January 1927
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
23
ment will complete the book, except eight columns a year. — o — Charles F. Draper, gave us this precious translation of 2 Cor. 2:14: “Thanks be unto God who always leadeth us forth to triumph in the Beloved One, and who dif- fuseth by us the fragrance of the knowl edge of Him in every place.’’ “Ministering the Gospel of God” (Rom. 15¡16) has an unusual word for “minis tering.” It means “doing priests’ work.” It is followed by the phrase: “that the offering up of the Gentiles might be ac ceptable.” The Apostle figuratively repre sents himself as a sacrificing priest and his converts from heathenism as victims of sacrifice. This is the priestwork of Gospel ministers—to so preach the Gospel as to bring men to offer themselves as “living sacrifices” (Rom. 12:1). T h e closing phrase: “being sanctified by the Holy .Ghost” suggests the washing of the sacrifices in water, which was a type of the Holy Spirit’s cleansing. Divine grace is the water in which our sacrifices are now prepared. The Holy Spirit alone can make our self-dedication real and accept able to God. T he P rogressive B eliever 1. Fervent to-day. Fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Rom. 12:11. 2. Forget yesterday. Forgetting those things which are be hind, arid reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press to ward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Phil. 3 :13-14. 3. Fret not about to-morrow. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Suf ficient unto the day is the evil there of. Matt. 6 :34. Count that day lost Whose low descending sun Views at its close No pastoral calling done. —o— We need less candied preaching and more candid preaching. —o— In being set apart to the work of the tmnistry, one should be careful not to get set apart too far.—John A. Holmes. ' —o— In prayer, speak loud enough to be heard by any who are not deaf. There is much complaint as to preachers in this. You may think a loud voice unnatural in prayer; but you are speaking for the peo ple. They are presumed to be praying through your lips. Without hearing you they can never do this. ■ . . : —o— “The screaming preacher is a failure oyer the radio,” says an Exchange. “The louder he screams the worse the effect. Indeed, the screaming preacher is not very effective anywhere. . The people in the pews.get.mighty tired of him. Why can not all preachers learn the art of talking in a good, loud conversational way.” POINTERS FOR PREACHERS
produce high moral impressions. We need to be toned up. We need the high and holy life of the.perfect Man, Christ Jesus. G od ’ s G ood W ill Dr. Guthrie, in his autobiography, de scribes an old Scotch parishioner at Air- birlot “who died as he lived, a curious mixture of benevolence and folly.” The lawyer who drew his will, after writing down several legacies of five hundred pounds to one person, a thousand to an other, and so on, at last said: “But, Mr. :—■ ■ , I don’t believe you have all that money to leave.” “Oh,” was the re ply, “I ken that as well as you; but I just want to show them my good will.” But God’s “good will toward men” is no mere pretence of bestowing gifts; and it means more than wealth and pleasure and posi tion and length of days. It means salva tion. It means the possession of the riches of His grace. It means that while on earth we may have the “peace of God, which passeth all understanding,” and “joy unspeakable and full of glory.” T he B ible S peaks During the revival services in a certain place might be seen a man with his finger on a text, pointing a soul to his Master. Speaking to him you would recognize him as'the soul-winner called Tommy the Stutterer. ■The minister -asked him one day, “Tommy, how do you manage? You can’t speak plainly, and yet you lead so many to Christ How is it?’.’ He looked into the questioner’s face and, said, “Doc- doctor, I give ’em the Bi-bible. That don’t stutt-tut-ter.” Some other soul-winners might win more souls if they were “stutterers,” and gave them the Bible that doesn’t stutter. SENTENCE SERMONS There is nothing the body suffers by which the soul may not profit., —o— Christianity is not measured by the shout. —o— Every man has a better right to hear the Gospel once than any man has to hear it twice. — o — You are well dressed when no one can remember anything you are wearing. A good thing about telling the truth is, you don’t have to remember what you say. —o— You are not dressed for work until you put on a smile. There is, no greater mistake than to suppose that Christians can impress the world by compromising with it. o The torch of religion may be lit in the church but it does its burning in the shop and on the street. — o — Dead orthodoxy is as great a menace to the church as active heterodoxy, o— We are not responsible for another’s conversion — but —- we are personally re sponsible for contact . When in Rome do as the Romans ought to do.
B ells W ithout C lappers ' 1 Tim. 4:15: “Let thy profiting appear to all.’’ People are quick to detect decadence, loss of spiritual power, in a preacher or a teacher. The power of witnessing effectively for Jesus Christ depends Upon a constantly vivid sense of reality and eternal verities. There cannot be success without growth. Latimer tells o f . a bishop who com plained, on his arrival in the parish of a non-resident clergyman, that no bell was rung to welcome him. Some one explained that the clapper was broken. Another added, “Bishop why do you depend so much on the bell that lacks its clapper? Up there (pointing to the pulpit) is a bell that hasn’t had its clapper for twenty years.” ' Is it any wonder that people are not drawn to hear-some of us preach? We are bells without clappers unless we are constantly revealing real spiritual pro gress. —0— H elp , the ’ Y oung F olks A questionnaire sent out to young peo ple of 88 churches, 10 Protestant denom inations, carried this question : “Do you feel that you can go to your minister with your personal problems? If not, why not?” Over 60 per cent, replied that they had not, and did not feel that they could talk frankly and confidentially with their pastor. The fundamental difficulty is, of .Course, lack of easy contact. “I am not on suf ficiently intimate terms to warrant discus sing. my personal problems with’ him.’’ “He seems only a person whom I see once a week, and not one to whom I could go with my troubles.” “He doesn’t seem to Want to have close friendly talks.” “I think he is not interested.” “I do not be lieve he would be interested.” . “He does not seem to care about hearing any one’s troubles,” “Hè is not particularly ap proachable.” . “He has never openly told any of us to come to him, and I feel that I would be intruding.” “Our minister, I think, does not know us as well as he might. He is not letting us know him. Whether he wants to know us better, I cannot say. He seems to make no effort.” “He is awfully busy.” “He seems to be busy with greater problems.” Busy with greater problems ! I wonder what they are—these problems which are so important as to leave no time for mut ually refreshing intercourse with youth. Can it be possible that in more than half of our churches, younger members are left all alone to face the most crit ical period of life—sheep without a shep herd? '¿s> m> SERMON GARNISH : .... T oning U p A visitor going into the studio of a great painter found on his easel some very fine gems, brilliant and sparkling, Asked why he kept them there, the painter re plied: “I keep them there to tone up my eyes. When I am working in pigments, insensibly the sense of color becomes weakened. By having these pure colors before me to refresh my eyes the sense of color is brought up again,-just as the musician by his tuning-fork brings his strings up to the concert pitch,” For right living we need clear conceptions of the perfect One. Such conceptions only
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker