In Sermon Illustrations: "Faith Vs Works"

My Daddy Is Here!  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 6, 2010

MY DADDY IS HERE! David Elkind, a psychologist, tells the story of visiting his middle son's nursery school class, at the request of his teacher. She wanted him to observe a "problem child" in the class. While he was there, he caught a conversation between his son and some other boys. There ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 6:1-4

Tags: Father's Day

Stolen Art  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 16, 2011

STOLEN ART I was surprised to learn that if you had a museum that contained the world’s stolen art, it would be one of the biggest in the world. It would contain 174 Rembrandt’s, 43 Van Gogh’s, over 500 Picassos, and works by Renoir and da Vinci. You may remember that a few years back someone ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 9:23

Tags: Surrender, Jesus Christ, Right, Caesar, Render, Don't Give Up  (view more)  (view less)

Pain Passes, But Beauty Remains  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 26, 2011

PAIN PASSES, BUT BEAUTY REMAINS Pierre Auguste Renoir is a famous French artist who lived in the late 19th century to the early 20th century. He was known for his paintings, mostly depicting family life. But there was one disease that tormented this gifted artist -- he had arthritis that plagued ...read more

Scripture: Romans 5:1-5

Tags: Suffering Joy In

Something Beautiful

Contributed by Barry Edmondson on Feb 5, 2011

SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL In 1502, in Florence, Italy there was a large block of marble given to a church in Santa Maria, the church immediately hired who they thought was a professional to sculpt this enormously huge piece of rock. The man was a professional and soon after commencing this great task ...read more

Tags: God Brings Purpose

Denomination: Pentecostal

Mothering Sunday

Contributed by Egerton Gbonda on Apr 2, 2011

MOTHERING SUNDAY The history of Mothering Sunday is interesting. Some say it is difficult to be definitive about how it all began. The following are some of the theories advanced about the history of this all important day: It may have started from a Roman Spring festival- a time in which the ...read more

Tags: Mother's Day

Denomination: Episcopal/Anglican

God Picks The Unlovable Ones

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 15, 2011

GOD PICKS THE UNLOVABLE ONES Anne Lamott described a time when a fellow church member told about adopting her son through an organization called A.S.K. -- Adopt Special Kids. Part of the adoption process included filling out a questionnaire checking "yes" or "no" for one's willingness to adopt ...read more

Scripture: John 4:1-42

Tags: Adoption

Reactions Can Be Worse Than Actions  PRO

Contributed by Larry Wilson on Sep 12, 2011

REACTIONS CAN BE WORSE THAN ACTIONS While in seminary, I worked at a local Christian radio station. Part of my duties was to take hourly meter readings from the transmitter and place them on a log sheet that was subject to FCC review. The building featured indoor/outdoor green carpet, and the day ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 20:1-16

Tags: Action

Denomination: Baptist

Smelly Collections

Contributed by Ed Vasicek on Nov 28, 2011

SMELLY COLLECTIONS He may dress like a skid-row bum and smell like a dead rat, but Andy Smulian is a hit among London businessmen plagued by those who won't pay their bills. Employed by the London-Manhattan Debt Collection Agency, the 20-years-old youth will stumble into a deadbeat's office for ...read more

Tags: Evangelism The Lost

Denomination: Independent/Bible

We Should Be Striving On A Daily Basis To Worship ...

Contributed by Mark Thometz on Aug 27, 2012

We should be striving on a daily basis to worship God in new, loving and exciting ways. It's very easy to become comfortable in our worship. We have that thing on Sunday and sometimes Wednesday and we may even dust off our Bible every now and then to read it. What about feeding the hungry as ...read more

Tags: Evangelism How To

Denomination: Christian Church

Timanthes And The Do-Over

Contributed by Gordon Curley on Jan 5, 2013

TIMANTHES AND THE DO-OVER Over 2,000 years ago a young Greek artist named Timanthes (Tim-an-thes) painted this picture - The Sacrifice of Iphigenia. Before he painted this masterpiece when the artist Timanthes (Tim-an-thes) was a young man, he studied under a well-known and highly respected tutor. ...read more

