Sermon Illustrations

2. ex. Loyd Neal was mayor of Corpus Christi from 1997-2004, and has served as Judge for Nueces County

a. Regardless of how you may feel about him politically, a while back they wrote a great story about him in the Caller-Times.

- Fresh from active duty in the U.S. Army, Neal began his civilian career in 1962 selling boxes of soap to small family-owned grocery stores in the ethnic Asian neighborhoods of San Antonio.

- His job was simple: sell as much soap as possible.

b. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t move his product.

- Confused and discouraged, he consulted his boss, who told him he had a problem he would need to overcome.

- His size.

- At 6-foot-5 and 248 pounds, Neal is a formidable man.

c. The boss told Neal his smaller customers were intimidated by Neal’s height.

- Neal, then 25, took the advice, and began kneeling when he tried to make a sale, bringing himself eye-to-eye with his customers.

- It was an important lesson in humility - one Neal said he carried with him during his four terms as mayor.

3. That is a picture of what spiritual humility looks like.

a. Humility bows down.

- Only in our case, we’re not selling soap.

- We are submitting ourselves to the Savior of our souls.

- That’s humility.

b. Jesus set the example for us.

- The King... the Creator... stepped into our world and surrendered himself on our behalf.

- He got down to eye level so that we could see... so that our spiritual eyes could be opened.