In Sermon Illustrations: "Parable Of The Sower"

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

Begging The Governor

Contributed by Sermon Central on Nov 1, 2004

BEGGING THE GOVERNOR The story of a Danish noblewoman, Baroness Blixen, was made known in the movie "Out Of Africa." She lived in Kenya as the owner of a large Coffee plantation. There was a tribe known as the Kikuyu tribe that Blixen had grown to love. Some of the Kikuyu lived on a part of the ...read more

Scripture: Luke 18:1-8

Tags: Parable Widow, Prayer Persistence

The Purpose Of The Light  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 19, 2005

THE PURPOSE OF THE LIGHT "There is an old story about a lighthouse keeper who worked on a rocky stretch of coastline. Once a month he would receive a new supply of oil to keep the light burning so that ships could safely sail near the rocky coast. One night, though, a woman from a nearby village ...read more

Scripture: Mark 4:1-35

Tags: Parable General, Giving Yourself

Once There Was An Old Hermit Who Lived On The ...  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 15, 2002

Once there was an old hermit who lived on the side of a mountain. There were three little boys who were always trying to outsmart the old hermit. One of the little boys said, "I’ll put a marble in my hand and we will go to the old man and ask him what it is I have in my hand. So the three boys went ...read more

Tags: Becoming A Christian, Parable General

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

Robert Robinson Had Been Saved Out Of A ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

Robert Robinson had been saved out of a tempestuous life of sin through George Whitfield’s ministry in England. Shortly after that, at the age of twenty-three, Robinson wrote the hymn Come, Thou Fount. Come, Thou Fount of ev’ry blessing, Streams of mercy, never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest ...read more

Tags: Stubbornness, Parable Prodigal Son

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

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

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

Hannah And Michael: Finding What Was Lost  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 1, 2011

HANNAH AND MICHAEL: FINDING WHAT WAS LOST Let me tell you what happened to Ted Forbes back in 1984. While walking down a street in Chicago...Ted found a wallet. Being an honest Christian man he wanted to return it to its owner. So he opened it to look for identification. The wallet contained just ...read more

Scripture: Luke 15:8-10, Luke 15:11-32, 1 Corinthians 13:8, John 17:1-26

Tags: Love, Parable Lost Coin

Is Your Name In The Bible?--The Case Of A New ...  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 5, 2012

IS YOUR NAME IN THE BIBLE?--THE CASE OF A NEW YORK CITY BAG LADY Years ago, there was a bag lady in New York City who attended a preaching service at a Manhattan Rescue Mission. Afterwards in the line to receive soup, she mentioned to the preacher she was now ready to give her life to Jesus. She ...read more

Scripture: Luke 15:1-7

Tags: Sunday, Parable Lost Sheep