Sermon Illustrations

No magnet draws Christians from around the world with more frequency and satisfaction than the Church of The Holy Sepulcher. Located in the Christian quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, no trip to the Holy City is complete without a visit to the traditional sight of the place of our Savior’s crucifixion. A mixture of Crusader and Byzantine styles filled with religious trappings, it sits as one of the sad wonders of conflicted modern living.

The church is stewarded by a number of Christian sects, which maintain the shrine on a daily basis. Because of the notorious jurisdictional infighting, for years these groups have not been able to agree on who should keep the keys, when to open and close the shrine, and who should serve the pilgrims’ needs. Guess who controls the entry to one of the holiest of Christian shrines? A family that is not even Christian. A Muslim family comes daily and opens and closes the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

Christian, let’s remove all obstructions of conflicted life and provide an open heaven for our prayers. He wants to give us the keys to the Kingdom if, like the writer of Hebrews says, we will learn to, “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy.” (Heb. 12:14NIV)

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