|
For Those Seeking The Truth
& Dynamic Living Christ is Victor |
September/October 2005
Volume 18, Number 5
“The Idol of Riches”
"And behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master,
what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” Matthew 19:16
After a meeting with a
rich young man, the Lord Jesus Christ said, "A rich man shall hardly enter
into the
Jesus' observation
completely stunned His disciples who, desiring the advance of religion,
genuinely welcomed the religious affections of the wealthy.
The rich young man
felt sure he was keeping the whole of the law. Perhaps he made many great
offerings. He was obviously a
religious man. He knelt down before
Jesus (Mark 10:17) and rightly called Him "Good Master". He inquired about eternal life. Sadly enough, his riches constituted an
idol in his heart and earned disqualification from heaven.
The idol of riches can
subtly find its way into the heart, and is a trap for many. The thought that the work of God is
built by the American dollar or the British pound, is another manifestation of
this idol.
To stake his claim in
the
We can hold retreats
and revival meetings- that is not hard at all. But after some time, these spiritual
exercises can degenerate into a routine.
Shallow Christians just grieve me: people who
know the Word, seem to be pretty good, but shed not tears for souls.
It is apparent that
even some of our best are not equal to the enormous challenges we are facing
now. With the rise in the number of
gospel centres comes an increase in the demands on
our faith. Head knowledge is in
abundant supply, but faith is a rare commodity.
Unfortunately, some
young men we send out succumb to the terrible attacks of the devil. The devil snipes from every angle by
every means possible. He aims for
nothing less than the destruction of our witness and our person. We must resist him.
"Many that are
first shall be last" (Matthew 19:30).
The Fellowship began by majoring in the setting of Biblical standards,
particularly with regard to the sacred testimony of our families. The devil will want to concentrate
on that area. God has given us
sufficient light, but the devil wants us to finish last.
Let us be alert and
sober, and repulse every device of the devil. In the main things, the essential
things, let us keep to the high calling of God.
-Joshua Daniel
“Fear
Ye Not, Stand Still”
“And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.” Exodus 14:13
The confidence Moses had in God was extraordinary. The circumstances through which this lonely devotee had to pass were strange. There was no man to cheer or encourage him. He came from the wilderness at the call of God as Jesus came from a period in the wilderness to commence His ministry.
In that solitary life which Moses
led in the wilderness, he learnt many things from God and—unlearnt many
things. He studied in the colleges of
I am amazed at how Moses grew in the Lord as a solitary man. One who spends his solitary life well will find that such a time is most profitable. We must develop our solitary (individual) prayer. As Moses was alone with God, God’s presence and the visitation of angels must have greatly helped him. Just look at the boldness of Moses. He is speaking so confidently to Pharaoh, the great dictator. Are you sure God has called you? If He has called you, it is an awesome thing. You have to obey absolutely. It is a ‘dreadful’ thing to be called by God because the great demands of the call are almost beyond your reach. We should be very humble and watchful. How much we can pray while walking! How much we can pray while going in a bus! How deeply you can go into meditation!
Was it easy to believe and give the
command, ‘Stand still’ when the armies of
God has not rewarded us according to our sins. We must eliminate everything in our life that is not of God. The spirit wants to serve the Lord but the body demands of you its share and drives you to enjoy life in its own way, hindering your spirit. But when the spirit controls the body, God will be glorified in you. At first there will be a struggle between the flesh and the spirit but one day the spirit will reign. When the body dominates, nothing great will come out of it.
When we study the life of Moses, we learn that we can tap the unlimited resources of God and live in the fullness of life. ‘Stand still’, he said in the face of great danger. All the Israelites united with Moses in sacrificing the lamb. What deliverance they saw! And God talked to them in an audible voice.
Let us wait on God to see this kind of deliverance. Very soon the Israelites saw the dead bodies of their ferocious and powerful foes floating on the water. Shall we look to our Saviour for the power He has released into this world by His death and resurrection? You will win. You will conquer. The forces that are coming upon you to crush you are dead forces. You will see them disappearing and you will see the victory !
- N. Daniel
“Reality Check”
“For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but
whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall have it.” Luke
9:24
“When
Ma Would Not Give Up!”
“Sophie, why don’t you leave him?” begged relatives, friends and neighbours. “He’ll never be anything but a drunken bum.”
Sophie was my
mother. The drunken bum was my
dad. To us, their children, they
will always be “Ma and
To the well-meaning pleas of worried friends, Ma always had but one response. “For the children’s sake,” she would say. “I’ll stay with him, and I’m praying every day that he’ll change.”
Life for us could have been happy if Pa had not started drinking. He had not been a drinking man when they were married, but feeling that he had to be a good mixer because of his business, he took up social drinking. In a few years he was a confirmed alcoholic, and by the time I arrived Pa had drunk up a home and a meat market or two, and the family was in desperate condition.
It always seemed in those days that winter came too soon and stayed too long, and Pa could seldom be depended upon to have coal in the house for the old pot-bellied stove. Many a wintry afternoon Ma dressed herself and some of the older children as warmly as our scarcity of clothing made possible, and with burlap bag trudged the railroad tracks back of our house to pick up the few pieces of coal which had fallen off the coal wagons. Back into the house, with feet numb and hands chapped and almost frozen, Ma dragged her pitiful burlap bag of coal, happy that her children would be warm for another night.
Long after the meager supper had been eaten and the children tucked under their shabby thin blankets, Ma would sit and wait for the stumbling footsteps which would mean Pa had found his way home from another drunken carousal. When he was too drunk to push the door open, Ma dragged him in out of the snow and cold and put him to bed. For this there was never a word of appreciation.
It was during a great
city-wide revival campaign that Ma accepted Christ as her personal Saviour, and from that moment she was convinced that she
had found the only thing that would ever change her drunkard husband’s
life. But when she talked to him
about it he laughed her to scorn, and out of pure spite, apparently, drank more
than ever. For twelve years it
seemed that the devil, himself, took complete control of
Pa was soaked with drink as usual the night little three-year-old Minnie choked to death in Ma’s arms from whooping cough. He was barely sober enough to attend the sad little funeral a few days later. For a solid year Pa was literally soaked in liquor, his mind a perpetual intoxicated fog. Pa’s own sisters pleaded with Ma to take the children and leave before something terrible happened. But Ma’s answer never altered. “I’ve prayed that John’s life will be changed.” She would say, “and God will answer. I’m positive of it.”
One snowy evening late that November Pa reeled home earlier than usual. Ma was helping in the home of a sick neighbour. Little Johnny, only five years old, was home with some of the older children: Pa very rarely bothered with any of us youngsters, but if he had a favourite it was his little namesake, Johnny. Johnny met him at the door that night with excited childish prattle about a revival meeting at the Community Hall across the tracks.
“Sure, Johnny, let’s go.” He answered. Pleased, Johnny pinned his own little coat together with a safety pin and pulled a red tassel cap down low on his head. Taking Pa’s hand, he and Pa trudged through the snow, past the tumble-down shacks of the neighbourhood, and across the tracks where the homes were much nicer. Pa’s steps were unsteady and little Johnny half supported him as they made their way over the slippery sidewalks.
As he neared the small Community Hall where the gospel services were being held, Pa heard the worshippers singing, “Whiter than snow, yes, whiter than snow, Lord, wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.” Only then did it dawn on him that his clothes were unkempt, he was unshaven and very very drunk.
“Johnny,” he said, glancing, down at the eager boy at his side. “Johnny let’s go home and tomorrow night I’ll get all cleaned up and we’ll come back. Tomorrow night, Johnny.”
Johnny’s happy smile disappeared and he was very near tears.
“No, Pa, No! Let’s go in now.” He begged, as he tugged hard on Pa’s hand. Too drunk to argue very much, Pa tottered up the steps and opened the door. He tried to tiptoe to a back seat, but his attempts at being quiet were anything but successful. Finally he and Johnny were seated.
When Pa became accustomed to the warmth and the bright lights, he tried to focus his gaze upon the man behind the pulpit. With a startled gasp he began mumbling to himself.
“Bob! My old Pal, Bob! It can’t be…”
He remembered the hours he and Bob had spent together in barrooms all over the city. But it was his old pal, Bob. Suddenly the preaching stopped. Upon recognizing Pa, the preacher without a moment’s hesitation was out of the pulpit and striding down the aisle to where Pa and Johnny sat in the back seat.
“John!” exclaimed the preacher putting his arm around Pa’s shoulders. “John, you know as well as anybody the kind of life I used to live. But, look! What God has done for me. He can do for you. Come on, John, come with me.”
Pa got to his feet and taking Johnny by the hand, he walked slowly, very unsteadily to the altar. There he knelt, with little Johnny on one side and his friend Bob on the other, and cried out of a heart full of shame and despair, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
Then the miracle happened—the miracle which only God can make happen. When Pa rose from his knees, he was absolutely sober. His mind was as clear as a bell. In the moment of his conversion, God forgave all his sins, but in addition, the effects of not only that day’s drinking, but years of drunkenness left him completely. Pa shook hands with a few people with whom he was acquainted, walked unfalteringly to the door and he and little Johnny went out into the night.
“Johnny,” Pa marveled as he looked up into the heavens, “those stars are brighter than I’ve ever seen them before. They look like diamonds!”
Ma was home when they arrived and hearing the unfamiliar sound of Pa’s steady footsteps, she quickly opened the door. Pa put his arm around her in an unfamiliar gesture of tenderness and his voice broke as he said, “Sophie, you’ve got a new husband from tonight on.”
Before he could tell her about what had happened in the gospel meeting, Ma cried out happily, “God has kept His promise! I knew He wouldn’t fail!”
We did a lot of crying and laughing—and some more crying—that night. Then Pa got out a battered Bible his mother had given him many years before and tried to read from the third chapter of John. Pa had not much schooling and was not a good reader, but with Ma’s help he struggled through the portion of scripture. Then we all knelt and that night the family gathered about for our first family altar.
The next morning when Pa left the house to go to work. We just couldn’t help peeking out of the windows. Down our street was a tavern. For years Pa had stopped there every morning to get his morning eye-opener—‘just a few beers.’ Our hearts were barely beating as we watched Pa approach the tavern. Was he hesitating at the door? We all held our breath—then we saw him glance skyward, as if breathing a prayer for strength. Straightening his shoulders with firm steps, Pa walked on past.
Ma knelt right down. “Thank you, Lord,” she said simply. Pa never again drank a drop of liquor.
Strangely enough, though Pa was never able to read a newspaper or book he became a very fluent reader of the Bible, and in spite of his lack of formal education became a preacher of some note in that section of our state.
- Helen L. Eisenhart
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Dear Friend, the Lord Jesus loves you and welcomes you with the words, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Take Him at His Word and come now saying,” Yes Lord, I shall turn from my sins and be your disciple because your death upon the Cross is my only hope. Make me your son and give me your peace.” Mean business with God while you say this aforesaid prayer.
“Preaching Christ”
A young preacher went to see
that great evangelist, Gypsy Smith. The interview took place just a few months
before Gypsy passed away. The young preacher wanted to get some advice
concerning preaching values and methods.
During the interview, the
old Gypsy said, “Young man, whatever else you preach, be
sure to preach Jesus Christ. For men and women today are
not dying to hear your opinions concerning world problems or your
pronouncements about social conditions, but they are hungry to hear about
Jesus.”
“But,” he
continued, “before you will be able to preach Jesus, you must fall in
love with Jesus yourself--fall in love with Him so personally and so intimately
that He becomes the most real and wonderful Person in your life; so real and
glorious that you will preach Jesus, live Jesus, sing about Jesus and witness
to the marvelous miracle of His grace in your life wherever you go.”
Yes, the way to increased
urgency in what we say about Jesus is increased love and devotion and
consecration to Jesus. Those words of the Gypsy are not just good advice to
preachers; they are needed words to everyone who wears that beautiful name
‘CHRISTIAN.’
Oh, so to fall in love with Jesus that our service and our testimony and our witnessing and our winning become urgent!
