The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-09-19
MIR. WICKER'S SERMON.
TRENTON PASTOR BREACHES AT
 ADAMS STREET CHURCH.
MT. Wicker Spoke Yesterday at the Different Services at pr. Greg Ory's Church-Large COn-
 Gregations Present.

Baptish Church yesterday was filled with an earnest and expectant audi ence. Rev. J. J. Wicker's theme was Christian Imperialism; his text was: Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, even as 1t is done in heaven" Luke 1.
 He said in part:
 Jesus came into the world to estao- fish Kingdom: Russia Is seeking to extend her kingdom by extermination. Jesus seeks to extend His by salvation. There are but two commandments, viz: Lovc God. and love your fellow man. Christ is trying to win His king dom through His church. The suc- cess of the Church depends on some- thing. If a Church prays. Thy king dom come" it must have power: When a Church tries to do its own will 1t can not prosper. but when 1t keeps in connection with Gods will 1t will have power. There's many Church | member who Is like the cast-off old wG gons lying in back of carriage fac tories, good for nothing. Every mem- Der who does the will of God is a light for God, and every one who does not do Gods will is darkness for God. God once elected a nation to show that there Is but one God, but instead of being a Jordan to carry the knowl- edge of God to other nations, 1t was a Dead Sea, keeping the knowledge to itself
 What does this Church stand for? It stands for what 1t is This Church's reputation Is exactly what your char acter is. want to talk about a very delicate subject. viz: Money Man is selfish animal. God demands attention at least from each of us, and He prom ises a blessing when we obey Him. There are only two dangers in this world, pleasure and prosperity; the one wasting all the money they can get, the other piling 1t up. Everything you have belongs to God. use 1t for Him and His glory. A true life Is given for others.
 | To the unconverted also there are only two dangers, prosperity and pleas ure. There are only two lives, the hu- man life and the divine life. Religion pays in this life. and in the life to come. The happiest people In Mont gomery today are the truly religious. There are men whose very life is hell. Let God have your life: He will make ! it happy here. and in the world to come | life everlasting.
 At the afternoon service Mir. Wicker preached on The Good Man and the Bad Man." being an exposition of the first Psalm. Enoch was the type of a good man. He walked with God, and he was not for God took him" It only takes a sentence to tell about the life of a good man. Faith Is not telling God what must do, but faith says, Lord, use me to accomplish Thy will Though He slay me yet will I trust Him." Enoch loved God notwithstand- ing all he had to endure Paul's faith said. Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" Consider the times Enoch lived in. Every one of us Is either walking with God or the Devil; Enoch had to walk with God by himself; it Is hard to stand for God alone when every one else is living for the world and the | Devil.
 Enoch did not have bible, nor any book at all. He never saw a news paper or hymn-book. He never heard a song, or went to a prayer-meeting or to church. He was a preacher with his whole congregation set against 1 him.
 The Devil wants to lead men and get all they have; God wants to lead you and save you. It's better to walk
 with God in the dark, than with Satan in the light Cultivate the sense of the actual presence of God. 1t will help you to walk with Him In the busy world
 Talk to God in prayer, and stop and 1 wait to listen to his answer.
 One day Enoch "was not" don't know how but I suppose God took l him" When we walk with God He does not forsake us in the last hour.
 Rev. MT. Wicker's sermon at 7:45 p.
 m.. was on "Heaven-Where Is it and
 What Is it?" His text was from John | 15:31-35. Which give the conversation
 of Jesus and the woman at the we'll
 The sermon was especially from these
 words: My meat is to do the will of | Him that sent me"
 Can we have Heaven here? If so, how? If not, why not? We talk a
 great deal about going to heaven when
 we die. why defer 1t so long? The
 man who does not go to heaven before he dies will never get there. Heaven is three thing: 1) Being-that is charac- l ter. character comes through the new birth, Except a man Is born anew he | cannot enter the kingdom of God" This is a new nature. 1t Is your character. | Character Is what you are. The unre- generate man cannot unselfishly love right and hate the wrong, for he is wrong. and wrong never loves right. If
 I am not right in time, why should hope to be right in eternity? If I die tonight I will be exactly the same man | tomorrow, only out of the flesh To love the right Is in a sense heaven. not only does 1t require a new nature. but a new will Lord what wilt thou have me to do?" Paul's Christian degree was, L. J. C., Glove of Jesus Christ.")
 Jesus said of himself, My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me-" At that time Jesus was physically very hungry, but Gods will and work took precedence over his appetite. Oh. that Christian men and women would let the spiritual take precedence and req lize that the life is more than meat, and the body more than raiment."
 You will find Heaven along the line of Gods will, all of its sweetness crys- talizes around the will of God, like rock candy around the cord which holds 1t together.
 Men who mine gold get rich as they follow the vein. the way to heaven is the will of God. If do not want to do Gods will here why should I expect to wish to do 1t hereafter? So many have crazy notion about Heaven: to them the whole thing is a place. But Jesus never shed His blood to make place. The ministry of Christ, and the church of Christ and the work of Christ and the whole plan of salvation Is in making Christian character When man gets a new nature and a new will. this brings a new power in his life-this Is overcoming power. IL is typifed in the baptism and temptation of Jesus; just after the spirit came up- on Him, and He resisted successfully tho Devil. angels came and ministercd to him. When a soul fights it's way through the powers of the tempter, he will hear the rustic of angels wings, | tc