Sermon Illustrations

The fountain of youth has been told in stories since medieval times. The Fountain of Youth is a mythical spring that restores the youth of anyone who drinks or bathes in its waters. Many have gone on conquests to find this mythical spring of water, but all have failed. In 1565, a Spanish explorer named Pedro Menéndez de Avilés established the first Spanish settlement in America, or the New World. This settlement is now located in modern day St. Augustine, Florida. Menéndez was on a political gain, and, on his conquest, he claimed he had found the fountain of youth. Many settlers came from Spain and other areas to see the fountain of youth after hearing of its great stories. Now, even today, there is a park in St. Augustine in memory of this first settlement and fountain of youth.

In the olden days, every man and woman longed to find the fountain of youth, to live forever and to be eternally young. One of the facts of life is that we all are aging. The Bible tells us that in Ecclesiastes 3:1 “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.” In verse 11 it states, the one who has made everything appropriate in its time has also “set eternity in our hearts.” Mankind doesn’t want to die. Mankind doesn’t want to grow old – he wants to live forever. Men and women desire to have the perfect body and the perfect mind. We long to run and not get tired and to walk and not become weary. We do not like the thought of getting older and facing our own mortality even when the signs are all around us.