History Main / SuspiciouslySpecificSermon

* Early on in ''Comicbook/KingdomCome,'' Norman [=McKay=] is delivering a sermon about the prophecies of the cataclysms of End Times, and stops when he realizes how dark it all sounds just following the destruction of Kansas. Then, when he's alone, he receives a visit from the Specter, who lets him know that those prophecies are being played out right now.

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[[folder:Film]]
* A French priest uses scripture to declare that liberation is coming in ''Film/TheLongestDay'', despite the fact that German soldiers are in his audience.

* In ''Film/{{Faster}}'', Driver is listening to a radio pastor preach about forgiveness and letting go of vengeance as he drives around murdering the people who have wronged him. Then he goes up to the last guy on his list, and lo and behold, [[spoiler:it turns out that it's the pastor, who knew that Driver escaped from the news reports, and has been preaching directly towards him in hopes that he might change his ways. He does. Sort of.]]
* ''Film/TheEnglishmanWhoWentUpAHillButCameDownAMountain'' features a sermon that encourages the townsfolk to continue building the mound that transforms the hill into a mountain on a Sunday. (This is very deliberate, though he is encouraged to do it by what page of his bible opens at.
* In ''Film/TheBoondockSaints'', a monsignor delivers a sermon referencing the Kitty Genovese case, saying "now, we must all fear evil men. But there is another kind of evil which we must fear most, and that is the indifference of good men." The brothers [=McManus=], after leaving the church, feel called to action and spend the rest of the movie killing off various heavyweights of Boston's organized crime world.
** Although the scene is shown at the start of the movie, it's implied that sequentially it takes place later (perhaps even after) the main sequence of events, in which case the speech wasn't coincidental but a result of the VigilanteMan activities of the protagonists.
* ''Film/TheThiefOfBagdad1927'': the thief in his early antics overhears an imam preaching about the need to earn happiness. He breaks in to loudly deny it. But later, having realized he is unworthy of the princess he loves, he comes back to the mosque, and the imam repeats the message to send him off on his quest to become worthy.
* In ''Film/TheDistinguishedGentleman'', Creator/EddieMurphy's ConMan-turned-SleazyPolitician character gets dragged to a Sunday morning service by his girlfriend. The preacher turns out to be a fellow congressman who had earlier made his (well-deserved) disdain for Murphy's ethics perfectly clear. The sermon (which is about living an honest and honorable life) is very obviously directed at Murphy, to the extent that the preacher maintains eye contact with him throughout.

* ''Film/MisterRoberts''. On VE Day, Mr Roberts is listening to the radio and hears someone giving a speech on the need to destroy destroy the symbols of tyranny and oppression. "You must tear up its roots like a poisoned tree, and cast it from the earth!" Roberts obediently salutes the radio, then throws the beloved palm tree of his tyrannical captain overboard.
* ''Film/OhGod'' This trope is partially lampshaded in ''Oh God! You Devil''. Rock star Bobby Shelton, in the midst of an existential crisis due to his {{Deal With The Devil}}, notices a ragged street preacher holding forth. The vagrant seems to focus on Bobby as he intones that "You must go to the desert!" In the next scene, we find Bobby ensconced in the penthouse suite of a Vegas hotel. This turns out to be exactly where he needs to be.
* TheVicar in ''Film/DeadlyAdvice'' has a habit of preaching sermons especially apposite of Jodie and Beth's situation.
* ''Film/TheRaid1954'': Rev. Lucas delivers a sermon on the subject rebellion that sends Lt. Keating into a homicidal rampage and forces Maj. Benton to shoot and kill him.

* In ''Literature/TheHelp'', a sermon saying that bravery is often just having the courage to do what's right inspires Aibileen to help Skeeter with her book.

* The engineered variety occurs in ''Rocket Boys''[[note]]the novel that ''Film/OctoberSky'' was based on[[/note]] after Sonny and his gang start causing problems from rockets gone awry. The official company minister lectures on the importance of sons obeying fathers (Sonny's dad just so happens to be the foreman). And then the minister turns it back around by delivering a followup sermon about how fathers should be more supportive of their sons.

* {{Invoked}} in the ''Legends Of The Guardian-King'', where it happens fairly frequently because God quietly arranges for the pastor to select whatever sermon topic the protagonists need to hear about.
* In ''Literature/AWolfInTheSoul'', the Hakham Dawid engineers this deliberately by inviting [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent Greg]] to a specific sermon on the subject of wolves. Weirdness ensues.

* ''Series/TheWestWing'' - Toby's at temple on Friday evening, listening to his Rabbi say "Vengeance is not Jewish". He gets a phone call from Sam, who asks "By any chance, is your Rabbi giving a sermon on the death penalty?" Toby listens to another sonorous phrase demonizing the death penalty. "... yes?" This is not an accident.
* In the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "Far Beyond the Stars", a [[AndYouWereThere dream character played by the actor who plays Sisko's father]] gives some very specific advice to Sisko while giving a street sermon.

* ''Monsignor Renard''. The Germans are giving out free bread to disrupt a protest curfew by the French citizens. Renard is bluntly told by the German commander to keep off politics in his sermon. He does so, but concludes his sermon with a biblical quote. "Man does not live by bread alone!"
* Shows up a fair amount in ''Series/SeventhHeaven'', as usually the Issue Of The Week([[TradeSnark tm]]) would tie directly into Eric's sermon.

* In ''The Guild'', it's possible for a preacher character to use his position to preach against a particular enemy. Obviously, this is the engineered variety.

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* While campaigning for president in 2016, UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump made an unscheduled visit to [[https://thinkprogress.org/donald-trump-accidentally-sat-through-a-sermon-about-welcoming-immigrants-175857c57c52/ a Presbyterian church service]] in a small town in Iowa. It so happened that the Scripture reading that Sunday came from the Literature/BookOfCorinthians, saying in the chosen translation that no member of the body can say to another, "[[CatchPhrase You're fired!]]". The pastor's sermon applied this to welcoming Syrian refugees and Mexican migrants, which happened to be notorious points of controversy in Trump's platform. In an interview afterward Trump wryly speculated that the reader may have been trying to tell him something, but in fact the Scriptures came from a lectionary that was arranged several years in advance.

* In the ''LightNovel/FateZero'' fic [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13507119/ A Poisoned Chalice]], Kotomine Risei gives a lecture on peace in response to violence, openly admitting this is a reaction to the recent violence in Fuyuki. Two of the major perpetrators, Tohsaka Tokiomi and Matou Kariya, were specifically asked to attend the Mass and get privately lectured afterward, although Tokiomi and Risei's secret alliance meant that he was more easily forgiven.

* ''Literature/AndThenThereWereNone'': General Mcarthur is unable to go to church whenever the pastor reads the story of David and Uriah, [[spoiler:being guilty of the UriahGambit himself, although against his wife's lover and his subordinate]] rather than seducing the subordinate's wife]].

Here, that gets a bit exaggerated. Not only is the sermon based on something current, it seems to be speaking directly to the important characters attending the service, telling them what to do to continue, start, or end the plot of the episode. As such, religious service directly invokes the power of religion to be true to life, by having the service be directly in line with the plot of the work, and by telling the characters "this is true to ''your'' life". (Of course, TheLawOfConservationOfDetail applies: there's not much good reason to ask the readers to sit through a sermon that has no bearing on the story.)

Depending on how much the religious leader (pastor/rabbi/imam/other) knows about the plot, or whether higher powers are personally involved, what seems like a ContrivedCoincidence to the characters could be engineered circumstances.

Compare CoincidentalBroadcast, where a TV broadcast just happens to be related to the plot, and ChekhovsClassroom, where key information is framed in an academic lesson rather than a spiritual one. Could be a literal form of DeusExMachina. See also EasyEvangelism, a common result of this trope (especially when there's a WriterOnBoard). Compare and contrast PreApprovedSermon, where the sermon's relevance is controlled not by DivineIntervention but by another character's influence. Sub-trope of LaserGuidedBroadcast, when the message not necessarily has to be religious.

* While campaigning for president in 2016, UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump made an unscheduled visit to [[https://thinkprogress.org/donald-trump-accidentally-sat-through-a-sermon-about-welcoming-immigrants-175857c57c52/ a Presbyterian church service]] in a small town in Iowa. It so happened that the Scripture reading that Sunday came from the Literature/BookOfCorinthians, saying in the chosen translation that no member of the body can say to another, "[[CatchPhrase You're fired!]]". The pastor's sermon applied this to welcoming Syrian refugees and Mexican migrants, which happened to be notorious points of controversy in Trump's platform. In an interview afterward Trump wryly speculated that the reader may have been trying to tell him something, but in fact the Scriptures came from a lectionary that was arranged several years in advance. [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment Make of that whatever you like]].

* There's an old joke about a man who lost his hat, and decided to steal a hat from his church's lost and found after attending mass on Sunday. During the mass, the sermon was about the Ten Commandments, and the preacher was emphasizing "Thou Shalt Not Steal". After the service, the man told the priest, "Thank you for your sermon. I was considering a great sin but your words have convinced me otherwise." The priest declared, "I am glad to hear that you took my sermon to heart, my son." The man answered, [[SubvertedTrope "Yes, when you said, 'Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery,']] [[YourCheatingHeart I remembered where I left my hat."]]