In Sermon Illustrations: "Long Sermon"

Burmese Parable About A Banyan Tree ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 28, 2010

Burmese Parable About a Banyan Tree Seed Don’t pitch your tents near sin or soon you will be living in it. I have heard stories of people who have been hooked by a variety of addictions. They almost always start by just an ‘innocent’ act that did not seem like much at the time. Gamblers who started ...read more

Scripture: James 1:13-15

Tags: Sin Deceptive

Adoniram Judson Returns To The Lord

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 13, 2011

ADONIRAM JUDSON RETURNS TO THE LORD Adoniram Judson graduated at the top of his class in college, then he headed to New York City to seek fame and fortune as an actor and/or writer. He had left the God of his father, thinking he was beyond such "primitive notions." But such a life was empty for ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 44:22, Isaiah 44:22-44

Tags: Revelation

Running The Race God's Way

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 16, 2011

RUNNING THE RACE GOD'S WAY Joni Eareckson Tada recently told a story commenting on Romans 15:1-2: "We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up." She writes, "My husband, Ken, serves ...read more

Scripture: Romans 15:1-2

Tags: Compassion

He Cried For Me  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Sep 14, 2011

HE CRIED FOR ME Jan, who was a young mother in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, 20 years ago, tells a remarkable story from that time in her life. In a note to her pastor, she wrote: It was the end. I knew it. I could no longer fight. I sat here emotionless. I was totally alone. Others had tried to ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 62:5-8

Tags: Suffering Loneliness

Horror To Hope—a Story From The Holocaust  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 7, 2012

HORROR TO HOPE--A STORY FROM THE HOLOCAUST In Jerusalem there is a Holocaust Museum dedicated to the memory of the millions of Jews who were killed by the Nazis in World War II. It has been said that going through the museum is a very depressing experience because you see these horrible pictures ...read more

Scripture: Job 42:10-17, Jeremiah 29:10-14

Tags: God Brings Hope

How To Eat A Cessna Airplane

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 13, 2012

HOW TO EAT A CESSNA AIRPLANE Michel Lotito was an extraordinary man. This elegant Frenchman had a love for food and a fondness for eating unusual objects like bicycles, shopping carts and televisions. His odd appetite earned him the nickname Monsieur Mangetout (Mr Eat Everything). I first heard ...read more

Scripture: Romans 12:1-2

Tags: Character

Dr. R. G. Lee's Mother Told Of Happiest Day And Gave Taste Of Heaven

Contributed by Rick Crandall on Dec 23, 2012

*Dr. R.G. Lee was the much loved pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis from 1927-1960. One day when R.G was a little boy, he asked his mother what was the happiest day of her life. Her name was Elizabeth. And she thought back to the time of the Civil War when she was a little ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 20:1-5, Hebrews 11:30-40

Tags: Heaven, Restoration, Reunion, Joy And Celebration

Denomination: Baptist

This Is Good  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 11, 2008

THIS IS GOOD The story is told of a king in Africa who had a close friend with whom he grew up. The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that ever occurred in his life (positive or negative) and remarking, "This is good!" One day the king and his friend were out on a hunting ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 46:1-7

Tags: Hunger, Trusting God, Past, Fire, Memory, Attitude General  (view more)  (view less)

I Go Home, Daddy

Contributed by Chris Surber on Dec 22, 2008

"I Go Home, Daddy." Christ offers the lasting hope and promise of a new and lasting home. My three-year-old son Sebastian is a wonderful little boy. My children’s antics and lives provide me with a wealth of sermon illustrations and stories. Not long ago, Sebastian had to go through some ...read more

Tags: Heaven

Denomination: Christian Church

Silent Night

Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 28, 2008

SILENT NIGHT Europe in the early 1800s was a place of great war, turmoil and upheaval. Even after the Napoleonic Wars officially ended in 1815, it's effects continued to take their toll. The year 1816 was one in which national and municipal borders were divided, changed and reset. Areas, such as ...read more

Tags: Christmas

Without One Plea  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 28, 2008

WITHOUT ONE PLEA Charlotte Elliott was a sickly English woman who had developed a long history of refusing to do things she was asked to do because of her illness. Her brother, who was a pastor, had been particularly persistent in trying to get her out of herself, trying to get her involved in ...read more

Scripture: John 8:3-11, John 4:1-26

Tags: Healing, Brokenness, Trials And Difficulties, Used

Freezing To Death Can Actually Make You Feel Warm...

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Mar 22, 2024

The man huddled on the cabin floor was slowly freezing to death. It was high in the Rockies in southwestern Alberta, and outside a blizzard raged. John Elliott had logged miles that day through the deep snows of the mountain passes. As he checked for avalanches and as dusk and exhaustion overcame ...read more

Tags: Wake Up, Spiritual Death, Messengers, Dogs, Witnesses, Sin, Deception, Satan, Salvation, Rescue, Lost, Death  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

The Lights Of Home  PRO

Contributed by Frank Ellis on Apr 15, 2002

THE LIGHTS OF HOME In his memoirs, Chronicles of Wasted Time, Malcolm Muggeridge tells of events that took place in Africa in 1943. He was forty years old but his experience of those four decades had been of progressive disillusionment. After Cambridge he spent three years in India, which ...read more

Tags: God's Omniscience, Becoming A Christian

Denomination: Baptist

Mark Twain: An Enemy And A Friend

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 2, 2013

AN ENEMY AND A FRIEND Mark Twain, "It takes your enemy and your friend working together to hurt you to the heart; the one to slander you and the other to get the news to ...read more

Scripture: James 3:1-12

Tags: Tongue

I Like Jerry Cook's Vision: "To See The Church ...  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 2, 2008

I like Jerry Cook’s vision: “To see the church become what Jesus was in the world – a center of love, designed for the healing of broken people, and a force for God.” (Love, Acceptance and ...read more

The Will Of God

Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 12, 2008

George W. Truett said: "To know the will of God is the greatest knowledge! To do the will of God is the greatest achievement!" –(quoted in "Toolkit," Cell Church, Winter, 1996, p. ...read more

Tags: Hardship Of Life

Hope Means Hoping When Things Are Hopeless, Or It ...  PRO

Contributed by Paul Fritz on Oct 18, 2000

Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all...As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is mere flattery or platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a ...read more

Scripture: Acts 27:18-25

Tags: Faith

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Ready For Either

Contributed by Gordon Curley on Nov 23, 2010

READY FOR EITHER A Roman coin was once found with the picture of an ox on it. The ox was facing two things--an altar and a plough--and the inscription read: "Ready for either." The ox had to be ready either for the supreme ...read more

Tags: Servanthood

Denomination: Brethren

The Love That Brought Him

Contributed by Frederick Baker Ii on Sep 3, 2007

Because the way was steep and long, and through a strange and lonely land, God placed upon my lips a song And put a lantern in my hand. -- Joyce Kilmer, quoted by W. Frank ...read more

Denomination: *other

Have Your Heard About The Recent Experience Of A ...  PRO

Contributed by Jim Kane on Nov 3, 2001

Have your heard about the recent experience of a pastor who changed the order of worship so that the sermon was given before the offering was taken. This upset a four year old ...read more

Tags: Church Practices, Giving General

Denomination: Church Of God