This morning when I awoke, some of the first thoughts that come into my mind were of the many, many unexpected things that have come into my life since I met with Jesus. It’s the unexpected things in life that have brought to us the most joy. I never expected the gospel to come as it did. We never expected the work that was going to be done in our hearts as a result of an invitation to listen to the simple story of Jesus. But it brought into our lives everything that was worth living for and our course in life was altered; everything was changed. Our mind was changed, our walk was changed, even our appetite was changed and everything became new. I never expected to be here today. One of the least thoughts and that which was furthest from my mind was that I would be here, But I am here and I feel that my life has been enriched by it and God’s desire from the very beginning is to enrich mix lives, but He does it so that, we can enrich others.
When God called Abraham, he was in the land of Chaldees where he was living for only the things that would be reduced to nothing – ashes, He listened to the gospel message. It tells us that God spoke unto him. And I have wondered sometimes just who it was that brought the gospel to Abraham. I have the feeling in my heart that it was a person, a messenger, just like the messengers that came to us. We read of Melchizedek who was a man in whom God dwelt. Now when Abraham met him, he paid tithes, long, long before the law was given. But there was something that was within his heart that desired to sacrifice. When God called him, He said that He would lead him to a new and different land that flowed with milk and honey. He told him that He would bless him that he might be a blessing. God desires to bless His people today that they might be a blessing – a blessing in the home, a blessing in the church, a blessing in the community.
I have felt in my own heart as I have come to this part of the world, that in some little way, I could help a brother or a sister in the onward, upward and homeward way. The purpose and the desire of God is to speak to us as individuals and we have a father that knows our individual needs. When we came into His pathway and received this birth, we came in as individuals. As we look upon this, congregation here today we thank God for everyone and that the Lord has called us as individuals. Everyone had to make their choice alone. No servant of God could make the choice for you, no father, no mother, no brother, no sisters can make the choice; even we (as workers) have to make the choice alone. It is before Him we walk, live and we give an account only for our life, for ourselves as individuals. It should cause us to take good stock of ourselves as individuals. It’s what God can do for us as individuals and the Lord is very anxious to continue teaching us.
I remember a number of years ago now, my companion and I went into a little village in the mountains of Southern Chile as strangers. We were able to rent a little room there, but we didn’t know a single soul. Then little by little we became acquainted with our neighbours by showing a friendly spirit and winning their confidence. We took walks out into the country to get acquainted with the people that lived there. Then after like being there for three months or more; – the work of God is not accomplished by just trying to have meetings for three or four nights and then going off, but enduring to get to know the people and for them to know us. We could never help anyone without first of all getting their confidence in us. Well after three or four months we decided to try to have a meeting so we went around to all the folks we knew and we invited them along to the meeting. When the time came, we fixed up a few benches that we had and the first one to come in was a mother and her little boy. That little boy was like a ‘tugboat’ because he brought his mother along. This boy often came to our room, he liked us, and so it was that we encouraged him to bring his Mummy and Daddy along to the meeting. So, when he came in he pushed the door open and saw that the table was in a different place and where we had the cots there were benches. Then he got hold of his mother’s hand and he asked her, ‘Mummy what are they going to have here:’ Well she had been brought up a Catholic and she hardly knew how to answer her so she said, “I think they are going to have school”. Now he knew what that was and as he looked around, he said, ‘But where’s the blackboard. He knew they would have to have some place to write the lesson. And the words that she, answered that little boy touched my heart deeply, I think they are going to write the lesson upon our hearts tonight”. Now when I heard those words, I prayed a little prayer in my heard, ‘God grant that be true”. And God was able to write upon the heart of that mother. It took time, but the time came when there was a little church meeting in that home and then there was a little convention there. Then not only the mother, but also the father and some of the children. God was able to write something upon their hearts and it’s there on the tables of our minds and then our hearts that God is able to write.
If I asked do you still remember the first impressions made upon our heart when God first spoke to you I think you would have some ready answers because impressions that have never been erased. Today’s impressions are tomorrow’s memories. We should always remember to be thankful for things that we have today. It’s much more encouraging when a person remembers and brings to our remembrance over again the things that we have and know other people in the world have. Sometimes we discourage ourselves by thinking about what we don’t have and what the world has and that we are missing out. What the world has is nothing in comparison to what we have. We read that we have this ministry no other people in the world has; Paul speaks of it as an excellent ministry. It’s through this ministry God has ordained that men and women should come to a knowledge and understanding of the truth. God uses human instruments to bring to us a message from Heaven and we thank God for the messenger. It didn’t just mean that you would have to meet up with one that had left everything, because in God’s way the Lord has called us out of Egypt and He has brought us in, and the purpose is that we might serve Him.
In many schools in Mexico, we have written over the door -“enter to learn but go out to serve’. Everyone that the Lord calls, it is that we might enter in and that we might serve Him. Some serve in one capacity and others serve in another capacity but God is able to use men and women to reach needy souls. We went down to Argentina for a worker’s meeting; a number of friends were there getting a meal ready so the workers could be free. Naturally they were all interested in the list. One sister who was there, when she received the list she began to read out one name after the ether, and then she said, “My name isn’t on the list but I am in the work”, and there wasn’t a person there who could deny that. She was a hundred per cent sure. We are thankful that we are called to serve and we are thankful for those who are serving with us. We have this ministry and we want to behave ourselves in such a way as Paul encouraged that we would bring no shame on the ministry: no cause that others would be ashamed of our behaviour, that those who seek the Lord would not be caused to be confused.
As it tells us in Psalm 69:6 “Let not them that wait on thee, Oh Lord God of Hosts, be ashamed for my sake’. – That they would have no reason to be ashamed or our conduct, and that we would conduct ourselves as faithful servants of God, working together, strengthening the hands of one another. We have this treasure in earthen vessels. We don’t boast about having money in the bank, that’s not what we want to boast about even though we have brothers and sisters who work in this world and have land and property. But it’s not what they have in the bank – that’s not what they boast. What we boast in is that we have this treasure in earthen vessels. The vessel is not to endure but we have this treasure in earthen vessels and it will never be taken from us; it’s a treasure that will be for Eternity.
In the same chapter it says, “We have received the same spirit, therefore do we speak’. A few years ago, in 1950, my companion and I were in Cuba, where in the first two years a little church was formed and it continued until it was not permitted by the Government to have meetings any longer. But after the Communist took over one of our brothers went over for a visit and he wanted to talk with the authorities in connection with continuing meetings, with their permission; He even gave his testimony and told of the way we met together and that it was all a service of love. He was told, “It’s something we have never met with before, you will have to take it to the higher authorities”. So, he did and he went over the whole thing again, but they hadn’t heard anything like it either and he was told to go higher again – which he did. They could hardly believe what he was saying and he was asked for the names of the people so that they could investigate them one by one. Then they would give him their answer. We are thankful there are 45 or 50 there who are faithful, loyal brothers and sisters. He was told he could do what he wanted to do and that they could have their meetings while they investigated. That was over ten years ago, but you couldn’t do it now. Their inspectors went ahead and asked different questions and everything was written down.
It took nearly three months and finally it happened to be that this brother was in the hotel when the inspector called – it was the last place. The man who had done the investigating said, “We have investigated them all and we are astonished. We have investigated young folks, asked them questions and tried to pin them down. We have talked to the elderly people, people that don’t know how to read or write, those in business and in all of your friends, we haven’t met with one contradiction. Everyone has answered exactly the same. How do you do it? We cannot do anything like that.” Our brother said, “It is not of us; we have no books or church rules and regulations”. But they had received the same spirit, the same thing that we have received, and they had been taught by the same spirit. The inspector said, “It is a remarkable thing. You are a better Communist than we are”. Our brother told him, “We are not interested in being a Communist, we are a united people, but do you think we can still have the meetings?” The inspector said they couldn’t see why not as they hadn’t heard anything from the report as it hadn’t been turned in to them. But when our brother went down, he was told that it was alright and that the matter had been shelved, he said, “No, we want the permission from the authorities”. This time he had to pass over the Cubans, they were the highest men of the Communist party, the Russians. They would not even come out to meet him but sent a message to our brother stating – “This movement cannot be recognised by the Government because they don’t pay any taxes and we cannot keep up with them”.
Our brother was then ordered to leave. That was a Saturday. So, our brother returned to where some of the friends were gathered. One lady who had been a Communist said, “You had better go, because the authorities will come and check on us’. And he said, ‘Alright I’ll go, but if you say stay, then I’ll stay”. She said with tears in her eyes, “You had better go”. And so, he left the country. That Sunday morning, as they were gathered together, the Communists came in, just as they were on their knees praying. They were all taken off to jail and held there for 48 hours in solitary confinement. After their release they were told they could no longer have the meetings as they would be considered as enemies of the country. One little sister spoke up, “Mr. Officer, you can take away our meetings, our Bibles and our hymn books, but you can never take away what God has written on our hearts”. The officer was silent because no one could deny that. Now 16 years have come and gone and that is as true as true can be. No meetings – but by the living of a life silently; speaking and living with those that enquire. Some have been won and added to the flock. There are hopes that there will be 3 more baptised. It is a risk, but it’s a wonderful thine whet the Lord can do. At one baptism three years ago, a policeman stood there and he said to our brother, “I know what you are here for. I’ll just look the other way so you had better hurry and go ahead with it”. We got a letter sometime later from one of the friends saying, “In the days of Daniel the Lord closed the lion’s mouth, but in our days the Lord closed the policeman’s eyes so he couldn’t see”. We are thankful for what the Lord does in the midst of all His people.
I have enjoyed reading in the second letter that Peter wrote and I have valued more than I ever have, the experience that Peter passed through that made him the kind of servant and shepherd that he was for God’s people. There were in his experience, some red-letter days. Days that were outstanding in his. life. We count our years by days. When Pharoah asked Jacob “How old are you?” He replied, the days of the years of thy servant are 130. They are few and evil and I haven’t reached what our fathers reached,” Count that day evil when God cannot put His seal on it. Count that day lost in which a person has accomplished nothing. Jacob looked at his life in days and not years. We count our years by days. There were some red-letter days when Andrew his brother came and told him about Jesus. Then there was the day when Jesus came into his boat and told him to thrust out a little from the shore and He talked to the multitude. Then He invited Peter into the boat and told him to thrust out into the deep and let down the nets. Peter was a fisherman and yet he took counsel from a carpenter. He said, “Lord we have toiled all the night long and haven’t taken a thing, but nevertheless, at thy word we will let down the net”. His obedience enabled him to have God’s favour, it was a red-letter day in his life and the Lord told him “Now I’ll make you fishers of men”.
In the I6th chptr Matthew, when the multitude were fed and after they had passed the bread and fish around, Jesus took them apart and asked, “Whom do men say that I am?”. They had their ears wide open and some said “You are Jeremiah or Elijah or maybe one of the prophets raised from the dead. They recognised in Jesus that there was a similarity, it was something like those faithful prophets from the past. Friends, are your thoughts more or less the same? – that this is something like it. I don’t like to hear that this way of God is ..1415, that which was from the beginning. But that’s what we used to say when we were Baptists. If it’s only like it, it’s no good. It is the very same truth, the very same teaching that was brought to the world by Jesus, and Jesus wanted to know what Peter was thinking. Peter spoke up, “We believe and are sure that Thou art the Son of God’. There was a conviction and there was a revelation from God, and that’s something so important in our salvation. What a revelation: – “Thou art the Son of God”. Peter had brought a lot of joy to the heart of Jesus and He said, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”. It was God revealing, opening blind eyes to see God’s eternal truth. And if there’s anything we can be thankful for today, its that God has opened our blind eyes to His understanding.
I was brought up in a home where my Mother and Father were both blind. They had two boys that were born to them but they never saw them or each other. Even before they heard the truth they lived to try to please God. They thought that when they died that God would give them a new body and then they would have sight and they would be able to see their two boys. But the day God opened their eyes was the day when the gospel came and the eyes were opened. My father often said, “Son take care of your eyes, they are very precious’. Where no vision is the people perish. God desires to give us a vision. Moses never lost that vision; his eye was not dim; that doesn’t mean he was weak physically. The Lord’s testimony of him was that his eye was not dim. He finished on the mountain top close to God and with a clear vision. To was goodbye forever to Egypt and to what the world could ever offer him; he finished with a clear vision and his purpose was just as firm as it was as the day the Lord called him. We like to see people with a purpose unchanged and giving to the Lord their very best.
In the 6th chptr of John’s gospel, Jesus was making it very clear, but Peter said, “Don’t worry about me, they’ll all be offended but I’ll not be offended”. But Peter didn’t know how frail and weak the human nature can be. Peter had a true purpose, even when they heard – “Except you eat my flesh and drink my blood…” – bringing it down to one way, one truth. Many said, “This is a hard saying, who can hear it?” They turned back. Jesus looked at His disciples and asked, “Will you also go?” Peter said, “To whom shall we go. There’s nothing to go back to. The only
thing is to go on”. When I was coming from Mexico to New Zealand we came to a point when the captain said, “We have reached the place of no return”. That gave me the cold shivers; for what he really meant was that we had reached the half-way mark and its closer to go on than to go back. How far have you gone on? I hope everyone of us have reached the place of no return. Go on and obtain the prize! We can be sure we have a good pilot that will bring us safely to the journey’s end.
Later when Peter was writing to those early Christians encouraging them to grow and add to their faith, not just being satisfied with coming into the way but growing in the way. It tells us about Jesus, that He grew the mark of a child is that he is growing and that’s something that older folk can’t do. In God’s way we can always be as children, we can keep growing. It says that He grew in stature. I used to think that He just grew in the natural sense but I don’t think that now. The growth that the Lord is interested in is seeing people growing in strength to bear responsibilities; so that they can bear the burden of the Lord, that they can carry on in stature and become as pillars in God’s way. That is something that God is really interested in, not just with knowing His truth but growing in knowledge and wisdom. Not in book wisdom’ but that which cometh down from above.
James tells us (3:17) “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy”. David tells us “Thy gentleness hath made me great”. Kindness is far more powerful. If we try to make a person do something we can only, do it by gentleness – “The heart of my Shepherd is kind’. They say you can pay back a debt of gold but you can never pay back a debt of one that has been kind. “Easy to be entreated” – That’s another mark that is so important; to be able to go to a person that you can talk to without biting your head off. Jesus grew in the wisdom from above. He grew in favour with God and that’s something that we need to be growing in also; to have God’s favour. Paul encouraged Timothy to study and to show himself approved unto God.’ The words of a hymn are “Approved of God what could we more desire?” There is nothing that we could desire more than to have His approval. Its good to desire to have His ‘well done’, don’t care what others say or think. Don’t we sing, “Satisfied if I know that my Lord is content with the service I render each day?” Peter was anxious that those people would grow and he spoke about the things that were given to them as precious things, like precious faith. I am very much encouraged when I come over to this land and see the very same precious faith, the same truth that produces the very same work of God in every life. Just the same as in Mexico in Guatemala; that’s where I left to come over here. Those people thought I was going an awful long way away and I thought so too. Then it speaks about the precious promises. There are over one thousand promises for God’s people in the Bible.
Every promise God has made He will fulfil and Peter encouraged them that they would be adding to – Vse 5 -“Besides this add to your faith virtue”. God leads us through experiences that will ‘add to’. The meaning of Joseph’s name was that ‘he shall add’. Every experience that he was lead through enabled him to have these virtues. Maybe he could have felt that the Lord had left him alone but he never changed. Whatever the experience, it enriched his life, add to your faith virtue, which is the power that enables us to choose the right and to. refuse the evil. God desires to add this power to our lives so that we can choose and refuse.
In the 7th chptr Isaiah – “Butter and honey shall he eat, that he shall know to choose the good and refuse the evil”. I used to read that in my earlier days end I thought it would be pretty easy because I liked butter and I liked honey, even mixed together I liked both. But it has a far deeper meanings it’s what we feed on. Butter and honey come only from a living sacrifice. Butter comes from milk that has been churned, it takes a lot of battering. When I was a boy at home, I had to work the churn up and down I used to think butter would never come, but I had to stick to it. And it’s something that had to be done every day other:.: wise it would get sour. Peter remembered this too when he spoke of desiring the sincere milk of the word, it’s something we need every day. Honey is from a living sacrifice also. How many bees does it take to make a kilo of honey? Hundreds give their lives. Honey is on the table year in and year out; it’s the sweetness from lives that have been sacrificed. And realised that there are lives that have left a sweetness that has enriched our lives even though. they have gone. And if the sweetness of the savour is still on the table, it will help us to choose the good and to refuse the evil – it’s what we are feeding on. Peter was anxious to have this virtue, this power from God. Many times, when we see people make their choice in a meeting I pray earnestly “May God help them to make the right choices that will come upon them”. Then we read, “Add to your virtue knowledge”
When Joseph was in Potiphar’s court, he was tempted but he had power to choose, to refuse the evil and to choose the good which meant going to jail. The knowledge of the truth is one thing, to know God is another thing: The knowledge of God is most important. First, we get to know His truth then we get to know God. Then Peter writes “Add to knowledge temperance”. He that is able to control his own spirit is greater than he that taketh a city. It’s that which keeps us on an even keel. Then to temperance add patience. When Joseph was in the jail, he had to have a lot of patience. Then godliness. I like to read of the things that are godly in the Bible – Godly counsel. Doesn’t that mean a lot to us? There’s a whole lot of things that are Godly. Then Peter writes of having brotherly kindness, like Joseph treated his brothers at the end. He didn’t turn on them nor did he hold anything against them. It enabled those boys to become pillars and to have some qualities in their lives. They owed a lot to Joseph. It made them what they should have been and ought to be. Peter wrote to stir them up and to remind them. I am not telling you anything that you don’t know, but bringing to your remembrance the things that you have learnt and we need to have it repeated lest we forget, don’t we forget the things that we have learnt? Its good when we can be stirred up by way of remembrance and he was reminding them of what they had received from God. Peter was a man who very much appreciated the truth and the precious things that God had revealed to him. And it helped them to see, to understand and to value.
I have come from Mexico – some don’t even know Mexico exists: But it’s a place on the Lord’s map and the work of God is continuing there. We have 8 Conventions there with a number of Mexicans in the work, and then in Guatemala some have gone into the harvest field over there. There are others in groups of twos, churches even established, but the work carries on. But we are scattered. Sometimes it’s only two in a country, not just two in a state. But we are thankful that this work grows and is being extended. The Lord told His own disciples that they would not get over all the cities of Israel before He returns.
Matthew 10 v 23 -‘”But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another, for verily I say unto you ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of men be come”. We have much to look forward to, and the thing is that we would be found faithful and not only faithful but wise. So that we could hear from Him, “Well done thou good and faithful servant”. And the way to have done’ – you know the recipe Peter gives us in Gal. 6 – “Be not weary in well doing”. And the result of well doing’ is what? “Well done” – That’s what we have to accomplish. I think our brother Bill is much to blame for my coming over here. I felt then that it was so far away to go and I had so little, but I am not sorry I came. I would like to ask as you may be kneeling sometime in prayer that you will remember us over in those lands; that the work of God can continue and prosper and we won’t forget you folks.
Clarence Anderson:
John’s Gospel 1- “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.” Them vse 14, “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us,(and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth”. I feel I would like to say a little about the Mexicans. There are two reasons why Mexicans eat beans: [1] because they like them; [2] because they don’t have anything else. That is like my condition tonight. I love the writings of John. He wrote five books and, in those books, we have some of the most precious truths, and he has put them in the simplest way. If there’s anything that my own heart longs for, it would be to present the precious truths of the kingdom with simplicity and Godly sincerity. When Jesus lived and moved amongst men and women, His life was the essence of simplicity. His manner of speaking was with simplicity so that even a child could understand what He was getting at He used the simplest illustrations to make clear the most precious truths of the Kingdom of Heaven.
When He talked about the Kingdom of Heaven being likened unto a man going forth to sow. “Behold, a sower went forth to sow”— and as I looked at this congregation, that thought comes to-my mind – “A sower went forth to sow”. If there hadn’t been a sower going forth to sow, not one of us would be present here tonight. It tells us that the good seed is the word of God. What we sow is nothing more or less than the mind and the Will of God; to try to put in the simplest way, God’s thoughts. In Isaiah the prophet said of the people and the world in general, ‘My thoughts are not your thoughts. Your ways are not my ways. As high as the Heaven is above the earth, so far are my thoughts above your thoughts”. In regard to the natural things, every individual has every right to their own thoughts. In regards to tilling the soil or to make a living, everyone has the right to their own thoughts and what they best could do that would bring them reward. Every woman has a right to furnish her own house as she thinks best. But in regard to serving God, we don’t have any right to do our own thing; lien have made many ways and many doctrines that have only filled the world with confusion. When it comes to serving God we must have His thoughts.
