Legacy Youth Ministry Resources

Illustration texts

One Solitary Life

"Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He worked in a carpenter shop until he was 30, and then for three years he was an itinerant preacher. He never held an office. He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put his foot inside a big city. He never traveled 200 miles from the place where he was born. He never did one of the things which usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but himself. While he was a young man, the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. He was turned over to his enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for the only piece of property he had on earth, and that was his coat. When he was dead, he was laid in a private grave through the pity of a friend. Nineteen wide centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race and the leader of the column of progress. I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that were ever built, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth, as that ONE SOLITARY LIFE. (James A. Francis)

Trinity Compared to Father, Son, Husband

How can God be one and three? No illustration describes it perfectly (can we expect to fully understand the nature of God?), but we do know that people can be one and yet three. I am a father to my son, a son to my father, and a husband to my wife. ? Copyright 2002 Steve Miller - All Rights Reserved

Trinity as Mystery

"He who denies the trinity will lose his soul. He who tries to understand the trinity will lose his mind." (Source unknown)

God and Sub Atomic Particles

Some may say that the trinity is a contradiction. "Either God is one, or He is three, but He can't be both." But we are not saying that the trinity concept is a logical contradiction, where God is one and three in the same way at the same time. We are merely saying that there is a oneness to God and a three-ness to God, and we don't pretend to be able to completely understand it. "But isn't dismissing it as a mystery just a cop-out?" No, because scientists often find phenomena that appear contradictory in nature, yet they don't trash the scientific method. For example, scientists have noted that in some experiments, light acts like waves. In other experiments, it acts like particles. It can't be both. We can't understand it. But we still believe in light. This problem with understanding the nature of light is a problem with atomic particles in general. Professor Ian Barbour observes that "the atomic world is not only inaccessible to direct observation, and inexpressible in terms of the senses; we are unable even to imagine it. ?? "For example, in some experiments we may picture electrons as waves and in others as particles, but there seems no consistent way of imagining what an electron is like in itself." (Issues in Science and Religion, p. 158) "One physicist suggested that on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays the electron is a wave, and on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays it is a particle!" (p. 281) Yet, we don't conclude that subatomic particles and light don't exist. We just assume that their nature is beyond our ability to explain. If we allow for such mystery in nature and in subatomic particles, wouldn't we expect some mystery when we try to understand the nature of God? ? Copyright 2002 Steve Miller - All Rights Reserved

You Made Us For Yourself

?You made us for yourself, and our hearts find no peace until they rest in You.? (Augustine, 4th cent. A.D.)

Enjoy God...

?The life that most enjoys God is the one that most glorifies God.? (Professor Roy Fish)

God Won't Ruin Our Lives

So many fear that if they give their lives to God, He will take all the joy out of their lives and make them miserable. Yet, imagine a son coming to his kind earthly father and saying, ?Father, I have not always been obedient in the past. But now I pledge myself to follow you fully.? Can you imagine the father responding, ?Ah ha! Bread and water for rations. Constant restriction from your friends. I?ll make you regret that you ever made that pledge!? How absurd! But if we would not expect this of our imperfect earthly fathers, how much less should we worry about our perfect heavenly father ruining our lives? ? Copyright 2002 Steve Miller - All Rights Reserved

One Passion

"I have but one passion-it is He, it is He alone. The world is the field, and the field is the world; and henceforth that country shall be my home where I can be most used in winning souls for Christ." (Nicholaus Ludwig (Count) Zinzendorf)

To Know Him is to Desire Him

It cannot be that any creature should know him as he is and not desire him. -- George MacDonald, Scottish author

The Glorious Employment of a Christian

Think often on God, by day, by night, in your business, and even in your diversions. He is always near you and with you; leave him not alone. You would think it rude to leave a friend alone who came to visit you; why, then, must God be neglected: Do not, then, forget him, but think on him often, adore him continually, live and die with him; this is the glorious employment of a Christian. In a word, this is our profession; if we do not know it, we must learn it. -- Brother Lawrence

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