In Sermon Illustrations: "Family Days"

The Nobel Story

Contributed by Sermon Central on Mar 17, 2009

THE NOBEL STORY In 1866, Alfred Nobel invented dynamite and built up companies and laboratories in more than 20 countries all over the world. In the process, he amassed a considerable fortune. When Nobel’s brother died, the newspaper made a mistake and ran an obituary for Alfred Nobel. In the ...read more

Tags: Character

Abundant Life  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 7, 2009

ABUNDANT LIFE In December 1990, the threat of war with Iraq was looming. Many reserves and National Guard troops were mobilized. There were some homes where father and mother were both deployed. Recognizing this situation (that both father and mother would be gone overseas), a civic organization ...read more

Scripture: John 10:10

Tags: Joy

What A Friend We Have In Jesus

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 7, 2009

WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS I want to close this message by singing a great hymn of prayer and faith. "What a Friend We Have in Jesus." This hymn was written by Joseph Scriven who lived from 1819 to 1886. Joseph Scriven had wealth, education, a devoted family, and a pleasant life in his native ...read more

Tags: God In The Hardships

Punished For Helping

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 10, 2009

PUNISHED FOR HELPING Thu Feb 26, AP/ DENVER -- A good Samaritan who helped push three people out of the path of a pickup truck before being struck and injured has gotten a strange reward for his good deed: A jaywalking ticket. Family members said 58-year-old bus driver Jim Moffett and another man ...read more

Scripture: John 15:18-27

Tags: Fail, Good, Intention, Hardship Of Life

Guidance In ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 14, 2009

GUIDANCE IN LIFE It makes a difference who your leader is! When we were kids going on summer vacation, I don’t ever remember my dad getting lost. -- But Eric Ritz writes: When I was a young boy, our family always vacationed together. It was my mother and father and five kids in an old Ford Falcon ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 1:1-33

Tags: Wisdom

Living Poor To Give More: Excelling In Giving

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 14, 2009

LIVING POOR TO GIVE MORE: EXCELLING IN GIVING The richest people in the world give a huge amount of money, yet their generosity is really a very small proportion of their wealth. And apparently the vast majority of Christ’s followers are not exactly excelling their giving either. So what does ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 8:7

Tags: Giving General

A Brother And A ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 14, 2009

A BROTHER AND A SINNER For more than 600 years, the Hapsburgs held great political power in Europe. When Franz-Josef I, the emperor of Austria, died in 1916, his was the last of the very extravagant imperial funerals. A processional of dignitaries and elegantly dressed members of the imperial ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 49:16-17

Tags: Humility

Discipleship Is Intentional Maintenance

Contributed by Bobby Scobey on Jul 22, 2009

DISCIPLESHIP IS INTENTIONAL MAINTENANCE Discipleship requires maintenance, which you find true in so many areas of life. Seventeen years ago we bought our present car. At the time I was working with the Rev. John Bomar on the American Family Asso. Committee. He noticed I had a new Volvo. They ...read more

Tags: Discipleship

Denomination: Pentecostal

The Teddy Bear Lady

Contributed by Davon Huss on Aug 11, 2009

THE TEDDY BEAR LADY Most of the people at Chicago’s Children’s Hospital did not know her name. They just knew her as the sweet elderly lady in the red suit who wanted to make sure that every sick child had a teddy bear to hug and caress. She kept bringing the stuffed animals, purchased with her ...read more

Tags: Giving General

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Chuck Smith Meets A New Brother In Christ—a ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Nov 23, 2009

Chuck Smith Meets a New Brother in Christ—A Tribal Chief in New Guinea Chuck Smith: I was over in New Guinea and I had this native chieftain come up to me. He had to speak to me through an interpreter. And he had these spears in his hand. He said, "I used these to kill men. But," he said, "now ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 2:3-6

Tags: Body Of Christ, Church Body Of Christ

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

The Witness Of Booth And Lee

Contributed by Ross Cochrane on Jul 15, 2010

THE WITNESS OF BOOTH AND LEE In the early years of her life she witnessed horrific events as members of her family were beheaded in conflicts in China. Although she was only a little girl, MI LEE (not her real name) was forced to watch and still hallucinates about these terrible and barbaric ...read more

Tags: Christian Witness

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Philip Yancey's Wife Shares The Suffering Of An ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 4, 2010

Philip Yancey’s Wife Shares the Suffering of an Elderly Man Philip Yancey- My wife worked with some of the poorest people in the city of Chicago, directing a program of a church that intentionally seeks out lonely and abandoned senior citizens no one else cares for. Many times I have seen her pour ...read more

Scripture: Romans 12:15

Tags: Compassion

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

God Delivers A North Korean Pastor's Son Through ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Oct 23, 2010

God Delivers A North Korean Pastor’s Son Through His Honesty Duk-Soo was found by North Korean soldiers in the family cellar on November 20, 1950. He and his father, a Presbyterian pastor for 42 years, were taken to prison and told they would be executed in the morning. His father told him they ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 28:18

Tags: Truth

The Stages Of Loss

Contributed by Rodelio Mallari on Nov 20, 2010

THE STAGES OF LOSS Several years ago a profound and dramatic research project began in Chicago's Billings Hospital. It was a seminar on death, in which psychiatists, chaplains, nurses, and medical doctors studied the ultimate human crisis of facing death. Basic findings is that the very ill ...read more

Tags: Death

Denomination: *other

Philippi And Ebay

Contributed by Ronnie Miller on Jul 30, 2011

PHILIPPI AND EBAY How would you rate your self as a Christian on a scale from 1 to 10? Better yet how would your family and friends rate you on the same scale? People see you and I on a different perspective than we do ourselves. For the people who have Internet, I’m sure have encountered eBay at ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 1:27-30

Tags: Witness, Christian, Christian Values

Denomination: Baptist

God's Forgiveness And The Jump Drive

Contributed by James Webster on Jan 14, 2012

GOD'S FORGIVENESS AND THE JUMP DRIVE Most of you know I keep most of my office work in the corner of the family room in the parsonage since we moved back. Most of my study I do early before anyone gets up. However, for the past couple of weeks I have been coming over to the church office early ...read more

Tags: Forgiveness General

Denomination: Nazarene

Just Didn't Work Right  PRO

Contributed by Rick Boyne on Aug 13, 2012

JUST DIDN'T WORK RIGHT My parents bought my 16 year old daughter her first car, a 1970 VW Beetle. While it was cute and a collector car, it wouldn’t run right. Even though it had been a gift from her grandparents, it cost as much in repairs as a new car would have cost in payments. While it had ...read more

Tags: Dealing With Conflicts

Denomination: Baptist

Circuit Riders

Contributed by Roy Fowler on Jun 19, 2020

In the early years, Circuit riders were most often lay preachers without formal education. They were young, poor, and, for the most part, single. Traveling thousands of miles a year. Though circuit riders eventually represented many different denominations but none were more aggressive or ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 9:35

Tags: Personal Sacrifice, Teaching And Preaching

Denomination: Independent/Bible