In Sermon Illustrations: "Real People"

When Elderly Adele Gaboury Turned Up Missing Four ...

Contributed by Christian Cheong on Apr 23, 2004

When elderly Adele Gaboury turned up missing four years ago, concerned neighbours in Worcester, Massachusetts, informed the police. A brother told police she had gone into a nursing home. Satisfied with that information, Gaboury’s neighbours began watching her property. Michael Crowley noticed ...read more

Tags: Apologetics General

Denomination: Independent/Bible

A Speaker In Colorado Was About To Address A ...

Contributed by Bruce Howell on Jan 3, 2005

A speaker in Colorado was about to address a gathering of businessmen and women. Sitting a the head table, he turned to the real estate salesman on his left and said, "So, how are things going for you?" "Terrible," he answered. "Haven¡¯t you heard about the strikes? 80% of the people in this ...read more

Tags: Character

Denomination: Wesleyan

Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman Had Been Holding Meetings ...

Contributed by Scott Malone on Mar 1, 2005

Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman had been holding meetings in England, but the attendance had been disappointingly small. Then he received word that John Hyde, who became known to the world as Praying Hyde, a Presbyterian missionary to India, was going to pray down God’s blessing upon him and his work. As a ...read more

Tags: Prayer Adoration, Prayer Supplication

Denomination: Baptist

Thomas Andrew Dorsey Was A Black Jazz Musician ...

Contributed by Ed Vasicek on Nov 10, 2006

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: Independent/Bible

Offering Story

Contributed by Gerald Manning on Nov 23, 2015

Words of Offering: A rich, but cynical businessman said to one of his staff, "Show me a truly unselfish act and I will give you a $100 bill." The staffer, said, "OK, walk with me at the lunch hour." They went to that part of town where there were lots of street people. The staffer said, ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 9:7

Tags: Offering, Giving, Generosity

Denomination: Nazarene

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

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

The Lord Provides

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

Who do you belittle? Someone with less money, who can’t speak clearly Someone who does not speak English? With a disability? God says be there for those at risk Because, You could be AT RISK ANYTIME Reality is any of us could lose everything People here have and listen to their lessons Elderly ...read more

Tags: Paul

Inspired To Share Your Faith

Contributed by Tim Smith on Aug 13, 2017

Tom Mercer writes, “Years ago, I heard an incredible story about a guy who, while walking through an intersection in a large city, noticed a police officer directing traffic in the middle of the street. As he walked by, the man sensed the Holy Spirit prompting him to go up to the officer and tell ...read more

Scripture: Jeremiah 1:4

Tags: Witnessing, Sharing Your Faith, Evangelism

Denomination: Methodist

Where Can I Find Joy In Life?

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Jan 31, 2022

People have pursued joy in every avenue imaginable. Some have successfully found it while others have not. Perhaps it would be easier to describe where joy cannot be found: • Not in Unbelief — Voltaire was an infidel of the most pronounced type. He wrote: “I wish I had never been born… (and at his ...read more

Tags: Joy, Trusting God

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Sharing Love

Contributed by Rob Roy on May 22, 2024

In Irving Illinois a group purchased the old school building and made it into a long term alcohol recovery program. Some of those started coming to worship at the Irving church, two had met there, Matt and Kim, I and not using their real names. My favorite wife, Lisa and I got to know them, ...read more

Scripture: John 21:15-19, Mark 12:30-31

Tags: Service, Hope, Blessings

Disunity Stories  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 26, 2011

DISUNITY STORIES A man was stranded on an island. Alone for a number of years. Finally he was located and some people came ashore to rescue him. Before they took him off the island, he wanted to show them around. He took them to his hut and said "This is the home I built with my own 2 hands." Then ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 4:1-6

Tags: Divisions

Chuck Swindoll Tells Of A Mountain Man From West ...

Contributed by Guy Mcgraw on Jan 21, 2008

Chuck Swindoll tells of a mountain man from West Virginia who had never seen a city, or bright lights and modern inventions. He married a girl of the hills and they spent all their married years in the backwoods. Their one son, creatively named “Junior,” reached his sixteenth birthday, [and] his ...read more

#8230; The Assertion [that Human Brings ...  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Mar 3, 2001

“… the assertion [that human brings were made in the image of God] confirms the genuineness of each man’s freedom. Experience tells us that we are free, in the sense that we make real choices between alternatives and could have chosen differently, and theology agrees. Self-determining freedom of ...read more

As A Pharisee Paul Had Dedicated His Life To The ...  PRO

Contributed by Owen Bourgaize on Apr 7, 2001

As a Pharisee Paul had dedicated his life to the scrupulous observance of his religion. John Wesley would have had much in common with Paul. When he was a young man at Oxford University he founded the "Holy Club" with the intention that he and his friends should live well-ordered lives in God’s ...read more

Tags: Apologetics General

Denomination: Baptist

In 1996 A Spanish Man Visiting Stockholm On ...  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 22, 2001

In 1996 a Spanish man visiting Stockholm on business stood to inherit about a million dollars, according to an October newspaper account in Germany’s daily Bild. Eduardo Perez had stopped off to pray at a Roman Catholic church and signed the guest book of a man whose body lay there in a coffin. ...read more

Richard Baxter, A Great Puritan Thinker And ...  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 7, 2001

"Richard Baxter, a great Puritan thinker and writer, well understood the real truth. He used to write these words whenever he was asked to sign one of his books: "Lord, what Thou wilt, where Thou wilt, and when Thou wilt." In the old Puritan manner of speaking he was saying, "Lord, whatever you ...read more

Tags: Why

One Middle-Age Mother Came To The ...  PRO

Contributed by Melvin Newland on Oct 11, 2001

ILL. One middle-age mother came to the conclusion that there was not a whole lot of difference between some of her physical problems & those of her teen-age children. Take their eyesight, for instance. Both of her children seemed to have a real problem with their eyesight. For example, her ...read more

Tags: Joy, Thanksgiving Holiday

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Am I Dangerous?  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2002

Am I Dangerous? "Utterly ordinary, so commonplace: while we profess to know a power the 20th century cannot reckon with. We are all sideliners, coaching and criticizing the real wrestlers while content to set by and leave the enemies of God unchallenged. We are spiritual pacifists, conscientious ...read more

Tags: Christian Disciplines, Call Of The Disciples, Discipleship

I Know You Have Heard The Story Of The Man That ...  PRO

Contributed by Wade Martin Hughes, Sr on May 2, 2002

I know you have heard the story of the man that was on the ocean on a huge yacht. They had cruised for days, and somehow had gotten lost. The captain notice, the owner’s little son had placed his toy magnetic to the casing around the compass. The magnetic force had distorted the ...read more

Tags: Apologetics The Bible, Bible Influence

Denomination: Assembly Of God