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Website: www.godsacres.org

"For if the tru mpet give an uncertain sound, whoshall prepare himself to the battle?"

THE GOSPEL TRUMPETERUSPS #871620

Periodicals pos t a g e paid at the post office in Newark,Ohio 43055.POSTMAN, send form 3579 to the printer:

THE GOSPEL TRUMPETER675 N. Cedar StreetNewark, Ohio 43055

This periodical carries no subscription price; however,it is partially maintained through the gifts and offerings ofits readers, with the balance of the expenses being paidby the local congregation.

PRAYER: If you need pr a ye r , p le a s e phone or write:

Roger Decker, Pastor83 Decrow Ave.Newark, OH 43055

Ema i l : pas t or @ c hurch-of-god-online.comPhone: 740-344-2543 or 1-888-730-0461

Fax: 740-344-4737Print Shop Phone: 740-345-1312

This monthly religious journal is published for the benefit of the Churchof God universall y . I t i s our supreme purpose to reach the world forChris t through the printed page. Our burden is to reveal the truth ofGod' s Word to all mankind, to expose s in and error, war against apostasy,and to era d i c a t e the longstanding traditions of men that have no biblicalfoundations.

Brother Roger L. Decker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EditorWorkers Too Numerous to Mention

THE CHURCH OF GOD BELIEVES IN:

A personal God (John 4:24)A divine Christ (John 1:1, 14)An infallibly inspired Bible (2 Tim. 3:16-17)Salvation from sin (Matt. 1:21)The new birth (John 3:3, 5-7A holy life (Luke 1:73-75; Titus 2:12)Sanctification (1 Thess. 5:23)Unity of God's people (John 17:21, Eph. 4)Divine, physical healing (James 5:14-16)The ordinances (Matt. 28:19-20; John 13; 1 Cor. 11:23, 34)Eternal life (Matt. 25:46; Mark 9:43)The Trinity (1 John 5:7, 8)

SOME SPIRITUAL FACTS

PERTAINING TO THE CHURCH

Jesus organized it (Matt. 16:18)On a good foundation (Eph. 2:20; I Cor. 3:11)Christ governs it (Eph. 1:22-23; Isa. 9:6)God admits members (I Cor. 12:13-18)Sin puts you out of it (Rom. 11:22; Ex. 32:33)The saved only are members (John 15:2-6)Membership is offered to all (Rev. 22:17)Final rewards (Rev. 20:12-15; 21:3-4; 22:14)Bible name of the Church (Acts 20:28; Gal. 1:13; John 17:11)

We reserve the right to edit and/or decline any material forany reason. Not responsible for unsolicited articles or items.

C O NTENTSThe Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Our Responsibilities as Christians . . . . . . . . . . 7The Shoemaker and the

Little White Shoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Especially for Young People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14God Has a Separate People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Be Encouraged . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Edith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Radio Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Vol. 30 March 2000 No. 3

GuestEditorial

The SeraphimsPart 1 of 2

Isaiah 6:1-4 reads: "In the year that

king Uzziah died I saw also the Lordsitting upon a throne, high and lifted up,a n d his train filled the temple. Above itstood the seraphims: each o ne had sixwings; with twain he cover ed his face,and with twain he covered h i s f eet, andwith twain he did fly. And one cried untoanother, and said, Holy, holy, holy, isthe LORD of hosts: the whole earth is fullof his glory. And the posts of the doormoved at the voice of him that cried, andthe house was filled with smoke."

In this passage of Scr ipture text, thegreat Messianic Prophet Isaiah received avision that reveals many great an d pre-cious truths. We want to focus on verse 2w h ere the sacred writer declared, "Aboveit stood the seraphims . . . ." In co nsider-ing w h at verse 2 denotes as the sera-phims, several questions came to mind,such as: What are these seraphims? Arethey angelic beings or what type of beingsare they? Do the Scriptures speak of themel s ewhere? What is their purpose? an dWhat do they do?

Sad to say, there is much confusionand many mi s conceptions about thesebeings tha t the Prophet called seraphims.The Apostle Paul taught in 1 Corinthians14:33 that "God is not the author of con-fusion." Jesus taught in John 8 : 3 2 , "Andye shall know the truth, and the truthshall mak e you free." What does Truthfree you from? Well, it is not sin, because1 John 1:7 says, " . . . the blood of JesusChrist his Son c leanseth us from all sin."Th e blood is not what makes us free inthe instance that Jesus was speaking of in

John's Gospel, because He said "the truthshall make you free." Truth frees us fromfalsity; it frees us from false teachings andreligious error.

As we examine this Scripture, I trustth at God will help you to have a heartan d mind open to Truth and that you arewilling to lay down religious teachings ortraditions contrary to the sound teachingsof God's ete rn a l Word. Many times weembrace ideas from Babylonian heritagethat we never stop to examine until wehear the Truth.

Our lesson t ext commences in Isaiah

6:1 with the words, "In the year that kingUzziah died I saw . . . ." Why did he saythat? To give a reference in time, or ahistorical perspective, yet it go es fardeeper than that. This text, as w i t h allScr ipture, has divine significance. InProverbs 30:5 the Wise Man said, "Everyword of God is pure," teaching us there isdivine design and intent and Truth incor-p orated in every word within the sacredScriptures. This case is no exception.

King Uzziah was the eleventh king of

Judah. He came to the throne at the tenderage of sixteen and reigned fifty-two years.History tells us he reigned from B.C. 809to B.C. 758. To substantiate this, 2Chronicles 26:3 declares, "Sixteen yearsold was Uzzi ah when he began to reign,and he reig n ed fifty and two years inJerusalem."

Du r i ng Uzziah's reign, the peopleenjoyed great peace and prosperity. Verse5 s ay s, "And he sought God in the daysof Zechariah, wh o had understanding inthe visions of God : an d as long as hesought the LORD, God made him toprosper." (I might digress to say this isstill a good formula to follow today , andit will s t i l l have the same effect in ourday, because God's Word is timeless andimmutable.) When Isaiah wrote, "In theyear that king Uzziah di ed . . . ," he wasletting us know that an era had ended anda new time had commenced.

At the death of Uzziah, Israe l wasgiven up to hardness of heart.

[continued on page 25]

Ephesians 5:22 Wives, submit your-selves unto your own husbands, as untothe Lord.

23 For the hus band is the head ofthe wife, even as Christ is the head of thechurch: and he is the sav iour of thebody.

24 Therefore as the church is subjectunto Christ, so let the wives be to theirown husbands in every thing.

25 Husbands, love your wi v es, evenas Christ also loved the church, and gavehimself for it;

26 That he might sanctify andcleanse it with the washing of water bythe word,

27 That h e might present it to him-self a glorious church not having spot, orwrinkle, or any such thing; but that itshould be holy and without blemish.

28 So ought men to lov e their wivesas their own bodies. He that lov e th hiswife loveth himself.

29 For no man ever yet hated hisown flesh; but nour i sheth and cherishethit, even as the Lord the church:

Brother Roger L. Decker

30 For we are members of h i s body,of his flesh, and of his bones.

3 1 For this cause shall a man leavehis father and mother, and shall bejoined unto his wife, and they two s h a llbe one flesh.

32 This is a great mystery: but Ispeak concerning Christ and the church.

33 Nevertheless let every one of youin p articular so love his wife even ashimself; and the wife see that she rever-ence her husband.

"They Shall Be One Flesh"

T he devil is making mockery oftoo many homes. There are too manymarriages today that God did not jointogether . God joined together a mana nd a woman who were both hol y ,without sin. Genesis 2:21-24 rea ds:"And the LORD God caus ed a deepsleep to fall upon Adam, and hes lept: and he took one of his ribs , a ndclosed up the flesh instead thereof;And the r i b , which the LORD Godhad taken fr om man, made he aw oman, and brought her unto theman. And Adam s a i d, This is nowbone of my bones, and flesh of myflesh: she shall be called Woman,

because she was taken out of M an.Therefore shall a man lead hi s fatherand his mother, and shall cleave untohis wife: a nd they shall be one flesh."This w as the first marriage institutedin the Bible. They were clean andholy, but even so they were still infor a battle.

In Genesis 3:1 came the int r oduc-tion of the s erpent: "Now the serpentwas more subtle tha n any beast ofthe field which the LOR D God hadmade. And he said unto the woman,Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eatof every tree of the garden?" In ashort time, the devil came on thescene, and he w a s out to destroy theholiness a nd the sanctity of the home;

he was working to destroy that whi chGod had joined together.

Today the devil is still worki ngto destroy the peace and harmonythat come about from a man andwoma n s erving God in the home.First Peter 5:8 says, "Be s ober, bevigilant; because your adversary thedevil, a s a roaring lion, walkethabout, seeking whom he may de-vour." Although Christians put theirtrust and confidence in God, theyshould not be careless . Peter wass a yi ng tha t w e s h o u l d b eself-controlled a nd alert. Too manyhomes have become sloppy a nd letdown on the Bible standard, and thedevil is having a heyday. No home

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is immune to the devil working todestroy it. You may say, "Well, wereally love each other." That is won-derful , and you should have love ina marriage, but that is not enough.You must keep the presence of Godin your home, and you must work todo that. God joined Adam and Eve inthe beginning, but they allowed sinin their home.

Young man, young woma n, ifyou a r e thinking of matrimony, youneed to ma ke sure that you pray forthe ri ght companion. Do not just lookfor someone w i th good looks or anoutstanding personality. You need toseek God's counsel, because that issomeone you are going to live withfor the rest of your life. Proverbs 17:1states, "Better is a dry morsel, andquietness therewith, than an housefull of sacrifices with strife." TheProver b writer said that a dry morseland quietness are better than havinga house full o f everything you wantwith strife.

The Relationship Between theHusband and the Wife

The basis of a home i s l ove. TheApostle Paul ment i oned the wordlove three t i mes when he spoke of ther elationship between the hus ba ndand the wife. Colossians 3:1 9 says,"Husbands, love your w ives, and benot bitter agains t them." This lovethat Paul wrote about is similar tohow Chr i s t loves the church ands i milar to how a man loves his ow nbody. It takes true love to keep bi t -terness out of a marriage. The man isthe head of the house, and he has agreat respons i bility. God gave himthe right by creation to direct andgovern the home. Genesis 3:16 reads,"Unto the w oma n he said, I willgreatly multiply thy sorrow and thyconception; i n s or r ow thou shaltbring forth children; and thy desireshall be to thy husband, and he shallrule [or govern] over thee." In otherwords, the husband has author i tyover the wife.

God has commanded that theman love his wife. If any man shouldlove his wife, the Christian man

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ought to, because the love of God i sthe highest form of love there is , a ndi t d w ell dwells within him. Thesaved man not only has human lovebut also God's love down in hisheart. That man should l ove his wifeeven more than men of the worldlove their wives.

Consider the love of G od. Christ,our Savior , left His abode with Godi n eternity and came to earth as as ervant. That kind of love is sacrifi-cial; it is a love that we do not de-serve. When He saved us, it was notbecause we were deserving but be-cause of Hi s unmerited love for us. Itis God's nature to love; He is love.He was not bound to love a worldthat hated Him, but He did.

The husband is commanded tolove hi s wife. He should be able tos a y to his wife, "I will always loveyou, in sickness and in health, forbetter or worse, for richer or poorer,till death do us part." Moreover,when he says that, he ought to meanit. If you are planning to marryshortly, you need to pay close atten-tion to the marriage vows. You mustsay those vows not only to each otherin front of the preacher but also toGod.

Love should grow stronger, notweaker, as the years go by. Someonemay ask, "Wha t s hould I do whenmy wife gets old and wr i nkled?" Justremember that you are gett ing oldand wrinkled too.

I once read a story that goes w el lw i th this message. It reveals thereaction of a husband to his wife'sco l ds during the first seven years oftheir marri a ge. Now , r emember,love should get stronger, but in toomany cases it does not.

The first year his wife caught acold, he s aid to her: "Ah, SugarDumpling, I'm really worried aboutmy baby girl. You've ha d a badsniffle, and there's no telling aboutthose things , with all of the strepthroat that ' s going around. I'm putt-i ng you in the hospital this afternoonfor a general checkup and a goodrest. Now, I know the food there isl ousy, but I'll be bringing your mea l sin from your favorite restaurant. I've

got it all a rranged with the floor su-per intendent." He loved her muchthat first year, but things changed.

T he second year she caught acold again. The husband said: "Lis-ten, Darling, I don' t like the sound ofthat cough. I've called Doc Miller andasked him to rush over here. Now,you go to bed like a good girl."

The third year rolled a round,and where she caught a cold he said:"Maybe you had better lie down,Honey. T her e' s nothing like restwhen you feel bad. I'll bring yousomething. Do we have any cannedsoup?"

The fourth year hi s love for herwas d i minishing, and he said: "Now,look, Dear, be sensible. After youhave fed the kids, washed the dishes,and finished vacuuming the floors,you'd better lie down."

The fifth year, she again ca ughta cold, and he merely asked, "Whydon't you take something?"

The sixth year w hen she becameill, he said, "I wish you would gargleor something instead of just sitti ngaround all evening barking like aseal!"

The seventh year f inally came,a nd w ouldn't you know it, s hecaught a cold again, and he com-pl a i ned : "Would you s top yoursneezing? Are you trying to give mepneumonia?" This is a pi c ture ofdeclining love.

The Husband Is to Carefor His Wife

Not onl y i s the love of God sacri-ficial but also purifying. Ephesia ns5:26 says, "That he might sanct i fyand clea nse it with the washing ofwater by the word." Jesus w a nts Hischurch to be clean. Marriage a l soinvolves pur i fication. The husbandshould do everything in his power tohelp the wife mainta in holiness, vir-tue, and pur ity. lie should not doanything that would provoke her tosin or cause her to be tempted withsomeone else.

The love of Christ is also caring.Peter wrote in 1 Peter 5:7, "Castingall your care upon him; for he careth

for you." The same is true in mar-riage. The husband s hould care forhi s wife. There are ways that Godha s ordained for the husband to takecare of the wife. He s hould be herprovider, her protector, and her pre-server.

The Word of God has s omethingto say about a man w ho will notwork and pr ovide for his own. FirstTimothy 5:8 s ta tes, "But if any pro-vide not for his own, and speci a l l yfor thos e o f his own house, he hathdenied the faith, and i s worse thanan infidel." What is an infidel? Anonbeliever. In God's eyes such aman is worse than a nonbeliever.Now , He was not talking about some-one who cannot work. He was speak-ing of one who wi l l not work andprovide for his ow n. Also, there is adifference betw een t rying to getwork and trying to get out of work.

The husband should pr ovide aplace to live, cl othes, groceries, andspend i ng money. He should notmake the wife feel as if she is a beg-gar. A man should not take a youngwoman to be his wife unless he canprovide for hey. where in the Wordof God does it state that the w ife issuppos ed to go out and support thefamily; that is the husband's job. Heshould also provide a place to wor-ship in Truth and be the example ofthat worship.

T he wife is not a slave, a ma i d ,or a whipping post. She is not some-one on whom you vent your anger.However, she is to be in submissionto her husband, not with fear, as onewho gets yel l ed at whenever shemakes a mistake. She should nothave to give account for every moves he ma kes . The husband shoul dhave confidence in her that she wantswhat is best for the home.Love is ca r i ng. It is not love when thehusband says, "Do this. Do that. Fixme this. What's the matter with youanyhow ?" Love is caring for eachother. How? As Christ ca res for thechurch. Love i s unbreakable. Genesis2:24 says, "Therefore shall a manleave his father and his mother, andshall cleave unto his wife: and theyshal l be one flesh." You cannot sepa-

rate Christ and the church nor agodly husband and his wife. When aman leaves his mother a nd father, hesevers ties and starts his own home.To cleave is to glue something to-gether. That is just how strong thisl ove is. The bonding together is un-breakable.

The man shoul d be the leader. Aman is nor mally stronger, so he canw or k doing jobs that are more strenu-ous . Generally, the man is superiorin wisdom and knowledge. Normallythe man can handle cris es better. Ibelieve that is the rea s on God wouldr a ther have a man serve as Presidentof the United States than a woman.Also, I believe that is the reason G odwould r a ther have men in combattha n women and would rather havemen flying combat pl anes and oper-a t i ng machine guns than women.Men can handle crucial s i tuationsbet ter , a nd men ha ve gr ea terstrength.

The wife is the w eaker vessel,but she should not take a d vantage ofthat. Some homes are completely outof the will of God, and when they a r eout of the will of God, both the hus-band and the wife struggle ferventl yto stay saved. When a home is out ofthe will o f God, it is not a good atmo-sphere for living holy or r aisingchildren.

Some families suffer abuse ofevery kind. God forbid that someonewho professes to be a saint of Godwould los e his temper and abuse hiswife by hitting her. In some homesthere is mental abuse. The woma ncan abuse her husband mentally andw ear him down. This is not alwaysone-s i d ed . Not all marriages aremade in Heaven.

Getting the Right Companion

God can bring saved couplestogether. They do not need someoneto s et them up. God brought the firs twoman to the first man. If you prayabout getting the right companion,God will reveal to you w ho that spe-cial person is. God can ta lk to theone. who needs a wife. You shouldpray that God will send the right one

along. You should not try to setsomeone up with one whom youthink he or she should ma rry. Peopleneed to get back to l etting God bringthe marriages together. It workedthat way in the beginning. Genesis2:22 says, "And the rib, whi ch theLORD God had taken fr om man,made he a woman, a nd brought herunto the man." God can still br i ngthe woman to the man.

God can arrange for couples tomeet, and He can arrange for them tofall in love. I do not believe thereneeds to be a third person involved,because that third person may try toset someone up with one whom he orshe thinks that person should marryinstead of the one he or she reallyneeds. I repeat, God is stil l a bl e tobring a coupl e together. What Godhas joined (not people), let no manput asunder.

God brought the woman to theman. He ma de the woman holy andbrought her to a holy man. Too oftenothers who mean well try to pr ea r -range marriages . T here are manyadvisers for marriage. Someone maysay, "I feel that they would make agood couple." Then what is wrongwith talking to God about it? God cantalk to them about it. The numberone concern for a saved brother orsister when choosing a companion isthis: Is that person spiritual? In thefirst marriage that God put together,they both were holy. T hat is the kindof marriage that God puts together.

Being a Submissive Wife

Colossians 3:18 instructs, "Wives,submit yourselves unto your ownhusbands, as it is fit in the Lord."Now, it is not fit to compromise, tooverstep your convi ctions, or to stayhome fr om the church services be-cause the husband wants you to stayhome. Though the wife is to submitto her own husband, she still hasOne higher to whom she must sub-mit, and that is the Lord. Acts 5:29tells us, "Then Peter and the otherapos t l es a nswered and said, Weought to obey God rather than men."I have seen situations where the wife

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A DEDICATION PRAYER FOR PARENTS

O GOD, WE THANK THEE THAT THOU HAS GIVEN US THIS CHILD.HELP US TO BE FIT FOR THIS GREAT PRIVILEGE AND

RESPONSIBILITY WHICH HAS COME TO US. HELP US TEACH HIM

AND TO TRAIN HIM AS WE OUGHT. HELP US TO BRING HIM TO

THEE, NOT ONLY BY OUR WORDS BUT ALSO BY OUR EXAMPLE.HELP US TO GIVE HIM A HOME THAT HE WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER

WITH GRATITUDE AND JOY. HELP US TO LIVE SO THAT SOME DAY

HE WILL THANK YOU FOR EVERY TIME HE REMEMBERS HIS

PARENTS. HELP US TO BRING HIM UP SO THAT AT THE LAST IT

SHALL BE SEEN THAT WE HAVE NOT FAILED IN THE TRUST WHICH

THOU HAST PLACED IN US. THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.AMEN.

has compromised to win her hus-band, but w hen she did that, she losther husband and the Lord. It i s theduty o f the husband and the wife tobe at the house of God together.

T he wife should make herselflook attractive for her companion.She should fix her hair attractively.Once in a while, she should wear apretty d ress and prepare him a nicecandlelight d i nner. There is nothingwrong with that. He is her husband.A wife should not go around un-kempt and dressed sloppily a l l thetime, and she should be clean.

Abraham is called the "father ofthe faithful," and Sarah is called the"mother of the s ubmi s s i ve." FirstPeter 3:6 reads, "Even as Sar a obeyedAbraham, calling hi m lord: whosedaughters ye a re, as long as ye dow ell, and are not afraid with a nyamazement."

The duty of the wife is to keepthe house clean, to keep the childrenclean, and to be a helpmeet for thehus band. The wife is to raise chil-dren, and that is a full-time job . It isnot up to a nur s ery school or achildcare center to raise your chil-dren. These pl aces would be put outof bus i ness if the wives would getback i n the homes. I do not believethat God is pleased with mothersd ropping their children off someplaceand then going out to work on aconstruction crew or somewhere else.No, they need to get back in thehome, and they need to take theirchi ldren home with them. Then mor eplaces could hire men to go out a ndsuppor t their families. That is theWord of God, a nd it will work.Again, raising children is a full-timejob, and it is a great respons i bi lity.The wife is not free to go here andthere as she once did.

The Way to HaveHarmony in the Home

Many homes are in trouble a ndin a sad state of d i s a rray becausesome are out of the will of God. Ifyour home is in disarray because onei s out of the will of God, God wil lgive grace to the one who i s not out

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of the will of G od , as long as that onedoes what is right a ccording to theWord of God. If both the husbandand the w i fe need to come clean andcome to Christ, He knows more aboutputting a home together than all thebooks written on the subject. T hedevil is bidding hi gh for homes.Remember that he is subt l e a ndcrafty.

If you need help in your home,the first step is to be honest. You maysay, "I wouldn't admit to anyone thatmy home is out of order." You do nothave to admit it to jus t a nyone, butyou need to tell God . You do notneed to confess to a man s omewhere.You need to str a i ghten it out withGod, and He will put your homeback together. Too ma ny couplesstruggle w hen just a little talk withJesus would make things right.

In the beginning, in Genesis,Chapter 3, one of the first moves thedevil made was to attack the homeand get it out of line. First, he got thewoman away from the husband andbegan to work on her , then she com-mitted sin, and then her husbandcommitted sin. There went the har-mony of the home. Our Scripturelesson says i n verses 24-27: "There-fore as the church is sub ject unto

Christ, so let the wives be to thei rown husbands in every thing. Hus-bands, love your wives, even a sChrist also loved the church, andgave hi mself for it; That he mightsanctify and cleanse it with the w a s h-ing of water by the word, That hemight present it to himself a gloriouschurch, not having spot, or wrinkle,or any such thing; but that it shouldbe, holy and without blemish."

It is time for people to get back tothe blessed, old Bible. If the Biblewere in homes today as it ought to be(I do not mean just laid on the coffeeta bl e with dust on it, but I mean readand obeyed), the devil could be keptout of homes in a greater way. Theenemy is working as never before tos eparate, divide, and knock homesout of harmony. Why? If homes areout of harmony, i t affects worship inthe house of God and people's bur-den for o thers. How can you carry aburden for others w hen you are con-cerned about your own home? I t r ustthat if you have a need , you will behonest and take it to Jesus Christ.You will be so glad that you did, andyou will be much happier.

(Cassette C-4066E)

M atth e w 28:16 Then the eleven disciples went away intoGalilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.

17 And when they saw him, they worshipped him: butsome doubted.

18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, Allpower is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

Brother Ch

19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing themin the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the HolyGhost:

20 T e aching them to observe all things whatsoever Ihavecommanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even untothe end of the world. Amen.

arlie Green

Are You at Ease in Zion?

As the people of God, we are nots a ved just to go to Heaven, but w eare saved and placed in the bod y ofChrist to do service for the Master.Somet i mes a child of God can getbogged down with the everydaycares of life while the world is lostand going to hell. It is a s though theyare flying down a hillside of f reshs now on a toboggan sled, and thefurther it goes, the faster it goes.

We, as Christians, know theworld i s lost, and we rub elbowsevery day with those who are lost.Yet, it seems that nothing is said ordone to turn them away fr om the fastride they are on. Unless they turna nd get hold of God, they are goingto be l ost forever. In this message I

want to challenge a nd remind you ofyour responsibility as a child of God.God wants you to be reminded of thereason you a r e here and why theChurch of God was established. It isGod's will that ever yone comes torepentance. God put gr ea t valueupon a soul. He loved ever y one ofus when we were unlovable. Whenwe were yet i n sin, He loved us somuch that He gave the best Heavenhad to make a way for our r ed emp-tion.

Brother , sister, you need to bereminded of the va l ue that Godpl a ces on a soul so that you can un-d erstand your responsibility beforeGod. Joel 2:1 says, "Blow ye thetrumpet in Zion, and sound an alarmin my holy mountain." In the OldT es ta ment, why was the trumpet

blown? It w a s to warn the people thatan enemy wa s a ppr oa ching. Theman of God stood on the wa l l andgave order s for a man to blow thetrumpet, saying, "An enemy is ap-proaching!"

Child of G od, the enemy of soulsis working as never befor e to getGod's people to run after the plea-sures of this world. Saint, you need tobuckle down in a greater way andrealize that your salva t i on does nothinge on the work required to makeyour congregation functional. Yoursalvation does not depend on thephysical work that you d o for theLord.

The church is s ymbolic of a moth-er bringing forth children. I thankGod for the people who have beenbrought into God ' s Kingdom, but I

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do not believe that God is sati s f i ed aslong as there is one lost soul in theworld. His Holy Spi r i t is pleading forlost souls to come to Jesus in repen-tance. As a child of G od , you havebeen made an ambassador of Christ.How can you sit still and be at easein Zion when you see a world lost insin, heading for an everlasting hell?Amos 6:1 says, "Woe to them that areat ease in Zion." In other words, woeto those who are asleep to their re-sponsibilities as children of God.

It alarms me that we are losing somany young people to the worldw ho w ere raised in the Church ofG od, and it stirs God's heart. What i sthe cause? The responsibi lity of ourchild r ens' souls lays at our owndoors, and we have no excuse. Wecannot put that res pons i bi lity ons omeone el s e. We surely cannotblame God. Who can point a fingera t God? Who can say that God hasfailed? The S cripture says, "Woe tothem tha t a r e at ease in Zion."Again, to be at ease in Zion means tobe a sleep to your responsibilities as achild of God.

As a chi ld of God, you have tostay in obedience to Jesus Christ andthe Word that God ha s r evealed toyou. If you ever win soul s , you mustbe in obedience to God. You ca nnotwin souls if you are in partial obedi-ence. Also, it requires wisdom to winsouls. James l ets you know whatwisdom is. God l y wisdom is notsens ua l wisdom, but it comes downfrom above. The influence of thatwisdom will cause you to be effectivein the soul-winning business for God.Your soul-winning efforts have to bebacked by a life committed to God.

We all need to hear what Godhas to say. God hel p us to be chal-lenged and stirred as never before!Many people are religious, yet theya r e bound with sin. Child of God, ifyou are not ca r eful, the spirit thatemanates from their lives will affectyou. You can become indifferent tothe will of the Fa ther. His will is thatall men come to repentance, and thatis where a Christian comes in. Whydo you thi nk He saved you? Why doyou think He put you in the church

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and called you to be a witness forHim? One of the fir s t messages thatJes us pr eached was, "Repent andfollow Me, and I will make you fish-ers of men." T ha t lets you know thatwhen Jes us called you to be saved,He called you to be a serva nt to oth-ers.

In Revelati on 3:1-2 Jesus said:"And unto the angel of the church inSardis write; These things saith hetha t hath the seven Spirits of God ,a nd the seven stars; I know thyworks, that thou hast a name thatthou livest, and art dea d. Be watch-ful, and strengthen the things whichremain, tha t a r e ready to die: for Ihave not found thy works perfectbefore God."

