In Sermon Illustrations: "Parable Of The Lost Son"

There's An Ancient Document From The Second ...  PRO

Contributed by Alan Perkins on Feb 16, 2002

There’s an ancient document from the second century called the "Epistle to Diognetus". It’s a letter from a Christian to a prominent pagan named Diognetus, in which the author, who is unknown, is describing and defending this strange new religion of Christianity. It reads, in part: "The Christians ...read more

Tags: Parable General, Kingdom Of God

Denomination: Baptist

Chilton Notes, "The Sheepfold Jesus Was Thinking ...

Contributed by Michael Mccartney on Nov 19, 2003

Chilton notes, "The sheepfold Jesus was thinking about was an open space surrounded by a wall, with but one opening and here the shepherd took up His position as the door. It was this that the sheep literally and actually came in and out through Him. Thus they were watched over, cared for, counted ...read more

Tags: Divinity Of Christ, Parable General

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

The Value Of A Pearl  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Oct 4, 2004

THE VALUE OF A PEARL Pearls were perceived in the first century in much the same way we view diamonds today. They were the most valuable gem in the world at that time. If you owned a pearl, you owned a fortune. And there was a good reason for it. Pearl hunting involved immense danger. The fine ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 13:45-46, Matthew 13:44-46

Tags: Parable General, Kingdom Of God

Keep Asking, Keep Seeking, Keep Knocking  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Oct 11, 2004

KEEP ASKING, KEEP SEEKING, KEEP KNOCKING There is a progression in this persistence: asking, seeking and knocking. Now let’s consider their meaning, “asking means making a simple request. Seeking implies a stronger desire and a more definite kind of request. It is something that takes time. It ...read more

Scripture: Luke 11:5-13

Tags: Prayer Persistence, Parable General

Astounding Answer  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Oct 11, 2004

ASTOUNDING ANSWER When you think of what prayer really is it’s astounding that we’d get an answer at all. Ambrose Bierce once said that to pray was … "To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf of a single petitioner confessedly ...read more

Scripture: Jeremiah 33:3

Tags: Prayer Supplication, Parable General

God Is Not A Genie  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Oct 11, 2004

GOD IS NOT A GENIE An auto dealer, facing bankruptcy, was walking along a beach when he kicked a bottle and out popped a genie. "Thanks for setting me free," said the genie. "To show my appreciation, I’ll grant you one wish." "Okay," said the auto dealer, "I want to be the only foreign car dealer ...read more

Scripture: Luke 5:1-20

Tags: Parable General, Prayer Answered

Pray Till You Get Cookies  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Oct 11, 2004

PRAY TILL YOU GET COOKIES We should be like the 3-year-old boy (that Paul Harvey told about) who went to the grocery store with his mother. Before they entered the grocery store she said to him, "Now you’re not going to get any chocolate chip cookies, so don’t even ask." She put him up in the cart ...read more

Scripture: Luke 11:1-18, Jeremiah 33:3, Jeremiah 29:12

Tags: Prayer Supplication, Parable General

Built By Grace  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Oct 19, 2004

BUILT BY GRACE Years ago, late on a stormy night in Philadelphia, an elderly couple walked wearily into a hotel. They approached the night clerk at the desk and practically begged him for a room. Apparently there were three conventions in town, and every hotel was filled to capacity. "Are there ...read more

Scripture: Luke 14:12-24, Luke 19:11-26

Tags: Parable Great Banquet, Grace

Who's The Guy With George

Contributed by Sermon Central on Oct 19, 2004

WHO’S THE GUY WITH GEORGE George had a friend with an inflated opinion of himself. As a friend should, George decided to help his friend lose this quirk. Subtly, George mentioned that he knew Johnny Carson. The friend said, "Oh, yeah, prove it." In a few minutes, they were in front of a large ...read more

Scripture: Luke 14:12-24

Tags: Parable Great Banquet, Humility

Persistent, Tenacious Prayer  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Nov 1, 2004

PERSISTENT, TENACIOUS PRAYER Our praying should be like the story of Jacob wrestling the angel in Genesis 32. They wrestled all night and toward morning, Jacob had the angel in a full Nelson grip. The angel said, “Jacob, let me go.” Now, I think it was like WWF, it was a fixed fight. The mighty ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 10:1, Luke 18:1-8

