Sermon Illustrations

LOVE OF CHRIST: "WE DON’T BELIEVE"

Fred Craddock once told the story of Oswald Goltar. He was a missionary sent to preach the gospel in India near the end of World War II. After many months the time came for a trip back home. His church wired him the money to book passage on a steamer, but when he got to the port city he discovered a boatload of Jews who had escaped from Germany had just been allowed to land temporarily. They had been wandering and had no place to go, so they were all crammed in an attic.

It happened to be Christmas, and on Christmas morning, this missionary went to one of the attics where the Jews were staying. He walked in and said, "Merry Christmas." The people looked at him as if he were crazy and responded, "We’re Jews." "I know that," said the missionary, "What would you like for Christmas?" In utter amazement, the Jews responded, "Why, we like pastries, good pastries like the ones we used to have in Germany."

So Oswald Goltar went out and used the money for his ticket home to buy pastries for all the Jews he could find staying in the port. Of course, he then had to wire home asking for more money to...

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