Los Angeles herald., 1907-04-22
MEMS CLUBS OLD
AS Christianity
BURDETTE oH0WS ORIGIN OF
ASSOCIATIONS
Finds Confirmation In Text from Luke
Showing How Seventy Men
Were Appointed 10 Go
In Advance


Burdette, preached on the topic, Mems
Clubs In the Churches" He took for
his text Luke t0:1: Now after these
things the Lord appointed seventy 9TH
ers, and sent them two and two before
his face into every city and place,
whittier he himself was about to come"
"This was about the eliminating
point in the earthly ministry of Jesus,
and he needed the strong yoke-fellow-
ship of the laymen. A year before this
time, on his third missionary journey
through GaliIee, he had instructed his
twelve disciples in the dear yoke-fel-
lowship of two and two, and with SINH
lar instructions he sent the twelve and
seventy forth as laborers In the great
harvest.
''He charged the twelve to heal the
sick. raise the dead, cleanse the lepers,
cast out devils; freely ye received,
freely give He charged the seventy
ito heal the sick
ITO both groups of ministers, apos-
ties and laymen he said: Trust in God.
Take nothing for your journey; neither
staff nor wallet, nor bread, nor money,
neither two coats To speak the bless
ing of peace upon every city and house
as they entered it, Where the blessing
was rejected they should shake off the
very dust of their feet as a testimony
against them, and the rejected bless
ing should turn itself into curse, as
always despised blessings do.
"Ordained apostles and unnamed lay
men, they were sent before the face Of
the King to preach the same sermon:
The kingdom of God is at hand Alike
they were sent out as lambs in the
midst of wolves Alike they were grid
ed with power from the Mightiest.
Mission of the Twelve
"The mission of the twelve was the
- g. a. -
putting of their hands to plow, and
they should never look back. From the
ship and the customs office, from home
and business they had been called by
the great command, Follow me- And
they were to walk and labor in the
ways Of their holy apostleship to the
end of this life.
'sWhen once they should say I go
a-fishing; I return to the old life; I
go back to my old business and make
a living 10! utter failure, the loss of
the old cunning, the inability to earn
their daily bread at the old craft drove
them back to Christ and duty. The
seventy were called into the service to
meet a temporary demand for strength
and conservation. They were sum-
moned as reinforcements from re-
serve to meet an emergency The
power of Jesus had reached its climax
in the feeding of the five thousaid
reached it's sublimest height in Peters
great confession of Christ as the Son
of the living God
ITO the eye of man the great Cali
leean ministries had been met with
hardness of heart, ingratitude, unbe-
lief. human selfishness. Even our
Lord could only denounce with woe un-
utterable the two cities, Capernaum
and Bethsaida, which had enjoyed so
much of his pre-. ence and teachings.
"And it was the closing year of his
earthly ministry. There were yet left
but six months of the day on earth in
which our Lord could work. Every hour
was precious A band Of pioneers there
must be now to go before him into
every city and place whittier he him
self was about to come.
Number Symbolic
"Call out the reserves; call them by
name out of the multitude. Send the
disciples to bring them from their
homes. The number was probably
5ymbolic-the multiplication of two sa-
cred numbers, ten and seven. And the
large number and their instructions tell
the attentive and observing mind that
the time for the final proclamation and
presentation of the kingdom is at hand.
No longer the strict injunctions of
secrecy concerning the work and Of
fee of Jesus, the Messiah; no longer
the oft repeated See that thou tell no
man.. Loudly and everywhere is the
kingdom to be proclaimed. Not to the
seventy as to the twelve is given the
restriction GO not into any way of the
Gentiles and enter not into any city
of the Samaritans.' The threshold OF
the world lay before them. Wherever
Christ should come men-men-conse-
Grated men should first go, shouting
heralds of the King and the kingdom.
Let men go first. as they were sent, and
in little while Christ Jesus would lead
forever more.
forward, then, o seventy unnamed
immortals, to duty privation, danger,
persecution, death, to live forever with
your unwritten names flaming like
suns Of the deathless pages of history.
Seventy meni Worth more to God and
humanity than seventy millions OF
time-serving creatures - things that
when the bugles sound and the war
drums throb and the flag unfurls to
the sun and the storm, send in their
paltering excuses and their attested
certificates of exemption. Hold high
the snow-White standard of Emmanuel,
Prince OF Peace! Cleaning upon its
folds of purity shines the blood-red
cross, symbol of sacrifice and peace,
holiness and joy, radiant as the right
eousness of God, lighting the world OF
men and the heaven of heavens with
the glory of redemption and the beauty
of infinite love forever and forever.
"Jesus Christ would lead forever
more and his word of command today
is his word to the first disciples. Fol
low me-
Feel Divine Impulse
"Tod@y thank God, men are feeling
the divine impulse that sent the sew
enty out two and two Mems clubs in
the churches weren't invented by
preachers. They are not a ministerial
device to make the church more at
tractive to men any more than the
first mems club of seventy was or
ganized and sent forth to preach by
the twelve apostles. 1t is divine i'm
pulse. II is a God-directed movement
Christ is the throbbing, living, animat-
ing heart OF II. Men read the book
ana thought. And whenever God can
get man to thinking II is easy to get
him to doing. man may loaf at his
work, but he can't think and SIT still.
When his soul is on fire he can scarce
ly eat. He must move. You can see