Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-12-05
SERMON ON PRAYER
"Ask With the Assurance 1t VIII BIO
Given You" Says Sunday In

Given You" Says Sunday In
Discourse.
A service peculiarly adapted to the
spirit OF the day, that of fasting and
prayer, was held at the tabernacle
Sunday Following a brief song ser.
vice led by Mr.. Fischer, several min
utes were devoted to an irnpromptu
cottage meetings and the present
spirit reigning at these neighborhood
services.
Church members residing in nearly
every district of the city responded
/ to Mr.. Fischer's invitation and told
Of the progress OF the work in their
show remarkable growth. In many
Of them where an attendance of Ave or
six at the first meetings several weeks
| tendance now has grown from thirty
five to fifty and the people also re-
port an increased good spirit prevail
ing.
! Mr. Sunday announced that most Of
the converts who had come forward
during the revivals thus far had ex-
pressed preference for either the
East End churches or the South OF
tumwa churches, which showed, the
evangelist stated that the church PEG.
pie residing in these two localities
had been doing the more earnest and
consistent work. He urged greater
activity among all the churches thet
more people should become converts.
The text was, "The Effectual Fervent
Prayer Of Righteous Man Availeth
Much. james V: 49, The sermon
dealt entirely with the power of prayer
and the surety Of its fulfillment IL the
man who prayed was righteous and
4 firmly believed that God was capable
OF granting what he asked Mr.. Sun.
day said in part:
Man Needs God.
"The man who has no friends Is IL
be pitied. But If every man and wo
man You meet on the streets Is a per.
sonal friend of yours and you can not
turn to God and call Him your friend
you're equally to be pitied for you are
lost On the other hand if God is your
friend and man is not--you're safe
and above pity. God is mans greatest
friend, in time of rejoicing and in time
Of trouble.
There never should be moment in
your life when you feel that you can
get along without God. Remember
. that it's when you are alone with God
that you feel his presence. Who are
the people whose souls are most open
to Gods word? It's the little prayer
meeting crowd-not the great host oil
worldly church members. You cannot
honestly pray THY kingdom
come and then keep on doing tbs
; things that you know, God knows and
everybody knows will keep His king
dom out. You can't pray THY king
dom come and have the beer Wagon
back to your side door every Other
day; you can't play cards, go to the
theatres and gossip about your neigh
bors
Prayers are only worth what your.
willing to redeem them at In works
Prayer impresses our minds with tbs
!, character Of God and reproduces with
in, corresponding desire to be like
God. Who are the people today WHIT
want to look like God? Those wht
pray. Some people ask why does Got
require us to ask for blessing? Be
cause it's natural. God is the Fathe
and we are the children. It's in &C
cord with the nature of parent, ant
! his child. It brings the child to rec
ognize the relationship. Because it.
advantageous. We grow by expires
sion. Then because its necessary. w,
get by giving. Like the farmer VIII,
gives buBhel Of oats to the soil ant
reaps a granary full-give God littl'
and He'll pay you back hundred
1 fold. You've got to use the same com
mon sense in religion that you do il
t everything else. The more attention
g you give it the more benefits you'll
reap from 1t.
above all, pray with the assurances
+ that you are going to get what 20,
r ask for. The answers to prayer ar
a immediate and deferred AS soon a
4 God hears your prayer he starts on
/ Of His angels to fulfill it--but the dey
| IFS highwaymen are always out +
a stop the Lords angels. Right there
/. where you want to show your trust il
j God and fight the devil. The churcl
4 of God has been on the defensive 70
1 $50 years and it's time the church too
3 the aggressive. Stop letting the dew
use the church for a doormat.''