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For Those Seeking The Truth
& Dynamic Living Christ is Victor |
March/April 2011
Volume 24, Number 2
“Living a Righteous Life”
“Hear
this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of
Selfishness and sin have grown to such a pitch in the
heart of men that righteousness and a correct distinction between right and
wrong is greatly disliked and hated by most people. But the God of the Bible,
the Living God is just and true and is the God of judgment. Thus in His sight
and before His holy Word, actions and thoughts, motives and secret ambitions,
men of high degree and men of low estate are all weighed, searched, categorized,
seen and judged for what they are.
Talking in practical terms, when a father or a mother
dies leaving some property or money, the natural inclination of the sons is for
each to get the best portion possible. The financial stress in the large family
of one or the inadequate salary of another of the brothers,
does not always carry weight or gain in the sympathy of the other brothers or
sisters. “That is his own fault. He should have
studied harder when Daddy gave him the opportunity and he would have landed in
a better job,” they say. Hard words with no sympathy at all for their own
brother!
Now the Living God says, “Can’t you be
just and fair? Can’t you give him the finer part of the land which will
yield him a little more harvest? Should you be filled with so much ill will
when it comes to property or money?” But men hate judgment.
With all our boasted education and culture, I have
found men in many parts of the world to be so biased, prejudiced, insular with
national and parochial obsessions and it is hardly possible for them to be
objective and fair-minded. Whether it is a property division in a family or
politics at an international level, it is just the same. Self interest and
selfishness and a total lack of objectivity cloud all judgment.
Nowadays, promoting justice and upholding the just
cause impartially, seems no longer to be the objective of law courts in many
parts of the world. Governments so pressurize judges to promote their pet
interests and social programs, that an individual today is denied his rights.
The hardworking man has every reason to feel victimized and the just man to
feel hated and not wanted. All this tilts the balance strongly against
fair-mindedness, truth and justice.
The Living God is by no means coerced or frightened by
all the unjust, immoral ways of men. Everyone of us
will have to give an account of all the deeds done in this body before Him.
Unrighteousness can never be painted white in His sight. Lies and
untruthfulness will never be winked at before the High Tribunal of God. They will
only damn your soul and condemn you to hell fire.
Most people do not know that judgment is inherent in
righteousness. That is, there is always alongside of it, judgment. It is as
simple as this: when the day dawns everything that needs to be hidden away or
everything that dare not be seen is put under covers. The light of day is too
much for the robber to rob in, for the murderer to murder, or the gang of
terrorists to sit in open deliberation of their next move. They run away before
the day breaks. They know that their own actions are wrong and therefore cannot
stand the light of day. So light and judgment go together.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the Sun of Righteousness. When
He comes into your life sin must run away. Every wicked motive and every
deceitful desire, every unclean impulse, every homosexual deed or sexual
perversion must be put away. It is impossible to harbor sin in your heart
anymore.
More and more people act on the belief that unrighteousness,
lies, bribes and wickedness pay. For a short season, in His great
long-suffering the Living God gives you a long rope. But it is impossible that
a family or a group of people will prosper long who practice wickedness,
propagate lies and act without principle. They are doomed to fall and disaster
is bound to overtake them.
Many people ignore the simple principle that they will
reap what they sow. You cannot sow wild oats and reap
a bumper harvest of the finest wheat.
Loving the people, praying for the people and lifting
heavy burdens off the people is the role of a priest. But should a priest or a
preacher be given to much eating or spendthrift ways,
he will soon be looking for more and more money. In fact what has a preacher to
do with money? The more money you have, the more worries you have. How can any
preacher function merely because he is paid? A priest and a prophet are the
representatives of God. Money or cash is not the medium through which they
operate or establish their work. It is by prayer and the power that you have
with God that your credentials are established.
What if you have a million in the bank? Is that going
to make your prayer more effectual? On the contrary, you are likely to plummet
into a life of materialism and worldliness. The priests who teach for hire are
a curse to any people. The purse is the last thing which should figure in the
thinking of a true Christian preacher. These are hard days, no doubt. But the
Lord who takes care of the sparrow will not forget you. From my boyhood days I
have seen my parents walk and preach without any regard to money, and after
operating fifty years myself in this manner, I know that this is the only way
by which a Christian worker who wants to be true to God can operate.
