Sermon Illustrations

W.A. Criswell was pastor of a country church when he was in college. He had a family in his church named Davison. They were some of the finest people. One day he complimented one of the Davisons on their love and loyality to Christ. He said, "Tell me why the Davisons are so devoted and active for Christ." The man said, "When we were boys we were rough and wild and rowdy. Every Saturday night we took our pistols and our bottles of liquor and went in to town, where we had a hilarious time. Our good Christian mother pled with us to not do this but we paid no attention to her. One Sunday morning we came home around 2:00 a.m. We put the horses in the barn and headed for the house, and then we heard the voice of someone over in the grove. We went over there and found our mother on her knees, praying. We took her into the house. We told her that she should not do this anymore." But she said, "Yes, I will be coming back. I have decided that when you are in town on Saturday night, I will spend every minute out here on my knees praying for you." The next Saturday night we took our pistols and bottles to town, but we didn't enjoy the evening because we couldn't help but think of our mother on her knees in the grove. We went back another Saturday night and it was worse. When we reached home we said, "Mother, we can't stand this anymore. Show us the way to Christ. We want to be the Christians you want us to be. We were all converted and that is why we are the Christians we are today."

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