How The Apostles Died
1. Matthew suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia, killed by a sword wound.
2. Mark died in Alexandria, Egypt after being dragged by horses through the streets until he was dead.
3. Luke was hanged in Greece as a result of his tremendous preaching to the lost.
4. John faced martyrdom when he was boiled in a huge basin of boiling oil during a wave of persecution in Rome However, he was miraculously delivered from death. John was then sentenced to the mines on the prison island of Patmos. He wrote his prophetic Book of Revelation on Patmos. The apostle John was later freed and returned to serve as Bishop of Edessa in modern Turkey. He died as an old man, the only apostle to die peacefully.
5. Peter was crucified upside down on an "x" shaped cross. According to church tradition it was because he told his tormentors that he felt unworthy to die in the same way that Jesus Christ had died.
6. James, the leader of the church in Jerusalem, was thrown over a hundred feet down from the southeast pinnacle of the Temple when he refused to deny his faith in Christ. When they discovered that he survived the fall, his enemies beat James to death with a fuller's club. This was the same pinnacle where satan had taken Jesus during the Temptation.
7. James, the son of Zebedee, was a fisherman by trade when Jesus called him to a lifetime of ministry. As a strong leader of the church, James was beheaded at Jerusalem. The Roman officer who guarded James watched amazed as James defended his faith at his trial. Later, the officer walked beside James to the place of execution. Overcome by conviction, he declared his new faith to the judge and knelt beside James to accept beheading as a Christian.
8. Bartholomew also known as Nathaniel, was a missionary to Asia. He witnessed for our Lord in present day Turkey. Bartholomew was martyred for his preaching in Armenia where he was flayed to death by a whip.
9. Andrew was crucified on an "x" shaped cross in Patras, Greece. After being whipped severely by seven soldiers they tied his body to the cross with cords to prolong his agony. His followers reported that, when he was led toward the cross, Andrew saluted it in these words, "I have long desired and expected this happy hour. The cross has been consecrated by the body of Christ hanging on it." He continued to preach to his tormentors for two days until he expired.
10. Thomas was stabbed with a spear in India during one of his missionary trips to establish the church in the subcontinent.
11. Jude was killed with arrows when he refused to deny his faith in Christ.
12. Mathias, the apostle chosen to replace the traitor Judas Iscariot, was stoned and then beheaded.
13. Paul was tortured and then beheaded by the evil Emperor Nero at Rome in A.D. 67. Paul endured a lengthy imprisonment, which allowed him to write his many epistles to the churches he had formed throughout the Roman Empire. These letters, which taught many of the foundational doctrines of Christianity, form a large portion of the New Testament.
Perhaps this is a reminder to us that our sufferings here are indeed minor to compare to the intense persecution and cold cruelty faced by the apostles and disciples during their times for the sake of faith. "And ye shall be hated of all men for My name's sake. But he that endureth to the end shall be saved."
Pass on to encourage other Christians. Why do we feel sleepy in prayer, but stay awake through a three hour movie? Why are we so bored when we look at the Holy Bible, but find it easy to read other books? Why is it so easy to ignore a message about God, yet we forward the nasty ones? Why are prayers getting smaller, but bars and clubs are expanding? Why is it so easy to worship a celebrity, but very difficult to engage with God?
Make this message your contribution to the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ!
~Danny V. Ray~
Saturday, February 9, 2019
Broken Down Altars # 4
Broken Down Altars # 4
It always thrills me to the end of my toes to see how bravely the old prophet of God stood up before that jeering, howling, sneering, blatant, blaspheming mob of licentious, adulterous, degenerate cutthroats who stood there and defied him. How utterly indifferent he was to the tremendous odds that were against him! And judging by appearances, all were against him.
It didn't look as if God were within a hundred miles of that meeting on top of Mount Carmel. The whole country was reeking and stinking with filth; and as the old prophet of God stood up and scanned the blackened plains - turned black because no rain or dew had fallen on them - there wasn't a green thing in sight. As he looked into the brutal faces of that mob of blasphemers, jeering and sneering upon him, nothing but unshaken confidence in God could have kept him from stampeding and hitting it for the woods. But his faith held him!!
Oh, faith is a mightier force than dynamite and electricity! Elijah helped many as he stood there alone. And if science and discovery can take the Bible from us, then the sooner they do it, the better. If the Bible came from God, you can no more hurt it by anything blatant blasphemers can say than the waves of the ocean can be stopped by blowing a tin whistle against them. If the Bible came from God, nothing you can do can hurt it, anymore than you can dam Niagara Falls with toothpicks, any more than you can knock a Gibraltar down by shooting green peas against it with a popgun!
And if the preacher has no faith, it becomes apparent when things go wrong. If he undertakes to hold a meeting and it rains the opening night, it chills his marrow. He is sure that it isn't God's set time to work. If those whom he counted on are sick or away from home, or if they knock him and won't come near him. How anxious he is if the janitor goes over to the side of the devil and the building is too hot or too cold. And he concludes that God has forsaken him if the organist gets on her high horse and won't come out and play, and if there is nobody present to lead the singing. Think of Elijah. In spite of all that was against him, he could stir up the opposition to do their worst. He said to them, "Cry louder!" as they cried for old Baal. "Cry louder; perhaps he's asleep! Or maybe he's gone off to hunt or fish; cry louder and awaken him!"
Elijah Urged Immediate Decision
He addressed himself to the conscience of the people. That is my aim when I preach. He urged immediate decision according to their honest conviction. You do the same! If everyone would act according to his or her conviction, there wouldn't be a sinner left on God's earth! He said, "if the Lord be God, follow Him" - appealing to their conscience and reason. Now he have the people to understand that God would manifest Himself in a God-like way.
In these days we are prone to belittle the work of the Holy Spirit. We depend too little on God and too much on the kitchen, or the choir loft, or something or somebody. Miraculous work of grace must be expected and prayed for God is still the wonder-working God and He always will be. The salvation of a sinner is as much a miracle as the raising of the dead.
Human Conditions Must Be Met
God has spiritual laws that are as positive in their working and as subject to conditions as the natural laws. The laws of faith are just as certain as the laws of steam and electricity. There are laws of spiritual growth and fruitage, just as thee are laws that govern the growth of a potato or a hill of corn. And to secure spiritual results, human conditions must be set.
The man who plows with a forked stick gets all the crop that he deserves. And the man who prays the same old rat-eaten prayer is on the same par with him. Get something new! To have God's help in obtaining a crop, the farmer has to do certain things, at certain times, in certain ways; if he doesn't, there will not be a potato for him to stick his fork into, nor a loaf of bread for him to cut. If one doesn't work in harmony with God, than he can have nothing to eat.
There are, I say, spiritual laws in this old world, just as there are natural laws. And to have God's help in spiritual things one must put himself in right relationship with God. The farmer must put himself in right relationship with God and in right relationship with the ground and nature by plowing and preparing it, then by planting the seed.
You must put yourself in right relationship with God or He can do you no good. You have to put yourself in right relationship with the physician by taking his medicine and following his directions; else all the skills on God's green earth will never drive the disease away.
There are natural laws to follow. There is common sense in everything. The prophet used it when he prepared the broken-down altar. He knew it was a waste of breath to pray for God to answer by fire if he did not do his part. It is absolutely useless to ask Him to save and bless this city if the church and preacher do not do their part. Elijah was smart enough to know that. And before you can pray right, you must begin to live right. Whatsoever is wrong must be righted. Even if it is as valuable to you as your right eye or arm, get rid of it if it is wrong, if you want God's blessing and favor and partnership with you. When this kind of repentance takes place, then the step from death to life is a mighty short one.
~Billy Sunday~
(continued with # 5)
It always thrills me to the end of my toes to see how bravely the old prophet of God stood up before that jeering, howling, sneering, blatant, blaspheming mob of licentious, adulterous, degenerate cutthroats who stood there and defied him. How utterly indifferent he was to the tremendous odds that were against him! And judging by appearances, all were against him.
It didn't look as if God were within a hundred miles of that meeting on top of Mount Carmel. The whole country was reeking and stinking with filth; and as the old prophet of God stood up and scanned the blackened plains - turned black because no rain or dew had fallen on them - there wasn't a green thing in sight. As he looked into the brutal faces of that mob of blasphemers, jeering and sneering upon him, nothing but unshaken confidence in God could have kept him from stampeding and hitting it for the woods. But his faith held him!!
Oh, faith is a mightier force than dynamite and electricity! Elijah helped many as he stood there alone. And if science and discovery can take the Bible from us, then the sooner they do it, the better. If the Bible came from God, you can no more hurt it by anything blatant blasphemers can say than the waves of the ocean can be stopped by blowing a tin whistle against them. If the Bible came from God, nothing you can do can hurt it, anymore than you can dam Niagara Falls with toothpicks, any more than you can knock a Gibraltar down by shooting green peas against it with a popgun!
And if the preacher has no faith, it becomes apparent when things go wrong. If he undertakes to hold a meeting and it rains the opening night, it chills his marrow. He is sure that it isn't God's set time to work. If those whom he counted on are sick or away from home, or if they knock him and won't come near him. How anxious he is if the janitor goes over to the side of the devil and the building is too hot or too cold. And he concludes that God has forsaken him if the organist gets on her high horse and won't come out and play, and if there is nobody present to lead the singing. Think of Elijah. In spite of all that was against him, he could stir up the opposition to do their worst. He said to them, "Cry louder!" as they cried for old Baal. "Cry louder; perhaps he's asleep! Or maybe he's gone off to hunt or fish; cry louder and awaken him!"
Elijah Urged Immediate Decision
He addressed himself to the conscience of the people. That is my aim when I preach. He urged immediate decision according to their honest conviction. You do the same! If everyone would act according to his or her conviction, there wouldn't be a sinner left on God's earth! He said, "if the Lord be God, follow Him" - appealing to their conscience and reason. Now he have the people to understand that God would manifest Himself in a God-like way.
In these days we are prone to belittle the work of the Holy Spirit. We depend too little on God and too much on the kitchen, or the choir loft, or something or somebody. Miraculous work of grace must be expected and prayed for God is still the wonder-working God and He always will be. The salvation of a sinner is as much a miracle as the raising of the dead.
Human Conditions Must Be Met
God has spiritual laws that are as positive in their working and as subject to conditions as the natural laws. The laws of faith are just as certain as the laws of steam and electricity. There are laws of spiritual growth and fruitage, just as thee are laws that govern the growth of a potato or a hill of corn. And to secure spiritual results, human conditions must be set.
The man who plows with a forked stick gets all the crop that he deserves. And the man who prays the same old rat-eaten prayer is on the same par with him. Get something new! To have God's help in obtaining a crop, the farmer has to do certain things, at certain times, in certain ways; if he doesn't, there will not be a potato for him to stick his fork into, nor a loaf of bread for him to cut. If one doesn't work in harmony with God, than he can have nothing to eat.
There are, I say, spiritual laws in this old world, just as there are natural laws. And to have God's help in spiritual things one must put himself in right relationship with God. The farmer must put himself in right relationship with God and in right relationship with the ground and nature by plowing and preparing it, then by planting the seed.
You must put yourself in right relationship with God or He can do you no good. You have to put yourself in right relationship with the physician by taking his medicine and following his directions; else all the skills on God's green earth will never drive the disease away.
There are natural laws to follow. There is common sense in everything. The prophet used it when he prepared the broken-down altar. He knew it was a waste of breath to pray for God to answer by fire if he did not do his part. It is absolutely useless to ask Him to save and bless this city if the church and preacher do not do their part. Elijah was smart enough to know that. And before you can pray right, you must begin to live right. Whatsoever is wrong must be righted. Even if it is as valuable to you as your right eye or arm, get rid of it if it is wrong, if you want God's blessing and favor and partnership with you. When this kind of repentance takes place, then the step from death to life is a mighty short one.
~Billy Sunday~
(continued with # 5)
Broken Down Altars # 3
Broken Down Altars # 3
The next thing we learn about Elijah is he knew his God well enough to trust Him. Some of us are so very slightly acquainted with the Lord that we are afraid to do this. Many of us get little help from God because we are afraid to trust Him to do very much for us. We won't trust Him any further than we have to. We are like the little girl who said, "I don't have to pray anymore that I won't get scarlet fever because I've got a sulphur bag around my neck." We won't go any further than we seemingly have to for the Lord.
Elijah had a God who made the ravens feed him. The widow's oil and meal failed not. He wasn't afraid of anything that could happen. So many of us are, and that is why we accomplish so little. As soon as the Lord told Elijah to go show himself to Ahab, Elijah girded his loins and started out. He didn't loose a minute considering what great odds were against him; he thought only of the help God would give him to go out and win that conflict.
Think of the help that God will give you to succeed in life, then you will not moan about the tremendous odds against you when you try to live for Jesus and His truth. Faith says, "Amen" to everything God says. Faith takes God at His word, without any "if's" or "and's". Faith says, "I believe it" and rests on that and stands pat for Jesus. If some of us had more raven experiences yesterday, there would be more mountains moved for God today. We wouldn't go through this life as nonentities, accomplishing nothing for Jesus and His truth.
The prophet knew his God well enough to set out for the front without a tremor, and when he got there, he wasn't afraid of what would happen. His only concern was to meet the conditions as they had been made known to him, knowing that when he had done his prayerful best, he could trust God to take care of the consequences. When a farmer plows his ground and plants the seed, he has done his best; then he has to trust God to make that seed grow. When he puts that seed in the ground, he trusts the rest to a law which he cannot understand, a law which he did not originate and which he cannot control. When you have done your prayerful best, you can bank on it that God Almighty will do His part. You never need fear or lose any sleep over the Lord. When Elijah challenged the opposition, he defied them to their worst, giving them all the rope they wanted.
Elijah asks that they choose whom they will serve. We, too, must choose!
A great camp meeting, or revival was to be held on Mount Carmel. The opposition did all the advertising. Hear this: "Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel. And Elijah came and said, "How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him." He said, "Take your choice!" That is fair enough, isn't it? Nothing could be more reasonable. If we are better by all getting drunk, then let us all quit being sober and go and get drunk.
If we are better because we curse and do not pray, let us all quit praying and go to cursing. If we are better because we are impure, then let us all stop living decent lives and go out and live for the devil. If we are better with saloons and beer joints than with churches, then let us close the churches and build more breweries and saloons. Take you choice! If you are better, if this city is better without Jesus Christ than with Him, then I'll quit, go home and stop preaching. That is a fair deal. What was fair and reasonable then, is fair and reasonable today. "How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him." Make up your mind how it will be - the Lord God or the devil?
Now if the Bible came from God, find out what it tells you to do, then do it! If it is God's Book, you have to do that or God Almighty is against you just as sure as you breathe. If the Bible comes from God, then there must be an easy way for every willing mind to find it out. If you want to know if the Bible came from God, square your life by its teachings and see if it will not make out of you the kind of man it says it will.
Give it a chance! Give it a test! The fact that God proved His existence on Mount Carmel is proof that God can do it today in Richmond. And He will do it for every honest doubter who wants to know.
Elijah's Faith Held Midst Tremendous Opposition
Now the purpose of that meeting on Mount Carmel was to have the people know that there was a God, and to have them get right with that God. That is the reason I sweat every drop of perspiration; that is the reason I preach with every ounce of my manhood. You haven't money enough in your bank vaults in Richmond to hire me to spend my energy and strength if I didn't believe that you were bound for hell without Christ.
The man is either insane or a fool who deliberately fights against God and lives without God. Why, it would be as wise for him to stand on a railroad track and contest his strength with that of steel and steam as to fight against God.
~Billy Sunday~
(continued with # 4)
The next thing we learn about Elijah is he knew his God well enough to trust Him. Some of us are so very slightly acquainted with the Lord that we are afraid to do this. Many of us get little help from God because we are afraid to trust Him to do very much for us. We won't trust Him any further than we have to. We are like the little girl who said, "I don't have to pray anymore that I won't get scarlet fever because I've got a sulphur bag around my neck." We won't go any further than we seemingly have to for the Lord.
Elijah had a God who made the ravens feed him. The widow's oil and meal failed not. He wasn't afraid of anything that could happen. So many of us are, and that is why we accomplish so little. As soon as the Lord told Elijah to go show himself to Ahab, Elijah girded his loins and started out. He didn't loose a minute considering what great odds were against him; he thought only of the help God would give him to go out and win that conflict.
Think of the help that God will give you to succeed in life, then you will not moan about the tremendous odds against you when you try to live for Jesus and His truth. Faith says, "Amen" to everything God says. Faith takes God at His word, without any "if's" or "and's". Faith says, "I believe it" and rests on that and stands pat for Jesus. If some of us had more raven experiences yesterday, there would be more mountains moved for God today. We wouldn't go through this life as nonentities, accomplishing nothing for Jesus and His truth.
The prophet knew his God well enough to set out for the front without a tremor, and when he got there, he wasn't afraid of what would happen. His only concern was to meet the conditions as they had been made known to him, knowing that when he had done his prayerful best, he could trust God to take care of the consequences. When a farmer plows his ground and plants the seed, he has done his best; then he has to trust God to make that seed grow. When he puts that seed in the ground, he trusts the rest to a law which he cannot understand, a law which he did not originate and which he cannot control. When you have done your prayerful best, you can bank on it that God Almighty will do His part. You never need fear or lose any sleep over the Lord. When Elijah challenged the opposition, he defied them to their worst, giving them all the rope they wanted.
Elijah asks that they choose whom they will serve. We, too, must choose!
A great camp meeting, or revival was to be held on Mount Carmel. The opposition did all the advertising. Hear this: "Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel. And Elijah came and said, "How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him." He said, "Take your choice!" That is fair enough, isn't it? Nothing could be more reasonable. If we are better by all getting drunk, then let us all quit being sober and go and get drunk.
If we are better because we curse and do not pray, let us all quit praying and go to cursing. If we are better because we are impure, then let us all stop living decent lives and go out and live for the devil. If we are better with saloons and beer joints than with churches, then let us close the churches and build more breweries and saloons. Take you choice! If you are better, if this city is better without Jesus Christ than with Him, then I'll quit, go home and stop preaching. That is a fair deal. What was fair and reasonable then, is fair and reasonable today. "How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him." Make up your mind how it will be - the Lord God or the devil?
Now if the Bible came from God, find out what it tells you to do, then do it! If it is God's Book, you have to do that or God Almighty is against you just as sure as you breathe. If the Bible comes from God, then there must be an easy way for every willing mind to find it out. If you want to know if the Bible came from God, square your life by its teachings and see if it will not make out of you the kind of man it says it will.
Give it a chance! Give it a test! The fact that God proved His existence on Mount Carmel is proof that God can do it today in Richmond. And He will do it for every honest doubter who wants to know.
Elijah's Faith Held Midst Tremendous Opposition
Now the purpose of that meeting on Mount Carmel was to have the people know that there was a God, and to have them get right with that God. That is the reason I sweat every drop of perspiration; that is the reason I preach with every ounce of my manhood. You haven't money enough in your bank vaults in Richmond to hire me to spend my energy and strength if I didn't believe that you were bound for hell without Christ.
The man is either insane or a fool who deliberately fights against God and lives without God. Why, it would be as wise for him to stand on a railroad track and contest his strength with that of steel and steam as to fight against God.
~Billy Sunday~
(continued with # 4)
Saturday, February 2, 2019
Broken Down Altars # 1
Broken Down Altars # 1
"He repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down" (1 Kings 18:30).
There is something more than history in the chapter from which my text is taken, just as there is always more in a picture than is seen at first glance. The state of affairs at this time the chapter opens was as bad as is possible for the human mind to conceive. The country was in an awful condition because of idolatry, adultery and all other sins associated with a nation that had forgotten God and was given, unbridled, to all lust and evil desires.
That talk had in it no "as it were," "in a degree," "perhaps," or "in a measure" or "so to speak." He didn't qualify it by any adjectives; every word had a ring like chilled steel as it cut like a Damascus blade into the putrefying abscesses of his day. Ahab and Jezebel were on the throne. A more vicious, iniquitous, rotten man or vile woman never disgraced the earth than these two. Wickedness had the right of way throughout the kingdom. Ahab and Jezebel set the pace and others followed. There were no depths of iniquity, adultery, licentiousness and vileness to which Ahab and Jezebel did not sink. Baal was worshiped; true religion was on the sidetrack, and hell had the main line.
It is true that there were a few faithful, like Obadiah and Naboth, who had not bowed to Baal, but they were in a sad minority. Many had been compelled to hide in caves and dens. If it was a woman who dared say she believed in and worshiped Jehovah, she was an outcast and her children were murdered; if it was a man, he was subjected to infamies that no tongue would attempt to describe. So rampant had idolatry, adultery, and kindred evils had become that in order to try to stem the deadly tide, God sent the prophet Elijah to shut off the water supply and bring on the famine.
As we read the Bible we will notice that always in a dark time God sends a prophet to arouse, stir and call the people back to the true God. So in this instance, when the situation looked dark, God sent His messenger to warn the people of the judgment which they were bringing on themselves because of sin and iniquity. The old Tishbite bobbed up before weak-kneed Ahab with all the abruptness of a thunderclap out of a clear sky, and without banners or bands or furbelows or salaam, spoke out in the first breath in a way that brought a deadly pallor upon the cheeks of the miserable wretch Ahab: "As the Lord of hoses liveth..." (1 Kings 18:15). "As the Lord of hosts liveth, before whom I stand..." cried the prophet, that ought to be the preacher's cry every time he walks into the pulpit! That kind of faith makes the devil get up and dust every time! Such confidence in God as the prophet had as he stood before Him would make granite out of soapstone. And to know God as Elijah knew Him, and to have the same unbroken sense of His presence, is better preparation for a great career in the ministry than a degree from any college you can name. I am not discounting the value of education. I consider a mind without education as something like marble in a quarry, which shows none of the inherent beauty until the skill of the polisher fetches out the color and discovers every ornamental vein that runs through the marble. Education draws out many virtues and perfections which otherwise would never come to the surface and never be seen. I believe in education, but education alone cannot make character - never! It takes acquaintance with God to do that.
It takes purity of heart as well as brilliancy of intellect to make one great for God. But I have no sympathy with anybody who would exclude anyone, educated or uneducated. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God" is as much in force tonight as it was two thousand years ago. Any man who does that will have a stirring time and will give the devil the best run for his money he ever had. Nothing was as much needed in Israel as a sweeping revival; and God sent the right man to bring it about. Let us see how Elijah did it!
He repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. Elijah did his work in a way that was natural but unconventional. He had backbone. He wasn't pinned down or dominated by the personality of other men. He didn't try to add anybody's peculiarities or eccentricities; he had plenty of his own and the nerve to use them, too, and to be himself!
The preacher who is afraid to be like Elijah in this respect will be as weak in his ministry as Samson with his hair cut: he will have no power. I tell you, whenever God calls a man to preach, He expects him to do it as naturally as he sneezes or snores. His individuality is to him what the steel frame is to a skyscraper. And when he surrenders it, he becomes like other people. Down go his ministerial methods; his candlestick is taken away, and God casts him into the dust of His displeasure.
~Billy Sunday~
(continued with # 2)
"He repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down" (1 Kings 18:30).
There is something more than history in the chapter from which my text is taken, just as there is always more in a picture than is seen at first glance. The state of affairs at this time the chapter opens was as bad as is possible for the human mind to conceive. The country was in an awful condition because of idolatry, adultery and all other sins associated with a nation that had forgotten God and was given, unbridled, to all lust and evil desires.
That talk had in it no "as it were," "in a degree," "perhaps," or "in a measure" or "so to speak." He didn't qualify it by any adjectives; every word had a ring like chilled steel as it cut like a Damascus blade into the putrefying abscesses of his day. Ahab and Jezebel were on the throne. A more vicious, iniquitous, rotten man or vile woman never disgraced the earth than these two. Wickedness had the right of way throughout the kingdom. Ahab and Jezebel set the pace and others followed. There were no depths of iniquity, adultery, licentiousness and vileness to which Ahab and Jezebel did not sink. Baal was worshiped; true religion was on the sidetrack, and hell had the main line.
It is true that there were a few faithful, like Obadiah and Naboth, who had not bowed to Baal, but they were in a sad minority. Many had been compelled to hide in caves and dens. If it was a woman who dared say she believed in and worshiped Jehovah, she was an outcast and her children were murdered; if it was a man, he was subjected to infamies that no tongue would attempt to describe. So rampant had idolatry, adultery, and kindred evils had become that in order to try to stem the deadly tide, God sent the prophet Elijah to shut off the water supply and bring on the famine.
As we read the Bible we will notice that always in a dark time God sends a prophet to arouse, stir and call the people back to the true God. So in this instance, when the situation looked dark, God sent His messenger to warn the people of the judgment which they were bringing on themselves because of sin and iniquity. The old Tishbite bobbed up before weak-kneed Ahab with all the abruptness of a thunderclap out of a clear sky, and without banners or bands or furbelows or salaam, spoke out in the first breath in a way that brought a deadly pallor upon the cheeks of the miserable wretch Ahab: "As the Lord of hoses liveth..." (1 Kings 18:15). "As the Lord of hosts liveth, before whom I stand..." cried the prophet, that ought to be the preacher's cry every time he walks into the pulpit! That kind of faith makes the devil get up and dust every time! Such confidence in God as the prophet had as he stood before Him would make granite out of soapstone. And to know God as Elijah knew Him, and to have the same unbroken sense of His presence, is better preparation for a great career in the ministry than a degree from any college you can name. I am not discounting the value of education. I consider a mind without education as something like marble in a quarry, which shows none of the inherent beauty until the skill of the polisher fetches out the color and discovers every ornamental vein that runs through the marble. Education draws out many virtues and perfections which otherwise would never come to the surface and never be seen. I believe in education, but education alone cannot make character - never! It takes acquaintance with God to do that.
It takes purity of heart as well as brilliancy of intellect to make one great for God. But I have no sympathy with anybody who would exclude anyone, educated or uneducated. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God" is as much in force tonight as it was two thousand years ago. Any man who does that will have a stirring time and will give the devil the best run for his money he ever had. Nothing was as much needed in Israel as a sweeping revival; and God sent the right man to bring it about. Let us see how Elijah did it!
He repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. Elijah did his work in a way that was natural but unconventional. He had backbone. He wasn't pinned down or dominated by the personality of other men. He didn't try to add anybody's peculiarities or eccentricities; he had plenty of his own and the nerve to use them, too, and to be himself!
The preacher who is afraid to be like Elijah in this respect will be as weak in his ministry as Samson with his hair cut: he will have no power. I tell you, whenever God calls a man to preach, He expects him to do it as naturally as he sneezes or snores. His individuality is to him what the steel frame is to a skyscraper. And when he surrenders it, he becomes like other people. Down go his ministerial methods; his candlestick is taken away, and God casts him into the dust of His displeasure.
~Billy Sunday~
(continued with # 2)
Broken Down Altars # 2
Broken Down Altars # 2
Lots of us are afraid that we do something sensational. I have no more patience with such a man than I have with a horse that will shy at a wheelbarrow, or a woman who will go into hysterics over the sight of a mouse. Everything that Elijah did was sensational; that is why he aroused the country. If shutting off the water supply, shutting up the heavens for three years so there was not a drop of rain or dew to fall on the earth, wasn't sensational, trot out something that was. It raised the biggest stir that that whiskey-soaked, licentious, idolatrous, corrupt, godless, blasphemous country had ever seen or had ever recorded; and it made Ahab and Jezebel mad enough, I think. to spit fire!
If you wish to see a dead church awakened, do something out of the ordinary. There's plenty of Bible authority for not pushing a thing aside just because it seems sensational. When Noah built the ark and loaded with with strange cargo, that was a sensation. When Jonah walked down the streets of Nineveh covered with seaweed crying, "Repent, Repent!" - that was sensational. Jesus Christ created a sensation when He went into the synagogue at the beginning of His ministry and taught, not as the scribes, but as one who had authority.
GET A LITTLE ENTHUSIASM FOR JESUS
The preacher who can't preach as one who has authority has no call from God to open his mouth! Matthew 23 is sensational preaching in words that cut like a razor.
John the Baptist was sensational in what he said as well as in what he did, and in the clothes that he wore, and because he was not like one of the bunch, all Jerusalem and Judea came out to hear God's lion-hearted preacher hurl anathemas of the Lord into the ranks of sin-high, low, rich and poor!
"Why don't people go to church?" is a question always asked. My guess is that it is because it is too much like going to a cemetery or a funeral home! Put more life in it and you won't have so many complaints. Many a time the prayer meeting is dead because a corpse is leading it. When Ahab saw Elijah, he put on a long, prayer-meeting face and with a sort of sanctimonious whine said to him, "Art thou he that troubleth Israel?"
The prophet of God came back with an uppercut and old Ahab got it under the fifth rib. Elijah straightened up like a fire ladder and, with a look that went through that old licentious king like an x-ray, thundered out, "I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and followed Baalm." If that wasn't sensational, show me something that was! Elijah expected results from his kind of preaching. If some preachers would talk that plain to some of the big sinners on the front seats, we would soon see them begin to crowd the pews. If your churches are full of men who are working overtime for the devil - working seven days and then doing overtime at night - tell them so! If you will call a spade a spade, you will hear things begin to rattle like castanets for Jesus Christ!!
One reason why there are so few revivals and why religion and morality are at such an awful low tide is because there is so little of the Tishbite kind of preaching done today to the chief sinners who occupy the chief seats in the synagogues. If Bible results are expected, there must be Bible preaching. God will honor that, no matter who may do the preaching.
I wouldn't give a rap for preaching which never lets a sinner know he is an old hell-bound sinner. There is sure to be discontent and disappointment for the preacher who is always shooting with nothing in his gun but bird shot. When David killed Goliath, he did it because he went against him with suitable ammunition. He loaded his sling according to the size of the joy that he had on hand. Oh, some would have tried to kill the giant with a little sand in a blowpipe; but you can't do it that way. David didn't waste any time skirmishing for position; he took dead aim and put enough muscle behind the throw to crack the giant's bean the first throw out of the box. If he had only meant to wing him, there would have been no mourning in the camp of the Philistines. Where no definite result is expected, nothing out of the common will happen. Elijah trusted God to take care of the consequences.
~Billy Sunday~
(continued with # 3)
Lots of us are afraid that we do something sensational. I have no more patience with such a man than I have with a horse that will shy at a wheelbarrow, or a woman who will go into hysterics over the sight of a mouse. Everything that Elijah did was sensational; that is why he aroused the country. If shutting off the water supply, shutting up the heavens for three years so there was not a drop of rain or dew to fall on the earth, wasn't sensational, trot out something that was. It raised the biggest stir that that whiskey-soaked, licentious, idolatrous, corrupt, godless, blasphemous country had ever seen or had ever recorded; and it made Ahab and Jezebel mad enough, I think. to spit fire!
If you wish to see a dead church awakened, do something out of the ordinary. There's plenty of Bible authority for not pushing a thing aside just because it seems sensational. When Noah built the ark and loaded with with strange cargo, that was a sensation. When Jonah walked down the streets of Nineveh covered with seaweed crying, "Repent, Repent!" - that was sensational. Jesus Christ created a sensation when He went into the synagogue at the beginning of His ministry and taught, not as the scribes, but as one who had authority.
GET A LITTLE ENTHUSIASM FOR JESUS
The preacher who can't preach as one who has authority has no call from God to open his mouth! Matthew 23 is sensational preaching in words that cut like a razor.
John the Baptist was sensational in what he said as well as in what he did, and in the clothes that he wore, and because he was not like one of the bunch, all Jerusalem and Judea came out to hear God's lion-hearted preacher hurl anathemas of the Lord into the ranks of sin-high, low, rich and poor!
"Why don't people go to church?" is a question always asked. My guess is that it is because it is too much like going to a cemetery or a funeral home! Put more life in it and you won't have so many complaints. Many a time the prayer meeting is dead because a corpse is leading it. When Ahab saw Elijah, he put on a long, prayer-meeting face and with a sort of sanctimonious whine said to him, "Art thou he that troubleth Israel?"
The prophet of God came back with an uppercut and old Ahab got it under the fifth rib. Elijah straightened up like a fire ladder and, with a look that went through that old licentious king like an x-ray, thundered out, "I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and followed Baalm." If that wasn't sensational, show me something that was! Elijah expected results from his kind of preaching. If some preachers would talk that plain to some of the big sinners on the front seats, we would soon see them begin to crowd the pews. If your churches are full of men who are working overtime for the devil - working seven days and then doing overtime at night - tell them so! If you will call a spade a spade, you will hear things begin to rattle like castanets for Jesus Christ!!
One reason why there are so few revivals and why religion and morality are at such an awful low tide is because there is so little of the Tishbite kind of preaching done today to the chief sinners who occupy the chief seats in the synagogues. If Bible results are expected, there must be Bible preaching. God will honor that, no matter who may do the preaching.
I wouldn't give a rap for preaching which never lets a sinner know he is an old hell-bound sinner. There is sure to be discontent and disappointment for the preacher who is always shooting with nothing in his gun but bird shot. When David killed Goliath, he did it because he went against him with suitable ammunition. He loaded his sling according to the size of the joy that he had on hand. Oh, some would have tried to kill the giant with a little sand in a blowpipe; but you can't do it that way. David didn't waste any time skirmishing for position; he took dead aim and put enough muscle behind the throw to crack the giant's bean the first throw out of the box. If he had only meant to wing him, there would have been no mourning in the camp of the Philistines. Where no definite result is expected, nothing out of the common will happen. Elijah trusted God to take care of the consequences.
~Billy Sunday~
(continued with # 3)
No Room For Christ, Yet Room For Us # 3
No Room For Christ, Yet Room For Us # 3
"There is room" at the manger for those who feel themselves lonely, forsaken; particularly for the families in which a son had laid down his Me for the nation's defense. How hard the Christmas festivities seem to you when contrasted with the sorrow burdening your heart almost to the breaking! This anniversary of your Saviour's birth has graciously dawned for you, to give you the Heaven-granted assurance that through the Christ Child "your sorrow shall be turned into joy." Before this day ends, select some quiet spot and read Luke's story of the Nativity! Read it aloud! Read it prayerfully! It contains only 412 words, and it will take only a few moments. While you read, be fortified by believing that all this is written to show you that the Saviour's promise, "Yet there is room" holds assuredly for you, in the love that knows no limit, the grace that recognizes no bounds.
Often in the history of these last nineteen centuries Christmas has been a time of mighty conversion. Today, when God uses the radio to offer you "His unspeakable Gift" His own incarnate Son, picture the blessings which come with this Gift the washing away of your sins, the salvation of our soul, the defeat of death, the assurance of heaven, the reunion with your loved ones in the realms of celestial glory; all these blessings which Paul lists as "the fruit of the Spirit"; love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance!" Then, as the Christ Child appeals for room in your heart, asking, "Where is the guest chamber?" answer with the trusting faith of Martin Luther's Christmas carol:
Ah, dearest Jesus, Holy Child,'
Make Thee a bed, soft, undefiled,
Within my heart, that it may be
A quiet chamber kept for Thee!
Do not be satisfied with a second-best, shoddy welcome! Years ago in a Scotch village an old lady stepped from a carriage, walked to a workman's cottage, and politely asked fora glass of water. Only reluctantly the housewife agreed, showing her displeasure by bringing the water in a cracked cup. After the visitor had gone, a neighbor ran over to exclaim, "Do you know who that old lady was?" You can imagine her dismay to be told, "She was Queen Victoria!" That cracked cup is still held in high esteem, though it should be a sign of perpetual reproach. Let our welcome to Jesus be genuine, wholehearted, soul-sincere! Earth's Saviour, heaven's King, has come to you! Give Him the best you have, the best you are, and the best you can be by His grace! While we cannot receive Him in the flesh, yet He promises concerning our charities, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me." Before this holy day is over, resolve to share what God has given you with your poor, suffering, destitute fellow men!
Especially, however, may we, having received Jesus and made room for His redeeming love, bring the message of His grace to others! If you feel that the circle of your influence is too small for your testimony to bless many, remember, His Word never returns void! Church papers tell us of an American missionary who spent last Christmas in jail, imprisoned by the Japanese. The bars and barricades could not restrain his spirit, and on that holiday morning through the prison stillness he whistled "Silent Night," "Oh Come, All Ye Faithful," and other carols, until the guard demanded that he stop. Yet the next day one of the prisoners whom he happened to pass braved the wrath of the prison officials by whispering to the missionary, "Thank you for Christmas!" And if your testimony rings clear, wherever you may be, you can strengthen and fortify the faith of others.
Then the trans-Atlantic cable was completed, the first message flashed from continent to continent by the marvel of that invention ended with the angels' chorus at Bethlehem, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!" By the greater marvel of the radio, may this same message now speed its way over all natural boundaries of mountains, rivers, lakes, seas, and find room in your heart! From shore to shore let us unite in exulting, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men," all through the Christ Child for whom there was no room" at His birth, but through whom, by the rebirth of faith, we find eternal room! God grant every one of you this Christmas blessing! Amen!
