| Article | I Will Follow Thee, Lord; But...
"Another said, I will follow thee, Lord; but first..." (Luke 9:61).
There was a lot of "following" going on just at that time. A glance at the concordance will show how often the word "follow" occurs. In the movement, this man made his spontaneous announcement to the Lord. His proviso or reservation was the point which drew forth the famous stat ...read |
| Article | I Will Overturn
"I will overturn, overturn, overturn.... until He come Whose right it is; and I will give it Him" (Ezekiel 21:27).
You will see, if you look, that those words have an immediate and a much wider context. Their immediate context is the life-ministry of the prophet. His times were to see the beginning and the carrying forward, to some quite serious ...read |
| Sermon | In God or Outside of God?
(A message given at a conference in Switzerland in 1964)
Reading: John 15:1,2,4; 1 Peter 3:18.
There are two words to be underlined in the fifteenth chapter of John. The one word is 'true' - "I am the true vine" - and the other is 'abide'. which occurs eleven times in the chapter.
If you look at these three chapters in John's Gospel, chapters ...read |
| Article | In Spirit and In Truth
John 4:23
It is no exaggeration to say that the briefest phrase from the lips of Jesus Christ contains a depth, wealth and cruciality of significance that is inexhaustible. The above clause is an example of this. In the first place it - with its context - was used to mark the change in a long and powerful tradition. A system and tradition so str ...read |
| Article | In the Likeness of His Resurrection
It is important that we should recognise what a great scope and tremendous emphasis the subject of resurrection has in the Word of God. As a principle it is patent or latent, according to the measure of our discernment, from the beginning to the end of the divine revelation of Scripture. Since the fall, all things which are of God have their new be ...read |
| Article | In the Train of His Triumph
"...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's translation).
...read |
| Article | Is He Really Lord?
Take the matter of service - ministry - the work of the Lord unto which we are called. Anyone who is really in spiritual ministry - really in spiritual work for the Lord - knows how difficult it is, how hard... intensely hard... growingly hard it is. It is fraught with difficulties of almost every kind; and one thing so real in this is the activity ...read |
| Article | Is the Great "Shaking" at Hand?
"Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also the heavens". Hebrews 12:26-27.
There is no doubt that the Letter to the Hebrews was a supreme effort to get Christian believers detached from an earthly form of Christianity, and attached to Christ in heaven. That effort had as one of its strong reasons the fact that a great shaking was foreto ...read |
| Article | Jealousy for God
"And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Is it thou, thou troubler of Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house" (1 Kings 18:17,18).
"And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts" (1 Kings 19:10).
When we bring together those two fragments - "I have ...read |
| Article | Jehovah Shammah
"The Lord is There"
"The name of the city from that day shall be, JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH" (Ezekiel 48:35).
So, the end sees the eternal object attained: that which prompted creation; that which motivated Providence; that which has always been the dynamic of Sovereignty; and that which carried through Redemption.
The supreme and all-inclusive object h ...read |
| Article | Jonathan's Arrow
An arrow has often been the symbol or instrument of a crisis in Bible times. In Elisha's time it symbolized deliverance from Syria (2 Kings 13). It symbolized God's judgment of Ahab in the days of Jehu (2 Kings 9). These were turning-points in history. So it was in the case of Jonathan's arrow.
The people had rejected God's best and refused every ...read |
| Sermon | Joy Out of Travail
Transcribed from a message given in 1958.
One or two fragments of the Word, firstly in the book of Genesis, chapter 3, verses 16 and 17: "Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he s ...read |
| Article | Keeping Christ in View
From time to time we feel it to be helpful to our readers if we try to put into some concrete statement something relating to this ministry.
Very many write us of its value and helpfulness, and we are glad that its true object and purpose is discerned by so large a number. Even so, we are continually concerned to bring it to clear and definite iss ...read |
| Article | Leadership and Ministry
"For that the leaders took the lead... bless the Lord" (Judges 5:2).
While there are few things fraught with more difficulties, perils, and involvements than leadership, there are few things more vital and necessary. The fact of leadership needs no argument. It is in the very nature of things. Every situation that arises of a serious and critica ...read |
| Sermon | Let Us Go On
Transcribed from a message given by T. Austin-Sparks in April 1959. The spoken form has been retained verbatim.
I turn you again to the letter to the Hebrews, in chapter 2, at verse 1:
"Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that were heard lest haply we drift away from them."
If you know anything about this letter at ...read |
| Article | Let Us Run
"Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith" (Hebrews 12:3).
"Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? Even so run, that ye may attain" (1 Corinthians 9:24).
"Ye were running well; who did hinder you...?" (Galatians 5:7).
"Let us run". ...read |
| Article | Life and Death
"For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that one died for all, therefore all died; and he died for all, that they which live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him who for their sakes died and rose again. Wherefore we henceforth know no man after the flesh: even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet ...read |
| Article | Life in the Spirit
"And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway from the water: and lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon Him; and lo, a voice out of the heavens, saying, 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased'" (Matt. 3:16).
"Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wildern ...read |
| Article | Looking Unto Jesus
"Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Make level the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left" (Proverbs 4:25-27).
"Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which do ...read |
| Sermon | Loose Him, and Let Him Go!
Reading: John 11:38-44
It is that last verse that we shall be considering especially:
"He that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes; and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him and let him go."
I would just like to place alongside of that a fragment from the tenth chapter:
"I came that ...read |
T. Austin-Sparks