Alas! What a day of decline and disaster we are living
in today, when “priests teach for hire and the prophets prophesy for
money!” Dear reader, you can start spiritual revolution around you by returning
the bribes that you have taken, and by cleansing your conscience in obedience
to God’s Word. The Lord Jesus Christ will endue you with His peace,
righteousness and power, and the workers of unrighteousness around you will
tremble and fear.
When the Spirit of God works in you, you have a very
clear and strong sense of what is right and wrong. Instead of hating the Spirit
of judgment, we welcome and embrace it, for without it we would stumble and
fall.
-
Joshua Daniel
“Reality Check”
“The earth is the LORD's,
and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that
dwell therein.” Psalms 24:1
“George Whitefield -Pioneer of Open-Air Preaching”
George Whitefield was born at Bell Inn,
For some while Whitefield had begun to feel a hunger
for God and became aware that He had some intention for his life. To prepare
himself, he fasted regularly and prayed, and often attended public worship
twice a day. At
The Wesleys had started a
religious society, nicknamed the Holy Club, to promote the pursuit of personal
religion, and Whitefield readily joined in the activities. Realizing more and
more that his heart was far from God, however, he resolved only to read books
that led him “directly into an experimental knowledge of Jesus Christ.”
But it was not until three years later, during Lent 1735, that “God was
pleased… to remove the heavy load and enable me to lay hold of His Son by
a living faith.”
Whitefield was twenty-one when he was converted, and
when his intention of entering the ministry was made known to Bishop Benson of
Invitations to preach soon began to reach the young
minister, and in both
The following year Whitefield sailed for the colony of
Open - Air
On a preaching tour in the West Country early in 1739,
he discovered that many pulpits were still closed to him. At
Standing on a hillside, Whitefield preached to some two
hundred miners and their families whom, he felt, were “as
sheep having no shepherd.” He was thrilled with the experience and wrote
in his diary, “I believe I never was more acceptable to my Master than
when I was standing to teach those hearers in the open fields.”
Anxious to return to
His gift of oratory was greatly admired and he had
obviously not lost his youthful skill of acting. Benjamin Franklin, the famous
publisher, inventor and writer, spoke enthusiastically of his preaching ability
and declared, “It was wonderful to see the change soon made in the manner
of our inhabitants.” Franklin himself once came under the influence of
Whitefield’s persuasive powers when, following an appeal for his
orphanage, the writer— contrary to all his vowed intentions— put
all the silver and gold from his pocket into the collection.
The height of the Awakening came in the years 1740-41
when both Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards were ministering in the colonies;
thousands were converted and many new churches established as the revival
spread South from New England to
Over the succeeding years Whitefield visited
A man of immense vigor and zeal, Whitefield maintained
a tough schedule of travel and preaching tours, which eventually wore him out.
He died during the night of 15th October 1770 at
For thirty-five years as an itinerant preacher in
(Selected from 70
Great Christians by Geoffrey Hanks.)
“Life Saved by a Tract”
A minister from
She did so, and finding the tract she wanted, paid the
man, and ordered the servants to provide him some refreshments, and went in
haste to the door to receive a friend who had come from a distance to visit
her. The poor man, in the mean time, gathered up his scattered wares, proceeded
a considerable distance on his way, and having reached a very retired spot, sat
down by the side of the road, and taking his jack-knife from his pocket, began
to appease his hunger with the food so kindly provided for him.
It so happened that in the course of the day a most
horrible murder and robbery had been committed near this spot, and officers had
been dispatched to seek out the criminal and bring him back to justice. A party
of them approached this poor sailor, and finding him employed with the
jack-knife (the very instrument with which the murder was supposed to have been
perpetrated), they seized him at once and put him in prison, where he remained
three months awaiting his trial.
During the whole period of his confinement he was
employed in reading the Bible and religious books to his fellow-prisoners, and
was so exemplary in his whole conduct as to attract the attention of the jailer,
who kindly interested himself for him, listened to his tale of woe, and
believed him innocent.
When the trial came on, the case was of such an
interesting nature that it drew together a vast concourse of people, and after
the examination had been passed, and the judge had called for the verdict of
guilty or not guilty, a voice was heard to issue from the crowd, “Not
guilty!”
