In Sermon Illustrations: "Now What"

George Barna Wrote The State Of The Church In ...

Contributed by Paul Carlson on Feb 17, 2009

George Barna wrote The State of the Church in 2002. Barna conducted a survey of self-pronounced Christians and here’s what he found about their knowledge of the Bible. These are Christians. • 48% could not name the four Gospels. • 52% cannot identify more than two or three of Jesus’ ...read more

Tags: Learning

Denomination: Baptist

Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman Told Of A Distinguished ...

Contributed by Ajai Prakash on Feb 25, 2009

Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman told of a distinguished minister, Dr. Howard, from Australia who preached very strongly on the subject of SIN. After the service, one of the church deacons came to counsel with him in the study. "Dr. Howard," he said, "we don’t want you to talk as openly as you do about man’s ...read more

Tags: Sin General

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Staring At The Gates Of Hell

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 28, 2009

STARING AT THE GATES OF HELL Auguste Rodin was a French impressionist sculptor. He created The Thinker. The Thinker was originally meant to sit on top of Rodin’s greatest masterpiece, the Gates of Hell. The Thinker is contemplating an eternity of judgment separated from God. Author Neil Cole ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 16:18

Tags: Church Purpose Of

Drink Deeply  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 10, 2009

DRINK DEEPLY Picture this: You have just finished a ten-mile hike on a 95 degree day, and on the entire journey you haven’t had a thing to drink. Stumbling with thirst, you come to your father’s house and plea for water. With love and concern, he brings you a cold pitcher of water and a glass and ...read more

Scripture: John 4:1-26

Tags: Faith

The Key To ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 14, 2009

THE KEY TO FREEDOM The great "prince of preachers," Charles Haddon Spurgeon, used to tell the story of a duke who boarded a galley ship and went below to talk with the criminals manning the oars. He asked several of them what their offenses were. Almost every man claimed he was innocent, blaming ...read more

Scripture: Acts 2:38-40

Tags: Salvation

The Road To ...

Contributed by Bill Butsko on Aug 5, 2009

“The Road to Safety” A news correspondent, forced to jump from a crippled plane over New Guinea, landed safely. He sought a way out of the jungle. Up mountains, down the rivers, through the thick jungle growth he traveled, only to return discouraged to his starting point. Day by day, week by ...read more

Tags: Salvation

Denomination: Christian Church

Does He Show Through?

Contributed by Melvin Newland on Sep 3, 2009

DOES HE SHOW THROUGH? One Sunday as they drove home from church, a little girl turned to her mother & said, "Mommy, there’s something about the preacher’s message this morning that I don’t understand." The mother said, "Oh? What is it?" The little girl replied, "Well, he said that God is ...read more

Tags: Christian Witness

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

A Few Minutes Before The Services Started, The ...

Contributed by Davon Huss on Oct 12, 2009

A few minutes before the services started, the church people were sitting in their pews and talking. Suddenly, Satan appeared at the front of the church. Everyone started screaming and running for the front entrance, trampling each other in a frantic effort to get away from the evil one. Soon ...read more

Tags: Satan

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

The Devil Is A ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Oct 16, 2009

The Devil Is A Liar A well-paid, recently-promoted young executive dreamed he died and stood at the Pearly Gates. Peter asks: "Do you want to go to heaven or to hell?" "Let me know my options," he says. "Show me hell." Up pops a giant screen with a video playing. Girls in bikinis and well-built ...read more

Scripture: John 8:44

Tags: Satan

Looking For Pac Man Fulfillment

Contributed by Bret Toman on Jan 2, 2010

LOOKING FOR PAC MAN FULFILLMENT I was in the 5th grade, sitting tortured in a classroom, couldn’t wait for the dumb day to be over because at home ... I had waiting for me ... Pac Man on my Atari 2600. The day before I had plunked down $40 to have this game for myself. That was like 1982 - so it’d ...read more

Tags: Fulfillment

Denomination: Baptist

Gary Smalley's Daughter Carrie Came To Him One ...

