Newspapers / Hyde County Messenger (Fairfield, … / Aug. 1, 1928, edition 1 / Page 6
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THE CAPTAIN’S SURRENDER Years ago, when I was preaching for several days in a Southern city, I preached one morn ing on the text, “But without faith it is impos sible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a re warder of them that diligently seek him.” At the close o£ the services an elderly woman—I should say she was three-score and ten years of age—rose up and said: “Preacher, do you believe what you have preached today?” “Very well,” she said, “I am glad you believe it. You quoted in your sermon just now that glorious promise of Jesus: ‘If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shaTl be done for them of my Father who is in heaven.’ Do you believe that promise, and will you plead it with me?” Before I answered she spoke again: It is like this: My husband is and has long been a captain on the boat that sails the river. He never goes to church; he is exceedingly wicked; and is now growing old. If you will join me in pleading that promise about two agreeing we will claim him for God and salvation and heaven; will you join me?” There I stood, thinking, wondering, search ing my heart. Did I really believe that promise? Was I willing to plead it, then and there, in the case just named? While I stood thus thinking and hesitating, a plainly dressed man, a blacksmith, rose up and said to the woman: “I will join you in pleading that promise.” And there, before us all, he walked over to her and humbly said, “Let us plead it now.” They knelt down, and he began to pray. It was as simple as a little child talking to its mother. He reminded the good Saviour of the promise He had made, and insisted that the twain kneeling there accepted that promise, claimed it, pleaded it, as they asked Him to save the aged, sinful sailor. It was all over in a few minutes. The simplicity and the pathos of it were indescribable. The people were dismissed. The day passed, and the people gathered in the evening service. The preacher stood up to preach, and there be fore him was the old lady of the morning and with her a white-haired old man. At the close of the sermon the preacher asked those who desired to be Christians to come to the front pews for counsel and prayer while the people sang. The old man was on his feet im mediately, and came toward the front. He was talked with and prayed with, but all seemed utter darkness to him. Over to the right and left sat the aged wife and the middle-aged blacksmith, with faces shin ing like the morning. They had a secret the rest of us did not have. They had pleaded and were claiming the promise of Jesus, and their hearts knew that all was well. The night service ended, and the people went their ways. The old man shambled out into the darkness of the night, his soul darker even than the night itself. Next morning came, and the people were gathering for the service. The preacher was alone in the study behind the pulpit, trying to make ready. There was a knock on the outer door. The door was opened, and there stood the old man. Thus he began: “Sir, I cannot wait for your sermon this morning. Tell me now, if you know, how I can be saved.” There, in that study, before the service, he accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour, and at the morning service he gave a testimony for Christ, the sweetness and glory of which will outlast the stars. What is there remarkable about this? Noth - ing at all, when you remember that two friends of Jesus honestly and actually pleaded and claimed the promise of Jesus.—G. W. Truett, in Watchman-Examiner. -O TWO CHURCHES There was a church in our town Which thought ’twas wondrous wise. It tried to pay expenses By selling cakes and pies: But after years of trying That plan to raise the cash, The folks got tired of buying And the whole thing went to smash. There was a church in our town, And it was wondrous wise; It always paid expenses By simply paying tithes. For when ’twas found the tithe did pay, It seemed so very plain, Forthwith ’twould have no other way, Not even once again. A QUESTION FOE CHRISTIANS Have You Ever Led a Soul to Christ? “Ye are called with a holy calling The light of the world to be; To lift up the lamp of the gospel That others the light may see.” CHRIST’S COMMAND — “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”— Matt. 4:19. “Ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem (your own home) and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.”—Acts 1:8. CHRIST’S TEST — “Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you.”— John 15:14. CHRIST’S QUESTION — “Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”—Luke 6:46. CHRIST’S ASSURANCE — “For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.”
Hyde County Messenger (Fairfield, N.C.)
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Aug. 1, 1928, edition 1
6
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