Then the Lord sent His sower to sow, it was to sow in the hearts and minds of men and women the thoughts of God so that we would be able to know what God’s thoughts and what God’s way is. We find it so different, but we are glad that His thoughts are so much better than our thoughts. As for God His way is perfect. There’s not a flaw, its perfect! As we learn to take steps with Him and to walk in His way He can perfect our lives, I like very much the way Jesus had of presenting the precious things of Heaven. He said, ‘I came not to condemn the world,” it’s not a Gospel of condemnation, “I came not to condemn the world but to save the world”. and that is the purpose of salvation – to save us from our own way; to save us from taking a course that will only lead to disappointment, heartbreak and a fatal end. We are thankful He sows in our hearts His thoughts and His mind in regard to serving Him and doing His Will.
I like the way Jesus presented the things to the Samaritan woman in the 4th chptr when she came to draw water. She found a man sitting at the well. Never did it enter into her mind that it could be the Messiah. All she saw was a Jew. He was dusty with no special garb, no halo of light about His head – nothing to declare outwardly who or what He was bringing. Alt one thing she noticed from the beginning. Jesus said, ‘Women give me to drink”. All that He desired was, ‘Give me a chance to talk with you’. And that’s what we desire when we go forth to sow the precious things of the kingdom. Just give us a chance, give us an opportunity to speak to you. There’s no-one that knows better than the enemy of our soul that if we would hear it would open an avenue of receiving help for our soul… Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the Word of God, but how can they hear without a preacher? How beautiful are the feet of them that bring the glad tidings of peace. Jesus came in all humility and as He sat on the well that day He said, give me to drink”. It surprised her – ‘Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, how is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans’. They were looked down upon. That seems to have been in the human being from the beginning, to consider themselves better than others, and it’s a thing that causes confusion, violations and wars in the world today because men consider themselves better than others. But the teaching of the Bible is to consider others better than yourself, and if we follow that counsel there will be no trouble, no violations. The Lord showed her that day that there was no difference. He was anxious to be a help to her.
He answered, If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee, Give ma to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water`’ In other words “If you only knew who it was”. It surprised her and she said, “How is it the well is deep and you have nothing to draw with”. She saw in Jesus what we saw in God’s servants. We saw them as homeless men, poor. “How is it that you have this, and yet you have nothing to draw with? How do you live?” That’s a question that people ask. “How do you live?” It’s one of the mysteries that the world cannot explain, but God has promised if we would seek first the Kingdom and the things that belong to the Kingdom, all those other things will be added to us. We have had the privilege of proving that God has never failed.
Jesus answered and said unto her, “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life”. It’s something that God wants to do for us. It’s a work that’s done on the inside, not on the outside; it’s a work that’s done in the heart – that’s where God always begins to work. I have sometimes told of a time when I was a lad going to school. I came home from school one afternoon and the only thought was to get home as quick as I could, get the bat and ball, and off for a baseball game. The boys were waiting for me. I threw my books on the bed and grabbed the bat. and ball, but my Dad grabbed me and said, ‘Son, I want you to go out and hoe those cabbages”. But I said they are waiting for me on the corner to play base ball’, but he said, ‘You go and get the hoe and hoe those cabbages’, Now my Father’s word was the law so I put my things back and I went out to those cabbages and I made the dirt fly, I made up my mind I would hoe all the dirt into a pile and then pile all the dirt I could on top of the cabbages, and he would be mighty sore with me. I was enjoying it because all the dirt would be on the inside and they would remember me then because they would have to eat that dirt. After had finished my Dad said ”You can go and play now”.
Well, those cabbages grew and each got a nice big head, and the time came for harvest and they were to be gathered into the basement. Then one time my Mum send me down to the basement to get a cabbage and I began to feel sorry as I thought, “I am going to have to eat it too and it will be full of dirt’. Mum got the knife and she cut it right down the middle but when she cut it, it was snowy white – there was no dirt inside. What had happened to all that dirt? That night we had good cabbage dinner. Later I asked my dad, “Remember that day you sent me out to hoe that cabbage patch?” – I confessed my sin and told him that I’d covered them up with dirt and he said you did a might fine job, .and scared all the bugs away, but don’t you know those cabbages grow from the inside out, and not a bit of dirt that you throw on them ever does them harm”. That was a lesson to me and I have thought of it many times since. No matter how much dirt that the world throws on it will not do you one but of harm because the growth is from the inside and that’s the growth that the Lord is very much interested in. He does something on the inside and it grows and grows outwardly and develops. That’s what the Lord is anxious to do when the seed of the Kingdom is sown.
Then in vse 14 Jesus told that woman, “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life’. He presented the thing in such a way that it opened up her appetite. “Lord give it to me, that’s what I have been wanting and longing for and desiring fora. But there were some conditions and the Lord had to touch on some things that were wrong. Up till then He had never mentioned one thing in regards to what would be necessary so He said, ‘Go call your husband’, He touched on a sore spot. vse 19 “The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet”. In other words – “You are hitting me awful hard; I don’t have a husband. Going back to uses 17 18 “The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, thou hast well said I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly”. In spite of the life, she was living she still tried. to defend herself, “I have got some religion too’. It’s surprising how people will say “I am a Christian and serve the Lord’.
Vses 20, 21, 24 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in
Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, *Woman, believe me the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth”. In John’s writings he spoke of the things that are true: the true light, the true worshippers, the true bread, the true wine and the true riches, and it was that which he valued and never let pass by the things that Jesus taught when Jesus made clear just who He was. – “I am the true light that cometh down from Heaven. I am the way; I am the good shepherd. I am the true bread”. Those things never escaped John. He was one who paid good attention and the notes that he took were written down for our help today.
If Jesus was the true light, what should you and I be? Could you answer that? That does that mean we should be? Shouldn’t we be reflectors, reflecting that true light that came down from Heaven, that light that shines out of darkness? In the beginning it tells us that the Lord said, “Let there be light”, and He put a light in Heaven; and He put it out of the reach of man. They cannot touch it; they cannot move it; they have nothing to do with it. It’s the light which God Himself controls and the true light that lighteth every man is put out of the reach of men. Men cannot control it, but it will light every man if we allow it to enter and to penetrate our hearts. It was light that Paul saw at midday. I ponder sometimes on what did it mean by midday? I thought it was the middle of the day, but to my thought, a thought that helped me was in the very prime of his life. The Bible speaks of live being like the day. Jesus said “I must work the work of Him that sent me”. There are some here ‘present, little tots – little babes and they are in their earliest part, the morning of the day. They are beginning the dawn of day. There are some that are growing up like 8 or 9 in the morning and there are others that are getting up in their teens; and then they come into the prime of life – at midday. I wonder sometimes if it was that time in Paul’s life when this light shone across his pathway. It was a light above the brightness of the sun.
Before I knew of the truth when I was a Baptist, I used to think it was just like an explosion or a bomb that popped up. But it was a light that showed up in the very inside that only God Himself could see. lie saw a light that opened up a way that he never knew existed, the light of truth, and it changed his whole course. It blinded him and then he received sight, but there was a different condition. First of all, we have to recognise that we are blind like that man who said “Once I was blind but now, I see”. We are thankful a thousand times that God ever opened our blind eyes and that his true light came across our pathway. If Jesus is the way, what should you and I be? Shouldn’t we be wayfarers? Wayfarers walking in that way with a purpose of journeying homewards. Before that we were wanderers, now we are wayfarers. If He is the truth, shouldn’t we be believers?
In the first chptr of John’s gospel “Unto everyone that believeth to them gave He power to become sons of God”. That’s something that God will give to us if we believe with all our hearts. – “Unto as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons and daughters of God” They were brought into the family to have fellowship with Him. And it tells us that there was a man sent from God whose name was John. Isn’t that nice? It was not the Rev. John or Father John; just plain old John. And the ones that God sends to us, they don’t need any handle or title, they are just a messenger sent from God. Ones that would bring hope, life and truth; and its always been God’s orders. The messenger brings the message, he doesn’t stay. The message stays but the messenger goes on. I remember my mother was so happy that she had met such preaches like that, so that when they came, she wanted them to stay right there with us. The servant of God gave her a kind of scolding. What if we had done that in the last place, where would you be?” My Mother said with tears in her eyes, “Go on, and we will be praying for you”. That’s God’s way and we are thankful that His messengers go on and with the same truth and in the same way.When he came, they asked him, “Who are you?
Who sent you?” They ask us that today. I like to notice the way John answered, am just a voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord”. Just an instrument that the Lord was using. We are thankful for the instruments that are in the Master’s hands. He knows just how to use it. A hammer is indispensable to build a house and the hammer in the hands of the Master builder is able to build a home, furniture fit for a palace. But the same hammer in the hands of a child would only destroy, break and ruin. If we are in the wrong hands, the hands of the enemy – the hands of the devil, we could do an awful lot of wrong and destruction. “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain shall be brought low. Crooked ways shall be made straight, rough ways shall be made smooth”.
There are four kinds of ground. ‘ Number 4 in the Bible refers to man’s capacity and in this there are some like the valleys that are way down, they need to be brought up. We are thankful that the Lord reached down and brought us up. Jesus said to Zacchaeus, “Come down’, and he came down and received Him joyfully, and he heard those words, ‘Today I must abide in your house”. “The crooked shall be made straight”; which just means that which is crooked and all twisted up. The servants are only taking the twist out that others have put in. The crooked shall he made straight and the rough way shall be made smooth: – all those rough ways of speaking and the rough way of acting; it will be a change of way end smoothing us out that will make us different. When Jesus came John said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God. Behold the Son of God that taketh away the sins of the world”. They saw Him as He walked and our walk has a very important part’ its up to us. dur part is to walk.
Some years ago, when I was at a Convention, I was with Jack Jackson, and he liked to take a walk around the camp. We would walk some miles and he used to tell me a lot of things that I needed to know. At one place there was a crossroad and there was a sign which read ‘keep right’. Well Jack looked at that sign and said that it was good advice. We walked along together when Jack said, “Keep right and you’ll never go wrong. Keep praying and it will make you strong. Keep walking in God’s true way and for you it will be well at the close of day”. Jesus taught the very same thing.
“Behold the Lamb of God as He walked. John pointed out that two men followed Him and Jesus said, ‘What seekest thou?’ And they said, ‘Rabbi, where dwellest thou?” He said, “Come and see”. He wasn’t ashamed of his dwelling. Its good if the Lord would not be ashamed to know us as His dwelling. God dwells not in temples made with hands; there’s two places, in Heaven and in the heart. – “Come and see”. One time my companion Willie Walters and I had a room in the town of San Diego and when the supper dishes were put away we would go out into the street. Now we had no lawns so we took our chairs out too and it gave us a chance to meet our neighbours. Some children came around and we talked to them. I said to one little fellow, “Where do you live?” He replied, “You see that white house, and then that brown one and than the green one – I live there’. And then there was a little girl there too who had long braids as clean and bright as can be, and I asked her the same question. “And where do you live?’ But she just dropped her head and didn’t answer. One of the other little fellows spoke up and said, “See that old tumble-down shack over there, that’s where she lives’; She said, “Yes, that’s where I live. It isn’t pretty outside but it sure is pretty in the inside”. Shortly after that little girl come along with her mother and was in the meetings. Then the day came when they invited us home and we found out every word that little girl had said was true. Everything was in order. It sure was pretty inside.
Now isn’t that where the Lord looks? Perhaps some of us aren’t too pretty on the outside, maybe the roof is beginning to leak. Perhaps we are getting a lot of wrinkles too, but how good if the beauty is on the inside, because that’s what the Lord looks at. Men and women, particularly the men, spend a lot trying to make the outside pretty, but the Lord is interested. on the inside; the work that He does is in our hearts. Andrew was one of them. Just as soon as he saw Jesus he went to his brother and said, “come and see, we have found something that’s worth having”. Phillip told Nathaniel about it and that’s the way this work goes on. ‘Come and hear, come and listen for yourself. We have found the Messiah; one that the prophets have told us about’. That’s the mark of people that receive something that’s genuine. They want to share it with others. That’s how it is over in Argentina and other places in Mexico.
They say I want my brother to hear this. I have a friend and I want him to hear this, and the result is that honest, seeking souls are sought out and drawn into the sweetest fellowship on the earth. People without the Lord today live such Timely lives, its disappointing, nothing to fill their day, and nothing to look forward to. The Lord said that he was sent to heal the broken hearted and He has the-power to do that and to give them something in life to live for, to enjoy now and forever, and for that reason we dedicate our lives and dedicate it gladly to share with others. May God help us that we would be true reflectors, reflecting the light of Heaven that may reach some soul who is wanting to know and prove that there is something that is genuine, and it will enable us and this work to grow and to reach others. It was brought to the world by Jesus and to those who heard Him, and it’s even reached unto us. He reaches through the United States to a little village in Ohio where we dwelt some 55 years ago. We would like to encourage others to taste and see that the Lord is good.
Truth Archive 