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Application
of Bible
Bible
Application of
There is a
story of a frontier settlement in the West whose people were engaged in the
lumbering business. The town wanted a church
so they built one and called a
minister. The preacher was well received until one day he happened to see some
of his parishioners clawing onto the bank some logs that had been floating down
the river from another village upstream. Each log was marked with the owner’s
stamp on one end. To his great distress the pastor saw his members pulling in
the logs and sawing off the end where the telltale stamp appeared.
The next Sunday
he prepared a forceful sermon on the text “Thou shalt not steal.” At the close
of the service
his people lined up and congratulated him: “Wonderful message
mighty fine preaching.” However
as the preacher watched the river that week he
saw his parishioners continuing to steal logs. This bothered him a great deal.
So he went home and worked on a sermon for the following week. The topic was
“Thou shalt not cut off the end of thy neighbor’s logs.” When he got through
the church membership ran him out of town.
The hardest
person to put under the correction of God’s Word is yourself. ── Michael P.
Green《Illustrations for Biblical
Preaching》
Translation of Bible
The
story is told of four ministers discussing the pros and cons of various Bible
translations and paraphrases. Eventually each stated which version
in his
opinion
is the best. The first minister said he used the King James because
the Old English style is beautiful and produces the most reverent picture of
the Holy Scriptures. The second said he preferred the New American Standard
Bible because he felt it comes nearer to the original Greek and Hebrew texts.
The third minister said his favorite was the paraphrased Living Bible because
his congregation was young
and it related to them in a practical way.
All
three men waited while the fourth minister sat silently. Finally he said
“I
guess when it comes to translations and paraphrased editions of the Bible
I
like my Dad’s translation best. He put the Word of God into practice every day.
It was the most convincing translation I’ve ever seen.” ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical
Preaching》
Context in Bible
There
is a story of two lawyers on opposing sides of a case. During the trial
one
thought he would make a great impression on the jury by quoting from the Bible.
So he said
concerning his opponent’s client
“We have it on the highest
authority that ‘All that a man has will he give for his skin.’”
The
other lawyer knew the Bible better. He said
“I am very much impressed by the
fact that my distinguished colleague here regards as the highest authority the
one who said
‘All that a man has will he give for his skin.’ You will find
that this saying comes from the Book of Job and the one who utters it is the
devil. And that is who he regards as the highest authority!” ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical
Preaching》
It is not what men eat but
what they digest that makes them strong; not what we gain but what we save that
makes us rich; not what we read but what we remember that makes us learned; not
what we preach but what we practice that makes us Christians.
Francis Bacon.
During the time of
slavery
a slave was preaching with great power. His master heard of it
and
sent for him
and said: "I understand you are preaching?"
"Yes
" said the slave. "Well
now
" said the master
"I will give you all the time you need
and I want you to prepare a sermon
on the Ten Commandments
and to bear down especially on stealing
because there
is a great deal of stealing on the plantation." The slave's countenance
fell at once. He said he wouldn't like to do that; there wasn't the warmth in
that subject there was in others.
I have noticed that people
are satisfied when you preach about the sins of the patriarchs
but they don't
like it when you touch upon the sins of today.
Moody's Anecdotes
p. 91.
An English preacher of the
last generation used to say that he cared very little what he said the first
half hour
but he cared a very great deal what he said the last fifteen
minutes. I remember reading many years ago an address published to students by
Henry Ward Beecher
in which he gave a very striking account of a sermon by
Jonathan Edwards. Beecher says that in the elaborated doctrinal part of
Jonathan Edwards' sermon the great preacher was only getting his guns into
position
but that in his applications he opened fire on the enemy. There are
too many of us
I am afraid
who take so much time getting our guns into
position that we have to finish without firing a shot. We say that we leave the
truth to do its own work. We trust to the hearts and consciences of our hearers
to apply it. Depend upon it
gentlemen
this is a great and fatal
mistake.
Dr. Dale
quoted in Preaching
G. Campbell Morgan
p. 89.
"If I profess with
the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God
except precisely that little point which the world and the Devil are at the
moment attacking
I am not confessing Christ
however boldly I may be
professing Christ."
Martin Luther.
Unused truth becomes as
useless as an unused muscle.
A.W. Tozer
That
Incredible Christian.
Booker's Law: An ounce of
application is worth a pound of abstraction.
The Official Rules
p. 16.
While D.L. Moody was
attending a convention in Indianapolis on mass evangelism
he asked his song
leader Ira Sankey to meet him at 6 o'clock one evening at a certain street
corner. When Sankey arrived
Mr. Moody asked him to stand on a box and sing.
Once a crowd had gathered
Moody spoke briefly and then invited the people to
follow him to the nearby convention hall. Soon the auditorium was filled with
spiritually hungry people
and the great evangelist preached the gospel to
them. Then the convention delegates began to arrive. Moody stopped preaching
and said
"Now we must close
as the brethren of the convention wish to
come and discuss the topic
'How to reach the masses.'" Moody graphically
illustrated the difference between talking about doing something and going out
and doing it.
Source Unknown.
A gray-haired old lady
long a member of her community and church
shook hands with the minister after
the service one Sunday morning. "That was a wonderful sermon
" she
told him
"-- just wonderful. Everything you said applies to someone I
know."
Bits & Pieces
November
1989
p. 19.
Context in Bible
On a Christmas card the following verse was cited: “They
exchanged gifts and made merry…(Rev. 11:10).” The context of the verse
which
describes anything but what it appeared to mean on the Christmas greeting
is
rejoicing over the death of God’s two witnesses at the hand of the beast.