by Vance Havner E v i d e n c e abounds to prove that young Timothy was a timid young preacher who needed more than one admonition to brace him up. To the Corinthians Paul wrote, “ Now if Timotheus come, see that he may be with you without fear.” And he exhorted Timothy him self to war a good warfare, to let no man despise his yputh, to stir up the gift of God within him, to endure hardness. He reminded him that God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Whether or not Timothy had stage fright I do not know but it is likely that he did. Hambone, the negro philosopher, said, “When I stands up, my mind sets down.” The only real cure for this affliction is to be so Spirit-filled that it is not we who speak but the Spirit, to be so impelled and compelled and propelled from above that we cannot but speak. This does not come easily to the flesh and is not learned in a school of expression. It is a matter of heart more than of art. The disciples did not ask the Lord to teach them HOW to pray but to teach them TO PRAY. Pray and you will leam how! Let the bone-fire burn, and you will leam to be “ weary with forbearing and cannot stay.” “Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel.” When a man feels like that, he must preach and he will! Timothy, with a godly mother and grand mother, and with Paul for a spiritual father, was off to a great start in his spiritual life. He had unfeigned faith him self. But he needed to be set on fire. Was there just a litle danger that he might be ashamed of the testimony of the Lord? Certainly he was admonished to stir up the gift, to kindle the fire of God within him. The Scriptures tell us of PREACHERS WITHOUT THE FAITH. PREACHERS WITHOUT THE FACTS, and PREACHERS WITHOUT THE FIRE. Our Saviour asked, “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” He will find some ministers without faith, for He Himself said, “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Timothy was not without faith, but there have been others who, for all their godly ancestry and their teach ing and training in the Scriptures which are able to make one wise unto salvation, have nevertheless possessed a head knowledge of Bible terms without a heart knowl edge of Bible truth. Nothing is more perilous than a superficial acquaintance with the language of the Chris
tian faith from childhood. There always lurks the deadly danger that, like Absalom, one may dwell at Jerusalem and never see the king’s face. John Wesley had a godly mother, was trained at Oxford, prayed and preached, and a zeal and love for souls after a fashion, was desperate in his search for truth, but all the time was without an experimental knowledge of sins forgiven.' Thomas Chalmers was a preacher long before he had an “ original experience of Jesus Christ.” There are not only PREACHERS WITHOUT FAITH, there are PREACHERS WITHOUT THE FACTS. Apollos was eloquent, mighty in the Scriptures, instructed in the way of the Lord, fervent in the spirit, speaking and teaching diligently the things of the Lord. One would think that sufficient for any minister. But while Apollos was faithful to the light, he had not enough light until Aquila and Priscilla instructed him. The preacher deals with facts: Christ died for our sins and rose for our justification, according to the Scrip tures. These are historic facts, but there are preachers who do not believe the record God gave of His Son. John 3:16 depends upon Second Timothy 3:16. One may be a Christian and not know much doctrine, but no one has any business going out to preach until he knows and believes the facts of the gospel. But a preacher may also be without FIRE and this, I think, is where Timpthy comes in. There was indeed fire within him, but it needed to be kindled into flame. Too often the minister has a bed of coals in his heart covered with a lot of ashes. There are others who sub stitute fire and stage fire for Spirit fire. Painted fire is not Pentecost fire; it will not bum. Wesley said, “ Get on fire for God, and somebody will come to watch you bum.” The cure for timidity is to be filled with the Spirit. “ Perfect love casteth out fear” and this love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. (In the Congo, chimpanzees have been known to imitate the white man by carefully laying great piles of brush and setting them in perfect order, but they cannot start a fire. “ All is vain unless the Spirit of the Holy One come down.” ) May Thy rich grace impart Strength to my fainting heart, M y zeal inspire. As Thou hast died for me, O may my love to Thee Pure, warm and changeless be, A living fire!
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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