The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1903-03-05
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED
1.-THE FULL REWARD"

HN 5IOaueNI DISCOURSE ENTITLED
THE FULL REWARD"
Tho Rev. DIR. ). Wilbur Chapman Tells Of
the Spirit That IL Needed in the Church
How to Win the Crown which IL In-
corruptible-New Plan Of Salvation.
New YORK CITY. - The distinguished
evangelist, the Rev. DR.. j. Wilbur Chap
man, "a the author of the following sermon
entitled 'The Full Reward" which was
preached from the text, Every man that
striveth for the mastery is temperate in
all things. Now they do It to obtain cor
ruptlble crown, but we an incorruptible.
But keep my body under, and bring it
into subsection, lest that by any means,
when l have preached to others, myself
should be a. castaway." l Cor. tx: Is, 81.
Paul, in the figure of speech, is on the
race course He is striving to reach the
goal and win the prize. Here, therefore, it
is not question of life, but entirely
question of awards He is not writing to
the. unregenerate, but to the children of
God. He says: ri will keep under INV
body, lest shall become a castaway.N
The word "castaway" in the Greek is lit
orally "disapproved." Paul is teaching
mat even Il ne is to win the crown that is
lncorruptible, he must deny himself, he
must put forth heroic effort, he must be
faithful until the very end.
), This spirit is needed in the church. IF
the first crown is for the passive Christian
the second is for the enthusiastic follower
OF Christ, and next to the baptism of the
HOLY. Ghost the church to-day needs the
baptism of enthusiasm. It is a great mis-
tax lake 1or men to allow their prejudices to
work upon which God has set His seal.
Ihere IS cry to-day against new methods,
ana people say the need of the time is for
the old methods of our fathers. There ia
some truth in this. but the trouble with
the advocates of this proposition is that
they do not make their methods old
enough. we ought to &c. back to Pente-
the disciples gave all they had. We ought
to go. back to Pentecostal methods of
preaching; the early preachers had just
twos themes in mind-namely. Jesus and
the Resurrection. We ought to 90 back to
Pentecostal living, for in the olden times
the disciples lived in the expectation that
each new day would bring back the Lord
Himself, and having this hope in Him their
lives became pure and their testimonies
powerful.
Everz church ought to change it's method
every Sunday, if the methods in use do
not compel the peple to accept the gospel
we have no responsibility for conversion
TIE Spirit of God takes care of that. but
we do have a tremendous responsibility
resting. upon us to make every man. wom-
an and child understand that the Son of
God died to set them free from the pen.
atty, of SIM. and that He ever pleads at
Gods right hand to liberate them from it's
power The church is not an end. but
rather a means to an end. If counted an
end. the membership becomes satisfied
with the church in itself its preaching,
its music, its social standing it's ability to
influence, the minds of the people, and in
all seriousness I dare to say that such
church will be curse to community in
the thought of God, rather than a bless
ing. We have this to remember: when
counted as means to an end the church
loses sight of herself and realizes that she
is IN existence only to bring to every lost
sinner the message Of the gospel, So long
God calls His children to carry the mes
sage, OF peace and glad tidings of great JOY
to that one.
There is Scriptural warrant for this
frequent change of method. It is all
summed up, in one word: until. How long
did the father wait for his SON. "Untip'
he returned; How long lid the woman
search for the lost piece of silver? Gun
til" she found it. How long did the shep-
herd look for his sheep? "UntiP' he had it
in his arms and was bearing it back with
rejoicing to the fold. How often ought
we to change our methods in the church
Until" we have a method upon which
God will set His SEAL and to which the
Holy Ghost will give His approval, because
that method compels the peonle to hear
the gospel and to known that Jesus Christ
died to save all mankind.
Paul was willing to be counted o fool if
only he might better influence men. To the
wise he would be wise; to the ignorant he
was willing to be counted ignorant; to
the weak as man of weakness-if only
by all means he might save some" Nav
the Lord God fill the church with this
move the world with the power Of God.
And when the great day of awards should
come, simply because we had been dead in
earnest. had counted personal ease as
nothing, had labored incessantly by day
and by night, in heat and in cold, we
should receive the crown that is incorrupt-
ible.
THE CROWN OF REJOICING.
Thess. ii: 19-"For what is our hope,
or joy or crown of rejoicing? Are. not even
We in the presence of our Lord Jesus
Christ at His coming?
When Paul remembers the Thessalon-
ians whom he had won for Christ, he i'm
reward is properly called the soul-win-
ner's Gown.
Alas some who are born of the Spirit,
who have been trained in the Christian
church, or might have been, who have
lived all their lives dead in sin, shall never
wear it. But it is possible for everybody
to receive it from the hands of the Master
Himself.
This is the crown that the sainted Spur
geon is to wear. It is said that $4,000 peo-
pie joined his church in his ministry, and
this was only the beginning of the multi
tude of others that have been influenced
by his life the world around It is the
crown that Mr.. Moody is to wear, because
in all parts of the world he has pointed
men to the crucifed One. It is the crown
that faithful Sunday-school teachers and
devoted workers are to wear.
I had in my home at one time a very
celebrated Sunday-school worker He told
me how he became servant of Christ. He
was converted as boy before the Young
Peoples Society of Christian Endeavor was
known. He wanted to do something for
Christ, and all he could think of was to
teach a Sunday-school class. He went to
the superintendent with request that he
might be made teacher, and was re-
fused. He went a second time, with
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