"NOT I"

During the Welsh revival a man was saved who had been a notorious drunkard. His transformation made him a sober & respectable man.
 
The publican was angry to lose such a good customer & called out to him one day as he passed the public house:
 
"What's gone wrong, Charlie? Why do you keep going past instead of coming in?"
 
Charlie halted for a moment, then with a skyward glance & a grateful tear glistening in his eye, replied:
 
"Sir, it is not just that I keep going past; We go past! Ah, yes, that is the secret! We go past - Jesus and I."
 
- Sunday School Times.(moreillustrations.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.”
 
“Feed on Christ, and then go and live your life, and it is Christ in you that lives your life, that helps the poor, that tells the truth, that fights the battle, and that wins the crown.” -  Phillips Brooks.

WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST?

Youth: Too happy to think—time yet.
 
Manhood: Too busy to think—more gold.
 
Prime: Too anxious to think—worry.
 
Declining years: Too aged to think—old hearts harder get.
 
Dying bed: Too ill to think—weak, suffering alone.
 
Death: 'Tis too late to think—the spirit has flown.
 
Eternity: Forever to think — God's mercy past. Into hell I am righteously cast. Forever to weep my doom!
 
Accept Christ today!
 
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." (Acts 16:31 KJV)
 
- Selected. (moreillustrations.com)
 
“At most, you will live a hundred years on earth, but you will spend forever in eternity. I invite you to bow your head and quietly whisper the prayer that will change your eternity: ‘Jesus I believe in you and I receive you.’” -  Rick Warren.

GIVING - A PRIVATE MATTER

There are three kinds of givers:

The flint never gives till it is well hammered & then it yields only sparks.

The sponge gives only when you squeeze it & keep on squeezing it till it is dry.

The honeycomb gives freely & keeps on giving.

- (moreillustrations.com)

2 Cor 9:7 (GW): “Each of you should give whatever you have decided. You shouldn’t be sorry that you gave or feel forced to give, since God loves a cheerful giver.”

“A man there was, and they called him mad; the more he gave, the more he had.” - John Bunyan.

“Carnal Christians tend to show off their differences and superiority in clothing, speech or deeds. They desire to shock people into a recognition of all their undertakings.” - Watchman Nee.

Mat 6:3-4 (GNT): “But when you help a needy person, do it in such a way that even your closest friend will not know about it. Then it will be a private matter. And your Father, who sees what you do in private, will reward you.”

COMPLICATING SIMPLE PROBLEMS

Mensa is an organization whose members have an IQ of 140 or higher.

A few years ago, there was a Mensa convention in San Francisco, and several members lunched at a local cafe. While dining, they discovered that their saltshaker contained pepper & their pepper shaker was full of salt.

How could they swap the contents of the bottles without spilling & using only the implements at hand?

Clearly this was a job for Mensa!

The group debated & presented ideas, and finally came up with a brilliant solution involving a napkin, a straw, & an empty saucer.

They called the waitress over to dazzle her with their solution.

"Ma'am," they said, "we couldn't help but notice that the pepper shaker contains salt & the salt shaker contains pepper."

"Oh," the waitress interrupted. "Sorry about that." She unscrewed the caps of both bottles & switched them.

- (aksermonillustrations.blogspot.com)

Ecc 7:29 (GNT): “This is all that I have learned: God made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated.”

“The gospel is so simple that small children can understand it, and it is so profound that studies by the wisest theologians will never exhaust its riches.” -  Charles Hodge.

2 Cor 4:3 (GNT): “For if the gospel we preach is hidden, it is hidden only from those who are being lost.”

MISUNDERSTANDING

It is said that Phineas T. Barnum, the famed circus magnate, hung a large sign over one of the exits of his museum, which read, "This way to the egress."

Many people in the crowds, eager to see what an egress looked like, passed through the door and found themselves out on the street.

(Egress comes from a Latin word meaning "going out.")

- (moreillustrations.com)

“I would say much of religious heresy is the result of a misunderstanding of the basic nature of God. And once we have a proper understanding of God, then usually most of the areas of our life coincide with who God is and what He desires for each one of us.” -  Josh McDowell.

Pro 9:10 (NIV): “ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

ONLY REDEEMED, OR SAVED?

When the British Government sent word to Jamaica that slavery was at an end, that was the act of a government speaking for a nation. Slavery in Jamaica was at an end. Every slave had the right to go free.

I doubt not there were slaves who did not believe it & went on with their slavery. They did not take the government's action as true. They did not accept the fact that slavery in Jamaica had been abolished; those who did believe it got rid of their shackles & were free.

I am here to say that every man, woman and every child in this church tonight is redeemed. Is every man, woman & child in the church saved?

That depends upon your attitude toward the finished work. Redemption is a work of God, but in order to have salvation the individual must exercise faith in what is accomplished.

- W. Graham Scroggie,(moreillustrations.com)

“Mark 16:16 (NIV): “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”

“The unsaved people will be cast into utter darkness forever.” Tim LaHaye.

THE HOLY SPIRIT

In his book Anecdotes and Illustrations R. A Torrey relates the following incident:

During our Dublin campaign, a young man came to me in great distress. He had been paying attention to a young lady, who was very worldly. He had been brought up under Christian influences, his mother being an earnest Christian woman.

He told me that the preceding Sunday evening he had called upon the young lady in whom he was interested. The girl’s mother proposed that they play cards. The young lady’s mother urged him to join in the game, but he refused. He said to me, “When I was invited to play cards, the thought came to me, ‘What if my mother should hear of it. It would break her heart.’”

How many a man is kept back from doing things he would otherwise do by the thought of how it would grieve his mother if she should hear of it. But there is One who is more keenly sensitive than the purest mother, who is grieved at the slightest departure from the path of right as no mother even is grieved, that One is the Holy Spirit.

Oftentimes when some evil thought is suggested to me by the enemy, the thought comes, “I cannot entertain that thought for a moment. If I do, the Holy Spirit, who sees it, will be deeply grieved & I cannot bear to grieve this ever-present, faithful Friend.”

- (ministry127.com)

Ep 4:30 (KJV): “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God…”

“The true man of God is heartsick, grieved at the worldliness of the Church, grieved at the toleration of sin in the Church, grieved at the prayerlessness in the Church. He is disturbed that the corporate prayer of the Church no longer pulls down the strongholds of the devil. -  Leonard Ravenhill.