In Sermon Illustrations: "Hard Heart"

Making Your Life Count For Something

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 7, 2011

MAKING YOUR LIFE COUNT FOR SOMETHING Many years ago at a Presbyterian retreat center near Asheville, NC, the annual summer conference was being held. An elderly man with a neatly clipped white goatee and resonant voice rose to speak. He explained that he was a medical doctor and he had a story to ...read more

Scripture: Luke 14:25-33

Tags: Missions

How James Montgomery Boice Faced Faced Death From ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 10, 2011

How James Montgomery Boice Faced Faced Death from Cancer On May 7, 2000, Dr. Boice stood in this pulpit for the last time to speak about his cancer that would take his life in a month. Here is an excerpt: "If I were to reflect on what goes on theologically here, there are two things I would ...read more

Scripture: Romans 8:28-39, Romans 12:1-2

Tags: Death Nearness

Faith Healing

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 1, 2011

FAITH HEALING I’ve know people who questioned God’s love for them because God didn’t heal them. I’ve known others who questioned their own faith...they felt like if they’d just had more faith God would have healed them. In fact, I’ve known people who were TOLD by a faith-healer that the reason ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 9:20-22, Matthew 10:40-42

Tags: Miracles General

God Wants To Pull The Stickers Out  PRO

Contributed by Tim White on Jun 6, 2011

GOD WANTS TO PULL THE STICKERS OUT The little girl hopped away screaming. Obviously, the fear of living forever with a sticker in her foot was not as terrifying as the thought of me pulling it out. But a five-year-old could not out-run the preacher. Not hopping on one foot, anyway. After I ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 1:6

Tags: Sanctification

Denomination: Baptist

Do You Want To Be Right, Or Do You Want To Be ...  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 11, 2011

DO YOU WANT TO BE RIGHT, OR DO YOU WANT TO BE WELL? Dr. David Seamands tells the story about a young woman he counseled in college several years ago. She had suffered every kind of abuse in her own home--psychological, sexual and physical. The very place that was supposed to be nurturing was ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 18:21-35

Tags: Forgiveness For Others

Soul Surfer: Fulfill God's Destiny

Contributed by Michael Mccartney on Jul 19, 2011

* SOUL SURFER: FULFILL GOD'S DESTINY Soul Surfer is the inspiring true story of teen surfer Bethany Hamilton. Bethany lost her left arm in a shark attack and courageously overcame all odds to become a champion again, through her sheer determination and unwavering faith in Jesus Christ. Bethany ...read more

Tags: Fulfillment

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Why Worry?  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 12, 2011

WHY WORRY? In a 2006 article in Time magazine called "Why We Worry About the Things We Shouldn’t" Jeffrey Kluger, writes: As human beings, we pride ourselves on being the only species that understands the concept of risk. Yet we have a confounding habit of worrying about mere possibilities while ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 4:6-8

Tags: Worry

Just Wanted To Tell You I Love You  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 29, 2011

JUST WANTED TO TELL YOU I LOVE YOU Paul Powell tells the story of a well-known preacher from years ago. His name was Carter Jones. Carter had a small room in the attic of his home that he used as a place of prayer. When he was especially burdened, he would make his way up the winding staircase to ...read more

Scripture: Mark 12:29-31

Tags: Love For God

Christian Conviction: Roger Williams

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 30, 2011

CHRISTIAN CONVICTION: ROGER WILLIAMS Roger Williams was a graduate of Cambridge University, where in order to receive his degree he was forced to sign articles declaring that the king was by right the head of the English Church, that worship according to the Book of Common Prayer and church ...read more

Scripture: Romans 13:1-7

Tags: Christian Witness

What Will You Do With Jesus This Christmas?

Contributed by David Tack on Dec 2, 2011

WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH JESUS THIS CHRISTMAS? Many years ago in the countryside of Bethlehem the townsfolk prepared for just another day, though this day was quite extraordinary. The shepherds were out tending to their sheep and the Jewish nation was feeling the restraints of Roman oppression. ...read more

Tags: Christmas

Denomination: Baptist

Is He Real Or Pretend?

