In Sermon Illustrations: "Risk"

Blood Flows In The Bomokande  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 20, 2011

BLOOD FLOWS IN THE BOMOKANDE In November 1964, anarchy broke out in the Belgian Congo. Assemblies of God missionary J. W. Tucker knew he was at risk, but he stayed where God had placed him. One day, a mob attacked and killed him with sticks, clubs, fists, and broken bottles. They took his body, ...read more

Scripture: John 12:20-34

Tags: Church, Missions, Purpose

Drugs Are No Game

Contributed by Jonathan Spurlock on Apr 7, 2020

You’ve probably heard and seen it all when it comes to warnings about “don’t do drugs,” and so forth. Frankly, I’ve seen and heard a lot of them, and I’m sure glad someone told me about the dangers of drugs and drug abuse. Someone took a lot of time to get the information out and thanks to those ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 4:1-11

Tags: Drugs, Temptations, Drug Abuse

Denomination: Baptist

Unsung Heroines-Esther’s Maidens

Contributed by Jonathan Spurlock on Apr 30, 2022

Introduction: Esther was a Jewish maiden who was selected to become Queen of the Persian Empire. The Book of Esther gives additional information about how she truly lived a dream come true. We’re not told how many girls from the Persian Empire were evaluated, but Esther won the contest and became ...read more

Scripture: Esther 4:15-17

Tags: Esther, Mordecai, Fasting, Unsung Heroines

Denomination: Baptist

An Observation About Aging—and Baseballs

Contributed by Jonathan Spurlock on Jul 7, 2022

Introduction: You just can’t change some facts. Aging is one of those facts! Text: Ecclesiastes 12:1, KJV: 1 Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; Thoughts: Like most good ...read more

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 12:1

Tags: Aging, Baseball, Sports

Denomination: Baptist

Differing Teen Personalities: Researcher George ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

Differing Teen Personalities: Researcher George Barna says American teens fall into four personality niches. Nearly half are Interactives—highly personable and develop their lifestyle according to relational possibilities and parameters. They operates with a stream of consciousness approach to ...read more

Tags: Children

Who Are Today's Kids? A Recent White House Forum ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 3, 2006

Who Are Today’s Kids? A recent White House forum entitled Exploring the Digital Generation revealed these insights: · To a kid of the twenty-first century, learning is different than schooling. Learning, even education-based learning, takes place in many locations, with authorities ranging from ...read more

Tags: Children

Long Ago In A Deep Mountain Valley Verdant With ...  PRO

Contributed by Lynn Malone on Mar 23, 2006

Long ago in a deep mountain valley verdant with growth and watered by a crystalline river there lived a tribe. They prospered and grew until the grass was grazed away, the game hunted to extinction, and the river ran dry. A group of young pioneer heroes rose up to say, “We have heard of a wider ...read more

Tags: Giving Yourself

Denomination: Methodist

Dr. Marc T. Newman Writes In, In Peril Of Our ...  PRO

Contributed by Don Jones on Jul 11, 2006

Dr. Marc T. Newman writes in, In Peril of Our Souls: Theological Considerations from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest "What makes all of the Pirates of the Caribbean films stand out from your average swashbuckler is that these movies are not primarily concerned with treasure maps and ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Dr. Marc T. Newman Writes In, In Peril Of Our ...

Contributed by Don Jones on Jul 14, 2006

. Dr. Marc T. Newman writes in, In Peril of Our Souls: Theological Considerations from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest "What makes all of the Pirates of the Caribbean films stand out from your average swashbuckler is that these movies are not primarily concerned with treasure maps ...read more

Tags: Temptation General

Denomination: Baptist

On The Thursday Of Holy Week This Year, The ...  PRO

Contributed by Rodney Buchanan on Mar 25, 2007

On the Thursday of Holy Week this year, the queen of England will preside over the Royal Maundy Service at Guildford Cathedral. It is a service held each year on the Thursday before Easter, and the British monarch presents gifts of money to the poor. The royal website says, “The tradition of the ...read more

Scripture: John 13:1-17

Denomination: Methodist

Have You Ever Noticed: When The Other Fellow ...  PRO

Contributed by Darren Ethier on May 21, 2002

Have you ever noticed: When the other fellow acts "that way", he is ugly; when you do, it’s nerves. When others are set in their ways, they’re obstinate; when you are, it is firmness. When your neighbor doesn’t like your friend, he’s prejudiced; when you don’t like his, you are a good judge of ...read more

Tags: God's Omniscience, Temptation Pride, Humility

Denomination: Pentecostal

Once, On A Winternight, A Stranger Knocked At ...

Contributed by Paul Kallan on Dec 24, 2002

Once, on a winternight, a stranger knocked at the door of an old man in a singleroom appartment. The old man woke up from his sleep and opened the door. The stranger begged him for a little space to pass the night, so that he does not freeze in the cold outside. The old man had only one bed. He ...read more

Tags: Forgiveness General, Christian Disciplines

Denomination: Catholic

While The Dorman's And We Were In San Diego For ...  PRO

Contributed by Rodney Buchanan on Oct 13, 2003

While the Dorman’s and we were in San Diego for the National Outreach Convention, we went for a walk on the beach by the ocean. None of us had ever been in the Pacific Ocean, so as a wave came in we walked up to it until it faded out at our feet. The wave became a thin sheet of water at the tip ...read more

Tags: Commitment To Christ, Apologetics General

Denomination: Methodist

In World War Ii Merchant Ships Were Used To Take ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

In World War II merchant ships were used to take food and supplies across the sea. One day a Father took his son down to the docks to see the boats being unloaded. "Brave men have risked their lives to bring us this precious cargo," he told him. The boy noticed a line painted around each vessel. ...read more

Tags: Lord's Prayer

One Summer Morning As Ray Blankenship Was ...

Contributed by Patrick Mccosh on Jul 23, 2007

One summer morning as Ray Blankenship was preparing his breakfast, he gazed out the window, and saw a small girl being swept along in the rain-flooded drainage ditch beside his Anover, OH home. He knew that downstream the ditch disappeared with a roar underneath a road and then emptied into the ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Six-Word Memoirs  PRO

Contributed by Ed Sasnett on Jan 19, 2009

Six-Word Memoirs One of the surprising best-selling books of 2008 is "Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure." Notice that the main title is only six words: "Not Quite What I Was Planning." People were asked to succinctly sum up their life in six ...read more

Tags: Time

Denomination: Baptist

Don't Tape The Trees

Contributed by Hugh W. Davidson on Mar 13, 2009

DON'T TAPE THE TREES I was talking to a man a few years back, and he told me how he used to have a farm and how he had tried to grow different things to make money. Well, one day he said he hired a young guy to mow his lawn ,but he explained to him that he had just planted about fifty Christmas ...read more

Tags: Lies

Denomination: Baptist

Ignoring The ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 25, 2009

IGNORING THE WARNINGS On Sep. 28, 1986 heavy rains flooded many low-lying areas of the Midwest. Two years before, there was a flood that many remember as the "Memorial Day Massacre" that claimed the lives of twenty people in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as small creeks and drainage ditches became killer ...read more

Scripture: Ezekiel 18:30-32

Tags: Evangelism, Evangelism Urgency

George Barna Has Shown His Skill In Taking The ...

Contributed by Charles Wilkerson on Jul 7, 2009

George Barna has shown his skill in taking the pulse of the church in the US for years. April 2 of this year he published a new book titled The Seven Faith Tribes: Who They Are, What They Believe, and Why They Matter. The tribes Barna identify are the seven tribes include Casual Christians, Captive ...read more

Tags: Salvation

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Confusing Messages

Contributed by Ed Vasicek on Aug 19, 2009

CONFUSING MESSAGES PARIS (AFP) – Heart attack survivors who eat chocolate two or more times per week cut their risk of dying from heart disease about threefold compared to those who never touch the stuff, scientists have reported. ...the new study, led by Imre Janszky of the Karolinska Institute ...read more

Tags: False Teaching

Denomination: Independent/Bible