God in Christian preaching represents the sovereign Creator and Judge who fills the universe and upholds all things (Genesis 1; Hebrews 1:3). Illustrations often contrast His holiness and wrath against sin with His abiding presence and faithfulness to believers, using images from nature, warfare, and everyday life to reveal His character and nearness (John 14:9).
Charles Spurgeon once went down to visit a friend in the
country. His friend had built a new barn, and above it he had
placed a weather-vane bearing the text, "God is Love." "Do you
mean, asked Spurgeon, "that God's love is as changeable as the
wind?" "No," said his friend, "I mean that God is love, whichever
way the wind blows!"
1500 Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching
compiled by Robert Backhouse
There are three things that all of us have to do:
1.) You have to be born, you cannot be unborn
2.) You have to die, (unless Jesus comes soon)
3.) And you have to stand before God and be Judged.
- Billy Graham
"He that obeys not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God
abideth on him." Oh, the hopelessness of that! Oh, the horror of
it! Oh, the pity of it! - That men should hear the gospel over and
over again, and hear it and turn away to go out into hopeless
eternity! To die without Christ!
- John Ironside
When I was six years old my parents took me to Lake Michigan for our
annual family picnic and swim. I had just received a brand new
plastic hot dog to inflate and ride on in the water. Since I couldn't
swim yet, my dad said, "Don't take that hot dog into the deep water!"
Well, undaunted, I walked to the end of the dock, peered over the
edge into the deepest water a six year old had ever encountered. I
decided to put the hotdog into the water and replicate the famous
running rear mount that I had seen my hero, the Lone Ranger, do so
often on Silver. I backed up, ran the length of the dock, leaped into
the air, began my descent, and ... missed! Splash, right NEXT to the
hot dog.
I remember sinking and floundering about. I hit the surface and
yelled, "HELP!" I went down a second time. I surfaced. Again I
yelled, "HELP!" Going down for the third time I remembered the saying
that goes three times down then out, so I knew I was a goner. My
whole life flashed before my eyes. (It didn't take long; I was only
6!) Just before I blacked out I felt something grab me.
When I came to on the dock, I was laying on my back looking into the
eyes of my father. At that moment I knew I was alive! He spoke, "Why
did you disobey me?" Then I knew that I was dead! After some loving
discipline we all agreed that swimming lessons at the "Y" were in
order.
This incident perfectly illustrates salvation as described in
\reference{Colossians 1:13}{Colossians 1:13}, "He has delivered us
from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the
Son of his love."
I could not save myself. I was helpless and hopeless. Only someone
stronger than me who had mastered the water could rescue me. The word
"DELIVERED" means "to rescue from great danger." "TRANSLATED" means to
transfer from one place to another." My dad delivered me from the
danger of the waves and transferred me to saftey on the dock.
What was my part in the that affair? Only that I was in trouble
because I had sinned! AND that I realized the only reasonable course
of action was to cry "HELP!" Had I called out "I GO TO SUNDAY SCHOOL"
or "I READ MY BIBLE," no one would had come to my aid, and I would
have died in my sin.
Sinners today need to stop trying to impress God. Instead they must
cry out as men did in Bible times, "I have sinned"! And God promises
that "whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved!"
"I fear God, and next to God I chiefly fear him who fears Him
not."
- Saadi
- _Instant Quotation Dictionary_, p. 145.
"Man may dismiss compassion from his heart, but God never
will."
- William Cowper
- _Instant Quotation Dictionary_, p. 65.
The day will come when, after harnessing space, the winds, the
tides and gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love.
And on that day, for the second time in history of the world, we shall
have discovered fire.
- Trelhard de Chardin
Ultrasound technology, which enables parents to see their
developing unborn children, is the rage among the child-bearing
generation. Parents are able to know, long before the actual birth of
their child, whether their child is a boy or a girl, and physicians
can know much about the unborn child's health condition.
Does it, therefore, seem unreasonable that God knows all about us,
even before we know it ourselves?
- James F. Looby, {Proclaim}
The great universe is the house of God -- which he more than fills,
for he made it, and the Creator must be greater than the creature --
in which he walks in his majesty to and fro, and in every part of
which he manifests by the works of his hands, and the evolutions of
his providence, his awful presence. The earth -- the church -- every
believer's soul -- is the house of God, in which he now reigns in
grace and through grace. Heaven is the home of the sanctified, where
his scattered children are all at last to meet, and in which they are
to dwell together in love forever. -- Heaven our Home. -- Christian
Scotsman.
