In Sermon Illustrations: "Effectual Calling"

These Are Actual Answering Machine Answers ...

Contributed by Terry Blankenship on Apr 4, 2007

These are actual answering machine answers recorded and verified by the world-famous International Institute of Answering Machine Answers *Hello, you are talking to a machine. I am capable of receiving messages. My owners do not need siding, windows, or a hot tub, and their carpets are clean. They ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Get On With It, You Old Goat

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 28, 2009

"GET ON WITH IT, YOU OLD GOAT." I heard the story about a college choir which was all set to present a concert in a large church which was to be carried live by a local radio station. When everything appeared to be ready, the announcer made his final introduction and waited for the choir director ...read more

Scripture: James 1:22-24

Tags: Action

In Fact The Idea Of Speaking Out When Confronted ...

Contributed by Michael Carbaugh on May 5, 2009

In fact the idea of speaking out when confronted with something wrong was the chief proponent behind an education development in the Reagan administration. It’s roots go back to the 1970’s where a University of Houston Social Psychology professor begin working on a model to help students resist ...read more

Tags: Worldliness

Denomination: Baptist

Lighthouse Laws

Contributed by Doyle Hayes on Jul 7, 2009

LIGHTHOUSE LAWS In U.S. Navel Institute Proceedings, the magazine of the Naval Institute, Frank Koch illustrates the importance of obeying the Laws of the Lighthouse. Two battleships assigned to the training squadron had been at sea on maneuvers in heavy weather for several days. I was serving on ...read more

Tags: Authority

Denomination: Baptist

Leaving A Message For ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 13, 2009

LEAVING A MESSAGE FOR GOD In March 2009, Dutch artist Johan van der Dong decided God needed a telephone number. So, he got him one, a cell phone number to be exact--to show that God was "available anywhere and anytime." In an interview, Dong said, "In earlier times you would go to a church to say ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 15:29

Tags: Prayer, Prayer General

The Cost Of ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Oct 16, 2009

The Cost of Salvation Several years ago, there was 14 year-old girl (Laura Montero) whose appendix burst while she and her family vacationed on a cruise ship off the Baja Coast. The ship was hundreds of miles from help, and the crew sent out a distress call looking for the nearest surgical ...read more

Scripture: John 3:16

Tags: Salvation, Gift Of Salvation

Rights Vs. Responsibilities, Owners Vs. ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Nov 8, 2009

Rights vs. Responsibilities, Owners vs. Stewards While scouting locations for a popular TV series, an advance team came upon the perfect site for an action scene—an impressive house with a beautiful, large, lush, green lawn. The script called for the cars to be spinning out of control and crashing ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 25:14-30

Tags: Stewardship

A Spiritual Rhythm

Contributed by Mark Eberly on Nov 16, 2009

A SPIRITUAL RHYTHM Developing a rhythm in your spiritual life means organizing your life around times of stopping to remember God. What is important is not the length of time but that you regularly stop to refocus on God. It could be five minutes or forty minutes. It could be your break time. ...read more

Tags: Disciplines General

Denomination: Church Of God

How Not To Get Out Of ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 11, 2009

How Not To Get Out of Problems When the preacher’s car broke down on a country road, he walked to a nearby roadhouse to use the phone. After calling for a tow truck, he spotted his old friend, Frank, drunk and shabbily dressed at the bar. "What happened to you, Frank?" asked the good reverend. "You ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 6:24

Tags: Money

Flying A Plane ...

Contributed by Paul Carlson on Jan 25, 2010

FLYING A PLANE DOWN Robert and his pilot friend Wesley went for a flying trip from Indianapolis to Muncie, Indiana, in June 1998. During the flight, his pilot had a heart attack and slumped over the controls. He was dead. The Cessna 172 single-engine plane began to nosedive and Robert grabbed the ...read more

Tags: Blessing

Denomination: Baptist

The Durability Test

Contributed by Antonio Silveira on Jan 8, 2011

THE DURABILITY TEST Endurance is a quality that God expects us to manifest. If you go to an IKEA store, you will find somewhere in the chair department a glass box with what is called the durability test. They have a mechanism that simulates someone sitting on the chair, and they say the chair was ...read more

Tags: Perseverance, Endurance, Struggles, Trial

Denomination: Baptist

Walgreen: A Second-Mile Man

Contributed by Sermon Central on Mar 21, 2011

WALGREEN: A SECOND-MILE MAN Second-mile people always excel. Around 1920 a pharmacist bought a drug store on the south side of Chicago. Soon, he was bored with his job and began to dream how he could make it more exciting. It was during a time when people were just beginning to call in their ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 6:5-9

Tags: Workplace Success

He's No Longer In The Grave  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 15, 2011

HE'S NO LONGER IN THE GRAVE In 1887, twenty two years after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, his coffin was dug up and opened because there were constant rumors that his body was not in the grave. So they dug it up and the body was there. The rumors continued so 14 years later they ...read more

Scripture: John 20:1-20

Tags: Jesus Lives, Easter Resurrection

I Want To Go Home

Contributed by Johnny A. Palmer Jr. on Dec 11, 2011

I WANT TO GO HOME Fred Smith, an influential Christian businessman was seriously ill in the summer of 2004. He was hospitalized, semiconscious, and not expected to live. Periodically he would mutter, "I want to go home, I want to go home." After an emotional family conference, the family ...read more

Tags: Death

Denomination: Baptist

Return To The Right Path

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 8, 2012

RETURN TO THE RIGHT PATH In one section of John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, Christian and Hopeful are walking the King's Highway to the Celestial City. The path, once smooth and easy, becomes rough and hard. Then they come to an attractive place called Bypath Meadow. They climb over a fence into ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 4:20-28

Tags: Doubt

Michael Jordan: Persevere

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 17, 2012

MICHAEL JORDAN: PERSEVERE In the fall of 1978, fifteen-year-old Michael Jordan tried out for the varsity basketball team at Emsley A. Laney High School in Wilmington, North Carolina. The sophomore was 5 feet 11 inches and with his skills, the coach told him that he was not good enough, and Michael ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-12

Tags: Endurance

What's Wrong With Slandering Someone?

Contributed by Rev. Matthew Parker on Aug 29, 2014

I was speaking with someone this past week who has spent a great deal of his life travelling around the world, much of it for a mission agency. He spoke of a time when he visited an extremely remote, forested part of India where people live very primitively. He stayed there for a while. This fellow ...read more

Scripture: 2 Peter 1:5-7, 2 Peter 1:5

Tags: Godly Character, Transparency

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Jack Hyles- Back In World War Ii, I Was A Pa...

Contributed by Davon Huss on Oct 19, 2015

Jack Hyles- Back in World War II, I was a paratrooper. I used to jump out of airplanes. We jumped out of airplanes called C-47’s. After the war was over, I got on a plane, and they said, "Welcome aboard Delta Airlines DC-3 plane." I felt at home on that plane. We got up in the air, and I asked ...read more

Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 1:9

Tags: Conversion, Turning Point, Turning To God, Turning

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

There Was A College Girl Who Wrote This Letter ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

There was a college girl who wrote this letter to her Dad: Dear Dad, Sorry I haven’t written sooner. My arm really has been broken. I broke it, and my left leg, when I jumped from the second floor of my dormitory . . . when we had the fire. We were lucky. A young service station attendant saw the ...read more

Tags: Joy

The Basics

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

Charles Spurgeon, “A man’s life is always more forcible than his speech. When men take stock of him they reckon his deeds as dollars and his words as pennies. If his life and doctrine disagree the mass of onlookers accept his practice and reject his preaching.” Will Rogers, “Live in such a way ...read more

Tags: Faith