In Sermon Illustrations: "Over Thinking"

The Adultery Market

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 27, 2009

THE ADULTERY MARKET Many of us have seen the wild and funny TV ads that go along with the Super Bowl. But fans in Texas got quite a shock during the game this year. An ad by AshleyMadison.com was seen as inappropriate by the NFL and NBC. But local affiliates in Texas decided that the $250,000 for ...read more

Tags: Adultery

Sir Isaac Newton Was A Very Famous Mathematician ...

Contributed by Scott Bayles on May 19, 2009

Sir Isaac Newton was a very famous mathematician and scientist who strongly believed in God. However, he had a very close friend who did not believe in God, so Sir Isaac devised a plan to try to convince his friend that God did exist and had created the Universe. One day, he went to a carpentry ...read more

Tags: Apologetics God, Apologetics Creator

Denomination: Christian Church

A Good ...

Contributed by Dwight L. Moody on Jun 11, 2009

A GOOD MOTHER (a classic illustration by D. L. Moody) A young man went home from one of our meetings some time ago. He had been converted. He had previously been a dissipated young man. His mother had made it a rule, she told me, that she "would not retire till he came home." That was her rule, ...read more

Scripture: Luke 15:11-32

Tags: Parable Prodigal Son

Denomination: *other

Chargers Vs. Broncos

Contributed by Sean Harder on Jun 16, 2009

I was looking for modern day example of Paul’s heart, and I found it to some degree in an NFL football player. In a game between the San Diego Chargers and the Denver Broncos on December 10, 2006, Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson (known as L.T.) took his position the same way he had done ...read more

Tags: Humility, Sports

Living Poor To Give More: Excelling In Giving

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 14, 2009

LIVING POOR TO GIVE MORE: EXCELLING IN GIVING The richest people in the world give a huge amount of money, yet their generosity is really a very small proportion of their wealth. And apparently the vast majority of Christ’s followers are not exactly excelling their giving either. So what does ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 8:7

Tags: Giving General

Converted By Dreams And Visions

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 14, 2009

CONVERTED BY DREAMS AND VISIONS Do you know that many Muslims are recently becoming Christians because of dreams and visions? According to Wendell Evans of the Billy Graham Center’s Institute for Muslim Studies, "More and more stories are coming out of closed countries, of God supernaturally ...read more

Scripture: Joel 2:28

Tags: Dreams

The Teddy Bear Lady

Contributed by Davon Huss on Aug 11, 2009

THE TEDDY BEAR LADY Most of the people at Chicago’s Children’s Hospital did not know her name. They just knew her as the sweet elderly lady in the red suit who wanted to make sure that every sick child had a teddy bear to hug and caress. She kept bringing the stuffed animals, purchased with her ...read more

Tags: Giving General

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Faith Fights  PRO

Contributed by Wade Martin Hughes, Sr on Oct 19, 2009

FAITH FIGHTS Habakkuk 2:4 Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith. I heard a story about a midwestern farmer 50 years ago. The farmer went to the bank to borrow money to buy seed to plant his whole farm in corn. He fired up the old tractor ...read more

Tags: Faith

Denomination: Assembly Of God

Joy And Phyllis Diller  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Oct 21, 2009

JOY AND PHYLLIS DILLER A thirty-eight-year-old scrubwoman (cleaning lady) would go to the movies and sigh, "If only I had her looks." She would listen to a singer and moan, "If only I had her voice." Then one day someone gave her a copy of the book, The Magic of Believing. She stopped comparing ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 126:2

Tags: Joy

Cultural Desensitization

Contributed by Terry Barnhill on Oct 24, 2009

CULTURAL DESENSITIZATION One evening Ardie and I decided we needed to get out of the house. On an impulse, we went looking for a good movie. When we got to the theater, we didn't recognize any of the movies that were playing, so we just picked one. It was titled "District 13" . . . big mistake! ...read more

Tags: Entertainment

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Office Worker Reads Bible In Secret At ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Nov 6, 2009

Office Worker Reads Bible In Secret at Work When I was a college student I worked for a time in a government office. I noticed after a while in that office that one of the engineers whose desk was back-to-back with mine would perform a little lunch hour ritual involving something in his desk ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 28:18-20

Tags: Evangelism Fear Of

Everybody Hates Chris: Right Day, Wrong Year

Contributed by Johnny Wilson on Nov 23, 2009

EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS: RIGHT DAY, WRONG YEAR Once there was a covenant with Noah, with Abram, with Moses, and with David, but now there is a NEW covenant written in the blood of Jesus. That promise, that contract, never expires. It is guaranteed by God's action, not our actions. The word often ...read more

Tags: Covenant

Denomination: *other

The Spite ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Nov 23, 2009

The Spite House Once there was a millionaire who owned a lot in an exclusive residential area of a large city. This lot presented an unusual problem. It was only 2 yards wide but nearly 100 feet long. There was nothing that he could do but sell it to one of the neighbors on either side. He went to ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 6:12-15

Tags: Bitterness

Chuck Smith Meets A New Brother In Christ—a ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Nov 23, 2009

Chuck Smith Meets a New Brother in Christ—A Tribal Chief in New Guinea Chuck Smith: I was over in New Guinea and I had this native chieftain come up to me. He had to speak to me through an interpreter. And he had these spears in his hand. He said, "I used these to kill men. But," he said, "now ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 2:3-6

Tags: Body Of Christ, Church Body Of Christ

The Reason Behind An Unusual Hymn Singing ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 8, 2009

The Reason Behind an Unusual Hymn Singing Practice is Discovered Sometime in the last decade of twentieth century, a young pastor who was a fresh graduate from a renowned seminary was assigned to shepherd an old church in a remote village. The church was founded and built sometime in the late ...read more

Scripture: Romans 12:3-8

Tags: Church Practices

The Legend Of A Cherokee Indian ...

Contributed by Bill Burress on Dec 28, 2009

The Legend of a Cherokee Indian Youth’s Rite of Passage? A father takes his son into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him alone. The youth is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it. He cannot ...read more

Tags: Trust

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Open Our Eyes...?  PRO

Contributed by Paul Anthony on Feb 5, 2010

Open Our Eyes...? I have a book called 'Tall Tales of a Big God' written by a man called Maurice Smith. Maurice is (or at least was) an international Christian Speaker travelling all over the UK, and Europe and particularly the USA. And his book is a compilation of some of the most embarrassing ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 23:1, Acts 4:1-21

Tags: Grace, Service, Humility, Pride, Embarrassment  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Baptist

The Worst Natural Disaster In Our Nation's ...

Contributed by Davon Huss on Feb 15, 2010

The worst natural disaster in our nation’s history blew in as a category 4 hurricane battering Galveston, Texas, on September 8, 1900. Winds estimated at over 140 miles per hour and tidal surges of 16 feet slammed the island. More than 6,000 people lost their lives, and more than 3,600 homes and ...read more

Scripture: Acts 27:22-25

Tags: Trials And Difficulties

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Leo Tolstoy Once Wrote A Story About A Successful ...

Contributed by Christian Cheong on Mar 9, 2010

Leo Tolstoy once wrote a story about a successful peasant farmer who was not satisfied with his lot. He wanted more of everything. One day he received a novel offer. For $1000, he could buy all the land he could walk around in a day. The only catch in the deal was that he had to be back at his ...read more

Tags: Greed, Parable Rich Fool

Denomination: Independent/Bible

70 Funerals In One Day

Contributed by Gregg Bitter on Nov 24, 2010

70 FUNERALS IN ONE DAY During a forty-year ministry, I would guess that many pastors do seventy or more burials. But this wasn't over the full span of his ministry. In fact, it wasn't even a full year. In one day, Pastor Rinkart did burial rites for up to seventy people and did the same the next ...read more

Tags: Suffering Joy In

Denomination: Lutheran