have to give account to God. But it adds another greatly neglected New Testament teaching, that of reward and punishment for the believer. For in the parable, not only was the faithful servant rewarded, but the unfaithful servant suffered loss and punish ment. So, if you who are neither parents nor in posi tions of responsibility in your church, have been con sidering these first two points with some complacen cy, now’s the time to stop and think. For this parable reminds us that every single one of us who has been born into God's family through faith in the Lord Jesus will have to give account: “ we must ALL stand before the judgment seat of Christ.” What are you doing with the powers, the gifts that God has given you; the things that God has given you; the time that God has given you? I sup pose in the very nature of things, if neither of our first two points has concerned you directly, being neither parents nor in responsible positions in the Church, you are for the most part young Christians. Well, what is your attitude? Are you developing your natural abilities? Are you training yourself ready to take up service when required? But this question goes even deeper than this. It affects the realm of Christian conduct and practice of all, whether mature Christian leaders or newly-won converts. What is the level of our Christian living? How do our neighbors and colleagues see us? What is the level of our Christian practice within our Church? You must apply this principle to yourself and your situation, but I wonder if, in that day when we “ all appear” God will want to know why we put so little value on prayer, that we never bothered to come to the Church prayer meeting? Will He want to know, for instance, why we spent ten times as much money on our pleasure as we gave toward His work? Will God want to know why we spent so much time chat ting about trivialities with our next-door neighbor but never even invited her to the Fellowship hour or the Gospel service? Will God want to know why we spent so much time planning our annual holiday but gave on thought as to how we could reach that needy person for Christ? Will God want to know why, when He spoke to us so very clearly on the matter of baptism, we smothered His voice and refused to obey? I don’t know where the finger of God will touch the tender spot in the individual, but I do know “ we shall all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” What it amounts to is this: God has not called us to a come-as-you-please, suit-yourself, don’t-put-your- self-out Christian life, but to a life of all-out obedience and dedication to Him. Paul, writing to the Corin thian Church (II Cor. 12:15) said, "And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you.” Spend and be spent?— God forgive us! Some of us aren’t even ready to be inconvenienced. But “ we must ALL stand before the judgment seat of Christ.” “ So then, EVERY ONE of us shall give account of himself to God.” KB OCTOBER, 1970
REVIVAL IN ISRAEL
ONE OF THESE DAYS —
This will be the headline in news papers around the world. The Proph ets of the Bible, again and again, declared that there would first be a return o f the Jews to the Land of the Book followed by a rethrn to the God o f the Book (Jer. 24:6-7; 32:37-39, Ezek. 36:24-27; 37:12-14). "S o , all Israel shall be saved.” (Rom. 11:26). The answer is that faith cometh by hearing and our responsibility is to witness to them "Thus saith the Lord” and prepare their hearts for the outpouring o f His Spirit. This witness goes forth in faith ,to areas in America and Israel. For more information about this over 75-year old mission and help in witnessing, contact ALEX P. KO V A L , General Director ARCHIE A . MACKINNEY, Director of Deputation --------------Clip This Coupon Today-------------- AMER ICAN MESSIANIC FELLOWSHIP Dept. 4, 7448 N. Damen, Chicago, Illinois 60645 Name________________________________ Address____________________________ _ City_____________State_______ Zip______ D R . H A R L 1 N J . R O P E R ’S THROUGHTHE BIBLE STUDY Chapter-by-Chapter Study of thé. WHOLE^BlBLE For Sunday Schools* • Groups • Individuals — Write for FREE folder — - THROUGH THE BIBLE PUBLISHERS 4032K SwissJlvenue • Dallas 4, Texas AUTHORS WANTED BY NEW YORK PUBLISHER Leading book publisher seeks manuscripts of all types: fiction, non-fiction, poetry, scholarly and religious works, etc. New authors welcomed. For complete information, send for booklet KB. It's free. Vantage Press, 120 W . 81st St., New York, N .Y . 29
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