The Foundations of an Exemplary Christian Life
"Ye turned unto God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus" (1 Thessalonians 1:9,10).
Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians, divided into five short chapters, can be read entirely in about ten minutes. As we take it up, we find ourselves in the presence of two ...read
Article
The Fountain and the Cisterns
"It shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it desolate for ever" (Jeremiah 25:12).
"Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be ...read
Article
The Fruit of Conflict
"Out of the spoil won in battles did they dedicate to repair the house of the Lord" (1 Chron. 26:27). The margin gives a slight variation - "Out of the battles and the spoil did they dedicate to repair the house of the Lord."
The emphasis for this moment is not so much upon the battles as upon the one word here which is translated "repair." The wo ...read
Article
The Fulfilled Law
Reading: 1 Kings 8:5-11
At last the ark of the covenant had arrived at its destination. Amid scenes of great rejoicing it had been brought "to its place" and left there under the wings of the cherubim and surrounded by clouds of divine glory. "There was nothing in the ark save the two tables". God's holy law had been perfectly preserved, and the ...read
Sermon
The Galatians and the Witch's Spell
This message was given on 20 Oct. 1934
Galatians 3:1 "O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched (lit. cast the witch's spell over) you...?"
The apostle says that these people had come under a spell. Have you ever been under a spell? I should think (without having had any experience) that to come under a witch's spell is to wake up at some point a ...read
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The God of the Amen
"And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness" (Rev. 3:14). "So that he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth, and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth" or as the margin has it, "He who blesseth himself in the earth shall bl ...read
Article
The God Who Does Wonders
"Thy way was in the sea, And thy paths in the great waters, And thy footsteps were not known, Thou leddest thy people like a flock, By the hand of Moses and Aaron." Psalm 77:19-20
What a strange juxtaposition of similes! It would be difficult to have a greater contrast than that presented in these two verses - the pilot in rough water and the sh ...read
Article
The Gospel Which We Preach
"The Power of His Resurrection"
"I make known unto you, brethren, the gospel which I preached unto you, which ye also received, wherein also ye stand, by which also ye are saved... The word which I preached unto you." (1 Corinthians 15:1,2).
"I make known unto you, brethren, the gospel which was preached by me." (Galatians 1:11).
As it was in ...read
Article
The Great Divide and the Great Transition
Among the games that used to be played at parties there was one like this. A large circle was formed by the company present, and then someone began by whispering something to the next person. This was passed on right round the circle. The last person of the ring then had to say aloud what he or she had received, or thought they had received. It was ...read
Article
The Great Prize
Reading: Philippians 3:1-16
The Philippian letter begins with Paul's statement, "For to me to live is Christ", and then goes on to express his ambition to know the Lord more and more, with his determination to pursue that knowledge as a coveted prize. If we desire to know what is meant by gaining Christ we have to turn to Romans 8:29, where we f ...read
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The Greatest Need of the Times
If we were asked what we feel to be the greatest need of the time, in the light of our far-flung travels this year, first as far East as India, and then over U.S.A. and Canada, we should say with strength: the greatest need of the times is a movement of God to bring His people to know the fullness of Christ! Only as the Church is brought into the g ...read
Article
The Greatness and Glory of God's Name
There are certain truths and concepts which dominate the whole Bible, and which are gathered into a single word. They are like a bunch of keys which, if you possess them, unlock the entire revelation of the mind of God. The most inclusive of these is the word 'Name' as relating to God. You have only to look at the pages of a concordance where the w ...read
Article
The Greatness of the Church
There is a painful slowness amongst Christians to apprehend the great purpose and intent of their salvation, to know and to understand the nature of their high calling; and it is in this connection that there is a great divide between the people of God. Christianity at its best has very largely become a general thing a matter of being saved and of ...read
Sermon
The Holy Spirit and the Cross, the Church, and the Coming Again of the Lord Jesus
A Message as Spoken
The Theme is "The Holy Spirit and the Cross, the Church, and the Coming Again of the Lord." As to the first part, the Holy Spirit and the Cross, we can see that the one great and inclusive question in view was, and is, the securing of God's rights in the universe for Him. God, as the Supreme and Sole Object of all worship or ...read
Article
The Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Anointing
"And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and he entered, as his custom was, into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And he opened the book, and found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed me to preac ...read
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The Holy Spirit in the Life of a Child of God
From "This Ministry" - Messages given at Honor Oak - Volume 3.
"But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature... And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he is keeping the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him; ...read
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The Importance and Value of Experience
"And not only so, but we also rejoice in our tribulations: knowing that tribulation worketh stedfastness; and stedfastness, approvedness; and approvedness, hope: and hope putteth not to shame; because the love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit which was given unto us" (Rom. 5:3-5).
Experience Gained Through Trib ...read
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The Importance and Value of God-given Vision
"Come hither, I will show thee..." (Revelation 21:9)
At times of crisis in the Church's history there has always been one factor which has been decisive; that is, the presence or absence of God-given vision. Again and again, such vision has been, by its absence, the cause of calamity and disaster; or, by its presence, the turning point for good ...read
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The Importance of Being in the Spirit
The phrase "in the Spirit" occurs several times in the book of the Revelation. It represents the way of escape for the Lord's people from the oppression of the earthly conditions which surround and beset them. John, being so oppressed on the island of Patmos, found deliverance from earth's limitations into the much larger realm of things as they ar ...read
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The Incense-Bearer
"...and by me sends forth the knowledge of Him, a stream of fragrant incense, throughout the world. For Christ's is the fragrance which I offer up to God, whether among those in the way of salvation, or among those in the way of perdition; but to these it is an odour of death, to those of life." (2 Corinthians 2:14-16, CONYBEARE.)
THE MINISTER ...read
T. Austin-Sparks