Every eye was directed to the spot from whence the
sound proceeded, and immediately a young lady advanced, with a paper in her
hand, and appeared before the judge. Her feelings at first overcame her, and
she fainted, but recovering herself, and being encouraged to proceed, if she had
anything to say in defense of the prisoner at the bar, she stated to the judge
the circumstances of having the tract of the poor man, presenting it at the
same time, bearing the date of the day and hour when it was purchased.
She stated further, that just as the man was about to
leave her, a sister whom she had not seen for many years arrived from a distance,
and as she was anxious for a particular reason, to remember the day and hour of
her arrival, she made a memorandum of it upon this tract, which she happened to
have in her hand.
While she was making this statement to the judge, the
poor prisoner bent forward with earnestness to discover what gentle voice was
pleading in his behalf, for he had thought himself friendless and alone in the
world, and was comforted that anyone should take a part in his sorrows, even
though it could not avail to the saving of his life. But it did avail, for the
hour of the murder having been ascertained, and being the same as that recorded
upon the tract, it was evident the prisoner must have been in a different place
at the time it was committed. He was accordingly discharged, and in a moment
was upon his knees, pouring forth the grateful feelings of his heart to his kind
benefactress. “And this,” said the reverend gentleman, holding up a
tract, “is the very tract which saved that man’s life.”
— SELECTED
“Be Thou Perfect”
“And
the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre:”
(Read Genesis 18:1-33)
Evidently three men were walking by in front of the
tent of Abraham. When Abraham saw them, he ran to meet them. Abraham was
watching. He was not spiritually sleeping. He was cautioned about three months
ago. “And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to
Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou
perfect.” (Genesis 17:1) God had great purposes for Abraham but they
could not be fulfilled, unless he met Him constantly. He was lifted higher with
each meeting with God.
God may demand greater self-denial. Self prevents the
best in you from being multiplied by God to live the life of a thousand, in
usefulness. Every time God meets us, the self-dying increases. Now God was
walking before Abraham’s house. In those days when men were more
innocent, they could see angels. When revival broke out in
God wanted to see if Abraham had taken His warning
given three months ago. Abraham had taken the warning and was improving.
Abraham must have been meditating at that time. He was not worried about the
servants and property. Otherwise he could not have seen God. In the time of our
meditation, God wants to meet us and speak to us. But you are too much taken up
with the world and the gains of the world. Abraham ran and met God and besought
him to come into his house and dine. He called a young man and asked him to
prepare a fatted calf. That was the honor given to distinguished guests in
those days. The angels talked to him about God’s promise given to him.
What have you done with the promises God has given you? Have you lost them? If
you love God, you will love His promises also.
If you give time for your morning watch grudgingly and
serve the Lord half-heartedly, how can God bless you? God was on His way to
destroy two great cities. But before that, Abraham began to plead with God. Let
our fellowship with God be such that God will share His most intimate problems
with us. It was not a pleasure for God to destroy those cities. If there was
any hope of improvement, He would never have done it. There was no one to tell
them and it was full of sin. There was only one self-righteous man in it.
Is God a destroying agent? No. Evil destroys itself.
It is so ordered of God. Would you wish it otherwise? Wickedness destroys itself.
I know my classmates who yielded to sin. They are already dead. They destroyed themselves.
Sin destroys itself. But it should not destroy you and me. We belong to God. He
says, “You are my witness.” “Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye
may know and believe me, and understand that I am he:…”
(Isaiah 43:10)
The work of salvation—saving men—is given
to you and to me. “Send therefore to Joppa, and call hither Simon, whose
surname is Peter; he is lodged in the house of one Simon a tanner by the sea side:
who, when he cometh, shall speak unto thee.” (Acts 10:32) The angel came
to Cornelius, but did not give the gospel. The angel said, “Send for Simon
Peter and he will help you.” This work of saving men is not even given to
angels. But it is given to us.
—
Late Mr. N. Daniel
This
newsletter is produced six times per year by the Laymen’s Evangelical
Fellowship International. It is printed and distributed in the
This Fellowship is an inter-denominational missionary and
prayer group working for revival in churches and amongst students in several
countries. We invite every layperson to become God’s ally in changing his
or her corner of the world. We train people in evangelistic work and to be
self-supporting missionaries.
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