Sermon Illustrations

Story that occurred During WW I and the British liberation of Palestine.

British were coming up from Beersheeba chasing the Turkish soilders out of the land. In the pursit, the British army outdistanced the camel train that was carrying their water.

Soon their water bottles were empty and slowly many of the soilders began to become dehydrated and some even died because they had no water.

They knew that there were wells at Sheria and so they pressed on, knowing that if they did not take the wells there by nightfall thousands of them would die.

Listen to what Major v. Gilbert wrote about what happened that day:

“We fought that day as men fight for their lives. We entered Sheria on the heels of the retreating Turks. The first object which met our view were the great stone cisterns full of cold, clear drinking water. In the still night air the sound of water running into the tanks could be distinctly heard, maddening in its nearness; yet not a man murmured when orders were given for the battalions to fall in, two deep, facing the cisterns.”

As the water was distributed-first to the wounded, then to those who were to be on guard duty, then company by company. It took 4 hours until the last man had had his drink. During that time the men had stood no more than 20 feet away from thousands of gallons of water.

This is how Major Gilbert concludes his account:

“I believe that we all learned our first real Bible lesson on that march from Beersheba to Sheria wells. If such were our thirst for God, for righteousness, for His will in our life, a consuming, all embracing preoccupying desire, how rich in the fruits of the Spirit would we be.”

That is the level of desire that we are to have for righteousness.

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