Contributed by Mark Stepherson on Dec 15, 2011

IS HE REAL OR PRETEND? I think George Reeves was the first actor to be Superman on TV. Back in the 50's, TV actors were not quite as "elite" as some seem to be now. They would throw out the first pitch at a Los Angeles little league game. They would fire the starting pistol for a soap box derby ...read more

Scripture: 1 Samuel 16:7, Isaiah 29:13

Tags: Hypocrisy, Sincerity

Denomination: Baptist

John Macarthur On Knowing God's Will

Contributed by Josh Hunt on Mar 27, 2012

JOHN MACARTHUR ON KNOWING GOD'S WILL God’s will is that you be saved, Spirit-filled, sanctified, submissive, and suffering. God’s Word makes all this clear. Do not read on until you have grasped these five principles. You say, "MacArthur, you were going to tell me what school I should go to. You ...read more

Scripture: Jeremiah 29:11

Tags: God's Will, Knowing God's Will

Denomination: Baptist

Love Is Face To Face

Contributed by Christian Cheong on Jul 6, 2012

LOVE IS FACE-TO-FACE By Erwin Raphael McManus in SOUL CRAVINGS – PREQUEL, pp. 28ff: "I once met a girl named Kim, and I fell in love. I pursued her with my love and pursed her with my love until I felt my love had captured her heart. So I asked her to be my wife, and she said no." I could feel ...read more

Tags: God's Love, Galilee, Feeding 5000, Five Thousand

Denomination: Independent/Bible

If ...

Contributed by Joe Bertone on Aug 1, 2012

IF ONLY There was a great Scotch writer and historian in the nineteenth century named Thomas Carlyle. He married a woman, who’d worked as his secretary named Jane Welsh. But Carlyle was dedicated to his writing so he didn’t spend much time with her. He just mostly wrote. At one point she became ...read more

Scripture: James 4:13-17

Tags: Death, Remorse, Parable Ten Virgins, Regret

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Compassion For An Old Man

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 14, 2012

COMPASSION FOR AN OLD MAN It was a bitterly cold evening in Northern Virginia many years ago. The old man's beard was glazed by winter's frost as he waited for a ride across the river. He heard a brigade of men on horses coming around the bend. He let the first one pass him without any effort to ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 22:34-40, Luke 7:11-17

Tags: Compassion

Come Home

Contributed by Joe Bertone on Aug 27, 2012

COME HOME Longing to leave her poor Brazilian neighborhood, Christina wanted to see the world. Discontent with a home having only a pallet on the floor, a washbasin, and a wood-burning stove, she dreamed of a better life in the city. One morning she slipped away breaking her mother’s ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 18:12-14

Tags: Salvation, Lost, Home, Seek, Found, Wander  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Selling Your Cow  PRO

Contributed by Davon Huss on May 31, 2014

Daniel Overdorf: One of my older sisters and her husband served for 12 years as missionaries to Haiti. Among various other ministries, such as church plants, a school and feeding programs, they discipled a few young men who today lead various churches and ministries. One participant in this was ...read more

Scripture: 1 John 3:16-18

Tags: Help The Needy, Christian Giving, Sharing God's Bounty

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Jesus Is The Answer

Contributed by Tim Smith on Feb 11, 2015

Krister Sairsingh, a former Hindu from Trinidad who is now the Chaplain to international students at Harvard. Let me read you some excerpts from his story. After making great progress in the Hindu spiritual disciplines something happened that unsettled him deeply. During my final year of high ...read more

Scripture: Acts 15:1-32

Tags: Evangelism, Conversion, Jesus Is The Answer

Denomination: Methodist

Sharing Sermon Notes, Stories And Outlines To Further The Gospel Of Jesus

Contributed by John T Brantley on Dec 22, 2015

When all through the town, Folks were snuggled comfy and sound. All my night guests had checked in, And I was exhausted and tucked in my kin, When out at the door the I heard a swift rap, of the door knocker knocking interrupting my nap. I sprang up from my cot to see what was the issue, Couldn’t ...read more

Scripture: Luke 2:1-20

Tags: Inn Keeper, No Room In The Inn, Christmas, Christmas Eve

Denomination: United Methodist

Corrie Ten Boom On Forgiveness And Love Of Enemy

Contributed by Kerry Haynes on May 6, 2018

When I think of drawing on love’s source, I think of Corrie ten Boom. Her family had all died in the Nazi concentration camps. Their crime? Hiding Jews in their home. Somehow Corrie survived. The war had ended, the camps had been liberated, and Corrie was speaking in various churches, sharing about ...read more

Scripture: John 15:9-17, Matthew 5:43-48

Tags: Agape Love, Love Your Enemy, Source Of True Love, Love, Forgiveness, Forgive, Divine Love  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Baptist