In Sermon Illustrations: "Reason For The Season"

Encounters With Christ

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Oct 13, 2023

The great preacher Charles Spurgeon interprets part of Micah’s prophecy to refer to pre-New-Testament sightings of Jesus. He gives the examples of Abraham, Jacob, Joshua, and the three heroes of Babylonian Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Observe for a moment here, that each of these four great ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 32:24, Revelation 22:9, Daniel 3:25, Joshua 5:14, Genesis 18:22, Micah 2:13, Micah 5:2-4  (view more)  (view less)

Tags: Duty, Crisis, Courage

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Honesty Matters  PRO

Contributed by Michael Deutsch on Jul 6, 2009

HONESTY MATTERS I read about a high school golfer, Chelsee Richard, of Bloomingdale High School in Brandon, Florida. She lost her chance to win the 2004 state championship — by being honest. In the qualifier for the state finals, Chelsee hit her tee shot on the second hole into the rough. Without ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 1:1-4, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-14

Tags: Commandments Testimony

Denomination: Baptist

Talk To Jesus Like Your Daughter

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 10, 2009

TALK TO JESUS LIKE YOUR DAUGHTER I was reading about a grieving woman. She went to the Rev. F. B. Meyer looking for help. She said, "Pastor, my daughter died last year. I miss her so much. I made breakfast for her every morning. And even when I had to go to work, I knew that she would be there ...read more

Scripture: John 11:35

Tags: God In The Hardships

Spiritual Fruit: "This Has Been Plastered"  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 24, 2009

SPIRITUAL FRUIT: "THIS HAS BEEN PLASTERED" Benjamin Franklin learned that plaster sown in the fields would make things grow. He told his neighbors, but they did not believe him and they argued with him trying to prove that plaster could be of no use at all to grass or grain. After a little while, ...read more

Scripture: John 13:35, Mark 4:1-9

Tags: Fruit Of The Spirit

God Is For Us

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 11, 2012

GOD IS FOR US Keith Hartsell of Wheaton, Illinois, was driving around with a friend of his in California, when he noticed that his friend's cell phone was locked with an unusual password -- pro nobis. Keith asked him what pro nobis meant and why he chose that for a password. Keith's friend told ...read more

Scripture: Romans 8:28-39

Tags: God's Love

Michael Jordan: Persevere

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 17, 2012

MICHAEL JORDAN: PERSEVERE In the fall of 1978, fifteen-year-old Michael Jordan tried out for the varsity basketball team at Emsley A. Laney High School in Wilmington, North Carolina. The sophomore was 5 feet 11 inches and with his skills, the coach told him that he was not good enough, and Michael ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-12

Tags: Endurance

The Umpire's Revenge  PRO

Contributed by Josh Hunt on Mar 6, 2013

THE UMPIRE'S REVENGE Forgiveness begins when we give up the quest to get even. This is difficult, because getting even is the natural obsession of the wounded soul. Stories about getting even always capture our attention. It wouldn’t surprise me if revenge is the theme of as many as half the ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 4:32

Tags: Forgiveness General

Denomination: Baptist

Bring A Bigger Basket!

Contributed by Joshua Blackmon on Mar 12, 2022

"A missionary in Africa had a farm some miles from the mission station. The season had been very favorable, and he had a large crop of corn on the mission farm. When the crop was ready to harvest, he made a public appeal to the Africans, asking them to help him carry his corn from the farm to ...read more

Scripture: Luke 6:38

Tags: Harvest, Giving, Basket, Receiving

Denomination: Pentecostal

James Dobson On Halloween  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Oct 21, 2002

JAMES DOBSON ON HALLOWEEN Mr. Dobson’s reply to the question: "What about Halloween?" "Halloween is a rather different story. Whereas it can be argued that Christmas is a Christian holiday with Christian origins that has suffered the effects of growing secularism, Halloween can be traced to ...read more

