Welcome to Albert's Sermon Illustrations

In this blog, I have collected many stories, quotes, jokes and ideas that I use regularly in my sermons.I have tried to put in the sources and origins of these illustrations. If I have missed some or gotten the wrong sources, please let me know. I will update them. Feel free to use these illustrations for the glory of God. If you have some illustrations that you like to contribute, kindly add them to my blog, so that I and others may benefit from them. God bless!
Reverend Albert Kang

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Wednesday, March 15, 2017

The Star Thrower


Early one morning, at the breaking of dawn, a young tourist took a walk by the beach that was near to his hotel. As he walked, he noticed that there was a human figure, moving like a dancer, far down the beach. He smiled to himself wondering who would dance at this time of the day. 

As he got closer, he realised that it was an elderly gentleman and he wasn't dancing. The elderly man was doing something far weirder than dancing - he was picking up something from the beach and throwing it far into the ocean.

As the tourist got closer, he called out, "Good morning! What are you doing?"

The elderly man paused, looked up and replied "Throwing starfish into the ocean."

The tourist corrected himself, "I guess I should have asked, ‘Why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?’"

The man pointed to the waking sky and said, "The sun is coming up fast and the tide is going out. And if I don't throw them back into the ocean, they'll die."

"But Sir, don't you realise that there are miles and miles of beach with countless stranded starfish. You can't possibly make a difference!"

The elderly man did not stop but picked up another starfish, threw it past the breaking waves, and said, "It made a difference for that one!"

Suddenly, it dawned on the young tourist that for that moment, while on the beach, he could make a difference for some starfish. With strong arms, the young man was able to gather and throw more starfish into the ocean. For the few days the young tourist was staying at the hotel, every early morning, he joined the elderly gentleman in throwing back starfish. He felt good that he could make a difference.

And that is our challenge today. There are many souls that need to know Jesus Christ as their Saviour. The number of people with such need is staggering. The only danger for us is when we throw up our hands and say that we cannot make a difference in helping these people into the Kingdom of God. Our only assignment is to find our starfish and throw them wisely back into the ocean of God’s love and forgiveness.

Yes, you can make a difference! Be a Star-thrower and Christ-witness for the Kingdom of God.



Adapted from Loren Eiseley’s book, ‘The Star Thrower’.