BE CLOTHED WITH HUMILITY

The highest lesson a believer has to learn is humility.

Oh, that every Christian who seeks to advance in a holy life may remember this well!

There may be intense consecration & fervent zeal & heavenly experience, and yet, if it is not prevented by very special dealings of the Lord, there may be an unconscious self-exaltation with it all.

Let us learn the lesson - the highest lesson in the holy life is the deepest humility; and let us remember that it comes not of itself, but only as it is made a matter of special dealing on the part of our faithful Lord & His faithful servant.

Humility isn't thinking meanly of one­self - it isn't thinking of self at all.

The truly humble man does not know he is humble: Moses knew not that the skin of his face shone.

- Andrew Murray.  (moreillustrations.com)

Js 4:6 (KJV): "But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble."

HANDLING RICHES

As a man was passing out of a church he met an old acquaintance whom he had not seen for several years.

In their brief conversation, he said to his acquaintance: "I understand you are in great danger."

It was said seriously & was heard with surprise. The friend addressed was not aware of any danger & eagerly inquired what was meant.

The answer was: "I have been informed that you are getting rich."

- Sunday School Tunes. (moreillustrations.com)

1 Tim 6:17 (NLT): “Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.”

“Riches and the things that are necessary in life are not evil in themselves. And all of us face cares and troubles in this life. The sin comes in the time and energy we spend in pursuing these things, at the expense of neglecting Christ.” -  David Wilkerson.

FENCE-SITTERS!

There was a large group of people gathered.

On one side of the group stood Lord Jesus. On the other side stood Satan. Seperating them was a fence running through the group.

The scene set, both Lord Jesus & Satan began calling to people in the group. One by one, each having made up his or her own mind, went to either Lord Jesus or Satan.

This kept going for a time. Soon enough, Lord Jesus had gathered around Him a group of people from the larger crowd, as did Satan.

One man joined neither group. He climbed the fence that was there & sat on it. Lord Jesus & His people left and so too did Satan & his people.

The man on the fence sat alone.

As this man sat, Satan came back, looking for something which he appeared to have lost. The man said, "Have you lost something?"

Satan looked straight at him & replied, "No, there you are. Come with me."

The man said, "But I sat on the fence. I chose neither you nor Him."

Satan said, "That's okay; I own the fence."

"Whoever is not with me is against me." – Lord Jesus Christ (Mat 12:30 KJV)

- (varietyreading.carlsguides.com)

SHAKE IT OFF & TAKE A STEP UP

One day, a farmer's donkey fell down into a dry well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do.

Finally, he decided the animal was old & the well needed to be covered up anyway. It just wasn't worth to retrieve the donkey, he thought.

He invited all his neighbors to come over & help him. They all grabbed a shovel & began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening & cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement, he quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off & take a step up.

As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off & take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well & happily ran away!

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off & take a step up. Each of our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off & take a step up.

- (varietyreading.carlsguides.com)

1 John 5:5 (NLT): “And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.”

MORAL TRAINING

In the 1950s, a psychologist, Stanton Samenow & a psychiatrist, Samuel Yochelson, sharing the conventional wisdom that crime is caused by environment, set out to prove their point.

They began a 17-year study involving thousands of hours of clinical testing of 250 inmates here in the District of Columbia. 

To their astonishment, they discovered that the cause of crime cannot be traced to environment, poverty, or oppression. Instead, crime is the result of individuals making, as they put it, wrong moral choices.

In 1987, Harvard professors James Q. Wilson & Richard J. Herrnstein came to similar conclusions in their book ‘Crime and Human Nature’. 

They determined that the cause of crime is a lack of proper moral training among young people during the morally formative years, particularly ages one to six.

- Christianity Today (ministry127.com)

Pro 22:6 (KJV): “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

“Train up a child in the way he should go - but be sure you go that way yourself.” -  Charles Spurgeon.

VIEWS REFLECTED ON A PIT

A man fell into a pit and couldn’t get himself out:

A Pharisee said, “Only bad people fall into pits.”

A Calvinist said, “If you had been saved, you never would have fallen into that pit.”

A charismatic said, “Just confess that you’re not in that pit.”

A geologist told him to appreciate the rock strata in his pit.

The county inspector asked if he had a permit to dig the pit.

