Sunday Help: Video Illustrations

You know that last minute rush to find just the right video to drive home your point, and no matter what you do it seems that video is illusive and hard to find? Today, let me help you with some videos I have found and have used in my sermons. Please note that the use of videos should be a tool and not main focus of your sermon preparation. Video illustrations can help bring the visual learner along with you and keep your audience attentive.

Sermon Nuggets (Video Illustrations):

1> Cristiano Ronaldo In Disguise:

Scripture: 1 Samuel 3:1-10, John 10:27
Main Idea: Ronaldo is one of the best soccer (football) players in the world. He went undercover in the streets of Spain and no one recognized him wearing the beard and sunglasses. Similarly, in the midst of the noise of the world around us and all of life’s distractions, I wonder if we would recognize God? Would we recognize His voice in the middle of our noisy day? What distractions get in the way that prevent us from hearing or seeing evidence of God in our lives and in the world around us?

2> Hearing for the first time:

Scripture: John 10:27, Romans 10:17, John 8:47, Luke 11:28
Main Idea: Some in our world have never heard about or from God. As ambassadors of Christ (2 Cor 5:20) we are called to proclaim His name. Sometimes the truth of the gospel is like this little boy who finally hears his mother’s voice for the first time. God can do miracles in the lives of people and when His voice is heard, lives are changed!

3> Seeing God’s Glory and our response:

Scripture: Isaiah 6:1:8
Main Idea: These special glasses allow colorblind people to see in the full spectrum of color. Can you imagine the Theophany that Isaiah experienced in heaven? How his eyes must have been opened and it was like seeing everything for the first time. God wants to do that with all of us. He is calling us to go into various places of the world, but first we need to truly see for the first time!

4> Sin & Redemption:

Scripture: John 3:16, Romans 3:23, Romans 5:8, Galatians 2:20
Main Idea: Nothing we do in and of ourselves will save us from sin. It is within us, God’s saving love can and will rescue us if we accept Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and His blood covers our sin and restores us.

5> Prayer & Praying

Scripture: Philippians 4:6-7, Mark 11:24, Matthew 6:6, Matthew 6:9-13
Main Idea: We have these ideas about God and how he answers prayers or how WE think He should answer prayer, but does He really work like that? Prayer doesn’t always produce the answers we are looking and how we come before Him in prayer matters.

These are just 5 Sermon nugget illustrations.
I know that there are much more, and I will post more later…how about you? What are some video illustrations that you have used that you seem to resonate with your audience? Please share them with us in the comment section below.

More to ponder….

June 22, 2017 0

The Bread of Life Sermon Audio

John 6:25-59 (NIV)

Jesus the Bread of Life

²⁵When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

²⁶Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. ²⁷Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

²⁸Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

²⁹Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

³⁰So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? ³¹Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’^[a]”

³²Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

³⁴“Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

³⁵Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.³⁶But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. ³⁷All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. ³⁸For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. ³⁹And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me,but raise them up at the last day. ⁴⁰For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

⁴¹At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴²They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”

⁴³“Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. ⁴⁴“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. ⁴⁵It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’^[b] Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. ⁴⁶No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. ⁵⁰But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. ⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

⁵²Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

⁵³Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. ⁵⁵For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.⁵⁶Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. ⁵⁷Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. ⁵⁸This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” ⁵⁹He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

March 27, 2017 0

Sermon Podcast: Holiness – Back to the Future

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2 Peter 3:3-14 (NIV)

³Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. ⁴They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” ⁵But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. ⁶By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. ⁷By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

⁸But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. ⁹The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. ¹⁰But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. ¹¹Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives ¹²as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. ¹³But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

¹⁴So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.

June 27, 2016 0

Sermon Podcast -“Lies We Tell Ourselves”

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1 John 1:5-10
Light and Darkness, Sin and Forgiveness

⁵This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. ⁶If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. ⁷But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all^[^b^] sin.

⁸If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

We can say we have
F___________ with Him but

W_________ in D___________
(v.6)

2. We can say we have no

S_______ and

D_____________ ourselves
(v8)

3. We say we K________ HIM

but do not keep His

C_______________ (2:4)

4. We say we are in the

L_________, but H________

our B_________ or

S__________ in Christ (2:9)

May 26, 2016 0

Sermon Podcast – Civil War?

Listen to our latest Sermon Podcast – “Civil War”

or Download and Subscribe to our Sermon Podcast here – “Civil War Sermon Link”
Galatians 2:11-21

Paul Opposes Cephas

¹¹When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. ¹²For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. ¹³The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.

¹⁴When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?

¹⁵“We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles ¹⁶know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in^[a] Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.

¹⁷“But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! ¹⁸If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.

¹⁹“For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. ²⁰I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”^[b]

Team Peter or Team Paul?

Questions To Ask Ourselves:

1. Do I live in P_______with

one another or am I always

looking for I____________s in others ? (v12)

2. Do I sometimes put R__________ & L________

before the G__________of

G_______? (v21)

3. Am I more concerned with

what O________s will think

than what G________ will think? (v20)

May 16, 2016 0

Sermon Podcast – “Life Is Like A Garden”

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Scripture Text for today’s service:

Matthew 13:1-23

The Parable of the Sower

13 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake.²Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. ³Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. ⁸Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. ⁹Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

¹⁰The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”

¹¹He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. ¹²Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. ¹³This is why I speak to them in parables:

“Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.

¹⁴In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:

“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
¹⁵For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’^[^a^]

¹⁶But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. ¹⁷For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

¹⁸“Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: ¹⁹When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. ²⁰The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. ²¹But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. ²²The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. ²³But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

Some pictures to ponder while listening to the sermon –

May 1, 2016 0

“No Regrets” – Sermon Podcast

Here’s today’s Sermon from the Evansville Corps – click to listen:

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2 Timothy 4:5-8 (NIV)

⁵But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

⁶For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. ⁷I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

How to live without regrets:

1. Recognize your failures, own them then press forward, the past cannot be changed but the present and future can:

2. Hardships on the way are indicators that you’re on the right track – keep going! 2 Timothy 4:5 –
⁵But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship

3. Don’t Let Up Until The Finish Line – Endure, Persevere, Thrive!
“Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” (V.8)

April 24, 2016 0

Sermon Podcast – “In The Desert of Sin”

Listen to our Sermon from The Evansville Salvation Army.
Today’s Sermon is entitled: “In the Desert of Sin”

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Exodus 17:8-16New International Version (NIV)

The Amalekites Defeated

⁸The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. ⁹Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.”

¹⁰So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. ¹¹As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. ¹²When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. ¹³So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.

¹⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven.”

¹⁵Moses built an altar and called it The Lord is my Banner. ¹⁶He said, “Because hands were lifted up against^[a] the throne of the Lord,^[b] theLord will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation.”

April 10, 2016 0

Sermon Podcast – “It’s Not My Job”

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“Not My Job”

Ephesians 4:1-16 (NLT)

Unity in the Body

4 Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. ²Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. ³Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.⁴For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.

⁵There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
⁶one God and Father of all,
who is over all, in all, and living through all.

⁷However, he has given each one of us a special gift^[a] through the generosity of Christ. ⁸That is why the Scriptures say,

“When he ascended to the heights,
he led a crowd of captives
and gave gifts to his people.”^[b]

⁹Notice that it says “he ascended.” This clearly means that Christ also descended to our lowly world.^[c] ¹⁰And the same one who descended is the one who ascended higher than all the heavens, so that he might fill the entire universe with himself.

¹¹Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. ¹²Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. ¹³This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

¹⁴Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. ¹⁵Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.¹⁶He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

April 3, 2016 0

Palm Sunday Sermon Podcast “Jesus Weeps Over Jerusalem”

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Jesus Weeps over Jerusalem

⁴¹And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, ⁴²saying,“Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. ⁴³For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side ⁴⁴and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” (Luke 19:41-44)

March 20, 2016 0

Category: sermon

Sunday Help: Video Illustrations

The Bread of Life Sermon Audio