Tags: Prayer Persistence, Parable Widow

Unanswered Prayer  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Nov 1, 2004

UNANSWERED PRAYER Cable television tycoon Ted Turner has often been quoted as being critical of fundamentalist Christianity. Turner made some very revealing remarks at a banquet in Orlando, Fla., in 1990, where he was given an award by the American Humanist Association for his work on behalf of ...read more

Scripture: Luke 18:1-8

Tags: Parable Widow, Prayer Persistence

Being Heard By The Judge  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Nov 1, 2004

BEING HEARD BY THE JUDGE To understand the story of the persistent widow, we need to understand its New Testament setting, Wiersbe describes it this way, “The courtroom was not a fine building but a tent that was moved from place to place as the judge covered his circuit. The judge, not the law, ...read more

Scripture: Luke 18:1-8

Tags: Parable Widow, Prayer Persistence

College Students Fail To Be Good ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Oct 22, 2009

College Students Fail to be Good Samaritans Real compassion looks beyond the faults of people to see the pain beneath it all and to see the hunger in people’s hearts. In research done by Darley and Batson at Princeton in 1973, a group of theology students was told that they were to go across ...read more

Scripture: Luke 10:25-37

Tags: Samaritan, Parable Good Samaritan

A Teacher With Morals

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 8, 2013

A TEACHER WITH MORALS It's a true story; only the names have been changed to protect the embarrassed. Little Tommy attended first grade Sunday School faithfully. He loved his teacher, Mrs. Smith. Mrs. Smith told great Bible stories, and she would always end the story by saying, "And, boys and ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 13:1-23

Tags: Morality, Parable Sower And Seed

A Man Was Preaching To A Church In Australia. ...  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

A man was preaching to a church in Australia. The congregation had big black Bibles and severe expressions... And they knew their Bibles, and were proud of that. It was a smallish group, so he decided to engage them in dialogue: ’Who knows who the Pharisees were?’ They did. ’The Pharisees got a ...read more

Tags: Parable Pharisee, Jesus The Light

So If The Kingdom Of Heaven Is So Valuable, Why ...  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

So if the kingdom of heaven is so valuable, why doesn’t everybody do everything they can to be a part of it? I think it’s because value is often in the eye of the beholder. What has value and what doesn’t is really up to personal interpretation. What some people think are valuable have no value at ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 3:1-12

Tags: Fig Tree, Parable General

Unsung Heroines-The "sinful Woman" At Simon's House

Contributed by Jonathan Spurlock on Aug 4, 2022

Introduction: We don’t know her name, or much of anything else about her, except for one incident where she’s featured. What she did, and to whom, qualifies her to be an unsung heroine! Text: Luke 7:36-39, KJV: 36 And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into ...read more

Scripture: Luke 7:36-50

Tags: Forgiveness, Parables, Unsung Heroines

Denomination: Baptist

Acorn Theology

Contributed by Todd Catteau on Dec 10, 2021

I love fall. I love the cooler weather. I love the changing colors. I love football. I love fall with this exception—raking leaves. I have a big oak tree out in my front hard and it is amazing how many leaves that tree can produce. I was out raking the other day and not only was I amazed at all ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 6:9, 1 Corinthians 15:58

Tags: Patience, Steadfastness, Parable, Endurance, Autumn, Sower, Seed, Parables, Evangelism  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

No Contest  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Sep 28, 2004

NO CONTEST When we get to heaven, there will be no contest to see who was the most deserving of God’s grace because no one deserves it. There will only be one contest in heaven. When we look back and see what we were before, when we see the pit from which he rescued us, when we recall how ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 20:1-16, Galatians 2:20-21, Matthew 20:1-16

Tags: Promises Of God, Parable Vineyard, Grace

One Of The Most Dramatic Symbols Of The New ...  PRO

Contributed by Steven Chapman on Nov 6, 2000

One of the most dramatic symbols of the new political freedoms in the worlds was the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. In 1990, church leaders invited Billy Graham to conduct a rally at the Brandenburg Gate. They said that rock stars, entertainers, and political groups had rallied at the Wall, but ...read more

Tags: Evangelism The Lost, Finding Fulfillment

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