In Sermon Illustrations: "Start Right"

Hard To Be Humble

Contributed by Jason Bonnicksen on Mar 16, 2011

HARD TO BE HUMBLE Have you ever noticed how things that look easy, never are? For years, I've alpine skied; but, I've always wanted to snowboard. I thought, boarding can't be all that different. How hard can it be? After all -- if my daughters could learn, so could I. They picked up the sport ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 29:23

Tags: Humility

Denomination: Lutheran

Praising Him With Lifted Hands

Contributed by Tim Smith on Mar 17, 2011

PRAISING HIM WITH LIFTED HANDS I attended a Conference in Overland Park, KS. The host pastor stood up before the opening worship service and said, he grew up in a controlled, dignified and domesticated worship service. He said no one in that church raised their hands in praise. But then when he ...read more

Tags: Worship General

Denomination: Methodist

You Come To Me

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 15, 2011

YOU COME TO ME Jimmy, and his son, Davey, were playing in the ocean down in Mexico, while his family -- his wife, daughters, parents, and a cousin -- were on the beach. Suddenly, a rogue riptide swept Davey out to the sea. Immediately Jimmy started to do whatever he could to help Davey get back to ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 11:28-30

Tags: Salvation

The Face Of God

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 26, 2011

THE FACE OF GOD I heard the story once of a great Cherokee wood carver. He took logs and sat them on a stump outside his back door and sat in front of that log sometimes for hours just staring at it. Finally, he would pick up his carving tools and start carving the most beautiful of things out of ...read more

Scripture: Luke 2:1-20

Tags: Birth Of Jesus

Walk With You  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 11, 2011

WALK WITH YOU During WW2, two young Jews lived as close friends, (BFFs, we can call them), more than real brothers in a dingy Nazi concentration camp jammed with helpless-hopeless-exhausted-abused Jews. They shared everything, literally everything. One day, one of them felt weak and started to ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 18:24

Tags: Trials And Difficulties

The Stranger

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 19, 2011

THE STRANGER Some time ago, a small east coast community was struggling financially, so they called an open town meeting to discuss the problem. A couple dozen people were there, including a stranger that no one seemed to know. Most assumed he was a tourist who had just dropped in on the meeting. ...read more

Scripture: Acts 13:26-43

Tags: Ignorance

Separation From Your Love

Contributed by Michael Buckingham on Jun 24, 2011

SEPARATION FROM YOUR LOVE I remember once there was girl I loved so much in my youth, I thought that we would be together forever, and I thought that I could never live without her! But now I hardly ever think about her... the truth is that I really can live without her. So what changed between ...read more

Tags: Prayer General

Denomination: Baptist

Repentance In The White House  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 10, 2011

REPENTANCE IN THE WHITE HOUSE In 2001, Tim Goeglein started running the White House Office of Public Liaison, providing him almost daily access to then President George Bush for seven years. Then it all ended abruptly on February 29, 2008. A well-known blogger revealed the startling fact that 27 ...read more

Scripture: Romans 2:4

Tags: Compassion, Repentance

What Are We Preaching?  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 31, 2011

WHAT ARE WE PREACHING? False teachings abound whenever people do not know the truth. Many of our churches today do not teach the truth because many pastors do not know the Bible. In our seminaries, almost 50 percent of professors now teach that there was no virgin birth of Jesus, and that story ...read more

Scripture: Acts 20:28-31

Tags: False Teaching

Let Me Relate A Bizarre Yet True Story, Before I ...

Contributed by Suresh Manoharan on Oct 25, 2011

Let me relate a bizarre yet true story, before I get started with my main theme. Before that… those of us who don’t know about, Charlie Chaplin, let’s put up our hands? Well, not many hands would go up, for most of us know that he was a huge movie star in the silent-picture era sending many (and ...read more

Tags: Worship General

Denomination: *other

1 Peter 4:12 "Dear Friends, Do Not Be Surprised ...

Contributed by Brad Henry on Nov 11, 2011

1 Peter 4:12 “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.” I have a doctor’s appointment this morning to see what is going on. I am tried all the time, can hardly move with pain and a host of other ailments. OK so I ...read more

Tags: Suffering Joy In

God's Promises And Urban Legends  PRO

Contributed by Scott Carson on Nov 20, 2011

GOD'S PROMISES AND URBAN LEGENDS Do you really believe that being godly is great gain and not financial gain, but something that really matters and lasts? If you believed that, wouldn’t it change your life? Most people believe that if you smoke, you’ll get lung cancer. Many of you quit smoking ...read more

Tags: Christian Values

Denomination: Independent/Bible

Coping With Complaining

Contributed by Ed Vasicek on Feb 21, 2012

COPING WITH COMPLAINING How do you cope with complaining, nagging, whine-baby people? Internet discussion board posted this: Why do people complain so much? I know it's a natural thing but it has to be unhealthy. At my job people never stop complaining. Every day it's either too hot or too cold. ...read more

Tags: Complaining

Denomination: Independent/Bible

What Happened To King Neb Was Unique --- ...

Contributed by K. Edward Skidmore on Oct 17, 2012

What happened to King Neb was unique --- I’ve never heard of anything quite like it --- a King eating grass for 7 years like an animal. But on the other hand, the spiritual experience it represents is more common than we’d like to think. I remember a father of one of my youth group kids years ...read more

Tags: Sin Bondage To, Temptation General

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Do Not Trust Your Eyes

Contributed by Tim Smith on May 12, 2013

DO NOT TRUST YOUR EYES The enemy's strategy is to be invisible, so we have to always be on guard. Mike Slaughter tells the story of his mission trip back to Darfur and traveling from their compound in Ed Daein to Adilla Town, which is a six-hour round trip over rough desert terrain. On this ...read more

Tags: Satan

Denomination: Methodist

United We Stand

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 16, 2014

Let me read one of Aesop’s Greek fables; In the forest, there lived four oxen. They were very good friends and always went together to graze in the fields. However, every time they went, a hungry lion tried to attack them. The lion longed for their meat. But they withstood his attack by fighting ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 4:1-6

Tags: Unity, Divisions

Finishing The Race

Contributed by Paul Steen on Jul 12, 2014

My wife and I watched as Danny, our youngest son, competed in the Carnival of Champions back when he was in elementary school. He was entered in the half-mile race. It was two laps around the track. When the starting gun sounded, he quickly leapt ahead of everyone and built a sizable lead. He had ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 12:2

Tags: Goals, Finish The Race, Finish Well, Fixing Eyes On Jesus

Denomination: Calvary Chapel

Bitter & Better - The Two 'b's

Contributed by Paddick Van Zyl on Jul 21, 2014

When the water at Marah was bitter, Moses had to cast a tree into the water stream to sweeten the water or make it drinkable. The words: Bitter and Better both start with a B and end with Tter. The only difference is: the letter I and E. Bitter has the focus on I, me, myself, flesh. Better has ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 15:22-27

Tags: Water, Sweet, Bitter

Denomination: Pentecostal

Watch Where You're Going!

Contributed by Tim Smith on May 28, 2015

I had just flown back home from attending a class for my Doctorate in Pasadena, CA. The week was filled with long days and short nights. I had an early morning flight and then flew most of the day. By the time I got home, I was exhausted. Yet I didn’t want to miss my workout so I headed to the gym. ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 7:13-14

Tags: Consequences, Watchful Servants, Direction Of Life

Denomination: Methodist

Marriage

Contributed by Don Berry-Graham on Feb 29, 2016

A story from Warsaw, Ohio, is catching some attention today (August 13, 2014). It seems the dancers at Foxhole nightclub decided to picket a church that had been hassling them for years. Apparently the members and pastor of New Beginnings Ministries felt called by God to try to rid their community ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 7:1-39

Tags: Sex, Intimacy In Marriage

Denomination: Baptist