Illustrations

Four years after the Titanic went down, a young Scotsman rose in a meeting in Hamilton, Canada, and said, “I am a survivor of the Titanic. When I was drifting alone on a spar that awful night, the tide brought Mr. John Harper, of Glasgow, on a piece of wreck near me. ‘Man,’ he said, ‘are you saved?’

‘No,’ I said, ‘I am not.’

He replied, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.’

The waves bore him away; but, strange to say brought him back a little later, and he said, ‘Are you saved now?’

An NBA game between the Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors was stopped for about five minutes because of a bat that was swooping over the court and flying uncomfortably close to some of the players. The bat was finally caught in a net and released outside.

Just as a little bat could disrupt an entire game, so a simple sin can stop the productive life of a Christian.

Source: USA Today, March 8, 2002

Submitted by the homiletics class of West Coast Baptist College

A soap manufacturer and a pastor were walking together down a street in a large city. The soap manufacturer casually said, “The Gospel you preach hasn’t done much good has it? Just observe. There is still a lot of wickedness in the world, and a lot of wicked people, too!”

The pastor made no reply until they passed a dirty little child making mud pies in the gutter. Seizing the opportunity, the pastor said, “I see that soap hasn’t done much good in the world either; for there is much dirt, and many dirty people around.”

Dr. Helen Roseveare, missionary to Zaire, told the following story. “A mother at our mission station died after giving birth to a premature baby. We tried to improvise an incubator to keep the infant alive, but the only hot water bottle we had was beyond repair. So we asked the children to pray for the baby and for her sister. One of the girls responded. ‘Dear God, please send a hot water bottle today. Tomorrow will be too late because by then the baby will be dead.

A woman rushed up to famed violinist Fritz Kreisler after a concert and cried: “I’d give my life to play as beautifully as you do.” Kreisler replied, “I did.”

Source: Bits and Pieces

Submitted by the homiletics class of West Coast Baptist College

A great without has been written on heathenism. Men and women are toiling without a Bible, without a Sunday, without prayer, without songs of praise. They have rulers without justice and without righteousness; homes without peace; marriage without sanctity, young men and girls without ideals and enthusiasm; little children without purity, without innocence; mothers without wisdom or self-control; poverty without relief or sympathy; sickness without skilful help or tender care; sorrow and crime without a remedy; and worst of all, death without hope.

A young fellow once said to his girlfriend: “I dreamed about you last night.” Naturally, she was intrigued and wanted to know all about it. He said, “I dreamed that I proposed to you. I wonder what that means!”

She said, “That’s very simple, “It means that you have more sense when you’re asleep than you have when you’re awake!”

Source: Unknown

Submitted by the homiletics class of West Coast Baptist College

A Sunday school teacher was giving her class the assignment for the next week. “Next Sunday,” she said, “we are going to talk about liars, and in preparation for our lesson I want you all to read the seventeenth chapter of Mark.”

The following week, at the beginning of the class meeting, the teacher said, “Now then, all of you who have prepared for the lesson by reading the seventeenth chapter of Mark, please step to the front of the room.”

About half the class rose and came forward.

Someone has calculated how a typical lifespan of 70 years is spent. Here is the estimate:

Sleep—23 years—32.9%

Work—16 years—22.8%

TV—8 years—11.4%

Eating—6 years—8.6%

Travel—6 years—8.6%

Leisure—4.5 years—6.5%

Illness—4 years—5.7%

Dressing—2 years—2.8%

Religion—0.5 years—0.7%

Total—70 years

Source: Our Daily Bread, November 25, 1992

Submitted by the homiletics class of West Coast Baptist College

Experts estimate that if a normal cassette tape is played about 100 times a year, sound quality will deteriorate somewhat after about 10 years. But the tape itself will play on.

A lightening bolt lasts 45 to 55 microseconds.

The average running shoe worn by the average runner on an average surface will last 350 to 500 miles.

A hard pencil can write up to 30,000 words or draw a line more than 30 miles long. Most ball-point pens will draw a line 4,000 to 7,500 feet long.