ILLUSTRATIONS 2
1. When a man’s body is tired to the point of distraction, he should rest.
2. People heal at different rates. A cut heals faster, if a man is in good health.
3. The Valley of Jezreel was described by Napoleon as the most ideal place on earth for a military battle.
4. Life owes man nothing but the opportunity to grow.
5. A man teaches his children by the way he acts out in front of them.
6. Breaking God’s laws leads to darkness, sooner or later.
7. Paul took himself very seriously. The Gospel is a fact of infinite moment, therefore tell it earnestly.
8. In the making of a covenant, the people must be prepared to participate and to consecrate themselves.
9. Governments must be submitted to a higher authority or else they prescribe their own morality.
10. Pure thoughts. A man cannot prevent the birds from flying overhead but he does not have to allow them to build a nest in his hair.
11. A man has not lived successfully unless he has done something for someone who can never repay him.
12. Going the extra mile gives a man an opportunity to impact on the life of another.
13. The society in which believers live is strange because it punishes people when they fall below its standards yet when they rise above its standards it persecutes them.
14. A man will not get to Heaven because he is worthy but because the One he trusted in is worthy.
15. Pride. Oscar Wilde said: “I have nothing to declare but my own genius.”
Disraeli said: “When I want to read a good book, I write one.”
George Bernard Shaw said: “I often quote myself. It adds spice to the conversation.”
16. There are 7 occasions when it is essential to hear from God.
Before considering the needs of others
Before entertaining the ideas of others.
Before listening to the complaints of others.
Before making any significant changes in life.
Before responding to the requests of others.
Before sharing dreams with others.
Before seeking the approval of others.
17. In the parable of the wise man, it is not possible to tell from the outside which house is built on rock and which is built on sand. Time will tell, when the storms of life come along. Then only one will stand the test. In order to build the house properly it takes time and cost to excavate and build the foundations on the hard. It may be necessary to dig trial bores to find the depth of the topsoil.
18. History began with the sin of man and ends with the man of sin.
19. Fallen man hungers for attention, fishes for compliments and thrives on flattery. God’s order is that a man loves God first, his neighbour second and himself last. Sin is the reverse of that order.
20. Achan's mistake was that he looked at the spoils a second time. The first glance of a man might tell him that a woman is attractive. It is the second look, which is dangerous and allows his imagination to get to work and lead him into sin. Mat ch 6 v 27-30. The imagination is the womb in which desire is conceived and from which sin and death are eventually born.
21. Whenever a believer has pursued his own interests instead of Christ’s, whenever he has chosen to be envious or put his own ambitions before God’s will for his life, then he has in effect crucified the Son of God afresh.
22. The secret of being willing to forgive others is for a man to focus first on the extent to which he has been forgiven by God in Jesus. Resentment and anger are strong feelings and give a sense of power and control over others.
23. A bigoted person has a floating anger and will focus that on anything with which he disagrees. If his soul were stripped down there would be found at the core a disposition that is fiercely adversarial and lacking in love. There is a close connection between a man’s attitudes and his arteries.
24. God allowed Moses and Elijah to return to Earth to meet Jesus and to speak to the One who would complete the work they had left undone.
25. When a crisis comes a man goes looking for someone who has the answers to life’s problems.
26. Jesus loved people as they were, while inspiring them to a higher standard.
27. Good marriages, good business relationships and good friendships are based on Jesus’ golden rule – show people that you value them. A pastor said to his congregation:
A. If you have a problem with me, come and see me privately. I shall do the same for you.
B. If someone else has a problem with me and comes to you, send him to me. I shall do the same for you.
C. If someone will not come to me, say: “Let us go together to see him.” I shall do the same for you.
D. Be careful how you interpret me. I would rather do that myself. It is too easy to misinterpret intentions. I shall be careful how I interpret you.
E. If it is confidential, do not tell. If you or anyone else comes to me in confidence, I will not tell unless the person is going to harm himself or harm someone else or if a child has been physically or sexually abused. I expect the same from you.
F. I do not read unsigned letters.
G. I do not manipulate. I will not be manipulated. Do not let others manipulate you. Do not let others try to manipulate me through you.
H. When in doubt, just say so. If I can answer it without misrepresenting something or breaking confidence, I will.
I. If people can still construe that you are taking advantage of them, even after you have had an opportunity to explain your motives, you need to re-think your ideas.
