Sermon Illustrations

MARTHA BALLARD: REVOLUTIONARY HELPER

Historian Laurel Ulrich received a Pulitzer Prize for her book The Midwife's Tale. The book was based on the diary of Martha Ballard, who lived during the American Revolution. Martha was a midwife who traveled by canoe, horse, or sometimes on foot to assist women in delivering their babies. At a time when many women died in childbirth, Martha's track record was extraordinary. In more than 1,000 deliveries, she never lost a mother in childbirth.

In God's kingdom, there is a spiritual Helper who produces new life. But His role is to bring about "second birth" (John 3:5-8). The Holy Spirit uses a variety of ways to accomplish this. He convicts the world of sin (John 16:8), empowers the gospel (1 Thessalonians 1:5), regenerates us from within (Titus 3:5), and places believers into eternal union with Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-13). Though He is invisible, His life-changing activity can be clearly seen.

(From a sermon by Ajai Prakash, Vision 2010, 12/16/2009)

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