What Will Be Your Legacy?

But it is more than just a man sleeping in this passage of scripture. This man named Eutychus was sitting on a window sill while Paul preached a very lengthy sermon, and he fell out the window and died.

• We ministers are indeed thankful for this passage of scripture, because when we see men and women sleeping in church, it makes us feel better to know they also slept when Paul preached.

• We ministers also are thankful for this passage because it took Paul five hours to put one man to sleep and today most ministers can put a half- dozen to sleep in a thirty minute sermon.

Sleeping in church seems to be an age old problem in church services.

Illus: A minister decided he was going to do something about a man that often slept during his sermons.

While the man was sleeping, the pastor said, “All who want to go to heaven, please rise.” Everyone stood up except the sleeper.

Then, he walked over to where the man was sleeping and SCREAMED OUT, “All who wish to go to hell, STAND UP NOW!”

Only the sleeper stood up. The sleeper looked around and saw he was the only one standing, he said “I don’t know what we’re voting on, Reverend, but it looks like you and me are the only ones for it’.”

Illus: Dr. Odell Belger was preaching one night and a man went to sleep during his sermon. His Nephew was sitting beside him, and when he went into a deep sleep, he poked him in the side to get him to quit snoring. The man thought the preacher had called on him to pray, so he stood up and closed the service in prayer. He was embarrassed when he discovered he had prayed in the middle of the sermon.

Paul also had to deal with sleepers during his sermons.

Sometimes we Christians sit around and talk about some unusual things that have happened in church services.

Illus: Dr. Odell Belger was preaching a graduation sermon for a Christian School in York, South Carolina. Dr. Wayne Smith is the pastor of this great church. They held the graduation in the gymnasium to hold the large crowd that came out for this special event. When Dr. Belger got about three-fourths of the way through the sermon, Dr. Wayne Smith began to jump around on the platform which seem to be unusual for the circumstances of a graduation program. Then he sat back down like everyone else. After the graduation service was over, Dr. Belger said to Dr. Smith, “You really enjoyed that sermon didn’t you?” (Referring to the little shouting spell he had on the platform) Dr. Smith said, “Yes, I did but I need to explain why I was jumping around on the platform. While you were preaching, a rat ran up my leg and I caught him at my knee, I was not going to let him turn the curve, so I caught him with my hand and I squeezed him to death and I threw him over there.”

Dr. Belger looked over in the corner and sure enough there was a dead rat on the floor.

All kinds of unusual things happen in church. Paul had a very unusual thing happen to him.

Let’s look at it in Acts 20:7-12, we read, “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight. And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together. And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead. And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him. When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed. And they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted.”

After Paul had preached a five hour sermon, this man fell out of a third story window and it killed him. We do not know if he landed on his head or if it broke his neck! We do know that God used Paul to revive him and bring him back to life.

Illus: I guess Paul felt like the young boy that was sitting beside his dad and his dad went to sleep and started snoring. The preacher said to the young boy, “Son, wake your dad up!” The young boy said, “Sir, you put him to sleep, you wake him up.”