In Sermon Illustrations: "Poor People"

Singing For The Girls

Contributed by Guy Mcgraw on Jun 22, 2011

SINGING FOR THE GIRLS Last Sunday night I preached in a town called San Miguel. It was known for witch doctors and demonic things going on. We had a constant string of problems happening one after another. The church was crowded with every seat taken and faces looking through the back doors and ...read more

Tags: Trials And Difficulties

The Story Of Justice

Contributed by Andrew Moffatt on Jul 28, 2011

THE STORY OF JUSTICE We all know the story; the bad guys, lead by Ugly Nasty have robbed the bank, the savings of the people of Rattlesnake Gulch have been taken to the abandoned mine. But before Jake and his henchmen left they abducted the school teacher, (the stunningly beautiful, even in black ...read more

Scripture: John 3:16

Tags: Honesty, Justice, Law Abiding, The Wild West

Denomination: Salvation Army

Reducing The Glare

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 4, 2011

REDUCING THE GLARE Just a few years ago (2004), Frank Gehry finished his landmark creation of the 274 million dollar Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Now, with all that money you'd expect the building to shine, and it does. The shimmering stainless steel concert hall is truly marvelous to ...read more

Scripture: 1 Peter 1:13-16

Tags: Holiness

Believing In Anything  PRO

Contributed by Jeff Strite on Aug 8, 2011

BELIEVING IN ANYTHING G.K. Chesterton once said, "It is often supposed that when people stop believing in God, they believe in nothing. Alas, it is worse than that. When they stop believing in God, they believe in anything." Without God the only standard of TRUST - of right and wrong - is what ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 11:2-11

Tags: Trust

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

The Beautiful Sounds Of The Stradivarius

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 11, 2011

THE BEAUTIFUL SOUNDS OF THE STRADIVARIUS Years ago, there was a master violinist in Europe. He would play in concerts, and he had a magnificent Stradivarius violin, extremely expensive. He would play the Stradivarius violin in concert and everyone would whisper in the crowd, "Listen to the ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 38:20, Isaiah 38:1-8

Tags: Born Again

The Blame Game

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 18, 2011

THE BLAME GAME Wayne Dyer writes: "All blame is a waste of time. No matter how much fault you find with another, and regardless of how much you blame him, it will not change you...You may succeed in making another feel guilty of something by blaming him; you won't succeed in changing whatever it ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 3:8-13

Tags: Guilt

Stay Out Of The Stagnant Water

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 25, 2011

STAY OUT OF THE STAGNANT WATER Palmer Chinchen, in his book, True Religion, talks about traveling to the western edge of Zimbabwe with his brothers to raft the Zambezi River, starting at the base of the Victoria Falls. The falls are the largest in the world, more than a mile wide and three hundred ...read more

Scripture: 1 Peter 4:12-19

Tags: Church Practices

St. Helens Vs. Krakatoa

Contributed by Scott Spencer on Nov 3, 2011

ST. HELENS VS. KRAKATOA May 18, 1980. You might remember that on that day there was an incredible explosion which was estimated at 500 times more powerful than the force of the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. This explosion was so powerful that it ripped 1,200 feet off the top of a 9,700 ...read more

Tags: Strength

Denomination: Calvary Chapel

I Came Upon My 3rd Grade Report Card From A Small ...

Contributed by Brad Henry on Dec 9, 2011

I came upon my 3rd grade report card from a small school in Western Pennsylvania. The teacher wrote, "I feel Bradley could do so much better. Inattentive." Well not much has changed. ADD started early. But I was not inattentive when it came time for sports. Why the disconnect? It is because I was ...read more

Tags: Trials And Difficulties

The Blob: A Thriving Environment

Contributed by Johnny A. Palmer Jr. on Feb 10, 2012

THE BLOB: A THRIVING ENVIRONMENT Years ago, there was a movie called The Blob. This cosmic Jell-O had come down from space, fell into a little crater, and cracked open. An old man came and had a little stick in his hand and was playing with it, and it ran up on his arm and began to consume him. ...read more

Tags: Sanctification

Denomination: Baptist

The Salvation Of Karla Faye Tucker

Contributed by Tim Hinrichs on Mar 29, 2012

THE SALVATION OF KARLA FAYE TUCKER Many of you probably remember Karla Faye Tucker. She was the first woman to be executed in the US since 1984. She was an accomplice to a brutal ax murder of two people in the early eighties. Soon after being imprisoned, Tucker took a Bible from the prison ...read more

Tags: Salvation

Denomination: Lutheran

Call Sin Something Else, Please?

Contributed by Eugene Morell on Jul 1, 2012

CALL SIN SOMETHING ELSE, PLEASE? There is a story about a Methodist preacher who often spoke on the subject of sin. He defined sin as that abominable thing that God hates. One day some of the leading laymen came to urge their pastor to stop using the word sin. The laymen told their pastor that ...read more

Tags: Sin General

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

The Missionary Service Of Henry ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 16, 2012

THE MISSIONARY SERVICE OF HENRY MARTYN Henry Martyn had already done more than his share of missionary service in India by his late 20s when he announced he was going to Persia. Doctors had told him that the heat would kill him if he stayed in India, and the heat in Persia was worse. Martyn ...read more

Scripture: Mark 10:42-45

Tags: Servanthood

A Father's Legacy

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 30, 2012

A FATHER’S LEGACY Ken Hemphill tells the story of what took place at his church when he was pastor of FBC of Norfolk. He was out on the sidewalk welcoming people as they got out of their cars. About 3rd in line was a father & his teenage son. The father had a golf shirt on, and he evidently was ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 22:6

Tags: Father's Day

Tarzan Story: Failure To Recognize

Contributed by Suresh Manoharan on Sep 3, 2012

TARZAN STORY: FAILURE TO RECOGNIZE Johnny Weissmuller, the champion Olympic swimmer who donned the role of Tarzan the Ape Man in the silver screen with as much aplomb in 1930s and 40s as he dominated the Olympic swimming lanes in 1920s, had "a close encounter of a different kind" with the ...read more

Tags: Second Coming

Denomination: *other

Statistics On Prayer

Contributed by Troy Borst on Sep 8, 2012

STATISTICS ON PRAYER Barna research says slightly more than four out of five adults in the U.S. (84%) claim they had prayed in the past week. That has been the case since Barna began tracking the frequency of prayer in 1993. A Newsweek poll titled "Is God Listening?" indicated that, of those who ...read more

Tags: Prayer Persistence

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Ridiculous Gifts  PRO

Contributed by Ken Henson on Sep 11, 2012

RIDICULOUS GIFTS There is a program in the US called “Good Morning America.” This was about 10 years ago, there was a lady named Joan London, who did a segment on Christmas Gifts and made some suggestions about the list: “You may want to include these in your list: • Jaguar 220 – this is a ...read more

Tags: Christmas, Gift, Value, Gifts General

Denomination: *other

Inspiration: Ten Feet At A Time

Contributed by Dave Clark on Dec 11, 2012

INSPIRATION: TEN FEET AT A TIME Being a provoker doesn’t mean you have to be a perfect person, it just means you have to be a person doing your best in the situations where you find yourself. Several years ago after a devastating California earthquake, the news camera panned a devastated ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 15:1

Tags: Restoration

Denomination: Disciples Of Christ

The Boat Is On Fire

Contributed by Jerry Thorpe on Mar 8, 2013

THE BOAT IS ON FIRE Robert E. Lee pleasure boat. Steamed out of Vicksburg. Hundreds of people were aboard. After midnight the boat caught fire. The captain discovered it and told his first mate to rush down through the saloon and down every corridor to wake everyone up. He didn't have time to ...read more

Tags: Rapture, Evangelism Urgency

Denomination: Church Of God

Forced To Kill  PRO

Contributed by Davon Huss on Jul 1, 2013

FORCED TO KILL Around the time of the Korean War, Kim Joon-gon had seen 2,000 out of 20,000 people on Chunnam Island murdered by the Communists. They dragged he and his family outside their village where Kim’s father and wife were beaten to death and Kim was left for dead. When he revived and ...read more

Scripture: Romans 12:17-21, Matthew 5:7

Tags: Revenge, Vengeance, Mercy, Salvation

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