In Sermon Illustrations: "True Love"

Unwanted Items-The Unwanted Salary

Contributed by Jonathan Spurlock on May 11, 2025

Unwanted items-the unwanted salary Introduction: Have you ever been so angry with your employer that you threw your pay away? Something like that happened in the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20)! (Full disclosure: Sermon Central has previously accepted a message on this text in ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 20:1-15

Tags: Jesus, Money, Unwanted Things

Denomination: Baptist

[212]. A Message From A Poem - Everything In Its Season

Contributed by Ron Ferguson on Sep 26, 2025

[212]. A MESSAGE FROM A POEM - EVERYTHING IN ITS SEASON This poem covers a lot of ground. Broadly it is connected with the state of things, being the season of man. God created all of us and we live our lives in this world, but all of us are accountable for our actions. Some of that is ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 15:18, Genesis 12:3, Joel 3:2, Isaiah 5:20-21, Ecclesiastes 3:1-5  (view more)  (view less)

Tags: Death, Season, Evil, Curse Israel And Be Cursed, Christian Poems, Charlie Kirk, Israel, Birth, Good, Time For Everything, United Nations, Palestinians  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Carta De Satánas (Translation Follows)

Contributed by Rolando Delgado on Sep 22, 2010

CARTA DE SATÁNAS (Translation follows) Te vi ayer cuando comenzabas tus tareas diarias. Te levantaste sin ni siquiera orar a tu "Dios". En todo el día no hiciste nada de oración; de hecho, ni recordaste bendecir tus alimentos. Eres muy desagradecido con tu Dios, y eso me gusta de ti. También me ...read more

Tags: Disciplines General

Denomination: Pentecostal

The Red Neck Wedding

Contributed by Shawn Drake on Feb 22, 2003

The Red Neck Wedding In the Summer of 2000 a couple came to me and explained that they wanted me to perform their Wedding ceremony. The man was a farmer and the woman had grown up on a farm. They explained to me that this was both of their 2nd marriage and neither one of them had a Church ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 126:2

Tags: Wedding, Humorous Weddings

Denomination: Baptist

Your Bucket Is Filled!" Philippians 2: 1-11: ...  PRO

Contributed by Mark Brunner on Aug 21, 2004

“Your Bucket is Filled!” Philippians 2: 1-11: Key verse(s): 4 “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Consider Your Neighbor!) On a recent Saturday, awakening to a beautifully sunrise and cool breezes, I lazed in bed putting tasks upon the ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 2:1-11

Tags: Christian Disciplines

Denomination: Lutheran

Jim Jones – He Started Out As A Pastor And Became ...  PRO

Contributed by Michael Mccartney on Nov 3, 2004

Jim Jones – He started out as a pastor and became deceived and it lead to the death of 100’s. This was a Christian destructive, doomsday cult founded and led by James Warren Jones (1931-1978). Jim Jones held degrees from Indiana University and Butler University. He was not a Fundamentalist pastor ...read more

Tags: Cults

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

No Parts Left Over!" Psalm 37: 25-26 Key ...

Contributed by Mark Brunner on Dec 14, 2004

“No Parts Left Over!” Psalm 37: 25-26 Key verse(s): 25: “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.” When I was a boy I received one of those expensive model cars for Christmas. It was not your typical model with only about a hundred ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 37:25-26, Psalm 37:25-40, Psalm 37:1-2

Tags: Giving General

Denomination: Lutheran

The Other Side Of The Road!" Luke 17: 1-4 Key ...  PRO

Contributed by Mark Brunner on Jan 18, 2005

“The Other Side of The Road!” Luke 17: 1-4 Key verse(s): 3:“So watch yourselves. ‘If you brother sin, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.’” There but by the grace of god go I! From youth on I was taught the valuable resource of this adage. Along with “Don’t pout or your face will stay ...read more

Scripture: Luke 17:1-4

Tags: Forgiveness For Others

Denomination: Lutheran

Have You Ever Hurt Anybody?  PRO

Contributed by Ken Ritz on Dec 30, 2005

Brennan Manning tells a story in his book The Ragamuffin Gospel. 25 years ago, he had a drinking problem. He voluntarily entered a 28-day treatment program. Early on in the treatment program they had to sit in a circle with a leader and tell the other people in the group, about the extent of their ...read more

Tags: Mortal Lessons, Richard Celtzer, Brennan Manning, Addiction

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Today Is Super Bowl Sunday, The Most Ballyhooed ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007

Today is Super Bowl Sunday, the most ballyhooed and widely watched pro football game of all. Someone defined a football game as 75,000 people sitting in a stadium, although they desperately need exercise, watching twenty-two people on the field who desperately need rest. Pastor Bob Schmidgall said ...read more

Tags: Faith

A Special Occasion  PRO

Contributed by Eric Ferguson on May 8, 2008

A SPECIAL OCCASION If you are waiting for a special house guest or a special occasion to use something you cherish in your house, consider the following following article by Ann Wells that appeared several years ago in the Los Angeles Times: My brother-in-law opened the bottom drawer of my ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-18

Tags: Happiness

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

The Queen's Christmas Tree

Contributed by John Moyer on Dec 16, 2008

THE QUEEN'S CHRISTMAS TREE Among the cards we've received over the years, some were those Guidepost Christmas cards with stories in them. This is one of those stories. It was the first Saturday of the Advent season in Europe. The Queen’s royal woodsmen were searching the royal forest for the ...read more

Tags: Christmas

Denomination: Holiness

Elizabeth Griscom: Freedom Creates Courage  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 13, 2009

ELIZABETH GRISCOM: FREEDOM CREATES COURAGE On January 1, 1752, Samuel and Rebecca Griscom gave birth to a baby girl they named Elizabeth. Elizabeth grew up a Quaker in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After completing her formal education, Elizabeth went on to work as an apprentice to John Webster, a ...read more

Scripture: Luke 4:18-19

Tags: Independence Day

Root Beer Thirst --- ...

Contributed by Peter Loughman on Apr 3, 2010

Root Beer Thirst --- --- As a kid in High School, I loved to go to amusement parks, and so did my friends. We only had a couple of amusement parks in the SF Bay Area and my high school buddies and I were able to convince our parents to drop us off at one of these amusement parks that was like a six ...read more

Tags: Stress

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Healing The Wounds Of War: The Kim Phuc Story

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 4, 2010

HEALING THE WOUNDS OF WAR: THE KIM PHUC STORY Probably one of the most well-known pictures to come out of the Vietnam War was Nick Ut’s Pulitzer Prize-winning photo (show picture) of Phan Thi Kim Phuc (pronounced "fuke"). On June 8, 1972, a napalm bomb was dropped on her village, and Kim, who was ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 18:21-35

Tags: Forgiveness For Others

Hurricane Victims' Suffering Lead Them To ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 10, 2010

Hurricane Victims’ Suffering Lead Them to Christ 38-year-old Carlotta Bennett was riding out Hurricane Katrina in her attic with her family. The winds had blown her house way off its foundation, and the rising water was threatening to flood the house to the roof and drown the five people in the ...read more

Scripture: Romans 8:28

Tags: Suffering Joy In

My Dream  PRO

Contributed by Michael E. Bartee Sr. on Jan 21, 2011

MY DREAM This story is dedicated to all who have lost a loved-one who had suffered a long illness before dying. October, 1972, I visited Israel on a ’Holy Land Tour’. One night while staying at a hotel in Jerusalem, I dreamed that I was standing in a dimly-lit room. In the middle of the room ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 55:8-9

Tags: God's Sovereign Will

Denomination: Pentecostal

The Story Of Ernest Gordon

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 26, 2011

THE STORY OF ERNEST GORDON There is a book (and now a movie) called To End All Wars that tells of the extraordinary life of Ernest Gordon, a British Army officer captured at sea by the Japanese at the age of 24. Gordon was sent to work on the Burma-Siam railway line that the Japanese were ...read more

Scripture: John 15:12-14

Tags: Heroism

The Three Ten Commandments

Contributed by Marc Heatherington on Aug 1, 2021

THE THREE TEN COMMANDMENTS By Marc Heatherington The Ten Commandments were given to Moses three times. The first time, the Ten Commandments were first spoken by God in Exodus 20:1-17. And God spoke all these words, saying: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 31:18, Exodus 34:1-4, Exodus 20:1-17

Tags: Ten Commandments, Picture Of Christ

Denomination: Baptist

Handel's Messiah-The Back Story

Contributed by Martin Spoelstra on Dec 9, 2023

George Frideric Handel's Messiah is one of the most beautiful musical renditions of Scripture ever created. What we don’t often hear about is the troubled back story during the writing of the Messiah. It was at this time that Handel was struggling financially because there was a shift in music, ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 9:1-7, Isaiah 53:3, 1 Timothy 6:15-16

Tags: Christmas, King Of Kings, Handel's Messiah, Rejected, Despised  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed