In Sermon Illustrations: "First Love"

Circus At The Cross: The Nature Of Executions

Contributed by Davon Huss on Mar 10, 2010

CIRCUS AT THE CROSS: THE NATURE OF EXECUTIONS During his 21 years on the bench at Fort Smith, Arkansas, Judge Parker sentenced 160 men to die and hanged 79 of them. It didn't take Parker long to get going. On May 10, 1875 -- only 8 days after he arrived at Fort Smith -- he opened his first term of ...read more

Tags: Cross

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Let Me Show You A Man Called Peter. The Pebble ...

Contributed by Pastor Gbenga Shadare on May 4, 2010

Let me show you a man called Peter. The pebble that became the ROCK. How he failed and then got back up. Failure is going to put you in good company friends. Winston Churchill – the wartime British Prime Minister - failed the 6th grade and was not elected into office till he was 62. Yet he went on ...read more

Tags: Change

Denomination: Independent/Bible

Make A Wish

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 10, 2010

MAKE A WISH Have you ever dreamed of finding a genie in a lamp where you could get three wishes? Our Pastor, who is in charge of the prison ministry, always tells the same joke, because the prisoner population has a new turnover each time he visits. He always sets them up by asking if they had ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 13:16

Tags: Fool

Wellington ...

Contributed by Jeremy Poling on Jul 30, 2010

Wellington defeated! -- The Battle of Waterloo, fought on 18 June 1815, was Napoleon Bonaparte's last battle. His defeat put a final end to his rule as Emperor of the French. After Napoleon returned from exile and was restored to power, many states which had previously resisted his rule formed the ...read more

Tags: Zeal

Denomination: Pentecostal

Airplane Pilots Are Subject To A Strange ...

Contributed by Bobby Scobey on Mar 3, 2009

Airplane pilots are subject to a strange phenomenon. When flying through clouds or fog, which prevent them from seeing the horizon, they cannot feel the plane’s wings beginning to bank to the left or right. In the early days of flight, pilots followed the myth of instinct. They believed they could ...read more

Tags: Truth

Denomination: Pentecostal

David Barton In His Book "What Happened In ...

Contributed by Michael Mccartney on Mar 6, 2009

David Barton in his book “What Happened In Education” writes “As a result of Supreme Court decisions in Engel v. Vitale, Murray v. Curlett, and Abington v. Schempp, religious principles were separated from public education. School prayer, Bible reading, and any instruction which purported to have ...read more

Tags: School

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

On Excellent ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Mar 13, 2009

ON EXCELLENT WORK A year or so ago, on the cover of the New York "Herald Tribune" Sunday magazine, I saw a picture of the Statue of Liberty taken from a helicopter. It showed the top of the statue’s head. I was amazed to see the detail there. The sculptor had done a painstaking job with the ...read more

Scripture: Colossians 3:23

Tags: Christian Values

The Wandering Sheep

Contributed by Gordon Curley on Nov 23, 2010

THE WANDERING SHEEP Dr. Andrew Bonar tells of how in the Highlands of Scotland, a sheep would often wander off into the rocks and get into places that they can't get out of. The grass on these mountains is very sweet and the sheep like it, and they will jump down ten or twelve feet, and then ...read more

Scripture: Romans 5:6

Tags: Parable Lost Sheep

Denomination: Brethren

Make Me!