Christ's Commissionto the Church

Our Scripture text reads in verses16-20: "Then the el even discipleswent away i nto Galilee, into a moun-ta i n w her e Jesus had appointedthem. And when they saw him, theyworshipped him: but some doubted.And Jesus came and spake untothem, s a yi ng, All power is givenunto me i n heaven and in earth.[Keep in mind that this was the lastmessage Jesus spoke befor e He as-cended into the heavens. This was fornot only the eleven dis c i pl es but alsoeveryone who would follow afterthem.] Go ye therefore, and teach allnations, baptizing them in the nameof the Father, a nd of the Son, and ofthe Holy Ghost: Teaching them toobserve all things whats oever I havecommanded you . . . ." This is a com-mand, or a commission. Once youcome through the experience of sal-vation and become a d i s c i ple ofChrist, that same comma nd is givento you. Thi s commission applies notonly to the preacher and the Sundays chool teacher but also to each onewho has been brought thr ough thebl ood of Christ. When you comethrough the experience of salvation,you inherit the same characteristicsand the same sensitivity toward soulsthat Christ has.

As far as the battle of Armaged -

don is concerned, or the battle ofTruth against error, I believe that weare in the hot test battle that theChurch of God has ever been in.Some preachers tell the people thateveryone sins and that they cannothel p but sin. If that were true, w hydid Jesus Christ come and die? If thatmessage were true, then Jesus Christwent to the Cross and died a cr ueldeath in vain. On the contrary, Hedid not die in vain. Matthew, Chap-ter 1, lets you know that the Hol yGhost told M ary, "You are going tohave a Son, and you sha l l call Hisname Jes us, for He will save Hispeople from their sins." It does notsay that He would save them in theirsins or leave them in their sins.

What Jesus told those early disci-ples in our Scripture text, He is tell-ing you today. When you come toHim in repentance, you mus t turnaway from everything in your lifethat i s w r ong. When a man preachesthat he l i ves in sin, he is letting peo-ple know that he has never come toJesus. Jes us i s not a liar. What did Hesay to the woman who w a s caught inadultery? He said, "Go a nd sin nomore." Now, if that were impossibl e,then Jesus would not have said that.You may ask, "How do you know?"I know because of my own exper i -ence, and many others can also tes -tify that Jes us delivered them fromsin.

In our Scripture text Jesus said,"Go ye therefore, and teach all na-tions, baptizing them in the name ofthe Father, and of the Son, and of theHoly Ghost: Teaching them to ob-serve all things w hatsoever I havecommanded you: and, lo, I am withyou alway, even unto the end of theworld." Jesus Christ gave that com-mission. I pray that you can see agreater vi sion of why you are hereand what your responsibilities are.

M ay God help people to feel andrecognize their respons i bility. Thatwould do away w i th the little cliques,the schisms, and the hard feelingsbetween those who claim to be God'speopl e. I f people will get a real vi-sion of why God s a ved them andw hy He instituted the bea ut i ful

Church o f the Living God, it woulddo away with much of what is goingon today. Your prayer should be,"Lord, give me Your love for souls sothat I can see the lost multitudes andweep over them as You wept. Helpme to see the tragic plight of souls insin and to love them s o much that Ilay aside things so that I mi ght winthem for You."

God help people to get beyondjust going through a form of prayer.If you earnestly pray for the lost, itwill cause you to do somethi ng. Ifyou love souls and pray i n the rightw a y, God will place a soul burden onyour hea r t that will cause you to lieawa ke s in your bed. A true soulburden will also take away yourappetite. We need a true vision ofhow the enemy has d ea r ones boundin sin. They are rest l es s and wantsomeone to come and show themlove. My prayer is, "God, hel p me tol ove souls, to pray for them, and tobring in the wandering. Give me aheart that has an even greater con-cern for souls."

The Fruit of the Righteous

The responsibility o f God's chil-dren ha s always been to do the willof the Heavenly Father. When youget saved, your life is no longer yourow n and you no longer direct yourown steps. Your every action shouldbe mot i va ted thr ough the HolySpirit. Isaiah 61:1 gives a pictur e ofthis very thing. I t says, "The Spirit ofthe Lord GOD i s upon me; becausethe LO R D hath anointed me to preachgood tidings unto the meek; he haths ent me to bind up the br oken-hearted, [Fr i end, are you broken-hea r ted? Are you bound in sin? TheHoly Spirit is doing His best to b indup your wounds and bind up yourbroken heart.] to pr oclaim liberty tothe captives, a nd the opening of theprison to them that are bound ." Inthe Bible you can read of the man onthe island of Gadara w ho was sobound with evil spirits that no mancould tame hi m. He lived in thetombs, but when Jesus came by, Hereleased the chains that bound him.

He opened the prison door and lethim go free.

T he S cr i pture says that hewalked around in the tombs as anaked ma n, but once Jesus set himfree, he was ful ly clothed. He wantedto go wi th Jesus, but Jesus told him togo back to hi s home. I have oftenwondered what that man's familythought when he went home. It is nodifferent today. When someone whowas bound in the prison house of sinweeps his w a y into an experience ofsalvation and gains the vi ctory, nodoubt at first his family cannot be-lieve their eyes. He once was lost andout of his mind, but after Jesus ca meby, he was fully clothed and in hisright mind . Wha t a homecomingthey had! I believe tha t the angels inHea ven rejoice every time a soul issaved from sin.

Child of God, you can touch thehea r t of the sinner. You can be thekey from God's heart to the humanheart that needs help. Isaiah 61:2-3states: "[He anointed me] To proclaimthe acceptable year of the LORD, andthe day of vengeance of our God; tocomfort all that mourn; T o appointunto them that mourn in Zion, togive unto them beauty for ashes, theoil of joy for mourning, the garmentof praise for the spirit of heaviness ;that they might be called trees ofrighteousness . . . ."

Prover bs 11:30 says, "The fruit ofthe righteous is a tree of li fe; a nd hethat winneth souls is w i s e." Anothertranslation says, "Where right livingbears its fruit, a tree of l ife growsup." Your living affects the lost anddying world around you. Child ofGod, you ar e a tree of righteousnessplanted unto the Lord. I f you arewise concerning the command mentsof God and wal k on the highway ofholiness, you will affect others.

You are responsible for yourinfluence–for how you wal k and howyou act. The way you li ve before thew or l d determines the outcome ofyour influence. How you live deter-mines whether you are a tree of righ-teousness that will become the tree oflife that grows in the hearts of un-sa ved men and women. Your life is

not your own. Every day you areinfluencing someone, whether it is inbus i nes s , a t s chool , or i n ateacher-parent conference. May Godhelp you not to speak, act, or do any-thing that would hurt the influence ofthe Gospel.

Letting Your Light Shine

The end of Isaiah 61:3 says, "Thatthey might be called trees of righ-teousness, the planting of the LOR D,that he might be glorified." T he Lordis glor i fied when His people liver i ght. When you act right, your influ-ence causes others to see the light ofChrist. When light shines out fromyour heart a nd draws men andwomen to Christ, you are glor i fyingGod. Your life can glorify God, andso can the life that you affected. Mat-thew 5:14-16 says: "Ye are the l i ght ofthe world. A city that i s set on an hillcannot be hid. Neither do men lighta candle, and put it under a bushel,but on a candlestick; [A light is puton a candlestick to dispel the dar k-ness. This is what Jesus w a s relatinghere. One way to put a l ight under abushel is by walking contr a ry toGod's will.] and it giveth light untoall that a r e in the house. Let yourlight so shine before men, that theymay see your good works, and glo-rify your Father . . . ."

For everything you accomplis hin this life, the glory needs to go toGod. As a Chr i s tian, you are just avessel that God ha s chosen to workthrough for His glory. This is an a r eawhere people get into much trouble.You need to be careful of passing outpraise to others, beca use some cannothand le that, and they will becomelifted up in their own eyes. Anythingdone in the Church o f G od is to bringglory to God.

The Proverbial writer s aid thefruit of the righteous is a t r ee of life,and lie who wins souls is wise. Dan-iel 12:3 states, "And they that be wiseshall shine as the brightness of thefirmament; and they that turn manyto righteous nes s as the stars for everand ever." What does being wisereally mean? One ca n have earthly

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wisdom a nd go to college and get ad egr ee. However, if you are notdoing what Daniel said, then you areunwise. Those who l i ve godly andreverently before the all-seeing eyeof G od a re wise. God looks on theheart and the motive, but man lookson the outward man. The wise manis one w ho obeys the commandmentsof God.

Psalm 126:5 tells us, "They thatsow in tears shall reap i n joy." Howl ong has it been since you have weptover a soul? Verse 6 s a ys, "He thatgoeth forth and weepeth, bearingprecious seed [the precious seed ofthe Gospel that radiates from thel ives of God's people], shall doubtlesscome again w ith rejoicing, bringinghi s s heaves with him." Prover bs29:18 s a ys, "Where there is no vision,the people perish." Also, wher e thereis no real burden, the people perish.You cannot have a soul burden un-less you have a burden for the workof God. Unless you have a burden toget behind the w or k of God and theman of God with all your heart, Godwil l not give you a soul burden. Asongwriter penned, "Lord, lead me tos ome soul today. Oh, teach me, Lord,just what to say. Friends of mine arelost in sin and cannot find their way.Few there are who seem to car e a ndfew there are who pra y. Melt myhear t a nd fill my life. Give me onesoul today."

The Ministry of Reconciliation

In Matthew 4:19 Jesus said, "Fol-low me, a nd I will make you fishersof men." From the very beginningJes us made it clear that when onefollows Hi m in real salvation, Hemakes him a fisher of men. In otherwords, He will give that one a soulburden. A genuine soul burden willtake away your sleep, cause you tosow in tears, and cause you to mi s s ameal or two. Without that kind ofsoul burden, you are i n no shape tobe a fisher of men. Jesus said in John4:34, "My meat is to do the will ofhim that sent me."

We read in John 3:1 6 , "For Godso loved the world, that he ga ve his

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only begotten Son, that whosoeverbelieveth in him should not perish,but ha ve ever l asting life." Sinnerfriend, God is presenting a n opportu-nity for you to receive help. Acts17:30 tells us, "And the times of thisignorance God winked at; but nowcommandeth all men every where torepent."

Second Corinthians 5:17-18 reads :"Therefore if any man be in Christ,he is a new creature: o l d things arepassed away; behold, all things arebecome new. And all things are ofG od , who hath reconciled us to him-self by Jesus Christ, and hath givento us [to the people who have beenbrought thr ough the blood of Jesus toa real experi ence of salvation] theministry of reconcili a tion." What doesreconciliation mean? Our job as theChurch of God is to be the link fromthe thr one of God to this lost world toreconcile people to Jesus Chris t. Dearfriend, I pray that you will be chal-lenged to feel your responsibili ty ina greater w ay than ever before. Jesussaid, "Ye are the light of the world."

Saint, it is your duty by the w ayyou live, the way you a ct, and theway you talk to go out inter theworld and dis pel the darkness thathas so s a turated the world. We havea sin-sick society. Unless the churchcan get people to turn to Jesus Christ,there is not much hope for them. Weread i n 1 Peter 2:9, "But ye are achosen generation, a r oyal priest-hood , a n holy nation, a peculiar peo-ple; that ye should show forth thepraises of him who ha th called youout of da rkness into his marvellouslight." Dar kness is sin. So, one cannotbe saved and live in d arkness. Howcan you be in light a nd still practicesin? You cannot do it.

Revelat ion 1:5-6 says: "And fromJesus Christ, w ho is the faithful wit-ness, and the first begot ten of thedead, and the prince of the kings ofthe earth. Unto him that loved us,and washed us f rom our sins in hisown blood, And hath ma d e us kingsand priests unto God and his Father ."W h e n y o u h a v e a genui ne ,born-again experience thr ough thebl ood of Christ, you have turned

away from sin. G od makes you anew creature, old things (those thingsof sin) are passed away, and youbecome a new creature i n Christ.Revelation tells us that He makes uskings and priests unto G od. A king'splace in life is to reign, a nd G odgives us the power to reign over s i n.We are priests unto God in that weare servants to the people and am-bassadors o f Christ; in other words,we represent Christ to the people.

We have an awesome res ponsi-bility and a very important d u toperform. We are not red eemed just toenjoy our experience of salvation. Wecan only mainta in our joy of salvationif we share it with others. God is arew arder, and He knows how muchyou are sharing. The more you s ha r eJesus Christ with others , the more joyyou ha ve. It brings great joy whenyou share the Gospel w ith someone,and that per son weeps his way torepentance. Who reaps the joy? Onlythose who sowed in tears will r ea p injoy. People who d i d no sowing intears for that soul do not reap the joy.You only get out of it what you putinto it; do not be deceived . In John17:18 Jesus, praying to Hi s Father,said, "As thou hast sent me into theworld, even so have I also s ent theminto the world." He said in Revela-tion 22:12, "And , behold, I comequickly; and my reward is with me,to give every man accor d i ng as hiswork shall be." The law of God isthis: if there is no sowing, there is nosharing in the reaping of joy. Fr i end,are you s pi ritually asleep? You maynot be totally asleep, but are you atease? T here is great danger in beingat ease.

Child of God , you need to checkyourself. How many tears have yousown this week? How many tele-phone calls to encour a ge or invitepeopl e to church have you made thisweek? How much lying awake pray-ing for souls have you d one? Theseare fair questions. You are supposedto walk in the Spirit. If you are notcareful, you will slack off, allow your-self to sleep spirituall y , and be con-tent with your condition.

Consider Your Ways

Haggai 1:2-4 states: "Thus speak-eth the LORD of hosts, saying, Thispeople sa y, The time is not come, thetime that the LORD's hous e s hould bebuilt. Then came the w ord of theLORD [Thank God for the Word of theLord. God will always stir His men tobring the Word to stir His peoplewhen He sees the enemy comi ng intothe ranks a nd working on them] byHaggai the prophet, saying, Is it timefor you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiledhouses , and this house lie waste?"What house was he talking about?Haggai 2:3 says, "Who is left amongyou that saw this house i n her firstglory? and how d o ye see it now[speaking of the house of God, thehousehold of faith]?"

Haggai 1:5 says, "Now thereforethus saith the LORD of hosts; Cons i deryour ways." That is what God wantsyou to do. T hi s message is to chal-lenge your hea r t to consider yourways. This message is not to con-demn but to help.

