In Sermon Illustrations: "Preach Christ"

Critical Thinking With Being Critical!" Matthew ...  PRO

Contributed by Mark Brunner on Jul 12, 2004

“Critical Thinking With Being Critical!” Matthew 7: 1-5 Key verse(s): 1-2 “‘Do not judge, or you too will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.’” Chuck Swindoll tells a humorous but rather sobering tale of the other side of the coin, the flip side that ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 7:1-5

Tags: Leadership General

Denomination: Lutheran

When The Immanuel Baptist Church First Called ...  PRO

Contributed by Tim Richards on Sep 2, 2004

When the Immanuel Baptist Church first called Pastor Waite he quickly made his way to each home. Letting people know that he wanted to know anything about the people that would be helpful in his ministry. It wasn’t long before the new pastor knew most of the church secrets. When it came to getting ...read more

Tags: Men And Women, Unity

Denomination: Baptist

A Child-Like Faith  PRO

Contributed by Mark Evans on Mar 24, 2005

A CHILD-LIKE FAITH: My daughter was four years old and about to see her first Easter play. Like most little girls at Easter, she was all decked out in her flowered outfit, patent leather shoes, matching purse, white lace gloves, and to top it all off – her beautiful Easter hat. As the play ...read more

Scripture: Colossians 3:16-17

Tags: Easter Resurrection

Denomination: Baptist

Suppose Two Women Were Planting A Vegetable ...  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 21, 2005

Suppose two women were planting a vegetable garden. On the same day, they prepared the earth and planted their seeds. One then neglected her garden and waited for her vegetables to grow. The other woman worked in her garden regularly. She put cages around the young tomato plants, she drove in ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 7:24-27

Tags: Jesus, Midst

Goodness Or Just A Smelly Gas! (08.23.05--Under ...  PRO

Contributed by Mark Brunner on Aug 21, 2005

Goodness or Just a Smelly Gas! (08.23.05--Under Pressure!--Romans 15:14) I’ve always been intrigued by LP gas tanks. I guess that it is that mystery of the unseen and the unanticipated that causes the mystique. Around Beech Springs we have a number of them. There’s one in my workshop tied to ...read more

Scripture: Romans 15:14

Tags: God In The Hardships, Endurance

Denomination: Lutheran

The Most Toys? (09.08.05--The Temporal ...  PRO

Contributed by Mark Brunner on Sep 6, 2005

The Most Toys? (09.08.05--The Temporal Things!--Matthew 16:26) The world teaches this--You can never have too much of a good thing! We must always have enough or we are being somehow cheated of that which we truly deserve. If one were to ever wonder why we live in such a greedy world, this tenet, ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 16:26

Tags: Finding Fulfillment

Denomination: Lutheran

Heavenly Botox! (09.12.05--Heavenly Citizens!--2 ...  PRO

Contributed by Mark Brunner on Sep 8, 2005

Heavenly Botox! (09.12.05--Heavenly Citizens!--2 Cor. 5:17) Make-overs! We are a people obsessed with them these days. We restore our cars, pump botox into our chins and eyelids, remodel our homes at a record pace and are transfixed by the various shows on television whose story lines are founded ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:17

Tags: Grace, Basics Of Christianity

Denomination: Lutheran

Order Of The Wooden Cross! ...  PRO

Contributed by Mark Brunner on Oct 10, 2005

Order of the Wooden Cross! (10.11.05--Sacrifice!--1 Chronicles 21:22-24) Recently I was asked this question: “What have you sacrificed lately in light of all the sorrow, desolation and bloodshed that have gripped the world?” It was a challenge from a friend of mine who regularly gives to ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 11:17-19, 1 Chronicles 21:22-24

Tags: Giving General

Denomination: Lutheran

When Things Are Just Working Out! ...  PRO

Contributed by Mark Brunner on Oct 24, 2005

When Things Are Just Working Out! (10.26.05--Making It!--Judges 18:27) IF life is going well and I am in all things successful, does that me that God is pleased with me? That’s a good question! If I am successful in the things that I do, does that necessarily mean that God is behind that success? ...read more

Scripture: Judges 18:27

Tags: Joy, Christian Disciplines

Denomination: Lutheran

On Little Yellow Flower! (11.04.05--Faith That ...  PRO

Contributed by Mark Brunner on Nov 2, 2005

On Little Yellow Flower! (11.04.05--Faith That Flies!--John 6:18-19) Now is the time of year when most of the flowers in my wife’s flower beds have wilted and sagged. The frost has struck more than once, making even the hardier mums droop a bit. The time of blossoming has passed for most of the ...read more

Scripture: John 6:18-19

Tags: Faith General, Devoted, Doubt

Denomination: Lutheran

Insurgency! (11.08.05--Christian ...

