Sermon Illustration

During the period of rainy weather, a London city missionary became discouraged through inclemency of the weather and the hard-heartedness of the people. One evening he wandered through his district in a very despondent mood, and stepped into a hallway to rest and gain shelter from the rain. Through an open doorway he saw a seamstress at her work by candlelight. So busily was she working that he had trouble to follow the fast flying needle with his eye. She stopped a moment to rest, but then, casting a look at her candle, she murmured, “I must hasten, for my candle is burning low, and I have no other,” and busily applied herself to her work. The missionary says: “These words entered my heart as a warning from above. In a moment my despondence was gone, and I said, ‘I too, must hasten and work while it is day; the night comes apace when no man can work.’” Do YOU feel discouraged, brother or sister? Work on, your labor is not in vain in the Lord! You cannot know how long you...

Hezekiah Butterworth, in writing about the Christian faith of Abraham Lincoln, tells this story: “One day Mr. Lincoln met an army nurse, a woman of true Christian character. ‘I have a question to ask you,’ he said, in effect. ‘What is a religious experience?’ It was the most important question that one can ask in the world. The woman answered: ‘It is to feel one’s need of divine help and cast one’s self on God in perfect trust and know his presence,’ or words to that effect. ‘Then I have it,’ he answered. ‘I have it, and I intend to make a public profession of it.’ About the same time, or later, he said to Harriet Beecher Stowe: ‘When I entered the White House I was not a Christian. Now I am a Christian.’ In this period of divine trust he made a vow to God to free the slaves by a proclamation. At a cabinet meeting he said: ‘The time has come to issue a proclamation of emancipation; the people are ready for it, and I promised God on my knees I would do it.’”

While holding meetings in Egypt among some soldiers I asked a big sergeant in a Highland regiment how he was brought to Christ. His answer was: “There is a private in our company who was converted in Malta before the regiment came on to Egypt. We gave that fellow an awful time. One night he came in from sentry duty, very tired and set, and before going to bed he got down to pray. I struck him on the side of his head with my boots, and he just went on with his prayers. Next morning I found my boots beautifully polished by the side of my bed. That was his reply to me. It just broke my heart, and I was saved that day.” —Rev. J. Stuart Holden

Dr. Robert Schuller's teenage daughter, Cindy, was in a motorcycle accident and had to have her leg amputated. John Wayne was a big fan of Robert Schuller. He heard Dr. Schuller say on one of his programs that his daughter had been in an accident and had to have her leg amputated. John Wayne wrote a note to her saying: Dear Cindy: Sorry to hear about your accident. Hope you will be all right. Signed, John Wayne The note was delivered to her and she decided she wanted to write John Wayne a note in reply. She wrote: Dear Mr. Wayne: I got your note. Thanks for writing to me. I like you very much. I am going to be all right because Jesus is going to help me. Mr. Wayne, do you know Jesus? I sure hope you know Jesus, Mr. Wayne, because I cannot imagine Heaven being complete without John Wayne being there. I hope, if you don't know Jesus, that you will give your heart to Jesus right now. See you in Heaven. And she signed her name. She had just put that letter in an envelop...

Two boys were walking home from Sunday school after hearing strong preaching on the devil. One said to the other, "What do you think about all this Satan stuff?" The other boy replied, "Well, you know how Santa Claus turned out. It's probably just your Dad."

A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago. They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night's dinner. In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table that held a display of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly missed boarding. All but one. He paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his feelings, and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned. He told his buddies to go on without him, waved goodbye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor. He was glad he did. The 16-year-old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in fr...

The university professor challenged his students with this question. "Did God create everything that exists?" A student bravely replied, "Yes he did!" "God created everything?" The professor asked. "Yes sir", the student replied. The professor answered, "If God created everything, then God created evil, since evil exists, and according to the principle that our works define who we are, then God is evil." The student became quiet before such an answer. The professor, quite pleased with himself, boasted to the students that he had proven once more that the Christian faith was a myth. Another student raised his hand and said, "Can I ask you a question, professor?" "Of course," replied the professor. The student stood up and asked, "Professor, does cold exist?" "What kind of question is this? Of course it exists. Have you never been cold?" The students snickered at the young man...

What's your fragrance? And I'm not talking about Old Spice, or Secret deodorant -- strong-enough-for-a-man-but-made-for-a-woman, either. Our lives have a unique and distinctive fragrance. At least that's what Paul says, "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life," (2 Corinthians 2:14-16, NIV). The conquering armies of Paul's day paraded prisoners through city streets during a grand triumphal procession. To the soldiers, coming home was a sweet, sweet fragrance. But to the prisoners of war facing torture and slavery, it was the fragrance of death. With grace in our hearts, we emit a fragrance on behalf of God. For those seeking life, satisfaction and victory, we are a sweet "...

Two workmen were busy repairing the roof of a factory near the opening of a large chimney. All of a sudden their scaffolding shifted and they plunged fifteen feet through the black, sooty chimney to the level below. Both men scrambled to their feet unhurt. But, in the process of falling, one man’s face had become smeared with soot. The other man had thrown one arm over his face to protect it as he fell, so his face was clean. Now, before they returned to work, the man with the clean face went and washed, but the man with the black, sooty face went back to work directly without washing. You have probably already realized why these men made the mistake they did. They looked at each other. The man with the clean face looked at the soiled face of his friend and assumed that his was sooty, too. The man with the blackened face saw the clean face of his fellow worker and assumed that his face was also clean. Both men were wrong because they were looking at each other. They were judging them...

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger,they leave a scar just like t...

John is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!" He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation. Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?" He replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or ... you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood." "Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or...I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. "Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or... I ...

In ancient times, a king had a boulder placed on a roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the king's wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the king for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the stone out of the way. Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. Upon approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded. After the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the King indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway. The peasant learned what many of us never understand! Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve our condition.

Charles Plumb was a US Navy jet pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent 6 years in a communist Vietnamese prison. He survived the ordeal and now lectures on lessons learned from that experience! One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, "You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!" "How in the world did you know that?" asked Plumb. "I packed your parachute," the man replied. Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude. The man pumped his hand and said, "I guess it worked!" Plumb assured him, "It sure did. If your chute hadn't worked, I wouldn't be here today." Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb says, "I kept wondering what he had look...

Carl was a quiet man. He didn't talk much. He would always greet you with a big smile and a firm handshake. Even after living in our neighborhood for over 50 years, no one could really say they knew him very well. Before his retirement, he took the bus to work each morning. The lone sight of him walking down the street often worried us. He had a slight limp from a bullet wound received in World War II. Watching him, we worried that although he had survived the war, he may not make it through our changing uptown neighborhood with its ever-increasing random violence, gangs, and drug activity. When he saw the flier at our local church asking for volunteers for caring for the gardens behind the minister's residence, he responded in his characteristically unassuming manner. Without fanfare, he just signed up. He was well into his 87th year when the very thing we had always feared finally happened. He was just finishing his watering for the day when three gang members approache...

It was a beautiful spring day, and a sense of peace stayed with me as I left the cathedral on Easter Monday morning. I paused for a moment on top of the steps leading to the avenue, now crowded with people rushing to their jobs. Sitting in her usual place inside a small archway was the old flower lady. At her feet corsages and boutonnieres were parading on top of a spread-open newspaper. The flower lady was smiling, her wrinkled old face alive with some inner joy. I started down the stairs—then, on an impulse, turned and picked out a flower. As I put it in my lapel, I said, “You look happy this morning.” “Why not? Everything is good.” She was dressed so shabbily and seemed so very old that her reply startled me. “You’ve been sitting here for many years now, haven’t you? And always smiling. You wear your troubles well.” “You can’t reach my age and not have troubles,” she replied. “Only it’s like Jesus and Good Friday . . . ” She paused for a moment. “Yes?” I prompted. “W...

This is to inform you that today will be your last day. Please make every effort to get your affairs in order and take care of all last minute contacts." He knew it was coming, but still he was shocked. "Time seemed to fly by," he thought to himself. "I had so many great things going. I don't understand why this should happen now." But often this happens with no particular explanation, rhyme or reason. He was angry, confused and saddened by it all. But after some reflection and a few tears he began gathering his belongings. Then pulling out his address book he started with the "A's" and made his final phone calls. "I've always enjoyed my conversations with you, Jim. I just wanted to tell you that I think you have some great talent. Don't waste a moment of time. Keep working as hard as you do and you'll make it," he told one person. "You've been my strength, my inspiration through all of these years....

One day, a poor boy who was selling goods from door to door to pay his way through school, found he had only one thin dime left, and he was hungry. He decided he would ask for a meal at the next house. However, he lost his nerve when a lovely young woman opened the door. Instead of a meal he asked for a drink of water. She thought he looked hungry so she brought him a large glass of milk. He drank it so slowly, and then asked, How much do I owe you?" You don't owe me anything," she replied. "Mother has taught us never to accept pay for a kindness." He said, "Then I thank you from my heart." As Howard Kelly left that house, he not only felt stronger physically, but his faith in God and man was strong also. He had been ready to give up and quit. Many years later that same young woman became critically ill. The local doctors were baffled. They finally sent her to the big city, where they called in specialists to study her rare disease. Dr. H...

Ruth went to her mailbox and there was only one letter. She picked it up and looked at it before opening, but then she looked at the envelope again. There was no stamp, no postmark, only her name and address. She read the letter: "Dear Ruth: "I'm going to be in your neighborhood Saturday afternoon and I'd like to stop by for a visit. "Love Always, "Jesus" Her hands were shaking as she placed the letter on the table. "Why would the Lord want to visit me? I'm nobody special. I don't have anything to offer." With that thought, Ruth remembered her empty kitchen cabinets. "Oh my goodness, I really don't have anything to offer. I'll have to run down to the store and buy something for dinner." She reached for her purse and counted out its contents. Five dollars and forty cents. "Well, I can get some bread and cold cuts, at least." She threw on her coat and hurried out the door. A loaf of French brea...

ow long will you be poring over that newspaper? Will you come here right away and make your darling daughter eat her food?" I tossed the paper away and rushed to the scene. My only daughter Sindu looked frightened. Tears were welling up in her eyes. In front of her was a bowl filled to its brim with Curd Rice. Sindu is a nice child, quite intelligent for her age. She has just turned eight. She particularly detested Curd Rice. My mother and my wife are orthodox and believe firmly in the "cooling effects" of Curd Rice. I cleared my throat and picked up the bowl. "Sindu, darling, why don't you take a few mouthful of this Curd Rice? Just for Dad's sake, dear. If you don't, your Mom will shout at me." I could sense my wife's scowl behind my back. Sindu softened a bit and wiped her tears with the back of her hands. "OK, Dad. I will eat not just a few mouthfuls, but the whole lot of this. But, you should..." Sindu hesitated. ...

There was school with a class of students that no teacher had been able to handle. Two or three teachers had been run off from this school in one year by the unruly students. A young man, just out of college, heard about the class and applied to the school. The principal asked the young man, "Do you know what you are asking for? No one else has been able to handle these students. You are just asking for a terrible beating." After a few moments of silent prayer, the young man looked at the principal and said, "Sir, with your consent I accept the challenge. Just give me a trial basis." The next morning the young man stood before the class. He said to the class, "Young people, I came here today to conduct school. But I realize I can't do it by myself. I must have your help." One big boy, they called Big Tom, in the back of the room whispered to his buddies, "I won't need any help. I can lick that little bird all by myself." The you...