Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1905-08-25
PAUL'S GOSPEL.
BY Rey. Thomas Yates.

oooI Eli.
By Rey. Thomas Yates.
Text Remember Jesus Christ,
raised from the dead, according to my
gospel."-II Timothy 2:S
You will notice the intensity Of the
possessive pronoun. 1t CLOVIS with
passion; 1t makes the text incandes-
cent-"My gospel" 1t is not proprie-
torship; it Is identification. 1t seems
like egotism; it is really uttermost self
surrender. 1t is o possible to sepa-
rate the man from the message; they
are one, fused In a grand and grow
ing experience. He had a message,
and the message was in the grain and
the fibre of mis- being. He has writ
ten a sentence of it to his friend, and
then, as If impatient lest what he has
written should bear, even for al in
slant, the look of an impersonal utter
ance, he hastens with a kind of happy
pride in self-committal to give him
self away on it-~"According to my
gospel" The weight and the impact
of a transformed personality is thrown
into the utterance. You feel the thrill
OF terrific conviction in this little pos
sessive; it vibrates with energy. What
ever the gospel is, it is become to this
man a conservation, a passion, an en-
thusiasm, and, If need arise, it will
become a m%artyrdom. 1t Is little Won
der hat the world thought this man
a provocative man, or that few men
in human history have so compelled
the world to take count of them.
Paul has II great certainty: he Is
certain that he is right. The audacious
faculty Of mounting a pulpit, is the
inevitable expression of any audacity,
the audacity Of knowing that he is
right. He is sure about some things
that really matter; he is on the ground.
l. urther the audacity of knowing that
he is right this man adds another
audacity, that Of believing and say
ing that the fact of his being right
is a good thing for the world. The
Gospel is not true news only, but good
news. The thing about which he was
right was not to be neglected without
impoverishment. 1t Is of passionate
moment to men; 1t concerns their
highest welfare; it Is a Gospel Of
good tidings, and he who has it Is I'M
der necessity to preach it. This man,
then, is finely revealed in this little
phrase that he has added like a post
script. Such a man Is always a chal-
lenge, never more a challenge than to-
day, when the temper of our time
does not encourage it.
He Is sent to guard the church and
to hold forth the good news in Ephe-
sus, where the splendOr and the AFRO
gance Of paganism had made the
place a proverb. One hesitates to
paint the picture of that city as it
was, the home of superstition and sor-
Gerry, the citadel Of the most immoral
and lawless of idolators.
Do you wonder that the restlessness
and superstition outside worked a slow
and subtle mischief within? Is 1t any
wonder that, with that atmosphere
soaking into their life, it was easy to
drift from the realities of religion?
My brethren, we need a deep, eff
~fective force lodged at the heart Of
our church life, at the heart of its
pulpit ministry, at the heart Of all
Its varying work. The only justifica-
ton for a church is that 1t shall have
something at the heart Of it, of which
1t says. with a passionate joy Of pos
session, my Gospel" which 1t exists
to utter. This very church fabric is
not here for any beauty it has, but
for the good tidines it brings. 1t is
not a memorial; 1t is a witness. AT
the heart Of the church's life, feeding
the church's life, the power of its
ministry, the burden Of its mission,
lies the great force Of an organic re-
%lationship with a Divine Lord, an in
tensely personal relationship, realiZ-
able and actual, with every believer.