In Sermon Illustrations: "First Things"

Leighton Farrell Was The Minister Of Highland ...  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 16, 2001

Leighton Farrell was the minister of Highland Park Church in Dallas for many years. He tells of a man in the church who once made a covenant with a former pastor to tithe ten percent of their income every year. They were both young and neither of them had much money. But things changed. The layman ...read more

Tags: Giving General

Comforters  PRO

Contributed by Rick Stacy on Mar 24, 2002

COMFORTERS When I Was Diagnosed With Cancer: My first friend came and expressed his shock by saying, "I can’t believe that you have cancer. I always thought you were so active and healthy." He left and I felt alienated and somehow very different. My second friend came and brought me ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 17:17, Job 1:1

Tags: Christian Love, God In The Hardships

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Ruthless Trust  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Mar 29, 2002

RUTHLESS TRUST During times of transition, what we most need to practice is "ruthless trust." Brennan Manning has written a brilliant book by that title and tells the story of John Kavanaugh who went to work for three months at "the House of the Dying" in Calcutta. He went not only to give help, ...read more

Tags: Examples Of Faith, Faith General, Abortion

The Marks Of A Witness  PRO

Contributed by Edwin Amundson on Jul 26, 2002

The Marks of a Witness 1. A witness must have a first-hand experience of Christ. Hearsay is not acceptable in a court of law, nor in the court of this world?s opinion. People will listen only to what we have personally seen and heard. 2. A witness must be able to express himself verbally. We may ...read more

Tags: What Is Evangelism?, Leadership General

Denomination: Baptist

Corrie Ten Boom Told Of Not Being Able To Forget ...

Contributed by Paul Fritz on Jun 10, 2001

Corrie ten Boom told of not being able to forget a wrong that had been done to her. She had forgiven the person, but she kept rehashing the incident and so couldn’t sleep. Finally Corrie cried out to God for help in putting the problem to rest. "His help came in the form of a kindly Lutheran ...read more

Tags: Forgiveness General

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

My Friend Norm Is A United Methodist Pastor. A ...  PRO

Contributed by David Phaneuf on Jul 28, 2003

My friend Norm is a United Methodist pastor. A while back Norm was telling me about one of his parishioners -- Bill. Bill was gravely ill in the hospital, and Norm was visiting with him when the doctor came in, and point-blank told the patient: “Bill... you’re dead! There’s no hope. You’d better ...read more

Tags: Gifts Healing, God's Provision, God's Forgiveness

Denomination: United Methodist

A Man Named John Came Home From Work One Day And ...  PRO

Contributed by Mark Evans on Sep 12, 2003

(A man named John came home from work one day and rushing through the door tells his wife of a man who lied to him at work. He said, there was a guy at work who stole my tools and I saw him from a distance. When I confronted him he down and out lied to me. He lied straight through his teeth even ...read more

Tags: Apologetics General, Basics, Know, Fake

In September Of 1982, My Mother Passed Away Very ...

Contributed by Stephen Ring on Apr 9, 2004

In September of 1982, my Mother passed away very unexpectedly. Through a series of events, I was actually spending the weekend at my parent’s home sick with a stomach flu, in order that my wife would be able to work and get a good night’s sleep. Early on the Sunday morning, my mother had a stroke ...read more

Tags: Forgiveness In Jesus, God's Love, Love, Repent, Whosoever  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Baptist

Separation Anxiety

Contributed by R. Wayne Hagerman on May 3, 2007

Separation Anxiety There is an African tribe whom I read about some time ago, whose family customs are rather unique. In many ways they are the typical group of people we Westerners have come to imagine about Africans, especially for those of us who have read national Geographic. Father is the ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

There Is An Old Chinese Tale About The Woman ...