A self-pitying person said, “You haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen my pit.”

An optimist said, “Things could be worse.”

A pessimist, said, “Things will get worse.”

A realist came along and said, “Now that’s a pit!”

An evasive person came along and avoided the subject all together.      

Jesus seeing the man reached down, took him by the hand and lifted him out of the pit.

- (ministry127.com)

Ps 40:2 (GNT): “He pulled me out of a dangerous pit, out of the deadly quicksand. He set me safely on a rock and made me secure.”

HYPOCRISY

Teacher: "Tommy, who is a hypocrite?"

Tommy: "A boy that comes to school with a smile on his face."

- Graham Charteris. (moreillustrations.com)

“You may readily judge whether you are a child of God or a hypocrite by seeing in what direction your soul turns in seasons of severe trial. The hypocrite flies to the world and finds a sort of comfort there. But the child of God runs to his Father and expects consolation only from the Lord's hand.” -  Charles Spurgeon.

“The conflict will always be beyond your strength. The enemy always pushes us beyond our personal, preset limits concerning how far we will go for God. The test kills the limits, until we are like Christ in everything. We are left with a choice: Become Christ like or gradually shrink into superficial hypocrites: angry people who have stopped walking with God, who blame others for our bitterness.” -  Francis Frangipane.

Mark 7:6 (NLT): Jesus replied, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.’”

AN EVANGELIST

William Franklin Graham Jr (born 7 Nov 1918), better known as Billy Graham, is an Evangelist & an Evangelical Christian. He is a Southern Baptist.

He has been a spiritual adviser to multiple U.S. Presidents & was number seven on ‘Gallup's list of most widely admired people of the 20th century’.

He has preached in person to more people around the world than anyone who have ever lived.

As of 1993, more than 2.5 million people had stepped forward at his crusades to "accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior."

As of 2002, his lifetime audience, including radio & television broadcasts, topped two billion.

He was close with every American President from Dwight D. Eisenhower to George W. Bush, who said it was a conversation with Graham that led them to become a committed Christian.

For many years he wrote a daily advice column ‘à la Dear Abby’, where every reader's dilemma was answered with the same ultimate advice: ‘Come to Christ’.

His many books include ‘How to be Born Again’.

In 1953, he started World Wide Pictures, a Christian studio that has been cranking out Christian films ever since.

Graham is retired & his son Franklin Graham is now CEO of Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

- (aksermonillustrations.blogspot.in)

2 Tim 4:5 (HCSB): “But as for you, be serious about everything, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

“The Christian life is not a constant high. I have my moments of deep discouragement. I have to go to God in prayer with tears in my eyes, and say, 'O God, forgive me,' or 'Help me.'” - Billy Graham.

“My home is in Heaven. I'm just traveling through this world.” – Billy Graham.

NOTHING TO CONCEAL

A sweet little 6 year-old girl looked up suddenly at her mother & said:

"Mother, I think Jesus was the only one who ever dared to live his inside out!"

The mother was fairly dazed by the little one's thought. Well she might be. It carried one of the profoundest thoughts suggested by lifelong study of that divine character.

But here it was out of the mouth of almost a babe. She had heard His story. She had seen that He was so pure in all His soul that there was nothing there that He needed to conceal from anybody.

Was not He the only one in all the history of mankind of whom that could be truly said?

- Onward.(moreillustrations.com)

“That the sinless Son of God must die upon the Cross to redeem us shouldn't make us feel good about ourselves but ashamed, for it was our sins that nailed Him there.” -  Dave Hunt.

1 Pet 1:16 (ERV): In the Scriptures God says, “Be holy, because I am holy.”

PRE-WRITTEN HISTORY

In all ages God has pre-announced certain things which He purposed to do. These announcements are termed prophecies.

Prophecy is history pre-written. It is as credible as any Word that God hath spoken. The Bible is filled with prophecies.

Almost all the 66 Books contain some prophecy; but 16 Books of the Old Testament & one of the New Testament are wholly prophetic in character.

In all, nearly one-fourth of the Bible was predictive when it was written. It is most reasonable to conclude, since every Bible prediction concerning the past has been fulfilled, in minutest detail, that we may expect all the remaining prophecies to be just as literally fulfilled.

- (moreillustrations.com)

Isa 44:7-8 (GNT): “Could anyone else have done what I did? Who could have predicted all that would happen from the very beginning to the end of time? Do not be afraid, my people! You know that from ancient times until now I have predicted all that would happen, and you are my witnesses. Is there any other god?”

“God didn’t give us the Scripture to scare us. He gave us the Scripture to prepare us.” – Unknown Author.

THE BODY OF CHRIST

As you drive your car on a daily basis, you may be aware of only a few of its many parts.

You turn the steering wheel, look into the rear-view mirror, adjust your radio station, press the gas and brake pedals, and move the turn signal up or down.

 
 You probably notice only a few of your vehicle's parts. But do you know how many parts the average automobile has? According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, 14,000!

Though only a few of those parts may be noticed on any particular trip, all of them together make up the automobile that gets you around.

  

It's the same way in church life. Though only a few members may get much notice, it takes all the parts to make up the body of Christ.

1 Cor 12:27 (TPT): “You are the body of the Anointed One, and each of you is a unique and vital part of it.”

- (aksermonillustrations.blogspot.in)

“God cares nothing about our man-made divisions and groups and is not interested in our self-righteous, hair-splitting, and religious, man-made formulas and organizations. He wants you to recognize the UNITY of the body of Christ.” -  M.R. DeHaan.

“The only way the corporate Body of Christ will fulfill the mission Christ has given it is for individual Christians to have a vision for fulfilling that mission personally.” -  David Jeremiah.

FULLNESS OF CHRIST

A man met with a severe accident & was taken to the hospital.

When the doctor was examining his injuries, he noticed that the name of Jesus was beautifully tattooed across the man's breast.

A nurse, standing by, said: "I wonder if it is deeper than the skin."

Our religion, if it is to be fruitful, must be sincere - deeper than the skin; it must reach the heart.

- Christian Herald. (moreillustrations.com)

“Jesus did not die on the cross just so we could live comfortable, well adjusted lives. His purpose is far deeper: He wants to make us like Himself before He takes us to heaven. This is our greatest privilege, our immediate responsibility, and our ultimate destiny.” -  Rick Warren.

Ep 4:13 (GNT): “And so we shall all come together to that oneness in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God; we shall become mature people, reaching to the very height of Christ's full stature.”

BEST USE OF TIME

The services in the chapel of a certain western university are from time to time conducted by eminent clergymen of many denominations & from many cities.

On one occasion, when one of these visiting divines asked the president how long he should speak, that witty officer replied:

"There is no limit, Doctor, upon the time you may preach; but I may tell you that there is a tradition here that the most souls are saved during the first 25 minutes."

- (moreillustrations.com)

“I venture to say that the bulk of Christians spend more time in reading the newspaper than they do reading the Word of God.” -  Charles Spurgeon.

Ep 5:16 (ESV): “Making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.”

PREACHING THE GOSPEL

A young preacher went to David Swing, the poet-preacher of Chicago, many years ago and asked him what he should do to get a congregation on Sunday.

He said: "I have tried history, biography, literature, poetry, book reviews, politics - but the people won't come. What shall I do?"

Swing responded: "Suppose now you try the gospel!"

- (moreillustrations.com)

“I have complete confidence in the gospel; it is God's power to save all who believe, first the Jews and also the Gentiles.” – Paul (Rom 1:16 GNT)

“If I preach to please men, I am not the servant of Christ; and woe unto me, if I preach not the gospel!” -  William Tiptaft.

“Other men may preach the gospel better than I, but no man can preach a better gospel.” -  George Whitefield.

MAKE UP YOUR MINDS!

Aesop speaks in one of his fables about a time when the beasts & the fowl were engaged in war. The bat tried to belong to both parties.

When the birds were victorious, he would wing around telling that he was a bird; when the beasts won a fight, he would walk around them assuring that he was a beast.

But soon his hypocrisy was discovered and he was rejected by both the beasts & the birds. He had to hide himself & now only by night can he appear openly.

- Sunday School Times. (moreillustrations.com)

“A divided heart loses both worlds.” -  A.B. Simpson.

1 Kings 18:21 (MSG): Elijah challenged the people: “How long are you going to sit on the fence? If God is the real God, follow him; if it’s Baal, follow him. Make up your minds!”