GOD’S LOVE

In the Jewish temple & tabernacle there burned a lamp, a light of sacrifice that never went out. Day & night, summer & winter, it shed its soft & mystic glow within the holy place.

In the temple of the life of our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ there was a lamp, a light that never went out. The oil that supplied it was never exhausted. No scorn, no hostility, no hatred could ever quench it. It was the light of love.

"Having loved his own ... he loved them unto the end." (John 13:1.)

- (moreillustrations.com)

Long ago the Lord said to Israel: “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.”(Jer 31:3 NLT)

“By the cross we know the gravity of sin and the greatness of God's love toward us.” -  John Chrysostom.

LOVING GOD

An old countryman, visiting London for the first time in his life, went into one of the great picture galleries to look around.

Presently he came to a wonderful painting of the Lord Jesus Christ hanging upon the Cross. He stopped before it & as he gazed at the picture a great love for the One who hung there flooded his heart.

"Bless Him!" he said, aloud. "I love Him! I love Him!"

Others in the gallery heard the old man's words & seeing the tears trickling down his cheeks, as he stood beside the picture, hat in hand, forgetful of all else, were touched & stopped before the picture, too. Presently a stranger drew near to the old countryman & grasping his hand, said:

"I love Him, too, brother."

Seeing what had taken place, a third stepped forward, saying: "So do I." Then a fourth joined them, and a fifth, until there stood before the picture of the Savior a little knot of men, perfect strangers to one another, but drawn together by the love of the Lord Jesus.

- Gospel Herald.  (moreillustrations.com)

“If you love me, you will obey my commandments.” – Lord Jesus (Jn 14:15 GW)

“Loving God - really loving Him - means living out His commands no matter what the cost.” -  Chuck Colson.

FIRMNESS

When Christian Herter was governor of Massachusetts, he was running hard for a 2nd term in office.

One day, after a busy morning chasing votes he arrived at a church barbecue. It was late afternoon & Herter was hungry.

As Herter moved down the serving line, he held out his plate to the woman serving chicken. She put a piece on his plate & turned to the next person in line. 

“Excuse me,” Governor Herter said, “do you mind if I have another piece of chicken?” 

“Sorry,” the woman told him. “I’m supposed to give one piece of chicken to each person.” 

“But I’m starved,” the governor said.

“Sorry,” the woman said again “Only one to a customer.”

Governor Herter was a modest & unassuming man, but he decided that this time he would throw a little weight around. “Do you know who I am?” he said. “I am the governor of this state.”

“Do you know who I am?” the woman said. “I’m the lady in charge of the chicken. Move along, mister.”

-Bits and Pieces (ministry127.com)

“I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.” -  George Washington.

Gal 5:1 (ESVUK): “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”

RELY ON THE HOLY SPIRIT

Dr. Paul Brand was speaking to a medical college in India on Matthew 5:16:

“Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

In front of the lectern was an oil lamp, with its cotton wick burning from the shallow dish of oil. As he preached, the lamp ran out of oil, the wick burned dry & the smoke made him cough. He immediately used the opportunity.

“Some of us here are like this wick,” he said. “We’re trying to shine for the glory of God, but we stink. That’s what happens when we use ourselves as the fuel of our witness rather than the Holy Spirit. Wicks can last indefinitely, burning brightly - without irritating smoke, if the fuel, the Holy Spirit, is in constant supply.”

- 750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers, and Writers, Craig Brian Larson.  (ministry127.com)

“Trying to do the Lord's work in your own strength is the most confusing, exhausting, and tedious of all work. But when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, then the ministry of Jesus just flows out of you.” -  Corrie Ten Boom.

  

MISSIONS

One St. Thomas Day, on a bridge in London, an unwanted babe was picked up by a kindhearted man. The child was named Thomas Bridges, because he had been picked up on a bridge on St. Thomas Day. After he was educated, he went out as a missionary to Tierra del Fuego.

Charles Darwin on his scientific expedition to study the beetle saw what Bridges was doing for the savages & sent him a contribution, saying he formerly had little use for missions, but having witnessed the transformation in the lives of the natives wrought by Thomas Bridges, he was glad to have a part in the work.

- (moreillustrations.com)

“I don’t care about my own life. The most important thing is that I complete my mission. I want to finish the work that the Lord Jesus gave me - to tell people the Good News about God’s grace.” – Paul (Acts 20:24 ICB)

“Today Christians spend more money on dog food than missions." -  Leonard Ravenhill.

APPEARANCE OF EVIL

A young man went up from his home to the city to take his degree in the University. As a resident student, he had his own room in the hostel. After he had settled in, his godly mother, decided to pay him a visit.

She was very shocked to see the kind of pictures he had fixed to the walls of his room.

They were portraits of semi-dressed film stars; unbecoming of a young man who had been reared & trained at home as he had. The mother said not a word.

Instead of expressing her displeasure, she went home, had her photo taken & sent him the photo, with the request that he would hang it in his room.

The next time she visited him; all the other pictures were gone: only his mother's photograph adorned the wall. When she asked him about it, he replied:

“You see, mother, I could not have those pictures alongside of yours. They would be out of place.”

- (moreillustrations.com)

“You are the only Bible some unbelievers will ever read, and your life is under scrutiny every day. What do others learn from you? Do they see an accurate picture of your God?” -  John MacArthur.

1 Thes 5:22 (KJV): “Abstain from all appearance of evil.”

REWARD OF HEROISM

M. Labat, a merchant of Bayonne, France, ill in health, had retired in the beginning of the winter, 1803, to a country house on the banks of the Adour River.

One morning, when walking in his bathrobe, on a terrace elevated a little above the river, he saw a traveler thrown by a furious horse, from the opposite bank, into the midst of the torrent.

Labat was a good swimmer: he did not stop a moment to reflect on the danger of the attempt, but, ill as he was, threw off his robe, leaped into the flood & caught the drowning stranger at the moment when, having lost all sensation, he must have otherwise inevitably perished.

"Oh, God!" exclaimed Labat, clasping him in his arms & recognizing with joy the individual he had rescued, "I have saved my son!"

- (moreillustrations.com)

Js 4:17 (TPT): “So if you know of an opportunity to do the right thing today, yet you refrain from doing it, you’re guilty of sin.”

“In helping others, we help ourselves.” -  Woodrow Kroll.

Always Be Ready to Meet the Lord

A mother was explaining, to her little girl, the death of her father. The mother said:

“God has sent for your father & will send for us, but I do not know just when.”

Finally, the little girl said:

“If we do not know just when God is going to send for us, do you not think we had better pack up & be ready to go? God might send for us when we are not ready.”

- The Expositor and Current Anecdotes, F. M. Barton Publisher (ministry127.com)

Luke 12:40 (GW) “Be ready, because the Son of Man will return when you least expect him.”

“The only difference in death between a Christian and one who is not is that the Christian is ready to meet Jesus. A Christian is dead already - dead to the world, but alive to Christ. Death for you as a child of God is to fall asleep in His arms and awake in the other world, alive forever beyond the power of pain, safe forever from all sickness and suffering.” -  Winkie Pratney.

LOST!

A little girl whose baby brother had just died asked her mother where Baby had gone.

“To be with Jesus,” replied the mother.

A few days later, talking to a friend, the mother said, “I am so grieved to have lost my baby.”

The little girl heard her & remembering what her mother had told her, looked up into her face & asked, “Mother, is a thing lost when you know where it is?”

“No, of course not.”

“Well, then how can Baby be lost when he has gone to be with Jesus?”

- A Treasury of Bible Illustrations, Ted Kyle & John Todd (ministry127.com)

“If you receive Him it will be well; if you reject Him and are lost it will be terrible.” -  D.L. Moody.

1 Cor 1:18 (CEV): “The message about the cross doesn’t make any sense to lost people. But for those of us who are being saved, it is God’s power at work.”

FEAR

An oriental legend tells of the desert traveler, who, one night met Fear & Plague, going to Baghdad where they expected to kill 10,000 people.

The traveler asked Plague if he would do all the killing & Plague answered:

"Oh, no, I shall kill only a few hundred & my friend Fear will kill the others."

- R and R Magazine (moreillustrations.com)

Job 3:25 (AKJV): “For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.”

“Fear is born of Satan, and if we would only take time to think a moment we would see that everything Satan says is founded upon a falsehood.” -  A.B. Simpson.

2 Tim 1:7 (NIRV): “God gave us his Spirit. And the Spirit doesn’t make us weak and fearful. Instead, the Spirit gives us power and love. He helps us control ourselves.”

PROBLEMS

“So you have problems. Are they man-made? Most are - and if men can create problems, surely they can solve them.” – Detroiter.

“Instead of concentrating on your problems and getting discouraged, focus on God and meditate on His promises for you. You may have fallen down, but you don't have to stay down. God is ready, willing and able to pick you up.” -  Joyce Meyer.

“Since God intends to make you like Jesus, he will take you through the same experiences Jesus went through. That includes loneliness, temptation, stress, criticism, rejection, and many other problems.” -  Rick Warren.

“Within the covers of the Bible are all the answers for all the problems men face.” -  Ronald Reagan.

“The important thing about a problem is not its solution, but the strength we gain in finding the solution.” - Friendly Chat.

Pro 24:10 (GNT): “If you are weak in a crisis, you are weak indeed.”

PRIDE

The life & death of our Lord Jesus Christ are a standing rebuke to every form of pride to which men are liable.

Pride of birth & rank—'Is not this the carpenter's son?' Matt. 13. 55

Pride of wealth—`The Son of man hath not where to lay His head.' Luke 9. 58

Pride of respectability—‘Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?' John 1. 46

Pride of personal appearance—'He hath no form nor comeliness.' Isa. 53. 2

Pride of reputation—`A friend of publicans and sinners.' Luke 7. 34

Pride of learning—'How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?' John 7. 15

Pride of superiority—`I am among you as he that serveth.' Luke 22. 27

Pride of success—'He is despised and rejected of men.' Isa. 53. 3

Pride of ability—`I can of mine own self do nothing.' John 5. 30

Pride of self-will—`I seek not mine own will but the will of Him that sent me.' John 5. 30

Pride of intellect—'As my Father hath taught me, I speak.' John 8. 28.

- (moreillustrations.com)

Pro 16:18 (GNT): “Pride leads to destruction, and arrogance to downfall.”

TOO IMPORTANT TO HELP

During the American Revolution a man in civilian clothes rode past a group of soldiers repairing a small defensive barrier. Their leader was shouting instructions, but making no attempt to help them.

When the rider asked the corporal why he did not help his men, he retorted with great dignity, “Sir, I am a corporal!”

The stranger apologized, dismounted & proceeded to help the exhausted soldiers. When the job was finished he turned to the corporal & said:

“Mr. Corporal, next time you have a job like this & not enough men to do it, go to your commander-in-chief, and I will come & help you again.”

It was none other than George Washington.

- (ministry127.com)

Gal 6:2 (NLV): “Help each other in troubles and problems. This is the kind of law Christ asks us to obey.”

“It's a matter of taking the side of the weak against the strong, something the best people have always done.” -  Harriet Beecher Stowe.

KINGDOM OF GOD

The kingdoms of the earth go by

In purple and in gold;

They rise, they flourish and they die,

And all their tale is told.

One kingdom only is Divine,

One banner triumphs still:

Its king a servant, and its throne

A Cross upon a hill.

- (moreillustrations.com)

1 Cor 9-10 (GNT): “Surely you know that the wicked will not possess God's Kingdom. Do not fool yourselves; people who are immoral or who worship idols or are adulterers or homosexual perverts 10 or who steal or are greedy or are drunkards or who slander others or are thieves—none of these will possess God's Kingdom.”

Ps 128:1 (NIV): “Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him.”

“The difference between God's side and the devil's is the difference between heaven and hell.” -  Billy Sunday.