In Sermon Illustrations: "Take Off"

The Noahide Commands

Contributed by Ed Vasicek on Aug 31, 2009

THE NOAHIDE COMMANDS A Pagan could become > An Alien Believer > A God-fearer > A Jew (proselyte) A pagan would be an idolater or worship many gods, or one not serving the true God. An alien believer would be a gentile who wanted to be saved, repented from his sins and turned to the God of ...read more

Tags: Israel

Denomination: Independent/Bible

Christian Maturity: It's In The Details

Contributed by Sermon Central on Oct 16, 2009

CHRISTIAN MATURITY: IT'S IN THE DETAILS Ted Williams, who died in 2002 was arguably the best hitter baseball has ever known. He was the last baseball player to hit better than .400 in a season. Upon his death, George Will said in his column "There is no joy in Red Sox Nation, a.k.a. New England, ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 5:14

Tags: Growth In Christ

Looking For Pac Man Fulfillment

Contributed by Bret Toman on Jan 2, 2010

LOOKING FOR PAC MAN FULFILLMENT I was in the 5th grade, sitting tortured in a classroom, couldn’t wait for the dumb day to be over because at home ... I had waiting for me ... Pac Man on my Atari 2600. The day before I had plunked down $40 to have this game for myself. That was like 1982 - so it’d ...read more

Tags: Fulfillment

Denomination: Baptist

David Yarborough Tells The Story From One Of Max ...

Contributed by Bobby Mcdaniel on Feb 6, 2010

David Yarborough tells the story from one of Max Lucado’s books of a lady who had a small house on the seashore of Ireland at the turn of the century was quite wealthy but also quite frugal. The people were surprised, then, when she decided to be among the first to have electricity in her home. ...read more

Tags: David

The Psychoanalyst Victor Frankl And His Friends ...

Contributed by Curry Pikkaart on Mar 23, 2010

The psychoanalyst Victor Frankl and his friends were imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. It was winter. They had been marched off to work in the morning, spent the day at hard labor, been given only a little thin soup to eat, and then staggered back to camp in the late ...read more

Tags: Hope, Security

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

A Call To Die

Contributed by Christian Cheong on Jun 28, 2010

A CALL TO DIE The story is told of the military legend Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia (336-323) and conqueror of Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, Babylonia, and Persia, almost all of the known world. One day on the warpath, Alexander and small company of soldiers approached a strongly fortified ...read more

Tags: Commitment To Christ

Denomination: Independent/Bible

3) I Heard A Story About A Couple Who Went On ...

Contributed by Andrew Moffatt on Aug 11, 2010

I heard a story about a couple who went on holiday, they had been away a couple of weeks and when they arrived home, after picking up a litre of that watery green top milk from the dairy, and getting their mail from their neighbors place. They went into their home to find they had been burgled. ...read more

Tags: Kingdom Of God

Denomination: Salvation Army

Faith And Works  PRO

Contributed by David Parks on Aug 26, 2010

FAITH AND WORKS There was once a Scotsman who rowed people across a river. On one oar he had carved the word 'faith' and on the other oar he had carved the word 'works'. One day as he was rowing, one of the passengers noticed the carvings and asked him about them. The Scotsman did not reply but ...read more

Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 1:3-4

Tags: Faith Vs. Works

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Finishing The Race

Contributed by Chris Supper on Nov 3, 2010

FINISHING THE RACE August 1992. Derrick Redmond from Great Britain was favored to win the 400-meter race during the summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, but as he powered around the backstretch, his hamstring snapped. Redmond tried desperately to finish the race, but he still had half the ...read more

Tags: Endurance

Denomination: Baptist

Everybody Loves Raymond: Why Are We Here First?

Contributed by Davon Huss on Nov 8, 2010

EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND: WHY ARE WE HERE FIRST? In the TV show Everybody Loves Raymond, little Alley begins asking some questions about babies. Raymond, the father, gets nervous and refuses to answer her questions. Later on, Raymond realizes that he needs to answer his daughter’s questions. ...read more

Tags: Hardship Of Life

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

The Wandering Sheep

Contributed by Gordon Curley on Nov 23, 2010

THE WANDERING SHEEP Dr. Andrew Bonar tells of how in the Highlands of Scotland, a sheep would often wander off into the rocks and get into places that they can't get out of. The grass on these mountains is very sweet and the sheep like it, and they will jump down ten or twelve feet, and then ...read more

Scripture: Romans 5:6

Tags: Parable Lost Sheep

Denomination: Brethren

Mothering Sunday

Contributed by Egerton Gbonda on Apr 2, 2011

MOTHERING SUNDAY The history of Mothering Sunday is interesting. Some say it is difficult to be definitive about how it all began. The following are some of the theories advanced about the history of this all important day: It may have started from a Roman Spring festival- a time in which the ...read more

Tags: Mother's Day

Denomination: Episcopal/Anglican

Surprise Gift

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 15, 2011

SURPRISE GIFT When Gabriel Hurles turned six a couple of years ago (January 2009), he was so focused on eating his birthday cake, that he hardly noticed the giant package in the corner of the room. When another child pointed out the large gift, Gabriel ran over and began to tear off the wrapping. ...read more

Scripture: John 1:14

Tags: Christmas

Jesus Freaks

Contributed by Joe Bertone on Jul 23, 2012

JESUS FREAKS In the book, Jesus Freaks, is the story of the Hine family. They lived in Cambodia during the Vietnam War. At that time it was very dangerous to be Christian in Cambodia. They were arrested one day for being Christians and thus enemies of the revolution and bad blood. One morning ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 7:13-14, Hebrews 11:1-40

Tags: Sacrifice, Paradise, Dying, Sacrifices, Martyr  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Fly To The Light  PRO

Contributed by Joe Bertone on Aug 20, 2012

FLY TO THE LIGHT Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky has this huge sanctuary that seats thousands upon thousands. Sometimes birds get in there. The facilities department has the job of trying to figure out how to get these birds out. The last thing you want Sunday morning is a bird ...read more

Scripture: John 8:12

Tags: Light, Darkness, Escape, Jesus Teachings

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

We Should Be Striving On A Daily Basis To Worship ...

Contributed by Mark Thometz on Aug 27, 2012

We should be striving on a daily basis to worship God in new, loving and exciting ways. It's very easy to become comfortable in our worship. We have that thing on Sunday and sometimes Wednesday and we may even dust off our Bible every now and then to read it. What about feeding the hungry as ...read more

Tags: Evangelism How To

Denomination: Christian Church

4 Spiritual Crises

Contributed by Garris Hudson on Jan 19, 2014

FOUR SPIRITUAL CRISES The spiritual experience of Abraham was marked by four great crises, each of which involved a surrender of something dear. These were: (1) LEAVE YOUR COUNTRY AND FAMILY (Gen 12:1 Mt 10:34-39 2Cor 6:14-18) - Is God asking you to go somewhere away from home, family and ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 22:1-14

Tags: Faith, Abraham, Trial, Crisis

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Before You Can Know God's Will....

Contributed by Garris Hudson on Jul 7, 2016

BEFORE YOU CAN KNOW GOD’S WILL.... When we are asked about knowing the will of God, we usually hurry to Romans 12:1-2 and give info about the "perfect will of God." But we may be missing something if that is the case. The New Testament was originally written in letters, not in chapter formats. ...read more

Tags: God's Will, Surrender, The Glory Of God

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

A Lesson In Hope

Contributed by Thomas Clawser on Apr 1, 2017

They still tell the story at William and Mary College of daffy, magnificent President Ewell. For a century and a half, this prestigious Virginia school had been a leader among American universities. Then came the Civil War. In the hard days of reconstruction that followed, William and Mary went ...read more

Scripture: John 11:38-44

Tags: Hope, New Life, Lent

Denomination: Other

High Seas

Contributed by Roy Fowler on Oct 13, 2020

The thunder roared like a waking dragon. As the water churned and the ship rocked wildly like a kite on a string. I watched helplessly as the splinter sized crack in the mast grew until I was sure it would snap. The crew on deck wallowed and struggled to move in the thigh deep water to try and keep ...read more

Scripture: Mark 4:35-41

Tags: Trust, Storms

Denomination: Independent/Bible