Verses 6-9 tell us: "Ye have sownmuch, and bring in little; ye eat, butye have not enough; ye drink, butye are not filled with drink; ye clotheyou, but there is none warm; and hethat earneth wa ges earneth wages toput it i nto a bag with holes. Thussaith the LORD of hosts [He repeatedthe same statement from verse 5];Consider your ways. Go up to themountain, and br i ng w ood, andbuild the house; and I will take plea-sure in it, a nd I will be glorified,saith the LORD. Ye looked for much,and, lo, it came to little; a nd w hen yebrought it home, I did blow upon it.Why? sai th the LORD of hosts. Becauseof mine house that i s waste, and yer un every an unto his own house."T he Col , thr ough the Pr ophetHaggai, was speaking to people whosaid i t w as not time to build theLord's house. Soul winning is build-ing up the house of God. The houseof God was established when Jesuspurchased it with His own blood. Weare just building it up. Whenever as oul is born into the Kingdom ofGod, that puts another stone in the

wall.Those people spoken of by the

Prophet Haggai were so at ease andso taken up with the cares and thepleasures of thi s life that they said itwas not time to build. However, G odspoke through Haggai and told themto consider their ways. He told themtwice. There i s a lesson for all of us inthis Scripture. Friend, you may rejectthe w a r nings of God, but do notfor get , that is not the end of it. Just a sGod spoke to thos e people, He isasking you to consider your ways.Haggai 1:10 s ta tes, "Therefore theheaven over you is stayed from dew,a nd the earth is stayed from herfruit." A spiritual drought will hityour soul if you reject the messageGod is sending you, a nd He willsend a drought just as He did there.V er se 11 states, "And I called for adrought upon the laud, and upon themountains, and upon the corn, andupon the new wine, and upon theoil, and upon that which the groundbringeth forth, and upon men, andupon cattle, and upon all the labourof the hands." If you reject the woo-ing of God's Spirit upon your heart,God will send a spir itual droughtupon you and l et you work yourselfto death. You may la y up money,but i t will be in bags with holes. Godwill see tha t all your work is lost inthe end because of your rejection ofHim.

Carrying the Good Newsof the Gospel to Others

When the roll is called up yon-d er , I want to be rewarded in accor -dance with what I have done. A songsays, "Don't let me leave behind anunfinished task." I am concerned thatGod is go i ng to find many peoples hort when it comes to their carryinga real soul burden. If G od saw thatthe value of a soul was worth thedeath of His S on, then you ought totake this busines s of soul winningvery seriously a nd s oberly. Dearone, if you are living in sin, in thesight of G od , your soul is worth morethan this whole world. Your mindca nnot even take in how much this

worl d is worth in monetary value.Yet, that is how much value Godplaces on one soul.

We read i n Matthew 9:35, "AndJesus went about all the c ities andvi l l a ges , teaching in their syna -gogues, and preaching the gospel ofthe kingdom, a nd hea ling everysickness and every disease amongthe people." Jesus was the bus i estman on earth, going about do inggood, yet He had compassion. God'sWord is full of examples of men whowere used mightily in the s oul win-ning business.

Matthew 9:36 tells us that Jesusl ooked on the people with compa s -sion because they fainted and werescattered abroad as sheep having nos hepherd. In a sense, every born-again man, woman, or chi l d is ashepherd to thi s lost world. It is anawesome responsibility to carr y thegood news of the Gospel to people sothey can enjoy the experience of sal-vation. Verse 37 says, "Then s aith he[ Jesus] unto his disciples, The harves ttruly is plenteous, but the labourersare few." What is Jesus seeing todaywhen He looks for laborers? As youmingle with people in the world, doyou have the compassion that Jesuswants you to have? Do you s ee thefields white unto harves t? You needto lift up your heads, a rise, and getbusy at the ta s k of building up theKi ngdom of God. The Bible admon-ishes us to seek the better gifts, a ndthis is one of the bes t ! T here is nogr eater thrill to the Christian than towork with a soul and see tha t soulfreed from the bondage of sin, andthen to see that person s it under aGod-called pastor and be broughtinto a knowledge of Truth. That isabsolutely beautiful!

Fri end, what is God seeing inyour heart? You need to do morethan pr a y that God will send laborersi nto the field. It needs to be a littlemore persona l . Pr a yi ng for yourbrother to go is easy. You need tostart praying that He will send you:"Here am I, Lord, s end me." Is thatyour prayer? We live in a world ful lof s in, and people need Jesus. Forpeople to find Jes us, God's people

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Ru l es fo r Growi ng Chr i s t i ansDon't neglect your prayer time. It is the breath of the soul.

Don't neglect your Bible. It is the sword of conquest, yourhammer for construction, and your guiding light.

Don't neglect your mind. It is your channel for reaching upto the very thoughts of God.

Don't neglect your reputation. It is the gold with which youwill meet the demands of a complex civilization.

Don't neglect your influence. It will point other people to theLiving God whom you serve.

need to pray, visit people, and letthem feel their love and compassion.Sinners need to feel the love of Christshining forth fr om the hearts andlives of God's people. You may ask,"How can you love a sinner?" Well ,didn't Jesus love you? Within thehea rt of every born-again Christian isa love for the l os t of this world. Ac-cording to the Scripture, God is com-manding His people to go and bewitnesses, which will cause men toglorify God in coming to the light.

Ambassadors of Christ

Saint, do you need a greatersensitivity in looking on the fieldsthat are ready to be harvested? Look-ing on a neglected field when theha r vest is past is sad. You can see a l lthe wasted vegetables lying in thefield. It is the same i n the harvest ofsouls. Seei ng the harvest ready tocome forth but lacking the l a borer issa d . T he reaping of souls at harvest-time is lost w hen ma ny are at ease inZion. I pray tha t God will stir youand challenge your heart. Jesus com-manded His foll ow ers to go out andcompel the lost to come in. Yet, at thesame time we must attend to our ownhouseholds. God has ordained thatthe mother and the father be godlyexamples in the home.

Parents have the greatest influ-ence on their little chi l d ren. Littleones look up to their mother andfather, and that is the way it is s up-posed to be. In their little minds theirmother and father are the greatestpeople they know. So, when daddydoes something, they think it mustbe all right. Thi s is where people aregetting in t r ouble. When a man ofGod s ta nd s i n the pul pit andpr eaches concerning how we are toact and how we are to live, we needto listen. There is a s a ying that says,"As the home goes, so goes thechurch." Little ones follow what theysee going on in the home. If childrensee Mom and Dad walking contraryto what the Bible teaches , the chil-d r en are going to follow their parentsand the wa y they act in the home.There may be a n exception, but this

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is true in most cases.M y mind goes to a family wher e

the mother was saved and living forGod, but her husband was uns a ved.One night he w ent to a revival meet-ing, and the pr ea cher laid the Gospelout str a i ght . He uncovered everyungodly thing that man was doing.When he left, he was a ngry, but afew nights l a ter he came back tochurch and went to the altar.

Later someone asked him, "Wha tcaused you to get saved? Was it thepreaching?" He said, "That was someof the reason," but he went on toex pl ain that he was a farmer and ha dto get up at five-thirty each morni ngto milk the cows. His l i t t l e boy got upto go w i th him to the barn. Onemorning as the little boy was foll ow-ing his dad, he hollered , "Dad, waita minute! You're taking too b i g o fsteps, and you're walking crooked. Ican't follow you."

God used those words to s ha kehim. He thought, "My little son iswalking in my footsteps." He beganto realize tha t his little son was walk-i ng i n the influence of his life. Moth-er, Father, you have an awesome

r esponsibility to make sure that youare walking stra i ght in the home,because your little ones are follow ingyou. God sees w hether you are pray-ing and reading the B ible, and Hesees how you treat one another in thehome. When the preacher sound s thealarm, it should stir up your mind tothink, "Here is a man of God preach-ing one way, but my home is notthat way." Too many come to church,raise their hand, and testify, yet inthe home it is a different story. Theseare some reasons that people l osetheir young people to the world.

As amba s sadors of Christ, we areministers o f reconciliation, and thecall is going out, "Who will make acommitment?" You need to say asIs aiah did, "Here am I; send me."Will you make a commitment as Paulsaid, "What woul d You have me todo, Lord?" I challenge you to recog-nize in a greater way your responsi-bility as a chi l d of God. We are get-ting close to the end of time. There isno t i me to allow yourself to let downor to be at ease in Zion.

(Cassette C-2881M)

TheShoemaker

and theLittle White Shoes

I wrote down the following storyfrom memory. It was related bysomeone in an audience w here I waspresent.

One morning during a crusade adrunkard's wife ca me to my door.She ca r ried in her arms a baby whowas six weeks old. Her pa l e, pinchedfa ce was sad to see, and she told methis sad story:

"My husband is drinking hims el fto death; he is lost to all humanfeelings. Our rent is unpaid, and wea r e l i able to be put out into thestreets. Also, there is no food in thehouse for me and the children.

"He has a good t r a de, but hisearnings all go into the saloon on thecomer near us. He is becoming moreand more abusive. We seem to be onthe verge of ruin. How can I, feebleas I am, with a babe in my arms,ea r n bread for myself a nd mychildren?"

Quick as a thought the questioncame to me, a nd I asked, "Why notha ve thi s h u s ba nd of your sconverted?"

"But," she answered hopeles sly,"oh, there is no hope of such a thing.He cares for nothing but s t rongdrink."

"I'll come and see him thisafternoon," said I. "He'll insult you,"she replied.

"No matter," said I, "my Saviorwas insulted, and the s er vant is notabove his Lord."

T hat very afternoon I called a tthe l i t t l e tenement house. Thehusband was at w or k at his trade ina back room, and his little girl wassent to tell him that a lady wished tosee him. The child, how ever, soonr eturned with the message, "My pasays he won't see anyone."

But I sent him a message provingthat I was in earnest. I said, "G o ba ckand tell your pa that a l a d y wishes tosee him on very important business,and she must see him, if she ha s tostay till after supper."

I knew very well there wasnothing in the hous e to ea t . Amoment afterward a poor, bloated,besotted wreck of a man stood befor eme.

"Wha t d o you w a nt?" hedemanded as he, came s huffling intothe room.

"Please be seated," I answered,point i ng to a vacant chair at the otherend of the table where I was sittingand proceeded to ma ke known myerrand.

He listened a ttentively for amoment, then broke out violently :"Do you think I a m a fool? I drinkwhen I please, and I let it alone whenI please. I'm not going to resign my

personal liberty.""Do you thi nk you can stop

drinking?""Yes, I could if I wanted to.""On the contrary, I think you are

a slave to the rum shop down on thecorner."

"No, I ain't any such thing.""I think, too, tha t you love the

saloon keeper's daughter better thanyou love your own little girl."

"No, I don't either.""Well, let us see about that.

When I passed the saloon keeper'shous e, I saw his little girl comingdown the steps, and she had onwhite shoes a nd a white dress with ablue sash. Your money hel ps to buythem. I came here, and your littlegirl, more beautiful than she, has ona faded , r agged dress, and her feetare bare."

"That's so, madam.""And you l ove the saloon

keeper's wife better than you do yourown wife. When I passed the saloonkeeper's house, I saw his wife comeout with the little girl, and she wasdr es s ed in silks and laces and acarriage waited for her. Your moneyhelped to buy the silks and laces,and the horses and carriage. I ca mehere and found your wife in a fadedcalico gown, doing her w ork. If shegoes anywhere, she must walk."

"You speak the truth, madam.""You love the saloon keeper

better than you do yourself. You sayyou can keep from drinking if youchoose, but you helped the saloonkeeper to bui l d himself a fine brickhous e, and you live in this poor,tumbled-down old house yourself."

"I never saw it in that l i ghtbefore."

Then holding out his hand, thats hook like a n a s pen l ea f , hecontinued , "You s peak the truth,madam; I am a slave.

"Do you see that hand? I've got apiece of work to f i nish, and I musthave a mug of beer to stea d y mynerves, or I ca nnot d o i t, buttomorrow, if you call, I will complywith your request."

"Tha t ' s a temptation of the devil.[continued on page 15]

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A Letterof Warning

There are many things aboutwhic h I wish to warn the y oungpeople. I pray that God will anoint myef f orts that souls may be enlightenedand learn how to detect Sat an'ssnares and p i tf alls and be able toescape instead of winding up in prisonas I hav e.

Young person, I know that ev ennow seducing spirits are telling y ou"You will nev er wind up in prison."Believ e me, I can hardly believ e itmy self ! Howev er, here I am, f acing lif ein prison!

Until a short time ago, I had nev erhurt any one in my entire lif e. I hadalway s tried to be peaceable andf riendly . I hav e nev er hit anotherperson with my f ist. So, how is it thatI am in prison f or murder? Pleaseread closely and hear what I hav e tosay .

It happened one step at a time. Itstarted with one beer! It started withone dance! It st arted by watchingmurder on TV and in the mov ietheaters.

Young person, beware ofseducing spirits. These spirits impressone's mind and giv e certain f eelings inorder to accomplish their desired end!The worldly lov e songs, the enticingmov ies, the suggestiv e danc es , theappealing attire of sparkling rings,necklaces, and alluring clothes a lltempt and appeal to the f lesh. And donot f orget, "easy " money . Thesespirits whisper, "Just a little won'thurt." Lis t en to me! Satan has onlyone purpose in mind–that is to bringy ou into his bondage and destroy y ouc ompletely in the end! There is no

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peace in thes e things. Their end isdeath, death to the soul and death ineternity 's world.

Dear one, there is pleasure in sinf or a season, but that season is soshort, and the agony in the end is sogreat!

"Smoking and drinking is cool,"many say , but all it will do is paraly zeone's brain, dull rea lity , and disarmone's ability to make inte l ligentdecisions. When I think of some of thethings that I hav e done while underthe inf luence of alcohol and drugs, Ishudder. Some things are so horriblethat I cannot writ e about them. But Ican tell y ou this: the spirits thatpromot e t he things I hav e mentionedtake one deeper and deeper and bindone tighter and tighter each step hetakes.

The pleasure that Satan prov ideswill hav e to be paid f or in the end. Hewill begin t o use y ou on the peopley ou lov e most. The examples y ou setwill be f ollowed by innocent soulsbecause y ou make it look so great !Af ter Sat an has caused y ou tobecome inv o lv ed in deeper sin, hebegins to f orce y ou to work f or him.He will hold back the good f eelingsuntil y ou must drink or smoke moreand more. Your chase f or p leasurewill begin to interf ere with the time towork f or "honest" money . As y oucom m it worse sins, y our consciencewill make y ou f eel badly , so y ou drinkor smoke more, and on and on itgoes. The f un seems to be gone.

Then hat e sets in–hate f or theones who hav e done y ou wrong. Theonly pleasure that seems to be

av ailable now is the thought of sweetrev enge. You f ind y ourself being hardto get along with, and sometimes y ouharass those y ou lov e.

Then Satan say s, "Kill y ourself !You're no good!" and he c loses in tof inish y ou of f . It is only through God'smercy that I'm aliv e today . Many timesI hav e contemplated suicide, butGod's Word would come to mind andI would ref rain.

I reached the place that I drankalmost ev ery day and was drunkalmost ev ery weekend. I also cheatedsev eral people out of their money andtold many lies to sel l cars. I tookadv antage of people who trusted m e.Instead of one beer and dancing allnight, it took a quart of hard liquor,and I did not care about dancingany more. An ev il spirit would takecontrol of me, and I would f ind my selft h inking of killing someone who hadof f ended me. At times I waited andwatched f or the opportunity . ThenSatan set me up.

A man that used to work f or m epulled a gun on me and threatened tokill me three dif f erent times. The f untimes were ov er now. Satan wanteddestruc tion and death. So, I bought agun. Then one night about 6:30 p.m.I started drinking whiskey and coke,half and half . By 10:00 p.m. I was sodrunk I could hardly driv e. I went to aclub to listen to music and try to hav esome f un.

A man I didn ' t ev en know beganto harass me. He f ollowed me outside,and I pulled my gun. I tried to do whatI had seen in a mov ie one time, but itdid not work. The next thing I knew,

Pure Love For Christ

A former communist, now a Christian, said, "I gave 50% of my incometo the communist work. After I became a Christian, it was a long timebefore anyone suggested I give 10% of my gross income to the cause ofChrist. When they did, it was only apologetically, saying that I probablycould not, but if I could, it would be the right thing to do."

"When I was a communist, I was expected to give all my time afterworking hours to handing out literature and other work. When I volunteertime for the church, people talk about how earnest and zealous I am."

An atheist said, "If I firmly believed, as millions say they do, that theknowledge and practice of religion in this life influences our destiny inanother, then religion to me would mean everything. I would cast awayearthly enjoyments as dross, earthly cares as folly, and earthly thoughtand feelings as vanity. Religion would be my first waking thought and mylast image before sleep sank me into unconsciousness.

" I would labor in the cause. I would take no thought for the morrowbut for eternity alone. I would esteem one soul gained for Heaven wortha lifetime of suffering. Earthly consequences would never stay my handnor seal my lips. Earth, its joys and its griefs, would occupy no moment ofmy thoughts. I would strive to look upon eternity alone and upon theimmortal souls around–soon to be everlastingly happy or everlastinglymiserable. I would work with all other church people and try to share theirload. I would go forth into the world and preach it in season and out ofseason and my title would be: "What doth it profit a man if he gain thewhole world and lose his own soul?"'

To believe that Christ will return–that is FAITH. To expect to meetHim–that is HOPE. To invite another to meet Him–that is LOVE!

[The Shoemaker–continued from page 13]You are a slave and cannot help it.But I do want to tell y ou this:there is One who can break yourchains and set you free. Christ canmake you free, if you'll submit toHim and let Him break the chainsof sin and the appetite that bindyou."

"It's been many a long yearsince I prayed."

"No matter; the sooner youbegin, the better for you."

He threw himself at once uponhis knees, and while I prayed, Iheard him sobbing out his cry toGod.

His wife knelt beside me andfollowed me in earnest prayer.The words were simple andbroken with sobs, but somehowthey went straight up from acrushed heart to God, and thepoor man began to cry in earnestfor mercy.

"O God! break these chainsthat are burning into my soul! Pityme, and pity my wife and childrenand break the chains that aredragging me down to hell. O God!be merciful to me a sinner!"

And thus out of the depths hecried to God, and He heard himand had compassion upon himand broke every chain and liftedevery burden. He arose a free andredeemed man.

A family altar was established;the comforts of life were soonsecured–for he had a good tradeand two week s after this scene hislittle girl came to my husband'sSunday school with white shoes, a

white dress, and a blue sash on itas a token that her father 's moneyno longer went into the saloonkeeper's till.

However, what struck memost of all was that i t took lessthan two hours of my time to bean ambassador for Christ in

declaring the terms of Heaven'sgreat treaty, whereby a soul wassaved from death, a multitude ofsins were covered, and a homewas restored to purity and peace.

F. E. W.

the man was on the ground, and I washolding a gun that had been f ired sixtimes. I don't ev en remem ber pullingthe trigger! I hav e nev er had anytraining with a p istol and hav e onlyf ired one a f ew times in all my f ortyy ears, but ev ery bullet hit the man!What happened? Did Satan takecontrol of me in my drunken stupor, orhad my brain been programmed bywatch ing murder on TV and in the

mov ies? I may nev er know. But onething is sure–the stranger is dead, andI am spending lif e in pr is on f ormurder.

It all started f rom one beer and alittle worldly entertainment–one stepat a time.

Dear one, I pray that y ou will takeheed and f lee f rom seducing spiritsthat try to make one believ e there isno harm in a little beer and a little

worldly music. It leads to hell–onestep at a time! Please, look to Jesusand f ollow His ev ery Word. Jesus isthe Word of God, and He will lead y outo peace, joy , contentment, andhappiness, not only in this world butalso in the world to come.

Selected

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Brother Danie

Proverbs 23:10 Remove not the oldlandmark; and enter not into the fields of thefatherless:

11 For their redeemer is mighty; he shallplead their cause with thee.

l Webster

Walking Within the Boundsof God's Word

The devil wants us a ll to thinkwe have plenty of time. As I lookback on my life, I realize that time istraveling very quickly, a nd there isnot much time left. No ma tter howlong you live, it will be just a shortspace compared with eternity.

Many winds of doctr i ne arearound tod a y, a nd many peopleclaim to have Truth. You can knowwho has the Truth and what theT r uth really is by the Word of God .I a m glad that God is not a God of

confusion. Ile will direct you into Hi spr ecious Truth. Even when you ar ecompletely ignorant o f w hat to do,w her e to go, or what to say, God willbe there to help you if you. L i s ten toHim.

I am not a fis her man, but Iund er s ta nd th a t s o m e h a v esophisticated equi pment on theirboats. They can key in information,and it will lead them ba ck to wherethey were previously l ocated whenthey get out to the middle of thelake. I am glad that a guiding forcecan direct us , as Christians, and weca n know exactly where we are and

w here we are going. You do nothave to hope that you a re going toHeaven, but you can know tha t youare. I am thankful for that.

The landmarks, those identifyingobjects or boundaries, let us knowwhere we a r e. A physical boundary,such as a fence, controls w her e yougo . God's Word has boundaries todirect and mold your l i fe in the waythat is pleasing to God. You do notneed to guess whether you are goingto make Heaven your home. You canknow that you are Heaven boundbeca use you are lining up with theboundaries in the Word of God. You

can find liberty, blessings, as surance,and peace only by walking withinthe bounds of God's Word.

A landmark is an object thatmarks one's course and s erves as aguide. I am glad that God's Wor d isa guide to us. The Scriptures guideus in every way. T he Wor d of God islight, a nd God's light has alwaysdispelled darkness. Light cannot mixwith da r knes s. That is a good type tounderstand, becaus e G od ' s peopleare in the light, and they cannot mixwith darkness. If you want to staysaved, some s eparations must takeplace in your life. You want to avoiddarkness. Once you get saved, youhave no desir e to get c l ose todarkness.

Literal darkness ca n almost feelcold. At times it seems to ta ke the liferight out of you. Spiritual darkness isthat way. If you get involved in thedarkness of s in, it will drain thespiritual life out of you a nd consumeyou. Therefor e, you must separateyourself from darkness. Just as Godma de a distinction between light andd arkness, God's people are a separatepeople. Jes us said we are in theworld, but we are not of the world.T he fads and fashions of the world nolonger have us bound. God's Wordand His Spirit guide us, and we dowhat He wants us to do.

You Cannot Serve Two Masters

Paul r ecorded these words togive a better understanding of God'swill in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18: "Be yenot unequally yoked together withunbelievers: for what fellowship hathrighteousness with unrighteous ness?and what communion hath l ight withd a r knes s ? [absolutely none] Andw ha t concor d . hath Christ withBelial? [none] or what part hath hetha t bel i eveth w i th an infidel?[Discussing God w i th people who donot bel i eve in God is difficult. Theyjust look at you as though you weres pea ki ng some strange language.]And w ha t agreement ha th thetemple of God with idols? for ye arethe temple of the living God; as Godhath said, I will dwell i n them, and

walk in them; and I wil l be theirGod, and they shall be my people.

"Wher efor e come out fromamong them, a nd be ye separate,saith the Lord, and touch not theunclea n thing; and I will receive you,And will be a Father unto you, andye shall be my sons and daughter s ,s a i th the Lord Almighty." SecondCorinthians 7:1 conti nues , "Havingtherefore ( thes e pr omi s es, dearlybeloved, let us cleanse our s el vesfr om all filthiness of the flesh andspirit, perfecting holiness in the fearof God."

God has a people who areseparate from sin and unbelievers.His people cannot have fellow s hipwith unbelievers. What fellowship isthere? Ther e i s none. Our fellowshipis in God and with other saints.When Paul wrote, "Wherefore comeout from among them . . . ," he wasnot saying that if your wife or yourhusba nd i s uns aved, you shouldleave or tell him or her to move out .No, he was telling you to separatefrom the things he mentioned in thetext. God cannot use you and w or kwith you if you mix with the worldand the things of the world.

The actions of many w ho claim tobe God's people tell us they want tomix and mingle with the world whilethey try to have fellowship w ith God.Paul made it plain in these versesthat this is imposs i b le. No one canmingl e and mix with the things ofthe world and still enjoy fellowshipwith God; the one will rob from theother. Jesus said you cannot servetw o masters. You will either love theone and ha te the other or hate theone and love the other. To be savedand to s ta y s a ved , one cannotembrace the world and the thi ngstha t are in the world. You mustembrace Chr i s t a nd for s a ke thethings of the world and do that whichHe would ha ve you to do. I wouldmuch rather serve Christ and enjoysweet fellowship with God than to bea friend of the world and lose mysoul.

World ly people have a differentway of looki ng at friendship. If youhave something they want, they will

be your friends; however , if you loseor let loose of whatever they want,then you will find out who your realfr i ends a r e. G od ' s peopl e a r edifferent. When they love and carefor you, they are not concerned aboutwhat you have. Their desire is tohel p you to grow a nd pr os perspiritually. When you lose worldlyfriends, you should not weep a boutit, because God has a better familyfor you to enjoy. T he s w eetfellowship of God 's people is fargreater. God's people have a farmore wonderful friendship to offer.

Forsaking the World

Before get ting saved, I waswrapped up in rock'n'roll music andall the things involved w i th it. Rightafter I got saved, out of habit Ilistened to that music, but it was notlong until God s aid, "What is thema t ter w ith you? Why are youlistening to this garbage?" I used tol ove it, but suddenly I had no desireto listen to that garbage, because Iwanted to be spiritual. T he secret tobeing separate is turning away fromthis world. Some things that youenjoyed when you were in sin maynot seem bad to you after you getsaved, but i f they rob you of yourspirituality, you must abstain fromthose things. Do you want to bespiritual or entertain yourself wi ththe things of this world?

M a n y peopl e tod a y a r eabandoning the thought o f forsakingthe world. They want the wor l d andChrist , but they cannot have both.When you l ea ve this world, youcannot take anything with you. I amglad that I am free, and this worldhas no charms for me. I have nodesire to follow the fads and fa s hionsof this world.

There is a beat to this world'smusic that will drain you of yourspiritual li fe, w hether it is rockmusic, country music, or Christianrock. The devil composed i t a l l to robpeople of their souls. These kinds ofmus i c ca us e people to becomeabsorbed i n the beat, the music, andthe lyrics. Much of the so-called

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Christian music has the same beatand rhythm that rock music has. Ifyou did not listen to the w or ds, youwould never know that they label itChristian music, because all you hearis the "thump, thump, thump" o f thebea t . Does it inspire your soul? No!That is what you need to consider.Listening to worldly musi c i s such adeadly thing to your soul, but peoplemake many excuses for lis tening toit. You need to guard what you listento.

Too many young people say theyw a nt Jesus, but the d evi l ha sconvinced them that they can haveJesus and a little bi t o f the world too.On the contrary, that wil l not work.You must choose one or the o ther .You need to a s k your self thequestion, "Is this really helping mys pi r i tual life?" I have abandonedma ny things over the years, notbecause those things were evil, butthe questions that came to me were,"Is this worth losing my soul over? Isit worth losing even a li t t le bit ofspirituality or z ea l?" That is what isimportant to consider;

When I got saved, I was sick ofsin. Thank God, when Jesus movedin, He i mmediately set me free andopened my eyes; then I realized howblind I rea lly was. My vision wasdimmer than I thought it was. Thepoint is, you do not realize howspiritually blind you are until theLord opens your eyes. The world willrob your soul. The Apostl e Pa ul toldus to be a separate people, peopl ewho separate from unbel i ef . Wecannot have fellowship wi th Babylon.Nothing in Babylon will ever benefitus. False prophets will lie to you andtr y to convince you that you ca nmake Heaven your home and yet bea sinner.

A Peculiar Treasure Unto God

First Peter 2 :9 states, "But ye area chos en gener a t i on, a r oya lpriesthood, an holy nation, a peculiarpeopl e; that ye should show forth thepraises o f him who hath called youout of darkness into hi s marvelouslight." T he L or d has a peculiar

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people whom He purchased with Hisown blood. The Bible tells us that weare not our own. We ha ve beenbought w i th a price. To please God,we must do what God w ants us to do.Peter s a id, "Ye a r e a chos engeneration." God has chosen us to bea royal priesthood and holy nation.

