Sermon Illustrations

*Peter missed 3 opportunities to take a stand for Jesus.

-How many opportunities have we missed?

*Penn Gillette is a magician and comedian that you may have seen on TV. He is also an atheist. But Penn has a clip on YouTube where he tells about a man who talked to him after a show last year. This businessman had been to the show the night before, and he came back, not to see the show again, but to see Penn after the show and give him a Gideon New Testament.

*The man told Penn, “I wrote in the front of it And I want you to have this. I am kind of proselytizing.” (We would usually say “witnessing” and today we would say “confessing.”)

*As Penn talked about that encounter, he was obviously moved and said, “He looked me right in the eye, and it was really wonderful. I believe he knew that I was an atheist, but he was not defensive. And he looked me right in the eyes and he was truly complimentary and kind and nice and sane. And then gave me this Bible.

*If you believe that’s there’s a heaven and a hell, and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life or whatever. -- And you think that well it’s not really worth telling this because it would be socially awkward.

-How much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize them?

-How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?

*I mean if I believed beyond the shadow of a doubt that a truck was coming at you and you didn’t believe it, and that truck was bearing down on you. There is a certain point where I tackle you, and this is more important than that.

*This guy was a really good guy. He was polite and honest and sane. -- And he cared enough about me to proselytize and give me a Bible, which had written in it a little note to me and then like five phone numbers and an email address, if I wanted to get in touch with him.”

Partial transcript from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JHS8adO3hM

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