In Sermon Illustrations: "Mystery Found"

U.s. Donor Profiles According To Campbell ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 10, 2006

U.S. Donor Profiles According to Campbell research, the following are typical profiles of U.S. donors. (1) Gender: 60% female, 40% male. (2) Ethic Origin: 85% Caucasian, 7% African American, 3% Hispanic, 1% Asian and 4% other. (3) Median Age: 54. Of course individual organiza-tions donor profiles ...read more

Tags: Giving General

More Non-Christians: Over The Past 10 Years, The ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

More Non-Christians: Over the past 10 years, the number of adults who identify with a non-Christian religion rose from 5.8 million to 7.7 million, according to a Graduate Center of the City University of New York report. This represents an increase from 3.3% to 3.7% of the population. The American ...read more

Tags: Evangelism Urgency

A. W. Tozer Pastored In The City Of Chicago For ...  PRO

Contributed by Dan Jackson on Jul 3, 2006

A. W. Tozer pastored in the city of Chicago for many years. On one occasion when a new minister arrived in Chicago, Tozer called him and described the difficulty and spiritual warfare involved in pastoring is such a city. He said, “If you ever want to pray with me, I’m at the lakeside every morning ...read more

Tags: Prayer Adoration

In The Day Of Horse And Buggies, A Father Went ...

Contributed by Jimmy Chapman on Sep 27, 2006

In the day of horse and buggies, a father went to the school house to pick up his three children ages 9, 11, and 17. As soon as he had them in the buggy--just before he stepped in--probably out of fear of the storm, the horses bolted and took off in the blizzard. Hours and miles later, when he ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

I Was 5, And I Was In Ca With My Parents, ...

Contributed by Sherm Nichols on Nov 30, 2006

I was 5, and I was in CA with my parents, visiting a Christian school. My folks went into an office, and I lingered in the hallway. I’d always wondered what those red fire alarms would do if you pulled one. So, of course, I did. I found out real quickly what they did! I find out another thing ...read more

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Abstinence Up U.s. Department Of Health And Human ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 19, 2007

Abstinence Up U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officials, Wade Horn and Jeffrey Trimbath, publicly defend abstinence education programs. They claim the goal of such programs is to delay teens’ introduction to sexual activity, noting reliable statistics indicate that’s exactly what it ...read more

Bible Scholar And Author D. A. Carson Tells Of A ...  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 26, 2007

Bible scholar and author D. A. Carson tells of a time when he and a friend were going to the beach for some much-needed peace and quiet, but when they got there they found a horde of high school kids celebrating graduation with lots of beer, loud music and, shall we say, public displays of ...read more

A Pilot Was Flying His Small Plane One Day, When ...

Contributed by Bobby Scobey on Mar 27, 2007

A pilot was flying his small plane one day, when he heard a noise which he recognized as the gnawing of a rat. Wondering what its sharp teeth were cutting through, he suddenly realized with horror that it might be an electric wire. Then he remembered that rodents can’t survive at high ...read more

Denomination: Pentecostal

More Cars: There Are Now More Cars In American ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 3, 2006

More Cars: There are now more cars in American house-holds than drivers, according to a Transportation Dept. report. The average household now has 1.75 drivers but 1.90 “personal vehicles.” By comparison, the average household has 0.86 adult-size bicycles. When people, not just drivers are counted, ...read more

Tags: Finding Fulfillment

Suffering The Rats: A Missionary Was Assigned To ...  PRO

Contributed by Jim Kilson on Mar 3, 2006

Suffering the Rats: A missionary was assigned to some remote islands in the Pacific. After three months, he sent a fax to mission headquarters: "I’m being plagued by rats. What shall I do?" Soon a crate arrived, filled with rattraps. However, hardly a month later the missionary sent a second fax ...read more

Tags: Peace

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Jim Taylor In Currents Tells The Following Story ...  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 10, 2006

Jim Taylor in Currents tells the following story about his friend, Ralph Milton: One morning Ralph woke up at five o’clock to a noise that sounded like someone repairing boilers on his roof. Still in his pajamas, he went into the back yard to investigate. He found a woodpecker on the TV antenna, ...read more

Tags: Emotions

We Often Don't Realize The Impact Of Our Acts Of ...

Contributed by Darryl Bell on Apr 17, 2006

We often don’t realize the impact of our acts of love in Jesus’ name. In 1994 our church sold Christmas trees in the parking lot. After Christmas there were a lot of trees left. The grower had parked his big trailer on the lot one night intending to load out the trees in the next few days. Then, on ...read more

Tags: Christian Love

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

The Da Vinci Code  PRO

Contributed by Mark Kennicott on May 15, 2006

According to Barna Group: 1. The Da Vinci Code has been read "cover to cover" by roughly 45 million adults in the U.S. - that’s one out of every five adults (20%). 2. Of those readers, 24% said the book was helpful in relation to their "personal spiritual growth or understanding." That means ...read more

Tags: False Teaching

Denomination: Pentecostal

Reformation's Two Martins

Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Apr 2, 2007

Reformation’s Two Martins At the beginning of the Reformation, Martin of Basle came to a knowledge of the truth, but, afraid to make a public confession, he wrote on a leaf of parchment: "O most merciful Christ, I know that I can be saved only by the merit of thy blood. Holy Jesus, I acknowledge ...read more

Denomination: Other

On The Nascar Circuit, They Have Their Own Form ...  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

On the NASCAR circuit, they have their own form of church called the MRO (Motor Racing Outreach). Nascar great Darrell Waltrip helped found this organization and he commented that Nascar is a dangerous commercialized place and they can’t always get away to go back to their church. He said: “If you ...read more

Tags: God's Provision

I Remember As A Boy Going With My Grand Dad To ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

. I REMEMBER AS A BOY GOING WITH MY GRAND DAD TO AN OLD GRIST MILL ON THEN SALADO CREEK, WITH A BIG WATERWHEEL THAT TURNED WITH THE WATER FROM THE CREEK. I. GRAND DAD WENT THERE TO HAVE HIS CORN GROUND INTO CORN MEAL AND ONE MORNING WE DROVE TO THE MILL AND THE WATERWHEEL WAS NOT TURNING BECAUSE ...read more

Tags: Church Body Of Christ

Language Is A Great Gift From God That Sets Us ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

Language is a great gift from God that sets us apart from every other creature. But sometimes our words are misunderstood or mistranslated; for example, I found some commercial slogans that had been translation into other languages of course they didn’t translate the same: Kentucky Fried Chicken, ...read more

Tags: Ot Characters

I Once Heard A Story Of An Elderly Man That Was ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

I once heard a story of an elderly man that was living out his last days in a nursing home. Each day, as the nurses would tend to his needs, he insisted on having an empty chair sitting next to his bed. The man would look at that empty chair and talk for hours at a time each day. One day one of the ...read more

Tags: Prayer How To

There Is A Story Of A Man Who Heard That A Huge ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

"There is a story of a man who heard that a huge box of gold had long ago been buried in the woods near his house. He got a shovel and went into the woods and began to dig everywhere. As he dug, he would run across these rough stones of reddish hue and angrily, he tossed them into a nearby well ...read more

Tags: Cross Agony

Many Horror Stories Emerged From The Countries ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

Many horror stories emerged from the countries of Eastern Europe as their Communist dictator¬ships were overthrown. None surpasses the cruelty of former Romanian dic¬tator, Nicolae Ceausescu’s Home for the Deficient and Unsalvagcable. By Ceausescu’s order, children throughout Romania who were ...read more

Tags: Jesus Christ