In Sermon Illustrations: "Green"

The Absence Of A Loving Father  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 6, 2010

THE ABSENCE OF A LOVING FATHER Dr. Paul Vitz, Professor of Psychology at New York University, studied the lives of more than a dozen of the world's most influential atheists over the last four centuries. As a result, Vitz discovered they all had one thing in common: defective relationships with ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 6:1-4

Tags: Father's Day

Seeing You For Real

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 3, 2011

SEEING YOU FOR REAL Just a few years ago, Leadership Journal did an interview with Saul Cruz, who along with his wife founded Armonia (Harmony) Ministries in Mexico City. They minister to hundreds of poor people all over Mexico today, but they began their ministry by planting a church on the edge ...read more

Scripture: Acts 20:17-19

Tags: Servanthood

God's Word Has Power

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 3, 2011

GOD'S WORD HAS POWER In an interview about his book The Folly of Prayer (IVP, 2009), author and pastor Matt Woodley shared a story about his friend Theresa. She had married the man of her dreams, but soon after that dropped into the pit of a deep depression. Everything went dark in her mind and ...read more

Scripture: Romans 8:26-27

Tags: Bible Influence

The Risk Of Fishing For Souls  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 3, 2011

THE RISK OF FISHING FOR SOULS A little more than 10 years ago (2000), a movie called The Perfect Storm was released, which graphically portrayed the dangers of the fishing industry even in modern times. The movie is about the crew of the Andrea Gail, a fishing boat out of Gloucester, ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 10:14-39

Tags: Evangelism Fear Of

True Beauty

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 18, 2011

TRUE BEAUTY Carre Otis was once among the world’s top super models for 17 years, beginning her career at the age of 14. To prepare for each photo shoot, she routinely binged and purged, took laxatives and diet pills, and exercised intensely. Being extremely thin made possible a modeling career ...read more

Scripture: 1 Peter 3:1-2

Tags: Servanthood

The Example Of Bethany Hamilton

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 26, 2011

THE EXAMPLE OF BETHANY HAMILTON That word for "commit" is actually a banking term. It means to deposit something for safekeeping. Well, that's what we're to do with our lives when we go through times of suffering. Deposit your life in God's bank (so to speak) for safe-keeping. Trust Him to ...read more

Scripture: 1 Peter 4:12-19

Tags: Trust

Steven Curtis Chapman: Still Blessing His Name

Contributed by Sermon Central on Sep 19, 2011

STEVEN CURTIS CHAPMAN: STILL BLESSING HIS NAME On May 17, 2008, Christian recording artist Steven Curtis Chapman and his family suffered a devastating loss. Their five-year-old adopted daughter, Maria Sue, was struck and killed when Chapman's seventeen-year-old son was backing his SUV out of the ...read more

Scripture: 1 Peter 5:10-11

Tags: God In The Hardships

The Arrest

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 11, 2009

THE ARREST A young man was sitting at a stop light in downtown New Orleans one evening, when the lady in front of him was distracted as she was going thru some papers on her front seat. The red light changed to green and the young woman did not move. The young man was a bit put off by this and ...read more

Tags: Evangelism How To

Richest Man In Town

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 16, 2009

RICHEST MAN IN TOWN In 1972, a young Egyptian businessman named Farahat lost an $11,000 watch. He was stunned when a garbage man dressed in filthy rags found it and returned it to him. Farahat asked him why he didn’t just keep the watch. The garbage man said, "My Christ told me to be honest until ...read more

Tags: Christian Witness

A. First You Jump Out Of An Airplane With A ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

A. FIRST YOU JUMP OUT OF AN AIRPLANE WITH A HUNDRED POUNDS OF GEAR, INTO THE MIDDLE OF A BURNING FOREST, AND YOU CHASE THE FIRE AND FIGHT IT BY HAND -- USUALLY WITHOUT WATER OR, FIRE RETARDANT AND YOU DO IT BECAUSE YOU’RE A SMOKE JUMPER B. MIMI SCISSONS, A 37-YEAR-OLD SMOKE JUMPER STATIONED IN ...read more

