In Sermon Illustrations: "Hebrews 11:29-12:2"

Wilma Rudolph, Stricken As A Child With Polio, ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 6, 2010

Wilma Rudolph, Stricken as a Child with Polio, Achieves Olympic Gold Wilma didn’t get much of a head start in life. A bout with polio left her left leg crooked and her foot twisted inward so she had to wear leg braces. After seven years of painful therapy, she could walk without her braces. At age ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-2

Tags: Endurance

A Pow's Will To Live--French Surgeon Removes His ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 6, 2010

A POW’s Will to Live--French Surgeon Removes His Own Appendix When the French surrendered to General Giap and the Vietnamese at Dien Phen Phu, the long line of survivors were led on foot toward Hanoi. A French army surgeon among the prisoners realized that his appendix was in trouble. What would he ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-2

Tags: Endurance

Martyn Lloyd-Jones On ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Mar 22, 2010

Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Sin We tend to think of sin as we see it in rags and in the gutters of life. We look at a drunkard, poor fellow, and we say, there is sin. But that is not the essence of sin. To have a real picture and a true understanding of sin, you must look at some great saint, some ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 12:1

Tags: Sin General, Depravity Of Man

Don't Just Hang On...hang In

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 26, 2010

DON'T JUST HANG ON...HANG IN Decades ago, Oswald Chambers wrote about spiritual perseverance, defining it as... not to hang on and do nothing, but to work deliberately, knowing with certainty that God will never be defeated. The Bible is full of examples of men and women who didn't "just-hang-on" ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-2

Tags: Endurance

Not Success But Faithfulness  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 12, 2010

NOT SUCCESS BUT FAITHFULNESS Jordan was a man of unusual abilities and commitment. He had two Ph.D.s, one in agriculture and the other in Greek and Hebrew. He was so gifted he could have chosen to do anything he wanted. He chose to serve the poor. In the 1940s, he founded a farm in Americus, ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-3

Tags: Endurance

Tony Evans On Getting Un-Stuck  PRO

Contributed by Jeff Strite on Apr 28, 2008

TONY EVANS ON GETTING UN-STUCK Tony Evans, a popular black preacher from down in Texas, spoke of being on an elevator in a high-rise building. He said he’d never been particularly comfortable on such elevators. There was something about riding up and down in a little box several hundred feet off ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 5:15-21, Matthew 11:28-30, Acts 9:1-16, Proverbs 3:5, Acts 20:17-24, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Daniel 5:1-25, Matthew 1:21-25, Genesis 37:1-14, Hebrews 12:1-2, 2 Samuel 21:1-20, 2 Samuel 21:1-10, Proverbs 3:5-6, 1 Corinthians 15:57-58, Psalm 116:1-19  (view more)  (view less)

Tags: Peace, Blood, Endurance, Tithes, Disciplines, Self-Control, Blood Of Jesus, Strain, Prayer Supplication, Trust In The Lord  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Go At It Again

Contributed by Betty Johnson on Aug 18, 2008

GO AT IT AGAIN When the young Theodore Edison was experimenting with a "glass bottle bomb" in his father's lab one day, the experiment exploded, and some of the glass from the bottle got stuck in the young Edison's hand. While his father, Thomas Edison, was caring for his son's hand, the boy ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-3

Tags: Endurance

Denomination: Wesleyan

Keep Your Eyes On Me

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 28, 2009

KEEP YOUR EYES ON ME One day, a man hired an experienced guide to lead him on a hike into the Swiss Alps. After many hours, they came to a high and remote mountain pass. To the man’s dismay, he saw the path had almost been washed out. What could he do? To the left was a sheer rock cliff, to his ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 12:2

Tags: Disciplines General

Meliorism

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 16, 2009

MELIORISM Have you ever heard of Meliorism? Here is what one person said about it. "I am neither an optimist nor a pessimist. I am a Meliorist. Meliorism cancels out optimism as being too bright, too airy; and rejects pessimism as being too dull, too heavy. Take life as it is, says the meliorist, ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 12:2

Tags: Author, God Brings Purpose

The Wrong Target

Contributed by Dr. Fred W. Penney on May 31, 2021

Emmons loses gold medal after aiming at wrong target! 2004 Washington Post: Matt Emmons of the United States shoots at wrong target, finishes eighth. (Douglas C. Pizac -- AP) Matthew Emmons is an elite athlete ! He was an accounting major from Browns Mill, New Jersey. He was a four-year ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 22:26-30, 1 Corinthians 9:24, 2 Timothy 2:5, Hebrews 12:1-3

Tags: Purpose, Priorities, Idolatry

Denomination: Pentecostal

Being A Professional 24 7

Contributed by Dr. Fred W. Penney on Jun 22, 2021

Athletes strive for excellence and continual improvement. Disciples of Christ must take the same attitude. Hockey star Matthew Barzal of the New York Islanders comments on doing and being your best: Whether that's having short hair and clean facial hair throughout the regular season or ...read more

