Jump directly to the Content
Jump directly to the Content

Sermon Illustrations

Home > Sermon Illustrations

Tenants Get Evicted After Trash Builds Up

When I was an associate pastor at a church near Portland, Oregon, I was also a part-time manager of the townhouse complex where we lived. Once a month, I would attend a manager's meeting for the property management company that ran our complex. So I would meet managers from all around the Portland Metro area. I can still remember one of the meetings I attended back in 2007. One of the managers told us that she had a group of tenants, a couple actually, that she had to evict earlier that month. They were living in total squalor. She had warned them that January in writing about their behavior. Finally, in August, she had to forcefully evict them. Why? During their entire time there, almost a year, they hadn't taken out the trash once. The property management company needed to bring in a 40-foot dumpster just to clean out their apartment.

For the follower of Christ, regular confession and repentance of sin is like taking out the trash. So the question for us is, How long has it been since I've taken out the trash? Has trash taken up residence in my soul? Or do I need a 40-foot dumpster to take it away?

Related Sermon Illustrations

Max Lucado Shows the Power of Honest Confession

Ever since my high school buddy and I drank ourselves sick with a case of quarts, I have liked beer …. Out of the keg, tap, bottle, or frosty mug—it doesn't matter to ...

[Read More]

What Does Your Internet Trail Say About You?

In his book The Next Story Tim Challies writes:

In 2006, America Online made an epic misjudgment. As part of a research project … the company made available to the public a massive ...
[Read More]