In Sermon Illustrations: "Love Your Enemies"

Stretching Your Conscience Like Silk  PRO

Contributed by Davon Huss on Aug 27, 2013

Adam Clarke was a sales clerk in a store that sold fine silk to people of the upper classes in London. One day his employer showed young Adam how he could increase sales and profits by stretching the silk as he measured it out. Young Adam Clarke looked his ...read more

Scripture: Romans 14:22-23, Proverbs 20:10

Tags: Sin, Dishonesty, Conscience, Temptation General, Clear Conscience  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Buster, Get Your Heart Right!

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Jan 29, 2014

A professor from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas was preaching in Nevada. The normally reserved professor put his whole heart into the sermon and called for people in the congregation to repent and get their hearts right with God. At the end of his message, he ...read more

Scripture: 2 Chronicles 7:14

Tags: Revival, Repentance, Confession Of Sin, Change Of Heart

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Intimacy: How Is Your Prayer Life?

Contributed by Davon Huss on Feb 18, 2014

INTIMACY: HOW IS YOUR PRAYER LIFE? Eugene Peterson: "She came to see me at the recommendation of a friend. She had been troubled for years, seeing psychiatrists and not getting any better. The consultation had been arranged on the telephone so that when she walked into my study it was as a first ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 4:6

Tags: Prayer, Intimacy, Biblical Sexuality, Intimacy In Marriage, Intimacy With God  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

We Will Tell Your God On You!

Contributed by Melvin Newland on Apr 13, 2015

by Amy Carson Phillips (Adapted by Melvin Newland) “Night is falling on the Congo, O’er the jungles far and near. Soon the blackness will be brooding - He who walks will walk in fear. Yet no black man seeks his hut, All are waiting on the shore, Gazing, peering through the ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 28:18-20

Tags: Poem, Mission Of Church, Evangelism, Hope, Africa, Despair  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Watch Where You're Going!

Contributed by Tim Smith on May 28, 2015

I had just flown back home from attending a class for my Doctorate in Pasadena, CA. The week was filled with long days and short nights. I had an early morning flight and then flew most of the day. By the time I got home, I was exhausted. Yet I didn’t want to miss my workout so I headed to the gym. ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 7:13-14

Tags: Consequences, Watchful Servants, Direction Of Life

Denomination: Methodist

Your Two Dirty Pennies Are An Insult

Contributed by David Goering on Aug 14, 2018

Suppose somebody befriended you in your town and offered to buy you a big beautiful house, and told you that you could choose the house you wanted. Then when he was handing you the title deed you reached in your pocket and pulled out two pennys, and when you did they accidentally fell out of your ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 2:8-9

Tags: Free Gift, It Is Finished, Salvation, Righteousness, Good Works  (view more)  (view less)

You Can Keep Your Fork

Contributed by Paul Steen on Dec 24, 2018

A woman had been diagnosed with cancer and had been given three months to live. Her doctor told her to start making preparations to die. So she contacted her pastor and had him come to her house to discuss certain aspects of her final wishes. She told him which songs she wanted sung at the service, ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 3:20, Revelation 22:12, Colossians 1:27, Titus 1:2

Tags: Heaven, Future, Hope, Citizenship

Denomination: Calvary Chapel

Mowing Your Yard In The Midst Of A Flood!

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Jan 15, 2020

Glen and Jo Ann live in Orange County, California in a low lying area. It flooded one year and the local newspaper sent a reporter in a boat out to Glen and Jo Ann’s neighborhood. The reporter found Jo Ann, sitting on their roof watching large objects floating by, so he climbed up on the roof to ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 6:33

Tags: Humor, Priorities, Seeking The Kingdom First

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Watch Where Your Mouth Steps

Contributed by Dr. Ronald Shultz on Aug 1, 2020

Gal 6:1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Before you condemn a person for losing a battle with their personal demons be sure you count your own battles and losses. No ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 6:1

Tags: Condemnation, Battles

Denomination: Baptist

Blueprints For Your Children’s Character

Contributed by Martin Spoelstra on Dec 15, 2020

There is a Minister who received an urgent note that said that a man in his congregation wanted to get a hold of him. The man’s problems have been 10 years in the making but have become urgent when the consequences of neglect suddenly materialized. The minister met the man at his office. He was a ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 22:6, Deuteronomy 7:9

Tags: Children, Parenting, Blueprints

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

One Mistake, And You're Finished

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 9, 2009

ONE MISTAKE, AND YOU’RE FINISHED When I was chaplain at the University of Maryland, there was a religious group on campus which left no room for mistakes. If you didn’t measure up, out you went. We heard that one of the students had been sent out of that group for drinking. Then we heard that ...read more

Tags: Judgment

Signs You're In A Bad Church  PRO

Contributed by Davon Huss on May 5, 2009

Signs You’re in a Bad Church 10. The church bus has gun racks. 9. The church staff consists of Senior Pastor, Associate Pastor and Socio-pastor. 8. The Bible they use is the "Dr. Seuss Version." 7. There’s an ATM in the lobby. 6. The choir wears leather robes. 5. Worship services are B.Y.O.S.: ...read more

Tags: Church General

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Silence: Taking Your Soul With You  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 25, 2009

SILENCE: TAKING YOUR SOUL WITH YOU Author Kathleen Norris used to play a game with elementary-school children in which she would make a deal with them. "First you get to make noise," she would bargain, "and then you’ll make silence." The time of noise was always predictably chaotic -- shouting, ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 46:10

Tags: Maturity, Disciplines Silence

Grace Can Change Your Life

Contributed by Scott Bayles on Jun 27, 2009

GRACE CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE My wife, Ashley, once told me about a moment of grace that will forever remain in her memory. One icy November afternoon when she was in high school, a carload of teenage boys were on their way to a basketball game. Ashley was a cheerleader and had already arrived at the ...read more

Tags: Grace

Denomination: Christian Church

If You Care, Give Your Testimony

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 14, 2009

IF YOU CARE, GIVE YOUR TESTIMONY God wants us to be concerned about other people. And one of the best ways we can show our concern is by giving them testimonies about Jesus. One of my all-time favorite teachers was Don Wilton. One day in class, Dr. Wilton told us about getting to serve on Billy ...read more

Scripture: 1 Peter 3:15-16

Tags: Evangelism The Lost

The Lord Is Your Shepherd, And That's Enough  PRO

Contributed by Larry Moyer on Aug 5, 2009

THE LORD IS YOUR SHEPHERD, AND THAT’S ENOUGH One time there was a newspaper office in that always had a practice that if the pastors in that city would call in and give them texts and titles to their messages, they would print them in the paper so all the people in the city would know on what ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 23:1

Tags: God Brings Hope

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

The Gentlemen's Guide On What Not To Get Your ...  PRO

Contributed by Bruce Rzengota on Dec 28, 2009

The Gentlemen’s Guide on What Not to Get Your Wife for Christmas #10: A Vacuum Cleaner The only possible way to make this a cool gift would be to give the hands-down coolest vacuum cleaner of all time... which I’m afraid hasn’t been invented yet and probably never will be, considering that there ...read more

Tags: Christmas

Denomination: Christian Missionary Alliance

Let's Say You And Your Spouse Are ...

Contributed by Bill Burress on Jan 21, 2010

Illustration: Let’s say you and your spouse are going away for a couple of days and you leave your teenager at home by their self. Now before you go you give instructions that you don’t want any parties, they are not to drive dad’s sports car, and they are not to be out after midnight the nights ...read more

Tags: Sin General

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Roots: Freedom From Your Slavery

Contributed by Gregg Bitter on Jan 25, 2010

Roots: Freedom From Your Slavery Kunta Kinte lived free among the Mandinka people of West Africa, becoming a Mandinka warrior at fifteen. But then as he gathered wood for a drum outside his village, slavers captured him. Stacked away on a slave ship piled up with a hundred seventy other slaves, he ...read more

Tags: Guilt

Denomination: Lutheran

What Is Your Greatest Frustration With Reading ...

Contributed by Jim Kane on Feb 27, 2010

What is your greatest frustration with reading and understanding the Bible? • Lack of time • Lack of a road map to help you get the big picture • Lack of desire • Lack of some ...read more

Tags: Bible Study

Denomination: Church Of God