Sacrifice Archives - Sermon Illustration Ideas

Farmers Helping Farmers

Community, Helping others, Outlook, Sacrifice, Working Together

Farmers are notorious for helping each other when times get tough. One North Dakota community of farmers helped one of their own after he…

A Season Of Preparation

Easter, Fasting, Lent, Sacrifice, The Heart

In the Christian tradition of Lent we are asked to give up something, but in the spring and after Easter, we can look forward…

Charles Spurgeon’s ‘The Carrot and the Horse’

Generosity, Humility, Motivations, Sacrifice, The Heart

There is a story attributed to Charles Spurgeon. It goes like this: a gardener presents his king with the greatest carrot he has ever…

Behind The Music

Meaning, Sacrifice, Song, Surrender, Switchfoot

Jon Foreman is a singer–songwriter best known for his work with the band Switchfoot. On a series of solo albums entitled Seasons, Foreman penned a…

John Harper’s Last Convert

Evangelism, Sacrifice, Salvation

Sometimes trusting in our spiritual flotation device means ridding ourselves of a physical one. Scottish evangelist John Harper boarded the Titanic in April 1912. Those…

Brothers And Sisters In Arms

Christian Unity, Love, Sacrifice, The Body of Christ, Unity

Similar to joining the military, when you become a Christian and join the church, you immediately find yourself among brothers and sisters in the…

The Homecoming

Bride of Christ, Children of God, Christmas, Father, Gifts, God Our Father, Love, Sacrifice

Earl Hamner’s novel about one Christmas from his childhood, The Homecoming, is a perfect illustration of God’s love for his bride. At the height…

No Pain, No Gain

Growth, Pain, Resistance, Sacrifice, Struggle

“No pain, no gain!” Have you heard this as you were working out? The phrase stresses the idea that growth comes about painfully, through…

Sacrificial Love

Disciplines, Love, Loving Others, Sacrifice, Technology

No doubt, most of us, if given the choice, would gladly give up things to help our best friend. If he or she was…

On The Incarnation

Christ, Incarnation, Love, Sacrifice, The Gospel

In a radio address, C. S. Lewis illustrated the incarnation and Jesus’s sacrifice for us this way: “Lying at your feet is your dog….

Our “Stand-In”

Atonement, Forgiveness, Jesus, Propitiation, Sacrifice, Salvation, Sin

Glenn Duhigg, a stand-in actor for Tom Cruise on the set of the movie Mission Impossible 2, explains, “It sounds very glamorous saying you’re…

What Love Looks Like

Generosity, Giving, Love, Sacrifice, Serving Others

What is one of the ultimate expressions of love? Sacrifice. We might think of the direst of examples, like laying down your life for…

What We Deserve

Discipleship, Examination, Lent, Repentance, Sacrifice, Suffering

We do not live in a culture that elevates self-denial. Most often we are told we “deserve” to indulge, to be happy, to put…

The Blue Marble

Generosity, Giving Your Life, Parable, Sacrifice, Salvation, Story, Submission

“[In an article for Decision magazine], Samuel Kamaleson illustrates [the difficulty of submission] through a Christian folk story from South India. … It opens…

Abandoning Comfort

1 John 3:1-3, 2 Peter 1:3, Abandoning Comfort, Following Christ, Following Jesus, Galatians 2:20, Give, Luke 14:27, Luke 9:23-24, Matthew 16:24-25, Sacrifice, Serve, Take Up Your Cross

In the 19th century, a Belgian priest named Father Damien left the comforts of home behind and moved to the Hawaiian island of Molokai…

Denying Our Desires

1 John 3:1-3, 2 Peter 1:3, Denying Ourselves, Following Christ, Galatians 2:20, Giving, Helping others, Luke 14:27, Luke 9:23-24, Matthew 16:24, Sacrifice, Self-Sacrifice, Serving

In 1986, Alan and Eric Barnhart started a crane-and-rigging company. They viewed their company as God’s company, though, and decided to cap their income…

Oncoming Sacrifice

1 Corinthians 13:13, 1 John 4:11, 1 John 4:19-21, 1 Peter 1:2, 2 Chronicles 15:7, Colossians 1:18, Ephesians 5:21, Galatians 5:12, Galatians 5:13, Husband, Love, Marriage, Proverbs 10:12, Redemption, Sacrifice, Self-Sacrifice, Spouse, Wife

Brian Wood made the ultimate sacrifice for his wife and unborn child when he saw a twenty-one-year-old driver about to collide with the car…

The Vigilante Pastor

2 Corinthians 10:5, 2 John 1:6, Broken, Compass, Controversy, Deuteronomy 11:1, Faithful, Fallen, Fearing God, Following, Giving, John 15:14, Revelation 14:12, Sacrifice, Vigilante

The documentary Almost Holy covers the work of Gennadiy, who calls himself “Pastor Crocodile.” His mission is to take homeless and drug-addicted children off…

Crushing Competition

1 Peter 1:19, 1 Peter 2:22, Christ, Christ's Death, Competition, Crushed, Dominate, Envy, Gratitude, Hebrews 7:26, Hero, Isaiah 11:5, Isaiah 53:7, Sacrifice, Victory

“The price of greatness is more than you want to pay. The world’s most legendary athletes are usually the ones most wildly out of…