In Sermon Illustrations: "The Way"

Joseph Was Despised Because Of His ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 28, 2008

Joseph was despised because of his Behavior. (Vv. 8-11) Joseph was despised not for doing evil but for doing good. Joseph typifies the Lord in many ways. Sidlow Baxter observes that he was the beloved son, that he was the rejected servant, and also the exalted Savior. The way that he was despised ...read more

Tags: Ot Characters

Good News

Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 31, 2008

GOOD NEWS Our world is desperately in need of some good news. Suzanne Jennings wrote this song in 1999: I woke up Monday morning, walked out on the lawn My eyes were barely open, and my mouth began to yawn Picked up the daily paper, every single headline said, That this ole world is full of ...read more

Tags: God Brings Hope

Jesus' Words

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 8, 2009

JESUS’ WORDS There is a hopefulness in life as we hear and become empowered by Jesus’ words. A Sunday School teacher illustrated this concept of hopefulness in life by drawing on the blackboard two pathways. In the middle of one she placed a large rock, covering the entire path. At the end of ...read more

Tags: God Brings Hope

Stay Busy Until The Master's ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 8, 2009

STAY BUSY UNTIL THE MASTER’S RETURN "The disciple is not called to eliminate his ignorance of the timing of the end, he is called to cope with it and respond to it appropriately." "How can a doorkeeper fulfill his duties if he spends his time calculating how long the delay will be?" In the ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 24:36-51

Tags: Second Coming

Object Lesson: New Socks

Contributed by Mark Eberly on Apr 13, 2009

OBJECT LESSON: NEW SOCKS One of the things that our church does is that we give out new socks to some of the homeless men and women. You walk around and sleep here and there, and even if you take care of yourself and shower, your socks get dirty. When you’ve been wearing probably the same clothes ...read more

Tags: Born Again

Denomination: Church Of God

Object Lesson: The Mop Head

Contributed by Mark Eberly on Apr 13, 2009

OBJECT LESSON: THE MOP HEAD I have here a mop head that I recently replaced at the Upper Room. This has been used to mop urine. I know, because I mopped up when this guy urinated all over himself, the couch he was sitting on, and the floor while he was asleep. It has mopped up the filth that was ...read more

Tags: Born Again

Denomination: Church Of God

Converted By Dreams And Visions

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 14, 2009

CONVERTED BY DREAMS AND VISIONS Do you know that many Muslims are recently becoming Christians because of dreams and visions? According to Wendell Evans of the Billy Graham Center’s Institute for Muslim Studies, "More and more stories are coming out of closed countries, of God supernaturally ...read more

Scripture: Joel 2:28

Tags: Dreams

Planet Of The Year

Contributed by Tim Smith on Oct 19, 2009

PLANET OF THE YEAR Time Magazine in 1989 celebrated not the Person of the Year but the Planet of Year. It was a wakeup call for me and convicted me and my faith. "Through most of his 2 million years or so of existence, man has thrived in earth's environment -- perhaps too well.... The reason is ...read more

Tags: Creation

Denomination: Methodist

The Difference Between Knowing About And ...

Contributed by K. Edward Skidmore on Dec 9, 2009

The difference between knowing about and knowing: I’ve read several books about Winston Churchill … but of course, I never met the man. I admire him and appreciate him, but can’t say that I know him in the way that I know my own father. The difference lies in the fact that I have been around my ...read more

Tags: Jesus Christ

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

The Gentlemen's Guide On What Not To Get Your ...  PRO

Contributed by Bruce Rzengota on Dec 28, 2009

The Gentlemen’s Guide on What Not to Get Your Wife for Christmas #10: A Vacuum Cleaner The only possible way to make this a cool gift would be to give the hands-down coolest vacuum cleaner of all time... which I’m afraid hasn’t been invented yet and probably never will be, considering that there ...read more

Tags: Christmas

Denomination: Christian Missionary Alliance

I Remember Years Ago That A Man Wrote A Nasty ...

Contributed by Ross Cochrane on Jan 4, 2010

I remember years ago that a man wrote a nasty letter to me and included in it a curse and all kinds of false accusations. To this day, I don’t know why he wrote it. It was so vicious and untrue, but he had built up a case against me and it all bubbled out in this letter. It included distorted views ...read more

Tags: Confrontation, Love Of The Disciples

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

When You Can Wear The Uniform

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 19, 2011

WHEN YOU CAN WEAR THE UNIFORM Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 3:15, "I have written so that you will know how people ought to act in God's household." While there are right and wrong ways to act when attending church services, Paul is not talking about attendance manners but rather how you and I ...read more

Scripture: 1 Timothy 3:14-15

Tags: Sanctification

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

A Chicken Story

Contributed by Ovidiu Radulescu on Apr 25, 2011

A CHICKEN STORY The story is told of Joe the Butcher who had crafty ways of selling his chickens. He had one chicken left, and he didn’t want to keep it over the weekend. The priest of his church came into the store. He said, "My wife sent me to buy a good size chicken to roast for dinner. We’re ...read more

Tags: Lies

Denomination: Seventh-Day Adventist

Wellington Defeated...

Contributed by Milo Velebir on Jul 14, 2011

WELLINGTON DEFEATED... It is a story about how the news of the victory at the battle at Waterloo arrived in England. There were no telegrams or telephones in those days, nobody could send an SMS or put it up on Facebook or Youtube, of course, but everyone knew that Wellington was facing Napoleon ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:54-57

Tags: Mistakes

Denomination: Lutheran

God Knows

Contributed by Brad Henry on Oct 7, 2011

GOD KNOWS The receiving line at the memorial was very long as Jim and Steph had many family members that came from Texas and Georgia. Halfway through the line, I was introduced to Jim's sister, brother and nephew. They said "Are you the Brad Henry that wrote the devotional about my brother?" I ...read more

Tags: Miracles General

If You Want To Walk On Water…  PRO

Contributed by Michael Mccartney on May 2, 2012

John Ortberg states: "The decision to grow always involves a choice between risk and comfort. This means that to be a follower of Jesus, you must renounce comfort as the ultimate value of your life. And that’s sobering news to most of us, because we’re into comfort...but water walkers master ...read more

Scripture: Romans 4:18-22, Romans 4:3

Tags: Faith

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Self-Image

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 15, 2012

SELF-IMAGE There's a story about a girl who was the daughter of one of the royal families of Europe. She had a big, round nose that destroyed her beauty in the eyes of others--and especially in her own eyes. She grew up with this terrible image of herself as an ugly person. So her family hired a ...read more

Scripture: Romans 8:1-11

Tags: Self

Please Come Home.

Contributed by Ken Henson on Jul 5, 2012

"PLEASE COME HOME." There was a girl named Christina, who lived in a dusty village of Brazil. In her late teens she was upset with her parents because she thought she was restricted. She had this dream of going to Rio De Janeiro, but her mother knew that she will not be able to take care of ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 18:12-14

Tags: Forgiveness For Others

Denomination: *other

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