Sermon Illustrations

Christ began His ministry turning water into wine and ended it turning wine into blood. The first was literal, the second was symbolic. We often use the word blood in a symbolic way. When we speak of family we say that blood is thicker than water. When we speak of inherited gifts we say, "It's in his blood." We say that the blood of...

The famous general Stonewall Jackson avoided alcohol. Once when he was very ill and the weather was bad, his doctor persuaded him to take some brandy. Jackson was reluctant. "Don't you like it?" asked the doctor. "I like it very much, "said Jackson." That is why...

Risk

Lewis' is a large department store in Birmingham, England. Some years ago, the store wanted to expand, and one of their projected building areas held a Friends Meeting House, a small Quaker chapel. A representative of Lewis' sent a letter to the Quaker congregation, saying, "Dear sirs. We wish to extend our premises. We...

A young seminary graduate was called to his first church. That first Sunday, he entered the church proudly, with head held high. As he began the sermon, however, things seemed to go terribly wrong. He stumbled over words, lost his train of thought time and again, and altogether made a royal mess of the sermon. At the...

In his book Chicken Soup for the Soul, Eric Butterworth tells of a college sociology class that was sent into the Baltimore slums to take case histories of 200 young boys. The students were required to write an evaluation of each boy's projected future, and in virtually every case, they wrote, "He hasn't got a chance." Some...

"God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always...

"When we walk to the edge of all the light we have, and take that step into the darkness of the unknown, we must believe that one of two things will happen -- there will be something solid for us to stand on, or we will...

Craig was on his seventh grade basketball team. His team was playing a cross-town rival, and the first half of the game had been hard-fought, with plenty of tension on both sides. When the second half began, Craig's team was down by two points. The opposing team fumbled the tip-off, and Craig found the ball pushed into his...

The circus came into town and they wanted to add a new act: a man would climb a 200-foot tower, then jump into a washbarrel of water. The manager said to one applicant, "Try it." So he did. He climbed the 200-foot tower and jumped into the washbarrel of water, then climbed out and began drying himself off. "You're hired!"...