In Sermon Illustrations: "Hope In Death"

Abraham Lincoln: Merit Your Freedom  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 8, 2013

ABRAHAM LINCOLN: MERIT YOUR FREEDOM In the last days of the Civil War, the Confederate capital, Richmond, Virginia, fell to the Union army. Abraham Lincoln insisted on visiting the city. Even though no one knew he was coming, slaves recognized him immediately and thronged around him. He had ...read more

Scripture: John 21:3-14, Romans 6:1-23, Galatians 5:13-15

Tags: Christian Liberty

A Surprise Visit From Abraham Lincoln

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 9, 2013

A SURPRISE VISIT FROM ABRAHAM LINCOLN In the last days of the Civil War, the Confederate capital, Richmond, Virginia, fell to the Union army. Abraham Lincoln insisted on visiting the city. Even though no one knew he was coming, slaves recognized him immediately and thronged around him. He had ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 5:13-14

Tags: Freedom, Christian Liberty

Unchristian

Contributed by Davon Huss on May 21, 2014

In unChristian, David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group, discusses some disheartening research concerning the failure of Christians in our day to remain distinct: "In virtually every study we conduct, representing thousands of interviews every year, born again Christians (talking about people ...read more

Scripture: Malachi 3:18

Tags: Transform, Holiness, Distinctiveness, Moral Living

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Cross Is The Attraction

Contributed by Andrew Moffatt on Sep 8, 2016

The famous first national Salvationist here in Sri Lanka, Arnolis Weerasooriya whose picture we all walk past every day said something about the cross. Can you remember reading it, it is on his picture. That’s right he said, “Cross is the attraction.” He died from cholera some years later on the ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 20:20-28

Tags: Suffering, Enduring Suffering, Proclaiming

Denomination: Salvation Army

When A Moralistic Mission Misfires!!!

Contributed by Suresh Manoharan on May 22, 2017

Heard of anecdotes when something done with an apparently good intention but in a wrong way went haywire? Here’s one for starters... Who can forget a school time story told often to emphasize the importance of proper usage of punctuation marks? It is said that on account of a last-minute ...read more

Scripture: 1 Chronicles 13:1-14

Tags: Mistakes, Miscalculation

Denomination: *other

Jumping The Grand Canyon

Contributed by Daniel King, D. Min. on Jul 25, 2018

Main Idea: No matter how good you are, you cannot make it to heaven through your own effort. Verse: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9 NKJV). Illustration: Once, two men had ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 2:8-9

Tags: Sin, Need For Christ, Need For Salvation

Denomination: Charismatic

Justification, Propitiation, And The Very Early Church

Contributed by Ed Vasicek on Sep 30, 2019

The early church understood propitiation, the atoning work of Jesus, and justification by faith, not works: from The Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus, Chapter IX, about 200 A.D. But when our wickedness had reached its height, and it had been clearly shown that its reward, punishment and death, ...read more

Scripture: Romans 3:21-31, Romans 5:8, 1 Corinthians 15:1-5

Tags: Atonement, Cross, Justification, Propitiation, Reformation, Grace Alone, Faith Alone, Reformers, Penal Atonement  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Independent/Bible

Obstacles To The Goal

Contributed by Wade Martin Hughes, Sr on Oct 29, 2021

COLLEGE: WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU ARE HIT REAL HARD. ROY RIEGELS WILL FOREVER BE KNOWN AS “WRONG WAY ROY.” Roy played for the University of California from 1927 to 1929. Back then freshmen and sophomores never played on varsity. On January 1, 1929 Roy played in the ROSE BOWL. The GOLDEN ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 12:12-15, Matthew 13:45

Tags: Goal, Obstacle

Denomination: Assembly Of God

The Obituary Of Someone Else

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Nov 20, 2022

Our church was saddened to learn this week of the death of one of our most valued members, Someone Else.   Someone’s passing creates a vacancy that will be difficult to fill. Else has been with us for many years and for every one of those years, Someone did far more than a normal person’s ...read more

Tags: Service, Sacrifice, Church Members, Volunteers

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Four Descriptions Of A Life Without Christ

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Jan 2, 2023

Satan hates God and everything and everyone in the Kingdom of God. He fights the Kingdom on a daily basis and will continue to try to stop the Gospel from spreading (I Thess. 2:18, Ephesians 6:11-12). Paul described the condition of all of those who are unbelievers and living in the Kingdom of ...read more

Scripture: Luke 19:10, 2 Corinthians 3:12-18, Acts 16:31, 1 Corinthians 1:23, 2 Corinthians 4:1-4  (view more)  (view less)

Tags: Satan, Salvation, Gospel, Lost, Unsaved, Spiritual Blindness, Unbelievers, Perishing  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Moving Story Of A Godly Father

Contributed by J Jeffrey Smead on Mar 13, 2023

Hear our Lords Words: BIBLE Be merciful ... even as your Father (in Heaven) is merciful. END (Luke 6:36) Some time ago ... I heard a touching story .... about a humble, ... consecrated pastor ... whose young son had become.... Extremely ill. After the boy had undergone an exhaustive series of ...read more

Scripture: Luke 6:36, Proverbs 1:8, Matthew 6:1-18

Tags: Father, Father's Day, Salvation, Godly

Denomination: Anglican

The Sign Of Jonah Was The Resurrection Of Christ, Not A Solar Eclipse.

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Apr 6, 2024

As far as the claim that the solar eclipse happened at the exact same time Jonah was in Nineveh, astronomers do confirm that it’s possible that within a ten-year window at approximately the same time period Jonah was in Nineveh there was an eclipse. However, that’s not precisely the exact same ...read more

Tags: Jonah, Resurrection, Prophecy, Second Coming, Rapture, Tribulation, False Teaching, Nineveh, False Prophets, Return Of Christ, Solar Eclipse  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Contact With Another World

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Aug 12, 2024

A group of scientists are directing their thoughts and needs into the heavens, but not to the God of the Bible. They have calculated that as many as fifty million civilizations may exist somewhere in space, and they believe that some of them may have found methods to improve our lives and control ...read more

Scripture: Jeremiah 33:3, Mark 11:24

Tags: Prayer, Intercession, Believing, Asking, Scientists, Faith  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Return Good For Evil - Martin Luther King

Contributed by Martin Spoelstra on May 11, 2025

Jesus doesn’t just ask us to avoid revenge—he calls us to actively do good in return. Not because the other person deserves it, but because he deserves our obedience. And we’ve seen it lived out—not just in Bible times, but in our own history. Perhaps one of the clearest modern examples is Dr. ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 5:38-42

Tags: Evil, Martin Luther, Doing Good

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Moses, Aaron And Hur Went To The Top Of The Hill. ...  PRO

Contributed by Joel Pankow on Aug 14, 2003

Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. 11 As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. 12 When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 5:11

Tags: Jesus Christ, Lordship Of Christ

Denomination: Lutheran

The Eskimo's Are Among The Greatest Hunter's Of ...  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

The Eskimo’s are among the greatest hunter’s of the world, but there is one animal that is the most difficult for them to catch. This animal has the greatest intellect, keenest smell, and the sharpest eyesight. And yet for the Eskimo’s to survive they must trap and kill this animal before it ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 140:5, Genesis 19:1-26

Tags: Sin Bondage To, Sword Of The Spirit

Shouts Of Praise  PRO

Contributed by Terry Laughlin on Aug 11, 2008

Shouts of Praise There is a loud declaration of our Lord's purpose for coming to earth at the triumphal entry. "As Jesus approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives... Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches ...read more

Scripture: Mark 11:1-10

Tags: Easter Palm Sunday

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Brother Lawrence And Disciplines

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 10, 2009

BROTHER LAWRENCE AND DISCIPLINES Around 1610, a child was born in France by the name Nichols Herman. Later in life, he would become known as Brother Lawrence. As a young man, he fought in the Thirty Years War and sustained a near fatal His injury to his sciatic nerve. The injury left him quite ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 6:9

Tags: Discipleship, Recognition, Seeking Christ

Hetty Green The Money ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 6, 2010

Hetty Green the Money Hoarder -The corruption of the possessions of wealthy people witness against them. People who hoard and set out to accumulate great amounts of money and possessions fail to recognize that God gave them wealth for a reason. -For many years Hetty Green was called America’s ...read more

Scripture: James 5:1-6

Tags: Money

Galatians 4:4-5 Says "But When The Time Had ...

Contributed by Jeff Strite on Aug 26, 2012

Galatians 4:4-5 says “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.” We’re sons. We’ve been redeemed from UNDER the Law. Those UNDER the Mosaic law lived UNDER the strict rules and ...read more

Tags: Law

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