Illustrations

An old farmer went to the city one weekend and attended the big city church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was.

“Well,” said the farmer, “It was good. They did something different, however. They sang praise choruses instead of hymns.”

“Praise choruses,” said his wife, “What are those?”

“Oh, they’re okay. They’re sort of like hymns, only different,” said the farmer.

“Well, what’s the difference?” asked the wife.

Sometimes singing hymns can be convicting. Here are some you can sing without a tinge of guilt:

I Surrender Some

There is Scattered Cloudiness in My Soul Today

There Shall Be Sprinkles of Blessings

Onward, Christian Spectators

Where He Leads Me, I Will Consider Following

Oh, How I Like Jesus

Just as I Pretend to Be

I Love to Talk about Telling the Story

Brethren, We Have Met to Have a Business Meeting

Sweet Minute of Prayer

Let Me Have My Own Way Lord

Standing on the Premises

Ira Sankey was traveling on a steamer down the Delaware river when he was asked to sing. He led the group in singing “Saviour Like a Shepherd Lead Us.” When he finished, a man stepped from the shadows and asked, “Did you ever serve in the Union Army?” “Yes,” Sankey replied, “in the spring of 1860.”

“Can you remember if you were doing picket duty on a bright, moonlit night in 1862?”

“Yes,” Sankey replied.

Matthew says a leader must serve, and 1 Timothy says that a leader must rule.

Matthew says that a leader must be confident, but James tells us that a leader must be humble.

Mark teaches us that a leader must be a man of action, but Luke teaches us that a leader must be a man of prayer.

Luke says a leader must have a strategy, and James says a leader must submit to God’s will.

Source: Unknown

After resigning his pastorate to go lead another church, a pastor was approached by an endearing older member of the congregation. She wept over the pastor’s decision to leave and said, “Things will never be the same.”

The minister tried to console her by saying, “Don’t worry, I’m confident you will get a new pastor who is better than me.”

She continued to sob and replied, “That’s what the last three pastors have said, but they just keep getting worse.”

Source: Unknown

The results of a computerized survey indicate the perfect pastor preaches exactly 15 minutes. He condemns sin but never upsets anyone. He works from 8:00 am to midnight and is also the janitor. He makes $50 a week, wears good clothes, buys good books, drives a good car, and gives about $50 weekly in the offering. He is 28 years old and has been preaching for 30 years. He has a burning desire to work with teenagers and spends all of his time with senior citizens.

In the days of the circuit riders a minister was out riding one afternoon and came upon a man working in his field.

“Fine day isn’t it?” the minister called out.

“It’s fine for you”, the man replied. “All you have to do is ride around on that horse thinking about the Bible all day long, while I have to sweat here in this field and then walk home afterward. I don’t think it’s right you should have things so easy while I have to work so hard.”

Adoniram Judson labored faithfully in Burma for eighteen years without a furlough, and for the first six years he did not have a single Burmese convert. He said that he never saw a ship leave Burma without wanting to board it and go home. When his wife became sick and had to go home for two years without him, he wrote: ”If we could find some quiet resting place on earth where we could spend the rest of our days in peace, and perform the ordinary services of religion.” But he then wrote: ”Life is short. Happiness consists not in outward circumstances.

A fifth grade boy who had heard a sermon on persistence in prayer was praying by himself in his room one night. As his dad passed his door, he heard the boy praying over and over again, “Tokyo, Tokyo, Tokyo.” The next day, the dad asked his son what he was doing. The boy replied that he had given the wrong answer on a test for the capital of Mexico, and he was praying that Tokyo would become the capital of Mexico.

Source: Unknown

Bernard “Kip” Lagat is a world-class runner from Kenya. During the Sydney Olympics, an interviewer asked him how his country was able to produce so many great distance runners. With clever wit, Lagat told of the African strategy for motivating success in running. He said, “It’s the road signs. ’Beware of Lions.’”

The Christian should flee temptation because his adversary the devil is chasing him.

Source: Unknown