Holiness is separation from sin.There is no sin i n holiness, and therea r e no holy sinners. You are either asinner or a saint. Also , there is nos uch thing as being a good Christia nor a bad Chr istian; either you are aChristian or you are not a Christian.As a holy nation, w e a re to showforth the praises of Him who ha scalled us out of darkness and into Hi smarvelous light. If you have beencalled out of darknes s , why wouldyou want to embrace it?

There are many or dinances andpractices in the Old Testa ment thatwe do not do today. For instance, wedo not kill a l a mb and sprinkle itsblood on things as they once did.Yet, the principles, or the types,behind those pra ctices contain veryimportant lessons for us. In Exodus19:5-6. Moses recorded these words:"Now therefore, if ye will obey myvoice indeed, and keep my covenant,then ye shall be a peculiar treasureunto me above all. people: for all theearth is mine: And ye shall be untome a kingdom of priests, and an holynation. These are the words whichthou shalt speak unto the children ofIsrael." Similar words were recordedby Peter in the New Testament. Godtold His people tha t i f they wouldobey Hi s Wor d a nd keep Hi scovenant, they would be a peculiartreasure unto Him.

The world is God's, but He has aspeci al people in whom He delfts.They are that peculiar treasure, andthey obey Hi m a nd keep thecovenant that He has established forHis people. T hat covenant is the NewTestament. It was sealed and settledthrough the blood of Jesus Christ s owe can enjoy this precious covenant.

What makes us a s eparatepeople? Is i t beca us e w e lookdifferent and act different? In Exod us33 :1 5 -1 6 M os es r ecor d ed these

outs tanding words: "And he saidunto him, If thy presence go not w i thme, carry us not up hence. Forwherein shal l it be known here thatI and thy people have found grace inthy sight? is it not i n that thou goestwith us? so shall we be separated, Iand thy people, from all the peoplethat ar e upon the face of the earth."What made them a separate people?God was with them. That is w ha tma kes us a separate people yettoday–God is with us and also in us;He lives in our hearts.

Dig Deeper Into theThings of God

We should not w a nt to mix andmingle a l i t t l e cold with the hot fireof God in our souls. What happenswhen you mix something cold withs omet h i n g h o t ? I t b ecomeslukewa rm. As a Christian, you donot want to mingle with the things ofthis world. You should keep thi sseparati on in your life. You shouldnot live in such a way tha t whenother s l ook upon your life, theycannot tel l that you are a child ofGod. People should be able to look atyou and sa y, "That person is a childof God." G od leads us in the way ofmodesty. When one is truly modest,he has no desire to make a s how ofhimself in any way. The last thing ontha t per s on' s mind is attractingattention.

One who has the Spirit o f G odshoul d not do things just to benot i ced. When one tes t i f i es , heshould testify to glor ify God and totell others of the wonder ful thingsthat God ha s d one. When onepreaches the Word of God, he shouldnot do i t to say, "Look how spiritualand how smart I am" or "Look at allthe know l edge God has given me."He should preach to help and benef i tothers.

I cannot ex plain the blessing andthe thrill I find in looki ng into God'sWor d with a desire to feed souls.Hours can go by qui ckly while Istudy the Word of God. It i s not ahardship to preach God's Word. It isa blessing, and it seems that God

always takes away the fear of people.I cer ta i nly do not do it to berecognized or applauded. I have nodesir e for that. God's men are onlyi nterested in helping ind i vi d ua l sgain a better experience with God.

The spirit of this world will try toconvince you that you can embr acethis world and live for Christ at thesame time, but you cannot do both.You must separate yourself from theworld or you will be drawn away.You cannot have both Christ and theworld and expect to make Heavenyour home. That is very dangerous.T he closer you get to the world, theeasier it is to be over taken by thethings of this world. Therefore, youneed to di g d eeper in the things ofGod and draw closer to Him.

T oo many young people are notreally interested in letting loose ofthe world. They want to be worldlyenough that they do not look toopeculiar to the world. The Lord hasalways had a separate peopl e whohave been distinctly His and whohave abided by His Word. He stillhas people who a bide by His Word.The only people who live that wayare God's people, the Church of theL i vi ng God. God has a separatepeople who wi l l not mix with theworld.

Things That Rob Youof Spirituality

You need to consider your souland guard what you listen to. Onewriter wrote that the mind is like acomputer. In other word s , what youput in is what comes out. The moreyou pump the things o f the worldinto your mind, the more worl dlyyou w i l l become. You need toconsider that if you are tempted tolisten to w orldly music or anythingelse that is ungodl y, because it willrob you of your soul; then instea d ofsinging praises to God as His Wordtells you to do, you w i l l find yourselfsinging world ly melodies. Paul wrotei n E phes i a ns 5 :19, "Speaking toyourselves in psalms and hymns andspiritual songs, singing and makingmelod y in your heart to the Lord." If

you find yourself singi ng worldlysongs, something has gotten hold ofyou. You should be singing praisesto the Lord. After I got s a ved , Iwanted nothing to do w i th the songsof the world. Rock'n'roll is still thesame deadly music i t has alwaysbeen, and it will still rob you of yourspiritual life.

The devil i s so sneaky. He knowsthat you will shun certain things, sohe modifies them to make them lookdifferent. Then, if you are not careful,you will take hold of it. For example,today most r a d io stations do not playhard rock. It offends ma ny people, sothey pl a y "s of t r ock" i nstead .N ever thel es s , the s a me s pi r i tmot i va tes i t . T he s a me d evi lconverted i t to try to get people toaccept it. He just softens it a lit t l e bycalling it "soft rock" or "the oldies."Some people think it is all right tolisten to "the ol dies," but those songsare still the same ungodly rock 'n'roll,no matter how old they are. Thatkind of music is creeping in, gettinghol d o f peopl e' s hea r t s , a ndd estroying their souls. When theypray, all they can think of is whatthey have been listening to all day.How can you hear the voice of Godwhen you have been pumping yourmind full of worldly music? We arecommanded to be separate from thisworld and the things of the world.

I am not too concerned with thefashions of thi s w orld. Why dodesigners change the fashions? Sothey can sell more clothes. The s a i ntsof God should not follow the fa shionsof this w orld. Often women are moreconcerned about the fashions of thisw orld than men are You need towatch that you do not get wrappedup in making sure that you keep upw i th all the latest styles. Being aseparate peopl e w i l l save you afortune. You will have much more togive God and more for your ownfamily in other ways if you are notbound by the fads and fashions ofthis world.

Jude 1:18-19 says: "How that theytold you there should be mockers inthe last time, who should walk afterthei r own ungodly lusts. These be

they w ho s epa r a te thems elves,sensual, having not the Spirit." Manypeople who claim to be God's peopleare sens ual; in other words, theyfollow after the flesh. Jude warns usthat these people are d ifferent fromGod's people. T hey are not a peoplewhom G od uses. What caused thosepeople to become sensua l ? T heywalked after their own ungodly lusts,so they do not ha ve the Spirit of God.If you follow the Holy Spirit, you willnot follow the things of the world.God's Spirit will not force you to doanything. He cares for you, so Hewill be faithful to let you know whensomething i s not right, but He givesyou a choice.

The Need for Separation

The need for sepa r a t i on istwofold: f i r s t , it will keep you pure inthis l i fe; s econd , if you remainfaithful, one of these days you willta ke your happy flight from thi sworld. How ever, it will not be ahappy flight for all people. Whetherwe leave this world collectively orone at a time, the time w i ll comewhen each of us will have to l a ydown the r obe of flesh and leave theworld behind. The less this worlda t t r a cts you, the eas i er yourdeparture will be.

I am convinced that when itcomes t i me to die, if a person iscontent with God's will, he or shewill be glad to l a y it all down andleave i t . Nothing is wrong withow ni ng things in this life, but youshould not let those things own you.You should not allow your affectionsto be centered on those things to thedegree tha t you cannot do what Godwants you to do.

G od's people are free from thebondage of this world, and we walkwith God. That is w ha t makes usseparate. God is in us. That is amystery to the world. T he world doesnot understand why we live as wedo, but it is because Chri st is in us.Colossians 1:2 7 says, "To whom Godwould make known what i s theriches o f the glory of this mysteryamong the Gentiles; which is Christ

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i n you, the hope of glory." I am gl a dthat Christ is not mer el y walkingalongside me, but 13e is i n me. Thatis what makes us such a peculiarpeople. He dwells in our hearts.

If you embrace the things of thisworld, God w i ll be a gentleman andjust back off and l et you have yourway. The next t ime you turn on aradio or a compact d i s c player tolisten to worldly music, you need toask yourself, "Is this helping my soulor am I pushing God out of my life?"

How much do you think a boutGod during a day's time? How muchdo you med i tate on the Word of God?Do you consider Him at all in thethings you get involved i n or do youjus t live your life, and then at theend of your d a y say a little prayer,go to sleep, and wa ke up the nextmorning and start over? If you reallyworship God, He ought to be in yourthoughts often. You should considerHim in your work and in everythingyou do. Also, you should always lookfor a n opportunity to witness toother s , not just in words but in deeds,and even in a s mile. You shoulda l w a ys consider these thoughts :"How can I glor i fy God in a greaterway today? What can I do for theLord?" Then when problems come,He should be the f irst One you callon, not the l a s t . When you need helpin some way, you can say, "God, Ineed You right now ." He will bethere if you a l low Him to be in youreveryday life.

Many people attend the worshipservices on Sundays and Wednesdaynights and during revival services,a nd then they forget about Him ther est of the time. That is not the w a yGod wants them to be. God wantspeople to worship Hi m i n Spirit andin Truth and with their whole beingevery day. There is no place whereyou should turn God off for a littlewhile and say, "Jus t go away, God,and I wil l ca ll on You again when Ineed You." No, you must worshipHim all day long, every day if youintend to keep the victor y. If you arenot careful, you will let the devil foolyou and cause you to becomew r a pped up in things that will

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hi nd er you spiritually. Rememberthis: what was Truth twenty yearsago and even fi f ty years ago is stillTruth today.

You cannot mingle with theworld and things o f the world andstill enjoy spiritual l i fe. The devil willrob you of spirituality by get t ing youto dwell on the garbage in the world.You need to consider the thought thatGod has a separate people who wil lnot be bound by the things of thisw or ld. As God's people, we refuse tolet this world take hol d o f us. Youneed to take a stand and say, "I amnot going to listen to that. I am notgoi ng to be involved in it anylonger." It may cost you worldlyfriendships, but God will bless you,strengthen you, and help you in awonderful way.

Identifying Marks ofGod's People

Our Scripture text says to removenot the o l d landmark; however ,peopl e a re doing just that todayforgetting all about what God's Wordsays. God said, "This is the way," yetthey say, "That's not important." Onthe contrar y, it is important. Everybounda r y that God has placed is forthe benefit of souls. It is not to put usin bondage but to guide us and let usknow where we a r e. If you were toput up a landmark, it would not beto prevent one from going to theother side, but to let one know wherehe is. God is not go i ng to put up awall and say, "You can't go ther e";but He is going to put up a landmarkand say, "If you go on that side, youare no longer Mine."

The wonderful thing is that Godwill give you a choice. He sets theboundary in place and says, "This isthe way." T here are wonderful typesof thi s in old Israel. He set theboundaries in place for each tribe. Hegave them all boundaries and youcan read about how the boundarieswere set. Each of their boundariesw a s identified so they knew wher etheir land w a s a nd w ha t theypossessed.

Today God sets the boundary

and says, "This is the way. If you aregoing to be My child, you must walkthis way." T hes e boundaries willcontain you and help you to knowthat you are truly His child. You canknow that you are His child becauseyou know where the boundary isand you ha ve s ta yed inside theboundary.

Often people get so wrapped upin the things of this worl d that it robstheir s ouls of the praises of God. Ifyou no longer have praise for God ,then Peter said you are no l ongerHis. I repeat, God's people are apeculiar people, and we are to showforth His praises.

There are identifying marks thati d ent i f y G o d ' s p e o pl e, a ndidentifying marks in the Scriptures tolet you know w hether you arehearing the right message. If youstudy the Wor d of God, you will findthat God has a way of letting youknow w hether you are heari ngTruth. The Word of God teachesholiness, and holi ness is a separationfrom the w or l d and the sin of thisworld. When one is free from sin, hei s ho ly and he is a peculiar treasureunto God. If you are confused and d onot know whether or not you arehea ring Truth, check to see if themessage you are hearing teaches youthat you must be holy. You must beholy to plea s e G od . One is not holy ifhe mixes the things of the world intohis life.

One songwriter wrote, "Heavenor hell you are choosing, fixing a ndsealing your fate." Serving G od ist r uly your decision. God sets theboundary, but the decision to serveHim is up to you. On which sid e d oyou want to be? Do you want to livefor God or pursue your own interes tsand let your emotions be thrilled bythis s ong or that fashion or somethingelse? These things work on the flesh.God can give you power to bring thefl es h under control so that you can bewhat God wants you to be. Won'tyou allow the Lord to have His wayin your life?

(Cassette C-4063E)

Isaiah 12:1 And in that day thou shall say, OLORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angrywith me, thine anger is turned away, and thoucomfortedst me.

2 Behold, God is my salvation; l will trust,and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH ismy strength and my song; he also is become mysalvation.

Brother Robert Mullen

These Latter Days of Time

The enemy picks on older peopleand young people to keep us froms er vi ng God. He is an accuser of thebrethren. When we are doing thewill of G od , he will accuse us ofputting on a show or o f trying tofurther another cause. I am glad tha twe do not have to listen to him. Godma kes every provision for us to hearand understand His voice, and Hemakes provision for us to go toHeaven. If you do not understand thefirst time He speaks to you, He willspeak to you again. He is very kindin that way.

We need discernment that comesfrom God. If you are a chi ld of God,you need spiritual food. The messageis still, "Come out of her, my people."There is only one church, and she is

on fire for God. He is the head of thechurch. All kinds of spirits are out inthe world, so we must have ears tohear what the Spi r i t says, and weneed s omeone w hom God hasanointed to speak the Word of God.Ther e a r e too ma ny "hallelujah"preachers who are fal ling around onthe floor. God has something betterthan the cults. I am gl a d that I canhear His voice. God wants you tohear the Truth and obey it.

I a m glad that G od ha se v e r y thi ng i n or d er ; he ha severything und er control. We arel iving in perilous times, but you ca nstill make it to Heaven even in theselast days. You can make it throughthe battle of Armageddon. You ca nmeet the battles and win w i th Jesusat your side. He is the gr eat Captainof our salvation. He knows the bat t l e

is hot , but He has more grace. Youmight have to lose your life. Manypeople lose things because of servingGod. Living for God is not always aneasy way.

I have pastored people for manyyears, and it is a ful l - t ime, strenuousjob. I bel i eve that in these latter daysof t i me, i t i s becomi ng morestrenuous than it has ever been. Thedevil has polished up his devices,and he is setting them out for peopleto partake of. Nevertheless, God stillhas a church, and He is the head ofit. I am one follow er who believes inGod with all my heart.

My wife and I have had somestrain and stress. My wife has lost hereyes i ght , a nd I have had sometrouble with mine. However, I cansee jus t as clear or clearer spirituallybecause of the hard things that have

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come my way. This world is biddinghigh for souls. L ights are flashingand many voices are speaking todraw people away from Truth. Thegod of this world w a nts you to lovethe world and the things of theworld. He tries to make God's waylook d ull and unattractive so that youwill not want much to do with it.Nevertheless, God is still up to date,and the church is still bea ut i ful.Holiness becomes the house of God.

A great thing takes place whenGod makes a sinner holy. When youbecome a new creature, He will bewith you all the days of your life. Hesaid, "I will never leave thee norforsake thee." (Hebrews 13:5). That isthe good news of the Gospel. Somefolks nowadays sa y, "Oh, I don'thave that kind o f l i ght." If you walki n the light, you will get the rightkind of light, and your vision willnot become bl ur r ed or dimmed. Ihave been in the Church of Godsince the Lord saved me. T hough shehas gone through hard pla ces, shealwa ys comes through with shiningcolors. I am s atisfied with what Godha s made. Friend, are you satisfiedwith Jesus?

The Lord Is Ever Near

We need Jesus as our physician.God said He is the One who hea ls us.He is the bes t doctor in the world. Henever ma kes a mistake, and Henever ta kes out something tha tshould not have been removed. Hegives you only one pill to sw a l l ow,and that is the "Gos-pi ll." If youswallow that, it will help you to sleeppeacefully, and it will take away the"worry bug." Worrying will kill you.You need to trust in the Living God.I have cast a l l my troubles on Jesusthroughout the years, and He hasbeen a great help.Feelings of anger , jea l ousy, envy,and wanting your own way willca us e you t r ouble mentally andphysically. S i n is bad in every way.T here is joy in the Lord. Have youfound that joy? That i s the kind toha ve. T he d evil ma kes ma nypromi ses, but he lies and he does not

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ca r e a bout you. He has a hos tworking for him, but God st ill hassaints who will be faithful until theend. Praise God forever!

I do not like to see apostasy. G odha s ma d e r ul es for the churchconcerning how we ought to behavein the Church of God. God call sministers. He never told me to go tocollege to learn how to preach, butHe told me to get busy and preachthe Word of G od . One night inColorado, w hen I had been saved foronly a litt l e w hile, He called me topreach His Gospel. I love to pastorpeopl e. T hough s ome ca n getnaughty with the pastor and stillprofess to be s aints, pastoring is stillone of the most rewarding jobs , ifGod has called you. G od will say,"You stay right in there and obeyMe, whether the people like you ornot and w hether they say amen ornot. That is My business. You justpreach the Truth." That takes muchstrain off the preacher. As pastors, wewant people to like us, but i f they donot, we must prea ch the Gospel soGod favors what we are doing. WhenGod smiles upon us, it is all right.

In my Father's house, He has ahol y people, and He is coming forHis church. God will not forget us;He will not be too busy s omewhereel s e. He is God, and He is biggerthan our minds ca n comprehend.Glory hallelujah! Praise the L ordforever!

When you get in a tight placea nd the devil is tormenting you, theBible says to praise the Lord. It issuch a good thing to praise the Lord.When we praise the Lord, it causesthe d evil to flee. He does not want usto praise Him. The Lord is worthy ofpr aise, honor, and glory. He has thewhole w orld in His hands. He hascontr o l over my life, and He is myprotector. He stays with me everyday. He d oes not go away on ajour ney, but He is ever near. You ca nget good s ervice any time you askHim for somethi ng. He loves toanswer pr ayer, just as you love tohave your children come and askyou for things. A good habit to geti nto is to ask the Lord to supply a l l

your needs. The Bible says that Godshall supply all your needs.

A More Excellent Way

T he d evil is a liar. He will try toseduce you a nd draw you away fromGod. God created you to serve Him,and that is your rightful place in thisworld. God has a big work for ea chof us to d o , a nd it is a noble work.You coul d l a y up money, ownproperty, get a new a car, anda c q ui r e ma ny o ther w or l d l ypossess ions, but nothing can makeyou happier than to have G od inyour heart every day. He leads usbeside still waters and places us ingreen pastures for His name's sake.God gives His people the very bes t.He is our hel per, and we can takeeverything to Him in prayer.

I have a good wife. We havelearned to help each other, and wehave enjoyed our lives together. I donot want to t r a de her. God knows allabout your home life, and He hasorders. If peopl e w oul d behavethemselves and obey G od , theywould have much less trouble in thehome. Living in a home and notgetting al ong with your companion isawful.

You ought to be friendly withyour pastor, but not everyone is.Many stay away from church andtalk about their pastor in the wrongway. It is the devil's business to getyou to dislike the man of God,cr iticize him, and find fault with hi m.You may think that he is too youngor too old, that he has too manychildren or not enough, or that he istoo thrifty or too extravagant. Youcan fi nd fault with anyone if you lookhard enough.

We have a friend in Jesus who isgreater tha n all others. He said,"Keep your eyes on Me, love yourenemies, and love your neighbor ,even if he is nasty. Do not show anyevil toward him in your hea r t ."Living i n peace is much easier thanliving in turmoil. The devil s t irs uptur moil. You may be ca l m a ndcollected and enjoy the peace of God,but the devil wi l l come along and

upset your d i s position if he can.Ha vi ng the gr a ce o f G od i sw ond erful. What does the grace ofGod do for you? I t w ill keep youfrom wanting to seek revenge. I havelearned that since I have been aChristian. T he more I love people,the better it is for everyone. Love isbetter for you, your neighbors, yourpastor, your wife, and your chil d r en.S ome people cannot get along wi thanyone. The sinful life i s a life ofturmoil and tribulation.

We are living in the end t i me,and the battle is hot and r aging. Insome places it seems that the work ofthe devil is d i splayed tremendously.You need the grace of God to gothrough trials and hard places. Thegrace of God will do thi ngs for youthat nothing else will do.

The Bible is like a road map. Byreading it, you will recei ve betterinstruction than you can get from anyps ychol ogist. I recommend G odabove ps ychology. God is so farahead of the i ntelligence of this oldworl d. The world is far away fromthe Truth. True knowledge is in ourHea venl y Fa ther . We a r e Hi schildren. He teaches us the w ay ofholiness, which is a more ex cellentway, and He tells us what to d o . Youmay think you know what to do , butit is good to pray and a s k God todirect your steps. You need the mapthat God puts before you every day.It beats any other way of planning.

The Giver of All Good Gifts

The church is in God' s hands.The whole wor l d , even the tinybaby, i s in His hands. God is aspecialist, and He is a perfectionist.He knows how to help you, how tomake you ha ppy, and how to helpyou get along with your nei ghbors,your pa s tor, your w i fe, yourchildren, and others.

I enjoy fishing and gardening,but God told me, "You are do i ng alittle too much. You need to cut back.Don't plant so much garden or raises o many rabbits. You need to gi vemor e time to Me." God's work is thegreatest. I t i s better than raising

animals a nd having money in theba nk. G od ' s ' w or k gi ves youtreas ures in Heaven. God made eachof us a little different and gave usvarious gifts to be used for His glory.We are much happi er when we dowhat God wants us to do. It is agreater thrill when God blesses youtha n when you have a fish on theline. I enjoy working in the gardenand giving what I raise to others toenjoy. However, s er ving God andseeing the work of God grow has amuch greater reward.

We are supposed to love oneanother as Christ i a ns a nd w orktogether. The doctrine of the Churchof God is that God's people are one.The enemy of souls wants to d ivideGod's people. When you get i n God'schurch, you w i l l not want anyschism. Some peopl e ask, "Whichchurch i s right? Who is right? andWhat is r ight?" They need a vision ofGod's divine church in action. TheChurch of G od preaches the wholeWord of God and prays for the sick.

If w e are going to see peopleredeemed and well in body, we needto pr a y for one another. This helpsthe Gos pel message to reach out.Healing is part of God's plan. Weneed miracles; however; too manytimes people get healed and receivehelp but forget to return–and giveGod the glory. Jesus said in Luke17:17, "Were there not ten cleansed ?but where are the nine?" If G od healsyou of cancer or some other disease,you owe Him something.

G od is the giver of all good gif t s ,a nd you ought to use your body a ndyour talents for Hi s gl or y. TheChurch of G od stresses using yourtalents for God. Women have theirplace, and men have their place. TheBible tells pr eachers how to act. Italso tells us how to act in the home. Ittells the husband what to do. Nowonder we have so much trouble inthe world. People are not obeyi ngGod's laws. We should pray for ourleaders, because they need pr ayer.Fathers and mothers who are raisingchildren al so need prayer. When alittle chil d i s sick, the father andmother need to lay their hands on

that child and pray, and God willcome to the rescue. Often we haveprayed for people and their fevershave gone down immediately.

God ha s health for His people.He w ants us to be strong a ndknowledgeable of the things of God,and He w a nts to teach us the rightway. Friend, God is interested inyou. He does not want you to bedeceived. B ei ng deceived is an awfulthi ng, es p e c i a l l y i n ma t ter sconcerning your soul.

When I was a child, I was alwaysskeptical of Santa Cla us. He did notlook real to me. Thank God, God isreal; He is not a fake. When I went toan altar of prayer, I w anted to knowGod. Well, the fire of His Holy Spir i tfell a nd it is still falling upon me. It isa far bet ter thing to happen to youthan to get drunk. I would muchrather be filled with the Holy Spirit.

God Is Always on Time

It is good for your soul to knowthat God has anointing for people.Every worship service is somethingfresh and new . G od ha s newci rcumstances, new things to do, a ndgreat things happen tha t you neverdreamed would happen. Living forG od is exciting, and s omet i meshumorous. God has everything weneed in the church. He looked aheadwhen He made it and said, "It isgood." He made the sun and themoon, and the light of the sun hasnever bur ned out. It is such apowerful thing. God also makes theseasons. Once the snow quits, wehave springt ime and then summer.Isn't it wonderful that God neverforgets? He knows just what we need.

Some people like the snow, andothers like the rain or the d r yweather, but God ca n please us all.We should be happy with whateverHe s ends us. We need to count ourblessings. I f you think what youhave is bad, God can show yous omething worse. You coul d bebed fa s t . You may pity your s el fbecause you have pain in your leg,but some fellows ha ve no legs at all.

One of these days, God is going

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Thanksgiving Street

A story has been told of twoChristian men at a meeting. One ofthem got up to speak, and most ofwhat he said stressed the diffi cultconditions In which he lived. Afterhe had tat down, the other man aros eto his feet and said 'I hear that ourbrother who has just s poken lives onG r umbling Street. I l i ved ther emyself for a time and never enjoyedgood health. The sir was ba d , thehouses were ba d , and the water wasbad. The birds never came a nd sangin the street, and I was gloomy andsad every day.

'Then I moved to ThanksgivingStreet. Ever since, I have had goodhealth, a nd s o has my family. The airi s good, the water is good, and thehouses are good . The sun shines allday, the birds are always singing,and I am as happy as I can be. Irecommend our brother to move.There a r e plenty of houses to rent onThanksgiving Street.'

Are we gra teful enough for theamazing gift whereby we have beenenabled to become the sons of God?How can we show our gratitude?First, let us love the Lord our Godwith all our hearts and minds; next,w e mus t l ove our neighbors asourselves!

Selected

to call us home, and He will give usexactly what i s coming to us. We allhave battles and trials, but we mustbe faithful to God. Be encouraged; donot be discouraged. Sometimes youcan become discouraged when God isblessing you, because you may notsee the b l es sings. God is really goodto all of us. You may ques t i on, "Whydidn't He do this?" or "Why didn' t Hedo that differ ent l y?" We do notalways know the answers to many oflife's ques tions, but God works forour good.

God is s t ill in the healingbusiness. We Jay hands on the sickand pray for them, but often healingdoes not occur instantly. God healedmy ea r once while I was riding in ana i r plane. I had been prayed forbefore then, but as I was rid i ngalong, all at once I was healed.

God does busi ness on time, andHe is never too late. Young lady,young man, do not become alarmed.You w i l l get a companion if you trustGod. God knows when the time isright and what companion you need.He will help you to get the right one.

I believe God gave me the rightone. She might not have been rightfor someone else, but she was theright one for me. She feel s the sameway about me. That makes it bet terthan if I were to live with s omeonewho wished she had a bet ter one ora different one. God has the verybest for those who leave the choice toHim. I knew when I was converted,I knew when God ca l l ed me topreach, and I knew when God gaveme a wife in Oregon. I knew He didnot w ant me to take a wife from backEast where I w as. God has a time anda place. He is never too l a te or tooearly; He i s always on time. Youshould do things God's way; tha t isthe best w a y, and it works. May theLord help you.

A Wonderful God

Under the six th seal, God usedmany brethr en to a great extent.S ome had the: p gifts of healing andothers had the gift of evangelism. Iknew B r other Susag and other

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mighty men of God. They were menof prayer, men whom the Holy Spiritcould lead, and I appreciated them.

