The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1913-08-01
Pastor RuSsell'S Sermon

Gods general provision TOR human
/ Restitution. Their hope must be on
the spirit plane Begotten of the Spir-
1t. they must develop and be born of
the Spirit IN the resurrection. In order
| to have life eternal at ALL
Spiritual Lessons For the Spiritual
Household.
There is n precious lesson in this
miracle for all of the Lords followers.
We also have need of faith and of
tests of that faith. Our daily expe-
riences since we became the Lords
followers have been guided aud guard
ed apparently by the Power unseen. to
the intent that as pupils in the School
of Christ. we may all be taught of
Him and develop more and more the
graces of the Spirit. particularly more
| faith.
How important this item of faith is
we probably cannot fully appreciate
now. Ii seems to be the one thing
which the Lord especially seeks In
those now called to be His followers.
without faith it is impossible to
please Him" With faith ''all things
are possible" According to thy faith
be it unto thee" Proper faith. of
course. is meant, not credulity. not re-
lance upon the words of men. but i'm
plicit faith in the Lord for all that He
has promised to them who love Him
Observation-Disclosures 11:6: Mark 9:23,
So important grace must of ne
~, fty
proper development, and therefore we
find that in our individual experiences
as Christians we have those CORE
spending to the experiences of the
Apostles, as recorded in this lesson.
How suddenly the Adversary may at
times bring against us whirlwind of
temptation or of opposition, or of per-
secutioni How overcast. how dark. our
sky seems at such times. How the
waves of adversely or OF Il tflictiOn have
almost overwhelmed us. And how the
Lord has seemed asleep. needless Of
our distress!
Such experiences are tests of faith.
If our faith be strong. we would keep
on with our proper endeayors to ad-
just matters, corresponding to the eff
forts of the Apostles to keep the ship
afioat. but with implicit faith in the
Lords promise that "all things work
together for good to them that love
God. to them who are the called &C
cording to His purpose" So accord
ing to our faith shall we be able to
rejoice even in tribulation. Not that
we enjoy the sufferings; but we enjoy
the thought which faith attaches to
them-that these are only light Attic
lions. intended to work out for us a
far more exceeding and eternal weight
of ory"-Romans S:2S: Corinthians
All.
The Boat and the Storm In Antitype.
We may regard the incidents of our
lesson from typical viewpoint. Thus
the boat would seem to be the Gospel
Dispensation. or Gods provision for
carrying Messiah and His followers to
the other side The Master asleep
would seem to prefigure the apparent
indifference of the Lord. the Head of
the Church, to the storms of persecu-
ton and suffering assailing His Church.
The disciples awakening Him would
seem to imply the prayers of the
Church throughout the Age, crying
unto the Lord. "Carest Thou not that
we perish?'
What tempestuous storm broke up
on the Lords people after Jesus had
from
the Jews. then from the Gentiles. fol-
lowed one another until the entire his
tory of the true Church has been mark
ed by severe trials, disciplines. test
ings of patience and of faith. Many
a time have the Lords people won
dered at the amount of affection and
opposition from the world. the flesh
and the Devil that their glorified Head
permits to come upon them. Verify, 1t
seemed as though He were asleep. as
though He cared not for their welfare!
The storm on the Sea of Galilee may
have arisen in some ordinary way, for
aught we know to the contrary. 1t
must have been very severe storm:
for the disciples were expert. expert
enced fishermen. We might reason
that surely God would not specially
raise up such storm; and that if He
had Jesus would have submitted to it.
and would not have worked contrary
to the Divine arrangement.
On the other hand. we might reason
that. since Satan is Scripturally term
ed the prince of the power of the
air." it would be quite in line with his
disposition to seek to destroy Jesus
and the Church. represented by the
Apostles. He might have thought thus
to nip in the bud the Divine arrange
ment which Jesus had outlined: name
ly. His crucifxion in fulfilment of the
Scriptures. At all events, Jesus when
awakened did not hesitate to use the
power He possessed from the Father
to quell the storm-to turn aside the
mischievous designs of Satan.
"And There Was Great Calm"
We read that when awakened. Jesus
first reproyed His disciples for insult
fciency of faith. as manifested i'm their
doubling that with Him present with
them they would be entirely safe from
all powers of wind and water and the
Adversary. Then He rebuked the
storm. and it quickly subsidized; and
there was great calm
What could these things mean anti
typicaly? What lesson could we gain
from them along spiritual lines: The
lesson is that the storms of life which