~Walter A. Maier~
(The End)
"There is room" at the manger for those who feel themselves lonely, forsaken; particularly for the families in which a son had laid down his Me for the nation's defense. How hard the Christmas festivities seem to you when contrasted with the sorrow burdening your heart almost to the breaking! This anniversary of your Saviour's birth has graciously dawned for you, to give you the Heaven-granted assurance that through the Christ Child "your sorrow shall be turned into joy." Before this day ends, select some quiet spot and read Luke's story of the Nativity! Read it aloud! Read it prayerfully! It contains only 412 words, and it will take only a few moments. While you read, be fortified by believing that all this is written to show you that the Saviour's promise, "Yet there is room" holds assuredly for you, in the love that knows no limit, the grace that recognizes no bounds.
Often in the history of these last nineteen centuries Christmas has been a time of mighty conversion. Today, when God uses the radio to offer you "His unspeakable Gift" His own incarnate Son, picture the blessings which come with this Gift the washing away of your sins, the salvation of our soul, the defeat of death, the assurance of heaven, the reunion with your loved ones in the realms of celestial glory; all these blessings which Paul lists as "the fruit of the Spirit"; love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance!" Then, as the Christ Child appeals for room in your heart, asking, "Where is the guest chamber?" answer with the trusting faith of Martin Luther's Christmas carol:
Ah, dearest Jesus, Holy Child,'
Make Thee a bed, soft, undefiled,
Within my heart, that it may be
A quiet chamber kept for Thee!
Do not be satisfied with a second-best, shoddy welcome! Years ago in a Scotch village an old lady stepped from a carriage, walked to a workman's cottage, and politely asked fora glass of water. Only reluctantly the housewife agreed, showing her displeasure by bringing the water in a cracked cup. After the visitor had gone, a neighbor ran over to exclaim, "Do you know who that old lady was?" You can imagine her dismay to be told, "She was Queen Victoria!" That cracked cup is still held in high esteem, though it should be a sign of perpetual reproach. Let our welcome to Jesus be genuine, wholehearted, soul-sincere! Earth's Saviour, heaven's King, has come to you! Give Him the best you have, the best you are, and the best you can be by His grace! While we cannot receive Him in the flesh, yet He promises concerning our charities, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me." Before this holy day is over, resolve to share what God has given you with your poor, suffering, destitute fellow men!
Especially, however, may we, having received Jesus and made room for His redeeming love, bring the message of His grace to others! If you feel that the circle of your influence is too small for your testimony to bless many, remember, His Word never returns void! Church papers tell us of an American missionary who spent last Christmas in jail, imprisoned by the Japanese. The bars and barricades could not restrain his spirit, and on that holiday morning through the prison stillness he whistled "Silent Night," "Oh Come, All Ye Faithful," and other carols, until the guard demanded that he stop. Yet the next day one of the prisoners whom he happened to pass braved the wrath of the prison officials by whispering to the missionary, "Thank you for Christmas!" And if your testimony rings clear, wherever you may be, you can strengthen and fortify the faith of others.
Then the trans-Atlantic cable was completed, the first message flashed from continent to continent by the marvel of that invention ended with the angels' chorus at Bethlehem, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!" By the greater marvel of the radio, may this same message now speed its way over all natural boundaries of mountains, rivers, lakes, seas, and find room in your heart! From shore to shore let us unite in exulting, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men," all through the Christ Child for whom there was no room" at His birth, but through whom, by the rebirth of faith, we find eternal room! God grant every one of you this Christmas blessing! Amen!
~Walter A. Maier~
(The End)
No Room For Christ, Yet Room For Us # 2
No Room For Christ, Yet Room For Us # 2
With all the modern cries of tolerance, too many show the bigotry of Bethlehem. There is still "no room" for Christ's love; else why would this generation bleed its best power away in a second World War? "No room" for His humility; else why would half of this earth hear Him say, "Blessed are the peacemakers" but be forced to follow Nietzsche as he cries out in contradiction. "Blessed are the war makers"? "No room" for His holy Word in modern culture, where experts would train our children without reverence for God and faith in His Bible! "No room" for our Lord's creed of self-denial, when certain modern magazines feature page after page, picture after picture, paragraph after paragraph of profanity and indecency, but not a single sentence regarding this ageless message, "Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord!" "No room" for the promise of His Cross and His blood, when more Americans reject Him than ever before; when theological professors, contradicting the holy angel's anthem, "He shall save His people from their sins" deny that the Child in the manger is our Immanuel, our God-with-us; when many American churches do not once open their doors on Christmas Day! "No room" for the Nativity mercy, which promises us that we are saved through humble, penitent, trusting faith in the Babe of Bethlehem as our Lord and our Redeemer, while great religious bodies deny this center and climax of our faith, "By grace are ye saved!"
A pointed, personal issue confronts you: Jesus, the Christ Child of Christmas, in this moment seeks entrance into your heart. Will you turn away from Him because your soul is saturated with the driving desire for money? Fresh in our minds is the account of a merchant-marine sailor who had secured a thousand dollars, perhaps more money than he had ever owned in his life, a sum so impressive that his heart was closely attached to this treasure, carefully stored in his locker. His ship was torpedoed, and after he was rescued, he admitted that in those perilous hours he had never even thought of his thousand dollars. In the crisis moments of life, if you have rejected Jesus, you have lost more than money can ever buy. You have sacrificed your soul's salvation. This is Christ's warning, "He that believeth not shall be damned." The Christmas appeal, above eating and drinking, giving and receiving, visiting and being visited, lighting and decorating, the plea that comes from the very manger of the Christ Child, asks you: "Make room for Jesus! Grant Him entrance into your heart! Welcome Him into your home!"
II. THE SINLESS CHRIST CHILD ALWAYS WELCOMES SINFUL MEN
Although "there was no room" for Christ at Bethlehem's inn, "yet there was room" as the second part of our festival text explains room for you in His heart of love, in His Kingdom of Grace, in His Father's heavenly mansions. At His manger crib "there is room" for every sinner, especially the desperate and downtrodden, including those of you who write me tear-stained letters declaring that the transgressions of the past rise up to disturb you, waking or sleeping. When you come to Jesus in faith and He comes to you in His mercy, He removes the curse of your sin. He washes away its stain. The fire of His devotion burns away your iniquity. The power of His presence purifies your heart and strengthens your life. Take courage and believe on this Christmas day that nothing can keep you from Bethlehem and the forgiveness in the newborn Saviour but your own impenitence, your refusal to accept the Christ Child's promise of full, free and final pardon!
