Thursday, March 30, 2017

SOWING & REAPING


“Do not deceive yourselves; no one makes a fool of God. You will reap exactly what you plant.” (Gal 6:7 GNT)

In a certain State in the Union a millionaire was engaged in the bootlegging business, thinking it an easy way to increase his wealth. He now undoubtedly believes the verse quoted above, for he is at the present time serving a long term in prison.

A friend who called on him within the prison walls found him working, sitting cross-legged, with a big needle and a ball of twine, sewing burlap bags.

The friend, not knowing what else to say, remarked, "Sewing, eh?"

Looking up with an ill-natured smile, the man replied, "No, I'm reaping."

- The Boy's World. (moreillustrations.com)

“They have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.” -  Hosea Ballou.

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

REAL EDUCATION



"Perhaps the most valuable of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not." Thus spoke Thomas Huxley, the great scientist.

That is a kind of education that comes from inside us & very little from books or teachers. It is something that we acquire from the example of good men & apply to our own actions as occasion arises. It is gumption at work.

- Sunshine Magazine (moreillustrations.com)

“Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” – Paul (1 Cor 11:1 NCV)

“No man is uneducated who knows the Bible, and no one is wise who is ignorant of its teachings.” -  Samuel Chadwick.

Ps 111:10 (ICB): “Wisdom begins with respect for the Lord. Those who obey his orders have good understanding...”

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Do It NOW



If you have work to do - do it now.
If you have a witness to give - give it now.
If you have a soul to win - win him now.
If you have an obligation to discharge - discharge it now.
If you have a debt to pay - pay it now.
If you have a wrong to right - right it now.
If you have a confession to make - make it now.
If you have a preparation to make - make it now.
If you have children to train - train them now.

Remember, time is passing & you are passing out of time.

We are a procrastinating lot. It is always what we are going to do tomorrow that entices us, but it is only what we do today that counts.

- Gospel Herald. (moreillustrations.com)

Ep 5:16 (KJV): “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

“Now is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It won't last forever. We must take it or leave it.” -  C.S. Lewis.

Monday, March 27, 2017

JESUS PAID IT ALL



In her autobiography, ‘My Life’, former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir tells the story of her devout Jewish grandfather who lived in Russia. He was required to serve in the Russian army for 16 yrs.

During that time he tried to keep every Jewish law & custom even though it meant that he faced intense persecution - even being forced to kneel on a stone floor for hours.

When he was released, he feared that he may have somehow broken the Law & for the rest of his life he slept on a stone floor using a stone for his pillow to try to make up for any sin he may have accidentally committed.

It is tragic that he went to such lengths to pay for his sin when Jesus has provided the atonement.

- (ministry127.com)

“To attempt to pay for salvation with church membership, prayers, or good deeds is an insult to Christ, who paid the full price - and is a rejection of the gift of God's grace.” -  Dave Hunt.

Mark 16:16 (NLT): “Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned.”


Sunday, March 26, 2017

PURSUING YOUR GOAL



In one of the attempts to scale Mount Everest before the final successful attempt in 1953, Mallory & his friend made a final dash for the summit but failed & today lie buried somewhere in the eternal snows.

They failed in spite of their tremendous determination, the discipline of long training and the personal sacrifice of money & life, to reach the highest point of the highest mountain in the world.

When one of the party, having returned to London, was giving a lecture, he had on the platform behind him a magnificent picture of Everest & as he concluded his address, he turned round & talked to the mountain thus:

“We tried once to conquer you & failed; we tried again & you beat us; but we shall yet beat you, for you cannot grow bigger, but we can.”

- (moreillustrations.com)                    

Mk 11:23 (NIV): “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.”           

“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal.” -  Hannah More.   

“The smile of God is the goal of your life.” -  Rick Warren.

Friday, March 24, 2017

HAPPINESS


It has been said that happiness consists of three things:  

e     1. Something to love.  2. Something to do.  3. Something to hope for.

For the believer, Christ is the One he loves, His service is something he has to do and  His approval & eternal companionship is what he hopes for.

