In the book Handyman of the Lord, William Borders tells the story of a black man whose poverty had left him begging for food. Ringing the front doorbell at a Southern mansion, the man was told to go around to the back, where he would be given something to eat. The owner of the mansion met him on the back porch and said, “First we will bless the food. Repeat after me, ‘Our Father, who art in heaven…’” The hungry man replied, “Your Father, who art in heaven…” “No,” the owner of the house corrected. “Our Father who art in heaven…” Still the beggar said, “Your Father who art in heaven…” Frustrated, the giver of the food asked, “Why do you insist on saying ‘your father’ when I keep telling you to say ‘our Father’? The man answered, “If I say ‘our Father,’ that would make you and me brothers, and I’m afraid the Lord wouldn’t like it, you askin’ your brother to come to the back porch to get a piece of bread.” **From the book, "A Love Worth Giving" by Max Lucado
William Border
~Story of Philip Yancey~ A little seven year old boy went into a drug store and tried to steal some penny candy. He was unsuccessful, but instead of being reported to the was made to go home and tell his parents what he had done. this task was the most difficult he had ever faced. He had fleeting thoughts of breaking his arm on purpose, of running in front of a car, of doing anything that would relieve him of the dreadful conversation with his parents. But the conversation took place. The boy’s father had one immediate reaction: “My son is a criminal.” Those words cut to the heart. They were terrible, but they were true: seven years old-a criminal. But the boy’s weeping mother took only a few seconds to respond to that verdict: “My son is not a criminal; he’s going to be a preacher.” Philip Yancey was that boy, and his mother’s response was a lesson in love. However, it turned out that both of them were wrong. He became neither a preacher nor a criminal, but a professor. Book: "Reaching for the Invisible God by Philip Yancey"
Philip Yancey Story
Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) was the youngest child of a large family. The father was a prosperous merchant, and the atmosphere of the home was one of comfort, strictest devotion to church and religion, and melancholic gloom. Moravian preachers had so deeply stirred up the people by religious revival that even children laboured under a sense of sin and wished they had never been born. Week after week thunders sermons of damnation had been showering upon the peasants to shock them into virtue and frighten them into heaven. As a university student Soren devoted himself at first to theology but soon turned to the study of literature and philosophy.
Soren Kierkegaard: Philosopher
Neitzsche was born in Roecken, the son of a Lutheran minister and grandson of two clergymen. His father baptized his own child. Neitzsche was the one who said that God has died. He said, “the Christian belief in a life after death has reduced life’s value on earth. man has put his hope in the future instead of perfecting himself here and now. Death is final, and nothing follows it... Only life matters; it is absolute, whereas death is irrelevant. Christianity has made of death nothing but a gruesome comedy, a perversion of all values. In the Christian hereafter the healthy and strong ones are punished, while inhibited, slavish ones receive the ample fulfilment of bliss because they have repressed their best natural impulses in life. They have lived in fear of life, anxious to attain heaven.
Neitzsche: Atheist
When the famous evangelist Sadhu Sunder Singh was first converted to Christianity, he faced a barrage of questions. Why did he leave the Sigh religion of his ancestors? He replied simply, “Jesus Christ.” What did Christianity offer that Sikhism could not? Again, his answer was simple: “Jesus Christ.” What Christian teaching did he find so compelling? “Jesus Christ.” And what reward in Christianity could ever repay the loss of his family, his friends, and his future in Indian society? His answer again was “Jesus Christ.” *From Robert Black & Ronald McClung-A Commentary for Bible Students (1 & 2Timothy, Titus, Philemon)
Sadhu Sunder Singh: Preacher
Francis of Assisi once invited a young priest to join him on a preaching tour. Through the city streets they walked, meeting and mingling with people, until finally they returned to the starting point. The novice was puzzled. “I thought we were going to preach,” he protested. “We have preached,” Francis replied. “We preached as we walked.”
Francis of Assisi: Priest
When the great pastor and evangelist Charles Spurgeon was asked, “How shall I defend the Bible?” he replied, “How would you defend a lion? Let it out of its cage and it will defend itself!”
Charles Spurgeon: pastor
President Abraham Lincoln was an agnostic until he reached the age of forty. Then he read Dr James Smith’s brilliant examination called The Christian’s Defence that proved the historical reality of the events in Christ’s life. The overwhelming evidence from this book convinced Lincoln with the result that he became a genuine Christian for the rest of his life. “My doubts scattered to the winds and my reason became convinced by the arguments in support of the inspired and infallible authority of the OT and NT. *From the book, "The Signature of God"-Grant R. Jeffrey
Abraham Lincoln: President
Nate saint, one of the missionaries, was a pilot. He wrote, “People who do not know the Lord ask why in the world we waste our lives as missionaries. They forget that they too are expending their lives… and when the bubble has burst, they will have nothing of eternal significance to show for the years they have wasted.” From Newsletter of INDIAN EVANGELICAL TEAM (July-August 2013)
Nate Saint: Missionary
Martin Luther’s Analogy on Faith “The person who does not have faith is like someone who has to cross the sea, but is so frightened that he does not trust the ship. And so, he stays where he is, and is never saved, because he will not get on board and cross over.”
Luther
Billy Graham on one occasion told of a meeting he had with German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, at one time mayor of Cologne, imprisoned by Hitler for his opposition to the Nazi regime, and later chancellor of the West German Federal Republic from 1949 to 1963. Adenauer picked up the broken pieces of his country and helped to rebuild it in a fractured world. On this occasion, he looked the evangelist in the eye and said, “Mr. Graham, do you believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead?” Graham, somewhat surprised by the pointedness of the question answered, “Of course I do.” To that confident reply Chancellor Adenauer said, “Mr. Graham, outside of the resurrection of Jesus, I do not know of any other hope for this world.”
