Illustrations

When Adoniram Judson graduated from college and seminary he received a call from a fashionable church in Boston to become its assistant pastor. Everyone congratulated him. His mother and sister rejoiced that he could live at home with them and do his life work, but Judson shook his head. “My work is not here,” he said. “God is calling me beyond the seas. To stay here, even to serve God in His ministry, I feel would be only partial obedience, and I could not be happy in that.” Although it cost him a great struggle he left mother and sister to follow the heavenly call.

Carol Fuller was a 72-year-old grandmother living alone in West Hollywood in 1995. During a home invasion robbery she was locked in a closet, her home was ransacked and her car was stolen. All of this took place without anyone knowing. But the worst part followed.

Days later, investigators found her dead in the closet with her fingers cut from trying to claw her way out.

David Livingstone was a pioneer missionary to Africa, who walked over 29,000 miles. His wife died early in their ministry and he faced stiff opposition from his Scottish brethren.

He prayed, “Send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. Sever any ties but the tie that binds me to Your service and to Your heart.”

Source: The Grand Weaver, Ravi Zacharias

Submitted by the homiletics class of West Coast Baptist College

Someone once sent the following words about his experience with alcohol to a newspaper columnist:

Robert Arthington lived in a single room, cooked his own meals, and shared his friendship with students who were in need. Yet he gave tremendous amounts of money during his lifetime to Christian missions. When he died, his estate was worth about five million dollars which he willed to missions.

The story is told about a little boy who was flying a kite. It was a windy day, and the kite kept going higher and higher. Finally it got so high that it was out of sight. A man passed by and saw the little boy holding onto the string. The man could not see the kite, and he asked the boy, “How do you even know you have a kite up there?” The boy replied, “Because I can feel it.”

Although we cannot see the Holy Spirit, we should be able to sense His work in our lives changing us into the image of Christ.

When D.L. Moody was just starting in the ministry, he heard a preacher make this statement, “the world has yet to see what God can do with one man fully surrendered to Him.” Moody that night said, “By God’s grace, I’ll be that man!”

Source: Living Beyond Your Capacity, Paul Chappell

Submitted by the homiletics class of West Coast Baptist College

A young man was eager to grow in His Christian life. He got a piece of paper and made a list of all the things he would do for God. He wrote down the things he would give up, the places he would go to minister and the areas of ministry he would enter. He was excited. He took that list to the church and put it on the altar.

He thought he would feel joy, but instead he felt empty. So he went home and started adding to his list. He wrote down more things he would do and wouldn’t do. He took the longer list and put it on the altar, but still he felt nothing.

There is a marker on a rock near the top of Mount Washington, marking the spot where a woman climber lay down and died. She was so close to the top that she could almost hit it with a stone. A hundred steps more and she would have reached the shelter she sought, but she did not know this. Disheartened by the storm, beaten in body and distressed in spirit, she was at the end of her courage. She could not see a step ahead, so she lay down and died one hundred steps from her goal.

Although Jane was raised a Methodist, she started attending a Baptist church when she moved to a new community. One day she was helping a group of women clean the church kitchen. She emptied the large electric coffeepot and handed it to the lady washing dishes.

The lady washing dishes asked, “Can this be washed like everything else?”

“No,” Jane replied. “This is a Methodist coffeepot. It says right here, DO NOT IMMERSE.”