A true revival cannot be worked up; it must be prayed down.
The difference between a spiritual ministry and a formal, intellectual one is not of degree, but of kind.
There is a sharp distinction between the pull of the Spirit of God upon human hearts, and emotional, psychological appeals that move with a human dynamic. Let us beware of common fire in the holy service of God.
Is it orthodoxy or " orthopraxy " ? Nay, but both. Neither is full and complete without the other, and neither is antagonistic to the other. It is the divorcement of one from the other that brings conflict, grief, and variance.
It is infinitely better to spend our time searching reverently and diligently for the full truth of God, than to expend our energies in contending over moot, minor points on which, in most cases, we have never made even a personal investigation of sources. We must put first thitigs foremost.
The parents of the child Jesus lost Him while about the temple and holy things. A preacher, too, can lose the radiant, transfiguring presence of Christ out of his life even when talking and promoting the things of the church. When such a tragedy occurs, he would better, as in the prototype, leave everything until " sorrowing " he find Him. And, thank God, He is not far from every one of us.
Verbosity is not to be confused with thought content. Ready phrases may be but empty words.
We as workers need to differentiate between necessities and luxuries. We face a peril right on this point. We may be so intent on enjoying the available conveniences of the times that it will absorb our energies, and sacrificial giving will stagnate in our lives.
Plucking off the old dead leaves of a giant tree is a most unsatisfactory task. Nature has a better way. The springtime sap loosens them, and down they drop without laborious effort. Similarly it is a weak makeshift simply to attack the outward things of the life,— dress, coiffure, deportment, recreations, reading, and so forth. Rather, let us work for the inflow of a new regenerating life current. Then the old relics of the past life will drop off of their own weight. Of course, clear instruction is essential, but in its related place.
Evidence may be either sound or superficial. And we should distinguish sharply between the two. Arbitrary assertion should never be confused with adequate proof, plausible talk with sound reason, nor abuse with argument. A probability is not proof. Let us keep a clear perspective on these fundamental distinctions.
It is entirely possible for a preacher to give a full series of " lectures " and never preach the saving gospel of Christ, convincing the intellect without converting the souls of his hearers. There was a time in the early days of this movement when members of established churches who accepted the message were largely converted folks, and the chief need was the correction of doctrinal errors. But that day has passed, never to return. Modernistic rationalism, materialistic evolution, and humanistic philosophy have cut the nerve of spiritual life in the popular churches about. The gospel is becoming an unknown quantity. The masses of their membership are unconverted. We must meet the changed conditions of the day with the full everlasting gospel in the setting of Revelation 14 to meet the situation confronting us. It is not belief in the credo, but in the living Christ, that saves.
The advent movement is even more remarkable for what it is destined to do than for what it has already done. This message will close with a blaze of publicity that will be dazzling. The Spot light of hostile world attention will be focused upon it. It will be searched through and through, and will be the object of the fiercest antagonism that the world has ever beheld. Blessed the corollary truth that it is the object of God's supreme affection, and He will lead it through to triumph.
L. E. Froom
