In Sermon Illustrations: "Prodigal Son"

Pigs Were Unclean To A ...

Contributed by Brian Harvison on May 29, 2008

Pigs were unclean to a Jew To protect themselves from defilement, Jews could not even touch pigs For a Jew to stoop to feeding pigs was a great humiliation And for this man to eat food that pigs had touched was ...read more

Tags: Parable Prodigal Son

Denomination: Baptist

Accountability

Contributed by Thomas Donelan on Aug 4, 2010

He wanted to get out from out of the sphere of his father’s influence. Think about it, every year we get flooded in Florida for about a week or so every year with a bunch of college students for a thing called “spring break” and these kids go out and get drunk, do drugs, get their groove on, and ...read more

Tags: Parable Prodigal Son

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Christ Transforms A Prisoner

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 18, 2012

CHRIST TRANSFORMS A PRISONER Chuck Colson tells story after story of men in prison who had committed crimes, but who came to Christ and were thoroughly converted. No one would have guessed that some of these men would be devout followers of Christ one day. One such story was the account of a man ...read more

Scripture: Luke 15:1-32

Tags: Parable Prodigal Son

Love Never Fails

Contributed by Bill Butsko on May 9, 2009

LOVE NEVER FAILS A mother kept a candle burning in the window every night for ten years. One night, very late, a poor wretched woman came in from the street. The aged mother said to her, "Sit down by the fire." The stranger asked, "Why do you keep the light in the window?" The old mother ...read more

Tags: Parable Prodigal Son

Denomination: Christian Church

A Bad ...

Contributed by Dwight L. Moody on Jun 11, 2009

A BAD BOY I once heard of a father who had a prodigal boy, and the boy had sent his mother down to the grave with a broken heart. One evening the boy started out as usual to spend the night in drinking and gambling, and his old father, as he was leaving, said, "My son, I want to ask a favor of you ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 7:1-27

Tags: Parable Prodigal Son

Denomination: *other

A Good ...

Contributed by Dwight L. Moody on Jun 11, 2009

A GOOD MOTHER (a classic illustration by D. L. Moody) A young man went home from one of our meetings some time ago. He had been converted. He had previously been a dissipated young man. His mother had made it a rule, she told me, that she "would not retire till he came home." That was her rule, ...read more

Scripture: Luke 15:11-32

Tags: Parable Prodigal Son

Denomination: *other

Homeless Man Comes Home To His ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 1, 2010

Homeless Man Comes Home to His Mother In 1988 there was a story in the LA Times entitled “A Mother’s Search for Russell Love.” It told of a woman in Houston named Beverly Elliott. She had not seen her son, Russell Love, for four years and had not heard from him in two years; but she knew he was ...read more

Scripture: Luke 15:11-32

Tags: Parable Prodigal Son

You Are Grounded!!!

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Mar 15, 2022

THE PRODIGAL SON'S RETURN... We were sitting in Church a few weeks ago while the minister delivered a sermon based on the timeless story of the prodigal son. When he got to the point where the father sees his son returning and races out to meet him, the minister said loudly and with ...read more

Tags: Parables, Prodigal Son, Jokes, Prodigals, Children, Parents, Humor  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

A Kiss That Changed A Prodigal Into A Preacher!

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Mar 15, 2022

The late Joe Bayly was a gentle, godly Christian leader. I once heard him tell how one of his sons rebelled back in the days of the hippie movement. He grew his hair long and moved into a communal flophouse. Late one night, Bayly received a call informing him that his son was being held at one of ...read more

Tags: Prodigal Son, Fathers, Fathers And Sons, Luke 15, Parables, Lost, Father's Love, Unconditional Love  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

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

When He Was Elected To The Baseball Hall Of Fame ...  PRO

Contributed by Bill Harper on Jan 23, 2001

When he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984, Harmon Killebrew said, “My father taught me and my brother to play ball in the front yard. One day my mother came out and told him we were ...read more

Scripture: Luke 15:11-32

Tags: Parable Prodigal Son, Parenting, Children

Denomination: Baptist

The Boss Of A Big Company Needed To Call One Of ...  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

The boss of a big company needed to call one of his employees about an urgent problem with one of the main computers. He dialed the employee’s home telephone number and was greeted with a child’s voice, "Hello?" It was a quiet little voice. Feeling put out at the inconvenience of having to talk to ...read more

Scripture: Luke 15:11-32, Matthew 18:1-5

Tags: Obedient, Hearing, Parable Prodigal Son

We Know A Family Who Had Been Searching In Vain ...

