In Sermon Illustrations: "Missing The Point"

How James Montgomery Boice Faced Faced Death From ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 10, 2011

How James Montgomery Boice Faced Faced Death from Cancer On May 7, 2000, Dr. Boice stood in this pulpit for the last time to speak about his cancer that would take his life in a month. Here is an excerpt: "If I were to reflect on what goes on theologically here, there are two things I would ...read more

Scripture: Romans 8:28-39, Romans 12:1-2

Tags: Death Nearness

Prayer Transforms A Workplace  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 27, 2011

PRAYER TRANSFORMS A WORKPLACE Brandon A. Bradley told his story in Pray! Magazine some time back about an opportunity in his life: "I am a surgical assistant--the surgeon's right-hand man. At one point in my career, I lost my passion. I wanted a job with spiritual significance, and I prayed for ...read more

Scripture: Colossians 4:2-6

Tags: Prayer General

Hathcock's Heroism

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 19, 2011

HATHCOCK'S HEROISM Hathcock has one of the most impressive mission records of any sniper in the Marine corps. During the Vietnam War he amassed 93 confirmed kills, saving the lives of hundreds or even thousands of Marines. The Vietnam army put a $30,000 bounty on his life for killing so many of ...read more

Scripture: John 15:13

Tags: Heroism

The Wizard Of Oz: Getting Home

Contributed by Rodney Buchanan on Jul 10, 2011

THE WIZARD OF OZ: GETTING HOME I remember watching the Wizard of Oz. Dorothy is trying to find her way home, and along the way she runs into a scarecrow with no brain, a tin man with no heart, and a lion with no courage. But they learn that there is a wizard in the land of Oz who can help them ...read more

Tags: Growth In Christ

Denomination: Methodist

Holiness And Red Buttons  PRO

Contributed by Mark Stepherson on Aug 6, 2011

HOLINESS AND RED BUTTONS In studying holiness as a prayer key, I got bogged down with trying to understand it. I had an even harder time trying to explain it. I felt like the Red Buttons character in the movie, "Hatari." In that movie, John Wayne led a team of hunters in Africa capturing wild ...read more

Scripture: 1 Timothy 2:8, Matthew 22:15-22

Tags: Holy, Prayer, Holiness

Denomination: Baptist

Why Worry?  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 12, 2011

WHY WORRY? In a 2006 article in Time magazine called "Why We Worry About the Things We Shouldn’t" Jeffrey Kluger, writes: As human beings, we pride ourselves on being the only species that understands the concept of risk. Yet we have a confounding habit of worrying about mere possibilities while ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 4:6-8

Tags: Worry

A Peacemaking Church  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 25, 2011

A PEACEMAKING CHURCH I can tell this story because one neighbor has died and the other neighbor no longer lives across the street from our church. Our neighbors endured the disruption of their lives as we built on to our church. I'm sure that contributed to their lack of patience with us. We put ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 5:9, Exodus 32:1-14, Isaiah 32:15-20

Tags: Jesus Teachings

John Stott, A Humble Man

Contributed by Sermon Central on Sep 7, 2011

JOHN STOTT, A HUMBLE MAN I like the way Thomas Carlyle put it some time ago. He said, "One example is worth a thousand arguments." (Thomas Carlyle, quoted in Men of Integrity, July/August 2000; www.Preaching Today.com) In difficult times, we don't need dictators and arguments. We need leaders ...read more

Scripture: 1 Peter 5:1-4

Tags: Humility

Hate The Politics, Not The Person

Contributed by Revd. Martin Dale on Oct 29, 2011

HATE THE POLITICS, NOT THE PERSON In his book, The Life God Blesses, Gordon MacDonald describes his encounter with a black South African, a high-ranking member of the African National Congress. He was profoundly impressed by the man's understanding of African history and politics and his insight ...read more

Tags: Discipleship

Denomination: Anglican

The "Regard For Others" Ethic

Contributed by Don Berry-Graham on Jan 24, 2012

THE "REGARD FOR OTHERS" ETHIC John Sommerville currently teaches history at the University of Florida. He has been carrying out an exercise with his students for years. He challenges his students with the following thought experiment. Imagine that you see a little old lady coming down the ...read more

Scripture: Luke 10:25-37

Tags: Neighbor

Denomination: Baptist

Painlessness Is Your Enemy

Contributed by Bret Toman on Jan 31, 2012

PAINLESSNESS IS YOUR ENEMY Dr Paul Brand was born in India to missionary parents and spent most of his life caring for people who couldn’t feel pain - people with leprosy. He spent much of life studying pain. At one point he was given a grant to develop a system of warning that would protect ...read more

Tags: Trials And Difficulties

Denomination: Baptist

Staying The Course

Contributed by Ken Pell on Feb 12, 2012

STAYING THE COURSE The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at ...read more

Tags: Endurance

Denomination: Nazarene

Tough Love  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 15, 2012

TOUGH LOVE "Living in this house is like living in hell," screamed the young girl as she stamped her feet on the way upstairs to her room. The mother stood looking at her daughter, a hint of tears forming in her eyes. She wanted to run up the stairs and hug her daughter but she knew the timing ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 13:24

Tags: Parenting

Jesus Reached Out To Uncomfortable People… ...

Contributed by Jeff Strite on Jul 29, 2012

Jesus reached out to uncomfortable people… and that made others uncomfortable. ILLUS: When I was a young boy, my home church had a church bell that they rang every Sunday at 9:00 in the morning. It was a college town, and one of the local college students had apparently been up “partying” the ...read more

Tags: Evangelism The Lost

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

If ...

Contributed by Joe Bertone on Aug 1, 2012

IF ONLY There was a great Scotch writer and historian in the nineteenth century named Thomas Carlyle. He married a woman, who’d worked as his secretary named Jane Welsh. But Carlyle was dedicated to his writing so he didn’t spend much time with her. He just mostly wrote. At one point she became ...read more

Scripture: James 4:13-17

Tags: Death, Remorse, Parable Ten Virgins, Regret

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Covetousness And The Emperor's New Grove

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 3, 2013

COVETOUSNESS AND THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROVE In Disney's thirty-ninth animated film, "The Emperor's New Groove," self-proclaimed "King of the World" Kuzco (COOS-coh), who had an evil female advisor named Yzma (EEZ-muh), made plans to demolish an entire village to build a new water park. At the highest ...read more

Scripture: 1 Kings 21:1-29

Tags: Greed

Unusual Banquet

Contributed by Davon Huss on Oct 22, 2013

Unusual Banquet Boston Globe's account in June 1990 of a most unusual wedding banquet. Accompanied by her fiance, a woman went to the Hyatt Hotel in downtown Boston and ordered the meal. The two of them poured over the menu, made selections of china and silver, and pointed to pictures of the ...read more

Scripture: Luke 14:12-14

Tags: Feed, Banquet, Repay

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Second Chances

Contributed by Tim Smith on Sep 25, 2016

David Emory tells the story of baptizing a young father who had a 7 year old and 5 year old. They were close friends of his family and had never been a part of a church. But one Sunday, they came to worship, he gave his life to Christ and was baptized. At the end of the service, after everyone else ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 6:1-8

Tags: Sin, Repentance, Woe, Second Chances

Denomination: Methodist

A Modern Day (Sports) Parable

Contributed by Dr. Fred W. Penney on Aug 21, 2019

The Parable Of The Free Agent Hockey Players “For the kingdom of heaven is like a rich sports owner who went out at 6 AM on July 1st , free agency day, to find players for his hockey team. At the local Starbucks he found a Superstar player. He said, “I’ll make you a good offer. - $5 million per ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 20:1-16

Tags: Grace, Gospel, Kingdom Of God

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Unsung Heroes: Phurah, The Servant Of Gideon

Contributed by Jonathan Spurlock on Oct 5, 2021

Introduction: Phurah, Gideon’s servant, is only mentioned twice in the entire Bible—here in this passage—but what he did certainly speaks volumes. Text, Judges 7:9-11, KJV: 9 And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Arise, get thee down unto the host; for I have delivered ...read more

Scripture: Judges 7:9-11

Tags: Gideon, Phurah, Unsung Heroes

Denomination: Baptist