In Sermon Illustrations: "Few"

You Are My Favorite ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 10, 2009

YOU ARE MY FAVORITE PART Dave Stone wrote in "If Jesus Lived in My Neighborhood" about his uncle Greg, who is a quadriplegic. A few years ago, Uncle Greg was able to attend a special-needs camp at Country Lake Christian Retreat in southern Indiana. A man named John was assigned to be with Uncle ...read more

Tags: Servanthood

Spiritual Growth Takes Time  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 25, 2009

SPIRITUAL GROWTH TAKES TIME There was once a farmer who went to town to purchase seeds for his farm. As he was returning home one of the squash seeds he had purchased fell from his pocket onto the ground. It happened that within a few feet was another seed of a different type. The place where the ...read more

Scripture: Colossians 4:12-13

Tags: Spiritual Growth, Growth In Christ

No Hands But Yours

Contributed by Bobby Scobey on Jul 8, 2009

NO HANDS BUT YOURS In the courtyard of a quaint little church in a French village was standing a beautiful marble statue of Jesus with his hands outstretched. One day during the war, a bomb struck close to the statue and severely damaged it. After the battle was over, the citizens of the village ...read more

Tags: Giving Yourself

Denomination: Pentecostal

Forcing Doors Or Build Bridges

Contributed by Davon Huss on Jul 12, 2009

FORCING DOORS OR BUILD BRIDGES There were two unmarried sisters who had such a bitter fight that they stopped speaking to each other. Unable or unwilling to leave their small home, they continued to use the same rooms and sleep in the same bedroom. A chalk line divided the sleeping area into two ...read more

Tags: Church Purpose Of

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

How Much Time Do We Have ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2010

How Much Time Do We Have Left? A few years ago People Magazine published an article entitled, “Dead Ahead,” telling about a new clock that keeps track of how much time you have left to live. It calculates an average life span of 75 years for men and 80 years for women. So you program your sex and ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 5:15-17

Tags: Death, Death Nearness

Many People Have Been Richly Blessed By What They ...

Contributed by Ajai Prakash on May 3, 2010

Many people have been richly blessed by what they learned at their mother’s knee. Consider John and Charles Wesley. Their names would probably never have lighted the pages of history if it hadn’t been for their godly mother who taught them that the law of love and Christian witness was to be their ...read more

Tags: Mother's Day

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Philadelphia 11 Fighting Pa "Hate Crimes" Law

Contributed by Larry Wilson on Jul 13, 2010

'Philadelphia 11' fighting PA "hate crimes" law Attorneys for 11 Philadelphia-area Christians arrested and charged with felonies after protesting at a homosexual event will announce new developments in the case tomorrow and will show a videotape of the controversial arrests. As WorldNetDaily ...read more

Tags: Homosexuality

Denomination: Baptist

Always More To Follow

Contributed by Gordon Curley on Nov 29, 2010

ALWAYS MORE TO FOLLOW C. H. Spurgeon had an illustration he would use to depict ‘grace’. A large sum of money was given to a man called Rowland Hill; His job was to distribute the money to a particular Christian pastor. Thinking that the amount was too much to send all at once, Hill forwarded ...read more

Tags: Grace

Denomination: Brethren

Patience And Jell-O

Contributed by Sermon Central on Mar 6, 2011

PATIENCE AND JELL-O Jell-O celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1997. I was fascinated to read the story of the man who invented it. In 1897, a man by the name of Pearle Wait wore several hats. He was a construction worker. He dabbled in patent medicines and went door to door selling homemade ...read more

Scripture: 1 Chronicles 12:32

Tags: Christian Values

What Will Your Grandchildren Say?

