Sermon Illustrations

THE STORY OF THE GOOD PIZZA (names changed to protect people)

Our young three year old daughter loves the locally owned Sherry’s Gustavo’s Pizza Store. We eat at the buffet almost every week. She eats one slice of pepperoni and one slice of "sweet pizza", crust with cinnamon and iced glaze.

One day, my wife ordered pizza from another Gustavo’s Pizza. Our daughter took one bite and spit it out. "It’s not Sherry’s Gustavo’s Pizza House pizza." My wife explained that it was the same as Sherry’s just from a different location. "It’s not Sherry’s pizza. It tastes bad." No amount of convicing would change her mind; it was not Sherry’s and it was not any good. She has come to be a true connoisseur of Sherry’s Gustavo’s Pizza House pizza, so much so, that she immediately knew when it came from a Gustavo’s other than Sherry’s.

The same should be so true of us when we study the Holy Scriptures. We should get so familiar with them that when we hear someone on the radio or TV, read something, or someone comes knocking on our door presenting a contrary doctrine, we know it immediately. It is then that we can recognize it, spit it out, and reject it.