Salad Bar Faith
Some people approach what they choose to believe like they would a salad bar. They pick and choose what they like and disregard the rest. The problem with this approach is that God doesn’t give us a choice of what to believe but of whether to believe. We must be careful not to confuse these two things.
For example, people take issue with such things as whether or not God created everything in just six twenty-four-hour days, or whether there was a literal Adam and Eve, or whether Noah preserved all land animals during a worldwide flood, or whether Jesus is the only way to heaven. These things are questioned by some Christians even though they are presented forthrightly in the text of Scripture.
Nevertheless, many feel free to amend what God has said and still call it faith!
Of course, we can believe whatever we choose. But when we choose to contradict what God has communicated in His word, we have chosen doubt over faith. Once again, God doesn’t give us a choice of what to believe but whether to believe!
So, the next time someone scoffs at you for believing the Bible, explain to them that God hasn’t given you the choice of what to believe but whether to believe, and you have chosen faith.
"All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right" (2 Timothy 3:16, NLT).
When Sermon Illustrations Go Horribly Wrong
Everybody loves a great sermon illustration. I mean, that's why you're on this site right now, isn't it? A great illustration has the ability to drive home a point, make a lasting impression, and provide visual imagery that will linger in the minds of congregants long after the sermon is over.
But what happens when a sermon illustration goes terribly wrong — driving home the point, all right, just the wrong point driven in just the wrong place.
Well that's what happened to Pastor Scott Thomas of Free Life Chapel in Lakeland, Florida.
Cindy and I spoke on “Building A Marriage” and used a wedding cake for our illustration. To close the teaching, we stressed that if we build our marriages outside of God’s order… the whole cake (marriage) crashed!
All went well… until I slammed the cake upside down and SURPRISINGLY DISCOVERED that the cake company had implanted a dowel inside to hold the cake layers together.
When I slammed the cake upside-down the dowel pierced through the bottom of the cake and traveled completely through my hand! When I looked down… the dowel was sticking 5 inches out the back of my hand! I immediately pulled the stick out of my hand and tried to wrap my head around what just happened!
Cindy immediately slid me a towel… I wrapped my hand, finished the message and prayed to close out the session in the next 5 minutes.
Fortunately, Pastor Thomas is fine, with no lasting injury. And he and his wife were both able to laugh it off in the end. Yet it's an illustration that won't soon be forgotten.
Click here for video (ouch!).
As pastors and teachers we are all called to, "Do [our] best to present [ourselves] to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15, NIV).
To that end, we often employ sermon illustration to "drive home" our "point," even as Pastor Thomas so literally (albeit painfully) did. The right illustration can make just the right point at just the right time.
They won't all land quite the way we intended. They won't all be as memorable as we'd hoped. They certainly and hopefully won't be as painful as poor Pastor Thomas' was!
But a great bible teacher is always looking for ways to more dynamically communicate the truths of God's Word. To this end, if you've landed on this site, we applaud you! And we are blessed beyond measure to partner with you to that end!
Your Illustration Exchange Team
Keeping Our Eyes on the Banner of Freedom
When the Americans first occupied Manila, many prisoners that had been imprisoned for "political offenses" were set free. One of these crimes, according to the Spanish government, which then ruled the Philippines, was reading the Bible. One day a man came to famed Christian missionary Dr. Homer Stuntz, and asked to see him in strict privacy. He then asked in a whisper if it were true that he could now read his Bible without danger of imprisonment. Dr. Stuntz took him to the door and asked him to look at the American flag floating near by. Then he said, "So long as you see that flag floating over your country, you can sit on the ridgepole of your house, if you want to, and read the Bible, and no one can molest you."
Surely the American flag -- the banner of our freedom -- can offer one measure of assurance. Yet there is an infinitely (and eternally) greater banner under which we can claim not just our freedom, but our boldness to excercise such freedom, and that is the Cross of Christ. It is the symbol of our freedom from the bondage of the world, the flesh, and the devil. And it is likewise the symbol of our calling to boldly persist against pressure, persecution, and even penalty.
"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery" (Galatians 5:1, NIV).
"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36, NIV).