In Sermon Illustrations: "Real Estate"

Thomas Andrew Dorsey Was A Black Jazz Musician ...

Contributed by Jeremy Poling on Dec 30, 2007

Thomas Andrew Dorsey was a black jazz musician from Atlanta. In the twenties he gained a certain amount of notoriety as the composer of jazz tunes with suggestive lyrics, but he gave all that up in 1926 to concentrate exclusively on spiritual music. "Peace in the Valley" is one of his best known ...read more

Denomination: Pentecostal

Does Christ Have Authority Over You? Do You ...

Contributed by Charles Whitmire on Jan 20, 2008

Does Christ have authority over you? Do you submit to his will for your life? Here’s the real question: Who’s in charge of you? A few years ago a certain bracelet became popular with Christian youth. I’m sure you saw them... WWJD was the inscription, right? I had a police officer friend in Bastrop ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

To Be Saved, One Has To Understand That I Am A ...

Contributed by Charles Whitmire on Jan 20, 2008

To be saved, one has to understand that I am a sinner, and my sin has separated me from God. I can try to earn my way back to God all I want, or I can realize that is hopeless - nothing I can do can wash away my sin - only Christ’s blood - only his sacrifice is acceptable to God, so I have to give ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

What God Can Do For Us  PRO

Contributed by K. Edward Skidmore on Apr 22, 2008

WHAT GOD CAN DO FOR US A young pastor in another church told about an experience he had with a family who tended to be the "Easter and Christmas" variety of church attendees. A young woman in the family became critically ill. The prognosis was bad. In fact, doctors expected she might die within ...read more

Tags: Hardship Of Life

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

I Think Of A Young Man Named Adrian Who Was In My ...

Contributed by K. Edward Skidmore on Jun 7, 2008

I think of a young man named Adrian who was in my Youth Group back in a former church. Adrian’s dad --- who had, unfortunately, never been much of a dad to Adrian --- decided to move to Mexico right before Adrian’s senior year of High School. A family in our church took Adrian in to live with ...read more

Tags: Father's Day

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Chilling Hit-And-Run, June 6, 2008, Hartford, ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 23, 2008

Chilling hit-and-run, June 6, 2008, HARTFORD, CONN. And you probably saw this on the news! SHOCKING! -- A 78-year-old man was tossed like a rag doll in a hit-and-run and stayed there motionless on a busy street as car after car drove by. Pedestrians gawked but did nothing. One driver stopped ...read more

Tags: Character

Disaster Struck Me One Day When I Was A Boy. I ...

Contributed by Ovidiu Radulescu on Oct 16, 2008

Disaster struck me one day when I was a boy. I don’t know where in the world my little sister came back to the house real dirty and smelly. Some type of dark sticky slimy stinky substance was all over her and she was crying up loud. She had tried to get rid of it by using her dirty hand and as you ...read more

Tags: Lord's Supper

Denomination: Seventh-Day Adventist

See For ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Oct 22, 2008

See for Yourself When the Wright brothers first began experimenting with flying machines, they accepted as fact the data and conclusions that were available in the theory of aviation. As they experimented, however, their own experience provided different conclusions. They began by doubting ...read more

Tags: Truth

How Easy It Is To Give Credit And Thanks To ...

Contributed by Keith Broyles on Nov 24, 2008

How easy it is to give credit and thanks to everything and everyone but the real source of al our blessings! God deserves our thanks. For some of us there may be many reasons to be thankful this coming Thursday. Perhaps we may even see it as the best year we have ever had. For others of us, it ...read more

Tags: Thanksgiving Holiday

Denomination: Methodist

No Toys For Sister

Contributed by Dale Pilgrim on Jan 5, 2009

NO TOYS FOR SISTER Two-year-old Sarah and her 13-year-old sister who had been fighting a lot. Sarah’s parents, trying to take advantage of her newfound interest in Santa Claus, reminded the two-year-old that Santa was watching and doesn’t like it when children fight. This had little impact. "I’ll ...read more

Tags: Character

Denomination: Salvation Army

As Thrilling As It Is When The Hero Arrives Just ...

