In Sermon Illustrations: "Facts"

Harland Sanders: Story Of Hope

Contributed by Gerald Steffy on Aug 28, 2009

HARLAND SANDERS: STORY OF HOPE Here’s a man sitting on his porch in Kentucky. He’s only recently retired from the post office, and he’s sitting there when his first Social Security check is delivered. He’s very, very discouraged. He thinks to himself, Is this what life is going to be from now ...read more

Tags: Disappointment

Denomination: Baptist

If It's Not True...  PRO

Contributed by Bishop Johnathan Hester on Sep 10, 2009

IF IT'S NOT TRUE... The fact is, if Jesus Christ died on the cross and did not rise again from the dead, everything we live for and believe as Christians means absolutely nothing, Ill. 1 Cor. 15:12-20. 1. v.13 Christ Is Not Risen a. He died in vain, Rom. 4:24; 5:10 b. He lied, Mt. 16:21; ...read more

Tags: Confidence

Denomination: Apostolic

Losers Weepers

Contributed by Sermon Central on Oct 18, 2009

LOSERS WEEPERS A widow, shortly after her husband’s death, was going through his papers. She found a couple of old certificates, yellowed with age and crumbling into dust. They had been made out to her husband more than fifty years ago, and seemed to be some kind of promissory notes. Some sort of ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 13:45-46

Tags: Ignorance

Joy And Prayer In Suffering  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Oct 26, 2009

JOY AND PRAYER IN SUFFERING The fact that God chooses to love the unworthy should move us to loud praise frequently. Margaret Sangster Phippen wrote that in the mid-1950’s her father, British minister W.E. Sangster, began to notice some uneasiness in his throat and a dragging in his leg. When he ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 19:1-6, Genesis 32:22-31, Psalm 30:1-5, Philippians 3:10

Tags: Joy

Everybody Hates Chris: Right Day, Wrong Year

Contributed by Johnny Wilson on Nov 23, 2009

EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS: RIGHT DAY, WRONG YEAR Once there was a covenant with Noah, with Abram, with Moses, and with David, but now there is a NEW covenant written in the blood of Jesus. That promise, that contract, never expires. It is guaranteed by God's action, not our actions. The word often ...read more

Tags: Covenant

Denomination: *other

Losing A Child

Contributed by Sean Harder on Dec 4, 2009

When the parent loses a child they seek answers and beg to have things reversed, often rather than seeking God himself and his comfort. We are to try and look at things from His perspective, but most importantly we are to strengthen our faith in the fact that God uses all things for good, - for ...read more

Tags: Faith

Dare To Be Different

Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 7, 2009

DARE TO BE DIFFERENT A number of years ago I was traveling in the western part of North Carolina, near the town of Bryson City. I had not had my license very long and had been given specific instructions by my family members concerning the road that I would find once I left the main highway. I was ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 7:12-14

Tags: Holiness

The Difference Between Knowing About And ...

Contributed by K. Edward Skidmore on Dec 9, 2009

The difference between knowing about and knowing: I’ve read several books about Winston Churchill … but of course, I never met the man. I admire him and appreciate him, but can’t say that I know him in the way that I know my own father. The difference lies in the fact that I have been around my ...read more

Tags: Jesus Christ

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

A Lot Of Christians Have A Tendency To Think That ...

Contributed by K. Edward Skidmore on Dec 9, 2009

A lot of Christians have a tendency to think that --- even though it was God’s Grace and Mercy that saved us --- now that we are saved, it’s all up to us to get on with the business of struggling to “live the Christian life” on our own power. We rev up our own dedication, will power, grit, and ...read more

Tags: Growth In Christ

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Gullible Eve  PRO

Contributed by Ross Cochrane on Dec 14, 2009

GULLIBLE EVE My sister was a great story teller. She still is. She would tell a story so convincingly that I would believe it. A number of times her stories would trick me into giving her my pocket money, and at other times she would bring me to the edge of tears with a story that was just pure ...read more

Tags: Sin Fall Of Man

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

A Rainbow Is A Beautiful Picture Of Christ. Jesus ...

