In Sermon Illustrations: "On Time"

Get Busy And Cast A Line

Contributed by Keith Peters on Jul 5, 2011

GET BUSY AND CAST A LINE A poor, hungry man stood idly on a bridge watching some fishermen. Seeing one of them with a basket full of fish by his side, he said, "If I had a catch like that, I'd be happy. I'd sell it and buy some food and clothes." "I'll give you that many fish if you do a small ...read more

Tags: Workplace Unemployment

Denomination: Baptist

Rooted For Life  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 3, 2011

ROOTED FOR LIFE There was once a farmer who went to town to purchase seeds for his farm. As he was returning home, one of the squash seeds he had purchased fell from his pocket onto the ground. It happened that within a few feet was another seed of a different type. The place where the two seeds ...read more

Scripture: Colossians 2:1-7

Tags: Growth In Christ

You Can Make Him Drink

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 12, 2011

YOU CAN MAKE HIM DRINK Howard Hendricks, one of my professors at Dallas Theological Seminary, sometimes talked about his days when he was a student at the same seminary. In one of those stories, he tells about the time he was invited to preach in west Texas. "You've all heard of Nowhere? Well," ...read more

Scripture: 2 Timothy 4:1-5

Tags: Evangelism How To

The Right Name Opens Doors  PRO

Contributed by Mark Stepherson on Aug 15, 2011

THE RIGHT NAME OPENS DOORS Mark Roberts wrote of a time when he visited the Capitol as a guest of Congressman John Campbell. As long as he was with the congressman, he could walk freely around the Capitol, entering many areas that were reserved "for authorized personnel only," reserved for members ...read more

Scripture: John 15:16, John 16:23-24, John 14:13-14

Tags: Prayer How To

Denomination: Baptist

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

God Picks The Unlovable Ones

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 15, 2011

GOD PICKS THE UNLOVABLE ONES Anne Lamott described a time when a fellow church member told about adopting her son through an organization called A.S.K. -- Adopt Special Kids. Part of the adoption process included filling out a questionnaire checking "yes" or "no" for one's willingness to adopt ...read more

Scripture: John 4:1-42

Tags: Adoption

Not If Jesus Is Like Dad  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 21, 2011

NOT IF JESUS IS LIKE DAD Some months ago I heard a touching story about a humble, consecrated pastor whose young son had become very ill. After the boy had undergone an exhaustive series of tests, the father was told the shocking news that his son had a terminal illness. The youngster had accepted ...read more

Scripture: John 14:1-3

Tags: Father's Day

The Signet Ring

Contributed by Antonio Silveira on Sep 4, 2011

THE SIGNET RING "...I will make you like my signet ring, for I have chosen you,' declares the LORD Almighty" (Haggai 2:23). We don't often hear about signet rings anymore; but in Bible times, they were very significant. f In other words, you knew something was from the king because it was marked ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 40:31

Tags: Attitude General

Denomination: Baptist

Reactions Can Be Worse Than Actions  PRO

Contributed by Larry Wilson on Sep 12, 2011

REACTIONS CAN BE WORSE THAN ACTIONS While in seminary, I worked at a local Christian radio station. Part of my duties was to take hourly meter readings from the transmitter and place them on a log sheet that was subject to FCC review. The building featured indoor/outdoor green carpet, and the day ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 20:1-16

Tags: Action

Denomination: Baptist

Noble Savages

Contributed by Davon Huss on Oct 3, 2011

NOBLE SAVAGES For a while people have believed that our problems exist because we are too civilized. If we would just get back to nature and throw away all of the modern conveniences and the ideas found in the Christian religion, then we would be like the noble savages of old. A good example ...read more

Tags: Missions

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Childhood Reminders

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on Nov 7, 2011

CHILDHOOD REMINDERS When I first came to Wichita Falls, Joe and Eloise were living over on Hursh, and I remember going to call on them one day. The front door cradled a lovely stained-glass window. When I asked about it, Joe said, "It’s from the old church in Vernon." Every time he entered and ...read more

Tags: Growth In Christ

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

History Of Israel Stands As A Witness...

Contributed by Suresh Manoharan on Nov 27, 2011

History of Israel stands as a witness... About 300 years ago, the King of Sweden was having personal doubts about God’s existence and the Bible's divine nature. He called for Count Von Zinzendorf, who was the bishop of the Moravian Church, to provide evidence about God’s existence and Divine ...read more

Tags: Bible Truth

Denomination: *other

Salvation Swing

Contributed by Jason Bonnicksen on Dec 6, 2011

SALVATION SWING I remember back, as though it was yesterday, when my daughters were just little tykes. There was a great playground just down the hill from our seminary apartment where the girls would climb, slide and swing. Day after day they’d ask, "Mom, Dad, can we go to the park and swing?" ...read more

Tags: Encouragement

Denomination: Lutheran

A Man Once Came To Peter Marshall, Former ...  PRO

Contributed by Josh Hunt on Feb 13, 2012

A man once came to Peter Marshall, former chaplain of the Unites States Senate, with a concern about tithing. “I have a problem,” he said. “I have been tithing for some time. It wasn’t too bad when I was making $20,000 a year; I could afford to give up $2,000. But now that I am making $500,000, ...read more

Scripture: Luke 16:13

Tags: Money, Tithes, Materialism

Denomination: Baptist

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

Travelers Vs. Tourists

Contributed by Tim Hinrichs on Mar 29, 2012

TRAVELERS VS. TOURISTS Canadian Pastor Mark Buchanan in his book "Your Church is Too Safe" points out the radical difference between a traveler and a tourist. "A traveler literally means 'one who travails.' He labors, he suffers, endures. A traveler -- travailer - ...immerses himself in a culture, ...read more

Tags: Discipleship

Denomination: Lutheran

Over-Running The Temple

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 11, 2012

OVER-RUNNING THE TEMPLE Ta Prohm is the modern name of a temple at Angkor, Siem Reap Province, Cambodia, built in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. Unlike most Angkorian temples, Ta Prohm has been left in much the same condition in which it was found: the photogenic and atmospheric ...read more

Scripture: Colossians 3:1-14

Tags: Sin Wages Of

Jesus Freaks

Contributed by Joe Bertone on Jul 23, 2012

JESUS FREAKS In the book, Jesus Freaks, is the story of the Hine family. They lived in Cambodia during the Vietnam War. At that time it was very dangerous to be Christian in Cambodia. They were arrested one day for being Christians and thus enemies of the revolution and bad blood. One morning ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 7:13-14, Hebrews 11:1-40

Tags: Sacrifice, Paradise, Dying, Sacrifices, Martyr  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Erased

Contributed by Tim Hinrichs on Jul 25, 2012

ERASED When we lived in Poland, I walked through one of the cemeteries in one of the cities. And as I was looking at the stones I was surprised to see many of the smooth stones scarred with a roughness right in the middle. Later I found out that the names had been gouged out because they were ...read more

Tags: Sin Separates From God

Denomination: Lutheran

We Should Be Striving On A Daily Basis To Worship ...

Contributed by Mark Thometz on Aug 27, 2012

We should be striving on a daily basis to worship God in new, loving and exciting ways. It's very easy to become comfortable in our worship. We have that thing on Sunday and sometimes Wednesday and we may even dust off our Bible every now and then to read it. What about feeding the hungry as ...read more

Tags: Evangelism How To

Denomination: Christian Church