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 12, 2011

WHAT WILL YOUR GRANDCHILDREN SAY? Max Lucado shared this in Outlive Your Life: A few years back, three questions rocked my world. They came from different people in the span of a month. Question 1: Had you been a German Christian during World War II, would you have taken a stand against ...read more

Scripture: Ezekiel 16:49-50

Tags: Poverty

Persistent Sowers

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 15, 2011

PERSISTENT SOWERS During a particular drought several years ago, much of the seed that had been planted did not come up. The seed that did produced runty plants that promised a scanty yield, if any at all. Grass burned up in the intense heat, and the cattle nearly starved. Many farmers were forced ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 13:1-23

Tags: Parable Sower And Seed

The Importance Of Focus

Contributed by Mark Tonkery on Feb 3, 2012

THE IMPORTANCE OF FOCUS When the Alaskan Pipeline was being built, there were many Texans who went to Alaska and found work on the pipeline. The Texans could only work a few hours in the frigid weather, yet the Eskimos, the native Alaskans, could work indefinitely in the cold. They decided to ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 13:4-8

Tags: Affliction

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Open Table Ministry

Contributed by Tim Smith on Feb 26, 2012

OPEN TABLE MINISTRY Open Table started with a chance encounter with a homeless man named Ernie who simply asked a youth group serving him a meal if he could come worship at their church. The adult youth workers were moved to agree to come the very next day to bring Ernie to their church service. ...read more

Tags: Action

Denomination: Methodist

Standard Of Comparison  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 27, 2012

STANDARD OF COMPARISON Michael Green, in his book Illustrations for Biblical Preaching, shares a good lesson which I think is appropriate for beginning our message this evening. He states: All of us frequently compare ourselves favorably with someone else. We all think of someone whom we ...read more

Scripture: 1 Peter 1:13-16, Exodus 7:8-23

Tags: Holiness

The Story Of Open Table

Contributed by Tim Smith on Oct 21, 2012

THE STORY OF OPEN TABLE Open Table started with a chance encounter with a homeless man named Ernie who simply asked a youth group serving him a meal if he could come worship at their church. The adult youth workers were moved to agree to come the very next day to bring Ernie to their church ...read more

Denomination: Methodist

A Pastor In Disguise

Contributed by Sermon Central on Nov 9, 2013

A Pastor in Disguise A few years ago at a Methodist Church in North Wales, as worshippers arrived at the church, they were distressed to see a dirty, drunk, smelly homeless man on the front steps. They didn't realize this bum was actually their pastor, Derek Rigby, who had disguised himself as a ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 25:31-46

Tags: Compassion, Homeless

Persuaded By The Mail

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 11, 2014

"I GIVE UP!" In the early 1960s, the publishers of Time Magazine were concerned about their declining circulation, so they designed a campaign to send out thousands of letters making an emotional appeal to potential subscribers. In the past, such mailings had been done manually, at a great cost in ...read more

Scripture: John 3:16-17

Tags: God's Love, Surrender, Persuasion

Is Evangelism Too Hard?

Contributed by Tim Smith on May 11, 2014

Jenn Hopkins writes of attending a funeral several years ago. "There he lay, dead. He was gone and unsaved. Lived a life and then, in the flash of an eye, he was in Hell. Someone I loved and respected was gone and so was my opportunity to share the Gospel with him. His funeral was in a church, one ...read more

Scripture: 2 Peter 3:8-13

Tags: Evangelism, Hell

Denomination: Methodist

Time

Contributed by Ronnie Miller on Jan 2, 2015

Where has the time gone? There is a time for everything but, that never seem to bother me when I was young. But as I get older I consider almost everything in time. It’s time to take my medicine, it’s time to go to the doctor, it’s time for this or time for that. One of the few things Brenda and I ...read more

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 3:1-4, Ecclesiastes 3:1

Tags: Accepted Time, Time, Fullness Of Time

Denomination: Baptist

Asking The Visitor To Leave

Contributed by Jim Butcher on Apr 11, 2018

Note: This story is told from my perspective - Jim Butcher of Madison WV. I was visiting with one of our long-time members a few months ago and she related an interesting story about her visit to Madison Baptist decades ago. Rosemary was sitting along the aisle, waiting on the service to begin, ...read more

Tags: Church, Worship, Welcome, Greeting, Welcoming  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Baptist