Illustrations

Subject: God’s Will

Equipped to Do His Will

A speaker was presenting Christ to a large audience on one of the great university campuses. One of the professors in the audience was stricken by the power of the message and the calm and peaceful appearance of the speaker. Leaving the auditorium, the professor said to a fellow professor walking beside him, “I suppose that preacher spends most of his time in study and preparation of sermons, away from the tension and strain of this busy world of ours.”

“Would you like to meet the speaker?” the fellow professor asked. “I know him well.” The professor said he would, so a meeting was scheduled for lunch the next day.

How shocked the professor was when he was taken to a snack room in one of the local factories. Sitting there at the table with the speaker, he asked him about his profession. “My occupation is to do the will of God and to love people while I wait for Christ to return to earth, the speaker replied. “Meanwhile, I operate one of the machines here at the factory.”

A person does not have to be a great preacher to be in the will of God. Your profession is to do the will of God and be a strong witness for Christ no matter where He places you.

Leadership Ministries Worldwide
Practical Illustrations: Galatians-Colossians

Subject: Humility

Giving God the Glory

A doctor on the mission field once restored to health the beloved child of one of the natives whom she was serving. In gratitude, he knelt at her feet and not only thanked her, but worshipped her as a god.

She remonstrated, saying that she was a mortal like himself and that worship belonged only to the one true God. He replied that no one but a god could have saved the child’s life.

“Whom would you thank and praise,” the missionary replied, “for a princely gift sent by the hand of a messenger—the servant or his generous master, the giver? I am but God’s servant, by whose hand He has been pleased to send you this great gift of healing.”

May a similar humility and faithfulness possess us as we use our gifts, small or great, in the service of our Lord and among those in the sphere where He has placed us.

Spiros Zodhiates

Subject: Christ’s Coming

Christ Lived Among Men

A missionary visiting a poor hut in a refugee district was challenged by a suffering woman.

“You tell us that you are interested in us and want to help us, but it’s very easy for you to simply come see us in our poverty-stricken home. The question is, are you ready to bring your family from the clean and comfortable home in which they live in order to live in our district with all its poverty, suffering and sin? Would you do that in order to lift us up?”

That is exactly what Christ did, from his lowly birth in Bethlehem to his cursed death on the cross. Even though He was God, He never used that as an excuse to avoid suffering or achieve privilege. “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).

Spiros Zodhiates

Subject: Faith

How Big is Your Basket?

Madaki, the chief elder of the church in Kwoi, Nigeria, some years ago was also one of the most prosperous farmers in the area. One day, the following announcement was made: “Madaki wants all the women to gather at his house tomorrow morning. Pass on the news.”

When the women went to his house the next morning, Madaki asked them to go to his farm, about three and a half miles away, to carry home his field corn. 104 women and girls responded and went to the farm with their baskets, little, big, and mid-sized. Some brought back a big load, others only a few ears. One took such a load that her strength failed before she got home.

When all the loads had been brought in, Madaki called the women together and told them that each might keep what she brought! There were shouts of joy and thanksgiving, but also sights of regret.

“If only I had known, I would have taken a larger basket,” was the complaint of some. There were those who had refused to go, saying, “I have work enough of my own.” These went to Madaki the following morning (their work seemed less important now!) and begged him to let them go and bring in a load. But he told them quietly, “the time is past; the corn was brought in yesterday.”

Through this kind deed, Madaki not only helped many needy families, but he also preached a quiet sermon that was repeatedly retold through the whole town. Christ calls us to serve in the harvest of faith, and the one who gives most for the sake of the kingdom, expecting nothing in return but the Master’s praise, will be blessed most in eternity.

Knight’s 3,000 Illustrations

Subject:

Strength from Weakness

Is a sound, strong body a necessary first step to athletic success? It would seem so. But some years ago, there was a young fellow who had to wear metal braces for serious weakness in his legs. He was threatened with lameness that might be a life-long handicap. A physician advised him to exercise his legs regularly, and suggested that he try jumping as something that might strengthen them.

The boy did so, and kept up his jumping practice through his school and college years. He found that before he stopped jumping he had broken the world’s high jump record by clearing the bar at six feet, four inches. There were probably 50 fellows in his class who had stronger muscles to start with than had this one. His weakness was the start of his wonderful record.

1,000 New Illustrations

Subject: Life in Christ

The Deep Water

A passenger who had been looking with great interest at the “man at the wheel” as he was directing the course of a steamboat through the windings of an intricate channel said to him, “I suppose you are the pilot of this boat?”

“Yes,” replied the man at the wheel, “I have been a pilot on these waters for over 30 years.”

“Indeed!” continued the inquirer, “you must then, by this time, know every rock and bar and shoal on the whole coast!”

“No, I don’t; not by a long ways,” said the pilot.

“You don’t!” responded the passenger in great surprise, “what, then, do you know?”

“I know,” answered the pilot with strong emphasis, “I know where the deep water is.”

In the same way, if we know the “deep water” of Christ, the cares of this world are of no consequence to us!

1,000 New Illustrations

Subject: Sacrifice

By Life or by Death

On December 6, 1934, Chinese communist forced broke the governemnt’s wall of protection around Tsingteh and began brutalizing the town. It all occurred so fast that China Inland missionaries John and Betty Stam were unable to escape.

The Stams had come to China as single people and had only been married a little more than a year. Now, their lives and that of their infant daughter were in mortal jeopardy. The ruthless soldiers demanded a $20,000 ransom for their release. Yet, as John passed that information on to his superiors, he prayerfully added, “May God be glorified whether by life or by death.”

Two days later, the kidnappers, unwilling to wait any longer, led the Stams to a secluded wooded area outside of town. Stripped of their clothes and pushed to a kneeling position, the Stams were in the presence of the Lord before the sword could be wiped clean. Mercifully, their baby daughter, Helen, was spared.

The Bible refers to the Stams and others of similar devotion to Christ with this epitaph, “…others were tortured, not accepting their release, in order that they might obtain a better resurrection…they were put to death with the sword…men of whom the world was not worthy” (from Heb. 11:35, 37-38).

Christians who are “not worthy” of this world’s kingdom are “noteworthy” in the kingdom of God!

J. Kenneth Bassett
Timeless Signatures