- Scripture Truth (moreillustrations.com)
               
“Everyone, without exception, is searching for happiness.” -  Blaise Pascal.
               
Ecc 2:26 (CEV): “If we please God, he will make us wise, understanding and happy…”

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.” -  Helen Keller.

Thursday, March 23, 2017

TRUSTING CHRIST ALONE



When evangelist Gypsy Smith got saved, an elderly gentleman explained to him the importance of trusting Christ alone.

Gypsy Smith replied, “I cannot trust myself, for I am nothing; and I cannot trust in what I have, for I have nothing; and I cannot trust in what I know, for I know nothing.”

The only thing left for him to trust in was Jesus Christ.

‘Gypsy Smith: His Life and Work’ by Rodney Smith (ministry127.com)

Pro 3:5-6 (ERV): “Trust the LORD completely, and don’t depend on your own knowledge. With every step you take, think about what he wants, and he will help you go the right way.”

“I'll give you some symptoms of a sign that your faith is deteriorating - whenever you face all of your problems and you trust only your plans to get you out - it is a sign that your faith is deteriorating.” -  T.D. Jakes.

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

VULNERABILITY



William Jennings Bryan used to tell of a man in his home town in Illinois who had been the victim of drink. He reformed, signed the pledge & apparently was delivered out of his evil habit.

But when he rode into town he continued to hitch his horse to the rail in front of the tavern. He pitched his tent toward Sodom & soon was again a drunkard.

The way to avoid evil is to avoid the appearance of it.

- (moreillustrations.com)

“Temptation usually comes in through a door that has deliberately been left open.” - Arnold Glasow.

2 Tim 2:22 (TLB): “Run from anything that gives you the evil thoughts that young men often have, but stay close to anything that makes you want to do right. Have faith and love, and enjoy the companionship of those who love the Lord and have pure hearts.”

“Unwillingness to accept God's ‘way of escape’ from temptation frightens me what a rebel yet resides within.” -  Jim Elliot.

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

RELIGION



A man addicted to walking in his sleep went to bed all right one night, but when he awoke he found himself on the street in the grasp of a policeman.

"Hold on," he cried, "you mustn't arrest me. I'm a somnambulist (sleepwalker)."

To which the policeman replied: "I don't care what your religion is - you can't walk the streets in your nightshirt."

- (moreillustrations.com)

“I don't believe in any religion apart from doing the will of God.” -  Catherine Booth.

Js 1:27 (GNT): “What God the Father considers to be pure and genuine religion is this: to take care of orphans and widows in their suffering and to keep oneself from being corrupted by the world.”

Monday, March 20, 2017

REVIVAL



Due to report of successful revivals by Gipsy Smith, a certain preacher approached the noted evangelist to ascertain the secret of his success. He was asked to explain the best method to start a revival.

The answer was: "Brother, go back home, lock yourself up in a private room. Take a piece of chalk & mark a circle on the floor, get down on your knees inside the circle, pray God to start a revival inside this circle. When this prayer is answered, the revival will be on."

- C. A. Curry in ‘Western Recorder’. (moreillustrations.com)

“A true revival means nothing less than a revolution, casting out the spirit of worldliness and selfishness, and making God and His love triumph in the heart and life.” -  Andrew Murray.

Ps 85:6 (TLB): “Oh, revive us! Then your people can rejoice in you again.”

“A revival is nothing else than a new beginning of obedience to God.” -  Charles Finney.

Sunday, March 19, 2017

DO THE TASK GOD HAS GIVEN YOU



Adoniram Judson (an American, 1788 – 1850) labored faithfully in Burma for almost 40 years; for 18 years without a furlough & in the first 6 years he could not lead a single soul into salvation. He said that he never saw a ship leave Burma without wanting to board it & go home.

When his wife became sick & had to go home for 2 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 & perform the ordinary services of religion.”

But he then wrote: “Life is short. Happiness consists not in outward circumstances. Millions of Burmese are perishing. I am almost the only person on earth who has attained their language to communicate salvation.”

God has a specific job for you & you are the only person who can accomplish it.

- Francis Wayland (ministry127.com)

1 Pet 3:17 (NIV): “For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.”

1 Pet 2:21 (ESV): “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.”

Friday, March 17, 2017

TEMPTATION



Temptations divide the world into two classes; those who fail & go down under them and those who meet them successfully & gain strength of character through overcoming them.

To the one class they are stumbling-blocks; to the other they are stepping-stones.

To the one they are hindrances; to the other they are helps.

 It is not our temptations but the way we respond to them that counts.

- H. O. Fanning (moreillustrations.com)

“Temptations, when we meet them at first, are as the lion that roared upon Samson; but if we overcome them, the next time we see them we shall find a nest of honey within them.” -  John Bunyan.

Js 1:2 (MEV): “My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations.”

“My temptations have been my Masters in Divinity.” -  Martin Luther.

Thursday, March 16, 2017

YOUR OWN WORLD



In the engrossing story of his life the Russian novelist Maxim Gorky tells of his experiences as a cabin boy on a steamer on the Volga River.

Depraved, degraded, corrupted and corrupting men & women were all around him. Particularly evil in speech & action was the stewardess of the boat.

But Gorky relates that he suffered no harm, because his world was different from their world.

"I did not grasp," he says, "the meaning of her speech, although I dimly guessed at it. But I was not disturbed by it. I lived far away from the stewardess & from all that went on in that world. I lived behind a great rugged rock that hid me from that entire world."

You can have your own world if you are determined to have it. What kind of world do you want?

- (moreillustrations.com)

Js 4:4 (CEV): “You people aren’t faithful to God! Don’t you know that if you love the world, you are God’s enemies? And if you decide to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.”

“Truth and love are two of the most powerful things in the world; and when they both go together they cannot easily be withstood.” - Ralph Cudworth.  

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

CHARACTER



A minister, who had done great service in the church, had this to say:

"I have had some degree of acquaintance with Jesus Christ for almost 40 years. I have borne the ministerial role for 25 years.

I have been perhaps of some use in the Church of God & I have had a greater share of esteem among religious people than I had any reason to expect.

Yet after all, it is possible for me in one single hour of temptation to blast my character, to ruin my public usefulness & to render my warmest Christian friends ashamed of owning me."

- (moreillustrations.com)              

“Character is made by many acts. It may be lost by a single act.” – Author unknown.

Pro 18:3 (GNT): “Sin and shame go together. Lose your honor and you will get scorn in its place.”

“When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost.” - Billy Graham.

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

WEEPING FOR THE LOST



“When I was in Boston I used to attend a Sunday school class. One day I recollect my teacher came around behind the counter of the shop I was at work in & put his hand upon my shoulder & talked to me about Christ & my soul. I had not felt that I had a soul till then.

I said to myself: ‘This is a very strange thing. Here is a man, who never saw me till lately & he is weeping over my sins & I never shed a tear about them.’

But I understand it now & know what it is to have a passion for men’s souls & weep over their sins. I don’t remember what he said, but I can still feel the power of that man’s hand on my shoulder tonight.” - D.L. Moody.

The concern & tears of a godly teacher resulted in the salvation of a man who saw a million souls saved in his evangelistic campaigns.

- Frank Grenville Beardsley. (ministry127.com)

Heb 5:7 (NCV): “While Jesus lived on earth, he prayed to God and asked God for help. He prayed with loud cries and tears to the One who could save him from death, and his prayer was heard because he trusted God.”

“Tears shed for self are tears of weakness, but tears shed for others are a sign of strength.” - Billy Graham.

Monday, March 13, 2017

NO PLACE FOR PRIDE



Two ladies at Shanghai once got to talking about Mr. Hudson Taylor, wondering if he was ever tempted to be proud. One of the ladies went & asked Mrs. Taylor. She did not know. But Mrs. Taylor went & asked Mr. Taylor.

He was surprised & inquired, "Proud about what?" Mrs. Taylor replied, "Why, about the things you have done." Then immediately came this beautiful answer, "I never knew I had done anything."

And Mr. Taylor was right; he never had done anything, for it was God who had wrought in & through him. As it was with Mr. Taylor, so should it be with us.

When we have done all, greatly & grandly, then let us say, "We are ordinary servants; we have only done our duty." (Luke 17:10) and so give the glory of our successful service to God alone.

- China's Millions. (moreillustrations.com)

"The man who has nothing to boast of but his ancestors is like a potato - the only good belonging to him is underground." - Sir Thomas Overbury.

Sunday, March 12, 2017

COMPASSION



The late Colonel Sanders (of Kentucky Fried Chicken) was on an airplane when an infant screamed & would not stop even though the mother & flight attendants tried every trick they could think of.

Finally the Colonel asked if he could hold the baby. He gently rocked the baby to sleep.

Later a passenger said, “We all appreciate what you did for us.”

Colonel Sanders replied, “I didn’t do it for us, I did it for the baby.”

- Gene Perret. (ministry127.com)

“People may excite in themselves a glow of compassion, not by toasting their feet at the fire, and saying: "Lord, teach me compassion," but by going and seeking an object that requires compassion.”  -  Henry Ward Beecher.

Zech 7:9 (NIV): This is what the Lord Almighty said: “Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.”

Friday, March 10, 2017

GROWTH



Whenever I think of the future, I think of R E Olds, who made the Reo cars. About 1902, he announced a new model which he called his Farewell Car. He implied that this automobile was the ultimate, that after it, nobody could ever bring improvement to the motorcar.

How wrong he was! There's always more to be done. You can never catch up. You can never finish.

- Brooks Stevens.  (moreillustrations.com)

“Growth is the only evidence of life.” -  John Henry Newman.

Ep 4:13 (ICB): “This work must continue until we are all joined together in the same faith and in the same knowledge about the Son of God. We must become like a mature person—we must grow until we become like Christ and have all his perfection.”

“All growth that is not toward God is growing to decay.” - George Macdonald.

Thursday, March 9, 2017

LOVING THE INVISIBLE



A missionary's son, nearly five years of age, had been born & brought up in India and had seen no near relatives except his parents.

One day he said to his mother, “I love my grandpa.”

“How can that be, my son?” replied his mother, “You have never seen him & how can you love him?”

“But,” said the child, “doesn't he send us letters and doesn't he sends presents for my birthday & at Christmas and aren't we going on the big steamship soon to see him?”

“Although you have never seen Christ, you love him. You don’t see him now, but you believe in him. You are extremely happy with joy and praise that can hardly be expressed in words.” (1 Pet 1:8)

- (moreillustrations.com)

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart.” - Helen Keller.

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

SOWING THE WORD



It is said of an English traveler that he so loved the wild flowers that grew at the sides of the lanes & in the fields of England, that when he went abroad he would fill his pockets with the seeds & scatter them broadcast.

Almost every day we live, there are opportunities for sowing the seed of God in some heart; it may be some simple word, some kindly act. Just a line in a letter we write, or a text we quote & the seed is sown and some life is blessed.

- A. Lindsey Clegg in 'Youth with a Capital Y'. (moreillustrations.com)

The Lord says: “So will my message be that goes out of my mouth— it won’t return to me empty. Instead, it will accomplish what I desire, and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” (Isa 55:11 ISV)

“Anyone can count the seeds in an apple, but only God can count the number of apples in a seed.” - Robert H. Schuller.

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

BEWARE OF THE BARRENNESS OF A BUSY LIFE



Rick Chollet was a financially successful entrepreneur until March 18, 1991. He had even been the president of Brookstone Company, a small mail order business that he transformed into a national retail leader selling products for craftsmen.

But on March 18, he locked the garage door of his New Hampshire house, climbed into his BMW & turned on the engine. He left behind a note that read, “Please forgive me, but the thought of going through the torture of living is just too much to bear.”

Some successful entrepreneurs have a fear that they won’t be able to reproduce or sustain earlier achievements.

Gerald Kraines, a psychiatrist who treated him, said, “They’re on a treadmill where they can never savor their success, because they have to keep working harder.”

Many Christians feel the same way. They think that they must keep working harder for the Lord & forget to spend time with Him.

- Boston Globe, (ministry127.com)

“If Satan can't make you bad, he'll make you busy.” - Adrian Rogers.

Luke 16:15 (CEV): But Jesus told them: “You are always making yourselves look good, but God sees what is in your heart. The things that most people think are important are worthless as far as God is concerned.”

Monday, March 6, 2017

SECURE IN CHRIST



Virginian Colonel Byrd was condemned to death by the Cherokee Indians. In that tribe there was a chief who had been a friend to him.

That chief said, “This man is my friend; before you can get at him, you must kill me.” The Cherokees let him go free.

The believer is held safely in Christ's hand. Before the believer could lose his salvation, Christ would have to be overcome; and that is impossible.

- Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations by Paul Lee Tan (ministry127.com)

Rom 8:38-39 (CEB): “I’m convinced that nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus our Lord: not death or life, not angels or rulers, not present things or future things, not powers  or height or depth, or any other thing that is created.”

“The answer of our prayers is secured by the fact that in rejecting them God would in a certain sense deny His own nature.”  -  John Calvin.

Sunday, March 5, 2017

OUR FATHER



A missionary was teaching a heathen woman the ‘Lord's Prayer’.  When he got to the end of the first clause, "Our Father which art in Heaven," she stopped him.

"If God is our Father," she said, "that is enough. There is nothing now to fear."

And to one whose life was haunted by the constant dread of countless evil spirits that was a sweet message indeed.

- Gospel Herald. (moreillustrations.com)               

Jn 1:12 (GW): “However, he gave the right to become God’s children to everyone who believed in him.”

“Prayer means rushing to the Father as His child. It means asking and receiving, loving and thanking Him.” -  Basilea Schlink.

Friday, March 3, 2017

REAL HAPPINESS



Augustine Birrell was Secretary of State for Ireland. He & his wife were driving through London one day and came to a mansion of magnificent proportions that took their breath away.

Mrs. Birrell looked at it enviously, asked whose it was & remarked how happy the owner must be to possess such a place.

Mr. Birrell said it belonged to Barney Barnato, one of the world's richest men. “Perhaps,” he added, “for all his wealth he is not happy.”

In recording the incident later, Mr. Birrell stated that it was almost at that hour that Barnato jumped overboard from a boat coming from South Africa to end his unhappy life.

Wealth does not bring happiness.

- (moreillustrations.com)

“Do not let your happiness depend on something you may lose... only upon the Beloved (Lord) who will never pass away.” - C.S. Lewis.

Js 1:9-10 (GNT):  Those Christians who are poor must be glad when God lifts them up, and the rich Christians must be glad when God brings them down. For the rich will pass away like the flower of a wild plant.” 

“Holiness, not happiness, is the chief end of man.” -  Oswald Chambers.

Thursday, March 2, 2017

THE SECRET OF FEARLESSNESS



Of all the memorials in Westminster Abbey there is not one that gives a nobler thought than that inscribed on the monument to Lord Lawrence - simply his name, with the date of his death, and these words:

"He feared man so little, because he feared God so much."

- Sunday School Chronicle. (moreillustrations.com)

2 Tim 1:7 (WE): “God has not given us a spirit of fear. But he has given us a spirit of power and love and self-control.”

“If you listen to your fears, you will die never knowing what a great person you might have been.” -  Robert H. Schuller.

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

BABY CHRISTIANS!



When the pilot of a giant airliner is speeding down the runway, there is a certain point where he cannot decide to remain on the ground. When he crosses that line, he is committed to the air, or the plane crashes disastrously. The pilot cannot change his mind when the plane is two-thirds of the way down the runway.

Many Christians have never left the ground spiritually. They have been sitting there for years & years gunning their engines.

- (ministry127.com)

Heb 5:13 (GW): “All those who live on milk lack the experience to talk about what is right. They are still babies.”

“Babies by nature are completely selfish. They think only of themselves and their own needs. They are incapable of giving; they can only receive. That is immature thinking. Unfortunately, many people never grow beyond that kind of thinking.” -  Rick Warren.