Illustrations

One night a cobbler dreamed that the next day Jesus was coming to visit him. The dream seemed so real that he got up very early the next morning and hurried to the woods, where he gathered green boughs to decorate his shop for the arrival of so great a Guest. He waited all morning, but, to his disappointment, his shop remained quiet, except for an old man who limped up to the door asking to come in for a few minutes of warmth.

The historian Xenophon states, that when Cyrus had taken captives including a young prince of Armenia with his young and beautiful wife, of whom he was remarkably fond, they were brought before the tribunal of Cyrus to receive their sentence. The warrior inquired of the prince what he would give to be reinstated in his kingdom; and he replied, that he valued his crown and his liberty at a very low rate, but that if the noble conqueror would restore his beloved wife to her former dignity and possessions, he would willingly pay his life for the purchase.

“The term Stockholm Syndrome first occurred in 1973 at an attempted bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden. A man tried to rob a bank, and the police caught him inside. He took three female hostages and one male hostage and held them for 131 hours, during which time he terrorized them. He fired his Russian automatic assault weapon at them. He threatened to kill them on numerous occasions. He put nooses around their necks and threatened to hang them. But he didn’t harm any of them.

The English artist George Romney fell in love and married a young lady, but then left her so that he could pursue his career wholeheartedly (although he did support her financially). His paintings brought him much income, but he eventually became too old to work and went back to his wife who took care of him until he passed away. The spirit that his wife showed in caring for him was worth more than all the paintings he ever produced.

We often ignore Christ until we need Him, but He always loves us and stands ready to forgive and restore us.

A poor girl once wandered into a queen’s garden and asked the gardener if she could purchase some flowers for her sick mother. The gardener could not give the flowers away and told the girl that the queen did not have any flowers for sale. The queen overheard the conversation and told the girl that she did not have any flowers for sale, but she would give some to the girl. She then gave the girl some rare roses and told her to tell her mother they were from the Queen.

God does not sell salvation, He gives it freely to all who ask.

The April 29, 1992 issue of the Chicago Tribune reported: “A stripped gear in the propeller controls of a commuter plane caused it to nosedive into the Georgia woods last April, killing former U.S. Senator John Tower of Texas and twenty-two others, the government concluded Tuesday. A gear that adjusted the pitch of the left engine’s propellers was slowly worn away by an opposing part with a harder titanium coating, the National Transportation Safety Board said.

Spurgeon told of an evening when he was riding home after a heavy day’s work. He felt weary and depressed, when as suddenly as a lightning flash he thought of 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” He said, “I should think it is, Lord,” and burst out laughing. He said that it seemed to make unbelief so absurd.

The mighty Niagara River drops 180 feet at the American and Horseshoe Falls. Above the falls there are violent rapids. Before reaching the rapids, where boats are still able to navigate, there is a bridge for pedestrians. There is a sign mounted to this bridge that says: “Do you have an anchor? Do you know how to use it?”

A Christian must have and use faith to avoid spiritual shipwreck.

Source: Today’s Best Illustrations, Vol. 2, Elesha Hodge

Submitted by the homiletics class of West Coast Baptist College

A twelve-year-old boy was saved at a revival. Later, his friends questioned him about it. One said, “Did you see a vision?” Another said, “Did you hear God speak?” The boy answered all of these questions with a simple no.

“Well, how did you know you were saved?” they asked. The boy replied, “It’s like when you catch a fish, you can’t see the fish or hear the fish; you just feel him tugging on your line: I just felt God tugging on my heart.”

Romans 8:16 “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.”

In 1992, a Los Angeles County parking control officer saw a Cadillac that was illegally parked. The officer ignored the man sitting in the driver's seat and after writing the ticket, reached through the open window, and placed the ticket on the dashboard.

What was even more remarkable was that the driver was dead. He had been shot in the head hours before and had his head slumped down with blood on his face. The officer was so so preoccupied that he did not notice this and drove away.