In Sermon Illustrations: "Natural Man"

Little Things Add Up

Contributed by Wade Martin Hughes, Sr on Mar 15, 2025

MY SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER TOLD A STORY OF A MAN THAT WORKED IN THE COAL MINES IN EAST TENNESSEE. The man drove a coal truck from the coal temple to the rail road loading dock. It was a short quick trip. Each time the driver drove by the house where he lived. He made a quick stop threw a very large ...read more

Scripture: 2 Timothy 2:13

Tags: Small, Little

Denomination: Assembly Of God

Pledge -- Prayer

Contributed by David Dunn on Oct 6, 2025

Two men were arguing at work one day about religion. Neither really knew what they were talking about. Finally one said, “Man, you don’t know anything about religion. I’ll bet you ten dollars you can’t even repeat the Lord’s Prayer.” The other grinned. “Oh yeah? It’s a bet!” He straightened up ...read more

Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Hebrews 4:12, Psalm 119:105

Tags: Scripture, Discipleship, Truth, Authority

Denomination: Seventh-Day Adventist

Grass On Your Path

Contributed by David Dunn on Jan 21, 2026

Prayer sharpens perception. It tunes the heart so you sense danger before it speaks. John Bunyan once wrote, “Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer.” Both can’t thrive in the same heart. Early African believers understood this. Each had a path ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 26:41

Tags: Prayer, Vigilance

Denomination: Seventh-Day Adventist

Tony Campolo, A Baptist Minister, Was Invited To ...  PRO

Contributed by Michael Cassara on Sep 8, 2001

Tony Campolo, A Baptist minister, was invited to speak at a college in Valley Forge Penn. He drove to the college and before he spoke several men took him in the back room and began to pray for him, that God would use his speech. While these men were praying, one man, just off the cuff began ...read more

Tags: Knowing God's Will, Prayer General, Prayer Answered

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

It Was The Winter Of 1926, An Age Where ...

Contributed by Rodney Buchanan on Dec 3, 2006

It was the winter of 1926, an age where narrow-mindedness and bigotry still had power in many places. A woman from Chicago named Thelma Goldstein decided to go to Florida for her first real vacation. She was not familiar with the area, and she unknowingly drove to a restricted hotel in North ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 53:3-5

Tags: Vacation

Denomination: Methodist

To Be Had For The Asking

Contributed by Bill Butsko on Jul 28, 2009

TO BE HAD FOR THE ASKING A few days after the Civil War had been officially ended a man was riding along a road in West Virginia. Suddenly a soldier, clad in a dirty and tattered Confederate uniform, sprang out of a thicket, seized the horses’ bridle, and with twitching face demanded, "Give me ...read more

Tags: God's Provision

Denomination: Christian Church

What Really Matters

Contributed by Ronnie Miller on Jul 28, 2011

WHAT REALLY MATTERS It was two weeks before Christmas and it began to start. Everyone was scrambling and rushing to get to Wal-Mart. Their credit cards were in the orange and checking account in the red in hopes that their rich uncle would soon be dead. Old Saint Nick sitting high on a mountain ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 9:6

Tags: Christmas, Season, Gift, Santa, Xmas, Clause  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Baptist

You Could All Have One If You Wanted  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 26, 2012

YOU COULD ALL HAVE ONE IF YOU WANTED In Gipsy Smith's book The Beauty of Jesus, Gipsy Smith told about Peter Apples, a man (during the Civil War) who went into the enemy's territory. Peter Apples did not know much about being a good soldier. He just knew that when his superior officer said, ...read more

Scripture: John 4:34-38

Tags: Evangelism How To

Prayer And The Motorcycle  PRO

Contributed by Bruce Ball on Nov 13, 2012

PRAYER AND THE MOTORCYCLE There was a woman at work when she received a phone call that her daughter was very sick with a fever. She left work and stopped by the pharmacy to get some medication for her daughter. She returned to her car to find that she had locked the keys inside the car when ...read more

Scripture: Romans 8:28, John 13:31-38, Proverbs 28:9, 1 Thessalonians 5:17

Tags: Renewal, Alive, Rededication, Prayer Hardship

Denomination: *other

[161]. A Poem Message – Jesus, Remember Me When You Come In Your Kingdom

Contributed by Ron Ferguson on Aug 11, 2025

[161]. A MESSAGE FROM A POEM – JESUS, REMEMBER ME WHEN YOU COME IN YOUR KINGDOM This poem is about the repentant thief on the cross who turned to the Lord for salvation. One criminal did and one did not. Here is the gospel account – {{Luke 23:40-43 but the other answered, and rebuking him ...read more

Scripture: Luke 13:3, John 14:2, Luke 23:40-43

Tags: Easter, Paradise, Thief On The Cross, Remember Me, The Repentant Thief, Two Destinies, Two Thieves Crucified  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Forgiveness In Action  PRO

Contributed by Paul Wallace on Sep 6, 2004

Forgiveness in Action Pastor Hayes a man in his middle forties, was well-loved by his congregation, and faithful to God and to his family. He enjoyed a successful ministry in an exuberantly vital, growing church. Just when everything seemed to be going well, a cloud came over this man and his ...read more

Tags: Forgiveness For Others

Denomination: Wesleyan

Nothing But ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 27, 2012

NOTHING BUT SLAG I read a story told by Russell Conwell about a young man who lived in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania years ago. It just so happened that he inherited an iron furnace after his grandfather and father had passed away. He was a young man who had inherited a passel of wealth and as many have ...read more

Scripture: Romans 8:28

Tags: Trials And Difficulties

Are We Forever Trapped?

Contributed by Wade Martin Hughes, Sr on Feb 17, 2017

METAL BARS OR MENTAL BARS... There is a story that comes from Russia of the BEAR THAT WAS FOREVER TRAPPED. There had been a great fire that burned miles of forest in Russia. Much of the wild life had been destroyed. There was a truck traveling along the edges of the destruction and a ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 3:7

Tags: Opportunity, Open Door

Denomination: Assembly Of God

Fight Club

Contributed by Jay Winters on Feb 9, 2008

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Three In One who makes our lives more beautiful than what they could ever be on their own. Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, About ten years ago, a movie came out that just about everyone saw. It was called “Fight ...read more

Denomination: Lutheran

The King's Search

Contributed by Wade Martin Hughes, Sr on Feb 15, 2020

MY HANDS AND GOD’S HEART CAN ACCOMPLISH GOD’S WORK IN SOME OF THE STRANGEST WAYS. PONDER MY STORY… There was this wonderful King that loved his people so much. This King had prayed for a son for years. But all he and the queen ever had was a DAUGHTER. She was absolutely beautiful. To add to ...read more

Scripture: John 2:1-8

Tags: New King, Do It

Denomination: Assembly Of God

Five Lies About Hell

Contributed by Garris Hudson on Apr 19, 2022

ON AN AMERICAN TROOPSHIP during World War II a new Chaplain came aboard. The rank and file of the sailors met him and they put to him this question, "Do you believe in Hell?" The Chaplain was a modernist and an unbeliever, and he said, "Men, certainly not." The men looked at ...read more

Tags: Preaching, Judgment, Lost, Inerrancy, Evangelism, Hell, Death, Truth  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Chuck Colson Is Quoted Saying, "Without Ultimate ...

Contributed by Greg Buchner on Sep 26, 2004

Chuck Colson is quoted saying, “Without ultimate justice, people’s sense of moral obligation dissolves; social bonds are broken. People who have no fear of God soon have no ...read more

Tags: Truth Absolute

Denomination: Methodist

When Ronald Regan Was President Of The United ...

Contributed by Richard Burkey on Jun 15, 2005

When Ronald Regan was President of the United States, he had a sign on his desk that said, "There is no limit to what a man can do or where ...read more

Tags: Forgiveness General

Denomination: Lutheran

God Can Have Our Money And Not Our Hearts, But ...  PRO

Contributed by Gene Gregory on Sep 24, 2005

“God can have our money and not our hearts, but He cannot have our hearts without having our money.” (Disciplines of a Godly Man, R. Kent ...read more

Tags: Gifts Giving

Denomination: Baptist

Wha Lies Here?

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 8, 2006

Wha lies here? I, Johnny Doo. Hoo, Johnny, is that you? Ay, man, but a’m dead noo. Anonymous. “Johnny Doo,” from Geoffrey Grigson’s Faber Book ...read more

Tags: Death