Scripture: Romans 12:1-2, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Hebrews 12:1-3, 1 Corinthians 3:12

Tags: Fruit Of The Spirit, Worship, Commitment, Discipleship, Excellence  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Pentecostal

Spurgeon Quote

Contributed by Ken Mckinley on Aug 17, 2022

I want to read something to you. It’s from a sermon preached by Charles Spurgeon… listen to what he says here… it’s kind of a long quote, but man it’s good. “Everybody admires Luther! Yes, yes, but you do not want anyone else to do the same today. When you go to the Zoological Gardens you all ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-3

Tags: Perseverance, Faithfulness

Denomination: Independent/Bible

The Marathon

Contributed by Dr. Fred W. Penney on Oct 17, 2022

On Sunday, October 16, 2022 my daughter, aged 25, ran her first marathon – the Toronto Waterfront marathon. Though I’m currently living 3000 kms away in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada – I was there at the race to cheer her on. I was not prepared for the emotional intensity of the ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-2, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Philippians 3:14

Tags: Salvation, Perseverance, Gospel, Discipleship, The Cross  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Pentecostal

Don't Get Out Of The Boat Until You Are Ordered!

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Nov 7, 2022

“Peter did not get out of the boat until he was ordered. God will not bless you in any adventure that He has not ordered. Faith is rooted in the Word of God and the will of God, not your feelings and emotions. It is stepping out on the promises and commands of God.  You don't name and ...read more

Scripture: Colossians 3:1-4, Hebrews 12:1-3

Tags: Faith, Fear, Jesus, Obedience, Peter, Miracles, Walking On Water  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Staring At The Great Stone Face

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Jan 2, 2023

Perhaps you remember Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story about the great stone face. A little lad lived in a village where there was a mountain with a rock formation which they called the great stone face. The people had a legend that someday someone would come to the village who would look like the ...read more

Scripture: Colossians 3:1-4, Hebrews 12:1-3

Tags: Glory, Jesus, Worship, Vision, Focus, Looking To Jesus  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Have You Seen The Rabbit - The Race

Contributed by J Jeffrey Smead on Mar 31, 2023

Yet as I prepared this Message ... the Holy Spirit made it clear to me ... that to be all that God has called us to be ... and before we should connect with others ... we first must be abiding with ... and be connected to the Jesus ... to the true vine. To continually abide in the Lord ... to ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 5:14, Luke 22:42, Matthew 6:6, John 10:27, John 15:5, Matthew 25:40, 1 Corinthians 9:24, 2 Timothy 4:7, Hebrews 12:1  (view more)  (view less)

Tags: Cost, Race, Prize, Connect, Chase, Endurance, Vine  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Anglican

Run The Race

Contributed by James Chandler on Apr 18, 2024

Run the Race ”Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-2

Tags: Perseverance, Hope

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

[031] A Message From A Poem – Before Him Lay The Cross

Contributed by Ron Ferguson on Feb 19, 2025

[031] A MESSAGE FROM A POEM – BEFORE HIM LAY THE CROSS We have a retrospective view of the cross in a very limited understanding, but the Lord’s view in the Garden of gethsemane was a forward one. The anticipation of that ordeal was a dreadful one. That comes out in the description and this ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 12:2, John 3:16-17, Psalm 69:1-3, Psalm 22:13-16, Matthew 26:38-39  (view more)  (view less)

Tags: Love, The Cross, Anticipation, Endurance, Cross, Suffering, Gethsemane, Endure, Calvary  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

[117]. A Message From A Poem – He Became Sin For Us

Contributed by Ron Ferguson on Jun 27, 2025

[117]. A MESSAGE FROM A POEM – HE BECAME SIN FOR US This poem resulted from some discussion in one of the Christian forums on Isaiah 52 and 53. I was thinking into the sufferings of the Lamb upon the cross trying to capture the stark reality of that sacrificial death. Of course God blotted out ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 53:4-5, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 12:2

Tags: Christian Poetry, Christian Poems, He Became Sin For Us, Sin, Salvation, Endurance, Cross, Suffering, The Cross, Christ  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

[143]. A Message From A Poem – In The Furnace And The Lions’ Den

Contributed by Ron Ferguson on Jul 26, 2025

[143]. A MESSAGE FROM A POEM – IN THE FURNACE AND THE LIONS’ DEN This poem is the telling of two stories in Daniel, one of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the blazing furnace, and the other of Daniel in the lion’s den. Both stories testify to the goodness of God, and both are examples of ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 11:33, Romans 12:2, Revelation 2:10

Tags: African Persecution, Mouths Of Lions, A Crown For Martyrs, John Huss, Fiery Furnace, Meshach, Abednego, Nigeria, Martyrs, Christian Poems, Daniel, Persecution, Crown Of Life, Shadrach, Darius, Sudan, Death  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational