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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
January 1926
Co n t r i b u t e d A r t i c l e s
A Charge to Young M in isters J* “ WATCH YOURSELF” — “ WATCH YOUR TEACHING”— “ STICK TO YOUR WORK" 1 Timothy Y Dr. John Murdoch Maclnnis, Dean of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles 1. Watch Yourself
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teaching, and remember that you have been ordained not to speculate but to preach a Gospel— the everlasting Gospel. If you are going to be men with a message, you must know something that people .need to know and the thing that people need to know more than anything else is the thing that God has said to the world in Jesus Christ. 3. Stick to Your Work Beware of "spreading yourselves.” The world is1full of broad-gauged and broad-minded people who are so thin that they make no impression anywhere. Most of us min isters are interested in so many things that we are doing nothing well, and we are mentally dissipated and spiritually frayed out at the edges. Preaching is the greatest work in the world. You are entrusted with a life-giving message and the supreme need of our world is life— life that will make men. Ours is a creative work and we are in danger of becoming mere tinkers. Do not spend time tinkering when you can be making a new world. Every time a soul is led to God there is a new creation. Stick to your work of winning souls, for nothing is well if this be neglected. 4. Results o f Watching If you watch yourself, your teaching, ai\d, stick to your work, this will save both your hearers and yourself. A man who is not doing creative work is a lost man. In order to save our own life we must do a work that saves others. This does not mean salvation but the "working out of sal vation.” Many a saved man is lost to God’s purpose and therefore a castaway so far as effective service is concerned. Remember there is no dead-line for the man who dares to accept God’s will for him. In God’s will we cannot help being vital both in life and in service. If we would build, and build to stay, we must find God and go His way. JUg. A><(. jg| |j| A NEW YEAR MESSAGE I asked the New Year for some message sweet, Some rule of life with which to guide my feet; I asked, and paused: he answered, soft and low, “ God’s will to know.” “ Will knowledge then suffice, New Year?” I cried: And ere the question into silence died, The answer came, “ Nay, but remember, too, God’s will to do.” Once more I asked, “ Is there no more to tell?” And once again the answer Bweetly fell: “ Yes, this one thing, all other things above: God’s will to love.” — Selected.
tacts. JHE minister is called to watch. His temptation is to watch everything and everybody but himself. He needs watching more than anyone else. Watch yourself in your fundamental attitudes and con- Watch yourself in your contact with God. This con-* tact is basal. If you are wrong here, nothing can be right with you and your ministry. This contact is the source of all vision, insight and power. Guard it with a sacred passion. Here your attitude must be that of abso lute abandonment to His will, and this means courage to venture on all His challenges. Watch yourself in your attitude towards men and life in general. Form true Christian and constructive habits. What you are, will largely determine what you see and emphasize in your life and preaching. Always seek to know the real truth concerning men'and events. “ There are two Bides to every story,“ therefore do not reach a conclusion until you have heard both sides, and never give up your good opinloh of a rman until you have evidence that you can present on the witness Btand under oath. Fame and Dame Rumor have fiery feet and are winged of hell. Be “ eager to believe the best.” You will see most of the things you are eager to believe and you will talk most about the things you see. If you persist in living in the back alleys of life you will not talk much about the gardens and the open fields. The greatest law of memory is the law of association. When you lay up a name in. the archives of your life, associate with it the best things you know about U. The things that you see and believe and dwell upon are the stuff from which the Master Weaver is weaving the fabric of your life in the secret places of the soul. Watch yourself and "do your utmost to let God see that you at least are a sound workman.“ 2. Watch Your Teaching Teach the truth— the things that you know and believe. Beware of exaggerating or lying for the sake of rhetoric and effect. God sets the truth afire in the smelters of a living experience. Only “ beaten oil” is fit for the holy place when a man undertakes to teach his fellows. Be positive— the world is perishing from negationism. Tell us what you know— we have doubts enough of our own. We are not sent out to teach philosophy but to make disciples and to teach the things that have been commanded. When the King commands, the servant cannot deal in options. T h e people are listening sympathetically. Do not betray their confidence. Deal with the great verities and teach them with a passion and glow of reality. Watch your
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