In Sermon Illustrations: "Trials Mature Us"

Enjoying Each Day

Contributed by Davon Huss on Dec 27, 2010

ENJOYING EACH DAY When Tamer Lee Owens celebrated her 104th birthday, she credited "laughter, the Lord, and the little things" for keeping her going. She still finds enjoyment each day in talking with people, taking a walk, and reading the Bible as she has done since childhood. "I don’t know how ...read more

Tags: Attitude General

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Who Needs Your Help?

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 17, 2011

WHO NEEDS YOUR HELP? Of the 2,000 passengers on the Titanic, 1517 were lost. At the time the Titanic went down, another ship, the California was only 30 miles away. The Titanic’s operator frantically sent out SOS repeatedly; but the wireless set on the California was closed because there was only ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 28:18-20

Tags: Evangelism Urgency

Moody Mr. Riddell

Contributed by Davon Huss on Jul 18, 2011

MOODY MR. RIDDELL We have all been around people who could change their moods at the flip of a switch. Don't know exactly how to take them. Have a good time with them and then out of nowhere they slap us in the face. Bob Deffinbaugh tells about one of his teachers who was like this. His name ...read more

Tags: Emotions

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Running Away

Contributed by Brad Henry on Jul 29, 2011

RUNNING AWAY As a child did you ever think of running away from home? There were a couple times that I was so tried of discipline that I just wanted to leave, but I knew that when I got back home the discipline would probably be worse, so I stayed. Plus, where would I go? I remember movies of kids ...read more

Tags: Idolatry

Seeing The Heart  PRO

Contributed by Brad Henry on Aug 9, 2011

SEEING THE HEART When everyone starts filing into work today what if you could just see the inward appearance? You would not see who is the nicest dressed or nicest looking. All you would see would be the same spirit of everyone BUT in that spirit you would see their heart. Their heart would ...read more

Tags: Light, Heart

The Balanced Life Is A Myth

Contributed by Dan Boyce on Aug 23, 2011

THE BALANCED LIFE IS A MYTH Some social commentators have suggested that the answer to the divided life is a balanced life. Although they have some valuable things to say, I find that the balanced life is finally a myth; it can't be done. In a balanced life, I try to stay in control of my life and ...read more

Tags: Discipleship

Denomination: *other

Alvin Slaughter: I'm Convinced More Now Than ...  PRO

Contributed by Davon Huss on May 7, 2012

Alvin Slaughter: I’m convinced more now than ever That we don’t serve a god of the mundane But God of the supernatural You see, when we worship him in faith He will always meet us at the point of our needs Dry, fleshly worship is not enough Get ready, get ready to be completely drenched and ...read more

Tags: Charismatic

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Crossing The Line

Contributed by Curry Pikkaart on May 15, 2012

CROSSING THE LINE A business training exercise shows how people from different cultures look at the same task in different ways. A leader draws an imaginary line on the floor, and puts one person on each side. The purpose is to get one person to convince the other, without force, to cross the ...read more

Tags: Unity

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

I'd Limp Too  PRO

Contributed by Jeff Strite on Sep 9, 2012

I'D LIMP TOO We did NOT inherit Adam's sin. But we did inherit something from Adam. His sin altered our DNA (if you will). His sin bent us toward limping in our righteousness. The story's told of a doctor who was teaching a group of medical students. She points to an x-ray and says, "As you can ...read more

Tags: Sin Fall Of Man

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Stress And Health Care

Contributed by Michael Mccartney on Oct 23, 2012

STRESS AND HEALTH CARE Dr. Don Colbert wrote a book called Stress Less in which he tackles the problem of stress in our society. Listen to a few observations he has made as a Medical Doctor. "Did you know that 75 to 90 percent of all visits to a primary care physician’s office are related to ...read more

Tags: Stress

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Eusebius

Contributed by Davon Huss on Jul 25, 2015

Surely they will not put us in prison. I pray not, but even if they do there's a lot of good ministry in jails and prisons. Eusebius in his Church History written in 324 AD tells about the Great Persecution: “An imperial decree ordered that church leaders everywhere be chained and imprisoned, ...read more

Scripture: 1 Peter 4:16

Tags: Persecution, Persecute, Church Persecution, Persecuted Church

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

What Is Your Answer To Him?

Contributed by Davon Huss on Aug 27, 2015

At the beginning of the school year during recess I was on the playground looking for some of my friends. I couldn’t find them. I had two boys come up to me and asked, “Do you need a friend? We want to be your friends?” I said, “No.” Was I mean? No, I just didn’t know them. Through time, we ...read more

Scripture: John 15:13-15

Tags: Jesus' Friends, Friendship With God, Choosing Friends

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Sow Indiscriminately

Contributed by I. Grant Spong on Jul 15, 2017

In the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13) Jesus spoke of the kingdom of heaven being like an indiscriminate sower. This contradicts theories surrounding church growth of targeting certain statistically measurable demographics. There is no such target audience in this parable. The seed of the kingdom ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 13:1-23

Tags: Sower, Church Growth

Denomination: Baptist

Make Disciples - There Is No "Plan B"

Contributed by Martin Spoelstra on Jul 9, 2018

Here's the thing that can be difficult to wrap our minds around: If you make disciples, you always get the church. But if you make a church, you rarely get disciples. Many of us serve in or lead churches where we have hundreds or even thousands of people showing up on Sunday. But we have to ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 28:19-20

Tags: Discipleship, Disciple Maker

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Satisfaction

Contributed by Shine Thomas on Nov 9, 2018

Michael Jackson was an American singer, songwriter, and dancer, dubbed the "King of Pop.” He was one of the most popular entertainers in the world and one of the best-selling music artists of all time. Thriller is the best-selling album of all time, with estimated sales of over 66 million copies ...read more

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 2:17

Tags: Riches, Contentment, Satisfaction

Denomination: Assembly Of God

Genesis And Revelation

Contributed by Garris Hudson on Oct 15, 2019

The two books the devil hates most are Genesis and Revelation. Why? • In Genesis the devil's doom is pronounced. • In Revelation it’s carried out. It is the Devil's Obituary. Satan would tell us Genesis is myth and Revelation is mystery—don't pay attention to either one! Did you ...read more

Tags: Genesis, Revelation

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Christ Emptied Himself

Contributed by Ed Vasicek on Nov 25, 2019

Kenosis: “The term kenosis comes from the Greek word for the doctrine of Christ’s self-emptying in His incarnation. The kenosis was a self-renunciation, not an emptying Himself of deity nor an exchange of deity for humanity. Philippians 2:7 tells us that Jesus “emptied Himself, taking the form of a ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 2:5-11

Tags: Christmas, Incarnation, Kenosis, Christ's Humility, Emptying  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Independent/Bible

Pharisees Don't Care

Contributed by Garris Hudson on Dec 8, 2020

The corrupt heart of the zealous devotion of the Pharisees is illustrated by a group of modern day Orthodox Jews (early, 1992), who let three apartments in an Orthodox neighborhood in Israel burn to the ground while they asked a rabbi whether a telephone call to the fire department on the Sabbath ...read more

Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:1-3

Tags: Pride, Selfishness, Last Days, Pharisees, False Religion, Lovers Of Themselves  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Some Time Ago A Man Was Staying In A Cottage In ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

Some time ago a man was staying in a cottage in the Swiss Alps. Early one morning he heard what sounded like an earthquake. Hurriedly he got out of bed and ran to the front desk and asked if there was something wrong, if the mountains were breaking up? He was scared. The man at the front desk ...read more

Tags: Second Coming

Horses In The Salad—readers' Digest Online, ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

Horses in the Salad—Readers’ Digest Online, Reader Contributions, Hazel Boone, Kelowna, BC, 1999 "I took Spanish lessons every day while my husband and I lived in Argentina. After a month, my tutor encouraged me to ’speak to the shop clerks, the maid. Speak to everyone and practise, practise.’ A ...read more

Tags: Joshua