Sermon Central
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A Lost World Is Watching You!
Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Feb 22, 2024 (message contributor)
Before he became D.L Moody’s famous song leader, Ira Sankey was assigned to night duty in the American Civil War.
While on duty one night, he lifted his eyes toward heaven and began to sing, praising the Lord while he was alone. At least, he thought he was alone.
Years later, after the war had ended, Sankey was on a ship traveling across the Atlantic Ocean. Since he was now a famous singer a crowd of people approached him and asked him to sing.
He lifted up his eyes toward heaven and sang a beautiful hymn.
After his song, a man from the crowd asked him if, on a certain night during the Civil War, he had performed night duty for a certain infantry unit.
Sankey said, “Yes, I did.”
The man continued, “I was on the opposite side of the war, and I was hiding in a bush near your camp. With my rifle aimed at your head, I was about to shoot you when you looked toward heaven and began to sing.
I thought, ‘Well, I like music, and this guy has a nice voice. I'll sit here, let him sing the song... and then shoot him. He’s not going anywhere.’ But then I realized what you were singing. It was the same hymn my mother used to sing at my bedside when I was a child. And it’s the same hymn you sang tonight! I tried, but that night during the Civil War, I was powerless to shoot you!”
Ira Sankey led that man to Christ. He and thousands of others were saved under Sankey’s ministry. All this stemmed from the fact that Sankey praised the Lord at all times.
A lost world is watching what we do and listening to what we say.
- Precept Austin
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