In Sermon Illustrations: "Genesis 2 15 17 3 1 7"

An Old Sin, A New Word  PRO

Contributed by James Botts on Aug 29, 2002

AN OLD SIN, A NEW WORD Have you noticed that people are more and more angry then ever before? Consider the following… One anger management firm stated that “one out of every five Americans has an anger management problem.” According to FBI statistics, there were 23,305 homicides in 1994 and the ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 37:8, Proverbs 22:24, Proverbs 29:11, Ecclesiastes 7:9, Ephesians 4:26-27, James 1:20  (view more)  (view less)

Tags: Christian Disciplines, Anger, Sin, Violence, Rage, Murder  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Baptist

The Prince Of Grenada, An Heir To The Spanish ...  PRO

Contributed by Jeremy Houck on Jan 15, 2005

The prince of Grenada, an heir to the Spanish crown, was sentenced to life in solitary confinement in Madrid’s ancient prison called "The Place of the Skull." The fearful, dirty, and dreary nature of the place earned it the name. Everyone knew that once you were in, you would never come out alive. ...read more

Tags: Doubt

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

An Old Circuit Riding Preacher Had Finished His ...  PRO

Contributed by Toby Powers on Dec 27, 2005

An old circuit riding preacher had finished his last meeting of the year before winter set in and made it impossible to travel across the hills of West Virginia. The church where he was leaving received an offering for him and wrapped it in a napkin. He sat on his horse and kindly thanked the ...read more

Scripture: John 14:1-6

Tags: Heaven

Denomination: Baptist

Too Far 78% Of Protestant Clergy Believe "The ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 20, 2006

Too Far 78% of Protestant clergy believe “the separation of church and state has gone too far, or in ways it was never intended to go,” according to a new Ellison Research study in the 7-8/04 edition of Facts & Trends magazine. Just 8% of all Protestant clergy agree with the statement, “the ...read more

Tags: Faith

God Almighty Is With Us In Human Flesh, And We ...

Contributed by R. David Reynolds on Dec 5, 2006

God Almighty is with us in human flesh, and we are liberated from the power of sin and death. We are “more than conquerors through Him who loves us.” The hymn writer John W. Peterson expresses it so well: No one understands like Jesus. He’s a friend beyond compare; Meet Him at the throne of ...read more

Denomination: Methodist

A Roman Catholic Priest […] Was Making His Way ...  PRO

Contributed by John Shearhart on Feb 8, 2007

“A Roman Catholic priest […] was making his way down [an] alley to his parked car, [when] a man suddenly emerged from the shadows, thrusting the muzzle of a revolver into his ribs demanding, ‘Hand me your wallet!’ Offering no word of protest, the priest immediately began to comply. As he reached ...read more

Tags: Christian Values

Messaging Errors

Contributed by Nigel Heath on May 19, 2009

MESSAGING ERRORS How skilled are we at communicating? Perhaps not as skilled as we think. It is easy to send the wrong message without knowing it. There is a famous example of a message that was sent in WWII "Send reinforcements we’re going to advance." But by the time it reached its destination ...read more

Tags: Communication General

Denomination: Baptist

Too Soft On People?

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 12, 2009

TOO SOFT ON PEOPLE? A preacher named Ron Rose told a woman who came into his office complaining that his sermons always being about forgiveness and grace. She said he needed to come down harder on the sinners and in her words, "nail them." After her rant, Ron asked, "So, you’ve got forgiveness ...read more

Scripture: John 1:15-17

Tags: Grace

Legendary Baseball Player Jackie Robinson's ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 30, 2009

Legendary Baseball Player Jackie Robinson’s Humble Act of Kindness to a Boy As a 7-year-old, Richard Bernstein admired Jackie Robinson’s athletic ability and courage as the first African-American man to play Major League baseball in the modern era. A few years later, while working at a small-town ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 20:26-28

Tags: Humility

Pain Passes, But Beauty Remains  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 26, 2011

