In Sermon Illustrations: "Volunteer Day"

The Second Pilgrim Winter

Contributed by Paul Barreca on Nov 19, 2011

THE SECOND PILGRIM WINTER After the first Thanksgiving with Massosiat and the Indians, the Pilgrims were excited that another ship arrived with 35 new colonists. Quoting again from William Bradford, “they were all landed; but there was not so much as bisket-cake or any other victialls [AO] for ...read more

Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18

Tags: Thanksgiving Holiday

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Imagine If You Would That You Want To Go On The Bus.

Contributed by Andrew Moffatt on Jan 22, 2012

Imagine if you would that you want to go to Oamaru on the bus, the buses run to Oamaru every day of the week and there are at least three different bus companies to choose from. The trick with all these bus companies is that they charge different fares and that they go at different times. You can ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 1:1-10

Tags: Journey, Life Journey, Journey Of Faith, The Will Of God, Journey With Jesus  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Salvation Army

Frankl And The Meaning Of Life  PRO

Contributed by Josh Hunt on Mar 15, 2012

FRANKL AND THE MEANING OF LIFE When Jewish psychiatrist Viktor Frankl was arrested by the Nazis in World War II and put in Auschwitz, the infamous death camp, he was stripped of everything: property, family, possessions, and a manuscript he had spent years researching and writing on finding ...read more

Scripture: Mark 12:30

Tags: Love For God

Denomination: Baptist

Under The Influence

Contributed by Greg Nance on Apr 13, 2012

UNDER THE INFLUENCE David Kupelian's book The Marketing of Evil, published in 2005, is an eye-opening study of what we face today. I wish every parent would read it. Does anyone here remember what happened to Robert Bauman in 1980? He was elected in 1973 as representative of the First ...read more

Tags: Sin Bondage To

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

They Did Not Fear Death  PRO

Contributed by Bill Sullivan on May 9, 2012

THEY DID NOT FEAR DEATH Many of you have read Foxe's Book of Martyrs. It’s certainly not light bedtime reading, but is nevertheless inspiring and relevant as we look at this passage of scripture this morning. It’s important to remember that each of the apostles suffered persecution, and most ...read more

Tags: Persecution

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

John D. Rockefeller's Transformation

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 14, 2012

JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER’S TRANSFORMATION John D. Rockefeller, Sr., was strong and husky when he was a youth. He early determined to earn money and drove himself to the limit. At age 33, he earned his first million dollars. At age 43, he controlled the biggest company in the world. At age 53, he was ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 9:1-15

Tags: Giving General

A True Church Family

Contributed by Sermon Central on May 28, 2012

A TRUE CHURCH FAMILY Fred Sigle, preaching minister at Garfield Christian Church in Indianapolis tells about Mark Knutson. On August 28, 1993, he was diagnosed with an extremely aggressive form of cancer. When diagnosed, he was already in the late stages and was only given a short time to ...read more

Scripture: Acts 2:42-47

Tags: Church Body Of Christ

Joni And Jesus

Contributed by Joe Bertone on Jul 23, 2012

JONI AND JESUS A vase of roses could always be found next to Joni's hospital bed. Although Joni was only five she had many admirers. She liked flowers. And she liked painting, crayons, the "play lady," and riding her IV pole like a skateboard down the hall of the hospital each night before going ...read more

Tags: Death, Heaven, Afterlife, Home

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Torpedo Approaching  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 29, 2012

TORPEDO APPROACHING Allow me to tell you a story about a young man named Bill, who joined the Navy, when World War II began. One night his ship came into Boston, and he decided to visit his former pastor and friend, Rev. Stidger. During their visit together, Rev. Stidger said, "Bill, tell me the ...read more

Scripture: John 15:9-17

Tags: Heroism

Carrying What I Don't Need  PRO

Contributed by Kelly Benton on Jan 29, 2013

CARRYING WHAT I DON'T NEED I think back to my Army days. All those foot marches and all the pain associated with them. As a young private I packed pretty much everything I could before we went out. I wanted to make sure I had all the comforts to help make life easier. I made sure to have extra ...read more

Tags: Forgiveness General

Denomination: Other

Husband Doesn't Get It

Contributed by Josh Hunt on Jun 19, 2013

TWICE A WEEK After just a few years of marriage filled with disagreements and arguments, a young man and his wife decided the only way to save their marriage was to try counseling. Things had slipped from bad to worse as the months passed, turning their marriage into a marathon of misery. They had ...read more

Scripture: Colossians 3:19

Tags: Communication, Marriage, Husband, Relationships

Denomination: Baptist

When Your Sin Finds You Out.  PRO

Contributed by Larry Turner on Sep 16, 2013

I was 18 years old when I stole my first and only item. I was a bagger at a local grocery store. The store had some small battery operated record players that played 45s. (For those too young to remember what 45s were, they looked like bid CDs with a hole in the middle.) A lot of the record players ...read more

Scripture: Numbers 32:23

Tags: Truth, Unconfessed Sin

Denomination: Foursquare

The Boston Marathon

Contributed by Sermon Central on Mar 19, 2015

Around here in Boston, Patriots Day is famously known for “The Boston Marathon” in which runners from all over the world participate. I watched with keen interest as the gun shot went off for the 116th Boston Marathon. Upmost in every ones mind was the question “Who will get the grand prize worth ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Tags: Self-Control, Run To Win, Running The Race, Self-Discipline

Sleepless Dads!

Contributed by Eduardo Quintana on Oct 4, 2015

You’ll probably not get six continuous hours of good sleep ever again. And if you do, you’ll never admit it because it will make your wife mad for the broken-up sleep she got when she got up and took care of the teething child. Dads, there is nothing more comforting to your little one than to have ...read more

Scripture: Malachi 4:6

Tags: Fatherhood, Sleeplessness

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

The Law, The Whole Law, And Nothing But The Law.

Contributed by Larry Turner on Jun 5, 2016

There is a story about a student at Cambridge University in England who entered the classroom on exam day and asked the proctor to bring him cakes and ale. The proctor refused, expressing astonishment at the young student’s audacity. At this point the student read from the four-hundred-year-old ...read more

Scripture: Deuteronomy 22:5-8

Tags: The Law, Bound By The Law, Judged By The Law

Denomination: Foursquare

A Boost For Not Boasting!!!

Contributed by Suresh Manoharan on Oct 21, 2016

A Boost for not Boasting!!! Probably you have heard this story before but here it goes again...a tale involving a frog prone to self-boasting and his two crane friends who planned to “live happily together ever after” inhabiting as they were a pond overflowing with rich flora and fauna but that ...read more

Scripture: Jeremiah 9:23-24

Tags: Power, Prudence, Boasting In Christ

Denomination: *other

Isaiah's Prophecies And The Dead Sea Scrolls

Contributed by Mark Stepherson on Jan 14, 2017

There was a time when skeptics claimed that the prophecies in Isaiah 53 were too detailed, too specific, too accurate to be mere coincidence. I agreed. But then the skeptics argued that the ONLY logical explanation was that Isaiah was written after the gospels and patterned the suffering Servant ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 53:1-12

Tags: Dead Sea Scrolls, Prophecy, Reliability Of Bible, Fulfilled Prophecy

Denomination: Baptist

Basic Training

Contributed by John Telgren on Feb 11, 2017

I hated shining shoes in Basic Training. There were other things I would rather be doing instead of sitting on the floor with a brush and mounds of cotton balls stained with black Kiwi shoe polish! If our boots and dress shoes were not perfect we paid for it dearly! During one of our trips to the ...read more

Scripture: 1 Timothy 2:15, 2 Timothy 2:15

Tags: Diligence, Diligently, Diligent

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Daddy, Tell Me About The Facts Of Life.

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Apr 18, 2017

Corrie Ten Boom’s father was being pursued by German authorities for housing Jews, which was a punishable crime under Hitler. He had to hurry away from the home one evening after packing his bag for a long, unknown trip to hide away. At the train station and in the middle of a highly tense ...read more

Scripture: Romans 8:28

Tags: Father In Heaven, Will Of God, Where Is God, Father God, Waiting On God  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Uncle Otto Calls In The Cows

Contributed by Paul Steen on Dec 9, 2017

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them,” (John 10:4 paraphrase) When I was growing up, my uncle Otto was my favorite uncle. He lived on a big farm and milked about 100 cows every morning and evening. One day he had all the cows out in the far back pasture he called the “back forty.” It was the ...read more

Tags: Sheep Hear My Voice, My Sheep

Denomination: Calvary Chapel