Contributed by Benjamin Stan on May 7, 2007

There is an old Chinese tale about the woman whose son died. In her grief, she went to the holy man and said, "What prayers, what magical incantations do you have to bring my son back to life?" Instead of sending her away or reasoning with her, he said to her, "Fetch me a mustard seed from a home ...read more

Denomination: Adventist

There Is A Neat Feature On Windows Xp…it's Called ...  PRO

Contributed by Art Good on Jun 8, 2007

There is a neat feature on Windows XP…it’s called “System restore”. Here’s how it works… Suppose you suffer a system crash on Thursday, you downloaded a bad program or something…You’re not a computer expert and you aren’t sure how to recover the last 2 weeks of financial information you had saved ...read more

Denomination: Wesleyan

We Think That God Wants Us To Try Something On ...  PRO

Contributed by Austin Mansfield on Sep 18, 2007

We think that God wants us to try something on our own first, and then come to him in prayer for help only after we’ve worked at it and can’t figure it out. We hear the saying, “God helps those who help themselves” and think it’s true. Many people even believe it’s in the Bible. It’s not. It ...read more

Scripture: Luke 18:9-14

Denomination: Episcopal/Anglican

The Flat ...

Contributed by Eric Ferguson on Jul 3, 2008

The Flat Tire Two students were taking organic chemistry at the university. Having done well in their work and labs, they were both going into the final exam with solid A’s. So far, so good. Trouble was, they were so confident that they decided to party the night before the big test. It was a ...read more

Tags: Lies

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Personal Property In The ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Mar 13, 2009

PERSONAL PROPERTY IN THE BIBLE Larry Burkett, the founder of Christian Financial Concepts, points out that the bible--with more than 700 references to money--says more about economics than many other subjects. He writes: "Money is such an important subject that nearly two-thirds of the parables ...read more

Tags: Materialism

A Simple Hose Clamp Causes Failure Of Balloon's ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Nov 9, 2009

A Simple Hose Clamp Causes Failure of Balloon’s Attempt to Circle the Earth Piccard and Richard Conniff writes in National Geographic that on January 12, 1997, two Swiss men, Bertrand Piccard and Wim Verstraeten, set out to be the first to CIRCLE THE EARTH in a balloon. Their aircraft was called ...read more

Scripture: James 3:1-6

Tags: Tongue

Forgiveness: Like A Bell Tolling

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Jun 18, 2011

FORGIVENESS: LIKE A BELL TOLLING Corrie ten Boom once told of being able to forget a wrong that had been done to her. She had forgiven the person, but she kept rehashing the incident and so couldn’t sleep. Finally, she cried out to God for help in putting the problem to rest. She wrote this about ...read more

Tags: Forgiveness General

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Death And Resurrection

Contributed by David Simpson on Jan 15, 2013

Our son, John learned a valuable lesson about death when he was a child. One day he took aim with his new BB gun at a little bird sitting on a limb near our back deck. He aimed and fired and hit his target and the bird collapsed to the ground. Dead. At first there was the excitement of being a ...read more

Scripture: John 14:19

Tags: Death, Resurrection

Denomination: Christian Church

The Boat Is On Fire

Contributed by Jerry Thorpe on Mar 8, 2013

THE BOAT IS ON FIRE Robert E. Lee pleasure boat. Steamed out of Vicksburg. Hundreds of people were aboard. After midnight the boat caught fire. The captain discovered it and told his first mate to rush down through the saloon and down every corridor to wake everyone up. He didn't have time to ...read more

Tags: Rapture, Evangelism Urgency

Denomination: Church Of God

Remove The Hate — Be Pure  PRO

Contributed by Ken Pell on Mar 30, 2013

REMOVE THE HATE -- BE PURE "And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood (Hebrews 13:2)." Three years ago, Chris Simpson led a white pride march. Two years ago, he abandoned the white supremacist movement. This past April (2012), he was ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 13:2

Tags: Holiness

Denomination: Nazarene

Surrendering To God

Contributed by Tim Smith on May 28, 2015

Ravi Zacharias tells the amazing story of a young Christian, Hien Pham, whom he met in Vietnam who served as an interpreter with the American forces. Shortly after Vietnam fell, Hien was imprisoned on accusations of helping the Americans. His jailers tried to indoctrinate him against democratic ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 7:13-16

Tags: Grace, Persecution, Prayer, Surrender, Standing On Promises  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Methodist