…Neither count I my life dear to
myself… that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have
received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. Acts 20:24
The Church at this
moment needs men, the right kind of men, bold men. The talk is that we need
revival, that we need a new baptism of the Spirit—and God knows we must have
both; but God will not revive mice. He will not fill rabbits with the Holy
Ghost!
We languish for men
who feel themselves expendable in the warfare of the soul, who cannot be
frightened by threats of death because they have already died to the
allurements of this world. Such men will be free from the compulsions that
control and squeeze weaker men.
This kind of freedom
is necessary if we are to have prophets in our pulpits again instead of
mascots. These free men will serve God and mankind from motives too high to be
understood by the rank and file of religious entertainers who today shuttle in
and out of the sanctuary.
They will make no
decisions out of fear, take no course out of a desire to please, accept no
service for financial considerations, perform no religious act out of mere
custom; nor will they allow themselves to be influenced by the love of
publicity or the desire for reputation.
The true Church has
never sounded out public expectations before launching her crusades. Her
leaders heard from God, they knew their Lord’s will and did it. Their people
followed them—sometimes to triumph, oftener to insults and public
persecution—and their sufficient reward was the satisfaction of being right in
a wrong world!
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