In Sermon Illustrations: "Field"

Are You Familiar With Bill Cosby’s ...  PRO

Contributed by Melvin Newland on Feb 14, 2001

ILL. Are you familiar with Bill Cosby’s book, "Time Flies"? In it, Cosby says that something happens to you when you turn 50 years old. When his father turned 50, Cosby says that for the first time he remembers noticing his father’s "love handles," those rolls of fat which develop around your ...read more

Scripture: Romans 13:11-14

Tags: Fulfillment, Money, Temptation General

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Adopted By Christ  PRO

Contributed by Bruce Howell on Jul 9, 2001

Illus.: “Adopted by Christ” John was born into a family of 12 children. They were very poor. He was the youngest. He never remembered his father eating a meal with the rest of the family. He had to work long hours to feed his family. One day his father ran off with another woman, leaving his ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 15:11-20

Tags: Beauty, Ashes, Children, God's Provision, Trinity  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Wesleyan

Few People Have Encountered A Lion On Its Terms ...  PRO

Contributed by Jeffrey Ebert on Dec 22, 2005

Few people have encountered a lion on its terms and lived to tell about it. One who did was Beryl Markham. In her autobiography West with the Night she tells of the time as a little girl growing up in Africa in the early 1900’s when she came face to face with a lion. She was running playfully ...read more

Tags: Descriptions Of God

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

A.j. Gordon Was The Great Baptist Pastor Of The ...  PRO

Contributed by Paul Fritz on Dec 3, 2006

A.J. Gordon was the great Baptist pastor of the Clarendon Church in Boston, Massachusetts. One day he met a young boy in front of the sanctuary carrying a rusty cage in which several birds fluttered nervously. Gordon inquired, "Son, where did you get those birds?" The boy replied, "I trapped them ...read more

Scripture: 1 Peter 1:18-19, 1 Peter 1:18-19

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Here's The Bad News

Contributed by Ovidiu Radulescu on Feb 23, 2007

Here’s the bad news It’s the fact that none of us can ever be worthy; it’s the truth that no one can ever earn or merit God’s grace or favor that is the bad news of the gospel. It has been a universal disease of humanity that we want to be worthy. When we have toiled through the heat of the day and ...read more

Denomination: Seventh-Day Adventist

Victory Hill

Contributed by Johnny Wilson on Mar 30, 2009

VICTORY HILL Remember, our plotting is unfinished, but God’s training and strength-conditioning is already there for us. I want to talk about this chastising, sometimes translated as punishing, and which I have translated as "training." I have something in mind. The Hebrew verb means to provide ...read more

Tags: God's Judgment

Denomination: *other

Clarion Call Of One  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 9, 2009

CLARION CALL OF ONE The actions of a few are often a clarion call to courage. It requires radical sacrifice and radical commitment to accomplish these things. All that it takes is for one man to refuse to surrender! Anyone who is familiar with Winston Churchill understands that he was such a man ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 3:12-14, Malachi 3:6

Tags: Endurance

Wartime Speech By Churchill,

Contributed by Sermon Central on Oct 29, 2009

Wartime Speech by Churchill, "We Will Never Surrender" On the fifth of June, 1940, not even a month after he became prime minister, Winston Churchill spoke to the British people to encourage them of their desperate situation. Bear in mind that in September of the previous year the Nazis had ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 6:9

Tags: War

Saint Patrick's Day Is Just Around The Corner ...

Contributed by Scott Bayles on Mar 9, 2010

Saint Patrick’s Day is just around the corner and, of course, in our modern-American celebration that basically means lots of drinking and the occasional pinching of those who forgot to wear green. It’s really disappointing that Saint Patrick’s Day has regressed in many parts of the world to a ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 28:19

Tags: Trinity, Saint Patrick, Patrick

Denomination: Christian Church

Not Success But Faithfulness  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 12, 2010

NOT SUCCESS BUT FAITHFULNESS Jordan was a man of unusual abilities and commitment. He had two Ph.D.s, one in agriculture and the other in Greek and Hebrew. He was so gifted he could have chosen to do anything he wanted. He chose to serve the poor. In the 1940s, he founded a farm in Americus, ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-3

Tags: Endurance

Not Long Ago I Witnessed An Accident. A Car Ahead ...

