In Sermon Illustrations: "Unwanted"

Unwanted  PRO

Contributed by Brian Mavis on Oct 30, 2000

Mother Teresea “We have drugs for people with diseases like leprosy. But these drugs do not treat the main problem, the disease of being unwanted. That’s what my sisters hope to provide. The sick and poor suffer even more from rejection than ...read more

Tags: Compassion, Church, Giving General, Poverty

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Unwanted Items--The Unwanted Scroll

Contributed by Jonathan Spurlock on Apr 30, 2025

Introduction: Before the printing press was invented, all correspondence had to be written and copied by hand. Even in Old Testament times, there were scribes who made copies of various things. Needless to say, it would be a tragedy if these handwritten works were ever lost. It was even worse when ...read more

Scripture: Jeremiah 36:20-26

Tags: Jeremiah, Baruch, Roll Of A Book, Destroyed Writings

Denomination: Baptist

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

Unwanted Donations!?

Contributed by Jonathan Spurlock on Dec 11, 2025

Unwanted Donations!? Introduction: What kinds of materials were needed for Israel to make the Tabernacle? Text, Exodus 36:2-7, KJV: 2 And Moses called Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whose heart the LORD had put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 36:2-7

Tags: Tabernacle, Freewill Offerings, Material Offerings

Denomination: Baptist

Unwanted: An Original Husband

Contributed by Jonathan Spurlock on Sep 26, 2025

Unwanted: An Original Husband Introduction: The story of David and his first wife, Michal (daughter of King Saul) could be one of the most tragic love stories of all time. We may never know what happened but we do have a record of the sad results. Full disclosure, Sermon Central has already ...read more

Scripture: 1 Samuel 18:20, 1 Samuel 19:11-17, 2 Samuel 6:14-16

Tags: David, Unwanted Items, Michal Daughter Of Saul

Denomination: Baptist

Unwanted Items-Fresh Meat On The Street?

Contributed by Jonathan Spurlock on Apr 2, 2025

Introduction: This illustration is the first in a series about things that either aren’t wanted, left behind, or otherwise abandoned. Here’s hoping some of these illustrations will be useful! Text: 2 Kings 7:7, KJV: 7 Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their ...read more

Scripture: 2 Kings 7:7

Tags: Caution, Meat, Unwanted, Abandoned Things

Denomination: Baptist

Unwanted-Zimri, The King For Seven Days

Contributed by Jonathan Spurlock on Jul 2, 2025

Introduction: Some kings in Old Testament days had very long reigns, like Uzziah (52 years), Manasseh (55 years) and Jeroboam II of the Ten Northern Tribes (Israel, 41 years). The reigns of others were sometimes very short, but nothing like the week-long reign of Zimri, one of history’s most ...read more

Scripture: 1 Kings 16:8-20

Tags: Palace Coups, Zimri, Suicides

Denomination: Baptist

Unwanted Items—the Ark Of The Covenant

Contributed by Jonathan Spurlock on Jul 16, 2025

Unwanted Items—The Ark of the Covenant Introduction: To “frame” this illustration, we’d need to look at a couple of chapters in 1 Samuel. In chapter 4, the writer tells us of Israel’s decision, foolish as it was, to bring the Ark of the Covenant out of the Tabernacle and down to the battlefield. ...read more

Scripture: 1 Samuel 5:1-12

Tags: Philistines, Ark Of The Covenant, Unwanted Items

Denomination: Baptist

The World's Most Unwanted Ship

Contributed by Martin Spoelstra on Jul 2, 2021

The Pellicano is the world's most unwanted ship. Since 1986 she has been the hobo of the high seas. No one wants her. Sri Lanka doesn't. Bermuda doesn't. The Dominican Republic turned her away. So did the Netherlands, the Antilles, and Honduras. The problem is not the boat. Though ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:5, 2 Corinthians 10:5, Philippians 4:8

Tags: Guilt, Pessimism, Deceit, Sin, Anxiety, Transformation, Bitterness  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Orphans

Contributed by Davon Huss on Oct 24, 2014

Rubel Shelly tells of his friends Rich and Patty White, who traveled to a 3rd world country to adopt a little girl named Olona. After 2 years of effort and paperwork, the Whites stood before a judge who read words from an official document: “Inasmuch as Olona Morgan is orphaned and unwanted by ...read more

Scripture: John 14:18

Tags: Chosen By God, Orphan, Unwanted

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Mother Teresa Said, "The Most Terrible Poverty ...

Contributed by Stewart Holloway on Nov 14, 2006

Mother Teresa said, “The most terrible poverty is loneliness and the ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

The Biggest Disease Today Is Not Leprosy Or ...

Contributed by Michael Mccartney on Aug 9, 2009

“The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis, but rather the feeling of ...read more

Tags: Trials And Difficulties

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

The Door

Contributed by Joe Bertone on Aug 27, 2012

THE DOOR There is a small metal door painted white in the side of a tiny mission church in Johannesburg South Africa. This door is changing lives. On it are painted the words “door of hope.” That is exactly what it is for various babies within the city. On average some forty to fifty babies were ...read more

Scripture: John 10:1-10

Tags: Baby, Salvation, Missions, Hope, Door, Jesus Christ, I Am, Saving  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Mother Teresa Once Said, "The Biggest Disease ...

Contributed by Dale Harlow on Dec 17, 2007

Mother Teresa once said, “The biggest disease today is not leprosy or cancer. It’s the feeling of being uncared for, ...read more

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Dr. Leo Alexander Was A Consultant To The ...  PRO

Contributed by Rich Young on Jan 21, 2001

Dr. Leo Alexander was a consultant to the Secretary of War in the Nuremberg Trials. He had extraordinary access to accused Nazi war criminals in the medical community. He wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine in ...read more

Tags: Abortion

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

We Think Sometimes That Poverty Is Only Being ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 12, 2007

"We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must ...read more

Tags: Hardship Of Life

Door Of Hope

Contributed by Sermon Central on Mar 24, 2015

There is a small metal door painted white in the side of a tiny mission church in Johannesburg South Africa. This door is changing lives. On it are painted the words “door of hope.” That is exactly what it is for various babies within the city. On average some forty to fifty babies were being ...read more

Scripture: John 10:7-10

Tags: Hope, Jesus The Door, Rescuing Babies

All Of Us Have Heard The Notion Of "Safe Sex" ...

Contributed by Rodney Fry on Jan 14, 2007

All of us have heard the notion of “Safe Sex” proclaimed by the media. Is there any such thing? Some seem to suggest that if you could remove the specter of AIDS, STD’s, or unwanted pregnancy, it would be all right for people to have as much sex as they wished. Sex involves more than ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Abortion Down: In '02, 14% Of Births By U.s. ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

Abortion Down: In ’02, 14% of births by U.S. women of childbearing age were unwanted vs. just 9% in ’95, report federal researchers. In ’95, for every 100 pregnancies that ended in abortion or birth, almost 26 ended in abortion, in ’04 that had dropped to 24, ...read more

Tags: Abortion

The Greatest Disease In The West Today Is Not ...

Contributed by Dale Pilgrim on Feb 24, 2007

“The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair and hoplessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a little love. The poverty in ...read more

Denomination: Salvation Army