THE KING’S BUSINESS 459 Do we need His help in interpretation (5) 'J'he Spirit witnesses to the word and as they in inspiration? 1 Cor. 2:13, 14. work of-the Lord. PRACTICAL POINTS (1) The Comforter was given that we might be guided into all truth. (2) The Holy Spirit was sent by the Father in the name of the Son. (3) We may partake of peace if we please —it is our inheritance. (4) The Spirit convicts through the Word, then converts through the will. ( 6 ) The Spirit is the channel of communi cation between Christ and the Church. (7) We glorify Christ when we give forth His Word. ( 8 ) If the Spirit preaches only Christ and Him crucified, why should we have another Gospel ?
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Tuesday, May I. Acts 26 : 1 - 3 .
man of God is permitted to speak. Agrippa told Paul that he was permitted to speak for himself, but Paul seized upon the opportunity to speak not for himself but for his Master. How many of us, when we have an opportunity of speaking for ourselves, speak for the Master instead of for ourselves? Paul was very courteous in his opening words. A bold and fearless man was he, but his boldness was not rude disrespect for the great ones of earth. In his courtesy he tells no untruth and indulges in no flattery. He was indeed happy to make his defence before Agrippa, but happy for a far deeper and nobler reason that Agrippa suspected. He was happy because it would give him an opportunity to preach the word of life to this royal sinner. It was true that Agrippa was, as Paul said, “expert in all customs and questions among the Jews.v This word of truthful compliment gained for Paul a better hearing; and all of us who would win men to Christ would do well to study Paul’s tact in approaching all classes of men. Wednesday, May 2 . Acts 26 : 4 - 8 . Paul had been brought up a strict Phari see and the truth for Which he was
This was one of the great occasions of one of the greatest lives ever lived upon this earth. It was not merely that Paul was preaching to a king and to a woman of great influence. His sermon accomplished little in them. They were wedded to their infamy and put from them the offer of eternal life on this, which was, as far as we know, the only occasion upon which they ever heard it. But Paul was not preaching merely to them. He was preaching a ser mon that would go on echoing through the world for more than eighteen centuries and that would result in the conversion of countless thousands in centuries to come. Paul thought only of the audience before him, but God had in mind an audience in comparison with which that which Paul saw faded into utter insignificance. It was not merely to Agrippa or to Bernice that the Holy Ghost was speaking through Paul that day, but to you and to me. Agrippa said to Paul: “Thou art permitted to speak.” Agrippa will regret that permis sion before the hour is over; for Paul, now that he is permitted to speak, will shoot an arrow right into the royal heart. It is not easy to tell what may happen when a
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