In Sermon Illustrations: "Http"

Younger Children 800% More Likely To Receive ...  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 9, 2006

Younger Children 800% More Likely To Receive Christ: Barna Research reports teens between ages 14 and 18 have only a 4% likelihood of accepting Christ compared to kids ages 5 through 13 who have a 32% probability. This challenges the widely held notion that the teen-age years are a prime time for ...read more

Tags: Commitment To Christ

A Federal Reserve Survey Released On 1/15/00 ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 10, 2006

A Federal Reserve survey released on 1/15/00 reports that U.S. families median net worth jumped from $60,900 in ’95 to $71,600 in ’98, the survey’s latest year. A rise of nearly 18%! 48.8% of families owned stock in ’98, up from 40.4% in ’95. The median net worth of households with incomes of ...read more

Tags: Money

Redefining God Across The Country, Many Are ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 10, 2006

Redefining God Across the country, many are redefining God. “Dissatisfaction with conventional images of an authoritarian or paternalistic deity, people are embracing quirky, individualistic conceptions of God to suit their own spiritual needs,” notes Lisa Miller in a 4/21/00 Wall Street Journal ...read more

Tags: God The Father

Loyalty: F-O-R-T-U-N-E Personnel Consultants ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 13, 2006

Loyalty: F-O-R-T-U-N-E Personnel Consultants national research uncovered key reasons employees stay. The 3 most important reasons for staying with an employer are: challenging work, the ability to balance work with family life, and compensation. The 3 least important reasons for staying are: ...read more

Tags: Workplace

Why Disappointing Holiday Sales? Paco Underhill ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 13, 2006

Why Disappointing Holiday Sales? Paco Underhill says, First, we’re part of an aging culture, and people don’t need stuff. If you’re 35 or younger, you’re still acquiring possessions. If you’re between 35-50, you’re buying ser-vices. If you’re over 60, you’re buying experiences. The problem with ...read more

Tags: Finding Fulfillment

Mobilization Is Not Filling Slots," Claims Carol ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

“Mobilization is not filling slots,” claims Carol Davis, veteran church leadership trainer, “Mobilization is activating the incredible capacity of Christ’s church to serve the purposes of God in our own generation. Mobilization happens when I’m being used as an activator. I listen to and watch for ...read more

Tags: Church General

Fewer Absolute Truth Believers: Some 20 Months ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

Fewer Absolute Truth Believers: Some 20 months prior to the 9/11 attacks, people were asked if they believed that “there are moral truths that are absolute, meaning that those moral truths or principles do not change according to the circumstances” or that “moral truth always depends upon the ...read more

Tags: Truth Absolute

Culture War Invades Corporate America: The ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

Culture War Invades Corporate America: The culture war over homosexuality has moved into the workplace. Millions of employees are being commanded to not just tolerate homosexual behavior, but to respect and even promote it reports the 1/4 issue of Christianity Today. At least 300 of the Fortune ...read more

No Religion: Experts Who Compared The Results Of ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

No Religion: Experts who compared the results of religious identification surveys for ’90 and ‘01 report that those who said they have “no” religious identification are the fastest growing U.S. religious group. They comprised 8% of respondents in ‘90 and 14% in ‘01, or approximately 30 million ...read more

Tags: World Religions

Working Poor: There Are 35 Million People In The ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

Working Poor: There are 35 million people in the country living in poverty. Most of the adults in that group work, notes Ron Suskind, the author of The Price of Loyalty. Worker Output rose at a 2.7% annual rate in Q4 of ’03, down from 9.5% in Q3 reports the Labor Department. Productivity for year ...read more

Tags: Money

Charge It: A New Gallup Poll Shows That Just Over ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

Charge It: A new Gallup Poll shows that just over half of Americans have at least one credit card on which they do not pay off the full amount due each month. 29% say they have at least one card, but always pay the full amount each month. 21% don’t have any credit cards. The average outstanding ...read more

Tags: Money

Marijuana: The Average Age Of First-Time ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

Marijuana: The average age of first-time marijuana users in the U.S has dropped from 19 to 13. A recent Gallup poll indicates 34% of Americans favor legalization, the greatest support since ‘69. In ‘01, 50,000 people were sentenced to prison for marijuana violations. In some states with ...read more

Tags: Addiction

Not A Sin: Born Again Adults Are Twice As Likely ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 20, 2006

Not A Sin: Born again adults are twice as likely as non-born agains (24% vs. 10%) to agree divorce without adultery is a sin, finds a new Barna Group survey. However, 52% of born agains disagree that divorce without adultery is sin. 74% of all non-born again adults disagree with the statement. 58% ...read more

Tags: Forgiveness General

New Ratings: The Entertainment Software Rating ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

New Ratings: The Entertainment Software Rating Board® has set up a new category for video game ratings. The “E10+” category was created for games suitable for children ages 10 and older. These fall between the ones rated “E” for “everyone,” which many tweens outgrow, and the ones rated “T” for ...read more

Tags: Entertainment

Lower Risk Kids: The Foundation For Child ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

Lower Risk Kids: The Foundation for Child Development reports the teen and adolescent birth rate has dropped from 20 births per 1000 girls in ’92 to 10.9 in ‘04. Binge drinking among high school seniors has fallen from 36.9% in ’74 to 29.2% last year. The number of youth offenders has fallen from ...read more

Tags: Church General

A New Evangelical Movement: Rick Warren Recently ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

A New Evangelical Movement: Rick Warren recently sent an open letter to President Bush saying, “I deeply believe that if we as evangelicals remain silent and do not speak up in defense of the poor, we lose our credibility and our right to witness about God’s love for the world. Endorsed by Billy ...read more

Tags: Evangelism How To

Pushover Parents: A Recent Study Found That 24% ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

Pushover Parents: A recent study found that 24% of teens say their parents have given them alcohol, and 21% have been to a party where alcohol was supplied by the parents. Focus on the Family’s Dr. Bill Maier attributes the problem to what he calls pushover parents. “Unfortunately, there are a ...read more

Tags: Children

Multigenerational Households: In The 2000 Census ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

Multigenerational Households: In the 2000 Census extended families with kids, parents and grandparents, totaled 4.2 million homes. Another 43.6 million households included people from two generations. 57.5 million households consisted of only one generation. Single-adult households are now the most ...read more

Tags: Children

Women Prefer Home: A New Gallup Poll Shows That ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

Women Prefer Home: A new Gallup Poll shows that if free to choose, a majority of women would opt for the traditional female role of staying at home, while a majority of men would prefer their traditional role of working outside the home. Over the past 4 years, younger women (more so than older ...read more

Tags: Parenting

Porn Presence More Than 40 Million People Visit ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

Porn Presence More than 40 million people visit an Internet porn site each day. · There are now more than 4.2 million Internet porn sites. · 60% of all web site visits are sexual in nature. · 30% of unsolicited e-mails contain porno content. · Americans spend an estimated $8-$10 billion annually on ...read more

Tags: Addiction