Tags: Learning

Denomination: Brethren

On Shepherds  PRO

Contributed by Tim Smith on May 11, 2014

What do we know about the shepherd's life? It's a full time commitment. Sheep are helpless to defend themselves against attack from their natural enemies: lions, bears, wolves, hyenas and foxes which can come in both the day and night so there is never a moment a shepherd can relax. Sheep must be ...read more

Scripture: Luke 15:1-10

Tags: Shepherd, Shepherd's Life

Denomination: Methodist

Trials

Contributed by Tim Smith on May 28, 2015

Sam Dixon was the General Secretary of the United Methodist Committee on Relief. He died under the rubble in the Montana Hotel of Haiti, serving God while meeting with other relief agencies to work together to better help the Haitian people. When one serves God so faithfully and suddenly is killed, ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 7:13-16

Tags: God's Sovereignty, Serving, Choices, The Price To Follow

Denomination: Methodist

When Good Intentions Go Wrong

Contributed by Jeremiah Menyongai on Mar 15, 2016

Illustration 2: In Tanzania, two guys went for an interview. One was smarter than the other but they were good friends and willing to work together so the less smarter could pass. The educated one said if he went first, he would come back with the answers to the interview questions. It happens that ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 26:1-33

Tags: Examine, Follower, Repeat, Mess, Ignorant, Stupid, Independent, Intention, Dull, Dummy, Ax, Evaluate, Test  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Charismatic

A Lesson In Hope

Contributed by Thomas Clawser on Apr 1, 2017

They still tell the story at William and Mary College of daffy, magnificent President Ewell. For a century and a half, this prestigious Virginia school had been a leader among American universities. Then came the Civil War. In the hard days of reconstruction that followed, William and Mary went ...read more

Scripture: John 11:38-44

Tags: Hope, New Life, Lent

Denomination: Other

Cast Your Net On The Right Side

Contributed by Herb Pulse on Jun 28, 2017

I come from a fishing family. When I became old enough to walk, I became old enough to experience the wonderful world of fishing. One of things I particularly love is throwing a shad net. Often times it becomes very draining work, and at the tender age of 12 I became the primary go-to-guy for ...read more

Scripture: John 21:6

Tags: Jesus, Net, Cast

Denomination: Christian Church

Ten Years Of Fact Checking

Contributed by Jim Butcher on Apr 11, 2018

It’s an old stereotype that politicians are likely to “massage the truth” a little bit. That’s probably as generous as that can be said. With that in mind, I was intrigued recently when PolitiFact celebrated their tenth anniversary. PolitiFact is a non-partisan, independent organization that ...read more

Tags: Bible, Truth

Denomination: Baptist

Louis Braille And The Will Of God

Contributed by Garris Hudson on Oct 15, 2019

I do not know if Louis Braille was a believer, but his life is an example of a sovereign God causing all things to work together for good - In the French Academy of Science there is a rather plain, old shoemaker's awl on display. The story behind the awl is quite extraordinary. To look at it, ...read more

Scripture: Romans 8:28

Tags: Miracles, Testimony, Will Of God

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Do You Want To Play Beethoven's Piano?

Contributed by Garris Hudson on Aug 5, 2023

J Vernon McGee offers the following illustration of humility of mind and adds a practical application. The story is told of a group of people who went in to see Beethoven’s home in Germany. After the tour guide had showed them Beethoven’s piano and had finished his lecture, he asked if any of them ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 4:1-11, Philippians 2:1-11

Tags: Humility, Spiritual Gifts, Position, Servants, Lowliness Of Mind, Service, Honor  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Never Satisfied, More!

Contributed by Wade Martin Hughes, Sr on Feb 23, 2024

REMEMBER THE STORY ABOUT THE DOG AND HIS BONE? There was a real smart dog that had searched and searched for just the right bone. After several hours the dog found a real big wonderful bone. He picked the good bone up and started home with his prized bone. On the way home the dog had to pass over a ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4:18

Tags: Comparison, Satisfied

Denomination: Assembly Of God

Spiritual Zombies

Contributed by John Bright on Feb 2, 2025

Ephesians 2:1-3 “2 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 2:1-5

Tags: Born Again, Zombies, Spiritually Dead

Denomination: Methodist