In Sermon Illustrations: "Pastor"

You Can Never Tell How The Thorough Learning Of ...

Contributed by Owen Bourgaize on Jul 6, 2008

You can never tell how the thorough learning of Scripture will be used in later life. Richard Wurmbrand was a pastor in Romania and was imprisoned and tortured for his faith by the communist authorities. He testified that it was the passages of Scripture that he had memorized as a youth, which ...read more

Tags: Bible Influence

Denomination: Baptist

The Church Can Still Strike ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 11, 2008

THE CHURCH CAN STILL STRIKE FEAR In 1988, Wally Magdangal was pastoring an underground church in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He was a Filipino lay pastor of Christian foreign workers wishing to gather for worship. In 1992, soon after the conclusion of the Gulf War, the house church had grown to over ...read more

Tags: Persecution

Don't Have To Spank Me

Contributed by Rev. Ryan Peters on Nov 3, 2008

DON'T HAVE TO SPANK ME During the normal works of the day, Jenny the local Pastor’s wife is watching her three little boys while her husband is at the church. When all of a sudden she hears a large crash in the living room, and when she runs in to see what it was there was little 4-year-old Brian ...read more

Tags: Children

Denomination: Pentecostal

The Simple Story

Contributed by Christopher Kennedy on Jan 22, 2009

THE SIMPLE STORY Last week, I met in the worship center with the four-year-olds from the school and we talked about what pastors do. After I was done showing them my robe and stoles and my private Communion kit and talking about the different places a pastor stands in church to talk about Jesus, I ...read more

Tags: Cross

Denomination: Lutheran

Consider Cornelia, A Woman Imprisoned In A Work ...

Contributed by Curry Pikkaart on Mar 23, 2010

"Consider Cornelia, a woman imprisoned in a work camp in Romania during the hard years of Communist occupation. One night, being too tired to undress, she fell exhausted on her bed and immediately went to sleep. She began to dream of a beautiful field full of flowers. There was a soft humming sound ...read more

Tags: Security, Enemies

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Good Hope, Alabama Is A Small Town With Small ...

Contributed by Ed Sasnett on Jun 15, 2010

Good Hope, Alabama is a small town with small town values. In Cullman County you can’t legally buy beer. Daystar Church, which had grown dramatically under pastor Jerry Lawson, ran up against the sensibilities of this conservative north Alabama community by focusing a month-long series on sex. ...read more

Tags: Sexuality

Denomination: Baptist

God, Send Us Bigger Rattlesnakes  PRO

Contributed by Curry Pikkaart on Mar 26, 2012

GOD, SEND US BIGGER RATTLESNAKES There was a farmer who had three sons: Jim, John, and Sam. No one in the family ever attended church or had time for God. The pastor and church members tried for years to interest the family in the things of God, but to no avail. Then one day, a rattlesnake bit ...read more

Tags: Prayer Supplication

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Today, We Need Our Eyes Opened To Jesus Just As ...  PRO

Contributed by Daryl Bahn on Apr 11, 2002

Today, we need our eyes opened to Jesus just as much as those early Christians. In one church, a sign that only the pastor could see was taped up in the pulpit. It quoted the words of John 12:21, (spoken by the Greeks who were in Jerusalem for the Passover to Philip) – “Sir, we would like to see ...read more

Tags: Faith General

Denomination: Lutheran

An Epitaph To Grace  PRO

Contributed by Robert Renberg Jr. on Jul 18, 2002

AN EPITAPH TO GRACE In a small cemetery of a parish churchyard in Olney, England, stands a granite tombstone w/ this inscription: “John Newton, clerk [pastor], once an infidel & Libertine, a servant of slavers in Africa, was, by the rich mercy of our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ, preserved, ...read more

Tags: Repentance, Confession Of Sin

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Employed By The Human-Development Center Of A ...  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 12, 2003

Employed by the human-development center of a corporation in the midwest, my friend trains employees in proper dress codes and etiquette. One day as she was stepping onto the elevator, a man casually dressed in jeans and a golf shirt got on with her. Thinking of her responsibilities, she scolded, ...read more

Tags: Workplace

In His Classic Devotional Book Titled The Saint's ...

