In Sermon Illustrations: "Hearts Desires"

Being Involved In The Church Will Require You To ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

Being involved in the church will require you to love people who are difficult to love. Being involved in the church may require you to work with people who are difficult to work with. Being involved in the church, may cost you some of our friends, who don’t see the importance of being actively in ...read more

Tags: Evangelism How To

7 Ways To Build Self-Control

Contributed by Garris Hudson on Feb 27, 2023

To be self-controlled is to restrain ourselves by not giving in to our depraved desires. We can say “no” when everything in us is saying “yes” for all the wrong reasons. We deny worldly lusts when we withhold our consent from them and when we refuse the delight they suggest. God will give us the ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 5:22-23

Tags: Temptation, Character, Fruit Of The Spirit, Discipline, Works Of The Flesh, Self Control, Spirit Filled Life  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Words Have Incredible Power. They Can Make ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 12, 2007

"Words have incredible power. They can make peoples hearts sore, and they can ...read more

Tags: Words

Many Years Ago C.s. Lewis Wrote The Screwtape ...  PRO

Contributed by Tim Zingale on Dec 4, 2003

Many years ago C.S. Lewis wrote the Screwtape Letters. Screwtape was an assistant devil writing to his nephew Wormwood. Screwtape was telling his nephew how to make the "patient" leave the camp of the arch enemy, the Prince of Peace, and dwell in the camp of the real boss, the prince of darkness. ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4:4, Matthew 3:1-12

Tags: Temptation Pride

Denomination: Lutheran

Blessed Are The Peacemakers

Contributed by Terry Laughlin on Aug 11, 2008

Blessed Are The Peacemakers "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God." (Matthew 5:9) There is a commission from God that is available to every obedient Christian today and that is to be a peacemaker. Argument and discord is a great waste of energies better spent on ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 5:9

Tags: Character

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Wesley: God's Will For Marriage

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 6, 2011

WESLEY: GOD'S WILL FOR MARRIAGE When John Wesley was thirty-two years old, he was a bachelor missionary in the colony of Georgia. While he was serving a church in Savannah, he met a young woman named Sophia Christian Hopkey. She was pretty and intelligent, and Wesley fell head over heels in love ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 3:5-6

Tags: Knowing God's Will

Sifted Like Wheat

Contributed by Sam Mccormick on Dec 15, 2016

A rooster’s crow announced the dawn. This dawn was not the sunrise, still hours away, but the dawn of Peter’s realization of what he had done. Like the first rays of the sun slicing through the night’s darkness, Peter awakened to his sin and its gravity. It cut him to the core of his being, and ...read more

Scripture: Luke 22:31-32

Tags: Peter, Betrayal Of Christ, Sifted, Rehabilitation

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Beginning Again  PRO

Contributed by Sam Mccormick on Dec 29, 2016

BEGINNING AGAIN The opening lines of a poem by Louisa Fletcher express this plaintive wish: I wish that there were some wonderful place Called the "Land of Beginning Again," Where all our mistakes, and all our heartaches, And all of our poor selfish grief Could be dropped like a shabby old coat ...read more

Scripture: John 3:3-8

Tags: Resolution, Born Again, New Year, New Start

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Norma Jean Was A Person Who Appeared To Have ...  PRO

Contributed by Robert Massey on Mar 23, 2002

Norma Jean was a person who appeared to have everything. The most famous men in the world courted her. Even presidents desired her. She made millions, her name was splashed across almost every newspaper in the country. Yet, she died from an overdose, and she choked to death on her own vomit, ...read more

Tags: Evangelism The Lost, Finding Fulfillment

Denomination: Church Of God

The Lorica Of St. Patrick  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Mar 7, 2003

THE LORICA OF ST. PATRICK I arise today Through God’s strength to pilot me; God’s might to uphold me, God’s wisdom to guide me, God’s eye to look before me, God’s ear to hear me, God’s word to speak for me, God’s hand to guard me, God’s way to lie before me, God’s shield to protect me, ...read more

Tags: Lordship Of Christ, God's Provision, God's Omnipotence

Joseph M. Stowell Said, "Some Time Ago I Was ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

Joseph M. Stowell said, "Some time ago I was chatting with a man who consults with some of the largest U.S. companies about their quality control. Because ministry is a form of human quality control, I though I’d ask him for some insights. "He said, ’In quality control, we are not concerned about ...read more

Tags: Faith

Joseph M. Stowell - Some Time Ago, I Was ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

Joseph M. Stowell - Some time ago, I was chatting with a man who consults with some of the largest U.S. companies about their quality control. Because ministry is a form of human quality control, I thought I’d ask him for some insights. He said, "In quality control, we are not concerned about the ...read more

Tags: Faith

Ronald Meridith Described In Hurryin' Big For ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

Ronald Meridith described in Hurryin’ Big for Little Reasons a quiet evening when he heard the sound of wild geese approaching in flight. He noticed the tame geese on his pond. “They heard the wild call they had once known. The honking… sent little arrows of prompting deep into their wild ...read more

Tags: Temptation Resisting

A Church's Mission Drives Its ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 7, 2009

A CHURCH’S MISSION DRIVES ITS MORALE John Polak in his book, The Future in Past Tense, says: "A study of the history of the people of God reveals an interesting fact--the wellbeing of the believing community was directly proportional to their obedience to God’s mission for them. When the people of ...read more

Tags: Servanthood

The Theme Of Development Can Be Identified With ...

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Mar 13, 2010

The theme of development can be identified with the inclusion-in-relation of all individuals and peoples within the one community of the human family, built in solidarity on the basis of the fundamental values of justice and peace. This perspective is illuminated in a ...read more

Tags: Trinity

Denomination: Catholic

I Know A Mom Who Denies God's Call Upon Her ...

Contributed by Ajai Prakash on Jun 15, 2010

I know a mom who denies God’s call upon her teenage boy and is constantly trying to lure him by feeding his flesh with earthly things so that he is satisfied with the things of the world and would not focus and pursue God’s call upon his life. She has been going to extents like getting young girls ...read more

Tags: Evil, Father's Day

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Sibling Revenge  PRO

Contributed by William Hooper on May 3, 2011

SIBLING REVENGE The desire to "get even" seems to be a part of the human psyche. It is like the story of a mother who heard her seven-year-old son screaming. She runs into the next room to see what is wrong, and discovers her two-year-old daughter is pulling the hair of her brother. The ...read more

Scripture: Luke 23:32-43

Tags: Child, Children

Denomination: Baptist

God Pursues You  PRO

Contributed by Lalachan Abraham on Jan 10, 2013

GOD PURSUES YOU God is constantly initiating and seeking man to come to him. Malcolm Muggeridge, socialist and philosophical author, wrote, "I had a notion that somehow, besides questing, I was being pursued." C.S. Lewis said he remembered, "...night after night, feeling whenever my mind ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 118:1-2

Tags: God's Love

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Filled To The Brim! (07.05.05--Joy Every ...  PRO

Contributed by Mark Brunner on Jul 4, 2005

Filled To The Brim! (07.05.05--Joy Every Day--Ecclesiastes 5:1-9) When I was younger I remember being moved on more than one occasion, either by laziness or a predisposition to want to do something more “rewarding” on a Sunday morning, to prompt my dad with this question: “Why do we have to go to ...read more

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 5:1-9

Tags: Worship Purpose, Worship Benefits

Denomination: Lutheran

Foundational ...

Contributed by Terry Laughlin on Aug 11, 2008

Foundational Love 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) God has given ...read more

Scripture: John 13:34-35

Tags: Love Of The Disciples

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational