In Sermon Illustrations: "Helpfulness"

The Important-Looking Lawyer  PRO

Contributed by John Perry on Jul 28, 2010

THE IMPORTANT-LOOKING LAWYER A young lawyer was setting himself up in his first private practice. As he sat in his office, which was basically bare except for his desk with a telephone on it and a book case filled with important-looking legal books, he wondered how long it would be before he got ...read more

Tags: Love, Hypocrisy, Hate

Denomination: Pentecostal

Losing Jesus

Contributed by Ed Vasicek on Dec 13, 2010

LOSING JESUS For about 14 years, I have been teaching AWANA. I teach each of our three division, beginning with a puppet skit and then a flannel graph lesson with felt figures. I taught the Christmas Story to the Sparks, K-2nd grade, then I moved everything into the auditorium to teach the Flames ...read more

Tags: Birth Of Jesus

Denomination: Independent/Bible

Bathed In The Spirit

Contributed by Chuck Sligh on Apr 14, 2011

BATHED IN THE SPIRIT I remember when I had my cancer surgery in 1979. Susan and I had a pact that when I came out from the anesthesia, no matter how bad the news, she would tell me the truth about my prognosis. When I woke up from the anesthesia, I turned to her from my bed and whispered hoarsely, ...read more

Tags: Comfort

Denomination: Baptist

God's Only 'forgotten' Son

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 24, 2011

GOD'S ONLY 'FORGOTTEN' SON There's a true story told about a revival that was held in a small town. The crowd had dispersed, when a woman came down front and asked to speak with the preacher. She cried uncontrollably as she explained to the minister that she wanted to become a Christian, but she ...read more

Scripture: John 3:16

Tags: God's Love

Why Did God Make Mothers?

Contributed by Curry Pikkaart on May 10, 2011

WHY DID GOD MAKE MOTHERS? Consider these answers given by elementary-age children to the following questions. "Why did God make mothers?" "Mostly to clean the house." "To help us out of there, when we were getting born." "How did God make mothers?" "God made my Mom just the same like he made ...read more

Tags: Mothers

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

What Would You Do?

Contributed by Revd. Martin Dale on Jun 30, 2011

WHAT WOULD YOU DO? A number of years ago, a young police officer was taking his final exam for the police academy when he came upon the following question: "You are on patrol in the outer city when an explosion occurs in a gas main in a nearby street. On investigation you find that a large hole ...read more

Tags: Christian Witness

Denomination: Anglican

God Picks The Unlovable Ones

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 15, 2011

GOD PICKS THE UNLOVABLE ONES Anne Lamott described a time when a fellow church member told about adopting her son through an organization called A.S.K. -- Adopt Special Kids. Part of the adoption process included filling out a questionnaire checking "yes" or "no" for one's willingness to adopt ...read more

Scripture: John 4:1-42

Tags: Adoption

Eckerd: On The Hook With God

Contributed by Dennis Davidson on Jan 23, 2012

ECKERD: ON THE HOOK WITH GOD JACK ECKERD founded the chain of drug stores that bear his name. Eckerd gave his employees Eckerd's shares from his personal stock. By taking advantage of the stock option program offered by Eckerd, his employees benefitted financially in the success of the new ...read more

Tags: Christian Witness

Denomination: Baptist

A Man Once Came To Peter Marshall, Former ...  PRO

Contributed by Josh Hunt on Feb 13, 2012

A man once came to Peter Marshall, former chaplain of the Unites States Senate, with a concern about tithing. “I have a problem,” he said. “I have been tithing for some time. It wasn’t too bad when I was making $20,000 a year; I could afford to give up $2,000. But now that I am making $500,000, ...read more

Scripture: Luke 16:13

Tags: Money, Tithes, Materialism

Denomination: Baptist

God, You're In My Way.  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 28, 2012

"GOD, YOU'RE IN MY WAY." A California pastor, Kyle Idleman, talks about his last move in his book, Not a Fan. In that move, he saved the heaviest piece of furniture for last -- the desk from his office. And as he was pushing and pulling the desk with all his might, his four-year-old son came over ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 4:6-8, Philippians 4:4-7

Tags: Anxiety

Guiding Light

Contributed by Joe Bertone on Aug 20, 2012

GUIDING LIGHT Do you remember this intro? “And now, The Guiding Light.” It is an old one. According to Guinness Book of World Records The Guiding Light was the longest running drama of all time. It came on the air in January 25, 1937 five days after President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s second ...read more

Scripture: John 8:12

Tags: Darkness, Change, Soap, Jesus Life, Guiding Light  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

We Should Be Striving On A Daily Basis To Worship ...

Contributed by Mark Thometz on Aug 27, 2012

We should be striving on a daily basis to worship God in new, loving and exciting ways. It's very easy to become comfortable in our worship. We have that thing on Sunday and sometimes Wednesday and we may even dust off our Bible every now and then to read it. What about feeding the hungry as ...read more

Tags: Evangelism How To

Denomination: Christian Church

Man Overboard  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 8, 2013

MAN OVERBOARD One day Hudson Taylor was traveling on a Chinese junk from Shanghai to Ningpo. He had been witnessing to a man named Peter who rejected the gospel but was under deep conviction. In the course of events, Peter fell overboard, but no one made any effort to save him. Taylor sprang to ...read more

Scripture: Luke 10:2, Luke 10:1-10

Tags: Evangelism Urgency

Pray With Me: An Intercession Story

Contributed by Davon Huss on May 31, 2014

In his book Stories for the Journey, William White tells of a European seminary professor and his wife, Hans and Enid. During WW2 they escaped to America, where Hans began teaching in a seminary. Students loved this Bible teacher, and they enjoyed observing the tender love that Hans and Enid ...read more

Scripture: John 16:20-22

Tags: Grief, Prayer Partner, Intercessory Prayer

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Slavory And Original Sin

Contributed by Troy Heald on Jul 26, 2014

Picture your ancestors as plantation farmers in the South. They have many acres of farmland and need to manage those crops. To help them accomplish this task, they go to the docks and buy a family of slaves to do the work around the farm, thus becoming the first slave owners in your family. ...read more

Scripture: Romans 5:12-14

Tags: Original Sin, Ask Forgiveness, Adam's Sin, Guilty As Charged

Denomination: Baptist

Chronic Frustrations

Contributed by Wade Martin Hughes, Sr on Nov 18, 2014

CHRONIC FRUSTRATION Have you heard the story of a majestic eagle that lived in the safety of the high cliffs, and often flew to great lofty heights. He could dive at great speeds. HE OFTEN FELT HE WAS INVINCIBLE, NOTHING COULD TAKE HIM DOWN. A hunter studied the eagle day after day, and prepared ...read more

Scripture: Ezra 4:5

Tags: Hurting Self, No Weapon

Denomination: Assembly Of God

Trials

Contributed by Tim Smith on May 28, 2015

Sam Dixon was the General Secretary of the United Methodist Committee on Relief. He died under the rubble in the Montana Hotel of Haiti, serving God while meeting with other relief agencies to work together to better help the Haitian people. When one serves God so faithfully and suddenly is killed, ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 7:13-16

Tags: God's Sovereignty, Serving, Choices, The Price To Follow

Denomination: Methodist

Yanking And Pulling.

Contributed by Roy Fowler on Jun 19, 2020

A woman that had boarded a plane to visit family struggled to wedge her suitcase into the tight overhead bin. Eventually triumphantly closing the door and taking her seat. When the plane landed, she got up opened the bin and found her suitcase was struck so she began yanking and tugging. The ...read more

Scripture: James 5:10-11

Tags: Persistence, Resilience

Denomination: Independent/Bible

Resilience When Faced With Insurmountable Problems

Contributed by Roy Fowler on Sep 13, 2020

A woman that had boarded a plane to visit family struggled to wedge her suitcase into the tight overhead bin. Eventually triumphantly closing the door and taking her seat. When the plane landed, she got up opened the bin and found her suitcase was struck so she began yanking and tugging. The ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 10:28

Tags: Resilience, Insurmountable Problems

Denomination: Independent/Bible

What Are We Preaching?

Contributed by Garris Hudson on Jan 25, 2021

WHAT ARE WE PREACHING? False teachings abound whenever people do not know the truth. Many of our churches today do not teach the truth because many pastors do not know the Bible. In our seminaries, almost 50 percent of professors now teach that there was no virgin birth of Jesus, and that story ...read more

Scripture: 2 Timothy 4:1-3, 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Tags: Apostasy, Preaching The Word, Preachers, Liberalism

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational