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Sermon Illustrations: Perseverance
Anecdotes
John wanted to be a writer. He wrote his first book and submitted it to a publisher. Some time later he received a rejection slip. He tried again. He got another rejection slip. He tried again and got another. 100, 200 - most people would have given up. He received more than 700 rejection slips until finally his first book was published in 1932. John Creasey went on to write over 600 books under 17 pseudonyms and founded the Crime Writers' Association in 1953.
It takes a strong man to swim against the current but dead fish will float with it.
Fred Astaire was without dispute one of the top singers, dancers and actors of all time. In Top Hat, Swing Time, Holiday Inn, and other famous movies, he danced and crooned his way into people's hearts worldwide. But in 1932, when Astaire was starting out, a Hollywood talent judge wrote on his screen test: "Can't act. Can't sing. Can dance a little."
DON'T YOU QUIT: When things go wrong as they sometimes will, When the road you're trudging seems uphill, When the funds are low and the debts are high, And you want to smile, but you have to sigh, When cares are pressing you down a bit, Rest if you must, but don't you quit. Life is strange with its twists and turns As all of us sometime must learn. And many a failure turns about, When we might have won had we stuck it out. Don't give up, though the pace seems slow, You may succeed with another blow. Success is failure turned inside out, The silver tint of the clouds of doubt. And you never can tell how close you are, It may be near when it seems so far. So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit- It's when things get worse that you must not quit. T. L. Osborn
Irving Berlin wrote over one thousand songs, including the Academy Award winning White Christmas, which sold fifty million recordings. His first song, Marie From Sunny Italy, earned him thirty-seven cents! It pays to not give up.
Are you a lion or a snail's eyeball? All you have to do is touch a snail's eyeball and it shrivels. But the righteous are as bold as a lion. Prov 28:1
Quotes
In 1976 I received a prophetic word that I would be working in America and influential in the national church scene. In 1992, after 17 years of waiting, prayer and preparation, I finally gave my first talk in America. Instant Christianity is the enemy of persistence, instant Christianity will not endure the times of testing. Instant Christianity will never produce mature men and women of God. Graham Cooke Developing Your Prophetic Gifting
Consider the postage stamp, my son. Its usefulness consists in sticking to one thing till it gets there. Josh Billings
The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one often comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't. Henry Ward Beecher
Zeal fires, hope inspires, but plod wins the day.
There are educated failures and talented derelicts; the only omnipotence is perseverance. Calvin Coolidge (U.S. president)
Today's mighty oak is yesterday's little nut that held its ground.
It doesn't matter how big the dog is in the fight; it matters how big the fight is in the dog.