The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1899-1900, 1899-07-26
w. H. TIssoT g. CO.

tainers had so kindly prepared. At
1880 all assembled again to attend the
evening devotional service and to list
en- to sermon on the subject, "The
Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand" by
Rev. R. L. Waggoner,
The speaker began by saying that the
New Testament is the story of the
beginning of great movement, and
the keynote of this movement is, "The
kingdom Of heaven is at hand" John
the Baptist's words, as he preached by
the river Jordan were, Repent ye, for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand" In
Matthew it says, From that time
Jesus began to preach, saying, The
kingdom of heaven is at hand" and
later on, He sent His disciples into
other lands, and He said to them, GAS
ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of
heaven is at hand"
Our idea Of this kingdom concerns us
as we think of Jesus. He was asking
great question when He asked, "What
and whom think ye that l amp" For
just the idea they had as to what and
whom they thought He was, that idea
would they have concerning heaven.
The thought of Christ in our day and
age is, that He is a sacrifice and some.
thing more. He was propitiation for
US through faith, but He is sacrifice
only as we have Him in our hearts,
and as we are willing to sacrifice.
For some centuries people thought
that the kingdom was the church. If
they belonged to the church, they be-
longed to the kingdom of heaven.
Later they thought that no one could
enter the kingdom without being bap-
tized, and many were forced to be
baptized that they might be saved
Then came the idea that people were
not saved unless they were justified by
faith. We can not enter the kingdom
of heaven unless we have Jesus Christ
in our hearts.
The kingdom of God is not some
thing apart from us that we may enjoy
at distance. 1t is at hand. 1t is
something we mayenjoy here and now
We can now understand what Jesus
meant in the Lords prayer by saying,
"Thy kingdom come" Many times
we say that prayer in way that shows
that we are not thinking what it
means.
"Our Fatherw We have no right t.
say that unless we believe, and feel
that God is our father.
"Thy Kingdom Comel" People who
can say "Thy kingdom come" are
those in whose hearts is buried deep.
and from whose hearts there wells up
the desire that this kingdom may
come.
If he kingdom of God is in us, we
realize the kingdom of God all around
US, and in proportion as it is in us do
we realize that it is all around us. 1t
reveals itself around us in the fact that
Gods power is over every thing. When
our country in two nearly bloodless
battles, won two great victories, Gods
hands was in it, and He used the gen.
erals, Miles, Sampson, Dewey, Shafter
and Schley, to work out His will. H,
has power over nature, over the stars
1t was a wonderful miracle for the
star to swing out of its course and lead
the shepherds to Bethlehem, but it is
as great miracle that the stars stay
in their course.
As we begin to experience God in
ourselves, we realize His power over
our lives. To enter this Kingdom of
Heaven" we must annihilate self, and
let God into our hearts. Christ said,
"Whosoever would follow me must
deny himself, take up his cross and
follow me-"
Deny yourself If anything comes
up to do that Inconvenience you, and
yet you feel you ought to do it, go and
do it. The kingdom of heaven is made
up of meeting even simple little things
in the right way. After we have en-
tered this kingdom we begin to SET
that it is possible to fill our churches
with an atmosphere of holiness. There
is nothing in all the universe SO firml,
established as the kingdom of God.
LoUELLA CHAPMAN, Sec'y.