Illustrations

[1Timothy115]

1. Do you have an illustration you would be willing to share?
2. Did it illustrate pure scripture, a doctrine based on scripture, Christian living, or something else?
3. What was the context (to who, circumstance, details, etc.)?

Here is one I like to use for faith; It's not perfect and I probably have never told it exactly the same twice.

1. You approach a chair to sit in. Do you always look behind you before you sit down? No, you don't always look before you sit because you know the chair is behind you. You believe and you trust it so, you sit backward into it. Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

2. In the case of this illustration, it was used to illustrate faith, an essential part of the doctrine of salvation.

3. I've used it most recently speaking with some Roman Church folks.

C'mon and share yours :idea:

[blossom]

This is a basic one, but when my children have said that they can't see God so he can't be real, I've asked them if they can see the wind, they say no or yes the trees moving. I then say the trees moving is the affect of the wind and we can see the effect of God in our lives even though we don't see him.

My 4year old recently asked this and we went through the above his response was "Does God come through the aircon"

Blossom

There was a good on on OBL I'll find it and post it here.

Good Idea for a thread Dave. :thumb

[1Timothy115]

This is a basic one, but when my children have said that they can't see God so he can't be real, I've asked them if they can see the wind, they say no or yes the trees moving. I then say the trees moving is the affect of the wind and we can see the effect of God in our lives even though we don't see him.

My 4year old recently asked this and we went through the above his response was "Does God come through the aircon"

Blossom

There was a good on on OBL I'll find it and post it here.

Good Idea for a thread Dave. :thumb

Thanks for the contribution blossom. I think your's is great! I'll be looking for the other later today.

[HappyChristian]

I'm going to put this thought on my blog sometime, but one day I was having a real problem seeing...then I realized (duh!) that my glasses were smudged. I took them off, and they were much worse than I realized. So I cleaned them, put them back on and WOW! The difference in the picture.

The application would be something like: as we go about our lives in this world, our spiritual eyes can get smudged. When we clean them with the water of the Word, it's amazing how much better we then see. We really need to clean them often throughout the day, so that we can walk properly with the Lord. "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law." Psalm 119:19

[Revelation3:20]

I think the best illustrations come as a gift from the Holy Spirit to the spiritually mature and tend to be tailored for a given situation. I have found that the most Godly people i have known I my life were regularly given illustrations by the Holy Spirit both for their own benefit and for the benefit of others. God is very much into illustrations since the NT tells us the all things which happened in the OT are for "ensamples" to us and speaking of Christ [bible]Matthew 13:34[/bible] says: "and without a parable spake he not unto them". I guess all of this is to say that if you want the ability to share good illustrations pray for the Spirit to give you the wisdom to see them rather than ask for the illustrations of others.[bible]James 1:5[/bible]

The ability to share good illustrations at the right time and in the right way takes Gods wisdom, and that can't be readily copied out of an illustration book as some pastors would like to do sometimes. :smile

Not to imply anyone here is a fool, but rather to show the dangers of copying the illustrations of wise men without having received that wisdom ourselves.

Proverbs 26:7 The legs of the lame are not equal: so is a parable in the mouth of fools.
Proverbs 26:9 As a thorn goeth up into the hand of a drunkard, so is a parable in the mouth of fools.

This should not be taken as being meant to discourage anyone from sharing illustrations God has given THEM. :smile

[trc123]

This is a basic one, but when my children have said that they can't see God so he can't be real, I've asked them if they can see the wind, they say no or yes the trees moving. I then say the trees moving is the affect of the wind and we can see the effect of God in our lives even though we don't see him.

My 4year old recently asked this and we went through the above his response was "Does God come through the aircon"

Blossom

There was a good on on OBL I'll find it and post it here.

Good Idea for a thread Dave. :thumb

Great illustration and the same application from gravity can also be made.

[trc123]

1. Do you have an illustration you would be willing to share?
2. Did it illustrate pure scripture, a doctrine based on scripture, Christian living, or something else?
3. What was the context (to who, circumstance, details, etc.)?

Here is one I like to use for faith; It?s not perfect and I probably have never told it exactly the same twice.

1. You approach a chair to sit in. Do you always look behind you before you sit down? No, you don?t always look before you sit because you know the chair is behind you. You believe and you trust it so, you sit backward into it. Hebrews 11:1 ?Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.?

2. In the case of this illustration, it was used to illustrate faith, an essential part of the doctrine of salvation.

3. I?ve used it most recently speaking with some Roman Church folks.

C'mon and share :ears:

What helps me to realize saving faith vs. head knowledge is the illustration of the jet liner. I may know that millions get on a jetliner each year and get to their destinations safely. I can know, say I know and totally believe I believe because I know that it will get me from point A to point B. BUT, until I actually make a decision and get on board the aircraft, I don't really have faith in it! A person can know (head knowledge) that Jesus is God and that Jesus "saves," BUT until they make that decision and get on board they don't have saving faith!

[1Timothy115]

I think the best illustrations come as a gift from the Holy Spirit to the spiritually mature and tend to be tailored for a given situation. I have found that the most Godly people i have known I my life were regularly given illustrations by the Holy Spirit both for their own benefit and for the benefit of others. God is very much into illustrations since the NT tells us the all things which happened in the OT are for "ensamples" to us and speaking of Christ [bible]Matthew 13:34[/bible] says: "and without a parable spake he not unto them". I guess all of this is to say that if you want the ability to share good illustrations pray for the Spirit to give you the wisdom to see them rather than ask for the illustrations of others.[bible]James 1:5[/bible]

The ability to share good illustrations at the right time and in the right way takes Gods wisdom, and that can't be readily copied out of an illustration book as some pastors would like to do sometimes. :smile

Not to imply anyone here is a fool, but rather to show the dangers of copying the illustrations of wise men without having received that wisdom ourselves.

Proverbs 26:7 The legs of the lame are not equal: so is a parable in the mouth of fools.
Proverbs 26:9 As a thorn goeth up into the hand of a drunkard, so is a parable in the mouth of fools.

This should not be taken as being meant to discourage anyone from sharing illustrations God has given THEM. :smile

Don't worry, I'm not discouraged, you can have an opinion. It's like sharing testimony at your local church. God may have given you an insight to help you communicate the scriptures.

[1Timothy115]

Keep those personal illustrations coming. They're all great! I would caution new contributors to be sure they give the 1-2-3s.

[blossom]

The illustration I read went something like this. Before I start this is not mine and if anyone remembers where I got it from feel free to acknowledge the source I just can't find it right now.

There was an older gent who attended church regularly every Sunday then out of the blue he stopped coming regularly and then stopped altogether. The Pastor of the church decided to visit him one cold night and knocked of his door. Well this older gentleman answered the door and said I 've been expecting you come in. So they go into the lounge room and sit down. There was a fire burning in the fire place, the coals were glowing red. The men sat together in silence each thinking about what to say. All of a sudden the Pastor got up and moved one of the coals away from the other coals and sat back down without saying a word. They both sat and watched as the coal on it's own slowly went out. The Pastor got up and said I'll be going now and the gentleman showed him to the door and said thankyou I'll see on Sunday.

The point being when we as Christians hang around each we stay on fire for the Lord when we go it alone our fire for the Lord dulls until we go cold. We need fellowship with each other.

God Bless

Blossom