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in a m u ltitude of souls won as real p rayer to a rea l God. Never forget th a t. Never, never, never, forget th a t! V. Acts 1:8. This n atu rally and inevitably brings us to th e F ifth G reat Prom ise of God for th e Bible S tad en t and Soul-winner. You will find it in Acts 1 :8 : “Ye shall receive power, a fte r th a t th e Holy Ghost is come upon you: an d ye shall be w it nesses un to me both in Jeru salem , and in all Jud ea, and in Samaria, and unto th e u tte rm o st p a rt of th e ea rth .” The g reat need of missionary, m inister and personal worker, and fath e r and mother, when they study God’s Word and when they go out to win souls, is power, power to p en etrate the sacred cloisters of God’s Word where such abund an t treasu res of tru th are stored and power to present to others the tru th discovered in such a way as to convict of sin and reveal Jesus Christ and to bring men to accept Jesus as th e ir Lord and Saviour and thu s be born again. This verse reveals the great secret of th a t power: “Ye shall receive power, a fte r th a t th e Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be w itnesses unto me both in Jerusalem , and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the u tterm o st p a rt of th e e a rth .” We need power, a power not from th is earth , not from hum an culture, not th e power learned in schools of oratory, nor the power th a t comes from th e trick s of the world, baptized w ith Christian names, as in th e “ Interchurch World Move m ent,” nor th e power to draw crowds, learned from Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford or Charlie Chaplin, and crys tallized in th e introduction of th e mov ies into the Sunday evening service, tu rn ing th e sacred house of God into a third-class Sunday th eatrical perform ance. No! No!! No!!! “POWER FROM ON HIGH” (Luke 24:49.) This prom ise tells us how to get it. It tells us how any gradu ate of th e Bible In stitu te, or any child of God, can get it. L isten again, “Ye shall receive power, a fte r th a t th e Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be w itnesses unto me both in Jerusalem , and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto th e u tterm o st p a rt of th e ea rth ,” th e definite 'baptism w ith th e Holy Spirit, of which P eter said on th e day of Pentecost, immediately afte r he him self had been “ baptized w ith th e Holy Spirit,” “ F o r th e promise is unto you, a n d to your children, and to all th a t are afar off, even as many as th e Lord our God shall call unto H im ." VI. Luke 11:13.
G. Stanley H all of C lark University, Worcester, Mass., says, th a t prayer is “ communion w ith th e deeper racial self w ithin us.” T h at certainly is no t ask ing of th e “ God Who gdveth to all men ■ liberally and upbraideth no t.” Prof. George Burm an F o ster, who was for a while professor in th e theological de p artm en t of Chicago University, and then “ Professor of Philosophy of Re ligion” in an o th er departm en t in th e University up to th e tame of his death, said, “The only prayer which we have a moral rig h t to pray is precisely the prayer which afte r all we ourselves must answer.” T h at certainly is not asking of th e “ God, Who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth no t.” Prof. Edward Scribner Ames, “Associate Pro fessor of Chicago University,” and “Pas to r of Hyde P a rk Church of th e Disci ples of Christ,” in his book “The New Orthodoxy” says, “F o r th e modern man standing ercet in his pride of power, th,e old ceremony full of passivity and su r render is a symbol o f a dying age.” T h at certainly is not asking of th e “ God, Who gdveth to all men liberally and up braideth no t.” Prof. Gerald Birney Smith, a t th e p resen t tim e “P rofessor of Christian Theology” a t th e Chicago Uni versity, says, “The worship of God in a democracy will consist in reverence for tho se hum an values which democracy m akes supreme.” Th^t certainly is not asking of th e “God, Who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth no t.” I would as soon th in k of sending a son of m ine to a smallpox hospital as a health reso rt as to send him to a theological sem inary or university where such blas phemous folly as th a t is taugh t, as a preparation for an efficient m inistry or for m issionary work. Are our Baptists, Methodists and P resbyterians gone mad th a t they send th e ir children to in stitu tion s where such wicked, blasphemous and practically atheistic things are taugh t? But rea l p ray er to a R eal God, th e only tru e God, th e God and F ath e r of our Lord and Saviour Jesu s Christ, brings wondrous wisdom in th e study of the Word of God and in Soul-win ning. No other shovel digs so deep into th e gold m ine of God’s Word and throw s out such nuggets of pure gold as prayer, re a l p rayer to a rea l God. No other rain-m aker will so operate upon the clouds of God’s abundant grace th a t always overhang us and bring down such m ighty outpourings of th e Holy Spirit m anifesting themselves
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