- C. William Fisher
“Permanent Record”
Dr. Wilber Penfield,
director of the Montreal Neurological Institute, said in a report to the
Smithsonian Institute, “Your brain contains a permanent record of
your past that is like a single continuous strip of movie film, complete with
sound tract. This ‘film library’ records your whole waking life
from childhood on. You can live again those scenes from your past, one at a
time, when a surgeon applies a gentle electrical current to a certain
point on the temporal cortex of your brain.” The report goes on to say
that as you relive the scene from your past, you feel exactly the same
emotions that you did during the original experience.
Could it be that the
human race will be confronted by this irrefutable record at the judgment bar of
God when “God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ” (Rom.
2:16)?
This we know in reference to the guilty past of God’s children that God hath “blotted out, as a thick cloud [their] transgressions, and, as a cloud [their] sins” (Is. 44:22); their past is buried in the ocean of His forgetfulness; and “their sins and their iniquities will [He] remember no more.”
- Selected
“Hindrances to Walking
with God”
Art thou one that much
valuest the applause of the people, and feelest the heart tickled with delight when thou hearest of thy great esteem with men, and much dejected
when thou hearest that men slight thee?
Dost thou love those
best who highly honour thee, and doth thy heart bear
a grudge at those that thou thinkest do undervalue
thee, and entertain mean thoughts of thee, though they be
otherwise men of godliness and honesty?
Art thou one that must needs have thy humours
fulfilled, and thy judgment must be a rule to the judgments of others, and thy
word a law to all about thee?
Art thou ready
to quarrel with every man that lets fall a word in derogation from thy honour?
Art thou ready to
judge humility to be sordid baseness and knowest not
how to stoop and submit; and wilt not be brought to shame thyself, by humble
confession, when thou hast sinned against God or injured thy brother?
Art thou one that honourest the godly that are rich and thinkest
thyself somebody if they value and own thee, but lookest
strangely at the godly poor and art almost ashamed to be their companion?
Art thou one that
canst not serve God in a low place as well as in a high, and thinkest thyself the fittest for offices and honours, and lovest God's service
when it stands with preferment?
Dost thou delight in
opportunities of setting forth thy parts, and lovest
to have thy name made public, to the world, and wouldst fain leave behind thee
some monument of thy worth, that posterity may admire thee when thou art dead
and gone?
Art thou more ready to
defend thyself and maintain thine innocence than to
accuse thyself or confess thy fault?
Canst thou hardly hear
a close reproof and dost digest plain dealing with difficulty and distaste?
Art thou more ready in
thy discourse to teach than to learn and to dictate to others than to hearken
to their instructions?
Art thou bold and
confident of thy own opinions, and little suspicious of weakness of thy
understanding, but a slighter of the judgment of all that are against thee?
Is thy spirit more disposed
to command and govern than it is to obey and be ruled by others?
Art thou read to
censure the doctrine of thy teachers, the actions of thy rulers and the persons
of thy brethren?
If these symptoms be
undeniably in thy heart, beyond doubt thou art a proud person. A proud man makes himself his God and
admires and sets up himself as his idol; how, then, can he have his affections
set on God? And can this man
possible have his heart in heaven?
I entreat you be
jealous of your souls in this point.
Nothing in the world will more estrange you from God. I speak the more of it because it is the
most common and dangerous sin in morality, and most promoting the great sin of
infidelity.
O Christian, if thou wouldest live continually in the presence of thy Lord,
learn of him to be meek and lowly, and then thou mayest
taste of this rest to thy soul. Thy
soul else will be as the troubled sea, still casting out mire and dirt, which
cannot rest and instead of these sweet delights in God, thy pride will fill
thee with perpetual disquietness. It is the humble soul that forgets not
God, and God will not forget the humble.
God therefore dwelleth with him who is humble
and contrite, to revive the spirit of such with his presence.
- Richard Baxter
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.
r
USA: P.O. Box 14, South
Lyon, MI 48178, Phone – (248) 446-3080
r
r
r
MALAYSIA: P.O.Box 236, Jalan Kelang Lama, 58700 Kuala Lumpur
West Malaysia, Phone – 019-3260727
or Wisdom Hall, 37
Persiaran Shahbandar, Taman Tambahan
Krian VI, 34200 Parit Bundar, Perak, Phone – (05)
7164100 T.K. Ong
r
r
r
r INTERNET: http://lefi.org
r EMAIL: post@lefi.org
PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO A FRIEND