Tags: Supernatural, Satan

I Mentioned Brian Mclaren's Book "A Generous ...  PRO

Contributed by Mike Wilkins on Feb 21, 2005

I mentioned Brian McLaren’s book “A Generous Orthodoxy” last week. The chapter after “Would Jesus Be a Christian” is titled, “Jesus, Savior of What?” In this chapter he argues that while Jesus did come to save us as individuals, we in the west have placed such a strong emphasis on personal ...read more

Scripture: John 3:16-17

Tags: Kingdom Of God

Denomination: *other

Homeschool Numbers Approximately 850,000 Children ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 16, 2006

Homeschool Numbers Approximately 850,000 children received their education at home in ‘99, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics. However, the National Home Education Research Institute estimates between 1.3 million to 1.7 million ...read more

Tags: Children

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

Your Grumbling Goes With You

Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Jun 15, 2009

YOUR GRUMBLING GOES WITH YOU There was a boy named Grumble Tone who ran away to sea, "I’m sick of things on land," he said, "as sick as I can be; A life upon the bounding wave will suit a lad like me!" The seething ocean billows failed to stimulate his mirth, For he did not like the vessel, nor ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 2:14-18

Tags: Complaining

Denomination: Other

Leadership And Prayer

Contributed by Tim White on May 8, 2011

LEADERSHIP AND PRAYER Henry and Richard Blackaby in Spiritual Leadership in chapter seven "The Leader's Influence" stress that leaders influence others through prayer. They give six reasons why leaders should pray. The fourth reason is "God is all-powerful. . . .God can do far more than even the ...read more

Tags: Leadership General

Denomination: Baptist

Trust Made The Difference

Contributed by Jeff Strite on Jul 3, 2011

TRUST MADE THE DIFFERENCE Years ago, when my nephew Josh was about 9 years old, we were out in the yard playing tag. He had tagged me and was running for all he was worth to get away from me. He was laughing and laughing as he looked back at me chasing him. Then he turned around and ran into a ...read more

Tags: Trust

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Tears And Trust

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 23, 2011

TEARS AND TRUST Years ago, when my nephew Josh was about 9 years old we were out in the yard playing tag. He had tagged me and was running for all he was worth to get away from me. He was laughing and laughing as he looked back at me chasing him. Then he turned around and ran into a tree. It ...read more

Scripture: Habakkuk 3:17-19

Tags: Faith, Trust

Who Do You Say I Am—in England?

Contributed by Sermon Central on Sep 9, 2011

WHO DO YOU SAY I AM--IN ENGLAND? A teaching assistant accused of looting. An 11 year old girl appears in court and admits breaking windows in Nottingham. Teenagers appear before Magistrates with no parent in attendance. Magistrates ask, "Where are their parents?" Two girls interviewed by the BBC ...read more

Scripture: 1 John 3:4-10

Tags: Sin Exposed

Love Your Neighbor

Contributed by Josh Hunt on Apr 16, 2012

LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR I stepped outside my hotel room yesterday and saw a thin elderly woman taking small steps in a circle. She seemed to be mumbling. Our eyes connected. She said, "They left me here and I don't know where they have gone. I don't know what room I am in." I held out my hand. She ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 23:4-5

Tags: Neighbor

Denomination: Baptist

Telling Everyone  PRO

Contributed by Dale Harlow on Sep 5, 2002

TELLING EVERYONE In a Rolling Stone interview, Tanya Donelly, lead singer of Grammy-nominated alternative rock band Belly, notes, "For some reason, God is embarrassing to people. It doesn’t embarrass somebody to talk about how they got completely bombed the night before and puked all over ...read more

Tags: Evangelism How To, Sharing My Testimony

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

A Missionary In Africa Was Once Asked If He ...  PRO

Contributed by Paul Fritz on Sep 14, 2002

A missionary in Africa was once asked if he really liked what he was doing. His response was shocking. "Do I like this work?" he said. "No. My wife and I do not like dirt. We have reasonably refined sensibilities. We do not like crawling into vile huts through goat refuse...But is a man to do ...read more

Tags: Evangelism Urgency

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational