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Sermon Illustrations: Faith In God
Anecdotes
A little boy was asked by his mother what he learned in Sunday School. He said, “It was amazing. Our teacher said how God sent Moses on a rescue mission behind enemy lines to get the Israelites out of Egypt. When they got to the Red Sea, he got his army to build a bridge across, and everyone got across safely. Then he radioed headquarters for reinforcements and they sent fighter jets to blow up the bridge and kept all the Israelites from the Egyptian army.” His mother looked at him and said, “Seriously? Are you sure that’s what your teacher taught you?” “Well, not really.” he said. “But if I told you what she said happened, you’d never believe it.”
A number of years ago, there was a movie called The Bear. Right near the end there’s a beautiful scene. The bear cub is attacked by a mountain lion, and he’s been backed up against a stream. The lion claws at the little bear’s snout. The bear tries to bite the lion’s paw and keeps making a pathetic high-pitched squeak. Then suddenly the lion takes off. The little cub is on its hind legs making a huge victorious roar. Then the cameras swing round and you see the real reason why the lion fled. There’s a 700 kilo bear standing behind the cub. What a beautiful picture of what it’s like to trust in the Lord. He’s right there with us, helping us even when we don’t realise it. All it takes is faith, and in the midst of life’s battles and trials, He is right behind us.
James deMelo relates the story of how he was at a friend's place who had a Pit Bull Terrier. The man had a tyre hanging from a tree, got the dog worked up then shoved the tyre at it. The dog latched on with its teeth. The man would shake the tyre and swing it high in the air from side to side, but the dog would not let go. "How long will he do that for?" asked James deMelo. "A couple of hours. Sometimes I go in and eat a meal and he's still out here latched onto that tyre." "Really! He can go for that long?" "Yeah. Come on, let's go eat." They went inside, but the dog was still holding onto the tyre a couple of hours later. Finally the owner had to go pry the dog's jaws off the tyre. This is an example of what you might call Pit Bull faith. It never lets go of the promises of God.
One day, a boy was alone in his back yard playing baseball. Having a great imagination, he proclaimed, “I’m the greatest hitter in the world.” He threw the ball into the air, swung as hard as he could, and missed. “Strike one!” he announced. He picked up the ball, dusted it off, and said again, “I’m the greatest hitter in the world!” Up went the ball again. He swung and missed for the second time. “Strike two!” he yelled. He inspected his bat, examined the ball, spat on his hands, rubbed them together, and repeated, “I’m the greatest hitter in the world!” For the third time, he threw the ball into the air, swung and missed. “Strike three!” “Wow!” said the boy. “I’m the greatest pitcher in the world!”
A man was caught in a flood, sitting on the roof of his house, and praying and trusting the Lord. After a while, a rowing boat came by and its owner offered him a lift. The man said, "No thanks. I'm trusting in God". Next a helicopter came and he gave the same reply. Eventually the man drowned. When he stood before the Lord, he said, "Lord, why didn't you save me? I trusted You." The Lord said, "I sent you a boat. Then I sent you a helicopter. What more did you want?"
A man was walking on a pitch black night when he fell over a cliff. On the way down, he managed to grab hold of a small tree sprouting out of the side of the precipice. Desperately he began to call out for help and a voice answered, "What do you want?" "I'm stuck down here holding on to a tree. I can't hold on too much longer. Can you help me?" "Yes," came the reply. "Who are you ?" the man asked. "I'm God," replied the voice. "What do you want me to do?" asked the man. "Let go of the tree." For a while there was silence. Then the man called out and said, "Is there anyone else up there?"
A church was concerned because there was a very unsavoury business run by atheists, right next door. So they prayed and prayed, and one day, the business burned down. The atheists heard that the church had prayed about them and decided to sue them. When they got to court, the Christians objected that they were being sued as they had no idea that the atheists’ business was going to burn down and didn’t believe that God had done this as a result of their prayers. But the atheists were determined and insisted that the Christians had caused the problem. Finally, the judge looked at both of the parties and said, “So let me get this straight. I have before me Christians who don’t believe and atheists that do. Is that correct?”
A workman was repairing a stained-glass window when the pastor came along, so they went outside together to admire the workmanship. "That looks very good, but isn't that piece a bit loose?" asked the pastor. Just as he finished saying it, a piece of glass dislodged, fell out of the window, and cut the workman's ear off. "Aughh", screamed the workman. "I've lost my ear." Immediately the pastor remembered the way Peter had cut off the ear of the high priest's servant, and how the Lord had healed him, and he thought, "This is my moment. I was born for such a time as this. I can be a man of faith and power." He bent down and picked up the ear, held it out to the workman and asked, "Is this your ear?" "No!" the workman yelled. "That's not mine! Mine had a pencil behind it."
In Korea, people write their problems on paper streamers and attach them to kites. When the kite is high in the sky, it is cut loose and people's troubles just float away.
Faith often defies logic. In November 1837, a distinguished British physicist named Dionysius Lardner, proved with irrefutable mathematics and equations nobody could question, that it was impossible to build a steamship capable of a non-stop voyage to New York. Copies of his lecture proving this 'fact' arrived in Manhattan on April 24, 1838, aboard the steamer Sirius, the first to cross the Atlantic entirely under steam.
There are two kinds of people. One kind of person looks at a problem and says, "It can't be done". The other kind of person looks at the opportunity and says, "If it could be done how would we do it?"
People criticise Peter for sinking, but at least he got out of the boat.
There are no guarantees in life; anything can happen. "A house in Weston-super-Mare in England was set on fire by a burning cigarette butt which had been used by a sparrow to build its nest in the eaves."1
If someone wants to practise extreme faith by denying that they are sick, they shouldn't even blow their nose.
Spurgeon said, "By faith the walls of Jericho fell down. By faith the walls of this church will be pushed back." Later, the deacons took him to task, telling him that he was presumptuous, since he was only a young man. But during his ministry the walls were pushed back three times.
The spiritual realm is invisible. Numbers 22:22,23,25,27,31 relates the story of Balaam and his talking donkey. Even the donkey had more faith than Balaam.
David had five pebbles. Goliath had four brothers. Was that a coincidence?
My brother had a dog named Ben. Ben could run around as much as he liked - on a runner. Every so often he'd see a cat and chase it, but suddenly, yank. Ben stopped dead. He could go no further. A lot of Christians are like Ben. They put themselves on a runner. An opportunity comes along, something they'd really like to do for God, and they really want to go for it. But yank, it's as if their unbelief says: This far and no further. Have faith!
There was a time when Spain possessed the territory both sides of the Straits of Gibraltar. So on their coins they stamped the two Pillars of Hercules, which is what the two promontories of rock were called. And on a scroll the words, "No more beyond." Meaning there ain't nothing else out there. Then came the discovery of the New World, and with it the realisation that there was in fact something else out there. So they changed the coins to read, "More beyond." Mostly our limits don't come from God, but they come from within us. As you look at your life, has fear or some other negative thing burned into your life, "No more beyond"? Or are you convinced that there is indeed more beyond, and that you're going to reach out for it?
When D L Moody, great American evangelist of the 19th century, lay on his deathbed, he was reputed to have said to his sons, "If God be your partner, make your plans large."
A logging foreman sold a farmer a chainsaw. He said, "This is guaranteed to chop down fifty trees a day." The farmer was impressed with that and bought the saw. A week later, the farmer stormed back through the front door, threw the saw on the counter, and demanded his money back. "There's something wrong with this saw. There's no way it'll do fifty trees a day. It can hardly do three trees a day!" The foreman grabbed the saw, pulled the cord, and the saw went, "Bzzzzzzz." The farmer jumped back, eyes wide open: "Hey, what's that noise?"7 For so many Christians, God's power is available to them. But they simply don't know how to access it.
Faith is the bucket of power lowered by the rope of prayer into the well of God's abundance. What we bring up depends upon what we let down. We have every encouragement to use a big bucket. Virginia Whitman
We are limited by our faith, just like speed-limited trucks.
One day a child playing with a valuable vase got his hand stuck in it and couldn't get it out. Before resorting to breaking the vase, his father said, "Son, relax, just open your hand and pull it out." To their astonishment the little guy said, "I can't. If I do I'll drop my penny." Word for Today 7-6-08
Quotes
It is faith alone that justifies, but faith that justifies can never be alone. John Calvin
Beware! Neither experience nor emotion is the basis of faith. The basis for our faith is that certain things are true. The whole man, including the intellect, is to act upon the fact that certain things are true. That, of course, will lead to an experiential relationship with God, but the basis is content not experience. Francis A. Schaeffer - The New Superspirituality
I'm a fool for Christ. Whose fool are you? Sandwich board.
Faith is living in advance what we will only understand in reverse. Wayne Cordeiro Leading On Empty
Faith goes up the stairs that love has built and looks out the window that hope has opened. Charles Spurgeon
Feed your faith and doubt will starve to death.
Depend on the rabbit's foot if you will, but remember it didn't work for the rabbit. R.E. Shay
1 Sunday Mail 1-7-01 p71