In Sermon Illustrations: "Trials Mature Us"

Working During Pregnancy

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 30, 2008

WORKING DURING PREGNANCY Women are more likely to work during pregnancy than they were 30 to 40 years ago. They also are returning to work more rapidly after having their first child; 64% are back at work within a year vs. 17% in the 60s. 66% of women who had their first child between 2001 and ...read more

Tags: Family

A Walk By Faith

Contributed by Barry Edmondson on Aug 10, 2008

A WALK BY FAITH I have a friend in Alaska. Some years ago he was a rising executive in a large, influential business. Then God spoke to him to quit his job and go to full-time Bible college. He did so, with no guarantees and no looking back. After he finished Bible college, to the amazement of ...read more

Tags: Faith

Denomination: Pentecostal

Grandma's Game

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 11, 2008

GRANDMA'S GAME Eight-year-old Ann Johnson wrote this poem which expresses the influence of millions of grandparents on their grandchildren: My grandma likes to play with God, They have a kind of game. She plants the garden full of seeds, He sends the sun and rain. She likes to sit and talk with ...read more

Tags: Family

I Want To Stay With You  PRO

Contributed by Ferdinand Funk on Sep 26, 2008

I Want to Stay With You That reminds me of what happened one Sunday after a Child Dedication service. As a young family was driving away from church after the dedication of their baby, little Johnny, the older brother, cried all the way home in the back seat of the car. His mother asked him three ...read more

Tags: Family, Home

Denomination: Mennonite

Chuck Swindoll In His Book, "Hope Again," Tel...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Oct 22, 2008

Chuck Swindoll in his book, "Hope Again," tells the answer Dr. Bruce Waltke, his Hebrew professor, gave Chuck Swindoll when he asked his professor about some “whys” in his life. His professor answered: “Chuck, I’ve come to the place where I believe only on very rare occasions does God tell ...read more

Tags: Knowing God's Will

Writing In His Book, A Work Of Heart, Dr. Reggie ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 26, 2009

Writing in his book, A Work of Heart, Dr. Reggie McNeal, director of the leadership development for the Southern Baptist Convention says, "Common wisdom maintains that children are given to parents so parents can instruct them. The truth is, God gives children to parents to teach parents things ...read more

Tags: Parenting

The Late Great American Jurist, Judge, Author, ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 28, 2009

The late great American jurist, judge, author, and Christian apologist, Simon Greenleaf (1783 - 1853), once said: "There should be a readiness on our part, to investigate with candor to follow the truth wherever it may lead us, and to submit, without reserve or objection, to all the teachings of ...read more

Scripture: 1 Peter 3:15

Tags: Apologetics General

Latinos Boosting Catholic Attendance

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 13, 2009

LATINOS BOOSTING CATHOLIC ATTENDANCE The U.S. Catholic Church would be in decline without Latin American immigrants. Traditional congregations of the American Catholic church have been dwindling in recent years, to where 1 in every 10 Americans is a former Catholic. Immigration from Latin-American ...read more

Scripture: Jeremiah 5:5-7

Tags: Evangelism How To

Pint-Size Digital Projectors Are In The Works. ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 13, 2009

Pint-Size Digital Projectors are in the works. These devices, when plugged into cell phones and portable media players, will let consumers beam video content from their hand-held devices to the closest smooth surface. The micro-projectors, still in prototype, use light-emitting diodes and lasers to ...read more

Tags: Technology

Jim Lopardo Tells This Story: I Was A Percussion ...

Contributed by Ed Vasicek on Feb 16, 2009

Jim Lopardo tells this story: I was a percussion major when I was in college, and during a rehearsal of the student orchestra, my section kept making mistakes. "When you’re too dumb to play anything," the professor conducting us sneered, "they give you a couple of sticks, put you in the back and ...read more

Tags: Music

Denomination: Independent/Bible

Helping The ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 16, 2009

HELPING THE POOR 67% of Americans (over half of whom attend church at least once a month) agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, "My church already does enough to help the poor in my community." Yet 42% said their church spends more money on itself than on the community, finds a World ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 25:34-46

Tags: Poverty

Unhappy Church Member

Contributed by Kerry O'neill on Jan 27, 2019

A christian man was stranded on a deserted island for many years. He was finally discovered and a rescue crew arrived. They were impressed with all the things he built by himself, most prominently 3 buildings. They asked him about the first building and he answered, “That is where I live.” Then ...read more

Scripture: Mark 10:45

Tags: Negativity, Church Hopping

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Singing In A Storm

Contributed by Wade Martin Hughes, Sr on Jul 3, 2021

LET US STUDY THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SINGING SONG BIRD: THE THRUSH SPARROW. The THRUSH SPARROW SINGS MANY BEAUTIFUL SONGS. There is one song the Thrush sings that is amazing. THE ONLY TIME THE THRUSH SPARROW IS KNOWN TO SING HER MOST BEAUTIFUL SONG IS WHEN IT IS IN A TERRIBLE, DANGEROUS STORM OR WHEN IT ...read more

Scripture: Acts 27:10-31, Hebrews 12:12-15

Tags: Singing, Storms

Denomination: Assembly Of God

Keepers Of The Aquarium

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Mar 14, 2023

The late Sam Shoemaker, an Episcopalian bishop, summed up the situation this way: "In the Great Commission the Lord has called us to be--like Peter--fishers of men. We've turned the commission around so that we have become merely keepers of the aquarium. Occasionally I take some fish out ...read more

Scripture: Romans 3:23

Tags: Churches, Great Commission, Sin, Salvation, Gospel, Witnessing, Lost, Pastors, Evangelism, Grace  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Chuck Swindoll On The Book Of Esther

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Aug 21, 2023

Chuck Swindoll writes, "Though God may at times seem distant, and though He is invisible to us, He is always invincible. This is the main lesson of the Book of Esther. Though absent by name from the pages of this particular book of Jewish history, God is present in every scene and in the ...read more

Tags: Esther, Israel, God's Will, God's Providence, Romans 8  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Leap Year

Contributed by John Bright on Mar 4, 2025

Like most years, the dates for the Sundays in March are the same as those in February. Every four years, we have a leap year. Why? A year is 365.25 days –more precisely, 365d 5h 48m 47.26s. It used to mess up the solar calendar. That gave rise to the need to reconcile those leftover hours, ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 1:7

Tags: Reconciliation, Redemption, Leap Year

Denomination: Methodist

Look Different

Contributed by John Bright on Sep 23, 2025

These folks to whom Peter is writing used to look like everybody else. They were a part of the world, so they partied and did all the other things average folks did back then. The Roman world in which Christianity first spread was highly sexualized, and many of the practices today that are ...read more

Scripture: 1 Peter 4:3-4

Tags: Change, Sexuality, Gender, Roman World

Denomination: Methodist

Singing On The Porch

Contributed by Wade Martin Hughes, Sr on Feb 9, 2003

Singing on the porch By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com Make a joyful noise unto the Lord. Wow, what kids today are missing? They travel across the nation and have a DVD or a Nintendo in the SUV, and they never look out the window to see where they have been. We have a friend that has 4 ...read more

Tags: Family, Giving Yourself

Denomination: Assembly Of God

New Normal: If It's Free, It Ain't For Me

Contributed by James Snyder on Mar 13, 2021

Once when I wore a younger man's suit I would take anything free. I assumed it was my right to get something free. Then I had a conversation with my grandfather. If anybody knew how to squeeze a buffalo out of a nickel, it was my grandfather. But you couldn’t trick him by offering him ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 7:1

Tags: Free, Scam

Denomination: Christian Missionary Alliance

Maybe We Should Go Back To Smoke Signal Communications

Contributed by James Snyder on Apr 30, 2022

I must admit that communication is an essential part of my life today. The longer I live, the more sophisticated those communications become, and it’s challenging to me. Recently, I was working on my latest book using my latest computer and its programs. As I was working, I remembered that I did ...read more

Scripture: Colossians 4:6

Tags: Communication, Computer, Media

Denomination: Christian Missionary Alliance