Sermon Illustrations

I read recently about a young boy who had been alienated from his family and found himself homeless. Can you imagine what that’s like? No home. No place to go. No money. Nothing. He was homeless and on the street.

He said, "I was terrified. I spent the first night in the doorway of a building,

trying to keep warm and get out of the wind. Some other young men on the street saw men and realized that I didn’t know what to do. They shared their food with me in the park. Then they took me to a soup line. That night, they showed me how to find shelter. There were about a hundred of us lined up to go into that shelter. I was frightened and shaking in my boots." "We got in there ... a hundred of us on these cots in one room ... and when they turned the lights out,

I was terrified. I heard all this coughing and people shifting around, trying to get comfortable. Then over in the corner, somebody began to say, ’Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed by Thy name...’" "Then it seemed as like all one hundred of us joined in that prayer in unison. I never felt so close to God in my life. I learned that night that whoever and wherever you are, God is with you. Now I’m seeing God’s love and grace in brothers and sisters everywhere."

God says, "I’ll be with you. You’ll have Me. You’ll have My purpose running through your life. You’ll have My power coursing in your veins and in your life.

You’ll have My presence with you, and you have wonderful changes in store."