“Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”—Matthew 11:28-30
Jesus spoke those words in the crowded marketplace of Capernaum nearly 20 centuries ago. But He could just as well have spoken them at Broadway and 42nd in New York, or 5th and Vine in Cincinnati, or State and Madison in Chicago. No matter what the …
All of us know what it means to be discouraged. Researchers tell us that over four million people a year need treatment for extreme discouragement, the kind that can wreck your life and even drive you to suicide. In fact, doctors tell us that there are at least 20,000 suicides annually from “undetected depression.”
We know that discouragement comes, but what should we do about it? Should we change our situation and hope that a new location will mean a new beginning? There are dozens of pills on the market for fighting depression (they are called “mood elevators”); is that …
Some people have very short memories. They forget what the Lord has done for them. This is one reason why Moses gave that great farewell message we know as the Book of Deuteronomy. He wanted the people to remember all that God had done for them. In Deuteronomy 32:10, Moses says, “He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about; he instructed him; he kept him as the apple of his eye.” This is what God did for the people of Israel, and this is what He wants to do for you …
“For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this World? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by …
Notes of a message given on Sunday morning, by Pastor Alan Redpath on September 11, 1955.
We have seen in the Beatitudes, the genuine Christian—the true citizen of the Kingdom—growing into maturity. We have seen him as he is in his own consciousness, in his own longings, and what he can become by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. We have also seen the resultant impact such a life will have upon the world.
Some say our text is the 8th Beatitude completing the Octave. Others see it in a different light. Up to this point it has been …
Many people look upon the resurrection of Jesus as a superstition or myth. Or, if they do believe it is a fact of history, they see no reason why it should affect us today. They ask, “What difference does it make that Jesus Christ arose from the dead?” Well, it makes all the difference in the universe—for the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the greatest fact of history and the greatest demonstration of the power of God.
To begin with, the resurrection of Jesus Christ makes the difference between life and death. Jesus Christ did die—there is no question about …
“According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him.” Put the stop right there. “In love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.”
In the third verse the apostle gives thanks to “The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” the source of all our blessings—“who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” And now he carries our minds back to the past eternity that …
“As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness.”—Psalm 17:15
The potency of a whistle or bell is nowhere better illustrated than in the pouring streams of humanity from factory and mine, office and shop, as the day’s work has come to a close. Streets and roads are crowded, traffic is congested, and the state of rush and hustle is terrific. It would seem that life in all its intricacies had broken a main spring and had begun to unravel—but it is just “quitting time.”
L-I-F-E—life. A word so simple a child can spell it; a word so profound a philosopher cannot fully explain it. Life—that wonderful thing we so easily take for granted. Where did it come from? Where is it going? Does it have any meaning at all?
Does life have any meaning, or is everything we see just an accidental meeting of atoms? George Bernard Shaw once suggested that, if the other planets are inhabited, they must be using Earth as their insane asylum. And Shakespeare has Macbeth tell us that life is a “tale told by an idiot, full of sound …
“Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch. Who, when he came, and had seen the Grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.”—Acts 11:22-23
I don’t know how many of you have clearly in mind the background of these verses but some years had elapsed since the glorious Pentecostal outpouring when the work of grace began in the city of Jerusalem. Our blessed Lord had instructed …