PAIN PASSES, BUT BEAUTY REMAINS Pierre Auguste Renoir is a famous French artist who lived in the late 19th century to the early 20th century. He was known for his paintings, mostly depicting family life. But there was one disease that tormented this gifted artist -- he had arthritis that plagued ...read more

Scripture: Romans 5:1-5

Tags: Suffering Joy In

Be Found Doing Your Duty

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 1, 2011

BE FOUND DOING YOUR DUTY The time was the 19th of May, 1780. The place was Hartford, Connecticut. The day has gone down in New England history as a terrible foretaste of Judgment Day. For at noon the skies turned from blue to gray and by mid-afternoon had blackened over so densely that, in that ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 2:8-11

Tags: Judgment

J. Oswald Sanders On Loneliness  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 9, 2011

J. OSWALD SANDERS ON LONELINESS J. Oswald Sanders once pointed out: "The round of pleasure or the amassing of wealth are [often] but vain attempts to escape from the persistent ache. The millionaire is usually a lonely man and the comedian is often more unhappy than his audience." In his book, ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 6:19-34

Tags: Goals, Suffering Loneliness

God, You're In My Way.  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 28, 2012

"GOD, YOU'RE IN MY WAY." A California pastor, Kyle Idleman, talks about his last move in his book, Not a Fan. In that move, he saved the heaviest piece of furniture for last -- the desk from his office. And as he was pushing and pulling the desk with all his might, his four-year-old son came over ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 4:6-8, Philippians 4:4-7

Tags: Anxiety

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

Trials

Contributed by Tim Smith on May 28, 2015

Sam Dixon was the General Secretary of the United Methodist Committee on Relief. He died under the rubble in the Montana Hotel of Haiti, serving God while meeting with other relief agencies to work together to better help the Haitian people. When one serves God so faithfully and suddenly is killed, ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 7:13-16

Tags: God's Sovereignty, Serving, Choices, The Price To Follow

Denomination: Methodist

A Winning Team  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 8, 2008

A WINNING TEAM Lee Iacocca once asked legendary football coach Vince Lombardi what it took to make a winning team. In the book Iacocca records Lombardi’s answer: "There are a lot of coaches with good ball clubs who know the fundamentals and have plenty of discipline but still don’t win the game. ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 6:9-10, John 13:34-35, Romans 12:10, Ephesians 4:2

Tags: Success, Church Body, Teamwork, Church Health, Church Body Of Christ  (view more)  (view less)

The Perfect ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 11, 2008

THE PERFECT STORY The story is told about a perfect man who met a perfect woman. After a perfect courtship, they had a perfect wedding. Their life together was, of course, perfect. Then one stormy, Christmas Eve this perfect couple was driving along a winding road when they noticed someone on ...read more

Tags: Men And Women

All ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 11, 2008

ALL ALIKE? The pilot was Jewish, and the co-pilot was Taiwanese. It was the first time they had flown together, and it was obvious by the silence that they didn’t get along. After 30 minutes, the Captain finally spoke. He said, "I don’t like Chinese." The co-pilot replied, "Why is that?" The ...read more

Tags: Racism

A Man Called A Pastor's Office At A Church One ...  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Sep 2, 2008

A man called a pastor’s office at a church one day to inquire into membership in the church. He stated that he would not be able to get involved or anything, but he felt it was important to have some religious affiliation. The pastor advised this man that the church he pastored might not be the ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 4:11-16

Tags: Service, Commitment, Church Body, Membership, Church Body Of Christ  (view more)  (view less)

Grace Or Permission?

Contributed by Norman Lawrence on Oct 12, 2008

Grace or Permission? You're worried about permissiveness—about the way the preaching of grace seems to say it's okay to do all kinds of terrible things as long as you just walk in afterward and take the free gift of God's forgiveness. While you and I may be worried about seeming to give ...read more

Tags: Grace

Denomination: Assembly Of God