At the manger there was room for all, regardless of race restrictions or color classifications. "There is room" aplenty for friend and foe, since the Infant Jesus is the world's Saviour. He was born and He died so that all men, regardless of how completely they be segregated into opposing groups, might be saved. During the First World War, Christmas came to a Russian war prison camp in Siberia. Up to that time it had been the scene of homesickness, misery, hatred, and despair. Suicide had been frequent. But when the prisoners and their guards gathered in half-underground barracks for the Christmas celebration, the leader arose to say, "There is one song all can sing tonight, "Silent Night, Holy Night." They sang it, both the guards and the prisoners, each man in his own language. When they finished, the Russian commander eyes filled with tears as he told the captives, "Tonight is the first time in more than a year that I have been able to forget you and I are supposed to be enemies." If you, too, will acclaim Bethlehem's Babe in faith and trust, your hatred will shrivel away, and in new joy you will be able to worship the Saviour who commanded, "Love your enemies!"
"There is room" at Bethlehem for the poor, unnoticed, unacclaimed, just as the Saviour's birth was first announced to the shepherds, lowly laborers. Joseph Mohr, who wrote the beloved lines of Silent Night, Holy Night, lived a humble, unpretentious life. He died within twelve miles of the palace where he was born; yet his Christmas carol has sung its way around the world. And the Christ whose "strength is made perfect in weakness" can likewise save you for important purposes, no matter how little attention the world pays you. Indeed, the plain and underprivileged have always been especially welcomed by His mercy.
~Walter A. Maier~
(continued with # 3)
With all the modern cries of tolerance, too many show the bigotry of Bethlehem. There is still "no room" for Christ's love; else why would this generation bleed its best power away in a second World War? "No room" for His humility; else why would half of this earth hear Him say, "Blessed are the peacemakers" but be forced to follow Nietzsche as he cries out in contradiction. "Blessed are the war makers"? "No room" for His holy Word in modern culture, where experts would train our children without reverence for God and faith in His Bible! "No room" for our Lord's creed of self-denial, when certain modern magazines feature page after page, picture after picture, paragraph after paragraph of profanity and indecency, but not a single sentence regarding this ageless message, "Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord!" "No room" for the promise of His Cross and His blood, when more Americans reject Him than ever before; when theological professors, contradicting the holy angel's anthem, "He shall save His people from their sins" deny that the Child in the manger is our Immanuel, our God-with-us; when many American churches do not once open their doors on Christmas Day! "No room" for the Nativity mercy, which promises us that we are saved through humble, penitent, trusting faith in the Babe of Bethlehem as our Lord and our Redeemer, while great religious bodies deny this center and climax of our faith, "By grace are ye saved!"
A pointed, personal issue confronts you: Jesus, the Christ Child of Christmas, in this moment seeks entrance into your heart. Will you turn away from Him because your soul is saturated with the driving desire for money? Fresh in our minds is the account of a merchant-marine sailor who had secured a thousand dollars, perhaps more money than he had ever owned in his life, a sum so impressive that his heart was closely attached to this treasure, carefully stored in his locker. His ship was torpedoed, and after he was rescued, he admitted that in those perilous hours he had never even thought of his thousand dollars. In the crisis moments of life, if you have rejected Jesus, you have lost more than money can ever buy. You have sacrificed your soul's salvation. This is Christ's warning, "He that believeth not shall be damned." The Christmas appeal, above eating and drinking, giving and receiving, visiting and being visited, lighting and decorating, the plea that comes from the very manger of the Christ Child, asks you: "Make room for Jesus! Grant Him entrance into your heart! Welcome Him into your home!"
II. THE SINLESS CHRIST CHILD ALWAYS WELCOMES SINFUL MEN
Although "there was no room" for Christ at Bethlehem's inn, "yet there was room" as the second part of our festival text explains room for you in His heart of love, in His Kingdom of Grace, in His Father's heavenly mansions. At His manger crib "there is room" for every sinner, especially the desperate and downtrodden, including those of you who write me tear-stained letters declaring that the transgressions of the past rise up to disturb you, waking or sleeping. When you come to Jesus in faith and He comes to you in His mercy, He removes the curse of your sin. He washes away its stain. The fire of His devotion burns away your iniquity. The power of His presence purifies your heart and strengthens your life. Take courage and believe on this Christmas day that nothing can keep you from Bethlehem and the forgiveness in the newborn Saviour but your own impenitence, your refusal to accept the Christ Child's promise of full, free and final pardon!
At the manger there was room for all, regardless of race restrictions or color classifications. "There is room" aplenty for friend and foe, since the Infant Jesus is the world's Saviour. He was born and He died so that all men, regardless of how completely they be segregated into opposing groups, might be saved. During the First World War, Christmas came to a Russian war prison camp in Siberia. Up to that time it had been the scene of homesickness, misery, hatred, and despair. Suicide had been frequent. But when the prisoners and their guards gathered in half-underground barracks for the Christmas celebration, the leader arose to say, "There is one song all can sing tonight, "Silent Night, Holy Night." They sang it, both the guards and the prisoners, each man in his own language. When they finished, the Russian commander eyes filled with tears as he told the captives, "Tonight is the first time in more than a year that I have been able to forget you and I are supposed to be enemies." If you, too, will acclaim Bethlehem's Babe in faith and trust, your hatred will shrivel away, and in new joy you will be able to worship the Saviour who commanded, "Love your enemies!"
"There is room" at Bethlehem for the poor, unnoticed, unacclaimed, just as the Saviour's birth was first announced to the shepherds, lowly laborers. Joseph Mohr, who wrote the beloved lines of Silent Night, Holy Night, lived a humble, unpretentious life. He died within twelve miles of the palace where he was born; yet his Christmas carol has sung its way around the world. And the Christ whose "strength is made perfect in weakness" can likewise save you for important purposes, no matter how little attention the world pays you. Indeed, the plain and underprivileged have always been especially welcomed by His mercy.
~Walter A. Maier~
(continued with # 3)
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