In Sermon Illustrations: "God Is Good"

The Church That Voted God Out!

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Jan 28, 2024

The story is told about a poor woman who lived across the tracks and wanted to join a very fashionable church. She talked to the pastor about it, but he sought to discourage her. He suggested she go home and think about it carefully for a week. At the end of the week she came back. He said, “Go ...read more

Scripture: James 2:1-12

Tags: Church, Revival, Favoritism, Pastors, Membership, Partiality  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Are You All Ears For God?

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Jan 28, 2024

A missionary translator was endeavoring to find a word for “obedience” in the native language. This was a virtue seldom practiced among the people into whose language he wanted to translate the New Testament. As he returned home from the village one day, he whistled for his dog and it came ...read more

Tags: Obedience, Voice Of God, Hearing God, Listening, Hearers Of The Word  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

So God Made A Farmer

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Apr 6, 2024

In James chapter 5, we see a comparison between the patient farmer in the field waiting for his crops and the waiting believer in Christ preparing to meet the Lord at His return. Paul Harvey did a masterful job of describing the life of the farmer years ago. And on the 8th day, God looked down ...read more

Scripture: James 5:7-12, 1 Thessalonians 5:13-18

Tags: Patience, Return Of Christ, Prophets, Farmers, Waiting, Job, End Times, Prophecy, Second Coming, Last Days, Rapture  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

God's Mercy

Contributed by Dr. Fred W. Penney on Nov 2, 2024

Henri Nouwen tells the story of a family from Paraguay. The father spoke out against the military regime and its human rights abuses. The police arrested his teenage son and tortured him to death. Enraged townsfolk wanted to turn the boy's funeral into a huge protest march, but the doctor ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:1-18, Romans 5:1-11, Ephesians 2:1-5

Tags: Mercy, Sin, Evil, Salvation, Cross  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

God's Judgement

Contributed by John Bright on Sep 23, 2025

I don’t believe that God’s Judgement should be our main focus, but I also believe it’s wrong to never mention the Judgement of God. Remember, God must judge humanity because “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) Our God is a Holy God who also wants us to be holy. (1 ...read more

Scripture: 1 Peter 4:5, Romans 3:23, 1 Peter 1:16

Tags: Grace, Holy Spirit, Judgment, Holiness

Denomination: Methodist

God Can Change Your Attitude

Contributed by Paul Wallace on Aug 27, 2008

God Can Change Your Attitude We live in an angry world, surrounded by angry people. We can give all kinds of excuses for being an angry person, but none of them really make an angry attitude the only option. I went out to visit our friend Bruce Thursday. If you remember he had surgery for a ...read more

Tags: Attitude General

Denomination: Wesleyan

Stay In There!!  PRO

Contributed by Guy Caley on Apr 20, 2003

STAY IN THERE!! I don’t usually begin a sermon on a sad note like this, but sometimes we need to pause and remember what life is all about. There was a great loss recently in the entertainment world. Larry LaPrise, the Detroit native who wrote the song "The Hokey Pokey", died at age 83. I’m ...read more

Tags: Easter Good Friday, Easter Resurrection

Denomination: Assembly Of God

A Catholic Critic Speaks  PRO

Contributed by Andrew Chan on Feb 26, 2004

A CATHOLIC CRITIC SPEAKS Roger Ebert – film critic in Chicago said: “What Gibson has provided for me, for the first time in my life, is a visceral idea of what the Passion consisted of. That his film is superficial in terms of the surrounding message — that we get only a few passing references to ...read more

Tags: Easter Good Friday, Television And Movies

Denomination: Evangelical Free

Famous Neighbors  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Oct 26, 2004

FAMOUS NEIGHBORS Can you name some famous neighbors? *Mr. Rogers Neighborhood in his sweater and sneakers … “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood … won’t you be my neighbor?” *Dennis the Menace … “Helloooo Mr. Wilson!” *Ricky & Lucy Ricardo … Fred & Ethel Mertz. *Tim “the Tool Man” Taylor ...read more

Scripture: Luke 10:25-37

Tags: Christian Love, Parable Good Samaritan

Like Limbaugh And Clinton  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Oct 26, 2004

LIKE LIMBAUGH AND CLINTON In the story of the “The Good Samaritan,” these men weren’t physical neighbor. The Jews & the Samaritans hated each other. Generations earlier, when the Jews were in Babylonian captivity, the Samaritans had taken over the land … and mixed their religion with the Jewish ...read more

