While conducting a revival meeting at Grand Forks, North Dakota, I preached
one afternoon on the subject of worldliness. An attorney and his wife from
Langdon, North Dakota were staying in the city to attend the meeting. After
hearing this sermon the wife would not attend the services any more. At the
close of the Sunday afternoon service, two days later, the attorney came to
me and said, "The Holy Spirit was in the meeting this afternoon, wasn't
He?" I replied that He was, and he continued, "Every sinner present was
saved and something happened to me that I never remember having experienced
before. I cried like a child!"
I asked him why his wife had quit coming to the meeting. In reply he asked,
"Has Sister Hansen told you anything about us and our home?" I said, "Yes,
you once gave a minister twenty-two-hundred pieces of money, they were all
pennies. You did a good thing. This is all Sister Hansen ever told me about
you folks. I have heard nothing whatever about you."
He referred to the sermon on worldliness and said, "In your talk, you
practically, set a price on everything we have in the home, such as
curtains, carpets, furniture and the range; and you illustrated it this
way: 'Supposing a person could buy a suitable range for $42.50 but seeing
another, just the same kind only with nickel-plated trimmings, for $82.00
and he would choose the latter, wouldn't that be called the pride of the
eye?' And that is just the kind of range we have! and my wife could not see
it that way." She thought that Sister Hansen had told me and did not get
that out of her mind and was finally lost, the husband said.
I was preaching under the leading of the Holy Spirit and in what I said I
had no one in mind in using that illustration, but was simply trying to
show that such money could be used to better purpose and that sometimes
when folks yielded to the temptation to take the finer appearing article
they might be going beyond their means.
* * * * *
One Sunday morning when I was pastor in Grand Forks and had just gotten
through preaching a man came rushing up to the pulpit and said in a rough
voice, "Who told you all about me?" I put out my hand and said, "My name is
Susag, what is your name?" He answered, "You stood before this audience
this morning and told them everything I have ever done!" I answered, "Dear
man, I don't know you, nor have I ever heard of you, what is your name?" He
looked around, then turned and out he ran! I never saw the man again.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account