In Sermon Illustrations: "Great Expectations"

One Of The Saddest And Scariest Stories I've Ever ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 10, 2006

One of the saddest and scariest stories I’ve ever heard was about a young evangelist. He was just barely 21, on fire for God, effective in his preaching and soul-winning, and in great demand from local churches. He had preached several large crusades and was soon invited to an area-wide effort at ...read more

Tags: Sin General

16 Year Old] Nathan Johnson Dreamed Of Starting ...  PRO

Contributed by John Shearhart on Sep 10, 2006

“[16 year old] Nathan Johnson dreamed of starting a revolution for Christ. [He wrote in his diary, “God’s] will for me is to radically impact my school for Him." But before he could see the revolution become a reality, Johnson’s life was cut short by an automobile accident [after] striking a ...read more

Scripture: Luke 5:1-13, Colossians 3:1-7

Tags: All Things

Experts Can't Agree If The Following Is A True ...

Contributed by Jonathan Twitchell on Dec 7, 2006

Experts can’t agree if the following is a true story or if it should be written down next to the tale of George Washington and the Cherry Tree. While there is no concrete evidence of its truth, there is enough anecdotal evidence that the story has been in existence long enough to quite possibly be ...read more

Tags: Mercy

Denomination: Nazarene

It's An Ongoing Battle At The Twitchell ...

Contributed by Jonathan Twitchell on Dec 7, 2006

It’s an ongoing battle at the Twitchell household. We have a great number of beautiful songbirds that come to our birdfeeders in the front yard: goldfinches, house finches, red-winged blackbirds, orioles, and cardinals are accompanied by chickadees, mourning doves, blue jays. We tolerate the ...read more

Denomination: Nazarene

The Story Of George C. Wallace Sounds Like ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 31, 2008

The story of George C. Wallace sounds like something from Paul Harvey’s "The Rest of the Story." It comes in two parts: the sad, earlier life and the hard but hopeful latter life. A dramatic and tragic event in the middle brought life-changing consequences for the man from Alabama. In 1962, ...read more

Tags: Repentance

A New ...

Contributed by Terry Laughlin on Aug 11, 2008

A New Commandment In the Book of John 13:34-35, Jesus makes a powerful statement, “A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.” (emphasis ours) Often people have ...read more

Scripture: John 13:34-35

Tags: Love Of The Disciples

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Cups Of The ...

Contributed by Terry Laughlin on Aug 11, 2008

Cups of the Lord Cup of Salvation Psalms 116:13 says, “I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.” The opening verse of psalm 116 says, “I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy.” (Psalm 116:1) Dewight Jones tells us that there are some 32 ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 116:13

Tags: Salvation

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Heaven, A Real Place

Contributed by Terry Laughlin on Aug 11, 2008

Heaven, A Real Place Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in Me. In My Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take ...read more

Scripture: John 14:1-6

Tags: Heaven

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Heart Of ...

Contributed by Terry Laughlin on Aug 11, 2008

Heart of Temptation “When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God… does [not] tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives ...read more

Scripture: James 1:13-15

Tags: Temptation General

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

My Stripes

Contributed by Scott Jensen on Oct 8, 2008

My Stripes Many years ago I was enlisted in the Air Force and competed for promotion to Technical Sergeant. I was a Staff Sergeant that had been recognized as one of the best. I had fire wall 5 performance reports and had been Group NCO of the Year for two consecutive years. I had all the right ...read more

Tags: Disappointment

Denomination: Lutheran

I Want For You To Imagine With Me That We Are Out ...

Contributed by Grant Van Boeschoten on Oct 2, 2009

I want for you to imagine with me that we are out in the middle of a huge storm on a state of the art fishing boat. We are in the middle of the ocean just trying to survive the rain and the wind and to make things work, it is the middle of night and it is almost impossible to see. Suddenly, in ...read more

Tags: Daily Prayer, Prayer General

Memorial Day In The Military, Medal Of Honor ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 2, 2010

Memorial Day in the Military, Medal of Honor Recipient It’s 3am on a cold winter day. Patchy snow covers the landscape as Loudspeakers overhead blare telling everyone to get to their places. Surrounded by sandbags, concrete barriers and roughly 10,000 soldier, sailors, airman and marines, Bagram ...read more

Scripture: John 15:13

Tags: Sacrifice, Holidays Civic

Example Of Hospitality

Contributed by Ross Cochrane on Jun 29, 2010

EXAMPLE OF HOSPITALITY Jan and Darryl have always been openly generous people. They make you feel as if they are honoured to have you in their home and nothing is too much trouble for them. Which is just as well because they are our connect group leaders. Every fortnight people in our Connect ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 13:5-15

Tags: Hospitality

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Coming To Grips With The Sovereign Will Of God  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 9, 2011

COMING TO GRIPS WITH THE SOVEREIGN WILL OF GOD I want to tell you a story about my friend, Jim Pence. Jim is an author who has written several books. But his first novel was titled "Blind Sight" and was published by Tyndale a number of years ago. Jim wrote this book, but he really didn't think it ...read more

Scripture: Acts 4:18-31, Job 1:21

Tags: God's Sovereign Will

Why Did Jesus Need To Be Baptized?  PRO

Contributed by Jeff Strite on Mar 3, 2013

Why would Jesus need to be baptized by John? Well... Jesus' baptism by John was the beginning of Jesus' ministry. Mark 1:1 starts out: "The BEGINNING of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God" and then Mark starts telling us about Jesus' baptism by John. In Luke 3:23 ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 3:13-15

Tags: Ministry, High Priest, Water Baptism, Jesus' Ministry, Baptism  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Make This Muddled World A Better Place

Contributed by David Simpson on Feb 5, 2018

Make This Muddled World A Better Place January 24, 2018 Lanier Christian Church David Simpson The Academy Award Nominations came out yesterday. Of the movies nominated, one of them is about famous British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, entitled: Darkest Hour. Churchill left us with many ...read more

Tags: Bless Others, Give Of Self, Be A Blessing To Oth, Service, Compassion, Winston Churchill  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Christian Church

Angels In A Pickup Truck?

Contributed by Jonathan Spurlock on Jan 16, 2020

There’s not much better than a great day on vacation, especially when the outside temperature is hot and your car’s A/C is cold! That was how it was on one recent summer day when I was visiting my home town. I had done some sight-seeing and was ready to head back to the motel room when I wondered ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 1:14

Tags: Angels, Assisting People

Denomination: Baptist

It’s Closer Than I Thought!

Contributed by Jonathan Spurlock on Feb 7, 2020

My wife and her parents used a certain brand of ketchup for many things over a long period of time. They hadn’t had any of it, though, in maybe 30 years or so. They believed this brand wasn’t available, locally, so they never got around to finding any more of it. Now, I grew up in a different part ...read more

Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 4:3, 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Tags: God's Will, Discovery, Sharing

Denomination: Baptist

Honor Your Father And Mother

Contributed by Jonathan Spurlock on Jun 13, 2020

Father’s Day 2020 is just a few days away as I write this. My dad left this world in 2018 but I still remember so many things about him. Some of course are too personal to share but there a good number of good memories I’ll always cherish. Dad was about five feet, ten inches in height—the smallest ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 20:12, Ephesians 6:2

Tags: Memories About Dad, Father's Day, Fathers

Denomination: Baptist

A Beginners Guide To Giving Thanks

Contributed by Todd Catteau on Nov 21, 2023

You would think giving thanks would come easily and naturally but, for me and I suppose others, it often times doesn’t. So, with the season of Thanksgiving upon us I thought I’d write this little guide for my benefit and hopefully for yours. Give thanks for the good things This is the easy one. ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 106:1

Tags: Thanks, Gratitude, Thanksgiving

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