PRAYER ENABLES

The Living Church tells of how a missionary doctor saved the life of a famous Arctic explorer (Stefansson).

It was a case of double pneumonia & the explorer had to be brought in 50 miles to the hospital. When he had recovered, he said to the doctor:

"Money cannot repay what you have done for me. You have saved my life. But I should like to make one criticism. You would accomplish more if you did not spend so much time in religious work & in prayer."

Then the doctor replied, "If it had not been for prayer, I should not be here; this hospital would not have been here & you would be lying dead in the snow."

- Bible Expositor and Illuminator. (moreillustrations.com)

Lord Jesus said: “I am the vine, and you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without me.” (Jn 15:5 GNT)

“Whenever God calls us to a task, He will equip us and enable us to complete that task.” - Michael Youssef.

PRAYER

Mr. Spurgeon once came to Bristol. He was to preach in 3 chapels in the city & he hoped to collect 300 pounds, which were needed immediately for his orphanage.

He got the money. Retiring to bed on the last night of his visit, Spurgeon heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Give those 300 pounds to George Muller."

“But, Lord,” answered Spurgeon, “I need it for my dear children in London.”

The word came again, “Give those 300 pounds to George Muller.” It was only when he had said, “Yes, Lord, I will,” that sleep came to him.

The following morning he made his way to Muller's Orphanages & found him on his knees before an open Bible, praying. The famous preacher placed his hand on his shoulder & said, “George, God told me to give you these 300 pounds.”

“Oh,” said Muller, “dear Spurgeon, I have been asking the Lord for that very sum.” And those two prayerful men rejoiced together.

Spurgeon returned to London. On his desk, he found a letter awaiting him. He opened it to find it contained 300 guineas. “There!” cried he with joy, “the Lord has returned my 300 pounds with 300 shillings interest.” (1 pound + 1 shilling = 1 guinea)

- Henry Durbanville. (moreillustrations.com)

Phil 4:5 (TLV): “Do not be anxious about anything - but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”

MEEKNESS

A missionary was once questioning his class of boys on the meaning of Matt. 5, and asked, "Who are the meek?"

A boy answered, "Those who give soft answers to rough questions."

- The Biblical Illustrator (moreillustrations.com)

Matt 5:5 says: “Blessed are the meek, because they will inherit the earth.”

“The person who bears and suffers evils with meekness and silence, is the sum of a Christian man.” - John Wesley.

“Meekness enables us to be led by the Spirit of God.” - John Hagee.

KNOW YOUR PILOT

Three passengers share a row of seats in an airplane. As the plane is taxiing for takeoff, their conversation turns to the topic of the airplane pilot.

Stunningly, passenger “A” doesn’t believe one exists. “No one flies the plane. We are guided by a computer system in the terminal. This plane is an occupied drone.  Why should I believe otherwise? The cockpit door is closed. Who can know? There is no pilot.”

Passenger “B” disagrees. “Oh, there is a pilot. Someone sits at the controls of the plane. But, once we take off, he takes a nap. He gets the plane in the air & then goes to sleep.”

The third passenger is shocked by what she hears. “You don’t know what you are talking about. First, there is a pilot. Second, the pilot is alert and competent. I know; he is my husband. He is sensitive & has every intention of a successful flight. We are in safe hands.”

3 passengers. 3 opinions. A plane with no pilot. A plane with a careless pilot. A plane with concerned pilot.

Fast forward a few minutes. Turbulence shakes the plane. Will the 3 passengers experience the flight in the same way? Of the 3 travelers, which is most prone to stay calm?

Nothing is more important than the right view of God. I’ve seen the wealthy & highly educated crumple like cowards at the face of death. I’ve seen the simple & humble take their final breath with a smile & a song.

The difference? They knew the Pilot.

You need to know the heart of the pilot. That is why the story of Jesus is in the Bible.

To know Jesus, is to know God. To know God is to know: this flight gets bumpy, but the Pilot knows how to get us home.

- Max Lucado (aksermonillustrations.blogspot.in)

Lord Jesus said: “I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me." (Jn 10:14).

“IS MARS INHABITED?”

‘Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the sinner's Friend’ - should be the theme of every sermon. No other theme will meet the human needs.

It is said that on one occasion 3 people went into church to get help. The first was a business man who had failed & was contemplating suicide.

The second was a youth of extravagant tastes who, finding his wages insufficient was planning to steal from his employer.

The third was a young woman of gay habits & conduct who had been tempted from the path of virtue.

The choir arose & sang an anthem about building the walls of Zion. The minister addressed an eloquent prayer to the Lord & then preached a sermon on the theme, "Is Mars Inhabited?"

Thus the hungry souls that needed bread received stones. The man committed suicide, the boy stole & landed in jail and the woman went home to a life of shame.

- Westminster Teacher's Quarterly. (moreillustrations.com)

“If Jesus preached the same message minister's preach today, He would have never been crucified.” - Leonard Ravenhill.

“I do not think the devil cares how many churches you build, if only you have lukewarm preachers and people in them." -  Charles Spurgeon.

Paul said: “Woe unto me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Cor 9:16).      

SALVATION

On the morning of one of the great battles of the Civil War a soldier awoke hearing the intense firing of the pickets & there came to him the conviction that there was going to be a great battle & he was not ready in his soul or in his heart for what the battle might bring.

He therefore knelt down, confessed his sins & committed his soul to the keeping of God, realizing that if it was well with his soul it mattered little what happened to his body.

And that is exactly what Christ said in connection with the verse, "Fear not them which kill the body" (Matt. 10:28).

Now that the soldier had committed his soul to God & left his body to the incidents & laws of the battlefield, all fear & anxiety left him.

- (moreillustrations.com)

“It is our privilege to know that we are saved.” - D.L. Moody.

“Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself. Be sure of that.” -  Charles Spurgeon.

PRIDE

All men are tempted to take a census - that is, to number their own virtues, graces, accomplishments, resources & thus draw the heart away from God. But what ground can there be for our counting or for our pride?

Are we proud of our talents? But what have we that we have not received from God?

Are we proud of our wisdom or knowledge? A brick falls on our head, a machine strikes us on the street & then where is the vaunted knowledge of the mind?

Are we proud of our beauty? A wasting sickness smites us & then where is beauty?

Are we proud of our riches? A revolution breaks out in the country & then what are our riches?

As we take a census of our virtues, let us remember these lines of William Knox, which were so often upon the lips of Abraham Lincoln:

"Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?

Like a swift-flitting meteor, a fast-flying cloud,

A flash of the lightning, a break of the wave,

He passes from life to his rest in the grave."

- (moreillustrations.com)

1 Jn 2:16 (CEB): “Everything that is in the world—the craving for whatever the body feels, the craving for whatever the eyes see and the arrogant pride in one’s possessions—is not of the Father but is of the world.”

HUMILITY

A certain French Marquis was raised to his grand & exalted state from very humble surroundings. He had been a shepherd in his earlier days & so, in his palace, he had one room known as `the shepherd's room'.

In that room were reproductions of hills & valleys & running streams & rocks & sheepfolds. Here were the staff he had carried & the clothes he had worn as a lad when herding his sheep.

When asked one day the meaning of this, he replied, “If ever my heart is tempted to haughtiness & pride, I go into that room & remind myself of what I once was.”

Such humility would have saved Nebuchadnezzar & Belshazzar.

- Sunday School Times (moreillustrations.com)

“According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride.” -  C.S. Lewis.

Pro 29:23 (ICB): “A man’s pride will ruin him. But a person who is humble will be honored.”

“No matter how dear you are to God, if pride is harbored in your spirit, He will whip it out of you. They that go up in their own estimation must come down again by His discipline. -  Charles Spurgeon.

MOURN OVER THE UNGODLINESS

When his son William died in 1862 Lincoln resumed his duties - but mechanically & with a heavy heart. Every anniversary of the lad's death, he observed as a day of mourning.

One day the rector of Trinity Church, New York, at the solicitation of Lincoln's friends, called on him & told him that the continued indulgence of such feelings, though natural, was sinful & unworthy of one who believed in the Christian faith & that he was unfitting himself for his duties as the leader of his people.

From that day Lincoln ceased his mourning, at least that outward mourning at stated seasons which interfered with his own happiness & usefulness.

- (moreillustrations.com)

1 Thes 4:13 (NIRV): “Brothers and sisters, we want you to know what happens to those who die. We don’t want you to mourn, as other people do. They mourn because they don’t have any hope.”

“I believe the holier a man becomes, the more he mourns over the ungodliness which remains in him.” - Charles Spurgeon.

THE WALK OF THE CHRISTIAN

A father & son arrived in a small western town looking for an uncle whom they had never seen.

Suddenly, the father, pointing across the square to a man who was walking away from them, exclaimed, 

“There goes my uncle!”

His son asked, “How do you know when you have not seen him before?”

“Son, I know him because he walks exactly like my father.”

If we walk in the Spirit, the world should know us by our walk.

Source: ‘The Gold Mine’ - Lee Roberson (ministry127.com)

 
Gal 5:25 (KJV): “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

“If I walk with the world, I can't walk with God.” -  D.L. Moody.

“If we walk in righteousness He will carry us through.” -  A.B. Simpson.

GROWING UP…

A few years ago the Yankee star, Mickey Mantle, stumbled in the field & reinjured his bad knee. He was rushed to the hospital & went through a series of x-rays & examinations.

One day between tests he sat on the terrace & talked to another patient, an elderly lady who knew nothing about baseball.

"How did you hurt your leg?" she asked.

"Playing ball," was the reply.      

"Oh," said the lady, "won't you boys ever grow up?"

- A.M.A. Journal (moreillustrations.com)         

Heb 5:12 (AMPC): “For even though by this time you ought to be teaching others, you actually need someone to teach you over again the very first principles of God’s Word. You have come to need milk, not solid food.”

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

“The Christian who has stopped repenting has stopped growing.” -  A.W. Pink.

PUNISHMENT

A parent who evidently disapproved of corporal punishment wrote the teacher:

"Dear Miss,

Don't hit our Johnny. We never do it at home except in self-defense."

But the Bible says: “He who fails to use a stick hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline 

him.” (Pro 13:24 CJB).

“A child who is allowed to be disrespectful to his parents will not have true respect for anyone.” -  Billy Graham.

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

PROPERTY TAX

A tax collector one day came to a minister in order to assess the value of his property & to determine the amount of his taxes.

"I am a rich man," said the minister.

The official quickly sharpened his pencil & asked intently, "Well, what do you own?"

The pastor replied, "I am the possessor of a Savior who earned for me everlasting life & who has prepared a place for me in the Eternal City."

"What else?"

"I have a brave, pious wife, and Solomon says, `Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies."' (Pro 31:10).

"What else?"

"Obedient children."

"What else?"

"A merry heart which enables me to pass through life joyfully."

"What else?"

"That is all," replied the minister.

The official closed his book, took his hat & said, "You are indeed a rich man, sir, but your property is not subject to taxation."

- The King's Business. (moreillustrations.com)

2 Cor 8:9 (ERV): “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know that he gave up his heavenly riches for you. He gave up everything so that you could be richly blessed.”

“GRACE - God's Riches At Christ's Expense.” - Author Unknown.

 

SERVING THE KING OF KINGS

William Carey, who is called the ‘Father of Modern Missions,’ served the Lord in India for many years. He gradually became very concerned about the attitude of his son, Felix.

The young man had promised to become a missionary, but he reneged on his vows when he was appointed ambassador to Burma by the Queen of England.

Carey wrote to his friend, asking prayer for his son with these words:

“Pray for Felix. He has degenerated into an ambassador of the British government when he should be serving the King of Kings.”

- Our Daily Bread (ministry127.com)

“We don't serve God to gain His acceptance; we are accepted so we serve God. We don't follow Him in order to be loved; we are loved so we follow Him.” - Neil T. Anderson.

2 Tim 4:5 (VOICE):  “But you must stay focused and be alert at all times. Tolerate suffering. Accomplish the good work of an evangelist, and complete the ministry to which you have been called.”

“To serve God, to love God, to enjoy God, is the sweetest freedom in the world.” -  Thomas Watson.

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 wisdom at work.

- Sunshine Magazine (moreillustrations.com)     

Heb 13:7 (CEB): “Remember your leaders who spoke God’s word to you. Imitate their faith as you consider the way their lives turned out.”

 

“A good example is like a bell that calls many to church.” - Author Unknown.