Contributed by Ross Cochrane on Sep 15, 2010

Not long ago I witnessed an ACCIDENT. A car ahead of me pulled out of it's lane into a bus lane and collected the car that had been coming up from behind him in that lane. It left a sizeable dent in each car. Each morning as I travel to the Shalom Centre I see many people use Sydney bus lanes ...read more

Tags: Law

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Discipleship And Pioneering

Contributed by Tim Smith on Oct 20, 2010

DISCIPLESHIP AND PIONEERING George Washington Bush was born in Pennsylvania in 1778 and was a veteran of the War of 1812 fighting in the battle of New Orleans. In 1830, he moved to Missouri where he met and married Isabella, a young German American. One of the first African Americans to head out ...read more

Tags: Discipleship

Denomination: Methodist

George Washington Bush Was Born In Pennsylvania ...

Contributed by Tim Smith on Oct 20, 2010

George Washington Bush was born in Pennsylvania in 1778 and was a veteran of the War of 1812 fighting in the battle of New Orleans. In 1830, he moved to Missouri where he met and married Isabella, a young German American. One of the first African Americans to head out West, Bush purchased six ...read more

Tags: Sacrifices

Denomination: Methodist

Peale: A Simple Christmas In Africa

Contributed by Tim Smith on Mar 17, 2011

PEALE: A SIMPLE CHRISTMAS IN AFRICA Norman Vincent Peale writes of spending Christmas in Africa with his wife, children and grandchildren. He was hesitant but his wife told him he would love every minute of it. And yet, as Christmas day approached he was troubled because everything Christmas was ...read more

Tags: Christmas Eve

Denomination: Methodist

The Caddy  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 13, 2011

THE CADDY Two golfers stepped up to the first tee on the St. Andrews course in New York. The older golfer was a kindly man who played a thoughtful, deliberate game. The younger golfer was full of pride and impatience. On the first hole he sliced, lost his ball in the tall grass, hit another one, ...read more

Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Tags: Gratitude, New Year

Grant And Custer  PRO

Contributed by Bruce Ball on Apr 21, 2011

GRANT AND CUSTER There is a story of two Civil War Generals: George A. Custer and Ulysses S. Grant. Both graduated from West Point -- Gen. Grant, being the oldest, graduated in the 1840's and Gen. Custer in 1861. Grant fought in several wars and was a field General in every sense of the word. ...read more

Tags: Humility, God's Humility

Denomination: *other

Hathcock's Heroism

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 19, 2011

HATHCOCK'S HEROISM Hathcock has one of the most impressive mission records of any sniper in the Marine corps. During the Vietnam War he amassed 93 confirmed kills, saving the lives of hundreds or even thousands of Marines. The Vietnam army put a $30,000 bounty on his life for killing so many of ...read more

Scripture: John 15:13

Tags: Heroism

Humility: The Balloon Game  PRO

Contributed by Davon Huss on Nov 26, 2012

HUMILITY: THE BALLOON GAME Robert Roberts writes about a fourth grade class in which the teacher introduced a game called "balloon stomp." A balloon was tied to every child's leg, and the object of the game was to pop everyone else's balloon while protecting one's own. The last person with an ...read more

Scripture: 1 Peter 5:5

Tags: Humility

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Jesus Is The Answer

Contributed by Tim Smith on Feb 11, 2015

Krister Sairsingh, a former Hindu from Trinidad who is now the Chaplain to international students at Harvard. Let me read you some excerpts from his story. After making great progress in the Hindu spiritual disciplines something happened that unsettled him deeply. During my final year of high ...read more

Scripture: Acts 15:1-32

Tags: Evangelism, Conversion, Jesus Is The Answer

Denomination: Methodist

The Power Of Presence

Contributed by Dr. Fred W. Penney on Sep 7, 2021

The Neil Diamond song, Sweet Caroline” is played at every Red Sox home game in Boston's Fenway Park before the bottom of the 8th inning. The tradition is said to date back to 1997 when the stadium DJ played it in honour of a newborn baby girl born of one of the staff members. The baby was of ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 2:5-11

Tags: Worship, Incarnation, Singing, Visiting

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational