The Penn's Grove record., 1911-02-17
I
The Chain Of |
Chris E.iGs.
81 aEV IayL0ss
Tsseox OK Calvary S-rsIss Church.
A,Sastcr. EsEas .

so AF9
TEXr-asaxs a chain, sor the lard Is
ruiz OF bloody crimes, arc gAs city - fni'
cf violence Ezsklel 4s
EzakieI IS about - lanouncs eoo~
pon tho people Of me upper CLASSES.
end IN the last part o. the Ta.se h@
speaks OF general cc1dltsoug - the
land and city.
I do not propose TO discuss the
things they were n The days x enc
prophe1. But / would take the express
sion, Make 4 Chain" and Jet Jesus
speak to US az We examine the differ
ent links n The chain. knowing as we
do so that no chain is stronger than
It's weakest LINK.
l would point ont 10 you then the
different Huks n the chain Of Chris
tian life and. Il possible, strengthen
those links sc orr work the coming
year might be more steadfast and as a
church and people we might fill the
place our Father has assigned us in
this part Of the city.
First, l would let the links repre-
sent things In u individual lives,
know hat no church a be stronger
Intellectually, spiritually OF morally
than are the members of that church.
Here is a link, we will call it the
link of love Do we have 1t in our
lives? God Is love-"
John said, Little children, love one
another" Our usefulness as Chris
tians will be determined by our love
for God and his cause. By it our work
for the church is measured. II the love
of God is in our hearts we will be as
David when he said II was glad when
they said unto me, let us go into the
house of the lord" Men shun Gods
house and never enter it because they
do not love God.
Here is a link we will call personal
work. How much it is needed in our
church to keep the members of the
church busy, this should not be neces-
sary and would not be needed If We
were all alive to our opportunities.
A great field for personal work lies
outside the church, We can go out and
find Bible school scholars and bring
them in. What a great improvement
1t would be If every member of our
church capable of teaching a class In
the school would go out and find the
class and bring them into the Bible
school and teach them.
This link we will call home mission.
1t is sometimes misunderstood; we
think of our Mexican work or the
this is true and that is a part Of the
home mission work, yet l would bring
you face to face with the homes in
our community, many of them are in
need of words of sympathy, some are
needing the bread and butter to sus-
tain physical life, others have never
accepted Jesus as a personal savior.
Home missions would carry is to
the needy communities around us
where Bible schools could be organ
lied and chapels built, churches or
ganized, etc.
This much needed work done would
mean more for our city, state and ma
ton than we can imagine, brethren.
Make a chain and bind together all
the important features of our work.
l would put in a link here in the
chain which 1 hope will be strong
enough to bring our church up to self
support and pay off u debt. l wish
we might all adopt the Bible plan Of
giving one-tenth of our income to the
Lords work, and in a short time our
debt would be gone and home ex-
penses met and we would be looking
new fields to enter for Jesus sake.
l may have left out many links
which should be in the chain, but
weld these and many others together
the great love Of God and the
power Of God, and you will have a
chain strong enough to rescue the per-
soul and to make your infu-
ence felt around the world.
What use would 1 make Of the
We, as individual members Of this
church, are links in the great chain
holds this church here in this
as the great ship is held
In place In yonder gulf the anchors
power is measured by the weakest
link in the chain that holds the ship;
the power Of this church is meas
ured by our strength as individual
members of the church.
The church is anchored, a mighty
storm is brewing, sins of all kinds are
to wipe out the influence
Of the church.
The saloon, which carries with it
the bulk of all crimes and makes any
land or city, such as the prophet saw
when he said in this verse, "The land
Is full of bloody crimes, and the city
Is full of violence" This greatest of
all foes against the individual, the
home, the church and our nation, has
been crowded out of north Texas.
west Texas, central Texas, and here
on the very banks Of the Gulf of Next
the saloon will make It's final fight.
God grant that his people will make
the fight of all fights and drive from
our city and state this great enemy of
mankind with all its kindred vices.
and may the church of Jesus Christ
prove true to all that has been intrust-
ed to 1t.