Sermon Illustrations

A young woodsman came into a store one day to buy a new axe. He manually chopped down trees. He saw an advertisement on the counter a chainsaw. The advertisement said, “Will cut down ten times the trees that can be cut by a hand axe.”

Well, the woodsman seeing this for the first time got very excited, and he bought the chain saw. He came back a week later fiery upset. He said to the salesman, “You told me that this chainsaw would cut down ten times the amount of trees in a week that I cut could cut down using my axe. I have been using this chainsaw all week long, and I still haven’t cut down my first tree. I want my money back.” Well the salesman couldn’t understand this. He took the chainsaw, looked it over, checked it. Checked the oil and the gas. Flipped the switch. Pulled the cord, and all of a sudden the chainsaw begins to roar, and the woodsman said, “What’s that noise?”

You see, he didn’t understand. You don’t get a chainsaw to still chop down the tree itself. You get a chainsaw to allow its power to go to work on your behalf. The chainsaw has already got the power—He just needs you to be available to use it.