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In Sermon Illustrations: "Surprise"

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  • A Couple Had Been Fighting Over The Purchase Of ...

    Contributed by Lin Smalec on Nov 18, 2005
    based on 1 rating
     | 3,925 views

    A couple had been fighting over the purchase of a new car for weeks. He wanted a new truck. She wanted a fast sports car. The discussion was getting very heated when finally the wife stated, "Look, I want something that goes from 0 to 180 in four seconds or less, and that’s all there is to it! ...read more

  • The Story Is Told Of The Preacher Who Went To ...  PRO

    Contributed by Gene Gregory on Mar 17, 2006
    based on 3 ratings
     | 1,390 views

    The story is told of the preacher who went to visit an elderly woman from the church, just hours before she passed away. As he leaned over her bed, she whispered something in his ear. The lady later passed away. Those who attended the funeral were surprised to discover that the woman, had in her ...read more

  • Boys Learn More From Men And Girls Learn More ...

    Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 19, 2007
     | 1,315 views

    Boys Learn More From Men and girls learn more from women. Stanford University scholar Thomas Dee drew this conclusion from a national study of 8th graders. Today roughly 80% of U.S. public school teachers are women, the highest ratio in 40 years. The study found switching teachers can narrow gender ...read more

  • Robert Lewis, Founding Pastor Of Fellowship ...  PRO

    Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007
    based on 4 ratings
     | 3,769 views

    Robert Lewis, Founding Pastor of Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock, Arkansas said this, “…Our church along with several others, organized to renovate some of the public schools in our area. Teachers and school officials had not asked for our help and were clearly surprised when we offered it. ...read more

  • A Defendant Was On Trial For Murder. There Was ...

    Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007
    based on 2 ratings
     | 4,984 views

    A defendant was on trial for murder. There was strong evidence indicating guilt, but there was no corpse. In the defense’s closing statement the lawyer, knowing that his client would probably be convicted, resorted to a trick: “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I have a surprise for you all,” the ...read more

  • Max Lucado: Zoe

    Contributed by Michael Mccartney on Jan 15, 2008
     | 1,464 views

    Max Lucado states this about our term Zoe: a. Jesus offers zoe, the Greek word for ‘life as God has it.’ Whereas bios, its sibling term, is life extensive, zoe is life intensive. Jesus talks less about life’s duration and more about its quality, vitality, energy, and fulfillment. What the new mate, ...read more

  • Random Universe

    Contributed by Peter Loughman on Dec 29, 2008
     | 1,620 views

    RANDOM UNIVERSE I had a professor at Princeton Theological Seminary who had an ongoing feud with a professor at another institution. My professor would argue that the universe is well thought out and therefore life is not random and so life has great meaning. His nemesis would argue the opposite, ...read more

  • More Than A Black Mark

    Contributed by Gordon Curley on Nov 27, 2010
     | 1,485 views

    MORE THAN A BLACK MARK A preacher was addressing his congregation when he held up a large piece of paper. He then took from his pocket a marker pen and made a black dot in the centre of it. Then he held the paper up before the people and asked them what they saw. One person quickly replied, "I ...read more

  • The Market Survey  PRO

    Contributed by Suresh Manoharan on Mar 20, 2012
    based on 2 ratings
     | 1,786 views

    THE MARKET SURVEY Before coming to the Biblical text of my message, I would like to recite the tale of 2 footwear salesmen sent on a "market survey" errand by their employers to explore the possibility of opening a shop in a certain village of their country. As opening a shop entails sizeable ...read more

  • A Story For Peace-Lovers  PRO

    Contributed by Lalachan Abraham on Jan 21, 2013
    based on 23 ratings
     | 4,369 views

    A STORY FOR PEACE-LOVERS (Narrated by Dorothy S. Mclaren) One morning a little girl, dressed in spotless white, with a lovely bouquet of flowers in her hands, passed by a boy who was playing in the dusty street. The sight of this pretty girl stirred the spirit of mischief in the boy’s heart and ...read more

  • A Friend Of Mine

    Contributed by Spencer Miller on Jun 3, 2013
     | 4,292 views

    A FRIEND OF MINE Branch Rickey, whose name was recently placed back into our memories in the wonderful movie '42' a story about the baseball great Jackie Robinson, was a devout Christian. Once while head of the old Brooklyn Dodgers, he attended negotiations involving a certain ballplayer's ...read more

  • Strength Through Interconnectedness

    Contributed by Richard Tow on Oct 5, 2020
     | 1,693 views

    Years ago, Jeanie and I visited the Redwood National Park in northern California. We stood in awe as we looked up to trees reaching over 350 feet. These trees have endured storms for over 1,000 years. The surprising thing is that their roots are very shallow—only about 10 to 12 feet deep. How does ...read more

  • A Parrot Named Moses

    Contributed by Garris Hudson on Nov 14, 2021
     | 3,083 views

    A PARROT NAMED MOSES A thief broke into a beautiful suburban house and was looking around for things to steal when he heard a voice say, “Better be careful…Jesus is watching you!” He stopped for a moment and heard it again… The surprised thief froze in his tracks and looked around, shining the ...read more

  • Jumping Jehoshaphat

    Contributed by Ed Vasicek on Mar 9, 2022
     | 2,198 views

    Where does the expression “jumpin’ Jehoshaphat!” come from? A reader wrote in to ask, and I had a lovely time trying to figure it out. No one is sure how Jehoshaphat’s name ended up in this interjection, or why he’s jumping, but there are several interesting possibilities. This mild oath first ...read more

  • Prayer And Spiritual ...

    Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 8, 2009
    based on 1 rating
     | 6,523 views

    PRAYER AND SPIRITUAL WARFARE "Life is war. That’s not all it is. But it is always that. Our weakness in prayer is owing largely to our neglect of this truth. Prayer is primarily a wartime walkie-talkie for the mission of the church as it advances against the powers of darkness and unbelief. It is ...read more

  • In Her Book, The Hiding Place, Corrie Ten Boom ...

    Contributed by Shane Hargrave on Aug 4, 2009
     | 3,363 views

    In her book, THE HIDING PLACE, Corrie Ten Boom relates an incident that taught her to be thankful for things we normally would not be thankful for. She and her sister, Betsy, prisoners of the Nazis, had just been transferred to the worst prison camp they had seen yet, Ravensbruck. Upon entering ...read more

  • Sure Of What We Hope For

    Contributed by Aubrey Vaughan on Oct 15, 2009
     | 2,073 views

    SURE OF WHAT WE HOPE FOR Saving faith has much assurance. Michael Faraday, the great scientist, was taken ill. When it became evident his sickness would soon result in his death, a group of fellow scientists came to see him--not so much to talk about science as to talk about death. One of them ...read more

  • A Sunday School Teacher Asks Her Class What They ...

    Contributed by Sermon Central on Nov 16, 2009
    based on 1 rating
     | 8,593 views

    A Sunday School Teacher Asks Her Class What They Were Thankful For A Sunday School teacher asked her class what they were thankful for. A little girl said "I’m thankful for my bedroom. My younger brothers have to share a room. But I get to have a room all for myself! I thank God for my ...read more

  • Atheist Thankful For A Beautiful ...

    Contributed by Sermon Central on Nov 24, 2009
     | 4,616 views

    Atheist Thankful for a Beautiful Morning One morning a woman who was a known atheist stepped out of her home on the hillside and was taken back by what a beautiful morning it was. The Cook Inlet sparkled, the air was fresh and crisp, the sky was a blue as she had ever seen it and Denali loomed over ...read more

  • Respond Like Jesus

    Contributed by John Bright on Feb 20, 2025
     | 328 views

    I think that God expects us to respond (not react) when the world pushes back like Jesus responded to the folks who were unable to see what He was doing. It won’t make sense. Here’s an example of what Peter’s teaching would look like in his day: “Peter is telling the Christian merchant in ...read more