In the movement , others camealong and organi z ed it. They hadmoney drives and spirituality di ed ,and I got spiritual l y hungry. Theywanted to tell me w hat to do andwhat to preach instead allowing G odto direct me. I do not say any of thisdisrespectfully, but I was looking fors omethi ng bet ter. When I hear dBrother Emerson Wilson preach, theHoly Ghost said, "That i s the rightmessage." I love the message of theChurch of God. If the devi l shouldcause twice as much division as hehas, I would still say the Church ofGod is the one, because that is whatGod showed me.

False doctrine is a bad thing. Youneed to be careful. If God has writtenTruth upon your heart a nd mind bythe Holy S pi rit, you will not be soons ha ken. L ook a t the beaut i fuli nterpr eta t i on o f the B ook ofRevel a t i on. How much power do youthink God ha s? How quickly canAlmighty God help you? He is alive,healthy, awake, and knowledgeable.He does not have to l earn any more,but we need to learn more abut Him.There is one God, so you do not needto miss it.

We have a wonderful God whomman cannot destroy. He does not getold and feeble; He is ever new, He islife, and He i s the giver of life, theCreator. He is the begi nning and theend . He said, "I am Alpha andOmega." T here is none else besideHi m. T h e r e i s no r oom fordiscouragement beca us e He is agreat, big, wonderful God.Isaiah 9:6 says , "For unto us a child isborn, unto us a s on is given: and thegover nment s ha l l be upon hi sshoulder: and hi s name shall becalled Wond erful, Counsellor, Themighty God, The everlasting Father,The Prince of Peace." Christ is ourredeemer . E ter na l life is throughChrist. He is great! He knows allthi ngs. As we get older, we star tforgetting, but God does not forget .He remembers ever ythi ng. He canta l k to you a bout thi ngs that

happened a long time ago a nd bringit to your mind.

May the Lord bless His Truth.We have a good road map to follow.We need to follow Christ, and thenw e w i ll end up in Heaven. Let us befaithful to G od . You can make it toHeaven by the grace of God. Everyt i me someone speaks well of me, Ilike it; but it is not I, it is God. If wehave any good at all, it is somethingGod has done for us. May God blessyour heart is my prayer.

(Cassette C-4152A)

[Guest Editorial-continued from page 2]As a kingdom and country, theyw er e given to deva s ta t i on a ndannihilation by the imperial power ofthe world. Jerome, the famed churchhistorian, observed "tha t the year ofUzziali's death should be the yea r inwhich Romulus was born and only ashort time after the death of Uzziahthat Rome was founded. The nationalglory of Israel died out w ith KingUzziah and has never been revived."It was against this backdrop that ourtext took place, and the picture was adismal one. It was a time of nationalsadness and gloom, with onl y darkbodings looming on the horizon.

The L ord in His graciousnesstur ned the scene, and Isaiah said inIsaiah 6:1-2: ". . . I s a w the LORD

sitting upon a throne . . . . Above its tood the 'seraphims . . . ." Isaiahlooked down through the prophetictelescope o f time and saw a brightand brilliant day, the Gospel day,when the Lord would be high andl i fted up in Hi s peopl e. M a nyscholars refer to the Isaiah account asthe "Gospel of Isaiah," because it is sori ddled with Messianic prophecy andlooks to the d a y i n which you and Ilive.

When Isaiah "saw the LORD

sitting upon a throne," this was in theform of a vision, or a spiritualrevelation. He did not literally seeGod. We know this because of whatthe Lord told Moses in Exodus 33:20when he a s ked that he might seeGod. He said, "Thou canst not see myface: for there shall be no man seeme, and l i ve." Also, nine hundredyears subsequent to the writings ofIsaiah, the Apostle John wrote in 1John 4:12a , "No man hath seen Godat any time."

We find in Isaiah 6:2 the beingsdenoted as seraphims, and they hadsix wings. Ezekiel' s account portraysthe same beings, but he revealed ad i f fer ent a s pect and d i f fer entattributes, which we do not haveample space to deal with. Ezeki el 1:1states, "Now i t came to pass in thethirtieth year, i n the fourth month, inthe fifth day of the month, as I wasa mong the captives by the river o f

Cheba r , tha t the heavens w er eopened, and I saw visions of God."Again, the wri ter did not see Godper s oni f i ed, but he was mer el ysaying that the visions were of divineorigi n, or that God was the originatorof them.

In Revelation, Chapter 4, thes esame crea tures are portrayed. Johnwrote in verse 8, "And the fourbea s ts [ the Greek s a ys ' l i vi ngcrea tur es '] had each of them sixwings." Revelat i on 9 :1 7 gives usinsight to the language employed inthe Revelation as well as prophecy:"And thus I saw the horses in thevis i on." What Isaiah, Ezekiel, andJohn recei ved were spiritual visions.

Vis i ons and dreams have ad i f fer ent na tur e tha n l i t e r a loccurrences. When Pharaoh had hi sdream, he saw things representativeof a famine us ed in a symbolicna ture. Visions and dreams have anature that is not literal but symbolic,to convey truths to us.

Again, Isaiah 6:1 sta tes, ". . . Isaw also the LORD sitting upon athrone." The Hebrew word here forLord is not the common w ordJehovah but the word Adonai, whichmeans "for greater reverence," a nd itliter ally means "the Lord of all." Wesee several things in this text that arefamiliar in other Scripture passages,and , i t begins to give us insight intowhat we are seeing.

Verse 2 says, "Above it stood thes er a phi ms : ea c h one ha d s i xwings . . . ." V er s e 3 says, "And onecried unto another, and said, Hol y,holy, holy . . . ." We see a verys i mi l a r vi sion in Revelation 4:2 ,w hich reads, "And immediatel y Iwas in the spirit; and, behold, athrone was set in heaven, and one saton the throne [just like Isaiah saw]."

Verses 6-8 read: "And before thethrone there was a sea of glass likeunto crystal: and in the midst of thethrone, and round about the throne,wer e four beasts [the Greek says'living creatures'] full of eyes beforeand behind. And the first beast waslike a lion, and the second beast likea calf, and the third beast had a fa ceas a ma n, and the fourth beast was

like a flying eagle. And the fourbeasts had each o f them six wingsabout him; and they were full of eyeswithin: a nd they rest not day andnight, saying, Holy, holy, holy, L ordGod Almighty."

Notice the s imilarities betweenIsaiah's writings and John's wri tingshere. We can throw out the thoughtof this having anything to do withthe eternal realm, because the eternalreal m does not have day or night.This is something for here and now,while time yet stands. Vers e 8 saysthey ea ch had six wings, and theyrest not day and ni ght, saying, Holy,holy, holy. In the Revelation Johns a w a l m o s t t h e i d e n t i c a lrepresentations that Isaiah saw.

Isaiah penned in Isaia h 6:2,"Above it stood the ser a phi ms . . . ."What are these? Are they angelicbeings as many suppose? The wordseraphims is mentioned only twice inthe entire Bible: i n Isaiah 6:2 andIsaiah 6:6. As w i th a l l Hebrewna mes, there is a divine significanceto this term. The actual Hebrew wor di s s er a ph, and literal l y mea ns"burning," from the root meaning "toset on fire."

The same Hebrew word is us edin Numbers 21:6-8: "And the LORD

sent fiery serpents among the people,and they bit the people; and muchpeople of Is rael died. And the LORD

said unto Moses , M ake thee a fieryserpent [the s a me Hebrew word asus ed i n Is a i a h and trans l a tedseraphims], and set it upon a pole:and it shall come to pa s s , that everyone that is b i t ten, when he lookethupon it, shall live." The fiery serpenton the pole was not a n angelic being,and neither are these seraphims inour text. Strong's Concordance tel ls usthese sera phims are symbolic. Let ussee what they represent.

The word seraphims, or theH e b r e w w or d s er a ph mea n s"burning." Who i s to be burning? InLuke 12:35 Jes us said, "Let your loinsbe girded about, and your lightsburning." Who w as he addressing?Verse 22 sta tes , "And he said unto hisdisciples . . . ." Who are to have theirlights burning? T he d i s c iples, or

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Does Christ Live Here?

A new pastor had come to thevillage and called at a certain cottage.When the husband came home fromhis work the wife said, "The newpastor called today."

"What did he say?" asked theman.

"Oh," she answered, "he asked,'Does Christ live here? ' and I didn'tknow what to say."

The man's face flushed. "Whyd idn't you tell him that we wer erespectable people," he said.

"Well," she answered, "I mighthave said that; onl y that isn't what heasked me."

"Then why," cont i nued thehusband, "didn't you tell him that wesay our prayers and read our Bi bl es?"

T he wife replied, "But he didn' task me that."

The ma n grew more vexed."Why," he continued, "didn't you saythat we were always at church?"The poor woman broke dow n; "Hedidn't ask that ei ther; he asked only,'Does Christ live here?"'

This man and woman ponderedfor many days what the new pastormeant by his question. After theylearned what he meant, their liveschanged; lit t le by little they grew toex pect Chr i s t , not d ea d , butgloriously alive. Through great loveand through a willingnes s to bes ur pr i sed by the mystery of Hisradiance, they knew Him. He didindeed live there!

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those who are commi t ted to thediscipline of Jes us Christ in theirlives.

The word disciple is from theLatin word discipulus, which comesfrom the same root that the Engl i shword discipline comes from. Truedisc i pl es a re those committed too b s e r v i ng a nd a d or ni ng thediscipline o f Jesus Christ in theirlives. In Luke 12:49 Jesus said, "I amcome to send fire [another renderingsays 'to set the w orld on fire'] . . . ."He set it on fire on the Da y o fPentecost when those cloven tongueslike as of fire came down and they a llwere filled with the Hol y G host. Thedisciples, or the sai nts, were lit andbecame burning. The seraphims arethe saints, not some supposed angelicbeings.

Jesus s a i d in Luke 12:49, "I amcome to s end fire on the earth."When di d He send that fire and towhom was i t sent? Acts 2:3-4 says:"And there appeared unto themcloven tongues like as of fire, and itsat upon each of them. And theywere all filled with the Holy Ghost."Fire represents the Holy Spirit, andthe Holy Spirit came into the heartsand lives there on that d a y, set themon fire, gave them new life, andmade them living creatures.

Isaiah was in an era of time whenthere was rank apostasy. God said inIsaiah 1:11, "To what purpose i s themultitude of your sacrifices unto me?saith the LORD: I am full [anotherrendering says, 'I have had enough' ]. . . ." God had had enough of theirr el i g i ous per for ma nce w i thoutreality. They were still doing thethi ngs He had commanded in theMosaic L a w , but those things had lostmeaning and reality and had becomea form of godliness so repulsive tha tGod had ha d enough of it, and Hesai d in Isaiah 1:15, "I will hide mineeyes from you."

In our Scripture text, as i n muchof Isaiah's writings, the Lord turnedthe Prophet to a brighter day w hen

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the Lord would be high and lifted up(He is only high and lifted up whenthe people of God lift Him up). T hefiery, brass serpent that Moses put ona pole as a type of Christ . Jesus said,"And I, i f I [like that brazen serpentin the wilderness] be lifted up fromthe earth, will draw all men untome" (John 12:32). Today God hasmen with a message that will lift upJesus Christ, and it will still heal andbring life to mankind.

Though this day spoken of in ourtext w a s a dark hour in Hebrewhistory, the Bible tells us "at eveningtime i t shall be light" (Zechariah14:7). The church will never go out o fvisible view again. The enemy wantsus to feel how dark and dismal it is,but this is a g l or ious time! This is theday of Revelation.Remember that the word seraphims inIsaiah 6:2 is the same Hebr ew wordused in Numbers 21:6 for the fiery,brazen serpent tha t was set upon apole. What is the picture? In John3:14 Jesus said, "And as Moses l i ftedup the s er pent in the wilderness,even so must the Son of man be liftedup." How was the serpent lifted up inNumbers? I t was lifted in obedienceto God's Word. God's man acted onGod's Word and erected a pole. Justas God used human i nstrumentalityin that day, so He does in this day.Who a r e the ones set on fire? It is apicture of the saints. God has a ma nwho hear s the Word, preaches it, andthen the people take on the messagea nd become the ones set on fire, a ndthey lift up Jesus Christ. When theylift up Jesus Chri s t , a lost and dyingw orld can be healed and live becausethey can see the burning ones.

How is Christ lifted up? His bod y(the church) is lifted from a dead statein trespasses and sins and raised upto sit together with Him in heavenlyplaces. When o thers look on thesaints and s ee the burning in theirlives, that draws them to Jesus Christ.I repeat, the s er a phi ms a r e notangelic beings but sai nts. In Part 2

we w i ll consider these seraphims'description and attributes. We willanswer questions such as, How manyseraphims are there? Where else arethese beings depicted? Why d o thesecr ea tures have wings? and What dotheir wings portray?

Brother Earl R. Borders

A group of young chi ldren in London werefeeling the cold one winter's day, and, seeing achurch, they thought that they would go inside tokeep themselves warm. Now, many churches in theold days were heated by a large round stove at theback of the b uilding, and it was one of thesechurches in which the ch ildren sheltered. But to theirsurprise and horror, scarcely had they entered andreached the stove, than a service started. Thechildren edged behind the stove and tried to keepout of sight.

After a hymn and prayer, the minister read thelesson, in which came the words, "This man receiv e thsinners, and eateth with them."

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As he was reading, Godwas speaking to the heart ofone of these children, a littlegirl of eight years old. Afterthe short service was over,she went up to the ministerand said, "Please, sir, Ididn 't know my name camein the Bible."

"And what is your name,l i ttle girl?" ask ed theminister.

"Edith, sir," she replied." No, Edith does not come in the Bible," she said."Oh, yes, sir," she replied, "you read this

afternoon, that this Man receiveth sinners, and Edithwith them."

You see, she had her hearing wrong, but she hadher theology right, for He still receives every Edith ,Mary, Tom, Henry, and indeed everyone who willcome as a sinner to the Savior.

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DA Y TIM E

Sunday 7:35 a.m.-8:00 a.m.Sunday 2:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.Sunday 2:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Sunday 7:30 a.m. - 8:00 a.m.Sunday 5:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.Sunday 7:30 a.m. - 8:00 a.m.Monday 8:30 p.m.-10:00 p.m.

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