In Sermon Illustrations: "Influence For Christ"

Unknown Inheritances  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 12, 2009

UNKNOWN INHERITANCES A Michigan factory worker, earning less than ten thousand dollars a year, was an unknowing heir to a half-million dollars. When located by an investigator some years after his benefactor’s death, the worker explained that he had neither returned home nor kept in touch with his ...read more

Scripture: Romans 8:16-17

Tags: God The Father

Atheist Thankful For A Beautiful ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Nov 24, 2009

Atheist Thankful for a Beautiful Morning One morning a woman who was a known atheist stepped out of her home on the hillside and was taken back by what a beautiful morning it was. The Cook Inlet sparkled, the air was fresh and crisp, the sky was a blue as she had ever seen it and Denali loomed over ...read more

Scripture: Luke 17:17-19

Tags: Thanks, Thanksgiving Holiday

Racecar Drivers Avoid Thinking About ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 14, 2009

Racecar Drivers Avoid Thinking About Death Scott Goodyear, speaking of race-car drivers who have been killed in crashes at the Indianapolis 500, said; “You don’t go look at where it happened, You don’t watch the films of it on television. You don’t deal with it. You pretend it never happened." The ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 3:14-15

Tags: Death

As A Young Man, Augustine Packed A Lot Of Life ...

Contributed by Dennis Davidson on Jan 11, 2010

As a young man, AUGUSTINE packed a lot of life into a few years. He was a brilliant professor on the fast track with powerful Roman politicians. Yet despite his success and pursuit of pleasure, his soul was restless. His mother was a devout Christian, but Augustine wasn't interested in ...read more

Tags: Repentance

Denomination: Baptist

Picked From The Fire

Contributed by Dennis Davidson on Feb 25, 2010

PICKED FROM THE FIRE John Wesley never forgot a terrible night of his childhood. He was only six years old at the time, and he had awakened in the family's old rectory to find it ablaze from top to bottom. Everyone else had been dragged from the building, but by some extraordinary oversight he ...read more

Tags: Evangelism The Lost

Denomination: Baptist

I Recently Read Of A Teenager In Florida In ...

Contributed by Ross Cochrane on May 22, 2010

I recently read of a teenager in Florida in America who fled for her life from her Muslim family after she converted to Christianity. Fathima Rifqa Bary says her family will murder her in what is known as an "HONOUR KILLING" because of her profession of faith in Christ. In Islamic tradition, an ...read more

Tags: Persecution, Islam

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Ignorance Of One's ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 27, 2010

Ignorance of One’s Inheritance A Michigan factory worker, earning less than ten thousand dollars a year, was an unknowing heir to a half-million dollars. When located by an investigator some years after his benefactor’s death, the worker explained that he had neither returned home nor kept in touch ...read more

Scripture: John 6:1-13

Tags: Inheritance, Ignorance

Dianne Odell's Attitude Remained Positive, Even ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 7, 2010

Dianne Odell’s Attitude Remained Positive, Even in an Iron Lung I read once of Dianne Odell of Jackson, Tennessee. She was quite a lady. Her life story received nation-wide attention. Dianne graduated from high school and college, she was involved with her church, and wrote her autobiography. ...read more

Scripture: John 8:34-36

Tags: Disability

Elephant Fights In Church  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 28, 2010

ELEPHANT FIGHTS IN CHURCH An African proverb says, "When elephants fight, grass gets trampled." Elephants do not throw their weight around for nothing. The average African elephant weighs 16,534 lbs. The largest elephant on record weighed about 24,000 pounds and was 13 feet tall! Wild elephants ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Tags: Power, Divisions

What Can I Fear?

