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The New Testament Church did not depend on a moral majority, but rather on the holy minority. The Church right now has more fashion than passion, is more pathetic than prophetic, is more superficial than supernatural. The Church the Apostles ministered in was a suffering Church; today we have a sufficient Church. Events in the Spirit-controlled Church were amazing; in this day the Church is often just amusing. The New Testament Church was identified with persecutions, prisons, and poverty: today much of it is identified with prosperity, popularity, and personalities. We lack apostolic power because we lack apostolic piety, and we lack apostolic piety because we lack apostolic purity. Every church in the country needs a dozen Spirit-anointed sermons on Acts 15:8-9 — "So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith." (Leonard Ravenhill)
No Christian has a right to be depressed or dejected; to be so is to say that God is not doing what He's supposed to be doing. "Christianity is not a dreary outlook. It is the ringing, splendid, triumph of the mind of God. It is the blessed victory that the individual possesses when he becomes conscious that God has made the Christian the master now, and that he has the mastery over sin and sickness and death. Yes, it is the greater consciousness by which the soul of a person comprehends the life eternal, because the forces of darkness and sin and death have been conquered in his own heart through the presence of Jesus Christ." (John G. Lake) "Time was when people went to church to meet God. Now they go to hear a sermon about Him. If the Lord in His risen majesty appeared in some church groups, there would be a stampede for the door." (Leonard Ravenhill) "The religion that does not summon the world to judgment before its holy demands and lofty standards has already signed its death warrant." (E. K. Cox) Prophetic Words for Today!We must meet the present emergency with a spirit of optimism. This is no time for repining, no time for looking backward, no time for self-pity or defeated complaining. We are on the winning side and we cannot lose. "Lo, I am with you" makes ultimate defeat impossible. Surely the days are evil and the times are waxing late, but true Christians are not caught unawares. They have been forewarned of just such times as these and have been expecting them. Present events only confirm the long-range wisdom of Jesus Christ and prove the authenticity of the prophetic Word. So believers actually turn defeat into victory and draw strength from the knowledge that the Lord in whom they trust has foretold events and is in full command of the situation. Let us beware allowing our spiritual comforts to rise and fall with world news or the changing political and economic situation. We who lean upon Christ and trust in the watchful love of a heavenly Father are not dependent upon those things for our peace. It is not a pleasant thing to see a group of Christians huddled around the radio listening with worried faces to the newscaster or to the commentator painting lurid pictures of atomic bombs or the destruction of whole populations by bacteriological warfare. Where is our faith? Where is our confidence in the final triumph of Christ? All that these gentlemen say may be true. We have no desire to deny that the signs are ominous and the end is drawing near. But we refuse to get panicky, regardless. It may easily be that before long one or another of our cities may go up in a puff of smoke and leave no one to tell how it happened. It may be that our own land may be invaded and made to suffer along with the other nations of the earth. We have been spared hitherto, but we have no guarantee for the future. God may yet chasten us with fire and blood for our presumptuous sins and for our highhanded flouting of His holy laws. No one can say for certain, but it could be. But suppose it should be? Does that spell the defeat of all our hopes? Is our sense of security dependent upon the turn of events in Washington or Moscow? Is God the God of our better days and not the God of our sorrows too? Is there not a sure hope beyond the smoke and the rubble and the grave? Is there no difference between Egypt and the children of Israel? Is there not blood on a few doorposts here and there? We must face today as children of tomorrow. We must meet the uncertainties of this world with the certainty of the world to come. To the pure in heart nothing really bad can happen. They may die, but what is death to [true] Christian? Not death but sin is our great fear. Without doubt the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Sooner or later that will come. But what of it? Do not we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness? Surely this is not the time for pale faces and trembling knees among the children of the new creation. The darker the night the brighter faith shines and the sooner comes the morning. Look up and lift up your heads - our redemption draweth near. (Written in 1960 by A. W. Tozer - From Of God and Men, copyright 1960 by Christian Publications, Inc.)
Christians have no right to be in any business for which they cannot pray. Too many Christians want to be delivered from temptation but would like it to keep in touch. "Many present-day Christians seem to have experienced three stages: condemnation, salvation, and stagnation." (Leonard Ravenhill) "The true call of a Christian is not to do extraordinary things, but to do ordinary things in an extraordinary way." (Dean Stanley) Christianity is not rules and regulations to live by—Christianity is the resurrection life of Christ in the heart and soul of a human being. "Someone has said, 'If we could get religion like a Baptist, experience it like a Methodist, be positive about it like a Disciple, be proud of it like an Episcopalian, pay for it like a Presbyterian, propagate it like an Adventist, and enjoy it like an Afro-American—that would be some religion!'" (Harry Emerson Fosdick) "Your Christianity may be strengthened by connection with a live church; but it must be part of you, something you feel in your heart and practice in your life." (Roger W. Babson)
"Christianity is not a voice in the wilderness, but a life in the world. It is not an idea in the air, but feet on the ground going God's way. It is not an exotic to be kept under glass, but a hardy plant to bear twelve months of fruits in all kinds of weather. Fidelity to duty is its root and branch. Nothing we can say to the Lord, no calling Him by great or dear names, can take the place of the plain doing of His will. We may cry out about the beauty of eating bread with Him in His kingdom, but it is wasted breath and a rootless hope, unless we plow and plant in His kingdom here and now. To remember Him at His table and to forget Him at ours, is to have invested in bad securities. There is no substitute for plain, everyday, goodness." (Maltbie Davenport Babcock)
"Christ is our star of Hope. I want my death-bed to be under that star. All other light will fail. The light that falls from the scroll of fame, the light that flashes from the gem in the beautiful apparel, the light that flashes from the lamps of a banquet—but this light burns on and on. "Paul kept his eye on that star until he could say, 'I have finished my course.' Edward Payson kept his eye on that star until he said, 'The breezes of Heaven fan my brow.' John Tennant kept his eye on that star until he could say, 'Welcome Lord Jesus, welcome eternity.' "No other star ever pointed a person into so safe a harbor." (Thomas De Witt Talmadge) Christianity is Christ in you, "the hope of glory." |
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