Contributed by Mark Brunner on Nov 6, 2005

Insurgency! (11.08.05--Christian Soldiers!--Revelations 12:7) What war? That was the response that I got from a friend recently when I referred to Operation Iraqi Freedom as a war. I looked at him and asked: “How would you define a war?” His response? “A war is when freedom is at stake and our ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 12:7, Revelation 12:7-9

Tags: Satan

Denomination: Lutheran

There Once Were A Group Of Goldfish Who Lived In ...  PRO

Contributed by Steven Skinner on Jan 13, 2006

There once were a group of goldfish who lived in a bowl. They had lived there as long as they could remember and none of them had ever left the bowl and come back to tell what was on the outside. One day, one goldfish asked another, “What do you think is outside the bowl?” This question generated ...read more

Tags: Evolution

Denomination: Evangelical Free

Two Men Were Flying To Orlando From California ...

Contributed by Michael Gardner on Mar 2, 2006

Two men were flying to Orlando from California and met on an airplane. After exchanging pleasantries, conversation turned to the needs of their community. One of them was a pastor who shared his vision for a soup kitchen just starting up in downtown Orlando. He also told of local churches that ...read more

Scripture: John 8:1-11

Tags: Forgiveness General

Denomination: Methodist

Never Give Up  PRO

Contributed by David Parks on Sep 18, 2006

NEVER GIVE UP Haddon Robinson tells the following story. I hope you appreciate it as I did. It was New Year’s Day, 1929, and Georgia Tech. and UCLA were battling it out in the Rose Bowl. Georgia Tech. fumbled the football late in the first half. Roy Riggles recovered for California. Picking up the ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 3:13-14

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

The Late Erma Bombeck In Her Book, "If Life ...

Contributed by Melvin Newland on Nov 28, 2006

ILL. The late Erma Bombeck in her book, "If Life is a bowl of Cherries, Why Am I Always in the Pits?", recalled the legend of a church where the chimes rang miraculously whenever someone gave a generous gift. But the chimes hadn’t rung for a long time, even though kings & potentates had come ...read more

Tags: Antichrist

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

A Californian Magazine Ran A Survey Of Over 600 ...

Contributed by Ed Vasicek on Feb 19, 2007

"A Californian magazine ran a survey of over 600 ex-Muslims who now follow Jesus, and concludes: "Although dreams appear to play a minor role in the conversion of Westerners, over 25% of these ex-Muslims affirmed that dreams and visions played a vital role in their conversions…" [source: ...read more

Denomination: Independent/Bible

A Missionary In Abidjan, Ivory ...  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 26, 2007

Illustration: A missionary in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, reports that recently an African pastor passed through on his way home to Chad, where civil war was raging. "What would you like to take to complete your forty-four pounds of baggage allowance?" asked the missionary. "Sugar? Powdered milk? ...read more

Jay Fondren Is A Recent Hero. When My Wife ...  PRO

Contributed by Chris Surber on May 24, 2007

Jay Fondren is a recent hero. When my wife Christina was an auditor for the Department of Veterans she met Jay in a Veteran’s Regional Office in Waco, Texas. She was conducting interviews to determine the timeliness of transition between the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans ...read more

Tags: Thanksgiving

Denomination: Christian Church

Did You Hear About The Police Chief Who Gave ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

Did you hear about the police chief who gave himself a ticket for a traffic violation? Police chief Richard Knoebel issued himself a $235 ticket complete with a four-point penalty against his license after he realized he had failed to stop for a school bus with its lights flashing. Knoebel said ...read more

Tags: Faith

There Was A Lady Named Danni Stampley From ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

There was a lady named Danni Stampley from Luann’s home church who had been trained as a Baptist missionary. She felt the call to be a missionary the very night she accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior; she was a teenager at the time. After high school and college, she spent several years in a ...read more

Tags: Sin Deceptive