Sermon Illustration

One man challenged another to an all-day wood chopping contest. The challenger worked very hard, stopping only for a brief lunch break. The other man had a leisurely lunch and took several breaks during the day. At the end of the day, the challenger was surprised and annoyed to find that the other fellow had chopped substantially more wood than he had. "I don't get it," he said. "Every time I checked, you were taking a rest, yet you chopped more wood than I did." "But you didn't notice," said the winning woodsman, "that I was sharpening my ax when I sat down to rest."

In urging the sacredness of the Lord's Day, a Chinese preacher used this story: "It came to pass that a man went to market, having on his shoulder a string of seven large, copper coins (Chinese coins were strung on strings and carried on the shoulder at that time). Seeing a beggar crying for alms, he gave the poor man six of his seven coins. Then the beggar, instead of being grateful, crept up behind the kind man and stole the seventh coin also. What an abominable wretch! Yes; but in saying this you condemn yourselves. You receive from the hand of the gracious God six days, yet you are not content. The seventh you also steal!"

It is said that when Charles Spurgeon was asked to speak at the opening of the Crystal Palace, London, he went over a few days before to test the acoustic properties of the great building. He sent one of his deacons to the farthest recess of the gallery. They thought they were the only persons in the building. Then slowly and distinctly Spurgeon repeated the scripture: "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." 1 Timothy 1:15. No other word was spoken, for the deacon had signaled that he had heard distinctly, and they both hurried away, as they were busy men. Twenty years passed by, and Mr. Spurgeon received a call to visit a dying man. He dropped his work and hastened to the man's address with the idea in mind that some poor soul was seeking salvation. But when he got there he was surprised to find a radiant Christian, happy and rejoicing in the Lord. He told the great pre...

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...