Sermon Illustrations

John 3:16” In Chicago during the Great Depression there was a little boy who sold newspapers on the street corner to help provide for his family. His tattered jacket that was about three sizes too small provided little relief from the bitter Winter Chicago wind.. On one particularly cold day the young man was nearly frostbitten when a policeman approached him.

“Son, do you know that big white house on the corner a couple of blocks up?

“Yes sir. I pass it every day on my way to this corner.”

“Well, I want you to walk over there, step up onto the porch and knock on the door. When the lady that lives there answers just say “John 3:16

The young man did as he was told. He walked up to the door and knocked. A kind face appeared at the door and the boy looked up and said “John 3:16”. The gentle lady opened the door wide and invited the cold, shivering, dirty little boy to come into the living room where there was a roaring fire blazing in the fireplace. As he sat there getting warm and cozy he said to himself, “John 3:16. I don’t understand it; but it sure does make a cold little boy warm!”

Soon that lady came out and led the boy into the dining room where there was a feast of all the foods that he loved. She sat him down and he began to eat. He ate until he couldn’t stuff another bite in his mouth; and then he said to himself, “John 3:16. I don’t understand it, but it sure does make a hungry little boy full!”

After he had eaten the kind woman took him up to a huge bathroom with a large bathtub filled with water and bubbles. “You take a nice bath and then put on these pajamas”, she told him. As the young man sat in the first bath he had in quite a long time and scrubbed through the layers of dirt, he said to himself, “John 3:16. I don’t understand it, but it sure does make a dirty little boy clean.”

After his bath the lady brought him to a bedroom that had the biggest bed he had ever seen. He laid down and immediately fell fast asleep. In the morning he awoke to the smells of his favorite breakfast, bacon and eggs. As he was getting dressed in the clothed the woman had laid out for him, the boy said to...

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