Contributed by Ross Cochrane on Jan 14, 2010

A RAINBOW IS A BEAUTIFUL PICTURE OF CHRIST. Jesus is called the light of the world. A rainbow has 3 primary colours, red, green and purple. RED SPEAKS OF THE BLOOD OF CHRIST - His sacrifice on the cross for me. Genesis 8:21 says "The intent of man's heart is evil from his youth;" Jesus paid the ...read more

Tags: Noah

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Size Of Congregation Doesn't Guarantee ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 1, 2010

Size of Congregation Doesn’t Guarantee Fruitfulness It is important to note that large crowds do not necessarily mean that a teacher has a fruitful ministry. He may have a “successful” ministry, in the sense that the world measures success: by buildings, budgets, and bodies. But a “successful” ...read more

Scripture: Jude 1:12-13

Tags: Fruit Of The Spirit

World Cup Community

Contributed by Andrew Chan on Jun 28, 2010

WORLD CUP COMMUNITY I am convinced that the greatest need of our time is genuine community. For instance, I see it oozing out in the World Cup of soccer. I am seeing people spending money buying vuvuzuelas--you know, those plastic ugly-sounding horns which sound like bees buzzing--and blowing ...read more

Tags: Culture

Denomination: Evangelical Free

He Lay In A Bed Seat, Slightly Twisted And ...

Contributed by Ross Cochrane on Aug 12, 2010

He lay in a bed seat, slightly twisted and looking at me with one eye half open. I was finishing a small Bible study devotional with a group of aged people on a passage from the book of Job in the Bible, telling them that God loves them and still has a purpose for their lives, to look UPWARD NOT ...read more

Tags: Lies

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Memorizing Vs. Applying Scripture

Contributed by Sermon Central on Oct 23, 2010

MEMORIZING VS. APPLYING SCRIPTURE Dave Veerman, Campus Life, Wheaton, IL, related this story: A while ago our family began to memorize Scripture, one verse a week. Because my daughters were ages ten and six, I thought this was about the right speed. We keep the verses on cards in the middle of ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 119:11, James 1:22

Tags: Bible Influence

Gladstone: Risk For The Greater Victory  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Oct 27, 2010

GLADSTONE: RISK FOR THE GREATER VICTORY WILLIAM GLADSTONE, a prime minister of England in the nineteenth century, one night was working late on an important speech he was to give to the House of Commons the next day. At about two o'clock in the morning a woman knocked on his door, asking the ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 2:3-5

Tags: Christian Love

70 Funerals In One Day

Contributed by Gregg Bitter on Nov 24, 2010

70 FUNERALS IN ONE DAY During a forty-year ministry, I would guess that many pastors do seventy or more burials. But this wasn't over the full span of his ministry. In fact, it wasn't even a full year. In one day, Pastor Rinkart did burial rites for up to seventy people and did the same the next ...read more

Tags: Suffering Joy In

Denomination: Lutheran

Be Not Terrified By Adversity

Contributed by Rodelio Mallari on Dec 31, 2010

BE NOT TERRIFIED BY ADVERSITY One of the most treasured pieces in the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont, is a rug bearing the Latin inscription Nec Aspera Terrent (Be Not Terrified by Adversity). It always has had special meaning for Baroness Maria von Trapp and her children—the famous Trapp ...read more

Tags: Hardship Of Life

Denomination: *other

Winner And Loser

Contributed by Daniel Haas on Jan 5, 2011

WINNER AND LOSER In 1958, a New York City father named Robert Lane decided to call his baby son Winner. The Lanes, who lived in a housing project in Harlem, already had several children, each with a fairly typical name. But this boy—well, Robert Lane apparently had a special feeling about him. ...read more

Tags: Children

Denomination: Congregational

Furtick On Audacious Faith

Contributed by Curry Pikkaart on Feb 18, 2011

FURTICK ON AUDACIOUS FAITH "We set a goal of reaching over one thousand people in our first year of ministry. Since the average church size in America is fewer than one hundred and twenty, and the first rule of goal setting is attainability, I guess we were overshooting it a bit. But we wanted to ...read more

Tags: Faith General

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed