In Sermon Illustrations: "Overcome Difficulty"

Looking At The Light

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 6, 2012

LOOKING AT THE LIGHT A pastor told a story of a man in his congregation who had lost literally hundreds of thousands of dollars. He owed everybody. One day the pastor asked him, "How in the world are you even surviving? How can you smile? How can you be enthusiastic about Jesus and about life when ...read more

Scripture: 1 Kings 19:1-21

Tags: Trials And Difficulties

Steering Your Ship In A Storm

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 7, 2012

STEERING YOUR SHIP IN A STORM An old seaman once said, "During the fiercest storms the only way a ship can survive is to keep its nose pointed straight into the wind. If you try to turn to the left or the right, the ship may capsize. If you try to run from the wind, the waves can surge over the ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-13

Tags: Trials And Difficulties

Against The Wind

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 11, 2012

AGAINST THE WIND There will be challenges and suffering. Kites rise against, not with the wind. It is the winds that oppose it that drive it even higher. When the winds of adversity or criticism blows, allow it to be to you what the blast of wind is to a kite--a force against it that causes it to ...read more

Scripture: 1 Peter 2:18-25

Tags: Trials And Difficulties

A Cat And A Hot Stove

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 11, 2012

A CAT AND A HOT STOVE Mark Twain once said, "If a cat sits on a hot stove, that cat will never sit on a hot stove again." He continued, "That cat will never sit on a cold stove either." His conclusion: That cat will associate stoves with a bad, hot experience and say, "Never again!" We all ...read more

Scripture: James 1:2-4

Tags: Trials And Difficulties

The Ally Of Sufferers

Contributed by Warner Pidgeon on May 31, 2012

THE ALLY OF SUFFERERS The author and church minister Ray Ortlund says this: "Sometimes there is no way to get out of suffering; but there is a way to get through suffering, because God is the ally of sufferers." He also says that ...read more

Tags: Trials And Difficulties

Denomination: Anglican

Faith In Tragedy: Luther Bridges  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 24, 2012

FAITH IN TRAGEDY: LUTHER BRIDGES A Methodist preacher by the name of Luther Bridges was born in 1884. He married and had 3 sons. Pastor Bridges accepted an invitation to minister at a conference in Kentucky in the year 1910, so he left his family in the care of his father-in-law & made the trip to ...read more

Scripture: Job 1:20-21

Tags: Trials And Difficulties

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

The Great Boston Fire Of ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 27, 2012

THE GREAT BOSTON FIRE OF 1872 In the great Boston fire of 1872, sixty-five acres of land was destroyed. The damage totaled up to $75 million but in our day would be somewhere in the neighborhood of $3 billion. Hundreds of businesses were destroyed. Someone came along and wrote a message on a rough ...read more

Scripture: Romans 8:28

Tags: Trials And Difficulties

Out Of Ink?

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 19, 2012

OUT OF INK? According to MSNBC, The British Medical Journal recently reported the case of a 76-year-old woman who visited her doctor complaining of stomach problems. When the scans came back, doctors were amazed to see a long object in her stomach. It was a pen! The woman remembered having put a ...read more

Scripture: James 1:2-4

Tags: Trials And Difficulties

The Journey Of Jonathan Aitken

Contributed by Warner Pidgeon on Nov 5, 2012

THE JOURNEY OF JONATHAN AITKEN Jonathan Aitken was a British war correspondent in Viet Nam, Chief-Executive of TV-AM, and for 23 years an MP including time as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, and a Defence Minister. Jonathan Aitken's life fell apart after he was caught telling a lie under oath in ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Tags: Trials And Difficulties

Denomination: Anglican

The 10 Tests Of Abraham

Contributed by Perry Greene on Nov 6, 2012

THE 10 TESTS OF ABRAHAM Ten Tests of Abraham according to Maimonides: 1. God tells him to leave his homeland to be a stranger in the land of Canaan. (12.1) 2. Immediately after his arrival in the Promised Land, he encounters a famine. (12.10) 3. The Egyptians capture his beloved wife, Sarah, and ...read more

Tags: Trials And Difficulties

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Very Few Things Take Away The Power Of Someone As ...

Contributed by Kevin Barron on Dec 30, 2012

Very few things take away the power of someone as much as being ridiculed. In Von Ryan’s Express by David Westheimer, they do it by burning their clothes. The book is an account of Allied prisoners during World War Two. One of the trials of prison camp is that their Italian guards will not give ...read more

Tags: Trials And Difficulties

Denomination: United Methodist

Sleeping When The Wind Blows

Contributed by Perry Greene on May 21, 2013

SLEEPING WHEN THE WIND BLOWS A young man applied for a job as a farmhand. When the farmer asked for his qualifications, he said, "I can sleep when the wind blows." This puzzled the farmer. But he liked the young man, and hired him. A few days later, the farmer and his wife were awakened in the ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 31:21, Proverbs 12:27

Tags: Trials And Difficulties

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

You Can't Have A Triumph Without A Trial, You ...

Contributed by John Davis on Nov 25, 2008

You can’t have a triumph without a trial, You can’t have a Testimony without a test and you can’t have a great Victory until you’ve gone through a great Battle! It’s like the Andre Crouch song "Through it All" one line in the song says "If I never had a problem I wouldn’t know that God could solve ...read more

Tags: Faith, Trials And Difficulties

Denomination: Pentecostal

Success From Struggle  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 28, 2008

SUCCESS FROM STRUGGLE Well, one way to respond to opportunity is to learn to recognize it even when it is disguised as difficulty. In a famous study by Victor and Mildred Goertzel, the home backgrounds of 300 highly successful people were investigated. All 300 of these people made it to the top ...read more

Tags: Blind, Trials And Difficulties

Standing At The Edge Of The ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 9, 2009

STANDING AT THE EDGE OF THE PRESIDENCY In early 1975, Jimmy Carter, the ex-governor of Georgia, began campaigning in Iowa, the site of the first statewide contest in the race for the 1976 Democratic presidential nomination. Carter knew almost no one in the state, and his first piece of business ...read more

Scripture: Joshua 3:1-17

Tags: Perseverance, Trials And Difficulties

Jehovah ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 27, 2009

JEHOVAH SHAMMAH I like what Charles Spurgeon once said, "Whatever your difficulties and trials and sorrows, all is well with you if God is your delight, and His presence your joy." When you feel abandoned or afraid, address Him as Jehovah Shammah. When ...read more

Scripture: John 16:33

Tags: Trials And Difficulties, Trials

Fathers Significantly Impact The Family Values. ...

Contributed by Dale Pilgrim on Jun 21, 2009

Fathers significantly impact the family values. It is alarming however to learn that fathers are missing in the home and it continues to be a growing concern. There are studies to support many facts about the absence of fathers at home: - The absence of fathers results in children grieving as if ...read more

Tags: Trials And Difficulties, Fathers

Denomination: Salvation Army

Kokomo Tribune Writer Scott Smith Wrote An ...

Contributed by Ed Vasicek on Aug 3, 2009

Kokomo Tribune writer Scott Smith wrote an article for the Kokomo Tribune headlined, "Dam destruction part of Wildcat Creek’s revival." It reads: "The water upstream from the old Continental Steel dam looks almost stagnant. The streambed is deep, and the surface untroubled. But the lack of rills ...read more

Tags: Purity, Trials And Difficulties

Denomination: Independent/Bible

S Unlimited: The Lonely In The Crowd: ...

Contributed by Michael Mccartney on Aug 9, 2009

Illustrations Unlimited: THE LONELY IN THE CROWD: A few years ago, the press carried a heartrending story of a young father who shot himself in a tavern telephone booth. James Lee had called a Chicago newspaper and told a reporter he had sent the paper a manila envelope outlining his story. The ...read more

Tags: Loneliness, Trials And Difficulties

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational