In Sermon Illustrations: "Do What It Says"

What Is Our Tradition?

Contributed by Perry Greene on May 20, 2013

WHAT IS OUR TRADITION? It is said that during a service at an old synagogue in Eastern Europe, when the Shema prayer was said, half the congregants stood up and half remained sitting. The half that was seated started yelling at those standing to sit down, and the ones standing yelled at the ones ...read more

Tags: Pentecost, Tradition

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Do You Know Him?

Contributed by Dale Pilgrim on Aug 1, 2009

DO YOU KNOW HIM? Do you know Jesus? I’m not asking if you know about Jesus. Some people know Jesus about as well as they know Stephen Harper (PM of Canada), Rick Warren (Pastor and best-selling author), Sara Palin (Governor of Alaska who ran for Vice President for Republican John McCain), or Carl ...read more

Tags: Salvation

Denomination: Salvation Army

Only A Full View Will Do  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 6, 2010

Only a Full View Will Do But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord [2Cor. 3:18]. I wish I had spent more time looking in the "mirror," beholding Him more. In the Word of God we ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 3:17-18

Tags: Jesus Christ

What Americans Believe

Contributed by Rodelio Mallari on Dec 31, 2010

WHAT AMERICANS BELIEVE Even those who claim to be Born Again are not necessarily firmly grounded in the truths of the Bible. In his book which provides a statistical analysis of religious beliefs in America, George Barna cites several fascinating statistics which are based on a national survey. ...read more

Tags: Satan

Denomination: *other

They Don't But You Do  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Sep 2, 2008

THEY DON’T BUT YOU DO Consider the story of Oswald Golter. After ten years service as a missionary in China, Oswald Golter was on His way home. His ship stopped in India, and while waiting for the connecting boat home he found a group of refugees living in a warehouse on the pier. They were ...read more

Scripture: Romans 9:1-5

Tags: Evangelism How To

What Defines You?  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 30, 2008

WHAT DEFINES YOU? Alex Gibney's documentary on the life of "Gonzo" Hunter S. Thompson suggests that Thompson, "who committed suicide in 2005, survives to some degree in the popular imagination because of his self-burnished reputation for excess." (A.O. Scott, "Beyond Fear and Loathing", The New ...read more

Tags: Action

All In Due Time, So She Says

Contributed by James Snyder on Oct 17, 2020

For several weeks, or has it been years, I’ve been waiting for an important package to come through the mail. I don’t know why they call it snail mail because I have seen snails crawl faster. With all our technology today, you would think that mail could come in on a particular schedule, and ...read more

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 3:1-2

Tags: Time, Humor, Patience

Denomination: Christian Missionary Alliance

Why Do You Ask?

Contributed by Gordon Curley on Nov 24, 2010

WHY DO YOU ASK? A vicar was walking along the road when a lady stopped him and this question. "Vicar" she asked. "What do you think about cremation?" Without hesitation the vicar replied, "You know the scriptural principle don't you?" "No" the lady replied. "You bury treasure but you burn ...read more

Tags: Death

Denomination: Brethren

Be Found Doing Your Duty  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Nov 27, 2009

BE FOUND DOING YOUR DUTY "Keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come"(Matt 24:42). A man named Col Davenport was speaker of the Connecticut house of representatives in the late 1700s. On May 19, 1780, the sky of Hartford darkened ominously, and some of the ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 24:42

Tags: Obedience

The Relationship Is What Counts  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 24, 2011

THE RELATIONSHIP IS WHAT COUNTS Wayne Cordeiro, a preacher in Honolulu, HI writes: Some time ago some wonderful people in our church gave Anna, my wife, and me a dinner certificate to a nice restaurant for $100. We thought, Wow, a hundred bucks. Let's go for it. We found a free evening. We ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 2:1-7

Tags: Basics Of Christianity

What Really Matters

Contributed by Ronnie Miller on Jul 28, 2011

WHAT REALLY MATTERS It was two weeks before Christmas and it began to start. Everyone was scrambling and rushing to get to Wal-Mart. Their credit cards were in the orange and checking account in the red in hopes that their rich uncle would soon be dead. Old Saint Nick sitting high on a mountain ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 9:6

Tags: Christmas, Season, Gift, Santa, Xmas, Clause  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Baptist

Do You Want To Quit?

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Jan 4, 2021

There was a story of a British soldier in the First World War who lost heart for the battle and deserted. Trying to reach the coast for a boat to England that night, he ended up wandering in the pitch black night, hopelessly lost. In the darkness he came across what he thought was a signpost. It ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-2, Colossians 3:1-4

Tags: Fear, Commitment, Endurance, Apostasy, Perserverance, Quitting  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

What Is That In Thine Hand?  PRO

Contributed by Ted Sutherland on Aug 19, 2001

Dr. Bob Jones Sr. told the story: I remember years ago I was holding a meeting in Ocean Grove, New Jersey. I was in that big amphitheater there that accommodates about ten thousand people. The people told me a story. They said a few nights before I was there they advertised in the paper that a man ...read more

Tags: Love Of The Disciples, Holy Spirit In Believers

Denomination: Baptist

What Really Matters  PRO

Contributed by Ronnie Miller on Jul 28, 2011

What Really Matters It was two weeks before Christmas and it began to start. Everyone was scrambling and rushing to get to Wal-Mart. Their credit cards were in the orange and checking account in the red in hopes that their rich uncle would soon be dead. Old Saint Nick sitting high on a mountain ...read more

Scripture: Luke 2:1-40

Tags: Christmas, Tree, Poem, Santa Claus

Denomination: Baptist

Occasionally I Meet Christians Who Say

Contributed by Ross Cochrane on Jan 8, 2010

Occasionally I meet Christians who say “God is telling me to go and do this or that” and then the next minute God seems to have changed His mind. I remember one guy who made God look like He didn’t know how to make up His mind at all! One day it was “God wants me to do this.” and the next day it ...read more

Tags: Words, Oath

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

A Flippant Youth Asked A Preacher, "You Say That ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

A flippant youth asked a preacher, “You say that unsaved people carry a weight of sin. I feel nothing. How heavy is sin? Is it ten pounds? Eighty pounds?” The preacher replied by asking the youth, “If you laid a 400-pound weight on a corpse, would it feel the load?” The youth replied, “It would ...read more

Tags: Cults

The Playlet Entitled ‘the Long Silence' Says It ...  PRO

Contributed by Steven Chapman on Feb 9, 2001

The playlet entitled ‘The Long Silence’ says it all: At the end of time, billions of people were scattered on a great plain before God’s throne. Most shrank back from the brilliant light before them. But some groups near the front talked heatedly – not with cringing shame, but with ...read more

Scripture: Amos 3:1-15

Tags: God's Judgment, Forgiveness In Jesus, Second Coming

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

What Is Great Learning?

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 21, 2012

WHAT IS GREAT LEARNING? Thomas Fuller was born in Africa about 1710. He was sold as a slave in Virginia in 1724. There is some disagreement about whether someone taught him to count to 100 or if he taught himself. He never had a day of formal education. He taught himself to figure in his head how ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:17-25

Tags: Learning

Do We Not Ask Because We Are Too Busy Doing Good? ...  PRO

Contributed by James Wilson on Nov 27, 2000

Do we not ask because we are too busy doing good? Billy Kim is the newly elected Baptist World Alliance President and the pastor of a 13,000 member church, the Suwon Church in South Korea. In his comments after his election, he ...read more

Tags: Prayer Persistence, Prayer General

Denomination: Baptist

Do Your Duty In All Things. You Cannot Do More. ...  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 12, 2007

Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more. You should ...read more

Tags: Discipleship