Illustrations

In October, 1864, just before General Sherman commenced his famous march to the sea, while his army lay camped in the neighborhood of Atlanta, the army of Hood, in a carefully prepared movement, passed the right flank of Sherman’s army, and gaining his rear, commenced the destruction of the railroad leading north, burning block-houses and capturing the small garrisons along the line.

On a dark, stormy night when the waves rolled like mountains and not a star was to be seen a boat rocking and plunging neared the Cleveland harbor.

“Are you sure this is Cleveland?” asked the captain, seeing only one light from the lighthouse.

“Quite sure, sir,” replied the pilot.

“Where are the lower lights?”

“Gone out, sir.”

“Can you make the harbor?”

“We must, or perish, sir.”

In a Charlie Brown Christmas Charlie Brown was having trouble getting into the Christmas spirit so Linus said, “Charlie Brown, you’re the only person I know who can take a wonderful season like Christmas and turn it into a problem.”

Unfortunately, some Christians seem to have the same problem as Charlie Brown when we should be lifting up our Lord and Saviour.

A man who walked from New York City to San Francisco was asked what his biggest hurdle was. He said that the toughest part of the trip wasn’t traversing the steep slopes of the mountains or crossing hot, barren stretches of desert. He said, “The thing that came the closest to defeating me was the sand in my shoes.”

It is not usually what we think of as big sins that defeat us. Most Christians fall to sins that they do not think are very big.

Source: Our Daily Bread

Submitted by the homiletics class of West Coast Baptist College

1. He believes in Santa Claus.
2. He doesn’t believe in Santa Claus.
3. He is Santa Claus.
4. He LOOKS like Santa Claus.

A man in Ireland was convicted of his sin and was on the verge of trusting Christ when the devil raised the oft-repeated objection: “If you believe, it won’t last. What about tomorrow?” The worker dealing with him pointed to a water mill nearby. “What turns that wheel today?”

“The stream.”

“What will turn it tomorrow?”

“The stream.”

“And the days after?”

“The stream.” The man was led to see that there was abundant grace to save, keep, and meet all needs.

A converted Hindu gave the following address to a number of his fellow countrymen: “I am, by birth, of an insignificant and contemptible caste—so low, that if a Brahmin should chance to touch me, he must go and bathe in the Ganges for the purpose of purification; and yet God has been pleased to call me, not merely to the knowledge of the Gospel, but to the high office of teaching it to others. My friends, do you know the reason of God’s conduct?

Ten days after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, residents of North Platte, Nebraska heard a rumor that soldiers from their town, part of the Nebraska National Guard Company D, would be coming through on a troop train on their way to the West Coast. About five hundred people showed up at the train depot with food, gifts, letters, and love to give the boys.

If our faith be worth anything, it will stand the test. Gilt is afraid of fire, but gold is not: the paste gem dreads to be touched by the diamond, but the true jewel fears no test. It is a poor faith which can only trust God when friends are true, the body full of health, and the business profitable; but that is true faith which holds by the Lord’s faithfulness when friends are gone, when the body is sick, when spirits are depressed, and the light of our Father’s countenance is hidden.

As a young boy he worked in a factory, but had an intense desire to be a singer. When he turned ten years old, he took his first voice lesson which procured a less than encouraging remark from his teacher, “You can’t sing. You haven’t any voice at all. Your voice sounds like a wind in the shutters.”

His mother, however, believed that he could learn to sing. She was very poor, but she hugged him and said, “My boy, I’m going to make every sacrifice to pay for your voice lessons.”