By J. Wilbur Chapan, "Present Day Parables."
From the Westminster Teacher I gleaned this story of an artist's
daughter who lost her eyesight when she was a baby. After her mother
died, the girl's father became her constant and affectionate
companion. For years her blindness was considered incurable. Then a
new type of surgery promised to restore her vision. Following the
operation, as she lay in a darkened room with bandaged eyes, this one
thought occupied her mind: Soon I shall see my dear father!
When the days of waiting had passed, the dressings were removed,
and at last she looked into the compassionate face she had so long
desired to see. Trembling with excitement, she closed her eyes, and
then opened them again to convince herself she was not dreaming. As
the one she loved took her into his arms, she exclaimed, "I've had
such a good-looking father all these years and didn't even know it!"
See: \reference{1 Cor 13:9-12}{1 Corinthians 13:9-12}
Comment: I have often thought of what my impression will be when I
first see Jesus. I think it will be, "Jesus really does love me!"
I
believe it now, because God's Word says so and He went to the cross
for me. But when I see Him, then I will really know. Glory, what a
Savior!!!
Tom Waters
I once walked into a garden with a lady to gather some flowers.
There was one large bush whose branches were bending under the weight
of the most beautiful roses. We both gazed upon it with admiration.
There was one flower on it which seemed to shine above all the rest in
beauty. This lady pressed forward into the thick bush and reached far
over to pluck it. As she did this a black snake which was hidden in
the bush wrapped itself around her arm. She was alarmed beyond all
description and ran from the garden screaming and almost in
convulsions. During all that day, she suffered very much with fear;
her whole body trembled and it was a long time before she could be
quieted. That lady is still alive. Such is her hatred now of the whole
serpent race that she has never since been able to look at a snake
even though it were dead. No one could ever persuade her to venture
again into a cluster of bushes even to pluck a beautiful rose.
Now this is the way those who are born of God react to sin. They
think of sin as the serpent that once coiled itself round them. They
hate it. They dread it. They fly from it. They fear the places it
inhabits. They do not willingly go into its haunts. They will no more
play with sin than this lady would afterwards have fondled snakes.
--Bishop Meade
Nansen, the Norwegian explorer, tried to measure an extremely
deep part of the Arctic Ocean. The first day, he used his longest
measuring line but couldn't reach bottom. He wrote in his log book,
"The ocean is deeper than that!" The next day, he added more line but
still could not measure the depth, and so again in his record book he
wrote, "Deeper than that!" After several days of adding more and more
pieces of rope and cord to his line, he had to leave that part of the
ocean without learning its actual depth. All he knew was that it was
beyond his ability to measure. So too, we cannot plumb the depths of
God's love, because our human measuring line is too short.
A young girl once ran away from home to get married. Her
father was very angry and said that he would never forgive her.
She was sorry to have grieved her father and wrote him long
letters begging for his forgiveness; however he took no notice.
By and by, the daughter had a little son. When the boy was old
enough to run about alone, she said to herself, "I will write no
more letters to my father, but I will send my little son. He
shall be a living letter. My father will know what I want to
say to him when he sees his little grandson. He will know that
I still love him and want his forgiveness." So she took the
little boy to his grandfather's house and sent him in alone to
speak to her father. She bade him to put his arms around his
grandfather's neck and kiss him. When the little fellow did
this, the old man's heart melted. He sent at once for the
mother and forgave her.
One day C. H. Spurgeon was walking through the English countryside
with a friend. As they strolled along, the
evangelist noticed a barn with a weather vane on its roof. At
the top of the vane were these words: GOD IS LOVE. Spurgeon
remarked to his companion that he thought this was a rather
inappropriate place for such a message. "Weather vanes are
changeable," he said, "but God's love is constant." "I don't
agree with you about those words, Charles," replied his friend.
"You misunderstood the meaning. That sign is indicating a
truth: Regardless of which way the wind blows, God is love."
