubrey Vaughan on Nov 28, 2006

The Church is expanding. 12 disciple grew to 120 in a upper room followed by Peters sermon 3000 believed, shortly after 5000 were add then came persecution till AD 313 Edict of toleration around 10 million Christians at this time. By the year 1000 this had grown to 50 million. By the end of the ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

As A Kid In A Baptist Church, Once A Month After ...  PRO

Contributed by Kenneth Squires on Dec 1, 2003

As a kid in a Baptist church, once a month after the morning service we had a fellowship hour. The congregation would immediately retire to the basement fellowship hall (there’s that word again), a room used for talking and eating for cookies and conversation. When you are twelve, you are most ...read more

Tags: Church Small Groups

Denomination: Pentecostal

What Makes A Good ...

Contributed by Timothy Gardner on Nov 7, 2009

"What makes a good church? If all the… …Lazy folks get up …sleepy folks wake up …Discouraged folks cheer up …Gossiping folks shut up …Dishonest folks fess up …Estranged folks make up …Depressed folks look up …Disgusted folks sweeten up …Lukewarm folks fire up …Sanctified folks show ...read more

Tags: People, Love, Commitment, Humor, Church General  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Salvation Army