Contributed by Donnie Martin on Sep 1, 2003

In his classic devotional book titled The Saint’s Everlasting Rest, English Puritan pastor and author Richard Baxter (1615-1691) wrote: Why are not our hearts continually set on heaven? Why dwell we not there in constant comtemplation…Bend thy soul to study eternity, busy thyself about the life to ...read more

Tags: Fulfillment

Denomination: Baptist

A New England High School Teacher Taught A ...  PRO

Contributed by James Buchanan on Sep 12, 2003

A New England high school teacher taught a course entitled The Bible as Literature. Only seniors in the top 10 percent of the class could take this course. A pre-test was given to evaluate the students’ biblical knowledge. One student defined the Epistles as "wives of the Apostles." A pastor was so ...read more

Tags: Bible Study, Bible Influence

Denomination: Independent/Bible

In A Church I Know Well One Lady Slapped Another ...

Contributed by Paul Wallace on Sep 6, 2004

In a church I know well one lady slapped another ladies child in the nursery. When the lady found out about it she was furious, but she didn’t want to say anything. Her pastor encouraged her to talk to the other lady about what had happened. When she confronted her in love, the other lady ...read more

Tags: Reconciliation, Forgiveness For Others

Denomination: Wesleyan

I Have Heard Karl Ingersoll, Another Grand ...  PRO

Contributed by Pat Cook on Oct 6, 2004

I have heard Karl Ingersoll, another Grand Mananer and pastor of Fredericton First Wesleyan, say, “The measure of the greatness of a man’s love for God is not found in his attention to the things he has to do, but in his attention to the things he doesn’t have to do.” That is, your salvation ...read more

Tags: Prayer General, Disciplines Scripture, Worship General

Denomination: Baptist

The Famous Preacher John Killinger & His Wife ...

Contributed by Tim Richards on Sep 3, 2005

The famous preacher John Killinger & his wife attended a small country funeral where the pastor got up & for most of the 15 minute sermon talked about the horrors of hell & how tragic it was that the deceased was probably burning there at that very moment. When they left John complained & his wife ...read more

Tags: Hell

Denomination: Baptist

William Weston, Sociology Professor At Center ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 6, 2006

William Weston, sociology professor at Center College, Danville, KY reports in The Religion Market that strict churches are experiencing great growth. Strict is defined as having a clear, authoritative doctrine, rigorous religious practices, and demanding membership requirements. “What people want ...read more

Tags: Church General

Fewer Teens Are Engaging In Sexual Activity. ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

Fewer Teens Are Engaging In Sexual Activity. According to a new National Center for Health Statistics report, teen girls, age 15 to 17, 38% had engaged in sexual intercourse in ‘95, vs. 30% in ‘02. Among boys that age, the sexual activity dropped from 43% to 31% in the same time period. The study ...read more

Tags: Sexuality

License To Kill: British Scientist , Ian Wilmut, ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

License To Kill: British scientist , Ian Wilmut, famous for cloning Dolly the sheep in ’96, has been granted a cloning license by British regulators to clone human embryos and extract stem cells for medical research. Though he calls this “therapeutic cloning” and claims it does not result in a ...read more

Teen Gambling: A Recent Annenberg Public Policy ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

Teen Gambling: A recent Annenberg Public Policy Center survey found 11% (almost double from last year) of high-school boys play cards for money weekly; 26% report gambling in the last month. Researcher Rachel Volberg notes one of the biggest problems with teen gambling is that hitting the jackpot ...read more

Tags: Addiction

Video Church- About 1,000 Churches, Mostly ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 20, 2007

Video Church- About 1,000 churches, mostly evangelical, use remote feeds, live or via DVD. In ‘05, 91% of mega-churches used the technology, up from 65% in ‘00, states a Hartford Seminary survey. Many Christians have taken to “godcasts” through video churches. Video technology allows leaders of ...read more

Tags: Church General