In Sermon Illustrations: "Design"

Edison Couldn't Make Life

Contributed by Josh Hunt on Mar 15, 2012

EDISON COULDN'T MAKE LIFE Are you extremely proud of your lifetime accomplishments? It was on November 21 of 1877 that Thomas Edison announced to the world that he had invented the phonograph. Edison's accomplishments are often forgotten. In his Menlo Park, New Jersey fix-it shop he designed the ...read more

Scripture: Jeremiah 9:23-24

Tags: Pride

Denomination: Baptist

Light Of The ...

Contributed by Gordon Weatherby on May 2, 2013

LIGHT OF THE WORLD Jesus stated that we are to be the "Light of the World", and that a city set on a hill cannot be hidden. In the Canadian province of New Brunswick there is a church building on Deer Island that for many years has served as a physical light house to the fishermen of that ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 5:14-15

Tags: Witness, Light, Influence, Lighthouse, Christian Witness  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

No Tents In Heaven!

Contributed by Dr. David Hallum on Jun 24, 2016

I am not a camper. I spent one miserable weekend as a kid in an old, smelly canvas tent. It was designed to sleep 10, but 2 adults and 2 kids kicked, punched and threw sand all over one another all night. And that was while we were asleep. As I said, it was a miserable weekend. When I became ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 9:1-7

Tags: Camp, Tabernacle

Denomination: Baptist

Get Back In The Game!

Contributed by John Bright on Mar 19, 2021

What if God started telling your church to do something we had never done before? How hard would you work against it - unwilling to change? There is an old saying – do you know what they put on the tombstone in front of a closed church? “WE NEVER DID IT THAT WAY BEFORE” If that’s the case, we ...read more

Scripture: Luke 5:12-26, Ephesians 4:11-12

Tags: Laity, Sports, Pastor, Basketball

Denomination: Methodist

The Story Is Told Of A Terrible Traffic Accident. ...  PRO

Contributed by Gene Gregory on Jul 24, 2007

The story is told of a terrible traffic accident. Police officers were called to the scene and when they arrived they found a husband, wife, and 2 children lying unconscious in the car. They pulled them from the car, and as they waited for the paramedics to arrive they noticed a monkey in the car ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 14:12

Tags: Excuses

Denomination: Baptist

Scientists Were Studying The Impact Of A ...

Contributed by Dennis Selfridge on Sep 5, 2008

Scientists were studying the impact of a high-cholesterol diet on heart disease. To measure this effect, they fed a group of genetically similar rabbits the same high-cholesterol diet. To their amazement, half the rabbits developed heart troubles, while the others were normal, with no noticeable ...read more

Tags: Unconditional Love

Denomination: Wesleyan

Jack Canfield Tells About A Young High School ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 31, 2008

Jack Canfield tells about a young high school student whose father was a horse trainer. Because the family had to follow the horse-racing season, the young boy had to change schools throughout the year. During his senior year he was asked to write a paper about what his dreams for the future were. ...read more

Tags: Christian Values

Slow And Steady

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 26, 2022

The power of the Holy Spirit is not just for salvation, but for sanctification, a process that is slow and gradual. The difference might look like this: You can take ten gallons of gasoline and release a tremendous amount of power and energy by just dropping a lighted match into it. It makes a ...read more

Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 1:7-8

Tags: Holy Spirit, Energy, Fuel

Sins Are Habits  PRO

Contributed by John Sattler on Feb 18, 2013

SINS ARE HABITS I’m reading a book right now called "The Power of Habit" (http://charlesduhigg.com/the-power-of-habit/) about how so much of our daily life is lived by habit. We have to. Our brain needs habits in order for us to be able to function. Just about everything we do is habitual. How ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 4:28, Romans 12:2

Tags: Temptation General

Denomination: Lutheran

There’s Another Beautiful Picture Of ...  PRO

Contributed by Edward Frey on Jul 18, 2001

There’s another beautiful picture of baptism given here: “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” Did you catch it? Baptism clothes us with Christ. We’re wrapped up in Jesus and all of his goodness in baptism. We’re clothed with his work and his ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 3:13-17, Galatians 3:27, Luke 1:39-56

Tags: Call Of The Disciples, Baptism, Church Practices, Come, Cross, Follow, Disciples  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Lutheran

Beyond Redemption?  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 14, 2002

BEYOND REDEMPTION? There are about 600 inmates who await execution in the state of California. A dozen of these are women. All of them have committed heinous crimes. But that doesn’t stop Ann Baker, a grandmother from San Diego, from treating the inmates like she believes Jesus would ...read more

Tags: Compassion, Christian Love

Atheists Decry 9/11 Cross Memorial  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 25, 2002

ATHEISTS DECRY ’9/11 CROSS’ MEMORIAL A campaign to incorporate Ground Zero’s "miracle debris" steel cross into the design of a planned permanent memorial has been targeted by atheists who say it would be "unconstitutional, inappropriate and insulting." According to "The New York Daily News," ...read more

Tags: Apologetics Jesus

The First Christmas Card  PRO

Contributed by Rodney Buchanan on Dec 15, 2002

THE FIRST CHRISTMAS CARD The first Christmas card ever produced had its own disturbing qualitites. It was designed by an English artist named John Calcott Horsley in 1843, after he was commissioned for the task by Sir Henry Cole, a businessman from Bath, England. There were 1,000 of the ...read more

Tags: Jesus Life, Birth Of Jesus, Christmas

Denomination: Methodist

At The Royal Palace Of Tehran In Iran, You Can ...  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 9, 2003

At the Royal Palace of Tehran in Iran, you can see one of the most beautiful mosaic works in the world. The ceilings and walls flash like diamonds in multifaceted reflections. Originally when the palace was designed, the architect specified huge sheets of mirrors be placed on the walls. When the ...read more

Tags: God In The Hardships

Opening Illustration With Marshmallows: Invite ...  PRO

Contributed by Bill Sullivan on Aug 12, 2004

Opening illustration with marshmallows: invite three or four from congregation who really like marshmallows - give each one a marshmallow. Ask them to hold it, wait until you’ve walked all the way around the auditorium. If they can wait until you’ve walked all the way around the auditorium, ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 3:1-19

Tags: Temptation General, Temptation Resisting

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Did You Know That Some Of The Best Business ...  PRO

Contributed by Joe Fornear on Sep 2, 2004

-Did you know that some of the best business minds in the country are working really hard to get you and your sons hooked on pornography. Some have called it - The Mainstreaming of Pornography – 60 Minutes did a story on this last Sunday night. Consider these facts: *Sales of sexual films in hotel ...read more

Tags: Temptation Sex, Pornography

Denomination: Independent/Bible

Revelation And Ovaltine

Contributed by Johnny Wilson on Jun 27, 2009

REVELATION AND OVALTINE The word often translated "revelation" or as I translated it, "unveiling," could also be understood as "decoding." Ever heard of those Ovaltine Decoder Rings in the '40s? Ovaltine drink advertisements used to have a coded message on them (as did some of the Ovaltine radio ...read more

Tags: Holy Spirit In Believers

Denomination: *other

Knowing Oneself Is Important For ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Oct 26, 2009

Knowing Oneself is Important for Leadership Mort Meyerson became the CEO of Perot Systems, a computer services company. Within six months, he realized that compared to other companies he had known as CEO, everything was different at this one. It wasn’t just the technology, market, and customers, ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 28:2

Tags: Leadership General

Peer Pressure In The ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 9, 2010

Peer Pressure in the Classroom A few years ago psychologist Ruth W. Berenda and her associates carried out an interesting experiment with teenagers designed to show how a person handled group pressure. The plan was simple. They brought groups of ten adolescents into a room for a test. Subsequently, ...read more

Scripture: Romans 12:2

Tags: Youth

Don't Worry Be ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 8, 2012

DON’T WORRY BE HAPPY The song Don’t Worry Be Happy was a late 80’s chart buster as it gained phenomenal success for such a simple song. The lyrics written by Bobby McFerrin were copied from original Indian sage from the late 1800’s whose mantra was one of peace. I remember the first time I heard ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 6:25-34

Tags: Worry