In Sermon Illustrations: "Dark Night"

Last Week I Read In The Advice Column In The ...  PRO

Contributed by Larry Thompson on Jun 6, 2002

Last week I read in the advice column in the paper about a couple who was celebrating 50 years of marriage. The husband wrote that someone commented, ¡§Ken, 50 years is a long time.¡¨ He immediately responded: ¡§Not nearly as long as it would have been without her.¡¨ I couldn¡¦t get the man¡¦s ...read more

Tags: Unity

Denomination: Baptist

Getting To The Good Stuff!" Exodus 6: 1-12 Key ...

Contributed by Mark Brunner on Nov 11, 2004

“Getting to The Good Stuff!” Exodus 6: 1-12 Key verse(s): 12: “But Moses said to the Lord, ‘If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with faltering lips’.” When I was a boy I had the rather thankless job of feeding a herd of our neighbor’s ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 6:1-12

Tags: Leadership General

Denomination: Lutheran

Earth In The Bargain!" Revelations 22: 20-21 ...  PRO

Contributed by Mark Brunner on Jan 26, 2005

“Earth in the Bargain!” Revelations 22: 20-21 Key verse(s): 21:“The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.” The surest way to become hopeless is to simply open your eyes in the morning and look around you. Everything seems to be falling apart. Huge deficits, world terrorism, train, ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 22:20-21, Revelation 22:20-21

Tags: Second Coming, Knowing Christ

Denomination: Lutheran

Story Of Anne

Contributed by David Selleck on Oct 26, 2006

Story of Anne. Anne Lamott, a fellow messy Christian describes perfectly what happens when Jesus pursues us. In her book Traveling Mercies, Anne recounts her conversion to Jesus. Things were not going well in her life: addicted to cocaine and alcohol, involved in an affair that produced a child ...read more

Denomination: Methodist

A Shipwreck Motivates Success

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 21, 2011

A SHIPWRECK MOTIVATES SUCCESS In 1845 Royal Navy Rear Admiral Sir John Franklin and 138 specially chosen officers and men left England to find the Northwest Passage. They sailed in two three-masted ships with the daunting names the Erebus (the dark place, according to Greek mythology, through ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 19:21, Proverbs 4:1-25, Proverbs 4:1-27

Tags: Wisdom

The Oak Island Treasure

Contributed by Roshelle Deas Roberson on Jan 30, 2012

THE OAK ISLAND TREASURE Oak Island is a tiny island off the coast of Nova Scotia in eastern Canada. One day in 1795 three teenage boys from the mainland rowed to the secluded area to see what they could find. They found something that changed their lives as well as the lives of many others. The ...read more

Tags: Sacrifices

Denomination: Pentecostal

[014] A Message From A Poem - Against The Christian

Contributed by Ron Ferguson on Jun 18, 2024

[014] A MESSAGE FROM A POEM - AGAINST THE CHRISTIAN The origin of this poem goes right back to a time of considerable difficulty when I was going through tough times and some people were very nasty. Christians do face real difficulties and you will have persecution and unfairness just because ...read more

Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:12, Hebrews 2:17, John 14:16-17

Tags: Persecution, Comfort, Difficulties, Trials, Suffer  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

[020] A Message From A Poem - Arrogance Without Truth

Contributed by Ron Ferguson on Jun 26, 2024

[020] A MESSAGE FROM A POEM - ARROGANCE WITHOUT TRUTH Those of us who are older know very well the great change that has come over our societies from what we lived under in the 1950s to the 1990s at which point it all started to decline. The decline is rapid now as we see lawlessness, riots, ...read more

Scripture: 2 Peter 2:17-18, 2 Timothy 3:1-2

Tags: Truth, Arrogance, The Me Generation

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

[139]. A Message From A Poem – If Your Life Belongs To Jesus

Contributed by Ron Ferguson on Jul 22, 2025

[139]. A MESSAGE FROM A POEM – IF YOUR LIFE BELONGS TO JESUS In June 2020 I found a poem of mine that I began some time in the past and had forgotten about. It was unfinished for 9 years. I then checked the date and it said 29 May 2011. It was in June 2020 that I wanted to finish it. The ...read more

Scripture: John 16:33, John 1:10, Philippians 2:14-16

Tags: Do Not Fear, Stand For Jesus, Christian Poems, Belong To Jesus

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

[159]. A Message From A Poem – Good Seed In The Thorny Ground

Contributed by Ron Ferguson on Aug 9, 2025

[159]. A MESSAGE FROM A POEM – GOOD SEED IN THE THORNY GROUND This poem was written for a recent message in a series I am currently doing on the Parables of the Kingdom from Matthew 13. It relates to the third soil type in the parable known as The Sower, {{Matthew 13:22 “The one on whom seed ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 6:31-34, Ephesians 5:11, Matthew 13:22

Tags: Thorny Ground, Christian Poetry, Christian Poems, Choked, Riches, Priorities, Good Seed, Parable Of The Sower, Worries  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

[187]. A Message From A Poem – My Final Destination

Contributed by Ron Ferguson on Sep 5, 2025

[187]. A MESSAGE FROM A POEM – MY FINAL DESTINATION What is your final destination? “Well,” say some, “death is the end of it all. There is nothing after death. Evolution placed us here and will see our end recycled.” Those who deny an eternal spirit in man just ignore the bible’s message – ...read more

Scripture: John 3:14-15, John 12:32, Ephesians 4:30, Ephesians 2:8-9, Hebrews 9:27, Psalm 1:6  (view more)  (view less)

Tags: Glory In Heaven, Christian Poems, Heaven, Journey, Destination, Final, Seal  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

[220]. A Message From A Poem - Praise The Lord Who’s Worth It

Contributed by Ron Ferguson on Oct 5, 2025

[220]. A MESSAGE FROM A POEM - PRAISE THE LORD WHO’S WORTH IT This poem is another attempt at a song. What is in my head I can not share with you, as I can’t write the music and harmony. I can do the lyrics but not the music. The last poem I submitted called “Praise God! Praise God!” ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 69:30-31, Psalm 22:3

Tags: Praise, Praise The Lord, Praise To God, Christian Poems, A Christian Song  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

A Little Girl's Prayer  PRO

Contributed by Tim Zingale on Oct 15, 2001

A LITTLE GIRL’S PRAYER One night I had worked hard to help a mother in the labor ward; but in spite of all we could do she died, leaving us with a tiny premature baby and a crying two-year-old daughter. We would have difficulty keeping the baby alive, as we had no incubator (we had no electricity ...read more

Scripture: James 5:17, Hosea 6:2

Tags: Faith, Prayer General, Prayer Answered, Prayer

Denomination: Lutheran

May 5, 2004 "You Can Walk Boy!" John 16: 19-24 ...  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 4, 2004

May 5, 2004 “You Can Walk Boy!” John 16: 19-24 Key verse(s): 21 “‘A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.’” Why do Christians have to suffer? If I had ...read more

Scripture: Romans 5:1-11

Tags: Hardship Of Life

Bearish Schedule--Bullish Timing!" Galatians 5: ...  PRO

Contributed by Mark Brunner on Oct 4, 2004

“Bearish Schedule--Bullish Timing!” Galatians 5: 22-24 Key verse(s): 22: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Part of the fun of living are those times and events in our lives that happen spontaneously; that ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 5:22-24

Tags: Dealing With Conflicts

Denomination: Lutheran

I Wish I Had Torn It To Pieces  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

“I WISH I HAD TORN IT TO PIECES” On December 26, 2002, Jack Whittaker’s life changed forever Jack had grown up in West Virginia and he knew that it was like to be poor. At the age of 55 all of that had changed. It had changed with a lot of hard work and perseverance. He had managed to scrape ...read more

Tags: Parable Prodigal Son

The Box ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2010

The Box Boy My third job as a teenager (the one right before I went into the Air Force), was as a box boy for McCoy’s Markets, in hyderabad, andhra predesh. One of the other box boys was named David, and I remember him well. We nodded and said "Hi" to each other, as guys do, and that was pretty ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Tags: Security

Afghan Spiritual Harvest

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 16, 2011

AFGHAN SPIRITUAL HARVEST In his book What Good Is God?, Philip Yancey writes: "This is a true story from Afghanistan that took place in the early 1970s, before the Russian occupation or the Taliban regime. At the time, the government allowed a small Christian church to service internationals who ...read more

Scripture: Mark 13:9-11, Mark 19:1-20

Tags: Evangelism Fear Of

Al Was My Father-In-Law. He Was An Uncomplicated ...

Contributed by Josh Hunt on Feb 7, 2012

Al was my father-in-law. He was an uncomplicated man, easy to like. He was a natural athlete and avid outdoorsman who loved to hunt and fish. When he had a daughter (his first grandchild; my wife has no siblings) we didn’t realize how excited Al was about the prospect of taking her to the Great ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Tags: Evangelism, Love, Parents, Aging, Christian Love, Evangelism Urgency  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Baptist

I Sure Do Miss St. Sanity

Contributed by James Snyder on Aug 17, 2019

The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage and me recently celebrated our 48th wedding anniversary. It sure does not seem we have been married that long. I guess, as you get older, according to my grandmother, time goes faster. If that is true, I must be getting older. We met in September, became ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 5:6

Tags: Politics, Humor, Sanity

Denomination: Christian Missionary Alliance