Scripture: Luke 10:25-27

Tags: Parable Good Samaritan, Christian Love

Martin Luther King Jr. Once Said, "The First ...  PRO

Contributed by Timothy Smith on Sep 27, 2007

Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “The first question the priest and the Levite asked was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But ... the Good Samaritan reversed the ...read more

Tags: Forgiveness General, Parable Good Samaritan

Denomination: Christian Church

Punished For Helping

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 10, 2009

PUNISHED FOR HELPING Thu Feb 26, AP/ DENVER -- A good Samaritan who helped push three people out of the path of a pickup truck before being struck and injured has gotten a strange reward for his good deed: A jaywalking ticket. Family members said 58-year-old bus driver Jim Moffett and another man ...read more

Scripture: John 15:18-27

Tags: Fail, Good, Intention, Hardship Of Life

Sheep Know Shepherd's ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Oct 21, 2009

Sheep Know Shepherd’s Voice The contrast with the shepherd is even greater for the shepherd knows each sheep by name and his sheep follow his voice alone. Lloyd Ogilvie, the former Chaplain of the Senate and Pastor of Hollywood Presbyterian Church tells of being in the Middle East and watching a ...read more

Scripture: John 10:1-18

Tags: Good Shepherd, Parable Lost Sheep

Stop Talking About Evangelism And Just Do It!

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Mar 20, 2022

While D. L. Moody was attending a convention in Indianapolis on mass evangelism, he asked his song leader, Ira Sankey, to meet him at six o'clock one evening at a certain street corner. When Sankey arrived, Mr. Moody asked him to stand on a box and sing. Once a crowd had gathered, Moody spoke ...read more

Tags: Hypocrisy, Good Samaritan, Evangelism, Gospel

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Rest Your Whole Weight On God

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

Rest your whole weight on God a. Ill: There once was a man, named John Paton, who was translating the Bible for a South Seas island tribe. John Paton discovered that the natives had no word for trust or faith. One day a native who had been working hard came into the missionary’s house, flopped ...read more

Tags: Faith

What If Porcupines Could Dance? They Are God's ...  PRO

Contributed by Kenneth Squires on Aug 2, 2005

What if porcupines could dance? They are God’s idea of the animal kingdom’s version of a cactus. Imagine a cactus gliding, twirling around the ballroom as the orchestra plays a waltz. Or look at that cactus in an embrace of the tango - striding, dipping, heads bobbing to the music. Cheek-to-cheek. ...read more

Scripture: Romans 15:7

Tags: Church Body Of Christ, Unity

Denomination: Pentecostal

The Word Of God Changes The Unlovely, And Makes ...

Contributed by Gary Landsberg on Dec 16, 2006

The Word of God changes the unlovely, and makes them lovely. I had a friend in Africa who was a missionary. He was over there eking out a living and preaching the Good News to all he could. He had spent time in the State penitentiary, but was changed by the Word of God. You see, they were ...read more

Denomination: Independent/Bible

In Isaiah 5 God Says Of The Vineyard Of The ...

Contributed by Ray Mckendry on Nov 4, 2009

In Isaiah 5 God says of the vineyard of the Lord, i.e. Israel, that after all that God had done for them, they acted unjustly and became corrupted in their ways: Isa 5:4 “What more could have been done to My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good ...read more

Tags: Unbelief

Denomination: Baptist

Tethered To God's Sovereignty

Contributed by Ed Vasicek on Sep 19, 2022

Let’s do a math problem. If a sheep was tethered to a pole on a rope that was 25 feet long, how many square feet would he have to graze? p r² . Let’s begin by squaring 25, we end up with 625. Multiplying by an approximation of p as 3.14, we end up with 1,962.5 square feet. We are ...read more

Scripture: Romans 8:28

Tags: Suffering, Sovereignty, Trial, Trials, Tribulations, God's Permissive Will  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Independent/Bible

Any Believer Can Be A "Man Of God”

Contributed by Jonathan Spurlock on Jul 7, 2020

Any believer can be a “man of God” Text: 2 Tim 3:17 That the man of God (any believer in Jesus!) may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. Thoughts: Only a few people were ever called a “man of God” in the Bible. Some were never known; at least four were never named, and one, ...read more

Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:14-17

Tags: Paul, Man Of God, Timothy

Denomination: Baptist