Years ago a naval officer and his wife were at sea during a
raging storm. Seeing the frantic look in her eyes, the
experienced seaman tried unsuccessfully to subdue her fears.
When she grabbed his arm and cried, "How can you be so calm in
such a storm?" he drew his sword and said, "Are you afraid?"
Without hesitation she answered, "Of course not!" "Why not?" he
inquired. "Because I know that the sword is in the hand of my
husband, and he loves me too much to hurt me." The man replied,
"Remember, I too know whom I have believed, and He is the One
who holds the winds in His fist and the waters in the hollow of
His hand!"
A minister one day sat in the vestry of his church to meet
anyone who might have spiritual difficulties. Only one came.
"What is your difficulty?" asked the minister. The man
answered, "My difficulty is the ninth chapter of Romans, where
it says, 'Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated,'" "Yes,"
said the minister, "there is great difficulty in that verse; but
which part of the verse is difficult for you?" The latter part,
of course," said the man. "I cannot understand why God should
hate Esau." The minister replied, "That verse has often been
difficult, but my difficulty has always been with the first part
of the verse. I never could understand how God could love that
wily, deceitful, supplanting scoundrel Jacob."
Why do you go to church? To meet your friends, to hear the
preacher, to fulfill an obligation? These reasons are not wrong, but
they do not represent our highest motivation. Our primary reason must
be to worship Christ. Francois Fenelon was the court preacher for
King Louis XIV of France in the 17th century. One Sunday when the
king and his attendants arrived at the chapel for the regular service,
no one else was there but the preacher. King Louis demanded, "What
does this mean?" Fenelon replied, "I had published that you would not
come to church today, in order that Your Majesty might see who serves
God in truth and who flatters the King."
How many times I have thought of that sweet hymn of John Newton's:
Saved by grace, I live to tell
What the love of Christ hath done,
He redeemed my soul from hell,
Of a rebel made a son;
Oh! I tremble still to think,
How secure I lived in sin;
Sporting on destruction's brink,
Yet was saved from falling in.
-- Albert P. Graves
A young lady was dying, and one Scripture which she had heard in
health came to her at this time: "He was wounded for our
transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of
our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed," and she
was led by the Holy Spirit to rest in him of whom it spoke, for
salvation. A friend said to her one day, "You suffer much, I fear."
"Yes," she said, "but," pointing to her hand, "there is no nail there.
He had the nails; I have the peace." Laying her hand on her brow, she
said, "There are no thorns here. He had the thorns; I have the peace,"
Touching her side she said, "There is no spear here.
He had the spear; I have the peace." --Young People's Delight
"Lo, I am with you always" An incident which happened on the battle
front, illustrates the fact that Christ has not deserted us in the
battle, even at times when we feel all alone. His bodily presence is
gone, but His Spirit faithfully remains with those in the battle.
King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy had gone with his troops into
battle. In the midst of shell fire, a lieutenant who had fallen,
mortally wounded, called a soldier, gave him a few keepsakes to convey
to his family, and then ordered him to fly. But the soldier tried to
carry the lieutenant to a place of safety. Some gunners called to him
through the infernal fire: "Save yourself! Save yourself!" But still
he remained. In the distance a motor horn could be heard, and the
whisper went around that the king had left the field. The soldier
still struggled with the officers body, but the lieutenant died in his
arms. Flinging himself on the corpse, the young fellow exclaimed with
tears: "Even the King has gone away!" Then a hand touched his
shoulder. He shook himself, rose, and stood at attention. "My dear
boy," said the King, "the car has gone; but the King is still with
you." And, there he remained till the end of the day. --Youth's
Companion
The prisoners in the concentration camp were assembled to witness
an
execution. Huddling in silence, they watched as the Nazi guards led a
10-year-old boy to the gallows. They expected a clean execution. They
would hang the boy, he would die. But it wasn't that easy. Twisting at
the end of the rope, the boy fought against death with all his might.
Arms flailing, legs kicking desperately, the boy struggled as time
seemed suspended, prolonging his agony. A plaintive voice cried out
from somewhere in the assembled crowd, "Where is God?" The only answer
was the sound of the frantic beating of the boy's arms and legs,
kicking and clawing the empty air around him. Again, the voice cried
out, "Where is God?" Still, the only answer was the boy's rasping, as
his struggles grew weaker. Finally, death rescued the boy. And once
more, the voice, choked with despair, asked, "Where is God?" this
time, over the creaking of the rope swaying with the weight of its
gruesome burden, another voice answered, "God is there, hanging on the
gallows." --Pulpit Digest
Dear Lord, I have been re-reading the record of the Rich Young Ruler and his obviously wrong choice. But it has set me thinking. No matter how much wealth he had, he could not: ride in a car, have any surgery, turn on a light, buy penicillin, hear a pipe organ, watch TV, wash dishes in hot running water, type a letter, mow a lawn, fly in an airplane, sleep on an innerspring mattress, or talk on the phone. If he was rich, then what am I?
One day a pastor visited a farmer who was a member of his congregation. As the pastor climbed out of his car he noticed a windmill on the barn which carried an in scription. Squinting his eyes, the pastor could just make out the words: GOD IS FAITHFUL. "Do you mean," asked the pastor, "that God's faithfulness depends on the direction the wind is blowing?" "No!" said the farmer. "The words mean that, regardless of which way the wind blows, God is faithful."
A Quaker family lived in Pennsylvania. Against the father's wishes, the son Jonathan ran off and enlisted in the cause of the North during the Civil War. Time passed and no word from Jonathan. One night the father had a dream that his son had been wounded in action, was in distress, and needed the care of a father. So the father left the farm, and discovered where the troops might be. He made his way to the scene of action. He asked the commander about his son. The commander replied that there had been heavy action earlier in the day and many had fallen wounded. Some had been cared for, but others were still left out in the trenches. But he gave permission to the father to go and try to find his son. It was now about dark, so the father lit a lantern, and the light fell across the wounded young men, some calling for help, many too seriously wounded to cry for assistance. The task seemed impossible. How could he find his son among all those wounded and dying? He devised a little plan. Methodically he swept back and forth across the battlefield but that wasn't fruitful. As he stumbled over body after body he almost despaired. Then he began calling loudly, "Jonathan Smythe, thy father seeketh after thee." Then he would walk a little way and call again, "Jonathan Smythe, thy father seeketh after thee." A groan could be heard here and there. More than one soldier said, "I wish that were my father." He kept diligently at his search. Then he heard a very faint, barely audible reply, "Father, over here." And then, "I knew you would find me."
This reminds me of what I read about a world-famous tower. When it was built for an international exposition in the last century, the structure was called monstrous by the citizens of the city it was built in. They demanded that it be torn down as soon as the exposition was over. Yet, from the moment its architect first conceived it, he took pride in it and loyally defended it from those who wished to destroy it. He knew it was destined for greatness. Today it is one of the architectural wonders of the modern world and stands as the primary landmark of the city. We know it as the Eiffel Tower in Paris. In the same way, there are times the church undervalues the work of some; other times she makes the opposite error and over-highly esteems the work of some. In any case, the Day of the Lord will reveal the real quality of each man's work. \reference{1 Corinthians 3:10-15}{1 Corinthians 3:10-15}
I remember the time a young lady had a flat tire on her old Chrysler. She had no idea of what to do. I grabbed the tire wrench and tried to loosen the lugs. After 15 sweaty minutes on a cold winter's night I had not succeeded in loosening a single lug. In fact, they all seemed tighter than before. When I mentioned this the young lady said, "I think dad told me Chrysler has a reverse screw." Sure enough, on that Chrysler I had to turn the lugs the wrong way. There is a sense in which the Kingdom of God is a kind of reverse screw. Everything in our culture that seems right is wrong in the Bible. The way up is down. The way to spiritual wealth is to acknowledge your spiritual poverty. The way to live is to die. The way to rule is to serve. It is like Chrysler's reverse screw. It is like a lizard in a king's palace.
A story is told about a soldier who was finally coming home after having fought in Vietnam. He called his parents from San Francisco. "Mom and Dad, I'm coming home, but I've a favor to ask. I have a friend I'd like to bring home with me." "Sure," they replied, "we'd love to meet him." "There's something you should know," the son continued, "he was hurt pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped on a land mine and lost an arm and a leg. He has nowhere else to go, and I want him to come live with us." "I'm sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find somewhere to live." "No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us." "Son," said the father, "you don't know what you're asking. Someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden to us. We have our own lives to live, and we can't let something like this interfere with our lives. I think you should just come on home and forget about this guy. He'll find a way to live on his own." At that point, the son hung up the phone. The parents heard nothing more from him. A few days later, however, they received a call from the San Francisco police. Their son died after falling from a building, they were told. The police believed it was suicide. The grief-stricken parents flew to San Francisco and were taken to the city morgue to identify the body of their son. They recognized him, but to their horror they also discovered something they didn't know, their son had only one arm and one leg. The parents in this story are not unlike many of us. We find it easy to love those who are good-looking or fun to have around, but we don't like people who inconvenience us or make us feel uncomfortable. We would rather stay away from people who aren't as healthy, beautiful, or smart as we are. (See \reference{Luke 15:11-32}{Luke 15:11-32}) Thankfully, there's One who won't treat us that way. He loves us with an unconditional love that welcomes us into His forever family, regardless of how messed up we are.
What comes to mind when you think of being searched? When the police search someone, it usually involves checking to see if they have something in their possession they should not: Illegal drugs, concealed weapons, incriminating evidence, etc. When a doctor searches someone, they might use a scanner or a stethoscope or even a small camera to go inside of us and look around. Is there a disease or a tumor or an extra organ that needs to be removed! According to the psalmist, God searches us: "O Lord, you have searched me and you know me." (Psalm 139:1) But how does God search us? When God searches, he is not looking for external characteristics, or hidden contraband, or even internal body parts. God searches the soul and the heart and what He finds tells Him everything there is to know about us. He searches us; He knows us Like a mother knows the cry of her child above all others. Like a couple knows the meaning in each other's eyes. Like a child knows his father's voice. There is nothing quite as frustrating as being misunderstood. Sometime we lack the ability to explain ourselves. Sometime others lack the ability to understand what we are going through. But God searches, He knows, He understands. To some it may be scary to be known so completely; to be understood so perfectly. But it is also reassuring to know that there is always One to whom you can go and never be misunderstood, never be rejected, never be left out because you just don't fit in. Rejoice today in the knowledge that God searches you, and knows you, and loves you and desires to guide you in your life.
The North American Numbering Plan is 50 years old this year, writes Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post. Its job is to distribute telephone area codes. Some notes: The people who gave out the original area codes saw to it that the most frequently dialled cities got numbers that were quickest to dial on a rotary phone. "Thus New York got 212, L.A. got 213, Chicago 312. If you were calling Anchorage, however, you had to wait through the 26 clicks of 907. It made sense." New North American area codes are given out by Ronald Conners, a bald engineer with Lockheed Martin Inc., based in Washington. He used to design anti-ballistic missile systems. Also, "I used to have a full head of hair, before I entered the numbering business." News for the brain God also has a numbering plan. He numbers our days, the hairs on our head, the elect ...
FBI scientists report that every pair of blue jeans has a unique wear pattern. A masked bank robber in Spokane, Wash., was caught and convicted after authorities got a picture of him from a robbery scene. Part of his trousers were visible; the cops analyzed the jeans of suspects. A British burglar who carefully avoided leaving fingerprints has been convicted because he pressed his ears to the doors and windows of victims' houses, says Reuters. Police had already suspected Calvin Sewell of the crimes and a forensic scientist pointed out that earprints are as unique as fingerprints. The cops made a mould of his ear and it matched the prints. World o' airbags God also knows us...
It is related that some years ago, in a mountainous region on the
continent of Europe, an enormous avalanche of snow came down from one
of the overhanging rocks in such a vast body as to entirely dam up a
river into which it fell. What was the effect it produced? Since the
river could no longer flow, it went on forming itself into an
extensive lake, threatening, whenever it should burst through its
snowy barrier, to carry desolation and ruin upon men and villages in
the country beneath. The larger the quantity of water suspended, the
greater would be its violence when it obtained its liberty; and so it
proved. The devastation caused was said to be terrible in the extreme.
It is thus with every unconverted sinner. The longer he lives, the
greater is the amount of wrath he is accumulating, or treasuring up
against his day of destruction. --C. Clayton
British preacher Charles Spurgeon once vacationed at an isolated
spot in England because he had been told that many nightingales lived
there. To his great disappointment, however, it started to rain just
as he arrived at the hotel. The weather turned unseasonably cold and
Spurgeon feared that the primary purpose of his trip had been spoiled.
But as he sat by his open window, he suddenly heard a delightful
melody--a nightingale perched on a branch outside. The only light was
a dim lamp burning at the entrance to the hotel. The nightingale,
oblivious to the rain and cold, was exulting in that tiny bit of
light. Spurgeon wrote of his experience, "I do not expect to listen
to anything so sweet and thrilling again until I hear the angels sing
in glory. The God of that nightingale is the same loving Savior I
serve. In spite of darkness, storm, or thorns, He always provides
some ray of light and gives a song in the night."
\reference{John 14:9}{John 14:9} Jesus saith unto him, Have I been
so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that
hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us
the Father?
A touching story is told of the child of a French painter. The
little girl lost her sight in infancy, and her blindness was supposed
to be incurable. A famous oculist in Paris, however, performed an
operation on her eyes and restored her sight. Her mother had long been
dead, and her father had been her only friend and companion. When she
was told that her blindness could be cured, her one thought was that
she could see him; and when the cure was complete, and the bandages
were removed, she ran to him, and, trembling, pored over his features,
shutting her eyes now and then, and passing her fingers over his face,
as if to make sure that it was he.
The father had a noble head and presence, and his every look and
motion were watched by his daughter with the keenest delight. For the
first time his constant tenderness and care seemed real to her. If he
caressed her, or even looked upon her kindly, it brought tears to her
eyes. "To think," she cried, holding his hand close in hers, "that I
had this father so many years and never knew him!" --Rev. Harry Rogers
Charles Spurgeon loved to tell about his grandfather, a minister,
who was very poor. The one cow he owned had died, and his 10 children
were without milk. His wife asked, "What will we do now?" "I cannot
tell," he said, "but I know what God will do. We must have milk for
the children and He will provide for us."
The next morning a man brought Spurgeon's grandfather a gift of 20
pounds from the ministers' relief fund, even though help had not been
requested. A few days before, the relief committee had divided the
funds for distribution and an amount of 5 pounds was left over. One
of the members said, "There is poor Mr. Spurgeon down in Essex.
Suppose we send it to him." "We'd better make it 10," said the
chairman, "and I'll give an extra five." That made it fifteen.
Another man added five more pounds. Those men knew nothing about
Spurgeon's cow, but God knew.
One day famed British preacher Charles Spurgeon was riding home
after a hard day's work, feeling tired and depressed. Suddenly the
phrase "My grace is sufficient for you" entered his mind. He then
thought of the tiny fish who might be afraid lest they drink the river
dry, but who hear the reassuring word, "Drink up little fish, my
stream is sufficient for you." Spurgeon also thought of a mountain
climber fearing lest he exhaust all of the thin oxygen in the
atmosphere being reassured, "Breathe away young man and fill your
lungs, for my atmosphere is sufficient for you." Spurgeon said that
for the first time, "I experienced the joy that Abraham felt when he
rejoiced in God's provision."
It's true. No matter how great our need might be, God's overcoming
power far outweighs it. --Moody
Legendary Spanish artist Pablo Picasso was virtually unknown when he painted his famous portrait of American writer Gertrude Stein in 1906. Picasso gave the portrait to Miss Stein since, as the artist himself recalled with a smile, at that time in his career "the difference between a gift and a sale was negligible." Some years later, the portrait attracted the interest of millionaire art collector Dr. Albert Barnes, who asked Miss Stein how much she had paid Picasso for it. "Nothing," she replied. "Naturally, he gave it to me."
Dr. Barnes was incredulous that such a priceless work of art could have been a gift.
If you've ever thought about the gospel for very long, you can probably appreciate Dr. Barnes's incredulity. Think of what we have been given in Christ: forgiveness, eternal life, all the riches of heaven, all at a cost we could have never paid! But that's not all, we have the privilege of sharing this treasure with others.
Charlotte Elliott learned an important lesson about Jesus one
sleepless night in 1834. She was an invalid, so when her family held
a bazaar in Brighton, England, to raise money to build a school, she
could only watch from afar.
That night she was overwhelmed by her helplessness and could not
sleep. But her sadness was turned to joy when she realized that God
accepted her just as she was.
That experience inspired her to write these well-loved words: "Just
as I am, without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me, and
that Thou bidd'st me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come! I come!"
A young intern came into our hospital ward one evening, shaking his
head. "There's an old man out there by the vending machines," he
said, "and he's putting dollar bills into the money changer. Every
time he gets his quarters, he yells, 'Jackpot!' and dances around."
The other nurses and I chuckled and soon forgot about it.
In a few hours, on our way for a coffee break, we saw a repairman
in front of one of the vending machines. We asked him why he was
working so late.
"I have to get this money changer fixed," he said. "It's been
giving $1.50 in quarters every time someone puts in a dollar bill."1
The same is true about the blessings of God. The more that we do
in Christ's name the more blessings will bestowed our way.
-- Matt Neace
1. Dolores J. Craig, {Reader's Digest,} April 1990, p. 17.
Family-life specialists Delmer W. Holbrook and his wife have been
lecturing and conducting surveys across America. In a survey of
hundreds of children, the Holbrooks came up with the three things
fathers say mist in responding to their kids.
"I'm too tired" took first place.
"We don't have enough money" was second.
"Keep quiet" was third.
- {Chirstianity Today, }August 27, 1976.
Lewis Grizzard told about a woman who used to stop for coffee at
her dad's house every morning on her way to work. Her dad would make
biscuits because he didn't want her going to work on an empty stomach.
One day she overslept and didn't have time to stop at her dad's. She
called to tell him she couldn't make it but promised to see him the
next day. Dad was disappointed. As she drove to work she rounded the
corner near his house and saw a figure standing out in the cold and
rain. It was her dad. He was waiting for her, sack in hand, because
he wanted to make sure she had her biscuits.
A.C. Green of the Pheonix Suns is such a man. I remember his
rookie season in Los Angeles. Like other rookies, he had to endure
constant harassment and practical jokes. As he started to practice
one day, a teammate came up to tell him he had a phone call. He told
me, "Tommy, I knew if I got that call, I would be late to practice.
that phone was a long way away, and if I were late to practice, I'd be
in big trouble."
Trouble meant extra laps after practice or being charged with a
large fine. But being a naive rookie, he thought, "Well, maybe I'd
better get it." Off he ran to answer the call. He picked up the
receiver and sure enough, nothing but a dial tone. Running back
towards the arean in desperation, hoping to make it to practice in
time, A.C. muttered to himself, "They got me. I can't believe it.
They got me good."
When he burst through the door, practice had already started. The
players laughed, "Ha, ha, ha, look at the rookie!"
"Hey, A.C.," one piped up, "did you get the call?"
"Yeah," he nodded, embarrassed. "I got it all right."
"Oh, yeah, Ace, who called? prodded a legendary teammate."
After a momentary silence, Green blurted, "It's my Father and He
wants to talk to you?" All season long, A.C. told me, he kept going
back to that star player to challenge, "Hey, have you answered the
call? My Father's still on the line waiting."
- Tom Sirotnak, {Warriors}, (Nashville: Broadman & Holman
Publishers, 1995), p. 19-20
A wise student described her struggle like this: "I have been
walking throughthe desert for days. I am so dry and just need some
water. I look around and realize that rain has been falling the whole
time. The ground is soaked, but I liik up and see that my hands are
clutching an umbrella. I can hear voices saying, "You don't really
deserve God's love, work hard, don't relax." I feel that I should not
allow myself to get wet. God is showering His grace upon me, but I
just hold my umbrella and will not let myself get wet. Then I look
down and notice that the rain is splashing off the rocks, and my feet
and legs are soaking wet."
- Phillip A. Coyle, {Proclaim}
During World War I a small band of American soldiers knocked on the
door of a Catholic Church in France seeking permission to bury their
dead comrade in the church yard. The old parish priest asked them,
"Was your freind a member of the true faith?" The men replied, "He
was a Christian, the member of a Baptist church in America." "I'm
sorry," the priest replied, "the church yard is dedicated ground.
Church law allows only for the burial of Catholics. However, if you'd
like, you can bury your friend just outside the fence." The soldiers
did so and returned the next day with some flowers to scatter on the
grave. To their utter amazement, the grave that had been outside the
church yard was now inside the fence. The men discovered that during
the night the priest had uprooted several fence posts and rerouted the
fence to include the Protestant soldier.
\bold{NOTE: }Story may be fiction
- Michael J. Hostetler, {Illustrating the Sermon} (Grand
Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1989) 60-61
Fifty-four-year-old Elisworth Donald Griffith told a Des Moines,
Iowa judge that he was too old to go to prison, and asked instead for
a public stoning for his convition for terrorizing his former
employer. His one condition was that only those without sin be
allowed to cast stones. The judge sentenced him to five years in
prison.
- {World Almanac} (New York: Scripps Howard Co, 1987) 925
Karen Zautyk of the {New York Daily News }("Remember, It Is
Love," Dec. 25, 1988) relates that in Edinburgh, Scotland, there is a
Museum of Childhood. The museum overflows with childhood memories and
treasures: teddy bears, tire trucks, model trains and planes, books
and games, and dolls of all descriptions.
In that museum there is one doll that sits alone behind isolating
glass panes. It's an old, raggedy doll that has been literally hugged
to shreds. But this doll began its existence raggedy; its creator
made it of old socks, pins, buttons, and miscellaneous parts.
Zautyk writes, "That this doll was loved, there is no doubt. Nor
that it was born of love. For all its shabbiness - and it was shabby
the day it was made - it had, and has, a value untold. (A sign on it
says) 'A doll belonging to a London slum child. circa 1905.' . . .
The doll is unnamed. The child is unnamed."
She continues, "Some might call it ugly. That would be wrong, very
wrong . . . It is possible the slum child made it for herself . . .
perhaps it was a gift created by a mother or father who was poor in
possessions . . . all they could give was love beyond measure. Love
beyond themselves."
We might think of the doll as ugly, but to the owner it was an
object of beauty.
We are like that doll - made ugly by sin, but God has made us
beautiful by His love.
- "Joy to the World" {Preaching, }November-December, 1994 p.
66-67
A young lady once laid down a book she'd just finished, with the
remark that it was the dullest story she had ever read.
In the course of time she became engaged to a young man, and one
night she said to him, "I have a book in my library whose author's
name, and even initials, are precisely the same as yours. Isn't that
a singular coincidence?"
"I do not think so," he replied.
"Why not?" she asked.
"For the simple reason that I wrote the book," he answered.
That night, the young lady sat up until two o'clock reading the
book again. And this time it seemed the most interesting story she'd
ever read. the once-dull book was now fairly fascinating, because she
knew and loved the author.
So, a child of God finds the Bible interesting because he knows and
loves the Author! It is his Father's message, addressed to him.
- Sparks, "Illustrations," {Pulpit Helps, }(March 1997) p. 8
I think that Paul must have looked into a child's little face just
before he wrote the inspired words: "What can separate us from the
love of Christ?" I can read that same query in the little eyes of
today - no different after twenty centuries:
"Shall tribulation" (tummy aches)? "Or distress" (runny noses)?
"Or persecution" (impatient parents)? "Or famine" (bottles too soon
empty)? "Or nakedness" (bare feet on burning sidewalks)? "Or
peril" (sixty miles an hour without seat belts)? "Or sword" (open
pins or nurses' needles)?
Then I read further in those beautiful eyes: "No, no, no! Nothing
shall separate us from the love of our God - unless it is you out
there!"
- Dr. Richard E. Eby, {Tell Them I'm Coming }(Old Tappen, NJ:
Fleming H. Revell Co., 1980) 102
A father took his small son with him when he went to steal potatoes
from his neighbor's field. When they came to the boundary fence, the
father stopped and listened while his eyes searched from right to
left. Silently he began to climb the fence.
Then the child spoke. "Dad," he said, "you forgot something - you
didn't look up."
An astronomer was engaged in making some observations on the sun
with a great telescope. As the sun descended toward the horizon,
there came within view to top of a hill seven miles away. On the top
of that hill were a large number of apple trees, and in one of them
were two boys stealing apples. One was getting the apples, and the
other was watching to make certain that nobody saw them, feeling
certain they were undiscovered. But there sat the astronomer, seven
miles away, with the great eye of the telescope directed fully upon
them, seeing every movement they made as plainly as if he had been
under the tree.
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