Contributed by Gordon Curley on Nov 29, 2010

WHAT CAN I FEAR? In A.D. 373 John Chrysostom became a hermit. He went alone into the mountains near Antioch, seeking to know God better. Although his time of isolation was cut short by illness, he discovered that with God at his side, he could attend alone against anyone or anything. That ...read more

Tags: Trials And Difficulties

Denomination: Brethren

Church Conflict

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 16, 2011

CHURCH CONFLICT In Winchester, Ohio there’s a church called the Bethlehem Church of Christ. It’s been in existence for over 150 years, and over the years different events have been recorded in their “history” book. One of their recent ministers was reading back over the different entries in this ...read more

Scripture: Numbers 16:1-41

Tags: Divisions

Reunited

Contributed by Ed Vasicek on Jan 23, 2011

REUNITED This week (1-11) an interesting story hit the presses: A woman who was kidnapped as a newborn 23 years ago says finding her real mother "felt like a dream." Carlina White was just 19 days old when she disappeared from Harlem Hospital in New York. She tells the New York Post that when ...read more

Tags: Salvation

Denomination: Independent/Bible

Love Of A Disciple  PRO

Contributed by Stephen E. Trail on Jul 6, 2011

LOVE OF A DISCIPLE Tertullian, an early Christian author, reported that the Romans would exclaim, "See how they love one another," and Justin Martyr, a Greek-speaking Christian apologist, sketched Christian love this way: "We who used to value the acquisition of wealth and possessions more than ...read more

Scripture: Acts 2:45

Tags: Christian Love

Denomination: Baptist

Understanding The Spiritual Gifts By Dr. Dale A. ...

Contributed by Michael Mccartney on Oct 13, 2011

Understanding The Spiritual Gifts By Dr. Dale A. Robbins 1. The ministry of Spiritual Gifts originates in the New Testament, commissioned by our Lord Jesus Christ. After He established His church on the earth and ascended to Heaven, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to equip His church with power and ...read more

Tags: Gifts General

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Shepherds: The Lower Class

Contributed by Timothy Enns on Oct 17, 2011

SHEPHERDS: THE LOWER CLASS For many years I drove truck, hauling produce from California to Canada. I would often cut across the back roads of Idaho instead of staying on the busy interstate. The area I would travel trough on the back roads would take me through deserts and volcanoes, but it would ...read more

Tags: Christmas

Denomination: Nazarene

The Next Billy Graham

Contributed by Tim Hinrichs on Feb 7, 2012

THE NEXT BILLY GRAHAM Baptist author and leader Russell Moore said recently: "The next Jonathan Edwards might be the man driving in front of you with the Darwin Fish bumper decal. The next Charles Wesley might be a ... profanity-spewing hip-hop artist right now. The next Billy Graham might be ...read more

Tags: Evangelism The Lost

Denomination: Lutheran

Overcoming Evil With Good

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 9, 2012

OVERCOMING EVIL WITH GOOD Stuart Holden (1874-1934), the author of "Prevailing Intercessory Prayer", was in Egypt and met a sergeant in a Highland regiment. "How were you brought to Christ?" he asked this bright Christian. The sergeant responded: "There was a private in the same company as myself ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 5:22-23

Tags: Christian Witness

Prayer Journal Entry Of George Washington  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 13, 2012

PRAYER JOURNAL ENTRY OF GEORGE WASHINGTON When George Washington was about 20 years old he wrote this in his prayer journal: "O most Glorious God, in Jesus Christ my merciful and loving father, I acknowledge and confess my guilt, in the weak and imperfect performance of the duties of this day. I ...read more

Scripture: 1 John 1:8-10

Tags: Prayer Confession

Just Watch!  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 29, 2012

JUST WATCH! A young boy looked up at his grandfather and wondered aloud, "Grandpa, how do you live for Jesus?" The respected grandfather stooped down and quietly told the boy, "Just watch." As the years went by the grandfather was an example to the boy of how to follow Jesus. He stayed ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 4:14-17

Tags: Father's Day

If We Want To Come To Jesus There Will Be Opposition

Contributed by Ken Henson on Oct 15, 2012

If we want to come to Jesus there will be opposition. John Stott was the pastor of All Saints Church in London. I had a chance to meet John Stott while I was in London. He died last year. He is really credited with starting the evangelical movement in England. Before that movement was started, ...read more

Tags: Jesus Teachings

Denomination: *other