J. When in doubt, just say so. If I can answer it without misrepresenting something or breaking confidence, I will.
28. No one can commit sin and be its master. Sin eventually masters them
29. A sheep cannot conquer a wolf but it can avoid being destroyed by the wolf, if it stays close to the shepherd.
30. None of the disciples guessed that the one to betray Jesus was Judas. He had played his part so well that his true character had not yet been discovered.
31. What a man owns he protects and cares for. God owns each believer and protects and cares for His property.
32. It is hard for a person to keep a chip on his shoulder, if he is allowed to take a bow.
33. Never give up on your dream. It took Joseph 23 years before it materialised.
34. The speaker should stir the emotions, inform the mind and bend the will to serve God.
35. Work was designed by God to be productive, creative and invested in tasks, which contribute to God’s purposes. A man who is not busy does not need a helper. Eve was created to be a helper to Adam.
36. Once others realise that a man thrives on recognition by others they hold the key to manipulating that man for their own purposes.
37. A man interprets the things he sees and hears in a way that is very personal to him.
38. A man is not the same person today that he was yesterday because of the things, which have happened in his life.
39. A man should learn to get along with difficult people. They may bless him tomorrow.
40. When a man prays he feels better because he has shared the problem with the One who is able to change the situation and who cares enough to listen.
41. God will prune things, which have served their purpose and which will hold a believer back and give him trouble later in life.
42. Some people grow through failure. Others never recover from it and move on. It is essential to press on to the goal of being like Jesus by making decisions. Remember that others have failed and been used of God.
43. Go out with joy. Isaiah ch 55 v 12. God’s Word demands it and a hurting World needs it. Happiness depends on circumstances. Joy comes from a deep relationship with the Lord. It is part of the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
44. Seeds of greatness lie buried within unpromising people, which abruptly spring to life when they are recognised, valued and nurtured. Jesus sees value in the vilest sinner. Matthew, a despised tax collector, became a writer for Jesus.
45. The enemy’s footholds in the life of the believer have to be pulled down - one by one. Jesus began to build his Church with 12 flawed people.
46. “If you ever think you are too small to make a difference, you have never been to bed with a mosquito.”
47. Believers should not even mention the names of foreign gods. Joshua ch 23 v 7.
48. A man should hold onto a vision and not let others discourage him. Others will not see it or appreciate it.
49. There can be far reaching effects of prayer, if it is truly in the power of the Holy Spirit.
50. Politicians squander money to build their own image. Saul disobeyed God and was rejected. Today image and appearance are everything. God looks on the heart.
51. Jesus invites a man to make decisions knowing the consequences. He did when He set out for Jerusalem. Weigh up the costs. Jesus had an iron will.
52. The Samaritan area was a territorial stronghold of Satan’s. It is still the same today. Even some believers are not willing to bless Israel. Few are interested. Jesus has been there.
53. When there is rejection of a man does it leave him with compassion for the lost or with anger?
54. Those with an inferiority complex are more likely to feel compassion.
55. Worship is a permanent matter while the sacrifice is a temporary matter. Believers are not immune from difficulties – quite the opposite. Response to the Word of God means righteousness – doing the right thing.
56. There were 13 silent years during which Abraham had to wait.
57. Achan was not to benefit from serving God. Politicians are not to benefit from serving the people.
Sins cannot be hidden. They will find a man out in time. This is a moral Universe. Sin has consequences for the family of a man.
58. Jesus was more concerned for the attitude of the Disciples.
59. It is dangerous to pray: “Send me” without having considered the consequences. Often there is a shallow commitment.
60. Jesus had no gimmicks to attract people. Do not look back to the old life or the earlier chapters wishing they had been different. They are now closed. The decision was made and the challenge is to press on.
61. Character is what a man is when no human being is watching.
62. The New World of America, hailed as the land of liberty, equality, freedom, prosperity and happiness, has been built on a monumental mountain of misery, blood, tears and broken promises that rises to Heaven. If past history of the U.S. judges it correctly, man can read in it broken treaties to sovereign nations that to this day have not been kept and see endless greed for power and wealth fuelled by an insatiable desire to control and dominate to the death, others less fortunate. There are weapons of mass destruction used to drive to extinction all who get in the way.
63. Stay in formation. Geese increase their flight range by 17% by flying in formation. Heb ch 10 v 25. Jesus said in Mat ch 6 v 26: “Look at the birds of the air.”
64. Jesus opens a man’s heart and then his wallet.
65. The nature of love is for a man to make someone outside of himself the centre of attention. The main problem believers have is that they do not know how much the Lord loves them. Believers have their strength impaired and their attention distracted by the faulty functioning of their inner life.
66. There are 3 unnatural things, which have invaded life
1. Sin – the unnatural evil of the soul
2. Error – the unnatural evil of the mind.
3. Disease – the unnatural evil of the body.
Sin begins with thoughts and then talks and finally acting. Watching adultery on television can lead
to participation. Jesus widened adultery form the action to lusting after a woman in the heart. Walk
carefully even among fellow believers. Weigh up the consequences carefully before acting.
67. There is a danger of being entangled, even by activities, which are not wrong in them selves. There are certain tests to apply.
1. Can I do this with a clear conscience and a heart at peace?
2. Can I enter into it wholeheartedly?
3. Can I do this to the glory of God?
4. Can I do this in the name of Jesus?
5. Can I thank God for this activity?
6. Will it be helpful to my spiritual life?
7. Might it enslave me?
8. Might it endanger my health?
9. Will it minister to my fallen nature or lead me into temptation? Is it in keeping with a proper stewardship of time and money?
10. Will it cause my weaker brother to stumble?
11. Is it likely to be misunderstood?
68. Proverbs ch 12 v 15. A wise man listens to advice. A man should be careful to whom he listens to for advice.
69. A man should never look at what he has lost but should count what he has left. Weigh eternity with the present World.
70. God tells believers to bless their enemies. Sometimes God uses their enemies to bless them. “I am never down. I am either up or I am getting up.”
71. Parents are responsible to give their children love, rules to live by, light and instruction regarding God and life – a walk with God.
72. The word “logos” means the reason why. Hence zoology and all the “ologies.” The reason why is seeing things as they really are. The reason why is Jesus. The word – logos – reason why – became flesh in Jesus. Logos became personified.
73. An "earthquake," according to the figurative language of the Apocalypse just means a great political convulsion.
74. God cares for the nations who ignore Him and uses His own people who have a special responsibility to be an instrument of blessing towards them - the needy, the persecuted, the sick and the refugees. Gal ch 6 v 10.
75. Egypt was the smithy in which was forged the nation that was to be God’s chosen instrument for making Himself known to the World, the truth about himself and ultimately to bring salvation to the World. The time in Egypt taught the Hebrews about running a civilised country. Moses had been educated at the court of Egypt. The religion of Egypt was steeped in magic and the occult.
76. A shield is something, which comes between the enemy and the soldier. God is the believer’s shield. No enemy activity can reach him unless it is first allowed past God. Satan knows that a man cannot keep all the moral laws. By encouraging a man to try he knows that the man will fail. There is a danger of repeating doctrine and warning against watering down doctrine but at the same time limiting the people to being hearers of the word and not doers of the Word.
77. Real listening is paying attention.
78. When money is a man’s objective, he must live in fear of losing it. This makes him paranoid and suspicious.
When fame is his aim, he becomes competitive, lest others upstage him. This makes him envious.
When power and influence drives man, he becomes self-serving and strong-willed. This makes him arrogant.
When possessions become a man’s god, he becomes materialistic, thinking enough is never enough. This makes him greedy.
All these pursuits fly in the face of contentment and joy.
79. Reciting laws was a useless pastime unless lives matched the words recited. In Psalm 51 David asked to be changed. It may be that as a man is changed situations will change also.
80. Recovering the lost generation. God seeks a godly generation. Gen ch 23 v 2. Illegitimate children will find it hard to accept the Gospel. They become non-achievers in the spiritual realm. Marriages are blessed by priests and not by the government through registrars.
81. God is going to do it with or without a believer. He is just giving the believer an opportunity to get involved with Him.
82. Does a man keep his word even when it costs him? Can people depend on him to do what he has promised?
83. When Rockefeller was asked: ”How much does it take to satisfy a man?” He said: “A little more than he has right now.”
84. A man should be thankful that God has not turned him over to himself.
85. A man should be careful with whom he shares his dream or they may steal it from him. Often it will be someone who never had a dream of his own. Or if he did, he has abandoned it. They will not be able to handle it.
86. A man should not burn the bridge he himself might have to cross some day. A man should build thoughtful behaviour back into his relationships.
87. Marital disagreements fall into 5 categories – money, sex, in-laws, kids and household responsibilities.
88. In Jesus’ day a child was the most unimportant and insignificant member of society. It is often by sharing the things of God that they become more relevant.
89. If a man does not work on improving himself every day, he could be stuck in the same place, doing the same things, hoping the same hopes, but never gaining new ground or developing spiritually.
90. Faith is not ignoring the obvious. That is denial. Acknowledging a problem is not an expression of doubt.
91. Samson’s self-confidence led to the most appalling disaster and suffering mental, spiritual and physical. It is a great danger for a man to think that he can manage himself. For believers the contact with other believers is not to be casual and careless but deliberate, concerned and whole-hearted. A believer cannot live the Christian life by himself.
92. New believers are not able to handle their new freedom and need to mature. As believers grow older they see matters from a different perspective. New believers need older believers to teach them.
93. One of the principles of mental health is this: A man cannot change what he will not acknowledge. Zech ch 5 v 5 pictures a woman in a basket with the lid on. A man tends to push his problems down into the subconscious and put the lid on them, hoping that they will go away. Skeletons do not disappear.
94. Secrecy and deception poison family relationships. A guilty conscience makes a man a coward and destroys trust and breeds paranoia.
95. Luke ch 18 v 35. Bartimaeus cried out for Jesus. The disciples told him to be quiet. He was disturbing the meeting. “It is not those who hear my words but those who do them.” The Disciples wanted to hear the words but for Jesus it was time for action.
96. Amos ch 3 v 7. God never does anything without revealing it to the prophets. There is great emphasis on prophecy today but what about the prophecies, which have lain hidden in the Scriptures for centuries and are coming to fruition today. Should believers not be interested in and excited by these?
97. Mankind has an insatiable desire to know the future. There are events in a man’s life, which he should be glad he did not know about in advance. Faith is being content to leave the future in God’s hands.
98. Every step of obedience opens the way ahead to a greater revelation of God. The preacher counts for nothing, if he does not act out what he preaches.
100. There is evidence of a direct relationship between the circulation rate of pornographic magazines and the number of rapes in a particular area.
101. The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.
102. President Kennedy said: “Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind.”
103. Bertrand Russell said: “We must very soon have World government or universal annihilation.”
104. In Italy it is the opera. In Switzerland it is the Alps. In Russia it is the Party. In America it is baseball. In Israel it is the Bible. It is the principal pastime of the people.
105. On every hand writers are stating that society has gone sour and civilisation is sick. The scent of death is upon it. Within six centuries earthquakes have increased by 189%. 80% of the World’s scientists are alive today.
106. Atheism as a philosophy of life is not content today to go its own way. Its proponents are getting more and more egotistical, haughty, militant and aggressively scornful of believers.
107. Imagine the Queen going into the cell of a condemned criminal who had rejected her and rebelled against her and had killed her son. She says that she loves him and offers him a free royal pardon. She offers to set him free and take him home to her palace and make him the heir to the throne. She will give him all the rights and privileges of royalty. Eph ch 2 v 6. This is what God has done.
108. There is one olive tree. The original olive tree of the Jewish people was not cut down and another planted beside it. If the Believers today were more concerned about their Jewish roots the Jewish people might become jealous.
109. A boy fell out of bed. When his mother asked him why he fell out he said: “perhaps when I got into bed I did not move far enough from the place where I got in.” Many believers slip away because they have not moved deeper into the Word of God.
110. God uses failures. Moses was a murderer. Rahab was a prostitute. David was an adulterer. Solomon was consumed with his riches. Elijah got depressed. Samson was addicted to women. Jeremiah wanted to die. Peter was a denier of the Lord.
111. John ch 8. Jesus described Satan as the father of lies. The first lie by Satan was that a man would have a better quality of life, if he lived independently of God. Many astute people have persuaded less astute people that this is true.
112. The picture of Jesus hanging on a cross hides the essential Jewishness of Jesus – the knife mark in the flesh of His circumcision. Without the lion cloth there would have been a visible reminder that Jesus was a Jew. In that event would Christians down through the centuries have carried out all the pogroms against His fellow Jews?
113. Isaiah ch 60 v 8. Who are these who fly like a cloud to Israel, like doves to their nests?
114. Israel is the only thing, which stands between Russia and a Communist takeover of the Middle East.
115. When Jesus met with His Disciples to observe the Passover and institute the Lord’s Supper, the shadow of Satan fell across the room. Only Jesus saw that shadow and felt its chill. As Satan fuelled the hatred of the Jewish leaders and entered into Judas he was, in spite of himself, hastening the confrontation at Calvary, which would be his own doom. Satan hovered near to Jesus like a moth unable to stay away from a flame. The closer he dared to come the more certain his destruction.