Los Angeles herald., 1906-09-24
NAOMI CHRISTIANS
RAISE LARGE SUM
CONGREGATION IS NOW FREE
OF DEBT
One Of Prettiest Churches In Los An
eeIes Celebrates Its Dedicatory
Services Under Auspcious
Circumstances

over $53S4 was raised at the Naomi
Avenue Christian church yesterday at
tho dedicatory services.
This sum was subscribed by members
and friends and made it possible for
the Dedication service to be carried
out, making the church free from
debt
Early yesterday morning the church
odifce, which is one of the prettiest
and most commodious in the city, was
filled with a large congregation to at
tend the service which has been
planned for so long.
For the event the main auditorium
and Sunday school rooms of the
church had been elaborately decorated
with carnations, ferns and smilax, and
altogether it was charming church in
terror that presented itself yesterday.
G. c. Chapman, president of the
Southern California Christian conven-
ton, preached the morning sermon on
Sacrifice and Self-Denial." He said i'll
part:
deny himself and take UP his cross and
follow me-" were the words selected
by the speaker as the theme of his SER
mon. He said in part:
"T want to prove the condition of dis
cipleshp. The Lord did not make 1t
easy. and he didn't hold out any in
ducements as we sometimes do. That
was one of the sublime things. If you
are the followers of any religion you
1Of nItf IfcAi
Son of Man hath not where to lay his
head
Jesus was not only wise-he was the
greatest philosopher that ever trod the
earth--but he had more than that
While he may have seemed harsh, he
loves us and would make us happier in
this world, to say nothing of the world
to come.
1--WE forget we have two natures
that we are not all animal, but indeed
dual reature, divine and human.
So many of us are busy serving the
lower nature that we forget we have a
higher nature. Jesus saw both sides
the real self.
Self-DenaI Is Foundation
1--WE understand that the question of
self-denial is a foundation stone of the
Christian life. Our religion is essen
TALLY a religion of sacrifice and denial
One Of the big things in our human
nature is selfishness. AS I understand
the scriptural meaning of self-denial
it Is for the higher nature to deny the
lower nature.
"The lower self has usurped control,
and the Master says no longer shall the
lower, but the higher control all that
you are-the very life In you.
at is difficult to bind this selfishness,
this physical, in order that the spirit
ual nature may have control. If there
had not been anything any higher in
us, Jesus would not have told us this,
but to go and have royal good time.
"And yet many people are just living
as though they were but animals, try
ing to crafty and give pleasure to their
lower natures. One blessed thing is
that they re never able to do it.
"Think of the time and money spent
in adorning these bodies. We are going
mad to crafty or adorn these lower
natures. We spend three-fourths of
our time and four-fifths of our money
in that way alone.
Without Love, impossible
after all. the underlying principle of
self-sacrifice is not so hard-it is love.
Without love it is almost impossible.
We only see one side, and on the re-
verse side is always the word love.
A man rushed into a burning building
to rescue his daughter near my home
not long ago. That is one side of the
picture. If you will turn to the other
side you will find love, Love impelled
him to go into that building, and he
could not have been restrained. Love
is the principle of all sacrifice.
There are two great principles to all
lives-one inward, the other outward.
On one side our selfishness keeps us
ted NJ Ian ~ ff1n
Affections and crosses of the world.
II think that the common view of
cross bearing is that we all feel that
our crosses are a little bit heavier than
any ones else. You have but to look
about you and you will see much
heavier crosses than yours being borne.
"If God has placed heavy crosses on
you, perhaps he has endowed you with
rich graces. We never know our
strength until we are tried.
Recalls Book
"I remember seeing in a little book
series of illustrations on cross-bearing.
One man was saving off little bit of
his cross; 1t was too heavy. Another
was drawing his along by a string,
ashamed to pick it up and carry it.
Another was worshiping his cross
worshiping religion instead of practic-
ing it. Another was following closely
In the steps of the Master, bearing his
cross precisely as the Master was bear
ing his. The nearer we come to fol-
lowing Jesus. the lighter will be our
cross. Don't drag 1t, don't worship 1t,
and don't cut it off, but be manly and
brace up and do that which is noble.
Sometimes how we do love to go to
church and make ourselves feel we are
wonderfully good on Sundays, and on
the other six days of the week we live
in the world worldly lives.
Unwilling to Bend
1.-THE chief difficulty is our unwilling
ness to give up our Wills.
81 remember once seeing a little girl
with a golden cross which she had
broken. and. taking it to her father,
asked him to mend 1t. This he gladly
did, but he said to her: NOW, this long
piece is not a cross. 1t represents Gods
will and can never be a cross. But this
short piece represents our Will. and
when we put that on Gods will 1t
makes our cross, and there is where
the trouble comes, when we put our
will against Gods will. AS long as we
let God have his will ii is nothing but