“We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost…and all the men were about twelve”—Acts 19:2, 7
Twelve men—all in one place and on one occasion—were puzzled when the Holy Spirit was mentioned. They had never heard of Him. Their kind today is legion.
But they were religious men. They had been baptized. They knew John but did not know Jesus. One only knows the Saviour who has come into contact with the Spirit. These men were in the dark on the matter. When they met Paul, they met one who knew the Spirit. Knowing the …
“Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he sould 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
The background and context of these verses is intensely interesting. 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 His disciples to begin there and …
All hope that we should be saved was then taken away.—Acts 27:20
Paul was, in many respects, a law unto himself. On more than one occasion the political leaders were sent into a huddle to determine the best disposition of his case. Claiming dual citizenship or citing an ancient law, the Apostle would frustrate the authorities. King Agrippa had such an experience with him. He called Festus, the governor of Judea, into counsel. After weighing the evidence, they concluded that “this man might have been set at liberty if he had not appealed unto Caesar.” Now he must go to …
The members of The Moody Church have just been challenged for foreign missions. The story of The Moody Church’s first—and certainly most unusual—missionary provides a fitting climax to this challenge.
Called the “gun-powder” man because of his straightforward preaching and intense zeal for the lost, Fredrik Franson was born in Sweden 100 years ago. In 1869, when Fredrick was 17, the Franson family migrated to the United States and settled in Nebraska. Three years later Fredrik was afflicted with malaria, but a year in bed brought conversion and consecration to his young heart.
“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.”
There are many ties that come down from God like golden threads, and twine themselves about us to bind us to Him. He is our Creator, Preserver, Redeemer, Ruler, Father, Judge, and bears many other relationships; but there is one tie amid them all that is somewhat different from all the others, and that is friendship. God is our Friend, and we can, through sanctifying grace and by walking in the steps of Abraham, become the real friends of God.
More Than Pardon
The friendship of God is something more than pardon, or heart purity, or the baptism with the …
Christian parents will do well to be on the lookout for every indication of the child’s growth in grace. At the family worship time, their interest, questions, responsiveness and prayers will reveal whether they are making progress, seemingly standing still or drifting backward.
In the Scriptures, God clearly shows His ideal for each of His children to be unceasing progress and growth in grace. In the First Epistle of John, chapter two, the Apostle writes to three classes of Christians: little children, young men and fathers. No doubt there were some of each of those three age groups among his …
“He hath poured out his soul unto death.”—Isaiah 53:12
It was the Master, not the malefactors, who made Calvary immortal and inimitable. And, in thinking of the Cross, we have in mind primarily the accomplishment of the Saviour. The Father now pours out His blessings because the Son then poured out His soul. The thought of lingering at Calvary is but a suggestion for the grateful heart to ponder more prayerfully and to think more seriously upon the fact of our Lord’s sacrificial work. Perhaps no other spiritual exercise is so productive of deep and abounding gratitude.
“When He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.”—John 16:8
“My Father worketh hitherto, and I work,” Jesus explained to the irate Jews who strenuously objected to His healing a paralytic on the Sabbath. Scarcely two years later, He made it clear that the Holy Spirit would work too. “I will send him unto you,” He assured, “and when he is come he will convince the world.”
A strange mission? Singular but not strange. It is unique and essential. And for more than 1900 years the Spirit of God has been performing …
Over and over, deeper and deeper, do we have to learn the meaning of God’s words, until the faint perceptions we first had of them seem as dewdrops compared with the fathomless ocean we find in them at the last.
“And he was left alone, and there wrestled a man with him until the break of day.”
All elect souls pass many times this station of aloneness with God, and they find that the wrestling always lasts till the breaking of the day.
We have to be alone with God in finding personal salvation. Others may be used as instruments …