Contributed by Ajai Prakash on Jun 15, 2010

We know a family who had been searching in vain for their teenage son (+ 18) for a number of months. Finally they located him in Colorado Springs and went down to see him. He was unrecognizable ~ hair not washed for months, uncut beard, and disgusting odor reeked from his body. He had been living ...read more

Tags: Father's Day, Parable Prodigal Son

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Funnnnnny Story About The Fatted Calf!!

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Mar 15, 2022

FUNNNNNNNNNNY!! A Pastor was doing the children’s devotional in the church service one Sunday when he called all of the kids to the front and asked them this question: “Boys and girls, in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, who was the saddest of all to see the younger brother come back home from the ...read more

Tags: Fattened Calf, Humor, Parables, Prodigal Son, Jokes, Older Brother, Luke 15  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Prodigal Brings Christ Home, Citation: J. ...  PRO

Contributed by A. Todd Coget on May 24, 2002

[Prodigal Brings Christ Home, Citation: J. Granger, Sons: A Father’s Love (Word, 1999), quoted in Men of Integrity, Vol. 3, no. 2] My son called. Through years of drug abuse, Scott had stolen from our family, manipulated us, and failed us. It had been a relief not to hear from him for two ...read more

Tags: God's Forgiveness, God's Provision

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

A Big Party Is Waiting For You At Home! (The Modern Prodigal Daughter)

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Mar 15, 2022

I think you are all familiar with the parable that we call the “Story of the Prodigal Son.” Well, I want us to consider it again with a little different twist. Listen to the story in a modern setting as told by Philip Yancey in his book “What’s so Amazing about Grace?” Yancey tells of a prodigal ...read more

Tags: Prodigal Son, Luke 15, Grace, Mercy, Forgiveness, Parables, Lost  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Pappy Was A Pleasant Fellow. His Face Was Quite ...  PRO

Contributed by Steve Heartsill on Oct 25, 2000

Pappy was a pleasant fellow. His face was quite drawn from age, but when he smiled, even his wrinkles seemed to smile with him. Pappy owned a pawnshop. Everyone who knew him respected and adored him. There was a room in the back of his shop where he spent time tinkering with his own precious items. ...read more

Tags: Forgiveness For Others, Parable Prodigal Son, Parenting

Denomination: Baptist

Please Come Back  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 6, 2011

"PLEASE COME BACK" Max Lucado tells us about a girl named Christina. She lives in a small dusty village in Brazil. She’s bored. She feels like her strict parents have cheated her out of the joys of life. She longs for the excitement of the big city of Rio. One morning her mother Maria finds ...read more

Scripture: Luke 15:11-32, Mark 4:1-9

Tags: Parable Prodigal Son, Parable Sower And Seed

All Sin Is Against God.

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Dec 2, 2020

“W. S. Plumer said, “We never see sin aright until we see it as against God. All sin is against God in this sense: that it is His law that is broken, His authority that is despised, His government that is set at naught Pharaoh and Balaam, Saul and Judas each said, ‘I have sinned’ which is only ...read more

Scripture: Romans 3:23

Tags: David, Sin, Repentance, Holiness, Prodigal Son  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Tremendous Quote On Self-Esteem

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Mar 15, 2022

TREMENDOUS QUOTE ON SELF-ESTEEM “For a very long time I considered low self-esteem to be some kind of virtue. But now I realize that the real sin is to deny God’s first love for me....because without claiming that first love and that original goodness for myself, I lose touch with my true self and ...read more

Tags: Lost, Loving God, Self Esteem, Prodigal Son, God's Love For Me  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational