In Sermon Illustrations: "Lift Him Up"

How To Build A Ladder To Your ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 1, 2010

How To Build A Ladder To Your Dreams Years ago a young African-American child was growing up in Cleveland, in a home which he later described as "materially poor but spiritually rich." One day a famous athlete, Charlie Paddock, came to his school to speak to the students. At the time Paddock was ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-3

Tags: Sports

Why Should I Surrender?

Contributed by Sermon Central on Nov 29, 2010

WHY SHOULD I SURRENDER? The story is told of the military legend Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia (336-323) and conqueror of Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, Babylonia, and Persia, almost all of the known world. One day on the warpath, Alexander and small company of soldiers approached a strongly ...read more

Scripture: Luke 14:25-27

Tags: Discipleship

A Bone Or A Steak?

Contributed by Sermon Central on Mar 25, 2011

A BONE OR A STEAK? Which is better, a bone or a steak? Think of it this way. It’s easy to give a dog a bone, but it’s almost impossible to take a bone away from a dog. Even our little Schnauzer, Betsy, the world’s friendliest dog, will growl at me if I try to take a bone away from her. But ...read more

Tags: Christian Values

Loved, To Be Love

Contributed by Jason Bonnicksen on Apr 22, 2011

LOVED, TO BE LOVE One of the neatest gifts I've ever received was this little, hand towel. I was given this during my seminary commencement, and have cherished it ever since. The towel has a little saying on it: "Blessed to be a blessing" Isaiah 61:1. Isaiah 61:1-2 says: "The Spirit of the ...read more

Tags: Easter Maundy Thursday

Denomination: Lutheran

James And John Talking

Contributed by Andrew Moffatt on May 9, 2011

JAMES AND JOHN TALKING This is how I imagine it was before Salome approached Jesus about one of the boys being at either side of him in his kingdom. Remember these two disciples were the "sons of thunder." James: What do you reckon I’m sure that he'll be King soon and I want to sit on my throne ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 20:20-27

Tags: Servant, Discipleship

Denomination: Salvation Army

The Bible Is The Blueprints

Contributed by Sean Harder on Aug 5, 2011

THE BIBLE IS THE BLUEPRINTS Can you build a real house without blueprints? Sure you can throw up a square storage shed maybe without them, but do you not need to have some kind of visual plan of the dimensions, how many rooms, where the rooms go, and so on in order to start building an actual ...read more

Tags: Bible Influence

Under Authority

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 15, 2011

UNDER AUTHORITY I used to be a substitute teacher. Most of the time, I had good classes. Sometimes I had bad classes. But one day, I had a horrible class. Kids were running around the room, throwing paper wads, screaming and yelling. One kid ran out the side door into the courtyard and came back ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 21:18-22

Tags: Authority

Go Back! You're Too Young

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 21, 2011

GO BACK! YOU'RE TOO YOUNG Wilbur E. Nelson told the story of his father who was the senior elder in his church for many years. He said: "When I was a boy, eleven years of age, an evangelist held a series of meetings in our church. One night he asked every Christian to come forward and also asked ...read more

Scripture: Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Tags: Children

The Selfish King  PRO

Contributed by James Lloyd on Dec 4, 2011

THE SELFISH KING Once upon a time there was a king who lived in a beautiful kingdom. He was happy and so were his people. They worked together to improve the kingdom and brought the king many gifts. The king, in turn, was generous to his people. People all over the world heard of this kingdom and ...read more

Tags: Kingdom Of God

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Who Influences Whom?

Contributed by Perry Greene on Feb 15, 2012

WHO INFLUENCES WHOM? I heard a joke about Bill and Hillary Clinton recently. It seems they were on vacation one weekend, and decided to go for a drive to see the beautiful countryside. After a while, they needed to stop for gas. They pulled into a tiny gas station, and out walked a man to help ...read more

Tags: Worldliness

Denomination: Independent/Bible

Spurgeon's Poor Sermon

Contributed by Josh Hunt on Mar 14, 2012

SPURGEON'S POOR SERMON Mr. Spurgeon once preached what in his judgment was one of his poorest sermons. He stammered and floundered, and when he got through felt that it had been a complete failure. He was greatly humiliated, and when he got home he fell on his knees and said, "Lord, God, thou ...read more

Scripture: Romans 8:26

Tags: Holy Spirit General

Denomination: Baptist

Power To Be The Light

Contributed by Joshua Blackmon on Jun 3, 2024

Smartphones are amazing pieces of technology. Everything my generation went to RadioShack to purchase is now all together in the palm of our hand, including our flashlights. My grandfather loved flashlights. It was okay to get him a new one each year for Christmas or his birthday. He would take a ...read more

Scripture: Acts 1:8, John 15:5

Tags: Light, Holy Spirit, Power

Denomination: Pentecostal

John Balca Was One Of The Early Apostolic ...  PRO

Contributed by Philip Harrelson on Feb 8, 2006

-John Balca was one of the early Apostolic pioneer missionaries in Eastern Europe. He was particularly focused in the country of Yugoslavia in the 1930-1950’s. In his autobiography, he writes of the many difficulties that God helped him to overcome in the establishing of an Apostolic church in ...read more

Tags: God In The Hardships

Denomination: Pentecostal

Newton's Story

Contributed by David Dunn on Nov 21, 2025

The story of John Newton and the hymn Amazing Grace. Newton’s hymn has grown so familiar to us that we sometimes forget the depth of the testimony behind it. Those lines were not crafted by a saint who lived an unblemished life. They were written by a man who walked through the same spiritual ...read more

Scripture: 2 Chronicles 33:12, Ephesians 2:8

Tags: Grace, Redemption

Denomination: Seventh-Day Adventist

The Quarter Of Remembrance By Mike Cope ...

Contributed by Philip Cunningham Iii on Dec 23, 2007

The Quarter of Remembrance by Mike Cope (reprinted) http://preachermike.com/2007/12/21/two-bits-of-memory I actually got to meet Dr. Channing Barrett, though I don’t remember the meeting because I was too young. But that doesn’t change my picture of him as a young man walking a marathon of miles ...read more

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Knee Work! Knee Work! (09.29.05--Teach Me To ...

Contributed by Mark Brunner on Sep 26, 2005

Knee Work! Knee Work! (09.29.05--Teach Me to Pray!--Luke 6:17-19) When it comes to some things in life, I’m pretty dedicated. Take mornings for instance. I am dedicated to my morning time to such an extant that even when I’ve had a difficult night with little sleep, when 4:45 comes around, I’m up ...read more

Scripture: Luke 6:19

Tags: Prayer Persistence, Prayer Adoration

Denomination: Lutheran

When We Truly Are The Church

Contributed by Rodney Buchanan on Feb 6, 2011

WHEN WE TRULY ARE THE CHURCH Chuck Colson tells this story: "My mind goes back to a Christmas 20 years ago in Romania, when the country was still in the grip of communist tyranny. The story begins with Laszlo Tokes, pastor of a fast-growing reformed church in the city of Timisoara. His ...read more

Tags: Church Body Of Christ

Denomination: Methodist

When A Thief Was Surprised At Church!

Contributed by Garris Hudson on Nov 13, 2023

When I was pastoring in Texas, something strange happened one Christmas that I will never stop laughing about. Because it was a Christmas holiday, we were at home with our family taking a break from our normal ministry schedule. We did not go to the church campus for the weekend. But, while we ...read more

Scripture: Malachi 3:10-11, Proverbs 3:9-10, 1 Timothy 6:10, 1 Corinthians 16:1-2

Tags: Pastors, Tithing, Robbing God, Stealing, Surprises, Church, Giving, Humor  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Imagine This Scene For A Moment. A Woman Notices ...

Contributed by Darren Mccormick on Dec 4, 2006

Imagine this scene for a moment. A woman notices her husband forgot to shut off his computer. She goes over to it with the intention of turning it off. To her shock and dismay she discovers that the computer is logged on to a pornographic website. She quickly does a search of sites visited and ...read more

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

The Love Of Christ  PRO

Contributed by Melvin Newland on Sep 23, 2002

THE LOVE OF CHRIST I want to tell you of a modern day Damascus road experience that some of you may find hard to believe. It is reported in an article by Fred Markert in the current issue of Pray Magazine. Fred is the International Director of YWAM’s Strategic Frontiers, a group that focuses on ...read more

Scripture: Acts 9:5

Tags: God's Forgiveness, Mercy

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