Here's a cute story.
In a sermon on Ask, Seek, Knock (Matthew 7:7ff) I said this
...
For Jesus teaches us to ask, for he who keeps on asking, (that's the force of the verb) he who keeps on asking, receives. And he who keeps on seeking, finds. And he who never relents on knocking on the door, will have it opened to him. But yet, the Father only gives
good things to those who ask in faith. Just like sometimes your children will ask for that which is not good.
They don't only ask for bread, or fish or eggs. Sometimes they only want ice-cream, and you say, "That'll hurt your tummy!" Or they ask permission to do something dangerous, like bridge jumping or something. (I used to do that!) Or they want go out late. Or they want to skate on the pond when the ice is thin. "It'll be ok! Don't worry so much!" Or they want to go to a movie that they shouldn't.
And then father says, "No!"
"No, you can't have that!
"You can't do that!
"I'm not giving you that!
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Just then, we heard some wailing from down the hall! A boy was escaping the nursery. 3 years old. It got louder. Louder! Screeching! It was so distracting, I stopped preaching. (The boy was from a family that had joined our church that very day!)
Then I said something like "Someone is saying "no" to that child." We all laughed! (The father told me later that he was just 1 second away from standing up and saying.... "That's what Pastor John means!" and then go out and get his boy!
Now, that's what you call "a built in, interactive sermon illustration!"