Tags: Commitment To Christ

Adopted By Christ  PRO

Contributed by Bruce Howell on Jul 9, 2001

Illus.: “Adopted by Christ” John was born into a family of 12 children. They were very poor. He was the youngest. He never remembered his father eating a meal with the rest of the family. He had to work long hours to feed his family. One day his father ran off with another woman, leaving his ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 15:11-20

Tags: Beauty, Ashes, Children, God's Provision, Trinity  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Wesleyan

One Of My Favorite Christmas Stories Is ...  PRO

Contributed by Melvin Newland on Nov 6, 2001

ILL. One of my favorite Christmas stories is about the old shoe cobbler who dreamed one Christmas Eve that Jesus would come to visit him the next day. The dream was so real that he was convinced it would come true. So the next morning he got up & went out & cut green boughs & decorated his ...read more

Tags: Christmas Advent, Christian Disciplines, Love Of The Disciples

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Dr. Maurice Rawlings, Is A Cardiologist And ...  PRO

Contributed by Aaron Burgess on Nov 20, 2002

Dr. Maurice Rawlings, is a cardiologist and professor of medicine at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in Chattanooga, and his colleagues are constantly treating emergency patients, many of whom have had near-death experiences. A study of these cases by Dr. Rawlings was reported in ...read more

Tags: Hell, Death

Denomination: Independent/Bible

A Preacher Was Walking Home From The Market One ...  PRO

Contributed by Brandon Park on Apr 24, 2003

A preacher was walking home from the market one day and he noticed a little mischeivous boy playing with some old birds in a beat up, rusty birdcage. He asked the boy, "Son what are you going to do with those birds." That squirt of a boy said, "Well, I’m going to poke them with a stick...then I’m ...read more

Tags: Easter Resurrection

Denomination: Baptist

Feddersen's Fables" Has The Story Of A Rancher ...

Contributed by Karl Eckhoff on May 16, 2003

"Feddersen’s Fables" has the story of a rancher who rented a famous stallion, to sire a champion by one of his thoroughbred mares. The owner of the majestic beast delivered and unloaded the stallion directly into a corral, and the next day, the rancher rode another horse out onto the meadow and ...read more

Tags: Leadership General

Denomination: Lutheran

Few People Have Encountered A Lion On Its Terms ...  PRO

Contributed by Jeffrey Ebert on Dec 22, 2005

Few people have encountered a lion on its terms and lived to tell about it. One who did was Beryl Markham. In her autobiography West with the Night she tells of the time as a little girl growing up in Africa in the early 1900’s when she came face to face with a lion. She was running playfully ...read more

Tags: Descriptions Of God

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

God Just Needs A Voice  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 13, 2009

GOD JUST NEEDS A VOICE John Stott, a well-known British pastor and theologian, was invited to preach at the University of Sydney in Australia; but after he got there, he lost his voice. He describes his experience as follows: "What can you do with a missionary who has no voice? We had come to ...read more

Scripture: Luke 21:14-15, Matthew 1:18-24

Tags: God Brings Purpose

Prejudice Comes From An Unclean ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Oct 18, 2009

Prejudice Comes from an Unclean Heart I like this thought posted by Mike Atkinson in his daily email humor list some time ago. If you can start the day without caffeine; if you can get going without pep pills; if you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains; if you can resist complaining ...read more

Scripture: Mark 7:14-15

Tags: Racism

Can't Win For Losing  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Nov 5, 2009

CAN'T WIN FOR LOSING A man named Fred inherited a huge land grant, but the will provided that he could choose land in either Chile or Brazil. He chose Brazil. Unhappily, if he had chosen Chile, he would have received his inheritance in land on which they had recently discovered uranium, gold and ...read more

Scripture: Mark 8:27-29, Mark 8:27-33

Tags: Hardship Of Life

Mark 8:35 For Whoever Wants To Save His Life A ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Nov 5, 2009

Mark 8:35 For whoever wants to save his life a will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. (NIV) Now, Jesus is not talking about the cost of our salvation here, because that is free! Romans 6:23 says, “The FREE gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our ...read more

Scripture: Mark 8:34-38

Tags: Discipleship, Risk