Sermon Illustration

Are you extremely proud of your lifetime accomplishments? It was on November 21 of 1877 that Thomas Edison announced to the world that he had invented the phonograph. Edison’s accomplishments are often forgotten. In his Menlo Park, New Jersey fix-it shop he designed the following items: the household light bulb, a motion picture device, the telephone transmitter, stock ticker improvements, the mimeograph machine, the dictating machine and much more. If anyone had a right to brag, Edison did. However, he humbly acknowledged he couldn’t create the simplest form of life. The Creator of everything and everyone has this perspective on bragging rights. He inspired: “Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord” (Jer. 9:23, 24 niv). When you understand how incomparable your Creator is and then realize how your knowledge, t...

Who was the first one to see the continental United States? It is at this time of the year that we teach children about the Mayflower, Pilgrims and the Thanksgiving holiday. For two centuries, Americans have been coming away from that account with the idea that the Pilgrims were the first to land on our shores. But we all know that Indians migrated from the Asian continent across Alaska and into America, possibly as early as the biblical account of Babel. Although Vikings from Greenland and Iceland visited the Atlantic coast around the year 1000, they did not settle. Other Europeans would come and go in the 1500’s. When the Pilgrims arrived in 1607, they found a group of Polish artisans already hard at work. So who was the first to say, “Land ho!”? There are these inspired words: “Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God” (Ps. 90:2 niv). Before the earth was even formed, God could see the history and ...

One hundred Puritans sail across the ocean on the “Mayflower” and in New England find a home where they can serve God according to the dictates of their conscience. Persecution in England being continued, men cross the Atlantic to join the Pilgrim Fathers, in a land where religion and liberty have found a sure home. In ten years twenty thousand persecuted Englishmen find a refuge in that Western land. A Protestant colony is founded by sturdy, resolute men; not only were they religious men, but they were the noblest class of emigrants who ever left the shore of any land, and in that new land God’s Church prospered, and today Protestant America is the result of men flying from one land to another for liberty to serve God. He guided the Mayflower across the sea and watched over the infant colony and founded His church on free American soil.

It was the last week of the month. As I was getting ready to prepare our Sabbath meal, I stood in front of my pantry, looking at the empty shelves. What can I do? I thought. The small ration that the Communist government of Cuba allowed per family per month was gone. Only two cups of rice and a small bit of oil and part of a loaf of bread were left. From my summer garden I had a green plantain (a banana that you cook), two tomatoes, and a small head of lettuce. That was all the food I had to feed my family for Friday night, Sabbath and Sunday. Because the first day of the next month was on Monday, I could not go to the store to buy more food until then. For my little family of three--my husband, Hugo, our daughter, Lena, and me--there was not enough food. We usually had visitors come to our home for Sabbath dinner, But not this Sabbath! I thought. I put the rice to cook in a little pot. With one of the tomatoes I made a little salsa and cooked six small "meatballs" made out...

The famous Thomas Nast, in a public exhibition of his skill, once performed a strange feat with his brushes. Taking a canvas about six feet long by two feet wide, he placed it nearly horizontally upon an easel before his audience, and began to sketch rapidly a landscape. In quick succession appeared green meadows, with cattle, fields of grain, the farmhouse and surrounding buildings, with orchard near, while over all the bright sky, with fleecy clouds, seemed to pour heaven’s benediction upon the scene below. At length no finishing touch was necessary. Still the artist held his brush, as he stepped aside to receive the hearty plaudits of the admiring audience. When the applause had subsided, Mr. Nast stepped back to the canvas as if he had not quite completed the picture. Taking darker colors, he applied them most recklessly to the canvas. Out went the bright sky. “Did you ever see a picture like this?” he asked, as he blotted out meadows, fields, orchards, and buildings. Up, down,...

Sometimes we wonder, "What did I do to deserve this?" or "Why did God have to do this to me?" Here is a wonderful explanation! A daughter is telling her Mother how everything is going wrong, she's failing algebra, her boyfriend broke up with her and her best friend is moving away. Meanwhile, her Mother is baking a cake and asks her daughter if she would like a snack, and the daughter says, "Absolutely, Mom, I love your cake." "Here, have some cooking oil," her Mother offers. "Yuck" says her daughter. "How about a couple raw eggs?" "Gross, Mom!" "Would you like some flour then? Or maybe baking soda?" "Mom, those are all yucky!" To which the mother replies: "Yes, all those things seem bad all by themselves. But when they are put together in the right way, they make a wonderfully delicious cake! God works the same way. Many times we wonder why He would let us go through s...

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...

It was chilly in Manhattan but warm inside the Starbucks shop on 51st Street and Broadway, just a skip up from Times Square. Early November weather in New York City holds only the slightest hint of the bitter chill of late December and January, but it's enough to send the masses crowding indoors to vie for available space and warmth. For a musician, it's the most lucrative Starbucks location in the world, I'm told, and consequently, the tips can be substantial if you play your tunes right. Apparently, we were striking all the right chords that night, because our basket was almost overflowing. It was a fun, low-pressure gig -- I was playing keyboard and singing backup for my friend who also added rhythm with an arsenal of percussion instruments. We mostly did pop songs from the '40s to the '90s with a few original tunes thrown in. During our emotional rendition of the classic, "If You Don't Know Me by Now," I noticed a lady sitting in one of the lou...

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...

Suppose you have a friend named Jim who tells you, "I am going to buy you a $50,000 automobile as a gift." He drives up in front of your house with that brand-new automobile. Suppose you were to say to him, "Jim, I can’t let you do that. It is just too great a gift. Here is a quarter. Here is twenty-five cents; let me help pay for this thing." And so Jim pays $49,999.75, and you pay a quarter. Now you are driving the car down the road, and someone says, "That is a nice car you have there." You say, "Yes, my friend Jim and I bought this car." That would be an insult to Jim, would it not? We must remember that we cannot take any praise or credit for our salvation. None whatsoever! It is all of God.