TORREY MEMORIAL BIBLE CONFERENCE
by Dr. W. Herschel Ford
CHANGES
Dallas, Texas
have not. The spiritual changes the Saviour makes in the lives of men to day are greater than the physical changes that He made in the lives of those living during His 33 years upon this earth. Two sisters had not seen each other for several years. When one paid the other a visit she said, “I don’t know what’s happened to you. You seem to be so much easier to live with than you were in the old days.” The sister told her why this was, explaining that she had been born again. In John 1:12 we read, “As many as received him, to them gave he power to be come the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” When a man accepts Christ, he is lifted out of the miry clay and his feet are set upon a solid rock. As a result, he is free from the slavery of sin and he is set upon the throne of blessing. Another spiritual change should come as a result of our growth in grace. The preacher’s greatest joy is to see lost people come to eternal sal vation. His second greatest joy, how ever, is to see them maturing in the things of Christ. How sad to see those remaining infants as carnal babes. My daily prayer is, “Lord, give us more Christians who desire to be more like Thee!” Those who never grow are a great sorrow to their Master as well as to those who love them. I could never understand how one has been born again and blessed of the Lord could go on for months without dark ening the door of a Bible-believing church. How useful are you in the Lord’s service? To bring more joy to the heart of Jesus, you must be faith ful in attendance at His house, as well as through personal Bible reading and prayer. There is a great change which comes as a result of prayer. In Luke 9:29 we read, “And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was al-
T here is no question but that we are living in a changing world, however, the Word of God indicates a marvelous transformation which is in store for every believer. It will far transcend anything this world has ever seen! As far as changes are concerned, I think of the dusty road which used to run by the home of my father. It is now a river of concrete. The field in which I picked cotton is now a com munity of lovely homes. In talking with a friend, we recalled a city he hadn’t seen for 15 or 20 years with the remark, “You wouldn’t know the place now.” People change, too. The girl who was once an “ugly duckling” has be come a ravishing beauty. There was a boy I knew who could never behave in church. But today, because God took hold of his life, he is now an outstanding preacher of the Gospel. So often money changes a person. A man inherits a fortune and thereby passes by old friends. Illness may change a strong and vigorous individ ual into a bed fast invalid. Customs frequently change. Once we rode an ox-cart, but today we fly around the world in fast-paced jet planes. Mail, once carried by pony express, is today sped across the con tinent on the same day in which it is written. This is not to mention radio, television, and the modern telephone— sight and sound system. But as fas cinating as these developments are, in the spiritual realm there are even more vital changes. - F irst of all there is the change created by the new birth. We read in God’s Word, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” There are only two classes of people in the world: those who have been touched and changed by Christ, and those who
Made with FlippingBook Annual report