Contributed by Ross Cochrane on Jan 14, 2011

"MAKE ME!" They had behaved badly in class but they were equally disruptive in the detention room, swearing, acting tough and defying anything I said with a smart comment. Unacceptable behaviour. I have never really had a problem with anger, but the closest I came was in that classroom. Teaching ...read more

Tags: Murder

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

The Miracle Of Sight  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 15, 2011

THE MIRACLE OF SIGHT For 51 years Bob Edens was blind. He couldn’t see a thing. His world was a black hall of sounds and smells. He felt his way through five decades of darkness. And then, he could see. A skilled surgeon performed a complicated operation and, for the first time, Bob Edens had ...read more

Scripture: Mark 10:46-52

Tags: Beauty

Surprise Gift

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 15, 2011

SURPRISE GIFT When Gabriel Hurles turned six a couple of years ago (January 2009), he was so focused on eating his birthday cake, that he hardly noticed the giant package in the corner of the room. When another child pointed out the large gift, Gabriel ran over and began to tear off the wrapping. ...read more

Scripture: John 1:14

Tags: Christmas

They Refused To Be Rescued  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 15, 2011

THEY REFUSED TO BE RESCUED On August 30, 2005 Coast Guard Lieutenant Iain McConnell was ordered to fly his H46 helicopter to New Orleans and to keep that machine flying around the clock for what would turn out to be a heroic rescue effort. None of his crew were prepared for what they were about to ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 1:3-4, 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12, Matthew 8:28-34, 2 Peter 3:7-10

Tags: Rejection, Heroism

Risks And Expectations

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 15, 2011

RISKS AND EXPECTATIONS Sohio, the Alaskan subsidiary of Standard Oil of Ohio, drilled a well in the Beaufort Sea in 1983, hoping to tap a geological formation holding several billion barrels of oil. Instead, they hit water, and $120 million went a glimmering. The oil companies know the risk. They ...read more

Scripture: Luke 9:23-26

Tags: Commitment To Christ

Not If Jesus Is Like Dad  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 21, 2011

NOT IF JESUS IS LIKE DAD Some months ago I heard a touching story about a humble, consecrated pastor whose young son had become very ill. After the boy had undergone an exhaustive series of tests, the father was told the shocking news that his son had a terminal illness. The youngster had accepted ...read more

Scripture: John 14:1-3

Tags: Father's Day

Are You Ready To Rescue The Perishing?

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 5, 2012

ARE YOU READY TO RESCUE THE PERISHING? I read a story of a man that got saved as a young, adult. He was so excited about Christ for the first couple of weeks, he told everybody the difference Jesus had made in his life. One Sunday night he was at his church and they sang this song, "Rescue the ...read more

Scripture: Colossians 4:2-6

Tags: Evangelism Urgency

Light In The Darkness

Contributed by David Simpson on Jan 15, 2013

LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS Have you ever been in on one of those guided tours of any of a number of caves around our country ... like Ruby Falls, or Carlsbad Caverns or another one. Our family went to the Carlsbad Caves in New Mexico years ago. And as they do in so many places, they’ll turn out the ...read more

Tags: Light, Outreach, Darkness

Denomination: Christian Church

Getting Too Far From The Source  PRO

Contributed by Choe Sergent on Apr 17, 2013

GETTING TOO FAR FROM THE SOURCE The county hired a new person to paint fresh yellow lines down the middle of all the county roads. The first day this man painted an astonishing 10 miles of road with new double yellow lines down the middle. This was a record! No one had ever painted ten miles of ...read more

Scripture: Ezekiel 47:1-23

Tags: Christian Disciplines

Denomination: Baptist

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

Solving Problems; It's In The Angle

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 15, 2015

“With 900 million members worldwide and growing, Facebook is building its first European data storage facility—60 miles south of the Arctic Circle in Lulea, Sweden. The reason: natural air conditioning. Some Internet “server farms” spend as much to cool the machines as power them. Facebook’s Nordic ...read more

Scripture: John 15:1-12

Tags: Fruitfulness, Christian Growth

Before You Can Know God's Will....

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Jul 7, 2016

BEFORE YOU CAN KNOW GOD’S WILL.... When we are asked about knowing the will of God, we usually hurry to Romans 12:1-2 and give info about the "perfect will of God." But we may be missing something if that is the case. The New Testament was originally written in letters, not in chapter formats. ...read more

Tags: God's Will, Surrender, The Glory Of God

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational