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I once read a story about a conflict that took place between two Indian Rajahs. The one defeated the other and took captive the son of his rival, and the day he was to return to his own palace he prepared to march into the city in triumph. There was a great procession of elephants, cavalry, infantry, and a long line of captives.
Among them was the young prince. He was told that we was to walk bare-footed and bare headed. He was indignant and said, "What! Go in like that! What will people think! Imagine the faces they will make!" The rajah said, "You haven't heard all yet. You shall carry a bowl of milk in your hand, and if you spill so much as a drop, you will lose your head at the close of the procession!" In a few minutes they brought the bowl of milk, and two guards walked with him, one on either side, and the procession started to move.
On and on they went for perhaps a mile or more into the presence of the rajah. And the young prince walked along holding the bowl of milk. It seemed to him he would never finish without spilling some of it, but he completed the ordeal safely. Finally, he stood before the Rajah, "Well young prince, what kind of faces did the people make?"
The prince looked up and said, "Your majesty, I did not see the faces of the people. I saw only my life which I held in my hands and I knew one false step would make me lose my life.
Friends, if we will keep our eyes on Jesus like the young prince kept his eyes on that milk we will not worry what people think about us!
- John Ironside
Source: John Ironside
Topics/Tags: Embarrassment; Appearances; Approval; Boldness
When Norris W. Fulfer was a student pastor at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in California, he often picked up hitchhikers while driving back his church to the school. One night he picked up a sailor headed back to base after a weekend leave. The young serviceman sprawled comfortably in the minister's car and told how tired he was after living it up all Saturday night. He described how he and his girl friend had done about everything moral and immoral in the books and what a wonderful time he had.
Fulfer listened courteously until sailor was finished then said he would like to describe what he had done over the weekend. He began to tell about the sermon he had preached Sunday morning and also shared what Jesus meant to him as his Lord and Savior.
Very quickly the hitchhiker said that he was too tired to listen and that he was going to take a nap. The minister then stopped his car on the edge of the dark highway and reached across to open the passenger's door. "You have been my guest," Fulfer explained. "I have courteously listened to you. Now if you cannot show me the same courtesy, perhaps you had better walk back to the base."
To say the least, the sailor had a quick change of heart, and immediately straightened up in the seat to listen. As the student preacher shared Christ, the sailor made a profession of faith right there riding down the highway.
_________
Could it be that we sometimes let unrepentant persons off the hook too easily? Have you determined that you will let nothing stand in the way of your sharing Christ with the lost?
Source: Hastings' Sermon Illustrations
Topics/Tags: Evangelism; Determination; Confrontation; Boldness
A popular saying is, "Might makes right." Abraham Lincoln once turned that saying on its ear: "Let us have the faith that right makes might; and in that faith let us to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it."
Jude 1:3: "Contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.."
Source: Abraham Lincoln, 3/4/1861.
Topics/Tags: Determination; Boldness; Faith
A MINISTER'S BOLD MOMENT
A rather meek looking minister arrived at the pearly gates, and was greeted by St. Peter.
"Welcome to heaven!" said St. Peter. "You may go anywhere you like -- except on the pink clouds. Those are reserved only for those Christians who did something truly exceptional for their Lord."
The minister was dumbfounded. "But I DID do something exceptional!" he protested. "For fifteen years every Sunday my services were disrupted by violent motorcycle gangs. I was too timid to do anything about it. Then, finally, in a holy rage, I walked out from my church in the middle of the service and kicked all their motorcycles to the ground!"
"Hmm... and just when did that take place because I don't have THAT story in my files" asked St. Peter.
The minister looked at his watch. "Let me see. Well, it couldn't have been more than two minutes ago."
Source: unknown
A farmer went to eat out at a restaurant in town - and, as was his custom, he bowed his head and said a prayer before his meal.
At the next table were some rowdy young men who began to poke fun at him. "Hey, farmer!" said one, "that's out of vogue, man! Nobody prays nowadays!"
"Yes, indeed," said the farmer. "There are some members of my own household who won't pray before their meals."
"Hey, they must be real smart!" said the young man, "Who are they?"
The farmer answered dryly: "They are my pigs."
Source: unknown
Topics/Tags: Prayer; Prayerlessness; Boldness
A minister was leading a revival crusade when two young men began to heckle him from the front.
"Hey, preacher!" one of them called. "Let's see ya do a few miracles!"
"Yeah, Preacher!" shouted the other. "How's about some signs and wonders?"
The preacher came down from the pulpit, and gripped them both by their collars. "I'm sorry, we don't perform any miracles here," he said, "but we sure do cast out demons!"
Source: unknown
Topics/Tags: Revival; Boldness; Confrontation
"I've discovered that preachers have developed the art of ALMOST saying something."
Source: Bailey Smith, evangelist. Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary chapel address, 12/8/1998.
During World War II, a chaplain was talking to a soldier-- a tough, hard-drinking type who didn't wear his heart on his sleeve, yet whom the chaplain suspected came from a good, Christian family. The soldier asked, "Can you tell me how it is that sometimes when my nerves are all a-twitter, I suddenly feel calm and ready for anything?"
The chaplain paused for a moment, then said, "Might it not be that at such times your mother is praying for you?"
Source: "Sermon Illustrations for Holidays and Special Occasions"
[Denton Lotz, leader of the Baptist World Alliance, related this story at the 1999 Arkansas Baptist State Convention:]
A Romanian woman accepted Christ as her Savior and was immediately transformed by the unbelievable LOVE of God. She began going into restaurants and other public places and simply declaring to all who could hear, "Jesus loves you!"
She came to a railroad station and shared her message, "Jesus loves you!" with two men who were drunk. Immediately one of the men slapped her across the face. She looked at him and declared, "In the name of Jesus, I forgive you." Again he slapped her, and again she said, "In the name of Jesus, I forgive you."
As the men continued to beat her, she continued to testify to the love and forgiveness of Jesus. Finally they left her, nearly dead, where she was found by fellow believers.
A year later, she had recovered. One day she sat outside the front door of her home, and a passerby noticed her and approached her. He said to her, "I am a believer."
In order to test his sincerity (she was fearful that he might have been trying to trick her), she said, "Get down on your knees right there and praise God out loud." He did so. So she invited him in.
He said, "Don't you know who I am? I am the man who beat you up. Every time I would hit you, you would say, 'In the name of Jesus, I forgive you.' Because of your testimony to me, I could not help but turn to Jesus."
Source: Denton Lotz
Topics/Tags: Boldness; Persecution; Conversion; Forgiveness
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