Sermon Illustrations

BE INTENTIONAL

A guy stopped at a local gas station and, after filling his tank, he paid the bill and bought a soft drink. He stood by his car to drink his cola and watched a couple of men working along the roadside. One man would dig a hole two or three feet deep and then move on. The other man came along behind him and filled in the hole. While one was digging a new hole, the other was 25 feet behind filling in the hole. The men worked right past the guy with the soft drink and went on down the road.

"I can’t stand this," said the man tossing the can into a trash container and heading down the road toward the men.

"Hold it, hold it," he said to the men. "Can you tell me what’s going on here with all this digging and refilling?"

"Well, we work for the government and we’re just doing our job," one of the men said.

"But one of you is digging a hole and the other fills it up. You’re not accomplishing anything. Aren’t you wasting the taxpayers’ money?"

"You don’t understand, mister," one of the men said, leaning on his shovel and wiping his brow. "Normally there’s three of us: me, Elmer and Leroy. I dig the hole, Elmer sticks in the tree and Leroy, here, puts the dirt back. "Now just because Elmer’s sick, that don’t mean that Leroy and me can’t work."

From a sermon by Steve Shepherd, "I Thank God For You" 8/1/2008

Related Sermon Illustrations

Related Sermons

  • Broken: How God Uses Defective People

    Contributed by John Beukema on May 1, 2013
    based on 4 ratings
     | 25,620 views

    The Bible is filled with stories of fractured lives and messy situations. From these we can learn truths about how God works.

  • Into The Wilderness Series

    Contributed by Chris Kelly on Jul 5, 2012
    based on 4 ratings
     | 19,031 views

    What I at first thought was a dry and boring book with no relevance to my life, turned out to be one of the most profound and exciting books in the bible, with full of application to my life! Learn how to make it through the "wilderness" of this life suc

  • Great Expectations Series

    Contributed by Tim Smith on Feb 26, 2012
    based on 1 rating
     | 16,765 views

    ?” People with a great life purpose reach forward with great expectations. Here’s the good news: God is able to abundantly exceed all that we ask or think. Said another way: your expectations will never be so great that God is not able to more than meet

  • Saved For A Purpose

    Contributed by Daren Mitchell on Dec 10, 2013
    based on 1 rating
     | 10,786 views

    You don't have to be a theological scholar to figure out what God expects of those who follow Jesus. He made it really clear. Take care of those who are in need in Jesus Name because you love God and you love people.

  • What Is Man? Series

    Contributed by Perry Greene on Feb 7, 2012
    based on 1 rating
     | 8,896 views

    Psalm 8 asks a probing question and indirectly answers some basic ones -- Who Am I?; Why Am I Here?; Who Is God?