Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1903-01-09
GIVE GOD A CHANCE.
The Omnipotent Arm Shortened by
the Activity of the Flesh.
CAristian Aggressiveness Often Linn
its the work OF the Spirit of God
sermon by the sHighvay and
Byway" Preacher.

Its the WOrk OF tne Sp1rlt OF you
-sermon by the s.Hishvay and
Byway" Preacher.
fcopyright. 1902. by A. N. kellogg Newspa-
per Col
Chicago, jan 4, 1903.
Text:-"Not by might nor by power, but
~Zech. As
God works In a mysterious way
His wonders to perform
The magic wand or the good fairy
of my boyhood story book always held
a peculiar fascination for me. That
the simple waving of the rod in the
hands Of the little creature could &C
complish such wonderful things so
easily and so quickly impressed me
very deeply, and I sighed for the fairy's
talisman that would make Of life such
an easy problem. 1t seemed such
desirab Bile thing to be able to do things
as the fairy did, and my imaginative
mind pictured all the good deeds 1
would perform if the fairy's wand were
placed in my hand. Little then did
think, as I pored over the fascinat-
ing stories and spent hours in idle
dreaming, that the wonderful things
in the fairy story had their realization
in the spiritual realm, and that the
potency of the fairy's wand was as
nothing in comparison with the mar.
velous operations of the Spirit of God.
It was the Spirit of God moving
through the rod in Moses hand
which wrought such mighty wonders
in the presence of Pharaoh, which
opened a way through the Red9 sea.
which made the hard rocks Of the will
derness yield their gushing waters,
which gave the Israelites the victory
ever the Amalekites. It was the Spirit
Of God that circled the city of Jericho
| in answer to the obedient tread of
Gods people and that rang out inathe
shout and the trumpet blast and laid
the massive walls of the heather
stronghold low upon the ground. It
was the Spirit of God that moved in the
times Of the judges and wrought
mighty deliverances for Gods OPP
pressed people. . It was the Spirit of
| God which on the0day of Pentecost
| transformed a handful of simple
| hearted. ignorant disciples into fluent
linguists preaching the Gospel Of Jesus
Christ in every known tongue. It was
| the Spirit of God which wrought such
L
| mentality of the disciplesin Tie early
| days of the church. 1t is Che Spirit OF
| God Whose tracings canobe discovered
| running through the sacred pages of
| Gods Word from Genesis to Revela-
| tions More marvellous and fascinating
| is it all than the psost extravagant
fairy tale. The latter is naught but
tale, but the former is the truth and
majesty and power Of Ged.
There are two reasons why man
fails to understand and appreciate the
operations of the Spirit of God: First
because he does not know Gods will,
and, second, because he iso an alien
| from the righteousness of God; for the
Spirit of God always operates along
| the line of Gods will and moves within
| the sphere of His perfect righteous
| ness. In this materialisti age mans
| will shuts out the vision of the will of
God and mans self-righteousness and
I9self-esteem render him insensible to
| the righteousness of God, and hence
| the "might and power Of man is I'M
duly magnifed and emphasized and
| the workings of Gods Spirit are lost.
| sight Of. But nevertheless it is the
| eternal and Interchangeable truth of
God that it is mot by might, nor by
| power of man." but by the Spirit of
God, that the purposes of God are
i wrought out through men.
Zerubbabel to whom the words of
| our text were sent through the proph-
| ct Zechariah. had been called to a
great work by the Lord. The task of
rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem
and the restoring of the temple had
| rested upon him. After the first burst
of enthusiasm of the people incid emit to
the return from captivity and there's
| adjustment of their homes in Jerusa-
lem, the work of rearing the city's pro-
tecting wall and restoring the temple
/ Jagged. Zerubbabe felt the burden of
! the gigantic task. AS Christian peo-
pie are always so prone to do, Ee came
to feel that he was carrying me burden
all alone. That it all depeT ded upon
him, if the walls were COMPLETED and
the temple reconstructed. And in
proportion as he took his eyes off God
md looked within himself for the pow
er and ability to carry on the gFeat
work, he became discouraged and per-
haps was almost ready to give up in
disgust. He did not have the sympat by
and cooperation of the inhabitants of
the city as was his right to demand
and expect. He doubtless tried to push
and drive them to the completion Of
the task which he knew God had set
him to accomplish. Perhaps he set to
scoldiEg them in the Impotence of his
encouragement. Perhaps he went as
far as some Christians do when facing
difficulties similar to those Of Zerub-
| babef and Threatened IN unit and 90
back to the easier surroundings of the