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T h e K i n g ’ s B u s i n e s s
July 1932
vant Paul, how lamentably far short the average mission ary falls in sacrificial service! 'T' N a recent number of The Missionary Review o f the World, an article entitled “ Those Missionaries” con tains these striking words: It needs a man o f magnitude to make a missionary. O f the three men who left Antioch for the inauguration of the Christian enterprise which has been carried on ever since, two were great enough to stand the terrific tests, and one proved unequal. Something like that proportion still holds. The thought is a searching one to all missionaries. Do we belong to those “ great enough to stand the terrific tests,” or will we “ prove unequal” ? T he M easure of our C onsecration The measure of our success as missionaries is accord ing to the measure of our consecration. How seriously do we regard our consecration vows ? When, as new recruits, we sang enthusiastically: “Where He leads me, I will follow,” did we mean exactly that ? Most of us are willing to go anywhere bu t . . . , to do anything excep t . . . , to give everything, withholding only . . . ! It has rightly been said, “ If God is not Lord o f all, He is not Lord at all.” It is written of Caleb and Joshua, that they wholly fol lowed the Lord; and as a result, they alone of all their generation entered upon the promised land. S tanding in the M idnight H our hrist is beseeching, as He besought His disciples in that dark midnight hour in Gethsemane, “ Watch with me one hour.” It is the midnight hour now. The bat tle is pressing hard. Satan is working as never before to overthrow the Word of God and to bring eternal destruc tion upon precious souls for whom Christ died. Oh, that we who have named His name, and who have dedicated our lives to the proclamation of His gospel, might be-alert to watch and strong to stand! Holding not our lives of any account as unto ourselves, in comparison with accomplishing our course with j oy, but holding to the ministry, which we have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God, may we have but one concern— the doing of the Master’s will. Amid the present awful darkness, God grant that we may stand! Two New Object Lessons B y E lmer L. W ilder OBJECTS: A coconut, a sponge, a glass of water, and a hammer.
Christians.” The world does not know that they have the Water of Life within them until the hammer of death or some other sorrow has smitten them. Have you ever heard of the “ Sponge Christian” ? Here he is. There is water on the inside of this dry looking sponge, but it has to be squeezed out. I have known Chris tians whose lives were so dry that no one would suspect that they had the Living Water. Such Christians have to have pressure upon them before they will reveal that they ,have the Living Water. Nicodemus was a believer in Christ, but he succeeded in keeping it a secret until af ter Christ’s death. Then he came, with Joseph of Arima- thaea, to prepare the Lord’s body for burial. I wonder if he did not spend many sad hours regretting that he had not confessed Christ openly, before His death. Here is a clean glass filled with pure water. It is all ready To give some thirsty person a refreshing drink. This represents some other Christians: Rivers of bless ing flow from them to the thirsty. People who are thirsty for the Water of Life do not wait for a “ Coconut Chris tian” to be smitten or for a . “ Sponge Christian” to be squeezed. They go to the Christian in whom they can see the Water of Life. Let us ask God to make us glasses filled with the Living Water, in order that the thirsty may be satisfied as they come to us. OBJECTS: A stone heart (plaster of paris), a rub ber heart, a wax heart, and a cameo.
in hen the Apostle Paul had finished his great sermon on Mars Hill, he found that there were three classes of people who had heard him. They are represented by the three hearts which I hold in my hand. You will notice that this heart is very hard. It is so hard that I cannot make any impression on it. I will press this cameo against it and see if it will receive the image. No, it
Three Kinds of Hearts A cts 17:32-34
will not. The Bible tells us that it is God’s will for us to have the likeness of Christ after we have accepted Him as our Saviour; that is, our works and deeds should re mind people of Him, Some of the people to whom Paul preached that day had hard hearts. When he told them about Jesus and the resurrection, they scoffed. They did not feel that they needed Christ to save them. These same people would not be making fun if they could speak to us from eternity this morning. Many people today are just like them—hard in heart. Then there was another class of people to whom Paul preached. They appeared to be interested in what he said, but they replied, “ We will hear thee again of this matter.” They were impressed with what Paul had said, but the impression did not last long. As soon as they got out with their old associates, they forgot God’s messages to their souls. They were like this rubber heart. It receives the impression, but it does not retain it. We must want Christ so much that we will accept Him immediately. It is dangerous to put off receiving Him. Felix was impressed with Paul’s message, but he said, “ Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season I will call for thee.” We are not told that he ever had “ a convenient time” in which to accept Christ. The devil sees to it that it is never convenient for the unsaved person to accept Christ. The
J esus had gone to one of the Jews’ feasts. He saw they were thirsty for the Water of Life, so He said, “ If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of him shall-flow riv ers of living water.” Christ is the Living Water, and when we have accepted Him as Sav iour, there should flow from us rivers o f blessing to those
Giving the Living Water J ohn 7:38
who have not yet been saved. Some Christians are like this coconut. There is water in the coconut, but it has to be broken with the hammer in order to get the water. Many people are “ Coconut
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