Contributed by Joe La Rue on Jan 27, 2009

As thrilling as it is when the hero arrives just in the nick of time in fiction, it’s even more thrilling when it happens for real. Just ask Mike Robinson. He is a maintenance worker for United Airlines at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. He had just left work and was on his way ...read more

Tags: Salvation

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Sin Keyed Out By Jesus

Contributed by Johnny Wilson on Mar 16, 2009

SIN KEYED OUT BY JESUS What is this idea of "covering" or "hiding" sin? It means that there are circumstances where God will refuse to see our sin. I like to picture that as being like the technique used in video and film. It’s called the chromakey technique and requires filming in front of a blue ...read more

Tags: Forgiveness In Jesus

Denomination: *other

Ralph's Ultimate Purpose

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 9, 2009

RALPH’S ULTIMATE PURPOSE John Matters and I visited Ralph Drennan Thursday. You know, since he came back from WWII, Ralph has run a business of re-binding books. He’s in his 90’s now, so Ralph has cut his hours back a little. He still gets work sent to him from all across the US, because there ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 138:8

Tags: God Brings Purpose

Roy Whetstine Was A Rock Collector Who Two Sons ...

Contributed by Mark Eberly on Jun 8, 2009

Roy Whetstine was a rock collector whose two sons each had given him five dollars to buy a rock for them at a rock show. One table had a Tupperware container with a large potato-sized rock surrounded by a lot of agates. The sign read: “Any stone $15.” Roy picked up the big rock and asked, “You want ...read more

Tags: Parable Treasure

Denomination: Church Of God

Smallpox Is An Infectious Disease Unique To ...

Contributed by Bobby Scobey on Jul 8, 2009

Smallpox is an infectious disease unique to humans. It raises fluid-filled blisters in the skin. How many remember the smallpox vaccination? Do you remember that one big blister on your arm? A person with smallpox has them all over his skin. The image on Google was too hideous to show you. It ...read more

Tags: Religion

Denomination: Pentecostal

The Giving Tree

Contributed by Bobby Scobey on Jul 8, 2009

THE GIVING TREE Once or twice in a lifetime you hear a story that leaves an indelible mark on your heart and mind. Such is Shel Silverstein’s story, "The Giving Tree." "Once there was a tree...and she loved a little boy." And so begins the story of a tree’s being happy because she is able to make ...read more

Tags: Giving Yourself

Denomination: Pentecostal

I Was Pumping And Finally My Friend Sorin Said, ...

Contributed by Ovidiu Radulescu on Sep 11, 2009

I was pumping and finally my friend Sorin said, “You know Ovidiu, I don’t think there is any water left down there… Oh yes, still there but deep down… And the good thing about the water that is deep down at 50 feet underground, is this: the deeper the water - the purer, the sweeter, the cooler ...read more

Tags: Zeal

Denomination: Seventh-Day Adventist

I Can't Imagine What It Would Be Like To Lose My ...

Contributed by Ross Cochrane on Dec 25, 2009

I can’t imagine what it would be like to lose my son. When he and his wife were living in New Zealand, we went to visit them. On my return I dreamed that he had died and woke up in tears. I quickly rang him to say how much I loved him. He must have thought I was losing it, but my grief was real and ...read more

Tags: Repentance

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

At The Consumer Electronics Show Recently Held In ...

Contributed by David Moore on Jan 13, 2010

At the Consumer Electronics Show recently held in Las Vegas, one company unveiled the unbreakable mobile phone. When asked what the phone was capable of withstanding, the director said you could drop it from a ten storey height, immerse it in over 20 ft of water for up to 30 minutes, and even ...read more

Tags: Temptation, Temptation Of Christ

Denomination: Baptist

Sphere Of Influence

Contributed by Bill Sullivan on Feb 15, 2010

SPHERE OF INFLUENCE There's another interesting definition I want to look at -- it relates to astrodynamics A sphere of influence (SOI) in astrodynamics and astronomy is the spherical region around a celestial body where the primary gravitational influence on an orbiting object is that body. ...read more

Tags: Worldliness

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational