In Sermon Illustrations: "Studying Youth"

A New Barna Report Came Out This Week (Sept 07) ...

Contributed by Ed Vasicek on Oct 1, 2007

A New Barna report came out this week (Sept 07) : "The new study shows that only 3% of 16 - to 29-year-old non-Christians express favorable views of evangelicals… "… Among young non-Christians, nine out of the top 12 perceptions were negative. Common negative perceptions include that present-day ...read more

Denomination: Independent/Bible

A World In Turmoil

Contributed by Richard Goble on Nov 25, 2007

A World In Turmoil The Personnel Journal reported this incredible statistic: since the beginning of recorded history, the entire world has been at peace less than eight percent of the time! In its study, the periodical discovered that of 3530 years of recorded history, only 286 years saw peace. ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Quote: "If God Has Spoken, Listen! If God Has ...

Contributed by C Jordan on Jan 5, 2008

QUOTE: “If God has spoken, listen! If God has recorded his words in a Book, search its pages with a believing heart. If you do not accept it as God’s inspired word, I cannot invite you to pay any particular attention to it; but if you regard it as the Book of God, I charge you, as I shall meet ...read more

Denomination: *other

Money Raised Online For Many Nonprofit ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 10, 2008

Money Raised Online for many nonprofit organizations grew from virtually nothing only a few years ago to a median 27% increase an annual amount $362,485 from 7/1/05 to 6/30/06, according to a Convio study. Organizations with the most monthly unique Web site visitors built the largest e-mail ...read more

Tags: Giving General

56% Of Straight Americans Say People Should Be ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 14, 2008

56% of straight Americans say people should be more supportive of gay equality, finds a Harris Interactive study. 60% of those ages 18 to 44 support equal treatment for the homosexual community. 71% of Americans say they have spoken out against anti-gay comments and about 18% cite religious or ...read more

Tags: Homosexuality

Engaged Consumers A Brand With Strong Customer ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 14, 2008

Engaged Consumers A brand with strong customer engagement has customers who promote the brand, come back in the future, go out of their way to do business with the company, and feel strongly for a brand, claims a study by PeopleMetrics. Overall, companies with more engaged customers outperformed ...read more

Tags: Business And Marketplace

Our Lives Should Always Be The First Things To ...

Contributed by Matthew Kratz on May 3, 2008

"Our lives should always be the first things to speak; and if our lips speak more than our lives, it will avail very little. So often the tragedy has been that people proclaim the gospel in words, but their whole life and demeanor has been a denial of it. The world does not pay much attention to ...read more

Tags: Christian Witness

Denomination: Other

Relationship Sins Cost

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 13, 2009

RELATIONSHIP SINS COST Divorce and out-of-wedlock childbearing cost U.S. taxpayers more than $112 billion a year, finds a study funded by the New York-based Institute for American Values, the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, Families Northwest of Redmond, WA, and the Georgia Family ...read more

Scripture: Malachi 2:16

Tags: Adultery

If God Has Promised Something To You Through His ...

Contributed by Dillon Burroughs on Mar 9, 2009

If God has promised something to you through His Word, it will come to pass. Dr. John Walvoord served as president at Dallas Seminary for 34 years and was known as an authority on the area of Bible prophecy. He calculated after an exhaustive study of the Scriptures that half of the prophecies of ...read more

Tags: Prophecy

Denomination: Baptist

Humility?

Contributed by Gordon Curley on Nov 24, 2010

HUMILITY? Dr. Harry Ironside was once convicted about his lack of humility. A friend recommended as a remedy, that he march through the streets of Chicago wearing a sandwich board, shouting the scripture verses on the board for all to hear. Dr. Ironside agreed to this venture and when he returned ...read more

Tags: Humility

Denomination: Brethren

How Much Do You Need?

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 9, 2011

HOW MUCH DO YOU NEED? According to the Barna Research Group, the average American adult believes he needs an additional $8,000–$11,000 per year to live comfortably. Tracking studies show, however, that even when adults reach or exceed the income levels to which they aspired, they still claim they ...read more

Scripture: 1 Timothy 6:6-10

Tags: Materialism

Allan Bloom On Relativism

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Jun 21, 2011

Allan Bloom in The Closing of the American Mind: "Openness and the relativism that makes it the only plausible stance in the face of various claims to truth and various ways of life and kinds of human beings is the great insight of our times. The true believer is the real danger. The study of ...read more

Tags: Truth

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Why Women Talk More Than Men

Contributed by Glynda Lomax on Sep 27, 2021

“According to a theory of sociologists who study human nature, the number of words spoken by the average man in a given day are about 10,000. The average woman uses about 25,000 words in a day. – from speechmastery.com My pastor was doing a teaching on the power of the tongue Sunday morning and ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 18:21

Tags: Idle Words, Power Of The Tongue

Denomination: Charismatic

Phan Thi Kim Phuc  PRO

Contributed by John Harvey on Feb 12, 2004

Phan Thi Kim Phuc (Illustration from Still More Hot Illustrations for Youth Talks” Wayne Rice. Printed by Youth Specialties) On June 8, 1972, a nine-year-old Vietnamese girl, her clothes flaming from gasoline bombs, fled the American-led assault on her village of Trang Bang. With her eyes ...read more

Tags: Forgiveness For Others

Denomination: Baptist

Heavenly Botox! (09.12.05--Heavenly Citizens!--2 ...  PRO

Contributed by Mark Brunner on Sep 8, 2005

Heavenly Botox! (09.12.05--Heavenly Citizens!--2 Cor. 5:17) Make-overs! We are a people obsessed with them these days. We restore our cars, pump botox into our chins and eyelids, remodel our homes at a record pace and are transfixed by the various shows on television whose story lines are founded ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:17

Tags: Grace, Basics Of Christianity

Denomination: Lutheran

In 1900, In Bangor, Ireland, A Group Of Salvation ...  PRO

Contributed by Robert Massey on Apr 8, 2002

In 1900, in Bangor, Ireland, a group of Salvation Army youth were conducting a street meeting. A young man named Billy Nicholson who had desired to do great things for God passed by. Several of the ones in the Salvation Army troop knew that Billy professed Christianity so they invited him to ...read more

Tags: Confession Of Sin, Commitment To Christ

Denomination: Church Of God

Joy In This World  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 26, 2002

JOY IN THIS WORLD Men 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 ...read more

Scripture: Luke 5:1-11

Tags: Joy To The World, Finding Fulfillment, Fulfillment

Let Me Close An Excerpt From Sharon Jaynes' Book, ...  PRO

Contributed by Dana Chau on Dec 16, 2002

Let me close an excerpt from Sharon Jaynes’ book, Celebrating a Christ-centered Christmas: An African boy listened carefully as his teacher explained why Christians give presents to each other on Christmas day. "The gift is an expression of our joy over the birth of Jesus and our friendship for ...read more

Tags: Gift, Christmas, Easter Resurrection

Denomination: *other

Australian Women Are 7 Times More Likely Than Men ...

Contributed by W F on Jun 12, 2005

Australian women are 7 times more likely than men to be murdered by a partner or husband (Australian Institute of Criminology). 80% of sexual assaults in Australia are against women and 1 in five of these is perpetrated by a family member (i.e. either a father, male partner or husband - ...read more

Tags: Parenting

Denomination: *other

Let Me Close With An Excerpt From Sharon Jaynes' ...  PRO

Contributed by Steve Smith on Dec 23, 2006

Let me close with an excerpt from Sharon Jaynes’ book, “Celebrating a Christ-centered Christmas”: An African boy listened carefully as his teacher explained why Christians give presents to each other on Christmas day. "The gift is an expression of our joy over the birth of Jesus and our friendship ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 2:1-12

Denomination: Baptist