95 Sermon Illustrations on Good

The word "influence" occurs only once in the whole Bible, and that

is in a sublime passage from the book of Job in which the Almighty

asks Job unanswerable questions. Among the questions is this one

(\reference{Job 38:31}{Job 38:31}): "Canst thou bind the sweet

influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?" The Pleiades are

a cluster of stars in taurus, one of the constellations of the

heavens.

Today, we know a good deal about refrigerators, and radios, and

automobiles, but the ancients knew more about the stars; and I am not

sure that their knowledge is not to be preferred. Little is known

about the Pleiades; but the intimation here is that they exert an

influence, perhaps on other celestial bodies, perhaps upon our world,

its life, and its climate. Whatever that influence is, it was thought

of by this inspired author as benign, powerful, silent, irresistible:

"Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades?"

A beautiful idea that for the influence, not only of the heavenly

bodies, but of the lives of men one upon another. There is an

influence and a power which goes forth from one life to another.

--McCartney

A New York Sunday School superintendent urged his teachers to bring

new scholars with them the next Sunday, and as he walked down Sixth

Avenue attempted himself to win a street boy. "Will you go to Sunday

School?" he said, and in the vernacular of the street, the boy said,

"Nope." The superintendent said: "We have picture papers for every

boy," and he would not come? "We have music; we have everything to

make you have a good time." The boy steadily refused.

Disappointed, the superintendent turned away and, when he had gone

a short distance, he heard the patter of little feet behind him and,

turning back, he saw the boy. He said with an earnest, eager look:

"Mister, are you there?" The superintendent said, "Yes, I am there."

"Well," he said, "next Sunday I'll be there." And, he was. Sunday

School papers, music, and other attractions of Sunday School were

simply the first mile. The spirit of the superintendent was the second

mile, and was an influence the boy could not shake off. --J. Wilbur

Chapman

I don't know but there may be a father here to whom God is speaking

tonight, by His Holy Spirit, possibly like a father who took his

little daughter in a boat and rowed out on the lake, set her down on

an island and said, "Now, my child, you can run about, pick up the

agates, and pluck the flowers, and I will go up the lake, and be back

by and by." so the little girl amused herself a while, but by and by

she looked up and saw that the thick fog was settling down upon the

lake. She says, "Papa can't find me now." So she sought her way around

to the place where she stepped off the boat, and there she waited and

watched, and by and by she heard the dip of the oars, and presently,

through the thick fog, she saw the end of the boat, and she leaned

forward as for as she could and cried, "This way, pa! This way, pa!"

In that way he found her, and took her into the boat, and managed to

get her home.

Not long after that, God called that darling one to go up and sing

with the angels. Some time after her death the father had dream, and

he saw in that dream many scenes for his dear child, and among other,

that little scene at the boat; and before he awoke he seemed to hear

the voice, "This way, pa!" and as he awoke amid that scene, it seemed

as if God was speaking through the voice of that little child: "This

way, pa! this way pa!" It was the means of leading him to the Lamb of

God. Who can tell? Perhaps I am talking to some father or mother here

tonight, some sister or some brother, whose darling one has gone, and

the voice comes down by the Holy Ghost, "This way, ma!" "This way,

pa!" "This way, sister!" "This way, brother!" Oh will you heed the

call? May Christ help you, and will you help yourself, that it may be

well with you? Give you heart to the Lord that he may take your sins

away and save you. --Albert P. Graves

An old black preacher was convalescing from a severe illness. His

appetite was returning. He longed for a piece of chicken. So he

prayed, "O Lord, please send me a chicken."

Alas, no chicken came. The craving for a piece of good,

old-fashioned fried chicken was increasing. But the prayer was not

answered - no chicken was forthcoming. The preacher then changed the

form of his prayer, and said, "Dear Lord, send me out after the

chicken." Needless to say the preacher had fried chicken that night

for supper.

- Hyman Appelman, {Pointed Sermon Outlines and Illustrations.}

Though suffering from the symptoms of Parkinson's disease, Muhammad

Ali still can joke about his illness. "It's a blessing," he says. "I

always liked to chase the girls - Parkinson's stops all that. Now I

might have a chance to go to heaven."

The former boxing champ sees his disease as creating another

destiny for him as well. Ali's travels now take him to charity

benefits for organizations such as UNICEF, the Franciscan Sisters of

the Poor, and Best Buddies, an organization for the mentally

retarded. Wherever he is, he plunges in among the sick and the poor,

offering himself up as a vehicle for worldwide healing.

"With everything I do," he says, "I ask myself, will God accept

this? One day you'll wake up and it'll be Judgment Day, so you need

to do good deeds. I love going to hospitals. I love sick people. I

don't worry about disease."

- William Plummer on {People Weekly} {######Reader's

Digest, }August 1997, 83

God, make my life a little light Within the world to glow; A little

flame that burneth bright Wherever I may go.

- M. Betham-Edwards, {Prayers for Children, a Little Golden

Book, }(New York: Western Publishing Co., 1974)

The story is told of a king in Africa who had a close friend with whom he grew up. The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that ever occurred in his life (positive or negative) and remarking, “This is good!”

One day the king and his friend were out on a hunting expedition. The friend would load and prepare the guns for the king. The friend had apparently done something wrong in preparing one of the guns, for after taking the gun from his friend, the king fired it and his thumb was blown off. Examining the situation, the friend remarked as usual, “This is good!”

To which the king replied, “No, this is not good!” and proceeded to send his friend to jail.

About a year later, the king was hunting in an area that he should have known to stay clear of. Cannibals captured him and took him to their village. They tied his hands, stacked some wood, set up a stake and bound him to the stake.

As they came near to set fire to the wood, they noticed that the king was missing a thumb. Being superstitious, they never ate anyone who was less than whole. So untying the king, they sent him on his way.

As he returned home, he was reminded of the event that had taken his thumb and felt remorse for his treatment of his friend. He went immediately to the jail to speak with his friend.

“You were right,” he said, “it was good that my thumb was blown off.” And he proceeded to tell the friend all that had just happened. “And so, I am very sorry for sending you to jail for so long. It was bad for me to do this.”

“No,” his friend replied, “This is good!”

“What do you mean, ’This is good’? How could it be good that I sent my friend to jail for a year?”

“If I had not been in jail, I would have been with you.”

Situations may not always seem pleasant while we are in them, but the promise of God is clear. If we love him and live our lives according to his precepts, even that which seems to be bleak and hopeless will be turned by God for His glory and our benefit. Hold on...God is faithful!

--Source unknown.

Romans 8:28

In response to the statement “There are clear guidelines about what's good or evil that apply to everyone regardless of their situation,” the percentage who said they…

Completely agree 37%

Mostly agree 46%

Mostly disagree 12%

Completely disagree 4%

Have no opinion 1%

Results of a national Gallup survey, cited in Emerging Trends (Jan. 1999)

When a New Orleans doctor and two nurses were charged with euthanizing several critically ill patients at Memorial Medical Center after Hurricane Katrina, a front-page headline here subsequently read: “Doctor's colleagues rush to her defense,” while a local television station gave five minutes to Dr. Anna Pou’s sister and brother to defend her.

Supporters of Pou (pronounced “poe”), an ear-nose-throat doctor who specializes in cancer treatments, tell how she is so devoted to her patients that she gives each one her cell phone number. A doctor told The Times-Picayune how she was called in the middle of the night over the hemorrhaging of a patient. She rushed to the hospital and called in a battery of specialists who worked for hours doing intricate surgery to staunch the blood flow and repair the damage. “That's just the kind of doctor she is,” they say; a devout Catholic, “one of the greatest doctors I've ever worked with” and “one of those rare people who has devoted her life to the care of her patients and the practice of medicine.”

Pou and the two nurses, Lori Budo and Cheri Landry, charged in mid-July with four counts of second-degree murder, had stayed at Memorial Medical Center after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. The area around the hospital flooded, shutting down the electrical power, the hospital's emergency generator and the sanitation system. Temperatures soared past 100 degrees inside the hospital. In all, 34 patients died during or just after the storm and 11 others subsequently died.

As conditions worsened in the hospital, according to the charges pressed by Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti Jr., Pou decided to put at least four people out of their misery by ordering that they be given lethal doses of painkillers.

Dr. Pou's attorney says experts will be called to challenge these findings. A local attorney who called Pou's office soon after her arrest to offer his services free of charge was told by the receptionists, “You're the 10th caller,” the Times-Picayune reported. The attorney, Blase McCarthy, said, “I can't imagine that she would hurt a fly.” A colleague of Pou’s, Dr. Isabel Ochsner, told the newspaper, “I'm so ashamed of what someone has put her through. For someone of her caliber to be wrongfully accused of killing is a sin.”

Among various letters to the editor, Jennifer Ramo of New Orleans wrote, “If Dr. Anna Maria Pou and the two nurses felt that they had to make a decision to let these poor people, who were on the brink of death, die without more pain and terror than they had already endured, they did so because they felt they had no other options. They did so because they had no hope that anyone was coming to rescue them.... They should not be arrested and prosecuted. My heart is broken for them and their families.”

As a minister of the Gospel, I find myself intrigued by the defenders of the accused using such rationales as “such a fine person, she could not do such a thing,” “a genuinely good person” and “devoted to her patients.” All of which I feel confident is true.

But there is a problem.

The best of us are still capable of doing wrong things. A loving mother breaks under heavy emotional stresses and drowns her children. A minister's wife shoots her husband, then takes the children for a vacation. A pastor who has devoted decades to serving God and caring for people leaves his wife for another woman.

Spend a little time inside the penitentiaries of this land and you will meet some of the finest people on the planet. This convict was a minister, that one a loving grandmother, over there a fine father who was devoted to his children. But they got caught up in something -- an addiction, a depression, something. When they loved their families and helped their neighbors, they were being true to themselves. They were not play-acting. When they started on that downward spiral of sinful acts that eventually sent them to prison, they were also being true to who they were. Because they are sinners.

I am; you are. “All have sinned,” the Scripture says. We are sinners by nature and sinners by choice. Heredity and environment, nature and nurture -- cut it any way you please, it still comes up that there is a rottenness in the soul of all of us. A rebellion against God. A sickness of which self-centeredness is the heart and core.

A wonderful saint of the 1960s and ’70s, Marguerite Briscoe, a retired school principal and member of First Baptist Church in Jackson, Miss., had a Christlikeness about her, a peace and love, an openness and a strength that you knew were the Lord's doing. I would rather have had her praying for me than anyone I ever knew. I once said to her, “Marguerite, you are the finest Christian I know.” She smiled gently and said, “Oh, honey, if you just knew.”

I heard of a seminary professor who once was invited by a former student to come to his little west Texas town for a revival meeting. “While you are here,” the pastor said, “I want you to visit Mr. Crenshaw. He's an older gentleman whom we've never been able to reach with the Gospel. The fact is, he's such a highly principled man, he probably has higher standards than our people, and that's been a hangup.”

The visiting professor assured the pastor he would be glad to talk with anyone he chose. The revival started on Sunday morning and that day at least four or five people told the professor about Mr. Crenshaw, emphasizing what high moral values he held. Two people said the same on Monday. That afternoon, the pastor decided it was time for that visit.

Mr. Crenshaw welcomed the pastor and visiting revival preacher in his home, and offered them glasses of iced tea. After some preliminary visiting, the young pastor said, “Mr. Crenshaw, I wanted my professor to meet you and to talk with you about the Lord. Now, Mr. Crenshaw, I know you are a good man. You have high standards and you probably outlive some of the members of our church....” Suddenly, the professor said, “Hold it!”

He looked across the table at his host and said, “You know, Crenshaw, ever since I've been in this little town of yours, I've been hearing people telling me what a good man you are. And I just want you to know I'm not buying it.” He paused, leaned forward, and said, “You know, sir, if you are a man like I'm a man ... you're as rotten as hell.”

Mr. Crenshaw smiled and said, “You're right. I am.” What followed was a serious conversation about a Savior who welcomes sinners and has the power to forgive them and make them new persons. That day, Mr. Crenshaw came into the Kingdom of God through faith in Christ. [#33221]

“There is none good, but God alone.” (Mark 10:18) We have that authoritative word from the Lord Himself, spoken to a man whom we identify as the “rich young ruler” (in passages from Matthew, Mark and Luke).

Trouble is, we don't believe it. Not really. Whether it's naiveté on our part or simply ignorance of human nature or an unwillingness to believe Scripture, we endow certain dedicated and wonderful human beings in our spheres with attributes they do not possess. Our doctors could not euthanize an elderly patient. Yet doctors perform abortions by the millions every day. Parents are so dedicated, teachers are so self-giving, pastors are so godly. Yet some in these categories are arrested somewhere every day for abusing little children or embezzling funds or selling drugs.

And yet, I say to you that so many of these perpetrators were basically and humanly speaking, good people. Good people who did some truly horrendous things.

The tendency of most people is to read about them in the paper or see them on the news and conclude that they must have been a devil all along.

A woman who had spent time in a German concentration camp traveled to Israel for the trial of Adolf Eichmann during the 1970s. Eichmann had been responsible for the deaths of millions of Jews and others in these death factories. After decades of running, he had been caught and was on trial for his crimes. Later, the woman recounted what she experienced: “As Eichmann was brought into the courtroom, I began to cry. Looking at him there, I did not see a demon. He was not the devil incarnate. He was just a little man, ordinary in every way. That's when it occurred to me that if such an ordinary little man could do such evil things, any of us is capable of anything. And that's why I was crying. I was crying because I was seeing myself for the sinner that I am.”

In the “Superman Returns” movie, the man of steel reappears after an absence of several years to find Lois Lane receiving a Pulitzer for her column on “Why We Do Not Need Superman.” She tried to explain to him that man does not need a savior, that he has to work out his own problems. The rest of the movie is devoted to proving her wrong; the world goes from trouble to trouble, with Superman rushing from one disaster to another.

The movie leaves the audience in kind of a limbo or purgatory, with the world outside the theater facing mammoth problems on every side but without a caped hero to rush to its salvation.

Believers know there is indeed a Savior. Only one. Only Jesus.

A Savior is one who saves. Scanning Scripture, we are told that Christ saves us from sin (Matthew 1:21), from our enemies (Luke 1:71), from this generation (Acts 2:40), from wrath (Romans 5:9) and from death (James 5:20).

I can't find where the Bible says Christ saves us from ourselves in so many words. But that may be the biggest need of all. Thank God He does.

I cannot say with certainty that Dr. Pou and the nurses killed anyone, but I can say they were capable, and so are we. The human heart is a wonderful and deceitful thing. It is to be honored, but not trusted (Jeremiah 17:9).

That's why we need to love one another and pray for each other. What we must never do is expect ourselves or anyone else to be incapable of sin, even that of the worst sort.

We are in such need of a Savior.

A seminary professor was once invited by a former student to come to his little west Texas town for a revival meeting. “While you are here,” the pastor said, “I want you to visit Mr. Crenshaw. He’s an older gentleman whom we’ve never been able to reach with the Gospel. The fact is, he’s such a highly principled man, he probably has higher standards than our people, and that’s been a hangup.”

The visiting professor assured the pastor he would be glad to talk with anyone he wanted him to. The revival started on Sunday morning and that day at least four or five people told the professor about Mr. Crenshaw. All of them emphasized what high moral values he held. Two more people said the same on Monday.

That afternoon, the pastor decided it was time for the visit. Mr. Crenshaw welcomed the pastor and visiting revival preacher in his home. He graciously offered them glasses of iced tea. After some preliminary conversation, the young pastor said, “Mr. Crenshaw, I wanted my professor to meet you and to talk with you about the Lord. Now, Mr. Crenshaw, I know you are a good man. You have high standards and you probably out-live some of the members of our church....”

Suddenly, the professor said, “Hold it!” He looked across the table at his host and said, “You know, Crenshaw, ever since I’ve been in this little town of yours, I’ve been hearing people telling me what a good man you are. And I just want you to know I’m not buying it.”

He paused, leaned forward, and said, “You know, sir, if you are a man like I’m a man ... you’re as rotten as hell.”

Mr. Crenshaw smiled and said, “You’re right. I am.”

What followed was a serious conversation about a Savior who welcomes sinners and has the power to forgive them and make them new persons. That day, Mr. Crenshaw came into the Kingdom of God through faith in Christ.

The Bible says, “There is no one good – except God alone.” (Mark 10:18)

________

Above illustration is derived from #31447

Many of you have seen the 1993 movie “Schindler’s List” which was based on the book by Thomas Keneally. It tells the story of how German industrialist Oskar Schindler rescued hundreds of Jews from extermination by recruiting them out of the concentration camp to work in his factories.

The movie focuses in part on the relationship between Schindler and the Nazi camp commander, Amon Goeth. It contrasts the industrialist's efforts to save Jews and the commandant’s treatment of the prisoners. In the film Goeth is the personification of evil. He allowed horrendous treatment of inmates and perpetrated some of the cruelty himself.

Some years after the film came out Keneally was interviewed by Michael Shermer, a journalist who was writing a magazine article. He asked what Keneally he thought was the difference between Schindler and Goeth. Surprisingly he answered, “Not much. Had there been no war, Mr. Schindler and Mr. Goeth might have been drinking buddies and business partners, morally obtuse, perhaps, but relatively harmless. What a difference a war makes, especially to the moral choices that lead to good and evil.”

Shermer went on in his article to quote Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: “If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.”

________

Michael Shermer, “Something Evil Comes This Way,” www.skeptic.com, 3-18-04

When travelers climb dangerous precipices in Switzerland, they

frequently go tied together and all fastened to the guide, who steps

carefully and climbs most cautiously up and down the dangerous part of

the mountain. A company of tourists climbing one day made rapid

progress until suddenly one of them slipped. He pulled down the second

and the third and so on, until it seemed as if all would be dashed to

death over the precipice. But the guide knew exactly what to do. With

gigantic strength, he wielded the peculiar ice pick that he carried

and struck it deep into the ice; and when the strain came upon him the

rope tightened and all were saved.

We are thus bound together by he cord of influence. One slipping is

likely to pull down another, but it is a possible thing for the awful

power of the downward tendency to be averted if just one man in a

company or one member in a household is planted firmly on the Rock of

Ages. Whether we choose to be, or not, we are our brother's keepers.

--J Wilbur Chapman

Gustav Dore, the famous artist, lost his passport while traveling

in Europe. He was at a certain boundary post between two countries

and the officer in charge asked him for his passport. Dore fumbled

about and finally announced, "I have lost my passport, but it is all

right. I'm Dore, the artist. Please let me go in." The officer

replied, "Oh, no. We have plenty of people representing themselves as

this or that great person! Here is a pencil and paper. Now, if you are

Dore, the artist, prove it by drawing me a picture! " Dore took the

pencil and drew some pictures of scenes in the immediate area.

"Now, I am perfectly sure that you are Dore. No one else could draw

like that! " said the officer as he allowed the great artist to enter

the country. So it is with professing followers of Christ. You say you

are a Christian. But can you really produce evidence? -- Power

Perhaps some of you may have heard of that old man, who was a

deacon of the church. It is said an infidel miller came to tell his

experience to the church, and some one said to him, "How can this be?"

He was a man who had denied his God' denied the Gospel, and denied

every thing that was good. But said he; "When I used to run my mill on

Sunday, the deacon used to go down regularly to church every Sunday,

passing by at a certain hour, and I saw him go. He never said a word

to me, but some how his influence seemed to take hold of me, so that I

said, ' I am not going to trample on that man's good sense and

Christianity any more by running this mill when he goes by; and so,

when I thought it was about time for the deacon to go by, I would shut

the mill down, and wait till he got past, half and hour or so, and

then start it up again. By and by that process of action let me to

think there was something in religion, some power in it, and I gave

myself up to Christ, just under that influence; and here I am today

with my heart right before God." --Albert P. Graves

Happy a man as can probably be in this place; and one great source of my happiness is, the remembrance that God gave me a praying father. When I was young, he passed away to the better land, and left upon my memory impressions that were hallowed by prayer and hope. And this very night it seems as if I can lean upon a father’s prayers. But those influences have no such power over me now as they had when I was a young man. I was six miles away from home when my father died. I stepped into the house about sundown, and the lady of the house said, “Albert, I have some sad news for thee.” “What is it?” “The messenger has just been here -- thy dear father is dead; he died very suddenly.”

Oh, how I felt it! I dropped my head quickly, turned around, went through a little hall into the adjoining room, sat down, and put my elbows on my knees, folded my face in my hands, and wept as only a fatherless boy of nine years can weep. By and by I went up to my bed, and wept myself to sleep. In the morning I prepared myself, and went home. Little did I dream of the rich legacy that my father had left me. Would that I had never abused it! I entered the house. My dear mother sat on the opposite side of the room with her children and a few friends around her. She arose and came to me, put her arms around my neck, and kissed me as only a loving mother can kiss an orphan boy. The first words she breathed into my ears were these, “Your dear father’s last words were, ‘Tell Albert to prepare to meet me in Heaven.’”

I wish that I had never abused those golden words, or trampled upon the love of that dear mother! She lived to be nearly eighty. Two years ago, when I was away down in New Orleans, just going into the pulpit one night, a message was put into my hands -- “Mother died last night at eleven o’clock.” I sent back word as soon as I could: “Put my dear mother in the vault until I can come and see her face once more.” I laid her in the grave; but positively, young man, the saddest impression of my heart with my dear father and mother’s memory is that I abused their love.

In 1930 in South Dakota a Christian school teacher went into a small town to teach in a consolidated school. There was a church in the village, but they were struggling for an existence. They had no pastor. She felt led to throw her influence into the work of helping the church and Sunday School to reach the boys and girls and parents of the community. Soon the burden for the souls of these people began to weigh heavily upon her. God seemed to be calling her to conduct church services and to tell them the Gospel story. She yielded to His will and began announcing the preaching services.

A small group greeted her each Sunday, but not enough to suit her. This was the only church for many miles and she knew that these people were getting very little, if any, spiritual food. In her sleep she could see these precious boys and girls, fathers and mothers tramping steadily on to the Judgment. And how they stood in the eyes of God, she could not be sure. Yet she could see their lives were not measuring up to the standards of the Bible. She said, “I will not be here long. My stay in this community may be short. I am going to meet everyone of these souls at the Judgment. What I do for them I must do quickly...I will cast an uplifting influence over them. Maybe I can rescue some of them from the clutches of sin and Satan.”

She went to work. She began to spend her school days with reading of a portion of God’s Word. She went about on Saturdays, and during the evenings inviting the people out to church. She sent invitations home with the children to the parents. She prayed, cried and held on to God in prayer. Her travail of soul for the lost could be heard in the night hours. She took walks up the road and over the hills that she might be alone. In the main the people remained unconcerned, indifferent and distant. She could have grown discouraged and given up or could have said, “After all they have hired me to teach arithmetic, reading spelling, writing and geography. Here I am a self-appointed spiritual worker. Why spend my leisure hours in the evenings and on Saturdays praying and inviting the folks and preparing talks for the children? I may as well take life a bit easier.”

But no, she reasoned again, “I am a steward of my life and my influence. I cannot face these boys and girls and parents at the Judgment unless I have done my best for their spiritual welfare. I will continue on, trusting the God who called me to bring the harvest and the increase.” She worked on, writing cards, smiling, praying, preaching, persuading and entreating men to seek the Lord. (See part two for the conclusion)

A young pastor who had recently lost his wife was preaching

Mother's Day Sunday. His five-year-old son was sitting in the church

listening intently. The church family knew that the boy's father had

tended to the little fellow's daily needs, doing what a mother usually

did.

That Sunday morning as the pastor spoke of a mother's love, he

said, "And who can take the place of a mother?" His son, with an

unconscious response that was distinctly heard in the quiet of the

church, said, "My father can." The father's eyes glistened as he

smiled down into his son's face and quietly continued his sermon.

Without a second thought, his son was giving a spontaneous tribute to

his father's influence.

My life shall touch a dozen lives before this day is done. Leave

countless marks for good or ill ere sets the evening sun. This is the

wish I always wish, the prayer I always pray; Lord, may my life help

others live it touches by the way.

- Selected

When a man has mastered his profession, it has altered him and left its indelible marks upon him. We read that Eleazar "arose, and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clave unto the sword..."

--Topical Illustrations

The world knows how British journalist Henry Stanley went to Africa

to find the famed missionary, Dr. David Livingstone. Stanley's

greeting, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" is world famous, but few know

the rest of the story. After the two had been together for some time,

Stanley saw what Livingstone endured and wrote, "I went to Africa as

prejudiced as the biggest atheist in London. But there came for me a

long time for reflection. I saw this solitary old man there and asked

myself, 'How on earth does he stop here -- is he cracked, or what?

What is it that inspires him so?' For months after we met I found

myself wondering at the old man carrying out all that was said in the

Bible -- 'Leave all things and follow Me.' But little by little his

sympathy for others became contagious; my sympathy was aroused; seeing

his piety, his gentleness, his zeal, his earnestness, and how he went

about his business, I was converted by him."

More than a century and a half ago, the Highland Brigade of the

British Army was obliged to march across the Egyptian desert by night

to Tel-el-Kebir. It would have been quite easy to lose the route, but

a young naval officer volunteered to lead by stellar observation. So

the soldiers looked to the sailor, and the sailor looked to the stars.

The journey was completed by dawn and the Brigade charged the enemy's

trenches and took them. The naval officer fell in the battle, however.

As he lay dying, he turned his face to the general, who was visiting

the wounded, and asked: "Sir, I led them straight, didn't I?" Are we

as Christians, leading men and women straight? --The Pilgrim

After Bishop Simpson, the great Methodist preacher, returned from

college, he attended a camp meeting in Cadiz, Ohio. There he took an

interest in a group of young men, and was anxious that they should be

preserved from the temptations to which they were exposed. At the

evening meeting, he observed some of these young men go forward to the

altar. Deeply moved, he was regretting that he, whose life had been so

guarded by Christian influences, should not experience the same

emotions that they were under going. He saw, standing near the

railing, a young man who was not a professed Christian. The thought

occurred to Simpson that, while he himself was not being benefited,

this young man might be. He laid his hand on his shoulder and asked

him if he would like to go forward for prayer. The young man said he

would go, if Simpson would go with him, and together they went to the

altar and knelt down. It was after this, that Simpson became a member

of the Church and dedicated himself to Christ. --McCartney