“All these will I bestow on You if you prostrate yourself in homage before me” (Matthew 4:8). A New York City pastor tells of the time when his parish was presented with a large supply…
Sermon Illustrations
“Yahweh, hear my voice as I cry! Pity me! Answer me!” (Psalm 27:9). Tired of just “hanging around,” an elderly man took part-time employment as a messenger. His job was to make pick-ups of legal…
“John the Baptizer appeared…proclaiming a baptism of repentance” (Mark 1:4). Someone has said that “The world is a kind of spiritual kindergarten where millions of bewildered infants are trying to spell ‘God’ with the wrong…
“The He withdrew from them…and knelt down and prayed” (Luke 22:41). The story is told of an overworked mother of eight who lived in the 1700s. In her house jammed with children it was extremely…
“God, be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13). Two shipwrecked sailors had been adrift on a raft for days. Desperate, one knelt and began to pray: “Oh Lord, I know I haven’t lived a…
Lord, today I feel like ... a used firecracker, a balloon with a hole in it, a dried-up pen, an empty soda-pop can, a worn-out shoe, a discarded blob of bubble gum, a crumpled up,…
“He preached Good News to the people” (Luke 3:18). “Sailbad the Sinner” is the name of an old sailboat owned by Baptist Minister, Jess Moody. One day, Moody and his son boarded the little sloop…
“Teach the way of God in truth” (Mark 12:14). A young woman — a college student — wrote a letter to her mother in which she expressed great admiration for one of the college chaplains.…
After the church service a little boy told the pastor, “When I grow up, I’m going to give you some money.” “Well, thank you,” the pastor replied, “but why?” “Because my daddy says you’re one…
“Do you know what my reward is? It is this: in my preaching, to be able to offer the Good News free” (I Corinthians 9:18). During his 30-year ministry, a certain pastor became known far…
“. . . and as Paul went on and on, a young man called Eutychus who was sitting on the window sill grew drowsy and was overcome by sleep and fell to the ground three…
“ …the Word of the Lord remains forever. What is this word? It is the Good News that has been brought to you” (1 Peter 1:23). Recently, a small town newspaper ’s “Religion Column” included…
“Speak to them and tell them whether they listen or not” (Ezekiel 3:11). There was an old pastor of a little rural Church who had developed a great reputation for preaching. His preaching was effective.…
“Wake up from your sleep, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you” (Ephesians 5:14). In one of the “Kudzu” comic strips, a preacher is greeting members of his congregation at the door…
“... far from being content with sound teaching, people will be avid for the latest novelty... according to their own tastes” (II Timothy 4:3). A cartoon appeared in one of the religion magazines in which…
“…they will not hear Him unless they get a preacher” (Romans 10:14). In a small monastery there was a monk who was extremely shy. He lived in terror of the day when the Abbot would…
“Zaccheus was trying to see who Jesus was … so he … climbed up into a sycamore tree” (Luke 19:3,4). A certain homiletics professor was always trying to get his seminary students to demonstrate instant…
“Remember, my dear friends, what the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ told you to expect” (Jude 1:17). A TV weather reporter had been so consistently wrong with his predictions that the station was flooded…
“…do not babble as the pagans do” (Matthew 6:7). There was a University professor who went searching for the meaning of life. After many long journeys over several years, he came to the mountaintop retreat…
“So stay awake, because you do not know the day or the hour” (Matthew 25:13). The story is told of an ancient king who presented his court jester with a beautiful wand. . . “I…
