In Sermon Illustrations: "Training"

An Overwhelming Thirst  PRO

Contributed by David Yarbrough on Jan 28, 2002

AN OVERWHELMING THIRST During the liberation of Palestine in WWI, a combined force of British, Australian, and New Zealand soldiers was closely pursuing the Turks as they retreated from the desert. As the allied troops moved northward past Beersheba they began to outdistance their water-carrying ...read more

Scripture: John 7:37-38

Tags: Discipleship, Lordship Of Christ, Sermon On The Mount

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Charles Spurgeon And The Park Street Tabernacle- ...  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 10, 2002

Charles Spurgeon and the Park Street tabernacle- Why did it lose its influence? When Charles Haddon Spurgeon first went to Park Street church in London, he was nineteen years old. There he found a church with a seating capacity of fifteen hundred but with an attendance of under two hundred. Nine ...read more

Tags: Church Purpose Of, Great Commission

A Real Bad Dude  PRO

Contributed by Donnie Martin on Jul 14, 2002

A Real Bad Dude An old fellow had been in the north woods for weeks by himself, camping out. Each night at dusk he built a campfire, boiled water for coffee, and took out his skillet to fry up some bacon for dinner. As he was sitting by the fire one night, the water boiling and the bacon ...read more

Tags: Hardship Of Life, Fear And Worry, Endurance

Denomination: Baptist

"Theology In The Pew"  PRO

Contributed by Ronald Keller on Oct 15, 2002

“THEOLOGY IN THE PEW” “A large share of people who attend Protestant or Catholic churches have adopted beliefs that conflict with the teachings of the Bible and their church, according to the latest release from the Barna Research Group (www.barna.org). There are some fundamental Christian precepts ...read more

Tags: Basics Of Christianity, Bible Influence, Faith General

Denomination: Nazarene

The Enemy Still Lives  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Oct 27, 2002

THE ENEMY STILL LIVES PBS Special covering the events that led up to the "Battle of the Bulge" in WWII revealed some interesting insights. It was the autumn of 1944 and Germany had been beaten back behind its borders. The Nazi war machine was in tatters and repeated bombing raids by the Allies all ...read more

Tags: Satan, Kingdom Of God

We Look At What We Don't Have Instead Of Looking ...  PRO

Contributed by Joel Vicente on Dec 27, 2003

WE LOOK AT WHAT WE DON’T HAVE INSTEAD OF LOOKING AT WHAT WE DO HAVE – IF WE HAVE GOD, WE HAVE ALL WE NEED --- A story of a farmer who wanted to impress his hunting buddies. To impress them, he bought the smartest, most expensive hunting dog he could find. He trained this dog to do things no other ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 1:3

Tags: Emotions, God's Omnipotence

Denomination: Baptist

Stress-Free Amoeba

Contributed by Paul Fritz on Dec 31, 2003

Stress-free Amoeba Too much comfort is dangerous. Literally. Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley did an experiment sometime ago that involved introducing an amoeba into a perfectly stress-free environment. Ideal temperature, optimal concentration of moisture, constant food ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 10:12

Tags: Christian Disciplines, Faith

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

When I Went To Honduras, Through Your ...

Contributed by Rodney Buchanan on Sep 6, 2004

When I went to Honduras, through your generosity, I was able to take over 100 Evangecubes (see www.Evangecube.org) to the churches there. Evangecubes are little cubes that tell the story of the Gospel with pictures. I remember going to one little church and showing the people how to use them. ...read more

Tags: Church Purpose Of, Evangelism Urgency

Denomination: Methodist

There's An Interesting New Phenomenon In The ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

There’s an interesting new phenomenon in the church world today. Churches are starting to hire Church Consultants --- the same way companies have hired consultants for years. Consultants are trained as problem solvers. They provide fresh eyes and new perspectives when businesses or churches face ...read more

Tags: Promises Of God

Warren Wiersbe, Theologian And Writer, Tells A ...  PRO

Contributed by Dale Pilgrim on Jan 21, 2008

Warren Wiersbe, theologian and writer, tells a story as taken from a source. “A miserable looking woman recognized F.B. Meyer (preacher and teacher) on the train and ventured to share her burden with him. For years she had cared for a crippled daughter who brought great joy to her life. She made ...read more

Scripture: John 10:10

Tags: Theologian

Denomination: Salvation Army

Don't Trust Feelings  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 31, 2008

DON'T TRUST FEELINGS I read of a helicopter pilot who flew from an aircraft carrier in the Pacific told this story. He said, "I was flying the helicopter back to the ship when a blinding fog rolled in. Flying at a low altitude, I knew that a single mistake would plunge my crew and me into the ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 14:22-36, Matthew 9:14-18

Tags: Faith, Guidance, Feelings, Hardship Of Life, Facts  (view more)  (view less)

Who Was Gamaliel?

Contributed by Ed Vasicek on Oct 15, 2008

Who was GAMALIEL? 1. Not thought to be present when the Sanhedrin met to condemn Jesus 2. In that era, only about 3 or 4 members of the Sanhedrin were Pharisees; mostly Sadducees…but Gamaliel was respected as the greatest Rabbi in the land 3. A descendent of King David, very distantly related to ...read more

Tags: Paul

Denomination: Independent/Bible

The Powerhouse  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Oct 22, 2008

The Powerhouse Stephen Kuusisto grew up feeling a stigma about being legally blind. For him, sight consisted of a kaleidoscope of shapes, colors, and shadows. Privately he would press his face close to the page of a book and memorize street names in an exhausting attempt to appear more able to see ...read more

Scripture: John 16:13

Tags: Holy Spirit In Believers

Teach Him To Walk, But Not Where  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 28, 2008

TEACH HIM TO WALK, BUT NOT WHERE A rehabilitation counselor took an early retirement to spend the rest of his life preaching. One day, while addressing an audience, he told of how - early in his career - he found a young boy with several birth defects. He arranged financial and medical help. ...read more

Tags: Discipleship

Golf Pro Lee Trevino Met A Fan In A Coffee Shop. ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 28, 2008

Golf pro Lee Trevino met a fan in a coffee shop. The woman asked him to sign a napkin, but Trevino refused, saying he knew she wouldn’t keep it. “So she pulled out a $5 bill,” Trevino recalled. He said, “I wrote a nice little note in the margin and signed it. Thanking me profusely, she ...read more

Tags: Worship General

Your Spirit Does Matter

Contributed by Sermon Central on Mar 17, 2009

YOUR SPIRIT DOES MATTER A preacher wrote: "Today we have people who claim to be Christians shouting ’God hates fags’ at the funerals of soldiers who have died in Iraq, because these ’Christians’ believe God is punishing America for its tolerance of homosexuals. A recent editorial in the paper ...read more

Tags: Anger

So How Do We Avoid Deception? There's Only One ...

Contributed by Brian La Croix on Apr 27, 2009

So how do we avoid deception? There’s only one main way to do that: By studying the truth. I had heard years ago that bank tellers and such are trained to spot counterfeit money by studying the real stuff so much that they can spot the phony stuff right away. I wasn’t sure if that was really ...read more

Tags: Truth Of Christ

Denomination: Wesleyan

What Do You See?  PRO

Contributed by Charles Wilkerson on Jul 7, 2009

WHAT DO YOU SEE? I don’t know if you’ve heard of Scott Ginsburg, but he is known for something very strange. As of today, he has worn a "Hello my name is..." tag for 3140 days. On one occasion he had given a speech to an employee group in South Dakota and told how he started wearing the name tag. ...read more

Tags: Opportunity

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Several Years Ago I Was Walking To Work From The ...

Contributed by Sean Harder on Dec 4, 2009

Several years ago I was walking to work from the train back in BC. I pretty much set my own schedule so it didn’t matter if I was a little late. I was walking across a quiet intersection where there were a few broken bottles, with the really jagged pieces that would shred a tire. A middle aged ...read more

Tags: Kindness

The Good Outcast: Longhaired Biker

Contributed by Otis Mcmillan on Dec 16, 2009

THE GOOD OUTCAST-LONGHAIR-BIKER Now it came to pass that a certain man was traveling Lonesome Street, a lonely and dark road from Tom's Tavern to Bill's Bar. After many visits to this bar, the consumption of liquor got a hold of him, stripped him of all his goods and left him destitute and dying ...read more

Tags: Parable Good Samaritan

Denomination: Methodist