Contributed by Davon Huss on Jan 25, 2010

Gary Smalley’s daughter Carrie came to him one day and said, “Dad, I know that you love us and I know that you love Michael (one of his sons), but you are always picking on Michael, you are constantly criticizing Michael. Dad, what you are doing is like someone who is locked in a room and someone ...read more

Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:11

Tags: Encouragement

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Vance Havner On How To Reach The Masses  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 28, 2010

VANCE HAVNER ON HOW TO REACH THE MASSES Preacher Vance Havner used to tell this story: Years ago a convention met in Indianapolis to discuss "How to Reach the Masses." One day during that convention a young man stood on a box on a corner and began to preach. A crowd gathered, mostly workingmen ...read more

Scripture: Romans 10:14-15

Tags: Evangelism How To

Sodom And Sydney

Contributed by Ross Cochrane on Jul 29, 2010

SODOM AND SYDNEY Sydney is well known for its GAY & LESBIAN MARDI GRAS. It is an annual parade, dance party and festival, the largest such event in the world and attracts many international and domestic tourists. For many years Fred Nile, a Christian minister has railed against their wickedness, ...read more

Tags: Homosexuality

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Make Me!

Contributed by Ross Cochrane on Jan 14, 2011

"MAKE ME!" They had behaved badly in class but they were equally disruptive in the detention room, swearing, acting tough and defying anything I said with a smart comment. Unacceptable behaviour. I have never really had a problem with anger, but the closest I came was in that classroom. Teaching ...read more

Tags: Murder

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Something Beautiful

Contributed by Barry Edmondson on Feb 5, 2011

SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL In 1502, in Florence, Italy there was a large block of marble given to a church in Santa Maria, the church immediately hired who they thought was a professional to sculpt this enormously huge piece of rock. The man was a professional and soon after commencing this great task ...read more

Tags: God Brings Purpose

Denomination: Pentecostal

I Tithe—he'll Find Me.  PRO

Contributed by Denn Guptill on May 1, 2011

"I TITHE--HE'LL FIND ME." Two men have ended up marooned on an island in the South Pacific. You can fill in the blanks as to how they got there. So they are on the clichéic deserted island, one palm tree, nothing to see but the ocean. One guy is in a complete panic, pacing back and forth, ...read more

Scripture: Colossians 3:5-21, Matthew 23:23

Tags: Offering, Tithe, Tithes

Denomination: Wesleyan

Why Did God Make Mothers?

Contributed by Curry Pikkaart on May 10, 2011

WHY DID GOD MAKE MOTHERS? Consider these answers given by elementary-age children to the following questions. "Why did God make mothers?" "Mostly to clean the house." "To help us out of there, when we were getting born." "How did God make mothers?" "God made my Mom just the same like he made ...read more

Tags: Mothers

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

They Refused To Be Rescued  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 15, 2011

THEY REFUSED TO BE RESCUED On August 30, 2005 Coast Guard Lieutenant Iain McConnell was ordered to fly his H46 helicopter to New Orleans and to keep that machine flying around the clock for what would turn out to be a heroic rescue effort. None of his crew were prepared for what they were about to ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 1:3-4, 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12, Matthew 8:28-34, 2 Peter 3:7-10

Tags: Rejection, Heroism

Forgive And Forget

Contributed by Josh Hunt on Feb 15, 2012

FORGIVE AND FORGET There's a wonderful story about the cardinal of the Philippines, named, oddly enough, Cardinal Sin. When Cardinal Sin was a bishop, a young woman in his parish claimed that she had visions of Jesus. Bishop Sin was given the task of determining if these visions were authentic. He ...read more

Scripture: 1 John 1:9

Tags: Forgiveness General

Denomination: Baptist

The Dead Donkey

Contributed by Perry Greene on Jul 12, 2012

THE DEAD DONKEY A city boy, Kenny, moved to the country and bought a donkey from an old farmer for $100. The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day. The next day the farmer drove up and said, "Sorry son, but I have some bad news, the donkey died." Kenny replied, "Well then, just give ...read more

Tags: Wisdom

Denomination: Independent/Bible