weak and incapable." Thank God, he did not say that. He was willing to obliterate the past. The power of God fell upon him in such a way that when he spoke 3,000 men and women responded to the Gospel. The final word is concentration. Both "dissatisfied" and "obliterate" are negative. This third term should characterize our lives if we are to be successful in reaching the mark for God. Paul put it simply, "This one thing I do." The Apostle lived for only one thing. He wanted to be a witness to the saving power and grace of God. Everything else was secondary. He had a single ness of purpose. The reason many people do not succeed is because they try to do too many things. The Christian needs to realize that he has been left in the world for one purpose: that he might be a wit ness to the saving grace of God. We must concentrate upon fulfill ing this calling. How is it with your life? Have you something held in reserve? God must have everything. If the church and we as individuals are ever going to reach the world with claims of Christ this has to be our attitude. Think and pray about these four words, "Not compla cency, but concentration!" Rev. Smith is the Minister of The Peoples Church, Toronto, Canada. His Bible teach ing ministry has been featured on many outstanding Bible Conference programs including Biola's 1971 Torrey Bible Con ference.
pends upon forgetting those things which are behind. There are some Christians who base their hopes for the future on the statistics of the past. Since they failed last year, they expect to fail the next. Since they have always lived a defeated Christian life they expect they will always do so. If you are this kind of Christian then remember that the power of God can change the course of your sta tistics. God can transform failure into success. He can change weak ness into strength. Where would some of the great characters of the Bible have been if they had based their hope on the past? In Jonah 3:1 we read, "And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time." If the disobedi ent prophet had been like a great many modern Christians when God gave him a second chance he would have responded, "There is no use. I was called once but I did not go. I am a failure and I will always be one." If Jonah had done that there might have been 600,000 people in the city of Nineveh who would never have received God's mes sage. Are you not glad he was able to forget the things that were be hind? Perhaps the most broken-hearted man in the world at the time of the crucifixion was Peter. He de nied his Lord in the face of the crowd. He was defeated and dis couraged. Approximately 50 days later, on the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of the Lord came upon this same man and told him to stand up and preach. Suppose the Apostle had said, "Find somebody else. I am a failure. I cannot rise to a po sition of leadership because my actions in the past prove that I am Page 22
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